Digital Commons Network^™

A Comparison Of Exhaled Breath Nitric Oxide Between Old And Young Individuals, Robert L. Gordon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Older individuals suffer from higher rates of pulmonary infections than younger individuals. In addition, older individuals have increased morbidity and mortality due to pulmonary infections when compared to younger individuals. The physiological and immunological reasons for these aforementioned differences are not clear. Recently, non-invasive markers of the lung's physiologic and immunologic status have been recognized. This study employs one of these non-invasive markers, exhaled nitric oxide, in an attempt to determine how the airways may change with age, predisposing older individuals to pulmonary diseases and poorer outcomes as compared to younger individuals.

METHODS: Exhaled nitric oxide measurements were obtained …

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. …

Apalachicola’S Gold: Archaeology And History Of Tupelo Honey Production In Northwest Florida, Kelly S. Hockersmith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Several archaeological sites in the lower Apalachicola River Valley have evidence of beekeeping in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. At least two of these are also prehistoric sites (Depot Creek, 8Gu56 and Clark Creek, 8Gu60), which are Rangia (clam) shell mounds. Both sites are deep in the river swamp, which has the largest stand of tupelo trees in the world. The valley has a long tradition of beekeeping. Apiarists (beekeepers) would bring their bees by boat to remote locations in the swamps during the short tupelo flowering season to take advantage of the extensive forest. Tupelo honey has …

Significance Of The European Investment Bank, Maria L. Pisaneschi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the implementation of the Treaty of Rome in 1958, the Common Market of six European states has grown to the European Union of twenty-five states as of May 2004. From the outset, the integration of these states into a single economic system has made more apparent the differences in levels of economic development among and within the member states. The original members of the Common Market were aware of these regional differences in 1958 and created the European Investment Bank as part of the Treaty of Rome to provide investment funds to reduce the development gap among the member …

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 …

Ammonia Flux At The Air/Water Interface Of Tampa Bay, Constance Anne Mizak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An ammonia emissions inventory discovered that 90% of the ammonia emitted from Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Polk counties, originated from the latter two counties. This finding is significant and suggests that a substantial portion of the ammonia deposited to Tampa Bay is transported with easterly air masses.

Ammonia and ammonium concentrations at the coastal Gandy Bridge site were seasonally and diurnally consistent, but the rural Sydney site showed greater variability. It was determined that wind direction was the most influential parameter affecting the Gandy Bridge site, which supports the hypothesis that an advection of ammonia from the east is a major …

Alternative Formulations Of Joint Model Systems Of Departure Time Choice And Mode Choice For Non-Work Trips, Constantinos A. Tringides

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modeling travel demand by time of day is gaining increasing attention in travel demand forecasting practice. This is because time of day choice has important implications for mode choice and for quantifying potential modal and time of day shifts in response to traffic congestion and peak period travel demand management strategies. In this context, understanding the causal relationship between time of day (departure time) choice and mode choice behavior would be useful in the development of time of day based travel demand modeling systems both within the four-step modeling paradigm and within newer tour-based and activity-based microsimulation paradigms. This thesis …

The Interaction Between Victim Race And Gender On Capital Sentencing Outcomes: An Exploration Of Previous Research, Amy Reckdenwald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploration and extension of previous research on the interactive effects of victim-race and victim-gender on death sentence outcomes. Williams and Holcomb's (2004) study suggests that an interactive effect exists between victim-race and victim-gender on Ohio death sentencing outcomes, such that killers of White women are especially singled out for capital punishment. The current study analyzes a sample of death eligible cases at the trial level in North Carolina to determine if Williams & Holcomb's findings hold up for a different sample of cases and in a different state. Logistic regression is used to determine if there …

Investigation Of Oxide Thickness Dependence Of Fowler-Nordheim Parameter B, Shashank Bharadwaj

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During recent years the thickness of the gate oxide has been reduced considerably. The progressive miniaturization of devices has caused several phenomena to emerge such as quasi-breakdown, direct tunneling and stress induced leakage currents. Such phenomena significantly modify the performance of the scaled-down MOSFETs. As a part of this research work, an effort has been made to study the performance and characteristics of the thin Gate oxide for MOSFETs and Tunnel Oxide for Floating Gate (FG) MOS devices. The exponential dependence of tunnel current on the oxide-electric field causes some critical problems in process control. A very good process control …

Development Of Structural Equations Models Of Statewide Freight Flows, Siva S. Jonnavithula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The modeling of freight travel demand has gained increasing attention in the recent past due to the importance of efficient and safe freight transportation to regional economic growth. Despite the attention paid to the modeling of freight travel demand, advances in modeling methods and the development of practical tools for forecasting freight flows have been limited. The development of freight demand models that incorporate the behavioral aspects of freight demand face significant hurdles, partially due to the data requirements, which are a consequence of the inherent complexity of the mechanisms driving freight demand. This research attempts to make a contribution …

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 …

A Vhdl Implemetation Of The Advanced Encryption Standard-Rijndael Algorithm, Rajender Manteena

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has initiated a process to develop a Federal information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), specifying an Advanced Encryption Algorithm to replace the Data Encryption standard (DES) the Expired in 1998. NIST has solicited candidate algorithms for inclusion in AES, resulting in fifteen official candidate algorithms of which Rijndael was chosen as the Advanced Encryption Standard.

The Advanced Encryption Standard can be programmed in software or built with pure hardware. However Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) offer a quicker, more customizable solution. This research investigates the AES algorithm with …

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 …

Effects Of Two-Way Left-Turn Lane On Roadway Safety, Haolei Peng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL) is one of the common median treatments on the roadway. It is found that a number of crashes reported in Florida State are related to TWLTLs. This research focused on evaluating the effect of TWLTLs on these crashes by using the statistical crash prediction model that can estimate the expected number of crashes on TWLTLs. The crash database for analysis was extracted from the Florida Traffic Crash Database based on the TWLTL section list provided by FDOT and combined with some traffic characteristics. It consisted of totally 1688 sample sections within a three-year period from 1996 …

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 …

Are Preservice Instructional Designers Adequately Prepared For Tomorrow’S Diverse Learning Audiences?—A Cultural Content Analysis Of Textbooks (1993-2003) Used For Instructional Design, Sujie Man

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study used content analysis to examine the coverage of cultural issues in the five phases of instructional design within ID/ISD textbooks published between 1993 and 2003. The results indicated that not all the ID/ISD textbooks examined in this study covered cultural issues. Among the textbooks that did cover cultural issues, none of them reached more than 10% coverage of the total pages of any one book. The phase of Analysis and the Other category received the highest amount of coverage in both the 53 books sample and 36 books sample; whereas the phase of Implementation received the least amount …

Laboratory Statnamic Testing, Michael Jeffrey Stokes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite advancements in the analysis of statnamic load testing data, there exists uncertainty with underlying procedural assumptions. Two such assumptions are that the system mass and soil-related damping coefficient remain constant throughout the loading event. These assumptions are the culprit of aberrant predictions of the static capacity at small displacements when the overall displacement is large. An exploration of the assumptions may validate prior existing test results as well as solidify the current analysis process. However, an exploration could also reveal an overestimation or underestimation of portions of the predicted static load responses.

The testing program outlined herein consists of …

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 …

A Model To Create Bus Timetables To Attain Maximum Synchronization Considering Waiting Times At Transfer Stops, Anitha Eranki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the steady increased in public transportation demand, there is a need to provide more desirable and user-friendly transit systems. Typically, the public transportation timetables are modeled as an assignment problem, which often has objectives such as reducing the cost of operation, minimizing waiting time between transfer points or improving the quality of performance. This research considers the problem of developing synchronized timetables for bus transit systems with fixed routes when a waiting time limit exist at each transfer stops, for the passengers making connections. The objective of this research is to have maximum number of simultaneous arrivals.

Different …

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 …

A Comparison Of Centrifugal Forces To Reduce The Inhibitory Effects Of Food Matrixes On Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction For The Detection Of Food Borne Viruses, Kristina Kim Carter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The CDC estimated that foodborne infections resulted in approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths per year in the United States (Mead, 1999). There are over 200 known diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins, metals, or prions that can be transmitted through food. Of these illnesses caused by foodborne disease, the CDC estimates that 38.6 million cases are from identifiable pathogens and 30.9 million of these cases are caused by viruses. Hence, approximately 80% of foodborne illnesses of known etiology result from viral transmission (Mead, 1999). Viral gastrointestinal illness may be caused by virus families such as: …

Evaluation Of The Prognostic Criteria For Medicare Hospice Eligibility, D Helen Moore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work evaluates Medicare Hospice Benefit (MHB) eligibility standards that are referenced throughout this work as either "Medicare prognostic criteria," or "Local Medical Review Policies." Following the Chapter 1 overview of prognosis in end-stage disease, association between the Medicare clinical predictors and survival outcomes in dementing, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular illnesses are described in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 examines the prognostic belief systems of multidisciplinary hospice personnel. Chapter 4 seeks to improve the predictive performance of the Medicare prognostic criteria for dementia. The fifth and final chapter critiques the Medicare prognostic criteria from conceptual, methodological, and applied perspectives and suggests related …

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 …

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 …

The Literacy Practices Of Working Class White Women, Jody Ann Fernandez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is an accepted construct that literacy proficiency is vital to economic success in America. As well, research has shown that home literacy use, especially parental practices, is instrumental in the children's acquisition of literacy skills, and later, proficiency with school literacy tasks. While literacy research abounds regarding family literacy practice, especially that of low-income mothers and children, rarely is the concept of class specifically addressed as separate from race.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the reported home literacy practices of nine white working class women residing in a neighborhood in the Southeastern United States. …

Spatial And Temporal Chemical Variations In The Hillsborough River System, Lori A. Pillsbury

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Hillsborough River flows southwesterly through Pasco and Hillsborough counties in west central Florida. From its source at the Green Swamp to its mouth in Hillsborough Bay, the river is joined by many tributaries and man-made inputs. Spatial and temporal variations in the river's major ion and CO₂ system chemistry were examined in a two-year study between 1999 and 2001. At thirteen sampling stations along approximately 54 miles of the river, water samples were collected in surroundings that ranged from pristine to urban. Samples were collected monthly for the first year and periodically thereafter. Concentrations of major ions were …

Hypocrisy Induction To Alter Selection Decisions Among Aversive Racists: Analyzing The Role Of External Motivation To Respond Without Prejudice, Andrew Biga

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study will examine the effects of hypocrisy induction on selection decisions for two populations: Aversive Racists and truly non-prejudiced individuals. Aversive Racists are operationally defined as individuals who are low in explicit prejudice and high in implicit prejudice, whereas truly non-prejudiced individuals are defined as being low in both explicit and implicit prejudice. These two groups of people will differ on their ratings of job applicants, so that Aversive Racists will rate Black applicants lower than White applicants (with comparable job credentials) while truly non-prejudiced individuals will rate them similarly. The induction of hypocrisy will serve as a …