Digital Commons Network^™

Sports And The American Sacred: What Are The Limits Of Civil Religion?, Frank Ferreri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines whether American civil religion, in its enactment in daily American life, is cosmological. That is, it questions whether the sacred behind American civil religion is present in the physical-material realm and not in a transcendental principle or being. It is interested in why, seemingly, what is sacred in American culture is always what is happening here and now. This is evidenced by and manifested in multiple vehicles of the sacred in American culture. These vehicles include a range of institutions from economics to politics to religion to education. They also include entities such as the mass media, …

Mineral Solubilization From Municipal Solid Waste Combustion Residues: Implications For Landfill Leachate Collection Systems, Lisa R. Rhea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leachate collection systems consist of a series of pipes installed beneath the waste at the base of a landfill. The liquid drains toward a central location where it is pumped and then treated, discharged, or recirculated. In some landfills, solid precipitates form in the collection system resulting in clogging and malfunctions of the drainage system. The formation of the precipitates is linked to the chemical and biological stability of the leachate generated within the landfill. To control the formation of precipitates and prevent clogging of leachate collection systems, it is important to understand factors that influence leachate characteristics.

Ashes from …

Studies On Modeling Angular Soil Particles Using The Discrete Element Method, Amr M. Sallam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Discrete Element Method was first introduced by Cundall and Strack (1979) to model granular soils within the context of geotechnical engineering. The material is modeled as a random assembly of discrete elements. Each particle interacts with neighboring particles through contact forces that can be built up and broken at any time. The particles were modeled as discs in 2-D or as spheres in 3-D. Research studies have been conducted to improve the simulation of actual grain shapes. Ashmawy et al. (2003) developed the overlapping rigid clusters (ORC) method to accurately model irregular particle shapes. The idea relies on clumping …

Development Of A Sensitive And Specific Biosensor Assay To Detect Vibrio Vulnificus In Estuarine Waters, Robert M. Ulrich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biosensor development has the potential to meet the need for rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of pathogenic bacteria from natural sources. An antibody-based fiber-optic biosensor assay to detect low levels of Vibrio vulnificus in estuarine waters following an enrichment step was developed. The principle of the sensor is based on an immuno-sandwich assay where an anti-V. vulnificus polyclonal capture antibody preparation was first immobilized on a polystyrene fiber-optic waveguide using a biotin-avidin association. The capture antibody is responsible for binding the target cells to the waveguide. Cyanine-5-conjugated anti-V. vulnificus polyclonal antibodies are subsequently allowed to bind to immobilized …

Examining The Current U.S. Beef Trade Policies Concerning The Testing For Mad Cow Disease, David C. Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite existing mad cow disease surveillance efforts in the United States, in place since the 1980s, a cow that tested positive for mad cow disease was granted entrance into the U.S. in December, 2003. The cow that tested positive, according to witnesses, displayed no symptoms that are synonymous with advanced bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE. This occurrence had detrimental effects on the U.S. beef export market, as many countries banned American beef. Estimates of the damage inflicted reach into the billions of dollars. BSE in the U.S. has the potential of causing damages in other aspects as well. Aside from the …

Examining The Handbooks On Environmental Journalism: A Qualitative Document Analysis And Response To The Literature, Lisa Rademakers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addressed the question, "How should journalists cover the environment, according to the conversation between the scholarship on environmental journalism and the handbooks on environmental journalism?" Do the handbooks, written for practicing journalists, agree with the academic scholarship on environmental journalism?

The conversation between the literature and handbooks is important to examine, as the handbooks are tools journalists may use when reporting on the environment. The handbooks could influence a journalist, who influences the public, who make decisions in a democracy. As well, examining the conversation between the literature and the handbooks reveals whether or not the academy and …

The Stress Response, Psychoeducational Interventions And Assisted Reproduction Technology Treatment Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review, Karen Rose Mumford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The psychological impacts of infertility have been well documented in the literature, providing evidence to support that at least some women who confront infertility are at risk for heightened distress and depressive symptoms. In response to this accumulated evidence, it has been argued that psychoeducational interventions may provide an important component to the treatment of infertility. While several theoretical models postulate the effects of stress on infertility treatment outcomes, results of these investigations have led to conflicting conclusions. However, a synthesis of the accumulated data examining the effects of stress on ART treatment outcomes was nonexistent until the conduct of …

Efficient And Effective? The Hundred Year Flood In The Communication And Perception Of Flood Risk, Heather Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to the rising costs of floods, the United States has adopted sophisticated programs to mitigate the loss of life and property. However, the efficient implementation of certain aspects of flood policy has taken precedence over effective communication. The scope of the National Flood Insurance Program and the efficient coding of "the 100 year flood" have led to a pervasive use of the term in both formal and informal risk communication. When officials began consciously communicating flood policy to the public, they assumed a narrow "engineering" model and did not fully anticipate the influence of informal communication on the …

Microglia Activation In Alzheimer's Disease, Kirk Phillip Townsend

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work detailed in this dissertation has an overarching theme of modulating microglia activation in both in vivo and in vitro models relevant to AD. The premise is that understanding microglia function in this context may lead to a better understanding of AD pathogenesis and thus to effective therapeutic interventions. In chapter 3, we employ a well-defined model of microglia activation whereby the intraperitoneal delivery of LPS results in CNS microglia activation and TNF-α production. Having previously identified that CD45 signaling pathways antagonized microglia TNF-α production in vitro and given that immunotherapy with anti-CD45 antibodies are already in clinical trials …

Relation Between Weight Status, Gender, Ethnicity And The Food And Activity Choices Of Adolescents, Heather Leanne Curtiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between the variables weight status (expected weight, overweight), ethnicity, and gender and the dependent variables dietary intake and physical activity behaviors among adolescents. The data presented in this study were collected using the Nutrition Questionnaire for High School Students, which was completed by 199 adolescents in a high school in southwest Florida in February of 2004. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to identify differences in dietary intake and physical activity behaviors between weight status groups.

The primary questions in this study related to interactions and main effects between the variables weight category, …

Using Multiwavelength Uv-Visible Spectroscopy For The Characterization Of Red Blood Cells: An Investigation Of Hypochromism, Akihisa Nonoyama

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Particle analysis using multiwavelength UV-visible spectroscopy provides the potential for extracting quantitative red blood cell information, such as hemoglobin concentration, cell size, and cell count. However, if there is a significant presence of hypochromism as a result of the concentrated hemoglobin (physiological value of 33%), successful quantification of red cell values would require a correction.

Hypochromism has been traditionally defined as a decrease in absorption relative to the values expected from the Beer-Lambert Law due to electronic interactions of chromophores residing in close proximity of one another. This phenomenon has been suggested to be present in macroscopic systems composed of …

Protecting Biscayne: An Analysis Of Strategies For The Protection Of Biscayne National Park, Janell M. Harvey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biscayne National Park is located off the southeast coast of Florida and attracts approximately half a million visitors annually. Managers of Biscayne National Park are proposing a new General Management Plan (GMP) in order to update the recreational and commercial use of resources in the park. A Fishery Management Plan (FMP) is also being drafted simultaneously in conjunction with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in order to address concerns associated with management of fish stocks within the park.

The proposed plan alternatives of the GMP and the recommendations of the FMP were developed in response to the negative …

Microstructure And Magnetism In Ferrite-Ferroelectric Multilayer Films, Natalie A. Frey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Composite magneto-dielectric materials have been investigated over the years because of their potential applications in RF and microwave devices as the dielectric constant and permeability can be individually changed in these materials. In the recent past, there is a renewed interest in systems classified as ferroelectromagnets or multiferroics, which possess simultaneous ferroelectric and magnetic ordering as well as interesting magnetoelastic phenomena. In all these ferrite-ferroelectric materials, the coupling between the permeability (μ) of the magnetically ordered phase and permittivity (e) of the ferroelectric phase make them attractive candidates for multifunctional applications.

Ba_0.5Sr_0.5TiO₃ (BSTO) is a …

Effects Of Participant Engagement On Alcohol Expectancies And Drinking Outcomes For A Computerized Expectancy Challenge Intervention, William Michael Hunt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of varying the amount of participant engagement on alcohol expectancy and drinking outcomes during a social/sexual expectancy challenge based on Darkes and Goldman's (1993, 1998) protocol. This study was also intended to provide a test of the efficacy of administering an alcohol/placebo expectancy challenge outside of a live drinking scenario through video presented as part of a computerized intervention.

One hundred fifty-eight male participants across three sites were randomized into a no-intervention control group that received non alcohol-related information in a minimally interactive computerized format, a low-level engagement experimental …

Towards An E-Criture Feminine: Woolf, Duplessis, Cixous, And The Emerging Discursive Tradition In Women’S Online Diaries, Deborah Silverman Bowen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women are drawing together the concepts of space, style,and medium and using these concepts collectively as a foundation for a new discursive tradition in the online autobiography. This dissertation, positioned in postmodern feminism, draws on a variety of disciplines to argue the development or evolution of a new women's discourse.

While a broad base of material exists which acknowledges the presence of women's discourse (formed by combining women's writing and women's genres), very little information explores its evolution, particularly in/on the new medium of the World Wide Web (WWW).

A combination of extant social and literary theories supports the idea …

Design And Testing Of A Prototype Gripper For A Wheelchair Mounted Robot, Koushik R. Barhale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The application of technology makes a lot of things easier, but for individuals with disability, it makes things possible. Rehabilitation robotics aims at providing robotic devices, which can act as functional extensions of the user, while performing basic activities. Providing a well-designed gripper as its end-effector can greatly enhance the performance of a rehabilitation robot. The gripper performs simple tasks like picking up objects and manipulating objects, which help in performing activities of daily living.

This thesis describes the development of a prototype gripper for a wheelchair mounted robot. The pre-development surveys conducted before the development of commercialized robotic assistive …

"Studying Up" In Tampa Bay: Globalization And Business Elites, Jennifer Laurel Avery

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents results of research I conducted during Spring 2003 through an internship with a private economic development organization (called here the TBEDO) that markets the strategically branded, seven-county region know as Tampa Bay domestically and internationally. This internship provided me with the means to conduct research about Tampa Bay's international economy and explore the elusive topic of globalization. It provided me with networking opportunities needed to "study up" on business elites and to understand what their international development agendas are, how they accomplish these objectives, whether they subscribe to the belief that the world has undergone a qualitative …

The Relationship Among Various Learner Characteristics And Reading Achievement As Measured By The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Amanda A. Privé

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationships among various learner characteristics and reading achievement, as measured by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Using a multiple regression, the independent variables grade, gender, ethnicity, and motivation to read were used to predict the dependent variable, reading achievement. Participants in this study consisted of 585 students from nine elementary, nine middle, and nine high schools across three districts in Florida.

Using archival data from a database composed by the Florida Center for Reading Research, the FCAT and Motivation to Read Profile were used to compute reading achievement and motivation to read, respectively. FCAT …

Relationships Among Early Lexical And Literacy Skills And Language-Literacy Environments At Home And School, Joseph L. Constantine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This observational study examined the relationships among home literacy environments, classroom language-literacy environments, and lexical and early literacy skills for 101 (56 male, 45 female) preschool and kindergarten children between the ages of 48 and 69 months. Data for multiple regression analyses were collected from 14 classrooms across 7 early childhood education centers in central Florida using the Home Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), the Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit (ELLCO), and the Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills (KSEALS). Seven classrooms scored in the proficient-to-exemplary range on the ELLCO; 3 were rated as basic, and 4 were …

Relationship Advertising: Investigating The Strategic Appeal Of Intimacy (Disclosure) In Services Marketing, Andrea Diahann Gaye Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One approach to communicating and thereby building a close relationship with consumers is via advertising. In other words, if service providers can invoke feelings of connection and intimacy--where consumers feel understood, cared for, and validated--through advertising, a stronger bond and sense of loyalty is likely to follow. When intimacy is conceived as knowing and being known by another, which incorporates mutual and reciprocal (though not necessarily equal) liking and vulnerability, its application extends beyond romantic relationships to the current context of relationship and services marketing. This research provides empirical support for the use of intimacy as an appeal in services …

Community Participation And Consensus In Hiv/Aids Prevention: An Exploration Of The Suzgo, The Issues Of Aids In Malawi, Jon Aaron Poehlman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After more than twenty years of increasing understanding of the human immunodeficiency virus known as HIV, the virus continues to spread throughout the world, manifesting itself lethally in the form of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). With no cure or affordable treatment presently available for the majority of the people of sub-Saharan Africa and the African nation of Malawi, work aimed at preventing the spread of the virus continues to be the best strategy for lessening its impact, both at a personal level and across populations.

Most people and communities in this part of the world demonstrate some understanding …

An Examination Of Peer-Related Risk And Protective Factors For Body Image Disturbance And Disordered Eating Among Adolescent Girls, Hemal M. Shroff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has documented the impact of peer influences on adolescents for health risk behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol. However, few studies have done an in-depth investigation of peer-related risk and protective factors affecting body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among adolescent girls. The study sample consisted of 344 adolescent girls from high schools in Pasco County, Florida. Participants completed questionnaires assessing the impact of peers on their weight and appearance attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Participants also identified their close friends (using a coding system) and rated their own figures. Trained research assistants provided objective figure ratings for the participants. …

Effects Of Weight-Related Cues On Smoking Motivation, Elena Nicole Lopez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Smoking is now the leading cause of preventable death and disease in women. Understanding women's motivations to smoke is important in developing effective cessation and relapse prevention programs. Women, more so than men, appear to associate their smoking behavior to issues of weight. Although a general relationship between weight concerns and smoking has been found among women, a causal relationship had not been demonstrated. This study tested whether activation of negative body image cognitions would produce greater urges to smoke and whether the relationship would be moderated by trait body dissatisfaction and mediated by state body dissatisfaction.

A randomized 2 …

Affective Dispositions And Cognitive Skills In Critical Thinking: Implications For Measurement, Training, And Team Performance, Timothy John Willis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to increase critical thinking among teams by making them cognizant of seven critical thinking dimensions. Forty three-person teams of undergraduates worked together on a complex decision-making task. Each team received training in and was asked to ensure their group exhibited the characteristics of cognitive skills, affective dispositions, both of these or neither. Critical thinking was assessed using self-report, behavioral observation rating, and expert outcome analysis. The findings suggest training in affective dispositions increases the exhibition of at least one dimensions of critical thinking. A behavioral measurement is presented and evaluated with respect to established critical thinking methods.

Differential Adolescent Delinquency Tolerance And The Effect Of Race And Gender, Evaristus Obinyan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study was designed to examine the attitudes of adolescents towards the tolerance of delinquent behavior. It was postulated that there would be a differential in the tolerance of delinquent behavior by juveniles from different age, gender, and racial groups. It was hypothesized that different groups would score higher or lower on select measures or dimensions (definition, reporting, controlling, preventing, correcting) of delinquency tolerance, and that their level of tolerance of delinquency might prove useful in explaining participation in delinquency.

The focus of the study was on identification of differential attitudes of various subgroups towards the violations of norms relating …

Design And Evaluation Of The Combined Input And Crossbar Queued (Cicq) Switch, Kenji Yoshigoe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Packet switches are used in the Internet to forward information between a sender and receiver and are the critical bottleneck in the Internet. Without faster packet switch designs, the Internet cannot continue to scale-up to higher data rates. Packet switches must be able to achieve high throughput and low delay. In addition, they must be stable for all traffic loads, must efficiently support variable length packets, and must be scalable to higher link data rates and greater numbers of ports. This dissertation investigates a new combined input and crossbar queued (CICQ) switch architecture.

Some unbalanced traffic loads result in instability …

Translation, Adaptation And Validation Of An Instrument To Evaluate Hiv/Aids Knowledge And Attitudes For Use With Salvadorian High School Students, Carlos Salvador Zometa Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study translated, cross-culturally adapted and validated an instrument's scores for use in public high schools in San Salvador, El Salvador. The original instrument consisted of items developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge and five dimensions of attitudes (Abstinence, Peer-pressure, Condom use, Drug use, and Threat of HIV) in grades 7 to 12 in the United States. Items were translated into Spanish using the back-translation method. The instrument was cross-culturally adapted using guidelines proposed by Guillemin, Bombardier, and Beaton (1993). A cross-culturally equivalent version of the original instrument was obtained using three …

Radical Religious Groups And Government Policy: A Critical Evaluation, Tori Chambers Lockler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Religion, many times, is one of the phenomena that is misunderstood and often rejected due to apprehension. There is an expected "norm" within our culture for religion and those that fall outside that "norm" are typically criticized for their beliefs. Within Christianity there are a number of extremist groups that follow millennial doctrines and believe they are living in the end times. These organizations tend to view the government as oppressive, disrespectful, immoral and corrupt. Because of this when an incident occurs with one of these millennial groups and the government steps in to control the situation, the way it …

Characterization Of Novel Nitroplatinum(Iv) Complexes For The Treatment Of Cancer, Jeannette Lo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many types of chemotherapeutic agents have been developed to target specific mechanisms within the body that control the progression of cancer, though few have been able to circumvent the existing problems associated with the treatments. The current remedies entail grueling drug regimens and toxic side effects that may undermine the effectiveness of the drugs. Cisplatin, a common nitroplatinum(II) drug widely used to treat a variety of cancers, is administered intravenously and circulates systemically, affecting healthy regions of the body as well. Resistance to cisplatin is increasing and the need for new, less toxic medication must be met for future success …

Frames In The U.S. Print Media Coverage Of The Kashmir Conflict, Durga, Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the frames used by the U.S. print media -- The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times -- in their coverage of the Kashmir conflict and the parties involved in it from 1989 to 2003. It divided the 15-year period of coverage into four phases -- 1989-1990, 1991-1998, 1999-2001, and 2002-2003 -- and focused on the coverage of seven subjects. It then identified sources and keywords from 180 news reports and placed them into categories from which it isolated thematic clusters or frames.

The study found that in the first two phases, …