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The Relationship Between Optokinetic Nystagmus And Caloric Weakness, D'Arcy D. Cyr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, results from caloric testing and optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) testing are analyzed separately because caloric testing is a measure of peripheral function and OKN testing is considered to be a measure of central function. However, there is a connection between the visual system and the vestibular system in the vestibular nucleus of the brainstem. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether a relationship exists between optokinetic nystagmus results and unilateral caloric weakness results. This was determined by conducting a retrospective study of forty patients who exhibited a unilateral caloric weakness greater than or equal to twenty percent and …

Film In The Classroom: Toward A More Effective Pedagogy, Jonathan Godwin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The postmodern critique has effectively called on anthropologists to reevaluate ethnographic authority when representing others. However, what is often found lacking in this criticism is an exploration of the ways in which audiences interpret anthropological knowledge. One crucial area that can be easily researched is audience reception of film in introductory anthropology classes. As professors of anthropology increasingly rely on film for illustrating anthropological concepts, we must have an understanding of how this medium is interpreted by student audiences. Film's ability to convey complex information without additional contextualization has yet to be substantiated and previous research has indicated that visual …

Characterization Of Obsidian Sources In Pantelleria, Italy, Barbara A. Vargo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study of prehistoric trade and exchange networks in the Western Mediterranean is directly linked to the identification and location of commodities available to Neolithic communities in that region. One of these commodities is a volcanic glass commonly known as obsidian.

This investigation focused on the procurement, processing, and distribution of obsidian from the island of Pantelleria, situated between the southwestern coast of Sicily in the Straits of Sicily and the northeastern coast of Africa near Cape Bon, Tunisia. Previous studies indicate that there are several chemically different source areas on the island.

Research involved the identification of primary obsidian …

Phylogeography And Evolution Of The Florida Crown Conch (Melongena Corona), Kenneth A. Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Melongena corona and closely related congeners are a conspicuous part of the marine intertidal benthic communities of Florida and southeastern Alabama. Significant genetic differentiation among adjacent populations has been conjectured based on variation in shell morphology, habitat discontinuity, low levels of adult motility, and the presence of an aplanic lecithotrophic larval stage. Furthermore, studies of the highly variable shell morphology often have resulted in confusing specific and subspecific definitions of these gastropods, which are often referred to as the "corona complex". Variation in shell morphology may indicate local adaptation or environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity. In this study I utilized mitochondrial …

Optimizing Long-Term Retention Of Abstract Learning, Danielle Mazur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a distributed learning strategy, study time is spread across multiple study sessions, without increasing total study time. The benefits of distributed practice, also known as spaced practice, on learning of rote-memory tasks (e.g., spelling, addition, and cued-recall of word pairs) are well known. However, few researchers have looked at the effects of distributed practice on the learning of abstract materials (e.g., physics problems, logical deductions, and algebra). We examined the effects of distributed practice on learning the abstract task of matrix multiplication. In Experiment 1, we taught participants matrix multiplication in either a massed (i.e., 0-day interstudy gap), or …

Towards A Single-Mode Dispensed Polymer Optical Waveguide, Jill Michelle Kalajian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dispensed organic polymer optical waveguides suitable for single-mode operation were recently fabricated. Different dispensing pressures, polymers, and dispensing tips were used in the drawing method.

The waveguides were measured to be approximately 16[mu] wide and 0.8[mu] tall. This is significantly smaller than previously reported dimensions of 300[mu] x 3.5[mu] waveguides fabricated with a similar dispensed polymer method. The waveguides were also found to be suitable for single-mode operation through a series of approximate calculations . This is also something previously not achieved with the larger waveguides.

This novel approach to waveguide fabrication could reduce the expense and time of creating …

Characterization And Correlation Analysis Of Pharmaceutical Gelatin, Pascal Georges Felix

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The properties of the aged gel and subsequent softgels were examined using mechanical and chemical testing methods. Our hypothesis was that a negligible variation will exist between the aged gel of the same type. The greater difference is expected to be seen between the types of gels described as 150 Bloom (alkaline treated collagen) and 195 Bloom (acid treated collagen).

The types of gelatin used were the acid processed (195 Acid Bone) and alkaline processed (150 Lime Bone). Because of the differences expressed as the result of their manufacture sequence (namely their molecular weights), it follows that physical attributes will …

Radiation Induced Degradation Pathways For Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) And Polystyrene Polymers As Models For Polymer Behavior In Space Environments, Kenneth Henry Heffner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modeling methods are required for predicting the chemical stability of macromolecular materials used in critical spacecraft components of satellites orbiting in the high-energy radiation environment of near earth and deep space planetary magnetic belts. Methods for establishing degradation mechanisms and predicting and simulating the total absorbed dose and ionization for long term space missions are presented herein. This investigation evaluates cross-linking, main-chain scission and elimination products in a linear series of narrowly dispersed poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS) polymers. A comparison is made of the scission radiation yield (G_s) and crosslinking (G_x) predicted for the …

Substrate-Based Inhibitors Of Peptidylglycine Á-Amidating Monooxygenase (Pam) As Anti-Proliferative Drugs For Cancer, Geoffrey H. Chew

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

C-Terminal glycine-extended prohormones are enzymatically converted to á-amidated peptides, by peptidylglycine á-amidating monooxygenase (PAM). PAM is a bifunctional enzyme with two catalytic domains: peptidylglycine á-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) and peptidylglycine peptidylglycineaminoglycolate lyase (PAL).

PAM has a significant role in the proliferation of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Thus, the inhibition of PAM could halt cancer growth. Hippurate and hippurate analogs were used as lead compounds for developing inhibitors for PAM. The hippurate analogs exhibiting the highest affinity to PAM (lowest inhibition constant) did inhibit the growth of human androgen-independent prostate cancer DU 145 cells.

A Model For The Benefits Of Electronic Toll Collection System, Rajesh H. Chaudhary

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the degree of complexity related to measuring the advantage of establishing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems, literature generally stops short of modeling an all-inclusive set of benefits of the system. In this research, a model that incorporates the impact on both the users and the society as a whole and evaluates the financial benefits over the lifespan of the ETC investment is developed.

Most of the values for the parameters used for calculating the benefits are taken from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and from similar studies conducted by transportation agencies, which is the setting that has motivated the …

Design And Fabrication Of Multi – Dimensional Rf Mems Variable Capacitors, Hariharasudhan T. Kannan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this work, a multi dimensional RF MEMS variable capacitor that utilizes electrostatic actuation is designed and fabricated on a 425um thick silicon substrate. Electrostatic actuation is preferred over other actuation mechanisms due to low power consumption. The RF MEMS variable capacitor is designed in a CPW topology, with multiple beams supported (1 - 7 beams) on a single pedestal. The varactors are fabricated using surface micromachining techniques. A 1um thick silicon monoxide (Er - 6) is used as a dielectric layer for the varactor. The movable membrane is suspended on a 2.5um thick electroplated gold pedestal. The capacitance between …

Self-Interference Handling In Ofdm Based Wireless Communication Systems, Tevfik Yücek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier modulation scheme that provides efficient bandwidth utilization and robustness against time dispersive channels. This thesis deals with self-interference, or the corruption of desired signal by itself, in OFDM systems. Inter-symbol Interference (ISI) and Inter-carrier Interference (ICI) are two types of self-interference in OFDM systems. Cyclic prefix is one method to prevent the ISI which is the interference of the echoes of a transmitted signal with the original transmitted signal. The length of cyclic prefix required to remove ISI depends on the channel conditions, and usually it is chosen according to the worst …

A Vlsi Architecture For Rijndael, The Advanced Encryption Standard, Naga M. Kosaraju

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increasing application of cryptographic algorithms to ensure secure communications across virtual networks has led to an ever-growing demand for high performance hardware implementations of the encryption/decryption methods. The inevitable inclusion of the cryptographic algorithms in network communications has led to the development of several encryption standards, one of the prominent ones among which, is the Rijndael, the Advanced Encryption Standard. Rijndael was chosen as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) by the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), in October 2000, as a replacement for the Data Encryption Standard (DES). This thesis presents the architecture for the VLSI implementation …

Using The Ablls With English Language Learners: Implications For Students And Teachers, Lorie G. Schultz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

English language learners are traditionally behind in academics such as reading, math and science. Hispanics, who make up the vast majority of English language learners, tend to not enroll in pre-school or higher education, have higher dropout rates and as adults earn less than whites. Common instructional strategies used in public schools are not meeting the needs of these students. The field of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) has typically offered a wide variety of poorly defined teaching strategies that are not based on empirical research. Within public schools, assessment tends to serve the purpose of …

Simple Models For Predicting Dune Erosion Hazards Along The Outer Banks Of North Carolina, Lauren Mckinnon Wetzell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane hazards result from the combined processes of wind, waves, storm surge, and overwash (Lennon et al., 1996). Predicting the severity of these hazards requires immense effort to quantify the processes and then predict how different coastal regions respond to them. A somewhat simpler, but no less daunting task is to begin to predict the hazards due to potential erosion of barrier islands. A four-part scale has been developed by Sallenger (2000) to provide a framework for understanding how barrier islands might respond during extreme storm events. These four regimes describe how beach and dune elevations interact with surge and …

Toward An Integrated Communication Theory For Celebrity Endorsement In Fund Raising, Tracie M. Domino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the history of the United States, Americans customarily have given away their money, as well as their time to serve the common good. Americans will give "to build something, to fight something, or to save something" (Fink, 1990, p. 136). They make gifts to causes, or the societal problems represented by organizational missions, that are important to them. Individuals give not only to advance a common good, but also to receive private goods, or benefits that are internal, intangible, and in some cases, tangible (Steinberg, 1989).

To create this feeling of reciprocity for prospective donors who have not actually …

Development And Testing Of A Haptic Interface To Assist And Improve The Manipulation Functions In Virtual Environments For Persons With Disabilities, Rohit Tammana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Robotics in rehabilitation provides considerable opportunities to improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities. Computerized and Virtual Environment (VE) training systems for persons with disabilities, many of which utilize the haptic feedback, have gained increasing acceptance in the recent years. Our methodology here is based on creating virtual environments connected to a haptic interface as an input device. This robotic setup introduces the advantages of the haptic rendering features in the environment and also provides tactile feedback to the patients.

This thesis aims to demonstrate the efficacy of assistance function algorithms in rehabilitation robotics in virtual environments. Assist …

School Factors Related To The Social And Behavioral Success Of Children And Adolescents With Tuberous Sclerosis: Special Education Placement, Services, And Parental Involvement, Kathleen Walker Carlisle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The researcher examined the relationships between tuberous sclerosis, a multi-system genetic disorder, and school functioning through the use of a parent questionnaire and behavior rating scale. Information was gathered on the typical school experiences of children with tuberous sclerosis, including educational placement and services, behavioral functioning, parent involvement, and parent satisfaction. The results indicated that the majority of students with tuberous sclerosis are in special education and receiving related services. Three-quarters received one or more related services through the public school, and 30% received private related services paid for by their parents. Parent involvement was positively correlated with parent satisfaction, …

An Assessment Of Paired Similarities And Card Sorting, Theodore James Dwyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol expectancies have been shown to be predictive of risk for alcohol problems. Experimental research studies have challenged participants' expectancies with the end result demonstrating a mediational effect on participant drinking. Cognitive research using priming and word recognition tasks have led to the theory that expectancies operate in an associative network. Using dissimilarities information this network has been mapped using multidimensional scaling. The current techniques for collecting dissimilarities information directly in alcohol expectancy research has been limited to the use of the paired comparisons tasks. In order to investigate the utility of a different similarities task a comparison was made …

Fishing-Dependent Communities On The Gulf Coast Of Florida: Their Identification, Recent Decline And Present Resilience, Yu, Huang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U.S. fisheries legislation requires National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to attend to the critical social and economic issues surrounding the definition and identification of fishing communities, and to the effects that changes to the physical environment and regulatory decisions can have on such communities. To fulfil their mandate, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) sponsored the research entitled "Identifying Fishing Communities in the Gulf of Mexico" to study the economic, social and cultural status of potential fishing communities along the Gulf of Mexico.

NMFS contracted the research project to Impact Assessment, Inc. to study 80 plus potential fishing communities in the …

Homosocial, Homoerotic, Bisexual, And Androgynous Bonds In Shakespeare’S Comedies, Klarisa Sokolovic-Cizmek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the thesis I inquire into the nature of the same-sex bonds in Shakespeare’s comedies. I discuss seven pairs of characters and demonstrate how in his comedies, Shakespeare first created homosocial relationships, later homoerotic relationships, then bisexual relationships, and, finally, a couple that may be described as androgynous. I demonstrate that in the early comedies the relationships are primarily homosocial and serve the purpose of self-realization. The self-realization includes reaching of a balance between a “feminine,” and a “masculine” self, with the goal of becoming a mature, androgynous human being. Although there are some homoerotic undercurrents in both the male …

Workflow Modeling Using Finite Automata, Atul Ravi Khemuka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Workflow is an automation of a business process. In general, it consists of processes and activities, which are represented by well-defined tasks. These include 'Office Automation,' 'Health Care' and service-oriented processes such as 'Online Reservations,' 'Online Bookstores' and 'Insurance Claims,' etc. The entities that execute these tasks are humans, application programs or database management systems. These tasks are related and dependent on one another based on business policies and rules.

With rapid increases in application domains that use workflow management systems, there is a need for a framework that can be used to implement these applications. In particular, it …

A Novel Normal-To-Plane Space Efficient Micro Corner Cube Retroreflector With Improved Fill Factor, Rahul Agarwal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Corner Cube Retro-reflector (CCR) is a device that can be used as transmitters in wireless free space optical communication systems, or remote sensing instruments. A novel approach to fabricate the CCR is developed, where almost 100% of the planar chip area acts as the CCR compared to the maximum of 33% in the prior MEMS CCRs. Unlike the conventional micro machined CCRs that have two planes (mirrors of the CCR) normal to the surface of the wafer, our approach yields all the mirrors within the bulk of the wafer, ensuring very high packing densities and wide acceptance angles. The …

Monaural Speech-In-Noise Thresholds Using The Hearing In Noise Test (Hint), Denise Parrish

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding speech in background noise is occasionally difficult for normal hearing listeners and is often impossible for the listener with sensorineural hearing loss. The ability to understand speech in noise depends upon multiple factors such as the characteristics of the speech signal, the signal-to-noise ratio, and the listener's degree of hearing impairment. A routine hearing evaluation usually does not provide ample information about a listener's functional communication abilities. The Hearing-in-Noise Test (HINT) developed by The House Ear Institute provides an efficient and reliable method for evaluating an individual's suprathreshold speech understanding ability in quiet and in noise.

The purpose of …

Perceptions Of Family Functioning Between Children With Behavior Difficulties And Their Primary Caregiver, Melissa Farino Todd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study compared perceptions of family functioning among preadolescent children with behavior difficulties and their primary caregivers. Participants consisted of 29 caregiver-child dyads as well as each child's classroom teacher. Eligibility for the study was based on the child's placement within a self-contained Emotionally Handicapped (EH) or Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) classroom in one of three elementary schools within two west coast Florida counties. Data collection included teacher rating scales pertaining to the severity of each child's behavior and the presence of Callus Unemotional (CU) traits in addition to caregiver and child interviews tapping perceptions of family functioning.

Results …

Patterns Of 4th Graders' Literacy Events In Web Page Development, Rewa Colette Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study describes in-class and home literacy events that occur when students work in groups to create web pages as evidence of learning the academic content that was presented within a fourth grade classroom. The constructivist approach to learning was the underpinning idea examined as well as its connection to technology and group work. Data were collected in a variety of ways to obtain a picture, as comprehensive as possible, of the oral, listening, viewing, and written on-task communication and interactions that occurred. As the in-class and home literacy events emerged, the competencies and strategies that students used while interacting …

Risky Predictions, Damn Strange Coincidences, And Theory Appraisal: A Multivariate Corroboration Index For Path Analytic Models, Kristine Y. Hogarty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The empirical testing of theories is an important component of research in any field. Yet despite the long history of science, the extent to which theories are supported or contradicted by the results of empirical research remains ill defined. Quite commonly, support or contradiction is based solely on the "reject" or "fail to reject" decisions that result from tests of null hypotheses that are derived from aspects of theory. Decisions and recommendations based on this forced and often artificial dichotomy have been scrutinized in the past.

In recent years, such an overly simplified approach to theory testing has been vigorously …

Small And Large Signal Modeling Of Mm-Wave Mhemt Devices, William, Clausen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research effort advances millimeter-wave transistor modeling in a current RF/Microwave circuit simulator (Agilent's Advanced Design System-ADS) for small-signal noise and large signal simulations. The device modeled is a metamorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (mHEMT) supplied by Raytheon RF components. Because of their structure, these new low noise devices are used in this work to test the abilities to accurately model in the sub 0.5dB noise figure territory and to study model prediction into W-band (75-110 GHz).

New modeling issues discussed in this thesis involve the effects of noise modeling in relation to the small-signal model parameters. The noise modeling …

Effect Sizes, Significance Tests, And Confidence Intervals: Assessing The Influence And Impact Of Research Reporting Protocol And Practice, Melinda Rae Hess

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses research reporting practices and protocols by bridging the gap from the theoretical and conceptual debates typically found in the literature with more realistic applications using data from published research. Specifically, the practice of using findings of statistical analysis as the primary, and often only, basis for results and conclusions of research is investigated through computing effect size and confidence intervals and considering how their use might impact the strength of inferences and conclusions reported.

Using a sample of published manuscripts from three peer-rviewed journals, central quantitative findings were expressed as dichotomous hypothesis test results, point estimates of …

Fpga-Based Implementation Of Concatenative Speech Synthesis Algorithm, Praveen Kumar Bamini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main aim of a text-to-speech synthesis system is to convert ordinary text into an acoustic signal that is indistinguishable from human speech. This thesis presents an architecture to implement a concatenative speech synthesis algorithm targeted to FPGAs. Many current text-to-speech systems are based on the concatenation of acoustic units of recorded speech. Current concatenative speech synthesizers are capable of producing highly intelligible speech. However, the quality of speech often suffers from discontinuities between the acoustic units, due to contextual differences. This is the easiest method to produce synthetic speech. It concatenates prerecorded acoustic elements and forms a continuous speech …