Digital Commons Network^™

Incidence Of Unilateral, High Frequency, Sensorineural Hearing Loss In Shunt Treated Hydrocephalic Children Ipsilateral To Shunt Placement, Susan E. Spirakis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate further the characteristics of hearing loss in ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunted hydrocephalus. Twelve (VP) shunt treated hydrocephalus children participated in this study. The etiology of the hydrocephalus was either intraventricular hemorrhage or spina bifida. A recent neurological examination reported the shunt to be patent in each child. Audiometric examination included pure tone air conduction thresholds, tympanometry, contralateral and ipsilateral acoustic reflex thresholds and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEʹs). A unilateral, high frequency, sensorineural hearing loss was found in the ear ipsilateral to shunt placement in 10 (83%) of the 12 shunt treated hydrocephalic …

Beans And Pots, Deborah K. Nelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is an investigation of the Combinatorial Perfect Information Game Beans and Pots. The Conway number system will be explained and used to calculate values of Beans and Pots configurations. Known theorems are included, as well as new results. The Appendices contain game trees as well as calculations for a number of configurations.

The Role Of Audiology Technicians In The Va System, John Terry Berardino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eligibility reform in the VA and the resulting increased caseloads have brought about unacceptable wait times for new audiology appointments. Mandates to decrease wait times without increased resources have brought new demands on audiology clinics. One proposed solution is the addition of audiology technicians to VA audiology clinic practice.

The first purpose of this study was to survey the attitudes of VA audiologists and service chiefs regarding the use of technicians. The second purpose was to ask the survey respondents to assign as generally appropriate or inappropriate, job duties which might be accomplished by an audiology technician. Following a pre-survey …

Modeling Community Risk And Vulnerability To Multiple Natural Hazards: Hillsborough County, Florida, Christopher T. Emrich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multiple hazard risk and vulnerability are two topics that are at the forefront of hazards research that looks at the hazardousness ofplace. However, no definitive framework that encapsulates measures o f both risk and vulnerability into hazards theory has been developed. Indeed, risk and vulnerability have been used interchangeably. Consequently, populations often encounter high risk environments with little understandingofwaystolimitvulnerability. Thesituationisaggravatedbyincreasing populations and concomitant development ofhigh risk areas. Hillsborough County, Florida, is perhaps the archetype ofthis problem, having experienced rapid urban growth while giving scant attention to the hazardousness ofthe environment.

This research, therefore, looks at the hazardousness of place, focusing …

Women, Environment And Development: Sub-Saharan Africa And Latin America, Evaline Tiondi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Issues related to women, environment and development constitute a major global concern today. Women's roles as agents of change in the environment has increasingly become the focus of both research and policy concerns. Environmental resource management is directly linked to development, and this makes it crucial to examine the activities of women more closely. Women's role in the management of natural resources assumes a multidimensional nature. Unfortunately, the central and crucial role that women play is often both overlooked and unappreciated, rendering them invisible and greatly diminishing their contribution as both producers and active agents in sustainable development. One of …

The Effects Of Silviculture And Prescribed Burning On Herpetofauna In Florida Sand-Pine Scrub, Stig Ravdal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida sand pine scrub is among the most endangered habitats in the United States and much of the remaining scrub is heavily influenced by management for timber production. In this study the effects of timber management practices on herpetofaunal community diversity and composition were investigated on experimentally manipulated plots near Orlando, Florida. Plots at three sites were either harvested, burned, or treated as a control (unmanipulated). Herpetofauna were trapped using pit-fall drift-fence trapping arrays. Animals were counted, measured, marked and released from March 1996 to June 1998. During this time period 1489 reptiles and amphibians were caught from 31 different …

We Are Not Victims: Oral Histories Of Four Mexican-American Women, Carmen Melendez Maayan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic inquiry focuses on the lives and work off our Mexican- American women who run a center in the Mexican migrant farmworker community in which they live. Through the center, they provide vital services to their community such medical care, immigration assistance, educational and community outreach programs. Via these women's oral histories, this ethnographic work seeks to broaden our understanding of women who are fully aware of their subordinated status in the dominant society yet are not passive victims. By listening to their own voices, we learn how they overcome personal adversity and challenge cultural ideologies. In the process, …

Use Of The Client Oriented Scale Of Improvement As A Clinical Outcome Measure In The Veterans Affairs National Hearing Aid Program, Robert F. Zelski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the present health care environment, there is an increased demand for audiologists to measure the outcomes of hearing aid intervention. In addition to the more traditional objective outcome measures, many subjective outcome measures have been developed in the last 20 years. Two such subjective outcome measures are the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) and the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE). These instruments consist of a series of pre-selected questions that may or may not be applicable to an individual. An alternative to the pre-selected question format is an open format design that allows the person …

Thermodynamic Model And The Controlling Variables Of Phosphate Lattice Loss, Mohammad Abutayeh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A thermodynamic model was developed based upon five equilibrium reactions to predict the limits of distribution of phosphates between the liquid and the solid phases in a reactor used to extract phosphoric acid from phosphate rock. A computer code was generated to carry out different simulations of the model using several inputs of temperatures and liquid phase sulfuric acid contents. Ideal Solution, Debye-Hückel, and Robinson-Guggenheim-Bates electrolyte activity coefficient models were employed alternately in each simulation to complete the thermodynamic model and the outputs were compared to one another.

Experimental data of equilibrium constants were regressed to adjust the values of …

Literacy, Technology, And Change: The Gates Of Hell, Janice R. Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I first briefly examine the history of technology as it impacts on literacy practices, and especially the history of resistance to technological developments in the humanities. In so doing, I also briefly examine some of the possible ideological underpinnings of this resistance, including looking at some of the arguments proposed to counter it. More specifically, I consider how literacy practices, pedagogical practices, and assessment and gatekeeping practices in the field of composition studies impact on and are impacted by the intersection of computer technologies and our field. Finally, I offer some suggestions for ways in which our …

Genetic Variation In Chrysopsis Floridana Small, The Endangered Florida Golden Aster, As Revealed By Random Amplification For Polymorphism Detection (Rapd), Laurie Lysle Walker Markham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chrysopsis fioridana Small (Asteraceae) is a federally endangered plant endemic to the Tampa Bay area of west central Florida. It is confined to the sand pine scrub community, growing in open, sunny, and sandy areas or in disturbed areas at the edges of scrub. As a means ofassessing the genetic variability ofthis species, eight populations in Hillsborough County were compared with a seed stock collection housed at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales using random amplification for polymorphism detection (RAPD). The objectives of this study were to (I) describe the overall genetic variation among and within populations and subpopulations of …

Stochastic Methods For Evaluating The Potential For Wetland Rehydration In Covered-Karst Terranes, Christian David Langevin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Augmentation with reclaimed water is one method for rehydrating wetlands damaged by water-level declines. Augmentation with reclaimed water has been proposed for rehydrating a wetland in the covered-karst terrane of west-central Florida. There is concern because reclaimed water may contain harmful agents that could flow from the wetland 1.4 km to a municipal wellfield that withdraws 30,000 m³/day. Estimates of groundwater flow velocities were calculated from the results of detailed field studies at the wetland. Results indicate that groundwater flows downward in the surficial aquifer at rates of 0.1 to 0.2 m/day and horizontally in the Floridan aquifer …

Differential Expression Of Homing-Associated Cell Adhesion Molecule, Very Late Antigen-4 And L-Selectin In Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Trafficking Between The Marrow And Blood, Caroline Brigitte Fultz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the hypothesis that the following cell adhesion molecules (CAMs): homing-associated cell adhesion molecule (HCAM), very late antigen-4 (VLA-4) and L-selectin play a role in the trafficking of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) between the bone marrow microenvironment and the peripheral circulation. In order to ascertain differences in CAM expression based on physiologic compartment, the expression of HCAM, VLA-4 or L-selectin per CD34⁺ myeloid progenitor cell was assessed between paired samples of blood and marrow. CAM expression was flow cytometrically quantitated in paired samples obtained from patients treated with mobilizing doses of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) or from …

Knowledge-Guided Processing Of Magnetic Resonance Images Of The Brain, Matthew C. Clark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a knowledge-guided expert system that is capable of applying routinesfor multispectral analysis, (un)supervised clustering, and basic image processing to automatically detect and segment brain tissue abnormalities, and then label glioblastoma-multiforme brain tumors in magnetic resonance volumes of the human brain. The magnetic resonance images used here consist of three feature images (T1-weighted, proton density, T2-weighted) and the system is designed to be independent of a particular scanning protocol. Separate, but contiguous 2D slices in the transaxial plane form a brain volume. This allows complete tumor volumes to be measured and if repeat scans are taken over time, …

Acoustic And Perceptual Comparisons Of Imitative Prosody In Kindergartners With And Without Speech Disorders, Robin Harwell Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the affiliation of prosody with childhood articulation disorders. The Tennessee Test of Rhythm and Intonation Patterns, T-TRIP (Koike & Asp, 1981), was used to determine if kindergartners with linguistic (i.e. phonological) speech disorders, oral-motor speech disorders, or normal speech performed differently on imitative prosody tasks. Performance was assessed perceptually with T-TRIP overall and subtest scores, and acoustically with measurements of individual prosodic variables (amplitude, duration, and fundamental frequency) on selected items from the rhythm and intonation subtests. Perceptual and acoustic data were examined for characteristic patterns of performance by individual subjects and by groups.

A Kruskal-Wallis …

Florida Red Tides From A Scientific And Public Information Perspective, Kristen M. Kusek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of a comprehensive historical review and evaluation of Florida red tide research and a multifaceted analysis of red tide coverage by the St. Petersburg Times from 1953 to 1997. Red tides caused by Gymnodinium breve along the Florida Gulf coast are riddled with complexity; scientists have been asking many of the same questions for nearly 50 years. Red tides also attract considerable media publicity. This thesis addressed the following: 1. What have scientists learned about Florida red tides since G. breve was identified in 1948?, and 2. How well was the issue covered by the newspaper media? …

The Influence Of Habitat Variation On Demography Of Blue Jays (Cyanociita Cristata) In South-Central Florida, Keith Allen Tarvin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vertebrate populations rarely are homogeneous. Instead they exist as arrays of demographically variable subpopulations that are linked through dispersal. Variation in habitat quality is a major cause of demographic variability among subpopulations, but few studies have examined habitat-specific demography empirically. Here I present a detailed field study o f habitat-specific demography in Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) that occupied a habitat mosaic landscape in south-central Florida. By measuring habitat-specific demographic parameters, including density, reproductive output, survival, and dispersal, I tested for the existence of population sources and sinks associated with different habitats, and the applicability ofa series ofhabitat selection models …

An Application Of Artificial Neural Networks In Freeway Incident Detection, Sujeeva A. Weerasuriya

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-recurring congestion caused by incidents is a major source of traffic delay in freeway systems. With the objective of reducing these traffic delays, traffic operation managers are focusing on detecting incident conditions and dispatching emergency management teams to the scene quickly. During the past few decades, a few number of conventional algorithms and artificial neural network models were proposed to automate the process of detecting incident conditions on freeways. These algorithms and models, known as automatic incident detection methods (AIDM), have experienced a varying degree of detection capability.

Of these AIDMs, artificial neural network-based approaches have illustrated better detection performance …

Habitat Disturbance Within An Urban Forest Fragment, Tampa, Florida, John Forest Turbiville Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of forest fragmentation on a forest fragment in south Tampa, Florida. To determine these effects, several research objectives are defined, which include: (1) an historical analysis of the development and fragmentation of the study area; (2) documentation of the effects of fragmentation on the site; and (3) development of a management policy relating to site-specific fragmentation effects.

Forest fragmentation and its attendant human impacts have altered many of the natural physical and biological processes associated with the three ecosystem types present within this forest fragment. These ecosystems include pine flatwoods, …

Homing Behavior And Orientation In The Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus Polyphemus, Kevin Michael Connor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gopher tortoises are found in xeric habitats in the southeastern United States. In these xeric habitats, gopher tortoises excavate and reside in burrows which provide shelter and protection. Gopher tortoises are active throughout the year, often making several journeys a day away from their burrows. Although they may move substantial distances, they return to their burrows, suggesting that they posses a well-developed orientation and homing ability. This study investigated the ability of gopher tortoises to home from short distance (40 meters, just outside of or on the perimeter of their home ranges) and intermediate distances (200 meters, approximately 2 home …

Chemical Fate Of Bunker C Fuel Oil In A Subtropical Marine Environment Following A Spill In Tampa Bay, Florida, Dana Lynn Wetzel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A hydrocarbon chemistry study was performed on sediments, oil masses and mangrove prop roots of a mangrove island in Boca Ciega Bay, Florida following a spill of Bunker C fuel oil in Tampa Bay. Normal alkane (n-alkane) and polycylic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) profiles were monitored for effects of degradation and weathering in these mediums for a period of one year. Initial findings indicated a loss of lower molecular weight n-alkanes and PAH's in sediments and prop roots. There was little or no loss of these low molecular weight components in the oil mass samples. Hydrocarbon profiles at the end of …

Analysis Of Lead In Soils Adjacent To Interstate 275 In Tampa, Florida, Mark R. Hafen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Analysis of two hundred and twenty-four soil samples collected at logarithmic intervals on perpendicular transects adjacent to Interstate Highway 275 in Tampa, Florida revealed that thirty-five percent of the samples contained health-threatening levels of lead (greater than 500 ppm), although the pattern of contamination was not predictable. Twenty-two of the thirty-two transect locations extended toward residential areas and, of these, twenty contained soil lead values dangerous to humans. This analysis also revealed that soil lead does not decrease logarithmically with distance from the highway, as shown in other studies. Soil lead at 3, 9, 27, 81, 243, 729, and 2187 …

History And A Slice Of Social Justice: The Anti-Vietnam War Movement In Tampa And At Usf: 1965-1970, Todd V. Scofield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the history of the anti-Vietnam war movement in Tampa and at the University of South Florida from 1965-1970. In the introduction, the intellectual background, origin, and definition of the movement are furnished along with the psychological rationale for the existence of the movement. Later chapters address the successive groups, ideologies, and personalities involved in anti-war protest leading up to the 1969 formation of one organization most successful in organizing a Moratorium and a march in Washington of 275,000 persons. Finally the break-up and diffusion of the movement are chronicled, for by 1970 the anti-war movement became swallowed …

Abundance And Distribution Of Herbaceous Angiosperms In Grass-Sedge Marshes Of West-Central Florida: The Effect Of Seasonal Water-Level Fluctuation, Pamela S. Botts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grass-sedge marshes in west-central Florida were studied to determine the abundances and distributions of herbaceous angiosperms. Cluster analysis, reciprocal averaging, and a biotic boundaries technique were used to analyze the relationship between community composition and depth within the marsh. Shallow areas were dominated by Rhynchospora filifolia, Dichanthelium sabulorum, and Rhynchospora cephalantha. Abundances of the species fluctuated seasonally and varied between marshes. Deep areas of individual marshes differed markedly from shallow areas and from each other. A deep, well-drained marsh supported a monospecific stand of Juncus repens, while a less deep, but poorly drained marsh had a …

The Geometry Of James Joyce's Ulysses: From Pythagoras To Poincaré: Joyce's Use Of Geometry For Structure, Metaphor, And Theme, Susan Sutliff Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The extensive, previously unrecognized, use James Joyce made of contemporaneous geometric concepts for structure, metaphor, and theme in Ulysses provides new keys to how Joyce, following the model of his predecessors and contemporaries in Cubism, responded to the revolutions in aesthetics and physics which marked his intellectual milieu. As an examination of pre-publication materials reveals, during the six months before February 2, 1922, Joyce manipulated the pagination of the Ulysses placards and page proofs to impose geometric aesthetic proportions on the overall text and within individual episodes. Most significantly, Joyce aesthetically proportioned the pagination of the disparate eleven "initial style" …

The Diet Of The Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus Polyphemus, In A Sandhill Habitat In Central Florida, Laurie Ann Macdonald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scat analysis and foraging observations were used to determine the diet of a gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, population in a sandhill community in west central Florida. Live vegetation was assessed to determine plant availability. The bulk of the gopher tortoise diet was composed of the dominant plant species in the habitat while the tortoises were selective with respect to most plant genera. Tortoises ingested many plant taxa with Poaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Pinaceae and Fagaceae being the most frequent components of the diet. Sixty-eight genera from 26 families were identified in the tortoise diet. In the scat the most common …

Geophysical And Hydrogeological Effects Of Astorm-Water Retention Pond On The Floridan Aquifer, Hillsborough County, Florida, Abdullah M. Alamri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An integrated geologic, hydrologic, and geophysical investigation was conducted to determine the effect of a storm-water retention pond on the Floridan aquifer. Surface DC resistivity surveys were used to delineate the hydrostratigraphy. There are four distinct geoelectric layers: (1) Layer 1, high resistivity, 3 meters thick, fine to very fine unsaturated sand; (2) Layer 2, moderate resistivity, 1 to 2.5 meters thick, saturated sands and silts; (3) Layer 3, lower resistivity, 4 to 10 meters thick, silt and clay; (4) Layer 4, moderate resistivity, argillaceous limestone. Two fracture zones are defined by resistivity lows and marked by deep, V-shaped depressions …

Stable Hydrogen And Carbon Isotopic Compositions Of Biogenic Methanes, Roger Allen Burke Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stable hydrogen and carbon isotopic compositions of biogenic methanes collected from the sediments of several deep-sea, nearshore marine-estuarine, and freshwater environments were determined. The isotopic compositions of methane samples from eight different DSDP Sites (mean σD-CH₄ = -185⁰>/∞, std. dev. = 7⁰>/∞, n = 75; mean σ¹³C-CH₄ = -71.3⁰/∞, std. dev. = 6.3⁰/∞, n = 44) are generally typical of methane formed via C0₂ reduction in deep-sea sediments.

Methane collected from several freshwater environments was D-depleted (mean σD-CH₄ = -300⁰>/∞ , std. dev. = …

Uptake Of Zn65 And Mn54 Into Body Tissues And Renal Granules By The Southern Quahog, Mercenaria Campechiensis, William Lynn Miller Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study was conducted to examine the influence of elevated inorganic phosphate and trace metal concentrations on the uptake and distribution of Zn⁶⁵ and Mn⁵⁴ into the body tissue and phosphoritic renal concretions of a subtropical estuarine bivalve, Mercenaria campechiensis. Chronological sampling of gills, mantle, adductor muscle, viscera, kidneys, and renal granules using gamma ray spectrometry allowed examination of both tissue distribution and accumulation patterns over time. The kidney was the principal site of Mn⁵⁴ accumulation whereas Zn⁶⁵ was concentrated in both the gill and the kidney. The gill initially accumulated zn65 three times faster …

Stratigraphy And Geologic History, Bunces Key, Pinellas County, Florida, Douglas E. Crowe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bunces Key, a narrow, linear, barrier island on the west-central coast of Florida, was founded in 1961. Its growth and development since that time is well documented by aerial photography. Cores taken from the Key and surrounding areas reveal a stratigraphic succession of facies reflecting rapid vertical aggradation. Sedimentation began on a gently sloping platform through the landward migration of large scale bedforms (sand waves) during fair weather periods. Migration of these bedforms ceased when emergence and lack of continued overwash precluded further movement. Vertical accretion to supratidal levels resulted from the continued onshore transport of sediment and subsequent welding …