Digital Commons Network^™

Multimedia And Interactive Components In Converged Media, Amanda L. Welch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A content analysis of news Web sites reveals how many multimedia and interactive components both converged and non-converged media organizations include on their Web presence. The sample included four news Web sites considered to be highly converged with their print and broadcast counterparts (TBO.com, chicagotribune.com, DallasNews.com, and Azcentral.com), one newspaper Web site not affiliated with a broadcast media organization (buffalonews.com), and one broadcast news Web site not affiliated with a print news organization (kfmb.com). A multimedia and interactivity score was given to each Web site based on the quantity of these components each site used. Both kfmb.com (a non-converged organization) …

An Analysis Of Characteristics Of Long And Short Commuters In The United States, Srikanth Vaddepalli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An in-depth-analysis was carried out on short, medium and long commuters using the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) of 2001 and American Community Survey (ACS) of 2000 to determine the role of individual,household, trip and area related characteristics on commute length. The individuals with commute time less than or equal to 15 min were considered as short commuters and individuals with commute time greater than 15 min but less than 60 min were considered as medium commuters and the individuals with commute time 60 min or more were considered as long commuters. The commute time is considered as a link …

An Analysis Of Print Media Reporting Of Established Religions And New Religious Movements, Lonnie F. Griffin Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports findings from a content analysis of 720 newspaper articles and 3,052 newspaper article cases focused on the issue of print media bias. Sunday editions of three major newspapers were drawn from the six-year period 1998-2003 for analysis. Prior research has uncovered print media bias in reporting of religious groups, and this thesis examines the substance of those claims pertaining to both established religions and new religious movements. Research findings show that established religions and their members are typically described in favorable or neutral terms, while new religious movements and their members are consistently described with pejorative terms. …

High Level Vhdl Modeling Of A Low-Power Asic For A Tour Guide, Umadevi Kailasam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We present the high level (VHDL) modeling and high level synthesis of an ASIC (TOUR NAVIGATOR) for a portable hand held device - a tour guide. The tour guide is based on location-aware mobile computing, which gives the information of the current location to the user. The TOUR NAVIGATOR designed in this work is interfaced with off-the-shelf components to realise the tour guide system. The current location is given by an on-board GPS receiver chip. The TOUR NAVIGATOR is a search and play module which interfaces with the flash memory, GPS receiver and the audio codec.

The functionality of the …

Benefit Of Staged Cooling In Shrink Fitted Composite Cylinders, Nathaniel Oren Collier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To assemble the fulcrum of bascule bridges, a trunnion is immersed into liquid nitrogen so that it can be shrunk fit into the hub. This is followed by immersing the resulting trunnion-hub assembly into liquid nitrogen so that it can be then shrunk fit into the girder. On one occasion in Florida, when the trunnion-hub assembly was put into liquid nitrogen, development of cracks on the hub was observed. Experimental and numerical studies conducted since 1998 at University of South Florida show that the cracking took place due to combination of high interference stresses in the trunnion-hub assembly, low fracture …

Phase Imaging Digital Holography For Biological Microscopy, Daniel Parshall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We apply the techniques of digital holography to obtain microscopic 3D images of biological cells. Both the amplitude and phase images are obtained from a single hologram, with approximately 1 [mu]m lateral and 10 nm longitudinal resolution. The results are combined with previous experiments resolving the 2 [pi] ambiguity to produce continuous phase images of the samples.

Risk Factors For Pediatric Community Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Melissa Gail Kessler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) began as a nosocomial infection due to overuse of antibiotics. Several previous studies have reported an increase in this infection in adult patients who have not been hospitalized. It has also been reported that there is an increase in MRSA in children. Some of these children became infected even though they were not at high risk for the infection. After approval from the All Children's Hospital Institutional Review Board (IRB), a cross sectional study was conducted with pediatric admissions and pediatric emergency room visits to determine the characteristics of Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA. During this …

The Social Construction Of Workplace "Diversity", Brenda G. Shawver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a study of "workplace diversity" from a social constructionist perspective. The perspective holds that while human meaning is socially created, it is the social order which gives us resources for making this meaning. There is much literature about workplace diversity from objectivist standpoints that takes for granted the term "diversity." What is missing is a comprehensive understanding of diversity: what does this term mean? What does it conceal? I attempt to contribute to a better understanding of diversity by interrogating its construction in popular culture.

I analyze the content of an advertising supplement called "Diversity Works," published in …

Human Topoisomerase Ii Alpha Nuclear Export Is Mediated By Two Crm-1 Dependent Nuclear Export Signals, Joel G. Turner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs is a major obstacle in the treatment of leukemia and multiple myeloma. We have previously found that myeloma and leukemic cells in transition from low-density log phase conditions to high-density plateau phase conditions exhibit a substantial export of endogenous topoisomerase II alpha from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In order for topoisomerase-targeted chemotherapy to function, the topoisomerase target must have access to the nuclear DNA. Therefore, the nuclear export of topoisomerase II alpha may contribute to drug resistance, and defining this mechanism may lead to methods to preclude this avenue of resistance. In the current report, …

Secondary Students Using Expert Heuristics In The Analysis Of Digitalized Historical Documents, Daniel W. Stuckart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In time, more historical documents have become accessible through various technological modes including the Internet, CD-ROMs, and local databases. Teachers are now able to infuse a rich variety of resources into lessons with relative ease. This study measured expert historian heuristics in secondary students engaged in analysis of technologically-enhanced historical documents relating to women in the early United States republic. Nine 10th grade Advanced Placement world history students from an urban high school in the southeastern United States were assigned randomly to one of three conditions: paper historical documents, HTML historical documents, and HTML historical documents with simulated, limited Internet …

Improving The Environment In Distance Learning Courses Through The Application Of Aesthetic Principles, Darryl J. Hancock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary goal of this project has been to research and create aesthetic visual environments in distance-learning media through the application of expert criteria and to explore the effects of those environments on student satisfaction and motivation. To accomplish this three instructors with distinct courses were selected to apply aesthetic criteria within the process of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Courses selected were Art Appreciation -- ARTS 1100, Advanced Surveying -- ENGR 2502, and Introduction to Sociology -- SOCI 1101.

The project goal was subdivided into four objectives.

1) Develop criteria for the inclusion of visual aesthetics in the …

Feedback In Distance Learning: Do Student Perceptions Of Corrective Feedback Affect Retention In Distance Learning?, Lori S. Kielty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between students' perception of corrective feedback and retention in online classes. A total of 134 community college students were enrolled in six online classes taught by three full-time instructors. The research questions addressed were as follows:

RQ1. How are the students' perception of corrective feedback and student retention related?

RQ2. Are students who attend course orientation meetings more likely to complete the course?

RQ3. Are students who attend distance learning technical workshops more likely to complete the course?

RQ4. Are students who have taken other online classes …

Effects Of Faculty And Peer Mentoring On Perceived Stress And Social Support Of College Student Athletes, Valerie R. Pfister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring programs often focus on assisting students with the transition to college life and encouraging academic success. This study consisted of a quantitative examination of faculty and peer mentoring and freshmen student athletes' perceived transitional stress and social support. Surveys that provided a numerical value to perceived stress and social support supplied a basis for comparison. In addition, a qualitative element, consisting of personal interviews, was used to assess the quality of the mentoring relationships that developed.

Volunteer mentors were trained on mentoring strategies by the researcher. Sixty-one student-athlete volunteers from the sports of baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross country, competitive …

Weblogs And The Technology Lifecycle: Context, Geek-Chic And Personal Community, James M. Milne

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weblogging is an Internet social practice that became known as a technology. This project investigated weblogging (blogging) as an example of a media technology that arose under particular historical circumstances. To investigate this, blogs were examined in detail, participant-observation was used to construct and run a blog, and practicing bloggers were interviewed. The study found that blogging, like all technology, originates within existing social practice (context); has a diffusion process that causes it to spread between people (Geek-Chic); and leads to certain social outcomes (Personal Community). This is seen as a general pattern for the lifecycle of technology, serving to …

The Development And Validation Of The Thinness Expectancy Questionnaire (Teq), Ari R. Steinberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although the research on expectancy theory and body image and eating disturbance is very limited, it appears to be an extremely useful and promising line of study. It appears likely that the application of expectancy theory would lend itself well to the area of body image disturbance and eating disorders. Within the field of body image disturbance and eating disorders research, expectancies would most likely refer to the anticipated consequences of being thin. Such expectancies may be established by an individual's direct experience with weight loss and dieting or through the observation of the messages concerning the societal "thin ideal" …

"My Journey", Douglas Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a copy of my thesis which I have written in its original form as a travel journal that I brought with me on a trip I took driving across the country. I have duplicated it word for word so that it may be more accessible to review. Accompanying this copy are a few photographic samples of different places I've been that offer a visual feeling of what I'm talking ahout thru-out the journal. The original copy of the journal will be displayed as part of my show (March 1st-5th at the Oliver Gallery) and can be viewed in …

Detection And Quantification Of Karenia Brevis By Carbon Fixation Gene Expression Analysis, Michael Alan, Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Karenia brevis (Davis cf. Hansen & Moestrup = Gymnodinium breve) is the non-peridinin containing dinoflagellate responsible for many harmful algal blooms (red tides) in the Gulf of Mexico. These recurrent blooms can have significant negative ecological, economic, and human health impacts including fish kills, tainting of shellfish, poisoning of marine mammals, loss of tourism revenue due to beach closures, and respiratory distress and food poisoning in humans.

A method for detection of Karenia brevis was developed based upon amplification of the mRNA for the plastid-encoded gene of the carbon fixing enzyme ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO) large subunit (rbcL). …

Teachers’ Mathematics Preparation And Eighth Grade Student Mathematics Achievement: Can An Integrated Learning System Provide Support When Teachers’ Professional Preparation Is Limited?, Christine Kerstyn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teaching vacancies are increasing nationally and the task of placing an experienced, subject-certified teacher in the classroom is getting more difficult for school districts. About 23% of all secondary teachers do not have a minor in their main teaching field. This is true for more than 30% of mathematics teachers and the proportion of such teachers is much greater in high-poverty schools and lower-level classes. In schools with the highest minority enrollments, students have less than a 50% chance of getting a science or mathematics teacher who holds a license and a degree in the field which he or she …

Cognitive Processing Patterns Associated With Completion Of Treatment For Domestic Violence, Amina Porter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the differences in how domestically violent men processed social information before, during, and after the completion of treatment received from a Batterers Intervention Program in Florida.

Men receiving mandatory treatment for domestic violence as the result of a court order were exposed to a series of hypothetical scenarios involving their intimate partners and women with whom they were not intimately acquainted. The scenarios were sculpted to create negative feelings in the men,and cognitive processing patterns were investigated by testing their recall of social cues, their perception of intentionality and hostility, response consideration, response decisions, enactment ability, and …

A Comparative Simulation Of Type I Error And Power Of Four Tests Of Homogeneity Of Effects For Random- And Fixed-Effects Models Of Meta-Analysis, Lisa Therese Aaron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a Monte Carlo analysis of meta-analytic data, Type I and Type II error rates were compared for four homogeneity tests. The study controlled for violations of normality and homogeneity of variance. This study was modeled after Harwell (1997) and Kromrey and Hogarty's (1998) experimental design. Specifically, it entailed a 2x3x3x3x3x3x2 factorial design. The study also controlled for between-studies variance, as suggested by Hedges and Vevea's (1998) study.

As with similar studies, this randomized factorial design was comprised of 5000 iterations for each of the following 7 independent variables: (1) number of studies within the meta-analysis (10 and 30); (2) …

Film In The Classroom: Toward A More Effective Pedagogy, Jonathan Godwin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The postmodern critique has effectively called on anthropologists to reevaluate ethnographic authority when representing others. However, what is often found lacking in this criticism is an exploration of the ways in which audiences interpret anthropological knowledge. One crucial area that can be easily researched is audience reception of film in introductory anthropology classes. As professors of anthropology increasingly rely on film for illustrating anthropological concepts, we must have an understanding of how this medium is interpreted by student audiences. Film's ability to convey complex information without additional contextualization has yet to be substantiated and previous research has indicated that visual …

In Search Of David Paul Davis, Rodney Kite-Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 1920s land boom in Florida produced a wide variety of characters. Among the most important, but lesser known, of those was David Paul Davis. Davis was born in November 1885 in Green Cove Springs, Florida. His family moved to Tampa in 1895, where he attended school and held a number of different jobs. He left Tampa in 1908 and reappeared in Jacksonville in 1915. That same year, in Jacksonville, he married Marjorie H. Merritt.

The young couple moved to Miami in 1920, where Davis began to sell real estate. He became quite adept, developing a number of subdivisions in …

Studies On Antibacterial Activities Of N-Thiolated Β-Lactams And Their Polymeric Nanoparticles Against Mrsa, Jeung-Yeop Shim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is now the most challenging bacterial pathogen affecting patients in hospitals and in care centers, and has brought on the need to develop new drugs for MRSA. This thesis centers on studies of N-thiolated β-lactams, a new family of potent antibacterial compounds that selectively inhibit the growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Chapter 1 describes MRSA in more detail. Chapter 2 outlines experiments on the effect of a fatty ester group (CO₂R) on the C₄-phenyl ring of N-methylthio β-lactams, expecting that attachment of long chain ester moieties might increase the hydrophobicity, …

Phylogeography And Evolution Of The Florida Crown Conch (Melongena Corona), Kenneth A. Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Melongena corona and closely related congeners are a conspicuous part of the marine intertidal benthic communities of Florida and southeastern Alabama. Significant genetic differentiation among adjacent populations has been conjectured based on variation in shell morphology, habitat discontinuity, low levels of adult motility, and the presence of an aplanic lecithotrophic larval stage. Furthermore, studies of the highly variable shell morphology often have resulted in confusing specific and subspecific definitions of these gastropods, which are often referred to as the "corona complex". Variation in shell morphology may indicate local adaptation or environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity. In this study I utilized mitochondrial …

The Omar Torrijos Regime: Implications For The Democratization Process In Panama, Emma Scribner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since gaining independence from Colombia in 1903, Panama has witnessed both elitist democratic governments and authoritarian populist governments. The oligarchic system in place throughout much of Panama's history was a significant hindrance to real democracy taking hold within the country. Democracy was further set back by the inordinate power exerted by the US presence on the isthmus throughout the twentieth century. Omar Torrijos's time as head of the Panamanian government from 1969 to 1981 exhibited populist, paternalistic and personalistic characteristics. His government marked an attempt to establish a form of government based on popular democracy. While a number of social …

N-Thiolated Β-Lactams: Chemistry And Biology Of A Novel Class Of Antimicrobial Agents For Mrsa, Timothy E. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

N-Methylthio beta-lactams represent a promising new family of antibacterial agents whose in vitro activity is confined largely to Staphylococcus species, including multidrug-resistant forms of S. aureus. Originally developed in the 1980's for use as synthetic intermediates, N-methylthio beta-lactams have recently been shown in these laboratories to possess intriguing biological properties which are addressed in Chapters I-IV. In terms of the antibacterial activities, the structural features and species specificities exhibited by these compounds are unlike those of any existing family of beta-lactam drugs. The lactams seem to exert their effects intracellularly, requiring passage of the bioactive species through the …

Substrate-Based Inhibitors Of Peptidylglycine Á-Amidating Monooxygenase (Pam) As Anti-Proliferative Drugs For Cancer, Geoffrey H. Chew

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

C-Terminal glycine-extended prohormones are enzymatically converted to á-amidated peptides, by peptidylglycine á-amidating monooxygenase (PAM). PAM is a bifunctional enzyme with two catalytic domains: peptidylglycine á-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) and peptidylglycine peptidylglycineaminoglycolate lyase (PAL).

PAM has a significant role in the proliferation of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Thus, the inhibition of PAM could halt cancer growth. Hippurate and hippurate analogs were used as lead compounds for developing inhibitors for PAM. The hippurate analogs exhibiting the highest affinity to PAM (lowest inhibition constant) did inhibit the growth of human androgen-independent prostate cancer DU 145 cells.

Characterization And Generation Of Streaming Video Traces, John N. Shahbazian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes two methods collectively called Time Series Generation (TSG) that can be used to generate time series inputs modeling packet loss to test IP-based streaming video software. The TSG methods create packet loss models that recreate the mean, variance, and autocorrelation signatures of an actual trace. The synthetic packet loss traces can have their inherent statistics altered, thus allowing for thorough testing of video software in ways that could not be done on actual networks. The two methods comprising TSG, which are individually called the primary and secondary method, use the principle of iterated uniformity to create a …

Self-Interference Handling In Ofdm Based Wireless Communication Systems, Tevfik Yücek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier modulation scheme that provides efficient bandwidth utilization and robustness against time dispersive channels. This thesis deals with self-interference, or the corruption of desired signal by itself, in OFDM systems. Inter-symbol Interference (ISI) and Inter-carrier Interference (ICI) are two types of self-interference in OFDM systems. Cyclic prefix is one method to prevent the ISI which is the interference of the echoes of a transmitted signal with the original transmitted signal. The length of cyclic prefix required to remove ISI depends on the channel conditions, and usually it is chosen according to the worst …

Physiological Responses Of Thalassia Testudinum And Ruppia Maritima To Experimental Salinity Levels, Donna M. Berns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thalassia testudinum, a stenohaline seagrass species, and Ruppia maritima, a euryhaline submerged aquatic vegetation species, were subjected to the same seven salinity levels (0 - 60) in a controlled environment. The response variables examined were the occurrence of leaf discoloration, plant growth rates, photosynthetic characteristics of blade segments (P_max, respiration, alpha, and I_k), and osmolality changes within the plant tissues. These response variables were measured at exposure times of one, seven, and 28 days.

Greater than 75% leaf discoloration occurred in Thalassia testudinum blades placed in 0, and 60 psu, while Ruppia maritima blades …