Digital Commons Network^™

Using Frequency Analysis To Determine Wetland Hydroperiod, Lisa D. Foster

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands are nominally characterized by, vegetation, presence of saturated soils and/or period and depth of standing water (inundation). Wetland hydroperiod, traditionally defined by the period or duration of inundation, is considered to control the ecological function and resultant plant community. This study seeks to redefine "hydroperiod" to incorporate both surface and subsurface water-level fluctuations, to identify predominant hydroperiod of different wetland types, and to find the range of the water-level fluctuations during the predominant hydroperiod durations. The motivation being that wetland ecological condition is controlled not just by the period of inundation but also by the proximity and depth to …

The Relationship Of Initial Flooding Depositional Facies To Global Sea Level And Climate On The Marion Plateau, Ne Australia (Odp Leg 194), Katherine T. Ciembronowicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Coral Sea has been the host to a variety of large carbonate platforms over the geologic past and presently hosts the world's largest system of coral reefs, the Great Barrier Reef, stretching more then 2,300 km along Australia's northeast coast. The Marion Plateau, which today is the site of 400 m deep hemipelagic sediment drifts, once supported two large carbonate platforms that were precursors to reef growth on the central and southern Great Barrier Reef. Previous work examining the growth phases, drownings and rejuvenation of these platforms is extensive. The purpose of this research is to examine the factors …

Prevalence Of Language Disorders Among Children With Severe Behavioral Problems Referred For A Psychiatric Evaluation By A Large Urban School District, Brenda J. Curtwright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the language skills and behavior characteristic of 63 students with severe behavior disorders who were referred by a large, mostly urban school district for a neuropsychiatric evaluation between 2001 and 2005. Archival data were retrieved by chart review for this study and was used to answer the following questions: 1) What is the prevalence of language disorders in children referred for a psychiatric evaluation? 2) Do behavioral symptoms vary among children with and without a language disorder? and 3) What is the initial area of concern identified by the parents of children with language and behavior disorders? …

Baker Act Examination Referrals Among Children And Adolescents: An Analysis Of School Related Variables, Bradley Scott Beam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Baker Act is legislation that provides civil rights for individuals suspected of having a mental illness and may be in need of involuntary psychiatric evaluation. Its intent is to prevent the indiscriminate placement of individuals in residential treatment facilities and other restrictive placements. Referrals for involuntary psychiatric evaluation under Baker Act statutes have increased among children and adolescents in recent years, raising concerns related its use with this population. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between school based factors and the use of the Baker Act among children and adolescents. Results indicate that the use …

Factors Associated With School-Based Mental Health Services Delivered By School Psychologists, Emily Luis Cimino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that relate to the delivery of mental health services by school psychologists using a national database. The relationship between school psychologists' demographic, preparation, and professional context factors (e.g., gender, ethnicity, educational level, percentage of minority students served, years of experience, and students to school psychologist ratio), and the types of mental health services delivered, amount of time invested in such services, and the desirability of school psychologists to provide or not to provide mental health services was addressed. In addition, the percentages of school psychologists who deliver mental health services and …

Improved Techniques For Nonlinear Electrothermal Fet Modeling And Measurement Validation, Charles Passant Baylis Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurate transistor models are important in wireless and microwave circuit design. Large-signal field-effect transistor (FET) models are generally extracted from current-voltage (IV) characteristics, small-signal S-parameters, and large-signal measurements. This dissertation describes improved characterization and measurement validation techniques for FET models that correctly account for thermal and trapping effects.

Demonstration of a customized pulsed-bias, pulsed-RF S-parameter system constructed by the author using a traditional vector network analyzer is presented, along with the design of special bias tees to allow pulsing of the bias voltages. Pulsed IV and pulsed-bias S-parameter measurements can provide results that are electrodynamically accurate; that is, thermal and …

Relation Between Weight Status, Gender, Ethnicity And The Food And Activity Choices Of 6th And 9th Graders, Heather Leanne Curtiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between the variables weight status (expected weight, at-risk for overweight, and overweight), ethnicity, and gender and the dependent variables dietary intake and physical activity behaviors among adolescents. Data presented in this study were collected using the Nutrition and Exercise Survey for Students, which was completed by 535 6th grade and 9th grade students across 3 middle and 2 high-schools in southwest Florida. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to identify differences in dietary intake and physical activity behaviors between groups.

The primary questions related to interactions and main effects between the variables weight …

Oceanic Interfaces: Investigations Of Biogeochemical Changes Across Nutriclines And Frontal Boundaries, Lori R. Adornato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biogeochemical changes across oceanic interfaces, and method development to study such changes, are described in this work. The interfaces studied include the Subtropical Front in the Pacific Ocean and the boundary at the base of the euphotic zone. Both interfaces are characterized by accumulations of phytoplankton, although the forcing functions that result in increased biomass are distinctly different.

The Subtropical Front, located at approximately 30°N in the Pacific Ocean, was detected during a cruise in the summer of 2002 by its diagnostic 34.8 salinity outcrop, in spite of the absence of its associated temperature signature. The front displayed elevated concentrations …

The Relationship Between Young Adults' Retrospective Perceptions Of Differential Parental Treatment, Quality Of The Childhood And Current Sibling Relationship And Current Psychological Adjustment, Tangela R. Clark Culpepper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relations among young adults' perceptions of differential parental treatment, temperamental style, attitudes toward their childhood and current sibling relationships, and psychological adjustment. Participants included 87 college students and their siblings between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Students completed measures in small groups, and siblings completed the surveys via mail. The data were analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kashy & Kenny, 1999). Results revealed that participants' perceptions of their sibling relationship during childhood were related to their current attitudes toward the relationship. In addition, siblings were in agreement regarding their overall attitudes toward …

Expansion And Validation Of The Political Skill Inventory (Psi): An Examination Of The Link Between Charisma, Political Skill, And Performance, David R. Coole

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present research was developed to reexamine the factor structure of the Political Skill Inventory (PSI), expand upon the political skill behavioral taxonomy to include charisma, and provide validity evidence for both the PSI and our new measure of charisma. In study one, using a large undergraduate student sample, confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for a three factor structure of political skill. Charisma and networking ability were identified as unique factors of the political skill construct domain while PSI dimensions of social astuteness, interpersonal influence, and apparent sincerity collapsed to form a single dimension. Study One results also indicated a …

A Compositional Approach To Asynchronous Design Verification With Automated State Space Reduction, Jared Ahrens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Model checking is the most effective means of verifying the correctness of asynchronous designs, and state space exploration is central to model checking. Although model checking can achieve very high verification coverage, the high degree of concurrency in asynchronous designs often leads to state explosion during state space exploration. To inhibit this explosion, our approach builds on the ideas of compositional verification. In our approach, a design modeled in a high level description is partitioned into a set of parallel components. Before state space exploration, each component is paired with an over-approximated environment to decouple it from the rest of …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On The Diversity Of Soil-Dwelling Arthropods In The University Of South Florida Ecological Research Area, Tampa, Florida, Celina Bellanceau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leaf litter samples were used to study arthropod diversity in the University of South Florida Ecological Research Area. Arthropods were collected from different plots of different prescribed burn frequencies (1year, 2 year, 5 year, 7 year and no burn frequencies). Differential responses of arthropods to burn frequency were studied. It was expected that burn frequency would affect arthropod richness and diversity and that the pattern of diversity and richness would follow the Intermediated Disturbance Hypothesis. It was also expected that richness and diversity would be correlated with the amount of leaf litter present. Preliminary results suggest that there are short-term …

Evaluation Of Taqman Real-Time Pcr For The Detection Of Viable Cryptosporidium Parvum Oocysts In Environmental Water Samples, Melissa A. Cameron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cryptosporidium parvum is of growing public health concern due to its ability to survive typical water treatment processes. In order to protect the public from infection, the Environmental Protection Agency developed Method 1623 for the detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts in environmental water samples. Execution of this method is time consuming, and the results do not provide an accurate estimation of viability. Therefore, current research is focused on creating a real-time PCR method for the accurate detection of viable Cryptosporidium parvum in environmental water samples.

This thesis presents the development of a real-time PCR method, and the results obtained in its …

Channel, Spectrum, And Waveform Awareness In Ofdm-Based Cognitive Radio Systems, Tevfik Yücek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The radio spectrum is becoming increasingly congested everyday with emerging technologies and with the increasing number of wireless devices. Considering the limited bandwidth availability, accommodating the demand for higher capacity and data rates is a challenging task, requiring innovative technologies that can offer new ways of exploiting the available radio spectrum. Cognitive radio arises to be a tempting solution to the spectral crowding problem by introducing the notion of opportunistic spectrum usage. Because of its attractive features, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been successfully used in numerous wireless standards and technologies. We believe that OFDM will play an important …

Highbrow: A Context Enabled Highlighting Browser, Ronald J. Zucker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the World Wide Web continues to grow, more and more information is retrieved online. A person visiting a Web site has a choice of whether to skip, skim, deep read, bookmark for later revisiting, print a document, or any combination of these options. Recently, several tools have been developed to allow users to digitally annotate Web documents. These tools allow users to highlight, make text notes, and scrape information (a form of copy and paste). This dissertation introduces a new form of annotating, called context highlighting. Context highlighting is the ability to mark the text that surrounds keywords or …

Implementation Of Unmanned Vehicle Control On Fpga Based Platform Using System Generator, Shashikala Narasimha Murthy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to explore a new and improved software development tool for the implementation of control algorithms on Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). The Simulink plug in, System Generator, complements traditional Hardware Description Language (HDL) by providing a higher level graphical language for the development of FPGA designs. The design is then translated into the lower level required by the Xilinx's ISE program. By utilizing this graphical based higher level of abstraction at the design entry level, the requirement of a detailed knowledge of HDL languages is no longer required. Because of this new environment …

Breaking The Typecast: Revising Roles For Coordinating Mixed Teams, Matthew T. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heterogeneous multi-agent systems are currently used in a wide variety of situations, including search and rescue, military applications, and off-world exploration, however it is difficult to understand the actions of these systems or naturalistically assign these mixed teams to tasks. These agents, which may be human, robot or software, have different capabilities but will need to coordinate effectively with humans in order to operate. The first and largest contributing factor to this challenge is the processing, understanding and representing of elements of the natural world in a manner that can be utilized by artificial agents. A second contributing factor is …

Measurement And Modeling Of The Anhysteretic Magnetization Of Magnetic Cores For Temperature And Frequency Dependent Effects, Jeremy M. Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inductors and transformers are electrical devices critical to power conversion systems. The current-voltage (I-V) behavior of these devices is very nonlinear as a result of the magnetic cores used in their construction. However, in the design of these power conversion systems the present state of Spice-based models is limited to low frequency and room temperature effects. An addition to the present model found in many Spice type environments, Jiles-Atherton, is the subject of this work. Chapter 1 of this dissertation introduces the source of these nonlinearities as being a result of the relationship between the magnetic flux density, B, and …

Analysis Of Vtol Mav Use During Rescue And Recovery Operations Following Hurricane Katrina, Kevin S. Pratt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There can be little doubt that Hurricane Katrina will always be remembered for the damage and devastation it caused. But it also provided the first opportunity for MAVs to be used and evaluated during Search and Rescue (SAR) as well as recovery operations. Researchers from The Center for Robot-Assisted Search And Rescue (CRASAR) made two separate deployments to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina: one during initial SAR operations and a second deployment during recovery operations 90 days later. Using data and observations from both of these deployments, this work draws four key findings about semi-autonomous Miniature UAV (MAV) operations in …

Ultra-Wideband Electronics, Design Methods, Algorithms, And Systems For Dielectric Spectroscopy Of Isolated B16 Tumor Cells In Liquid Medium, Erick N. Maxwell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quantifying and characterizing isolated tumor cells (ITCs) is of interest in surgical pathology and cytology for its potential to provide data for cancer staging, classification, and treatment. Although the independent prognostic significance of circulating ITCs has not been proven, their presence is gaining clinical relevance as an indicator. However, researchers have not established an optimal method for detecting ITCs. Consequently, this Ph.D. dissertation is concerned with the development and evaluation of dielectric spectroscopy as a low-cost method for cell characterization and quantification. In support of this goal, ultra-wideband (UWB), microwave pulse generator circuits, coaxial transmission line fixtures, permittivity extraction algorithms, …

Error Equivalence Theory For Manufacturing Process Control, Hui Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to uncertainty in manufacturing processes, applied probability and statistics have been widely applied for quality and productivity improvement. In spite of significant achievements made in causality modeling for control of process variations, there exists a lack of understanding on error equivalence phenomenon, which concerns the mechanism that different error sources result in identical variation patterns on part features. This so called error equivalence phenomenon could have dual effects on dimensional control: significantly increasing the complexity of root cause identification, and providing an opportunity to use one error source to counteract or compensate the others. Most of previous research has …

Probabilistic Modeling Of Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata, Saket Srivastava

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As CMOS scaling faces a technological barrier in the near future, novel design paradigms are being proposed to keep up with the ever growing need for computation power and speed. Most of these novel technologies have device sizes comparable to atomic and molecular scales. At these levels the quantum mechanical effects play a dominant role in device performance, thus inducing uncertainty. The wave nature of particle matter and the uncertainty associated with device operation make a case for probabilistic modeling of the device. As the dimensions go down to a molecular scale, functioning of a nano-device will be governed primarily …

The Conditional Influence Of Criminological Constructs On Juvenile Delinquency: An Examination Of The Moderating Effects Of Self-Control, Angela Yarbrough

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self-control and various elements comprising this construct have received much credit over the years as it has been able to account for a large amount of variance in delinquency rates. Some research has suggested that individual difference factors (e.g., self-control) can overwhelm external factors (e.g., neighborhoods; see Loeber & Wikström, 2000). Others have found that social influences (e.g., employment; see Wright, et al, 2001) have more pronounced effects for those most at-risk. Because of the equivocal nature of the empirical findings, this study seeks to replicate and extend previous efforts. Specifically, the influence of constructs derived from social learning, control, …

Investigation Into Workplace Culture For Medication Error Reporting In Pharmacy, Tamala Lavelle Gulley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study determined impacts on reported medication errors in pharmacy by analyzing the culture in an undisclosed pharmacy in Florida. SPSS Statistical Software was used to determine the relationship between medication errors and workplace culture. Workplace culture was analyzed by distributing a 43-question culture survey to the pharmacists. There were two treatment groups, Control and Intervention, and the culture survey was two-fold, pre-survey and post-survey, utilizing identical questions to note the difference in a comparative analysis. During the pre-survey, the pharmacists in the Intervention Group received an informational sheet which contained information on a non-punitive culture as well as information …

Fabrication: Corporate And Governmental Crime In The Apparel Industry, Danielle Mcgurrin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine both the gendered and racialized nature of workplace risk and compensation in the manufacturing industry of apparel. The author selects this industry because of its low-wage, labor intensive, and "deskilled" work, performed in often unsafe employment environments with minimal governmental regulations and limited unionization. The apparel industry is also characterized by its large percentage of racial and ethnic minorities, especially immigrant employees, that further disadvantage them in terms of communication barriers, threat of deportation, and the multiple and intersecting marginalizations associated with occupying a low-wage, minority and/or immigrant status. The gendered effects …

Medicaid Risk Adjustment Model With Diagnosis And Pharmacy-Based Adjusters: Does It Work?, Yanen Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

National health expenditures will continue to grow faster than nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in the early 21st century (Heffler et al., 2002; Heffler et al., 2005). Increased Medicaid costs have spurred research to find reliable cost-saving methodologies (Kronick et al., 1996). The Medicaid administrations of some states have chosen risk adjustment as a methodology for savings (Tollen et al., 1998; Weiner et al., 1998), since it can reduce the financial burden of health care providers and distribute medical resources more efficiently. This dissertation presents a risk-adjustment model based on two types of health condition adjusters: diagnosis-based HCC adjusters and …

Voice Recognition System Based On Intra-Modal Fusion And Accent Classification, Srikanth Mangayyagari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Speaker or voice recognition is the task of automatically recognizing people from their speech signals. This technique makes it possible to use uttered speech to verify the speaker's identity and control access to secured services. Surveillance, counter-terrorism and homeland security department can collect voice data from telephone conversation without having to access to any other biometric dataset. In this type of scenario it would be beneficial if the confidence level of authentication is high. Other applicable areas include online transactions,database access services, information services, security control for confidential information areas, and remote access to computers. Speaker recognition systems, even though …

System Approach To Embedded System Design, Vikram Prabhakar Mehendale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During this research, the concepts of Systems Engineering were applied to embedded system design. The objective was to apply the Systems Engineering methodology to the design of a particular embedded system. A Video Surveillancesystem was chosen as the particular embedded system. Systems Engineering concepts provide the foundation for an optimized design process and for the coordination between system modules. The functionality of the Video Surveillance system was achieved through the partitioning of the overall system functionality into three separate modules. The three modules were Image Capture, Image Processing and Image Transmission. The methodology employed resulted in a system that was …

Warm: Wearable Assistant With Remote Monitoring, Lisa Michelle Provenzano Heugel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wearable computing has been in existence as part of our attire for many years, a few examples being the watches, cell phones and MP3 players. Recently, many researchers have been devising ways to incorporate wearable devices seamlessly into our lives with the goal of making them an indispensable part of our daily routines. In this thesis, a new wearable computing device called WARM (Wearable Assistant for Remote Monitoring) for use by the elderly and the handicapped is proposed and its software architecture is defined and described. The physically challenged or the elderly, living on their own, but who require assistance …

Regulation Of Foxo Stability And Activity By Mdm2 E3 Ligase, Wei Fu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Members of the forkhead class O (FOXO) transcription factors are tumor suppressors and key molecules that control aging and lifespan. The stability of mammalian FOXO proteins is controlled by proteasome-mediated degradation but general ubiquitin E3 ligases for FOXO factors remain to be defined. The current studies demonstrate that MDM2 bound to FOXO1 and FOXO3A and promoted their ubiquitination and subsequent degradation, a process apparently dependent on FOXO phopshorylation at PKB sites and on the E3 ligase activity of MDM2. The binding occurred between endogenous proteins and was involved the forkhead box of FOXO1 and the region of MDM2 that controls …