Digital Commons Network^™

African American Athletes And The Negotiation Of Public Spaces: An Examination Of Athletic Capital And African American Perceptions Of Success, Keona Lewis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the culture of sport among African American male football players as well as African American perspectives on sport and success. A case study of six African American, Division 1 FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) collegiate student athletes was conducted along with seventeen supplemental interviews with community members, parents, coaches and former athletes and fans. The participants answered questions that explored education, success, identity construction, ethnicity and sport. Archival data was also reviewed framing the discussion on football in Florida, links between education and sport participation and African American male academic achievement. While many perspectives varied, there were collective …

Evaluation Of Common Inherited Variants In Mitochondrial-Related And Microrna-Related Genes As Novel Risk Factors For Ovarian Cancer, Jennifer Permuth Wey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women in the United States, and the etiology is incompletely understood. Common, low penetrant genetic variants such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) likely contribute to a significant proportion of EOC. We examined whether SNPs in two understudied yet biologically important types of genes, mitochondrial-related and miRNA-related genes, may contribute to EOC susceptibility using data from a large, homogeneous study population of 1,815 EOC cases and 1,900 controls (frequency-matched on age-group and race/ethnicity) genotyped through stage 1 of an ongoing genome-wide association study. Inter-individual variation in genes involved …

Epidemiological Study Of Contributing Factors In The Development Of Peptic Ulcer And Gastric Cancer Initiated By Helicobacter Pylori Infection In India, Rahul Suresh Mhaskar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a significant risk factor for peptic ulcer (PU) and gastric cancer (GC). Apart from the virulent CagA genotype of H. pylori environmental and dietary factors influence disease outcomes. There have been no studies addressing these factors in Western India. Hence, we conducted a case control study enrolling PU, GC patients and controls at Pune, India.

Methods: Risk factors for PU and H. pylori infection were assessed in participant interview. H. pylori status was assessed from stool by monoclonal antigen detection. To understand treatment effect, we followed 100 H. pylori positive patients.

Results: We …

Dna Methylation And Its Association With Prenatal Exposures And Pregnancy Outcomes, Jennifer Straughen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Altered DNA methylation may lead to suboptimal fetal programming, increasing the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as small for gestational age (SGA); however, few studies have examined the associations between DNA methylation, prenatal exposures, and fetal outcomes. Cross-sectional data from a larger, ongoing study were used to assess the impact of prenatal smoking on gene specific methylation of umbilical cord blood derived DNA and to investigate the association between gene-specific methylation and risk of SGA. The association between gene-specific DNA methylation and birthweight was also assessed. Maternal and infant covariates were abstracted from medical records, cigarette smoke exposure was …

Discovery Of Novel Viruses From Animals, Plants, And Insect Vectors Using Viral Metagenomics, Terry Fei Fan Ng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding emerging viruses is critical for disease monitoring and prediction; however, surveys of novel viruses are hindered by the lack of a universal assay for viruses. Viral metagenomics, consisting of viral particle purification and shotgun sequencing, is a powerful technique for discovering viruses in a wide variety of sample types. However, current protocols are not effective on tissue samples (e.g., lungs, livers and tumors), where they are hindered by the high amount of host nucleic acids which limits the percentage of sequences that originate from viruses. In this dissertation, a modified viral metagenomics protocol was developed and utilized to effectively …

Antecedents And Consequences Of Channel Alienation: An Empirical Investigation Within Franchised Channels Of Distribution, Ivan Lapuka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigating an important overlooked phase of interorganizational relationship evolution, which is currently hypothesized to progress through five stages of awareness, exploration, expansion, commitment, and dissolution, this dissertation proposes that in the long road between commitment and dissolution, the quintessential interfirm relationship is likely to be characterized by aprolonged period of relationship alienation, which then becomes the immediate precursor to the dissolution stage.

The dissertation utilizes social learning theory, behavior constraint theory, and alienation theory to explain apathetic behaviors of franchisees. The principal proposition is that certain characteristics of the franchise system’s operating environment inadvertently condition franchisee estrangement and failure, and …

A Multi-Level Study Investigating The Impact Of Workplace Civility Climate On Incivility And Employee Well-Being, Raymond Charles Ottinot

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study used Zohar‟s (2000) multi-level model of climate to examine the extent to which shared perceptions of workplace civility climate relate to teacher job satisfaction, affective commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors (CWB-abuse) towards other teachers. Workplace civility climate is defined as employee perceptions of how management uses policies, procedures, and practices to maintain a civil workplace. An online-survey was used to assess a cross-sectional sample of K-12 teachers (N = 2222) nested in 207 schools in a large US school district. There was adequate agreement among teacher perceptions of school civility climate for aggregation and between-group variance of civility …

The Economically Important Nitrogen Pathways Of Southwest Florida, Elon M. Malkin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global phenomenon of burgeoning coastal population growth has led to coastal watershed landscape transformation and ecosystem degradation, prompting policy-makers to set limits on freshwater withdrawals and labile nutrient loads. Important components of Florida’s economies lie in the state’s expansive coastal zone; the organisms driving the billion-dollar recreational fishing industry are rooted in coastal habitats, while the agriculture and real-estate industries sprawl throughout numerous coastal watersheds. This study aimed to identify the connections between anthropogenic land use and essential juvenile fish nursery habitats within the coastal zone, which is the first critical step for sustaining the ecology and related economies …

Before The Storm: Evacuation Intention And Audience Segmentation, Homer J. Rice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the predictors of evacuation intention among coastal residents in the State of Florida and to determine if there are meaningful segments of the population who intend to evacuate when told to do so by governmental officials because of a major hurricane. In the America’s and the Caribbean, 75,000 deaths have been attributed to hurricanes in the 20

th century. A well planned evacuation can reduce injury and death, yet many people do not have an evacuation plan and do not intend to evacuate when told to do so. The study used secondary …

Design, Synthesis & Biological Activity Of Novel Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (Ptp) Mimetics, Sridhar Reddy Kaulagari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Protein phosphorylation is a post translational modification of proteins in which a serine, a threonine or a tyrosine residue is phosphorylated by an enzyme, kinase. Phosphorylation of proteins is a reversible and very important regulatory mechanism that occurs in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Phosphorylation turns many protein enzymes on and off, preventing or causing many diseases such as diabetes, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The phosphorylation on tyrosine residues of proteins is essential for transmission of signals for cell growth, proliferation and differentiation. Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) in concert with protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) regulate many signal transduction pathways by controlling …

Inactivation Of Ascaris Suum By Ammonia In Feces Simulating The Physical-Chemical Parameters Of The Solar Toilet Under Laboratory Conditions, Ligia Maria Cruz Espinoza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to sustainable sanitation systems is a determining factor in human health and economic development. However, more than a third of the world’s population lives without access to improved sanitation facilities. To meet the sanitation United Nations Millennium Development target, "halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation", a wide range of non conventional sanitation technologies have been implemented in developing countries, including waterless systems. These systems function by diverting urine away from feces and collecting, storing, and dehydrating the fecal material in watertight dehydration vaults. From a public …

Hydrologic Controls On Salinity In Mangroves And Lagoons, Christina Elaine Stringer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the hydrologic controls on salinity within mangroves and lagoons at sites in Florida and Mexico. The main objective of this research is to better understand hydrologic controls on mangrove ecosystem structure and develop ideas that will be useful to land managers attempting to regulate and conserve these critical habitats. This study was conducted at sites in Ft. Pierce, FL and Costalegre on the central Pacific coast of Mexico.

We examined controls on water levels and salinity in a mangrove on a carbonate barrier island along the Indian River Lagoon, east-central Florida. Spectral analysis of water levels showed …

Linking Soil Loss To Sediment Delivery In Two Estuaries In Puerto Rico, Nekesha Bernadette Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Enhanced soil loss from the watershed is a major environmental issue. Increased soil loss from a watershed can potentially increase sediment delivery and loading to aquatic ecosystems such as rivers and estuaries. An increase in sediment delivery and loading to freshwater and transitional marine ecosystems can impact water quality and supply specifically by: (1) reducing water clarity, (2) transporting nutrient and pollutant laden sediments and (3) reducing the storage capacity of reservoirs. To address these broader environmental impacts of increased sediment delivery and loading to aquatic ecosystems it is imperative that potential source areas of sediments available for transport are …

Technology Integration For Preservice Science Teacher Educators, Nina C. Stokes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current state of technology integration in science teacher education programs is examined with a view to providing science teacher educators with practical information and diverse examples of technologies they can model in their own courses. Motivators and barriers to technology integration and use are discussed, and recommendations for choosing and evaluating science technologies made. A brief history of how computers, related communication technologies, and science teacher education reform "fit" together is provided. Multiple interpretations of what is meant by "technology" and associated terms (distance learning, online courses, Web-enhanced courses, simulations, authentic data sets etc.) are included to set the …

Exploring Evaluation In School Districts: School District Evaluators And Their Practice, Susan Hibbard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the evaluation practices of internal evaluators in public school districts in a large southern state. The individuals who conduct evaluations in school districts as internal evaluators were identified and background information was collected. The education and training in evaluation was investigated and the types of evaluations typically conducted by those individuals. Respondents (n = 134) revealed conducting evaluations was a secondary role and part of their main job responsibilities. The types of evaluations carried out and the way in which evaluation was practices were revealed. A descriptive framework of the individuals who conduct evaluations in school districts …

Small Plots, Big Hopes: Factors Associated With Participation In An Urban Garden Project In Lesotho, Charlotte Ann Noble

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies of food insecurity have frequently focused on rural dwellers as vulnerable

populations. However, during the ‘global food crisis’ of 2007-2008, riots in more than

50 countries visibly demonstrated the vulnerability of urban populations to food

insecurity due to rapidly rising food prices. This study examines factors associated with

participation in an urban garden project (UGP), utilizing surveys (n=61) and in-depth

household interviews (n=37) to examine food security and dietary diversity of households

in urban Lesotho.

Households that participated in the garden project were more food insecure and

had lower dietary diversity than those that did not participate. However, it …

Melville’S Unknown Pathology: The Humoral Theory Of Disease And Low Grade Lead Poisoning In Bartleby The Scrivener, Gerard Bogin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Melville wrote Bartleby the Scrivener as a literary portrayal of the Humoral theory of disease. Virchow disproved that theory five years after the novella was published, suggesting Melville was humanizing an unknown pathology. A clinical assessment of the text reveals low-grade lead poisoning, which best explains the strange behavior, abnormal appearance, and premature death of the character Bartleby as depicted by the author. In conjunction with the textual substantiation, historical evidence indicates that at the time Melville wrote the work, one in ten people he encountered suffered from the effects of the same disease. Informed with the identity of Melville’s …

Statistical Analysis And Modeling Of Breast Cancer And Lung Cancer, Chunling Cong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the present study is to investigate various problems associate with breast cancer and lung cancer patients. In this study, we compare the effectiveness of breast cancer treatments using decision tree analysis and come to the conclusion that although certain treatment shows overall effectiveness over the others, physicians or doctors should discretionally give different treatment to breast cancer patients based on their characteristics. Reoccurrence time of breast caner patients who receive different treatments are compared in an overall sense, histology type is also taken into consideration. To further understand the relation between relapse time and other variables, statistical …

Towards Understanding Water Conservation Behavior In Southwest Florida: The Role Of Cultural Models, Bernard T. (Terry) Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This applied anthropology dissertation aims to enhance public policy and best practices for conserving potable water resources, using the Tampa Bay region of southwest Florida as a case study. It addresses not how humans conserve, but why they may or may not choose to do so. To date, a limited anthropological focus on water conservation behavior in western, urban settings has created a gap in the role culture plays in understanding why people conserve. The research problem is to identify how water conservation behavior in Tampa, Florida can be enhanced through a better understanding of beliefs and values reflected in …

Antarctic Tunicates And Endophytic Fungi: Chemical Investigation And Synthesis, Matthew D. Lebar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drug discovery is reliant on new developments in natural product chemistry as well as advances in chemical synthesis. The interconnectivity and interdependence of natural and synthetic investigation in drug discovery is evident. The chemical exploration reported herein elaborates the relationship between natural product chemistry and chemical synthesis. Of particular interest are chemicals from organisms residing in less accessible environments, particularly Antarctica and endophytic microbial communities. Degradation via reductive ozonolysis of palmerolide A, a macrocyclic polyketide isolated from the Antarctic tunicate

Synoicum adareanum, and subsequent synthetic preparation of the resulting polyols (1,2,6-hexanetriol and 1,2,3,6-hexanetetraol) led to a revision in the …

Migration, Education, And Health Policy: A Closer Look Into The Reasons Behind Poor Health Outcomes In Rural Ecuador, Lauren Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite an increase in the number of Ecuadorian medical professionals, health outcomes in rural areas of the country have steadily declined over the past decade. Using a political economic framework and data collected from interviews with Ecuadorian doctors, government officials, policy makers, and local rural populations, this thesis investigates how the interplay among medical migration, educational structures, and public health policy contributes to growing health disparities between urban and rural dwellers. Addressing each of these factors both individually and collectively, this thesis also outlines a series of policy recommendations that will allow the Ecuadorian healthcare system to better meet the …

Assessment Of “Community Stepping Stones,” A Community-Based Youth Art Education Program, Jennifer E. A. Pedraza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Community Stepping Stones is an art education program whose objective is to

“provide education, mentor children and adolescents, enhance the community

economics, and enrich the quality of life in the community” (Community Steppping

Stones [CSS], 2009a). Community art education programs, particularly for youth, have

become increasingly popular as a way to address and prevent delinquent behavior.

However, art education programs have proven challenging to evaluate and sustain.

The goal of my thesis was to explore how Community Stepping Stones

implemented and evaluated a community-based youth arts education program

compared to other, similar programs and how the organization could make the …

Teacher Attitudes, Perceived Influences, And Self-Reported Classroom Behaviors Related To School Nutrition Environments, Beverly Lawler Girard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study determined attitudes of kindergarten through fifth grade teachers about school nutrition environments, their perceived influence on school nutrition environments, and self-reported classroom behaviors. Specific objectives were to: (a) identify perceived factors that influence the school nutrition environment, according to teachers surveyed; (b) examine relationships between elementary school teacher attitudes about school nutrition environments and perceived influence on the environment; (c) examine relationships between elementary school teachers’ attitudes about school nutrition environments, and self-reported classroom behaviors; (d) examine relationships between perceived influence over the school nutrition environment and self-reported classroom behaviors; and, (e) examine relationships between teachers’ demographic characteristics …

School Counselor Accountability Practices: A National Study, Cindy M. Topdemir

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on school counselor accountability practices. The role of the

school counselor is changing and the need to be more accountable is now here. This study

attempted to answer several critical questions regarding school counselor accountability.

It examined the degree to which school counselors use accountability measures, to what

extent they believed certain accountability practices were deemed helpful to their school

counseling program, and what they believed their barriers were. Accountability is a “hot”

topic in present school counseling literature; but little research has been done up to this

point investigating these issues related to school counselor accountability …

Nautical Knowledge: An Experimental Analysis Of The Influence Of Public Relations Strategies In Safe Boating Communication, Emily N. Guilfoil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the effect of public relations message strategies on beliefs,attitudes, and behavioral intentions of individuals regarding boater safety. An experiment was conducted using seven safety messages. Specifically, Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1975) theory of reasoned action and J.E. Grunig’s (1997) situational theory of publics were used to examine the communication effects of message strategies proposed by Hazleton and Long’s (1988) public relations process model.The findings of this study support the predictions of the theory of reasoned action—that salient beliefs predict attitude toward behavior and attitude toward behavior and subjective norm predict behavioral intent. Of the three attitude items measured—attitude …

Adolf Hitler – America’S First Black President And Other Oval Office Demons: The Right-Wing Rhetorical Assault On Barack Obama’S Health Care Plan, Daniel Ruth

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis endeavors to examine the imagery and rhetoric surrounding the portrayal of President Barack Obama during the national debate over health care reform from the summer of 2009 into the spring of 2010. It is argued that the critics of the health care reform legislation used images to portray the president as Adolf Hitler, Che Guevara, The Joker, as well as other images such as the swastika and the Wehrmacht symbol as stand-in euphemisms for race to discredit Barack Obama.

A number of exemplar images have been selected from various websites and publications specifically addressing the portrayal of Barack …

Contextualizing Obesity Among Latino Farmworkers: A Critical Analysis Of Structural And Cultural Processes Affecting Farmworker Health And Nutrition In Central Florida, Melissa H. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers play a critical role in the U.S. economy, producing food for the American public, while their suffering is often rendered invisible by their existence on the margins of society. The low wages associated with farm labor combined with the largely undocumented status of this population severely limits access to food, housing, and health care, resulting in poor health outcomes. Through the use of a critical anthropological approach, this research examines the social, cultural, political, and economic context of obesity among Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Central Florida. Ethnographic research methods were used to explore perceptions …

A Retrospective Analysis Of The Potential Environmental Stressors Responsible For The Decline Of The Natural Populations Of The Florida Apple Snail (Pomacea Paludosa) In The A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Shannon Ladd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the factors that contributed to the decline of Florida apple snail (Pomacea paludosa) populations in the A.R.M. Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge with the goal of devising management recommendations to the Refuge regarding population management strategies. The factors examined that could have potentially contributed to population decline include the use of copper-based herbicides, insecticide application, the occurrence of drought, the use of other herbicides, the occurrence of fire, and non-avian predation. Annual Narrative documents produced by Refuge managers and staff members, dated from 1951 to 2007, were used to collect historical data for …

System For Identifying Plankton From The Sipper Instrument Platform, Kurt A. Kramer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plankton imaging systems such as SIPPER produce a large quantity of data in the form of plankton images from a variety of classes. A system known as PICES was developed to quickly extract, classify and manage the millions of images produced from a single one-week research cruise. A new fast technique for parameter tuning and feature selection for Support Vector Machines using Wrappers was created. This technique allows for faster feature selection, while at the same time maintaining and sometimes improving classification accuracy. It also gives the user greater flexibility in the management of class contents in existing training libraries. …

Comparison Of Risky Decision Making Processes In Dyads And Individuals, Moumita Mukherjee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The thesis compared the likelihood of taking risks in dyads and individuals in

varying situations. Patterns of risky decision making were examined in the standard risky

choice task and a novel risk management task. The relative successes of two theories of

risky decision making were assessed: Prospect Theory emphasizes perceptual and

psychophysical processes, whereas Security-Potential/Aspiration Level Theory

emphasizes dispositional and motivational processes. The thesis also examined dyads’

decision behavior in light of competing social influence perspectives regarding risky

versus cautious shifts and group polarization.

Participants, as individuals or as part of a dyad, made decisions in 23 trials about

hypothetical …