Digital Commons Network^™

The Application Of A Modified Human Development Index: Spatial Modeling Of Socioeconomic Well-Being For Florida Counties, Clay Kelsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the United Nations Human Development Index as a model for comparing a selected set of socioeconomic indicators across Florida’s sixty-seven counties. Whether for urban planning, hazards mitigation, transportation forecasting, or other county-level and state-level functions, information and understanding of socioeconomic conditions are keys to efficient planning and policy making, both in the early development stages as well as during implementation. A summary overview of socioeconomic well-being and its distribution across a given area offers a distinct advantage in terms of deciding where planning or policy changes are most needed and where they will prove most beneficial.

This …

The Effect Of Dem Resolution On The Computation Of Hydrologically Significant Topographic Attributes, David Alexander Crosby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrain attributes computed from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are widely used in hydrology and hydrologic modeling. It is important to consider that the values of the attributes can be different depending on the resolution of the DEM from which they are derived. The question arises as to how much exactly the high-resolution DEMs created through LIDAR remote sensing techniques change the values of the terrain attributes when compared to lower resolution DEMs.In this thesis a LIDAR-derived DEM of 20 feet resolution was resampled using a nearest-neighbour algorithm to various coarser resolutions to examine and quantify the effect of DEM resolution …

Precipitative Softening And Ultrafiltration Treatment Of Beverage Water, Jorge T. Aguinaldo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lime softening, chlorination, clarification and filtration have been long recognized treatment processes for beverage water specifically the carbonated soft drink (CSD) because it provides consistent water quality required for bottling plants, however these processes are becoming uneconomical and causes more problems than the benefits they offer. These processes require very large foot print, occupy large plant volume, and generate large volume of sludge which causes disposal problems. Chlorination produces trihalomethanes (THMs) and other by-products which are detrimental to health and imparts tastes to the final products. Using the newly developed submerged spiral wound ultrafiltration membranes in conjunction with lime softening …

Rethinking The Monumental: The Museum As Feminist Space In The Sexual Politics Exhibition, 1996, Devon P. Larsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rethinking the monumental suggests not only a reconsideration of Judy Chicago’s controversial installation The Dinner Party (1979)--as displayed in the group feminist art exhibition, Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party in Feminist Art History--but also refers to an unfixing of the monumental position of power afforded the museum and a re-invigoration of the debate in feminist visual art regarding the use of the female body. I use the Sexual Politics exhibition, curated by Amelia Jones for the University of California at Los Angeles Armand Hammer Museum and Cultural Center (1996) as an indicator of the museum as feminist space. Sexual …

An Inquiry Concerning The Teaching Of Critical Thinking In An Advanced Placement Literature And Composition Class, Minnette Northcutt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is intended to serve as an exploratory investigation of inquiry-based teaching in an Advanced Placement (AP) literature and composition course. The rigid curricular constraints of AP courses and the assessment-based guidelines for teaching such courses can challenge the value placed in teaching students to think critically. This project seeks to draw attention to the difficult terrain that teachers navigate when trying to foster environments that facilitate inquiry-based learning while at the same time holding students to the standards set by the curriculum. As an exploratory study, the project aims to identify important issues and questions concerning inquiry-based learning …

The Effects Of Role-Playing On The Development Of Adaptive Skills In A Parent Training Program, Chantell A. Rodriguez-Del Valle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parent training programs are widely used to remediate ineffective strategies being

used by parents of children with maladaptive behaviors. While there are a multitude of

parenting workshops available, it has been estimated that over half have no established

effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to advance our knowledge regarding the

effects of modeling and role-playing (in an experimentally controlled design), used to

supplement the parent workshop called “Winning at Parenting” and enhance development

of adaptive parenting skills of participants.

This study trained parents in the behavioral techniques of clear communication,

differential attention, and time-out procedures via modeling by the …

Production And Perception Of Place Of Articulation Errors, Adrienne M. Stearns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Speech errors have been utilized since the beginning of the last century to learn more about how speech is produced, both physically and cognitively. Collection of speech errors has progressed from writing down naturally occurring speech errors to recording experimentally induced speech errors to current studies, which are using instrumentation to record acoustic and kinematic information about experimentally induced speech errors. One type of instrumentation being used in articulatory research is ultrasound. Ultrasound is gaining popularity for use by those interested in learning how speech is physically produced because of its portability and noninvasiveness. Ultrasound of the tongue during speech …

The Theoretical Modeling, Design, And Synthesis Of Key Structural Units For Novel Molecular Clamps And Pro-Apoptotic Alpha Helix Peptidomimetics, Stephanie Tara Weiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the theory and practice of designing, synthesizing and using peptidomimetics to disrupt protein-protein interactions. Our general strategy is to design and synthesize peptidomimetics that will mimic peptide secondary structures (alpha-helices and beta-sheets). Chapter One is a theoretical examination of the feasibility of using beta-sheet mimics called molecular clamps to inhibit substrate-receptor interactions by blocking the substrate rather than the receptor or enzyme. Several natural and synthetic examples of this approach are given in support of this concept. We also present the results of a kinetic modeling study and a consideration of which types of systems would be …

Evaluation Of Geophysical And Thermal Methods For Detecting Submarine Groundwater Discharge (Sgd) In The Suwannee River Estuary, Florida, Matthew Weiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) represents a significant portion of the total discharge from coastal aquifers through diffuse seepage and point source springs, but can be difficult to locate. SGD is important as it can be a source of nutrients to estuaries and other coastal ecosystems. In an effort to evaluate geophysical and thermal methods for detecting SGD on the Florida Gulf coast, a suite of water-borne surveys were run in conjunction with aerial thermal imagery over the lower Suwannee River and estuary in March and September 2005. Thermal imagery exploits temperature differences between discharging groundwater and surface water. Thermal images …

Spelling Development In Young School Age Children, Kelly M. Fawcett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research investigations in the area of spelling development have adopted

two approaches, the broad approach and the narrow approach. The broad approach

suggests that spelling develops in sequential stages whereas the narrow approach focuses

on individual linguistic patterns. However, research findings have revealed that children’s

spellings do not exhibit errors pertaining to specifically one stage or reflecting one

linguistic element, yet a research void exists in resolving how these two approaches

might intermix.

This study examined the spelling errors of typically developing children in first

through fourth grades (N = 400) to determine the quantitative and qualitative differences

in …

Modeling The Throughput Performance Of The Sf-Sack Protocol, Laura M. Voicu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Besides the two classical techniques used to evaluate the performance of a protocol, computer simulation and experimental measurements, mathematical modeling has been used to study the performance of the TCP protocol. This technique gives an elegant way to gain insights when studying the behavior of a protocol, while providing useful information about its performance.

This thesis presents an analytical model for the SF-SACK protocol, a TCP SACK based protocol conceived to be appropriate for data and streaming applications. SF-Sack modifies the multiplicative part of the Additive Increase Multiplicative Decrease of TCP to provide good performance for data and streaming applications, …

Development Of A Gis Based Infrastructure Replacement Prioritization System; A Case Study, Brian D. Pickard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maintenance, repair, and replacement of transmission mains and distribution system piping is expected to cost approximately $75 billion over the next two decades to ensure that public water systems are capable of providing the United States with safe drinking water. However, there is a significant gap between the funds available and the projected costs of infrastructure replacement or rehabilitation. Infrastructure Management Systems (IMS) have been developed to assist utilities and decision-makers in determining how to allocate resources for infrastructure. This project utilizes theTampa Water Department (TWD) as a case study to develop a tool for prioritizing infrastructure replacement.

TWD is …

Association Of Sound To Motion In Video Using Perceptual Organization, Sunil Babu Ravulapalli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technological developments and innovations of the first forty years of the digital era have primarily addressed either the audio or the visual senses. Consequently, designers have primarily focused on the audio or the visual aspects of design. In the perspective of video surveillance, the data under consideration has always been visual. However, in light of the new behavioral and physiological studies which established a proof of cross modality in human perception i.e. humans do not process audio and visual stimulus separately, but percieve a scene based on all stimulus available, similar cues are being used to develop a surveillance system …

A Benefit-Cost Analysis Of A State Freeway Service Patrol: A Florida Case Study, Harkanwal Nain Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Road Ranger program is a freeway service patrol (FSP) designed to assist disabled vehicles along congested freeway segments and relieve peak period non-recurring congestion through quick detection, verification and removal of freeway incidents in Florida. It consists of approximately 88 vehicles in fleet and provides free service to about 918 centerline miles. The program is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and its partners, and is bid out to private contractors. The objective of this study is to examine and evaluate the benefits of the Road Ranger service against their operating costs in five of the seven …

Assessment Of Image Analysis As A Measure Of Scleractinian Coral Growth, Steven K. Gustafson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Image analysis was used to measure basal areas of selected colonies of Montastraea annularis and Porites astreoides, following the colonies over a three-year period from 2002 to 2004. Existing digital images of permanently-marked quadrats in the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve, Belize, were selected based on image quality and availability of images of selected quadrats for all three years. Annual growth rates were calculated from the basal-area measurements. Mean growth rates (radial skeletal extension) for M. annularis and P. astreoides were 0.02 cm yr-1 and -0.20 cm yr-1, respectively. Basal area measurements demonstrated a large degree of variability. Increases were approximately …

A Damage Assessment And Wind Loading Analysis Of Residential Structures Built Post-1996 In Punta Gorda In The Wake Of Hurricane Charley, James Newberry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the communities in the path of Hurricane Charley as it came ashore

August 13, 2004, was Punta Gorda, recording gusts up to 145 mph. This project

utilizes aerial photos taken approximately 10 days after the storm battered the

area, using a digital photography program. Focusing on the one-story residential

structures (houses) of the Punta Gorda area, a damage assessment could be

made of the area’s homes, and how they stood up to the storm. This study

focused further on homes built after major changes to the local/state building

codes went into effect (starting in 1996) after the devastation …

Coastal Processes And Anthropogenic Factors Influencing The Geomorphic Evolution Of Weedon Island, Florida, Jeanne Lambert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weedon Island, a peninsula located on the western inner shoreline of Tampa Bay, Florida, is the location of a collaborative geological and archaeological project that aims to relate the present day geomorphology to natural processes and human occupational activity during the middle to late Holocene. The area is known for extensive archaeological sites, which were originally investigated in the 1920s, although they have received relatively little scientific attention during most of the last century. We hypothesize that activities associated with pre-historic human occupation of Weedon Island at various times during the last ca. 5,000 years influenced the geomorphic evolution of …

Nanoindentation Of Layered Materials With A Nonhomogeneous Interface, Praveen K. Chalasani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Indentation is used as a technique for mechanical characterization of materials for a long time. In the last few decades, new techniques of mechanical characterization at micro and nano level using indentation have been developed. Mechanical character-ization of thin films has become an important area of research because of their crucial role in modern technological applications. Theoretical and computational models of indentation are less time consuming,cost effective, and flexible. Many researchers have investigated mechanical properties of thin films using theoretical and computational models. In this study, an indentation model for a thin layer-substrate geometry with the possibility of nonhomogeneous or …

Post-Charley Evaluation Of Undamaged Homes In Punta Gorda Isles, Virgilet Pierrissaint

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane Charley was the third named storm and the second major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. At that time, it was also the strongest hurricane to strike the US coast since 1992. Charley made landfall on Friday, August 13, 2004 on the barrier islands off Lee County, Florida whence it moved rapidly inland towards Port Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee counties.

The purpose of this study was to understand the performance of undamaged residential home in Punta Gorda Isles (PGI) in Port Charlotte County that was crossed by Charley’s eye shortly after it made landfall. To achieve this goal, …

A Platform For Research On Localization And Tracking Using Wireless Sensor Networks, Sai Kiran Rupanagudi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research proposed the integration of wireless sensor networks, a mobile platform and a fixed station for the development of a test bed system to conduct research on localization, tracking, navigation and network mapping. The overall integrated system acts as a basis for future research on localization of wireless nodes in an indoor environment. The system enables the transfer of information from the sensor node on the platform to a distant computer through wireless communication. In addition, a robotic platform is proposed that uses the developed integrated system as well as other potential applications. The user interface to the system …

Optimizing Biofuel Cell Performance Using A Targeted Mixed Mediator Combination, Jason C. Klar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study of how mediators interact with the catabolic pathways of microbes was undertaken with a view towards improving the performance of microbial fuel cells. The use of mediators is known to improve the power density in microbial fuel cells, but this work suggests that no single mediator is ideally suited to the task. Instead, a carefully selected mixture of two targeted mediators (Methylene Blue and Neutral Red) might be optimal. To test this hypothesis, a yeast-catalyzed microbial fuel cell was built and empirically evaluated under different mediation conditions while keeping all other parameters constant. The results clearly show that …

Tracking Fluid Flow In A Spinning Disk Reactor, Valentina N. Korzhova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The flow of a liquid film over a rapidly rotating horizontal disk has many applications inmedical, industrial, and engineering fields. A specific example is the heat and mass transfer processes between expanded liquid and surrounded dense gas. Diferent wave regimes of a liquid film depend on a flow conditions such as the properties of a liquid, its initial speed,parameters of environment, etc. Therefore, experimental investigation of the film flow over a spinning disk is needed to both validate theoretical predictions and establish methods for fluid flow monitoring.This thesis presents novel video-based algorithms for detection and tracking wave structural data of …

Towards The Realization Of Cognitive Radio: Coexistence Of Ultrawideband And Narrowband Systems, Mustafa Emin Şahin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ultrawideband and cognitive radio are two of the most important approaches that are shaping the future of wireless communication systems. At a first glance, the aims of UWB and cognitive radio do not seem to be overlapping significantly, however, there is a strong synergy between the capabilities of UWB and the goals of cognitive radio. One of the objectives of this thesis is to shed the first light on the marriage of these two important approaches.Ultrawideband (UWB) is a promising technology for future short-range, high-data rate wireless communication networks. Along with its exciting features including achieving high data rates, low …

Bel-Imperia: The (Early) Modern Woman In Thomas Kyd’S Spanish Tragedy, Ann Mccauley Basso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At the heart of Thomas Kyd's revenge tragedy The Spanish Tragedy lies an arranged marriage around which all of the other action revolves. Bel-Imperia of Spain has been betrothed against her will to Prince Balthazar of Portugal, but she is no ordinary woman, and she has plans of her own. Bel-Imperia's unwillingness to participate in the arranged marriage is indicative of the rise of the companionate marriage; it represents a rejection of the arranged marriage that dominated upper class society in earlier years.

This study seeks to throw light upon early modern attitudes towards marriage, focusing particularly on the arranged …

Blood Lead Concentrations In The Cat Population Of Tampa, Florida, Liesl M. Wiesen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Where lead pollutes urban soils, both human and animals risk exposure. This exposure gives rise to similar health risks across species. A group of 50 outdoor living cats from inner city Tampa, Florida were tested for blood lead concentration (BLC). Most cats had no measurable lead loads, 14 percent had levels less than or equal to 6 micrograms per decaliter. Soil samples were taken from the home location of each cat. None of these samples, which ranged from 2.6 microgram per gram to 170 micrograms per gram, had hazardous levels of lead. Overall, BLCs were lower than expected. In addition, …

A Modular Onboard Processing System For Small Unmanned Vehicles, Richard D. Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work describes the design and implementation of a generic lightweight onboard processing system for miniature Unmanned Vehicles (UVs) that is computationally powerful and highly adaptable. First, several classical approaches to giant scale and full size UV onboard processing systems are described along with their corresponding limitations. Second, a detailed study is presented that describes the key characteristics of an onboard system along with associated limitations. Next, an implementation of a generic onboard system capable of vision processing and servo based control is presented along with detailed hardware specifications and implementation software. Last, experimental data, both laboratory and field, are …

Sub-Centennial Scale Climatic And Hydrologic Variability In The Gulf Of Mexico During The Early Holocene, Jenna Meredith Lodico

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sediment core MD02-2550 from Orca Basin located in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) provides a high-resolution early Holocene record of climatic and hydrologic changes from ~10.5 to 7 thousand calendar years before present (ka). Paired analyses of Mg/Ca and δ18O on the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber (white variety, 250-355 µm) sampled at ~ 20 year resolution were used to generate proxy records of sea surface temperature (SST) and the δ18O of seawater in the GOM (δ18OGOM). The Mg/Ca-SST record contains an overall ~1.5 °C warming trend from 10.5 to 7 ka that appears to track the intensity of the …

Path Dependencies And Unintended Consequences: A Case Study Of Britain's Entry Into The European Community, Justin P. Schrefer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to determine how Britain’s governance and sovereignty have changed since 1950, I developed a historical case study tracing Britain’s political and economic integration into the E.U. starting from the early post-World War II governments through the end of the Thatcher administration. This study uses Historical Institutionalism, which seeks to explain how changes in governance and state sovereignty come about outside of state control, as a ‘testing’ theory to determine whether Britain’s governance and sovereignty have changed since 1950. The hypothesis of this case study is: Did the past decisions on E.C. integration, made by Britain’s government officials and …

A New Type Of Insurgency? A Case Study Of The Resistance In Iraq, Stephen D. Curtas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Insurgency is considered to be the principal form of conflict in the world today. Since the end of WWII, large-scale conventional war between states has been minimal. In Iraq, a band of insurgents are attempting to defy the strongest power in the world. This insurgency in Iraq may be the beginning of a new phenomenon of insurgency conflict.

This thesis argues that the Iraqi insurgency has no center of gravity, with no clear apparent leader or leadership. As seen in other examples of insurgency throughout history, no leadership has emerged in response to any of the conditions present in Iraq. …

Design And Implementation Of A 200mm 3c-Sic Cvd Reactor, Christopher L. Frewin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide, SiC, is a semiconductor material which has many diverse uses in many of today's leading technologies. The wide band-gap aspect of the material has been utilized to create power and high frequency electronics, its physical hardness enables its use for MEMS devices, and the biological compatibility make perfect for utilization in medical applications. SiC is not a chemical compound normally found in nature and must be artificially generated. One of the methods used for the creation of single crystal, high quality SiC material is provided through the use of a chemical vapor deposition reactor. The University of South …