Digital Commons Network^™

Doing Dignity At The Grace Café: An Ethnographic Exploration Of A Homeless Outreach Program, Courtney A. Glover

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Homeless outreach programs vary widely in their approaches to client treatment. At the Grace Café, an organization that serves daily meals to people who are homeless, the concept of dignity is central to guest treatment. According to the café's ideology, the importance of providing food is secondary to serving with dignity. This research explores dignity as an ideal of client treatment at the Grace Café. Based on ethnographic research, this paper explores how dignity is communicated to volunteers, implemented in service, and challenged at the Grace Café.

Surface And Interface Magnetism In Nanostructures And Thin Films, Natalie A. Frey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanostructured systems composed of two or more technologically important materials are useful for device applications and intriguing for the new fundamental physics they may display. Magnetism at the nanoscale is dominated by size and surface effects which combined with other media lead to new spin dynamics and interfacial coupling phenomena. These new properties may prove to be useful for optimizing sensors and devices, increasing storage density for magnetic media, as well as for biomedical applications such as drug delivery, MRI contrast enhancement, and hyperthermia treatment for cancer. In this project we have examined the surface and interface magnetism of composite …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Epidural Steroid Injections To Treat Lumbosacral Radiculopathy In Chronic Pain Patients Managed Under Workers’ Compensation, Sheila Mohammed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No conclusive evidence exists to determine that epidural steroid injections (ESIs) provide lasting improvements in chronic pain due to herniated discs, in the Workers' Compensation population. Recently, an article by Armon et.al was published by the American Academy of Neurology, which stated that the routine use of ESIs is not recommended and that further studies are needed to elucidate this controversy (Armon, Argoff, Samuels, & Backonja, 2007).

In 1998, back pain in the United States was estimated to have incurred total health-care expenditures of $90.7 billion. Medicare part B. claims in 1999 for 40.4 million individuals amounted to $49.9 million …

Factors Influencing The Perceived Credibility Of Public Relations Message Sources, Titilola O. Epega

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study establishes a link between research done in the field of public relations on source credibility, communicator gender, message strength, and source affiliation. Research has established that source credibility is one of the most important factors influencing the acceptance of a message. For this study, source credibility was measured using three main dimensions: expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness. Similar to many studies focusing on source credibility, this study focuses on the various attributes of the communicator or message source. This study uses an experimental procedure to investigate the relationships between source credibility, message strength, source affiliation, and communicator gender. Based …

Organizational Culture In Children's Mental Health Systems Of Care, Jessica Mazza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A cohesive organizational culture has been linked to positive outcomes in child-serving agencies, such as improved child-level outcomes and positive organizational climate (Glisson & Green, 2006; Glisson & Hemmelgarm, 1998; Glisson & James, 2002; Hemmelgarn, Glisson, & James, 2006). Although isolated studies of organizational culture have been conducted in individual agencies (child welfare and juvenile justice), no study has examined the organization culture of successful, holistic systems of care that involve the coordination of multiple agencies, such as child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and education. Data collected from the three system-of-care sites selected for participation in Case Studies of …

Digitally Implemented Interactive Fiction: Systematic Development And Validation Of “Mole, P.I.”, A Multimedia Adventure For Third Grade Readers, Denise Haunstetter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Interactive fiction" has been used to describe many of today's multimedia products. In reality, there is not a universal understanding of what interactive fiction is or what it should entail. The meaning of "interactive" is often interpreted in different ways. Many stories are considered to be interactive because they are placed on the computer. Meanwhile, such stories may lack most of the essential qualities for good literature. Interaction fiction should be upheld to the same standards as traditional texts. Following this belief, this research covers the underlying theories of interactive fiction, examples of misleading "interactive fiction" studies, and guidelines for …

Cysteine Based Pna (Cpna): Design, Synthesis And Application, Sung Wook Yi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This report mainly discusses the development of the cysteine based PNA (CPNA), which is an analogue of PNAs. Peptide nucleic acids (PNA), a pseudopeptide DNA mimic, was discovered by Nielsen and his coworker in 1991. PNA is proved to sequence-specifically form a very stable duplex with complementary DNA and RNA strands through Watson-Crick base paring, and it is also capable of binding to duplex DNA by helix invasion. These intriguing properties of PNA implicated great potential for medical and biotechnical applications. Therefore, PNA has attracted many scientists in the fields of chemistry, biology, medicine including drug discovery and genetic diagnostics, …

Comparing A Low-Volume Piezometer To Traditional Wells In Evaluating Hydraulic Lag Caused By Low-Permeability Sediments, John M. Spencer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally-constructed wells are commonly used to measure hydraulic head in all saturated systems, even in fine-grained sediments. Previous studies (Hvorslev 1951, Penman 1961) have shown that time lag in response to head changes between traditional wells and the surrounding fine-grained sediments can be a significant source of error. Time lag is caused by the time required for water to flow into or out of the well to reflect the appropriate change in head.

A low-volume piezometer was constructed to measure changes in hydraulic head without requiring a change in fluid volume within the piezometer by directly measuring pore pressure in …

The Benefits Of Interleaving Different Kinds Of Mathematics Practice Problems, Kelli M. Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In most mathematics textbooks, virtually all of the problems in each set of practice problems, or in each practice set, relate to the immediately preceding lesson - an arrangement described here as the standard format of practice. Alternatively, the problems within a shuffled practice set are drawn from numerous lessons. With the shuffled format, each practice set has two distinguishing features: within-session spacing, in which problems of the same kind appearing in a single practice set are separated by some period of time, and mixed practice, in which different types of problems are interleaved. Although previous studies …

Metallopeptides As Model Systems For The Study Of Cu(Ii)-Dependent Oxidation Chemistry, William Maung Tay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Copper is one of the essential metal ions for aerobic organisms. Two well known functions of copper in the biological systems are electron transfer and molecular oxygen interaction. Thus, this metal can be found in haemocyanin, an oxygen carrier protein, and superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that involves in electron transfer. In addition, having a positive redox potential allows copper to be involved in redox chemistry. It is the redox properties of copper that are responsible for many important biochemical processes. Although the copper-containing oxidases have been well studied over the years, certain mechanistic details such as reaction intermediates remain to …

Cob Building: Movements And Moments Of Survival, Jeanine Marie Minge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cob, as an arts-based research process, creates movements and moments of survival. Survival is an ideological construction and an actual, local practice. Survival is also about desiring and fulfilling arts-based desires to work with the land through academic and material scavenging. Cob creates strategies for surviving, for working with our respective environments wisely. Cob building teaches people how to negotiate the natural economy and their relationships to labor and each other through an artistic and intimate practice. From a feminist poststructural lens, survival happens on the local level, between and with people. Cob building creates knowledge through creative, kinesthetic, and …

The Influence Of Valenced Images On Perceptual Learning, Noah Sulman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to determine whether the rate of perceptual learning in a vernier discrimination task could be influenced by affective images. Forty-eight (30 Female, 18 Male) subjects were instructed to indicate the direction of an offset over 620 trials. Subjects were primed with either negative, positive or neutral photographs before making the discrimination on all test trials. Feedback regarding offset performance was provided on each trial. Despite initial pilot data indicating that subjects primed with negative, arousing images improved performance over those primed with either neutral or positive images, there was ultimately no reliable advantage for any of the …

The Effects Of Non-Surgical Interventions On Osteoarthritis-Like Changes In The Mouse Knee, Wendy K. Anemaet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating condition affecting over 21 million persons in the United States. This number is expected to rise in the coming decades. Treatment approaches for OA focus on symptom modifying measures (i.e., pain relief) as disease modifying interventions do not currently exist. However, some of the interventions used to alleviate the symptoms of OA are also thought to have disease-modifying benefits. Two such non-surgical interventions for OA are intra-articular hyaluronan (HA) injections and physical exercise. In order to effectively study their effects in human OA, animal models that are amenable for studying intervention outcomes are needed.

The …

The Influence Of Apathy And Depression On Cognitive Functioning In Parkinson’S Disease, London C. Butterfield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Depression and apathy are two of the most common psychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) with prevalence estimates at higher rates than in medical populations with similar levels of disability. Several studies have provided evidence to suggest that apathy and depression are independent clinical phenomena that may differentially affect cognition. Recent research suggests that apathy may account for cognitive deficits over and above that of depression, especially in the domain of executive functioning. However, few studies have examined the independent influence of depression and apathy on cognitive abilities in patients diagnosed with PD using sensitive measures of specific cognitive domains. …

Temporal And Spatial Patterns In Optical Properties Of Colored Dissolved Organic Matter On Florida’S Gulf Coast: Shelf To Stream To Aquifer, Robyn Nicole Conmy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Characterization of Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) in surface and ground waters in South Florida was conducted using fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy. Waters of the West Florida Shelf are heavily influenced by many river systems on Florida's Gulf Coast that, to the first order control CDOM distributions on the shelf. Seasonal surveys revealed that changes in the underwater light field as a result of major hurricanes and resuspension events are linked closely with a number of factors prior to a storm's passing such as the presence of persistant blooms, rainfall and discharge. Additionally, storm track and wind direction were found …

A Historical Perspective Of The Development Of Prekindergarten And The Evolution Of Quality Elements, Catherine C. Cross

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a historical study of preschool nationally and partly internationally with a focus on elucidating the development of quality elements. The study will trace the beginnings of perkindergaten and how the programs have evolved to their current state.

The study contains a look at the current state of prekindergarten programs within the United States and how the differing states are measuring their programs. The use of the word quality is examined as it relates to how programs are designed and implemented. The study will also examine several different states that have been acknowledged as the front runners in prekindergarten …

Supporting Teachers And Children During In-Class Transitions: The Power Of Prevention, Sarah M. Mele

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In early childhood classrooms, transitions are often targeted as times of the day during which teachers encounter problems with deficiencies in child engagement, as well as frequent occurrences of challenging behavior. Studies to date on improving child behavior during in-class transitions have focused on providing supports for individual children, as well as on reducing transition duration. The present study evaluated the effects of systematic transition strategies, as applied to three Head Start preschool classrooms during targeted in-class transitions. Strategies encompassed an accumulation of antecedent and consequent manipulations and were selected on the basis of environmental fit with individual classroom environments. …

Fashion Advertising, Men’S Magazines, And Sex In Advertising: A Critical-Interpretive Study, Jennifer Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines sexualized portrayals of women in fashion advertising found in metro-sexual men's magazines as visual rhetoric. Historically, studies on sexual images of women in advertising have focused on content analyses of these images and how they affect women. This study asks how sexualized imagery of women functions rhetorically as part of a branding message designed to sell products. The exemplar advertisements were chosen specifically for their sexual imagery from an earlier study by the researcher on sexual images of women in fashion advertisements found in men's magazines.

The messages interpreted within the visuals of this study reveal a …

The Impact Of Computer Mediated Communication Systems Monitoring On Organizational Communications Content, Carolyn F. Holton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Employer monitoring of communications is prevalent and on the rise due in part to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Health Insurance Privacy Protection Act, and other legislation in the U.S. and other countries. However, the critical effect of this new activity on what is communicated in companies has not been assessed. This dissertation examines the impacts of computer mediated communication systems monitoring on neutral, incriminating and exculpatory content, as well as the overall volume of communications issued on monitored and non-monitored computer mediated communication systems. Incriminating communication is cataloged in a hazard communications taxonomy for this investigation. A controlled laboratory experiment …

Effects Of U-Turns On Capacity At Signalized Intersections And Simulation Of U-Turning Movement By Synchro, Xiaodong Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the operational effects of U-turn movement at signalized intersections. More specifically, the research objectives include the following parts:

• To identify the factors affecting the operational performance of U-turning vehicles. In this case, we are particularly interested in the U-turn speeds of U-turning vehicles.
• To evaluate the impacts of U-turns on capacity of signalized intersections, and
• To simulate U-turn movement at signalized intersections using Synchro and validate the simulation results.

To achieve the research objectives, extensive field data collection work was conducted at sixteen selected sites at Tampa Bay area of Florida. …

Expert Video Modeling With Video Feedback To Enhance Gymnastics Skills, Eva Boyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to develop more efficient and practical interventions for athletic performance, some behavioral researchers have incorporated a variety of technological innovations. In sports research, only a few studies have examined the effects of video feedback on athletic skill development. The effects of combining expert video modeling with self video feedback as an adjunct to standard coaching techniques were analyzed in this study. Participants in this study were four 7-10 year old competitive gymnasts. During the intervention, each gymnast performed a specific gymnastics skill and then viewed a pre-recorded video segment showing an expert gymnast performing the same skill. …

Assignment Of Estimated Average Annual Daily Traffic Volumes On All Roads In Florida, Tao Pan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first part, this thesis performed a study to compile and compare current procedures or methodologies for the estimation of traffic volumes on the roads where traffic counts are not easily available. In the second part, linear regression was practiced as an AADT estimation process, which was primarily based on known or accepted AADT values on the neighboring state and local roadways, population densities and other social/economic data.

To develop AADT prediction models for estimating AADT values, two different types of database were created, including a social economic database and a roadway characteristics database. Ten years social economic data, …

Recognition Memory For Emotional Words: An Event Related Potential Study, Catherine C. Balderston

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Evidence suggests that emotion affects memory often yielding enhanced recall and recognition of stimuli with emotional content. The nature of the relationship between emotion and memory for words has been particularly difficult to parse in part because of the stimulus characteristics. For example, emotional words tend to engender greater levels of physiological and psychological arousal, which have also been shown to enhance memory. Inter item relatedness has also been suggested as playing a part in the observed effects (i.e., emotional words belong to a closed semantic category compared to neutral words and are therefore easier to remember). While the enhancement …

Physical Volcanology And Hazard Analysis Of A Young Monogenetic Volcanic Field: Black Rock Desert, Utah, Amanda Rachelle Hintz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Black Rock volcanic cluster consists of 30 small volume monogenetic volcanoes. The volcanoes of this cluster have exhibited bimodal volcanism for > 9 Ma. The most recent eruption of Ice Springs volcano ~600 yrs. ago along with ongoing geothermal activity attests to the usefulness of a hazard assessment for this area. The likelihood of a future eruption in this area is estimated to be between a 0.16 and 24% chance over the next 1 Ka (95% confidence). The explosivity and nature of many of these eruptions is not well known. In particular, the physical volcanology of Tabernacle Hill suggests a …

Integrating Leader-Member Exchange And Organizational Justice: Why Justice Depends On Relationship Quality, Erin M. Jackson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to integrate research on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and organizational justice by proposing and evaluating plausible interactions between LMX and the various dimensions of organizational justice. In addition, this study contributes to the sparse literature on antecedents to LMX by including three previously unexamined antecedents, which consist of basic intra- and interpersonal motivations (i.e., attachment, identity, and regulatory focus), that are under-researched compared to personality and demographic variables. Data were collected from 150 supervisor-subordinate dyads. Results revealed several significant LMX by justice interactions and indicated that interdependent identity levels (relational and collective) and promotion regulatory …

Social Skills Training With Typically Developing Adolescents: Measurement Of Skill Acquisition, Jessica Anne Thompson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The term social skills has been specifically defined as learned behaviors that allow an individual to engage in socially acceptable interactions with other individuals such that the interactions lead to positive responses from others and aid in the avoidance of negative responses (Elliott & Gresham, 1993). The current study investigated the ability of six adolescent females between the ages of 13 and 16 years to acquire a set of social skills through training. Participants' acquisition of the skills before and after training was assessed through role-play assessments and was experimentally demonstrated using a multiple-baseline across skills design. Secondary survey information …

Perceptions Of Effective Teaching And Pre-Service Preparation For Urban Elementary General Music Classrooms: A Study Of Teachers Of Different Cultural Backgrounds In Various Cultural Settings, Lisa J. Lehmberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined perceptions of effective, urban, elementary general music teachers concerning effective teaching and pre-service preparation for urban, elementary general music classrooms. The study was conducted in two phases: survey and interview. Survey phase participants were experienced, urban, elementary general music teachers from different geographical areas of the United States, who had been identified as effective teachers by music teacher educators or music supervisors. Interview phase participants comprised a subset of survey participants who achieved high levels of potential cross-cultural adaptability on the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (Kelley & Meyers, 1995). A comprehensive interview instrument was administered to each participant …

The Getting Ready To Learn Program: An Impact Report, Rosa M. Avila

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Getting Ready to Learn (GRTL) program is an early intervention program designed to improve the developmental skills and learning capacity of Native American children in the Northwest Arctic region of Alaska. Early intervention programs have been found to decrease high school dropout rates and increase employment rates, which contribute to better health outcomes in young adulthood. The Northwest Arctic is a remote area that lacks many resources. As such, the people of this region experience various health disparities. The GRTL program was implemented in 7 of the 11 villages in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska (NWABA). The purpose …

Modeling Crash Severity And Speed Profile At Roadway Work Zones, Zhenyu Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Work zone tends to cause hazardous conditions for drivers and construction workers since work zones generate conflicts between construction activities and the traffic, therefore aggravate the existing traffic conditions and result in severe traffic safety and operational problems. To address the influence of various factors on the crash severity is beneficial to understand the characteristics of work zone crashes. The understanding can be used to select proper countermeasures for reducing the crash severity at work zones and improving work zone safety. In this dissertation, crash severity models were developed to explore the factor impacts on crash severity for two work …

An Electromechanical Synchronization Of Driving Simulator And Adaptive Driving Aide For Training Persons With Disabilities, Rufael Berhane

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cars have become necessities of our daily life and are especially important to people with disability because they extend their range of activity and allow participation in a social life.

Sometimes driving a normal car is impossible for individuals with severe disability and they require additional driving aide. However, it is dangerous to send these individuals on the road without giving them special training on driving vehicles using an adaptive aide.

Nowadays there are a number of driving simulators that train disabled persons but none of them have joystick-enabled training that controls both steering, gas and break pedal. This necessitates …