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Communicating Change: An Ethnography Of Women’S Sensemaking On Menopause, Hormone Replacement Therapies, And The Women’S Health Initiative, Linda Vangelis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As a result of the recent findings of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), many women who have been on hormone replacement therapies (HRT) have begun to renegotiate their understandings and strategies of this stage of their lives. The WHI findings suggested that the risks of HRT outweighed the benefits for healthy menopausal women. This study examined women's emerging sensemaking regarding HRT and menopause in light of the WHI findings. Seven women in the Tampa Bay area, who were in various stages of menopause, participated in three focus group sessions and two one-on-one interviews to discuss their lives in menopause. Based …

Satellite Analysis Of Temporal And Spatial Chlorophyll Patterns On The West Florida Shelf (1997-2003), Lisa Anne Vanderbloemen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding of the environmental and climatic effects on the temporal and spatial variability of phytoplankton biomass along the West Florida Shelf. Chapter 1 examines temporal and spatial patterns in chlorophyll concentrations using satellite data collected between 1997 and 2003. Chlorophyll data derived from the SeaWiFS sensor are validated with in-situ data and analyzed. Wind, current, sea surface temperature, river, and rain data are used to better understand the factors responsible for the patterns observed in the satellite data. My question is whether the standard OC4 algorithm is adequate for studying …

“Trust Yourself To God:” Friar Francisco Pareja And The Franciscans In Florida, 1595-1702, Albert William Vogt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Friar Francisco Pareja represented the pinnacle of the achievement for the Franciscans in Florida during the Spanish colonial period. But who were the Franciscans? Why were they, and Friar Pareja in particular, so successful as missionaries? The bulk of the writing done thus far on the mission system in Florida has concentrated on retelling the lost story of the native peoples who once inhabited the land. The impact of the missions and the Spanish colony weighed heavily on native cultures and the Franciscans role in this has been discussed. However, little has been said about the religious order itself, and …

A Morphometric Analysis Of The Geomorphology Of Florida’S Springs, Andrew Curtis Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An exploratory study of the geomorphology of Florida's springs was conducted using morphometric analysis. Spatial datasets for spring locations, elevation data, physiography, geology and hydrography were acquired for incorporation and analysis with GIS technology. ArcGIS 9 was used to measure certain morphometric parameters from the spatial data for Florida's springs. Other Parameters representing physical and dimensional characteristics of the springs were acquired from FGS Bulletin 66, Springs of Florida. All measured and collected data was compiled into a usable morphometric database. The data is described statistically and summarized according to the spatial distribution of Florida's springs with respect to geology …

A Structural Approach To The Study Of Intra-Organizational Coalitions, Dean T. Walsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coalitions are widely associated with collective or collaborative attempts to influence organizational members, decisions, policies and events. Yet, surprisingly, relatively little is known about how coalitions develop within organizations. Employing an exploratory case study design and using social network analysis, the Rokeach Value Survey, and semi-structured interviews, this research demonstrated that it is possible to identify and study coalitions in a real organizational setting. I suggest that the inclusion and investigation of member relationships may advance the state of the art in organizational coalition research. A benefit of this study, and contrary to most coalition research, is that it used …

Associations Between Individual, Social, And Service Factors, Recovery Expectations And Recovery Strategies For Individuals With Mental Illness, Gary W. Walby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clinical and consumer recovery efforts continue to advance more successful recovery agendas. Limited research into the effect of the expectation to recover and what strategies are most effective in enhancing recovery impedes coherent recovery programming. What factors are significantly associated with recovery expectancy and recovery strategies is still largely unknown. Thus, this study addresses three key gaps in the field.

First, which factors associate with the expectation of recovery and is expectation related to strategy choice? Second, what are common strategies for recovery from mental illness and what factors are associated with each strategy? Third, does recovery expectancy or severity …

Cross-Dressing In Sarah Grand's The Tenor And The Boy And E.D.E.N Southworth's The Hidden Hand: Gender, Class, And Power, Marcy Wynn Murray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis concerns female cross-dressing in nineteenth-century literature and the ways in which these images challenge gender and class hierarchies. Cross-dressing abounds in nineteenth-century literature, forming a thematic that crosses national boundaries. Therefore, this thesis considers works from both the British and American traditions. The primary texts explored are The Tenor and the Boy (1893) by Sarah Grand and The Hidden Hand, or Capitola the Madcap (1888) by E. D. E. N. Southworth. When published, both of these texts were commercial successes and can therefore be considered representative of popular literature of the time.

The use of transvestite characters allows …

Interspecific Interactions Among Common Insects Of The Salt Myrtle, Baccharis Halimifolia L. (Asteraceae), Laura F. Altfeld

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Baccharis halimifolia is host to many species of insect herbivore, including myrmecophilous aphids. Previous studies with B. halimifolia have revealed strong effects of competition by an early-feeding beetle, Trirhabda bacharidis, and nitrogen enrichment. The effects of ant mutualists, however, have not been evaluated for their potential influence on interspecific interactions among insects on the host plant. I have employed a series of experiments aimed at answering the following general questions. (1) How does the density of aphid-tending ants affect common insects on the host plant? (2) What are the relative effects of (a) competition from T. bacharidis, (b) nutrient enrichment, …

Polynomial Quandle Cocycles, Their Knot Invariants And Applications, Kheira Ameur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A quandle is a set with a binary operation that satisfies three axioms that corresponds to the three Reidemeister moves on knot diagrams. Homology and cohomology theories of quandles were introduced in 1999 by Carter, Jelsovsky,Kamada, Langford, and Saito as a modification of the rack (co)homology theory defined by Fenn, Rourke, and Sanderson. Cocycles of the quandle (co)homology, along with quandle colorings of knot diagrams, were used to define a new invariant called the quandle cocycle invariants, defined in a state-sum form. This invariant is constructed using a finite quandle and a cocyle, and it has the advantage that it …

The Relationship Between B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Levels And Hospital Length Of Stay And Quality Of Life In Congestive Heart Failure Patientsthe Relationship Between B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Levels And Hospital Length Of Stay And Quality Of Life In Congestive Heart Failure Patients, Irma B. Ancheta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research on quality of life (QOL) and its relation to BNP levels in heart failure (HF) has been widely studied. However, the impact of physicians' knowledge of BNP levels at time of clinic visit on QOL and hospital length of stay (LOS) has yet to be fully investigated. The purpose of this study were to determine if physicians' knowledge of BNP levels affected a change in QOL scores at 90 days and reduce hospital length of stay among heart failure patients. QOL data from HF clinic patients (N = 108, 67.5 ± 12.3, 56% male, ejection fraction 26.5 ± …

A Comparison Of Systolic Blood Pressure In Women With And Without Lymphedema Following Surgery For Breast Cancer, Deborah M. Arvidson-Hawkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is no evidenced-based research on prevention of upper extremity lymphedema following breast cancer treatment. General guidelines have been identified from a basic understanding of the lymphatic system and are considered to be prudent advice for prevention. Cause of lymphedema is hypothesized to be multifactorial and time of onset is widely varied. Exogenous risk factors leading to lymphedema are the removal and destruction of lymph nodes; however, not all women develop lymphedema following axillary lymph node dissection. Co-morbid conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are cited as possible endogenous risk factors. Several studies identify hypertension as a significance endogenous …

Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Based Biomems/Nems For Cell Manipulation, Alexandro Castellanos Mier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, BioMEMS/NEMS have been primary elements associated with the research and development efforts in the bioengineering area. International and federal funding has effected an enormous increase in the development of state-of-the-art bioengineering and biomedical technologies. Most of the BioMEMS/NEMS related applications are associated with diagnostics, sensing and detection. Procedures for separation and manipulation of biological components play a paramount role in the function of these bioengineering mechanisms. This research was concerned with the development of a novel BioMEMS device for cell manipulation. The functioning of the device is based on the use of thermally responsive polymer networks, which …

Low-Power Flip-Flop Using Internal Clock Gating And Adaptive Body Bias, Jorge Alberto Galvis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a new systematic approach to flip-flop design using Internal Clock Gating, (ICG), and Adaptive Body-Bias, (ABB), in order to reduce power consumption. The process requires careful transistor resizing in order to maintain signal integrity and the functionality of the flip-flop at the target frequency.A novel flip-flop architecture, based on the Transmission Gate Flip-Flop, (TGFF), which incorporated ICG and ABB techniques, was designed. This architecture was simulated intensively in order to determine under what conditions its use is appropriate. In addition, it was necessary to establish a methodology for creating a standard testbench and environment setup for the …

Respondent Fatigue In Self-Report Victim Surveys: Examining A Source Of Nonsampling Error From Three Perspectives, Timothy C. Hart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Survey research is a popular methodology used to gather data on a myriad of phenomena. Self-report victim surveys administered by the Federal government are used to substantially broaden our understanding of the nature and extent of crime. A potential source of nonsampling error, respondent fatigue is thought to manifest in contemporary victim surveys, as respondents become "test wise" after repeated exposure to survey instruments. Using a special longitudinal data file, the presence and influence of respondent fatigue in national self-report victim surveys is examined from three perspectives. Collectively, results provide a comprehensive look at how respondent fatigue may impact crime …

Ventricle Slice Detection In Mr Images Using Hough Transform And Object Matching Techniques, Chintan Thakkar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The determination of the center slice, defined as a slice through the lateral ventricles in the axial plane in a volume of MR images is important to the segmentation of the image into its anatomical parts. The center or ventricle slice in a set of MR images is recognized by the shape of the ventricles in the axial plane as depicted by the cerebro-spinal fluids in the image. Currently, no technique exists to detect this slice and the purpose of this thesis is to find a slice through the lateral ventricles in the axial plane from a volume of MRI …

Development Of Window Layer For High Efficiency High Bandgap Cadmium Selenide Solar Cell For 4-Terminal Tandem Solar Cell Applications, Sridevi A. Vakkalanka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tandem solar cells fabricated from thin films provide promise of improved efficiency while keeping the processing costs low. CdSe as top cells are investigated in this work. CIGS has been a standardized process with lab efficiencies reaching 18% [53]. This dissertation focuses on the development of conductive window layer for the development of a high performance, high bandgap solar cell. ZnSe, Cu2-xSe, and ZnSexTe1-x are investigated as viable window layers of the top cell. ZnSe in undoped form forms a good junction with CdSe films, but the Voc from these devices could never exceed the 360mV mark, while the current …

Freedom Fighters, Freedom Haters, Martyrs, And Evildoers: The Social Construction Of Suicide Terrorism, Cã©Cile Valã©Rie Van De Voorde

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Suicide terrorism is characterized by the willingness of physically and psychologically war-trained individuals to die while destroying or attempting to annihilate enemy targets in furtherance of certain political or social objectives. Rooted in the historical, social, and psychological dimensions of international terrorism, suicide terrorism is neither a unique nor a new phenomenon. Its recent resurgence and the extensive media coverage it has received account for the misleading uniqueness of this violent, complex, and adaptive form of terrorism. This qualitative study examines the definitional and rhetorical processes by which suicide terrorism is socially constructed. Using a social constructionist theoretical framework coupled …

An Exploration Of Middle-Aged And Older Women's Experiences Of Bat Mitzvah Within The Framework Of Erikson's Theory Of Human Development, Keren S. Vergon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A growing number of Jewish women are participating in adult bat mitzvah ceremonies in many synagogues across the United States. Little is known about the reasons why women choose to participate in a bat mitzvah ritual as an adult. It is also unclear if women of different ages have different reasons for participating in bat mitzvah.Older women were often not given the opportunity to participate in the bat mitzvah ritual as a young adult, and it is unknown why older women choose to accept the challenge of bat mitzvah. It may be suspected that Jewish women are interested in adult …

Novel Sol-Gel Titania-Based Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Coatings For On-Line Capillary Microextraction Coupled To High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Tae-Young Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Novel sol-gel titania-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (TiO2-PDMS) and titania-silica-N-(triethoxysilylpropyl)-O-polyethylene oxide urethane (TiO2-SiO2-TESP-PEO) coatings were developed for capillary microextraction (CME) to perform on-line preconcentration and HPLC analysis of trace impurities in aqueous samples. Due to chemical inertness of titania, effective covalent binding of a suitable organic ligand to its surface is difficult via conventional surface modification methods. In this research, sol-gel chemistry was employed to chemically bind hydroxy-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and N-(triethoxysilylpropyl)-O-polyethylene oxide urethane (TESP-PEO) to sol-gel titania and sol-gel titania-silica network, respectively. A method is presented describing in situ preparation of the titania-based sol-gel PDMS and TESP-PEO coatings and their immobilization on the …

Vigilance In African Americans: Cardiovascular Reactivity And Phasic Heart Period Reactions To Cued Threat And Nonthreat Stimuli, Thomas Starr King

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African Americans are at a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and associated risk factors than are Whites, and recent research has suggested that the effects of racial discrimination are a significant contributor to this disparity. Thus, a preattentive bias and vigilance for threat might serve as a mechanism through which experienced racial discrimination would negatively impact cardiovascular health. A study was conducted to investigate the physiological and attentional underpinnings of vigilance for discriminatory threat via examination of phasic heart period (HP) responses to cued threat and nonthreat stimuli. Thirty African American and forty-two European American undergraduate students from a …

Be Active!: An Examination Of Social Support's Role In Individual Vs. Team Competition In Worksite Health Promotion, Lauren Kriz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Millions of dollars are being spent on health care claims. To try and reduce these claims, corporations are implementing worksite health promotion programs. Some success has been associated with these programs. Many programs implement different types of incentives and competitions. Some incentives and competitions are based on individual participation while others are based on team participation. The purpose of the study was to determine the role social support plays in individual and team health promotion programs and discover if social support was the key factor for the differences in such programs. All participants of the study were responsible for keeping …

Predictors And Outcomes Of Hospice Use Among Medicare And Medicaid Dual-Eligible Nursing Home Residents In Florida: A Comparison Of Non-Hispanic Blacks And Non-Hispanic Whites, Jung, Kwak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the racial/ethnic differences in hospice utilization and the effect of hospice in reducing the risk of hospital death at the end of life among non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White dual-eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) older adults residing in a nursing home setting. The final study population included 30,765 non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White nursing home residents who died between state fiscal years 2000-2002 in Florida.The behavioral model of health services use successfully predicted group membership in hospice use. In the full model, seven variables - female gender, non-Hispanic White race/ethnicity, being married, urban area of residence, and cancer …

Control Of Lysogeny In Marine Bacteria: Studies With Φhsic And Natural Populations, Amy K. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Viruses have an estimated global population size of 10 to the 31st, with a significant proportion found in the marine environment. Viral lysis of bacteria affects the flow of carbon in the marine microbial food web, but the effects of lysogeny on marine microbial ecology are largely unknown. In this thesis, factors that influence the control of lysogeny were studied in both the phiHSIC/Listonella pelagia phage-host system and in bacterioplankton populations in the Gulf of Mexico. Using macroarrays dotted with phiHSIC amplicons, viral gene expression over the course of a synchronous infection experiment was measured. Early, middle, late, and continually …

Gender Differences During Heat Strain At Critical Wbgt, Christina L. Luecke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heat stress is influenced by environmental conditions, workload and clothing. A critical environment is the upper limit of compensable heat stress for a given metabolic rate and clothing ensemble. The physiological strains associated with heat stress are core and skin temperatures, heart rate and physiological strain index (PSI). Because heat dissipation mechanisms may differ between men and women, there may be gender differences in the critical environment and the associated physiological variables. Gender differences were explored between acclimated men (n = 20) and women (n = 9) at the upper limit of compensable heat stress. Participants walked on a motorized …

Virginia Woolf And The Persistent Question Of Class: The Protean Nature Of Class And Self, Mary C. Madden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From the beginning of her career, Virginia Woolf moves beyond the perspective of her inherited class position to challenge a damaging class system. She increasingly recognizes the extent of her own complicity in the creation and maintenance of class structures supporting patriarchy, war, and British imperialism. Highlighting ambiguities inherent in the very category of class, she acknowledges the limiting "boxes" of language itself in attempts to rethink class. For Woolf, class is not monolithic but internally differentiated by gender and race. Examining Woolf's early work in relation to class theory shows that throughout her career Woolf interrogates the imbrication of …

Patterns And Dynamics Of Ocean Circulation Variability On The West Florida Shelf, Yonggang Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patterns of variability and the dynamics of the ocean circulation on the West Florida Shelf (WFS) are investigated using multi-year, shelf-wide oceanographic observations from moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) arrays,hydrographic cruises, High-Frequency (HF) radars, satellites, and coastal tide gauges.Novel neural network techniques, Self-Organizing Map (SOM) and Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Maps (GHSOM), are introduced as feature extraction methods in physical oceanography. The SOM is demystified and demonstrated to be a useful feature extraction method in a series of performance evaluations using artificial data sets comprising known patterns. It is then applied to velocity time series from moored ADCP arrays and …

Audience Interpretations Of The Representation Of Women In Music Videos By Women Artists, Libby Mckenna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how young women audiences may make sense of music videos and how they relate music video messages to their own femininity. Studies of the representation of women in music videos mostly have focused on critiquing content, rather than audience interpretations. This study, using focus groups, looked at how young women interpret music videos featuring women artists and showed that young women perceive sexist and/or stereotypical depictions presented in the videos. During six focus groups, three music videos were reviewed by 49 college students, mostly consisting of young women in their early 20s. The researcher found themes emerging …

The Role Of Social Structural And Social Contextual Factors In Shaping Chronic Disease And Chronic Disease Risk Behavior: A Multilevel Study Of Hypertension, General Health Status, And Mental Distress, Caroline Mae Mckay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At present there is a reliance on behavioral interventions that have been limited in their effectiveness to reduce the public health burden of chronic disease, partly because the effects of social context on the initiation and maintenance of health behaviors is not incorporated into public health policy and practice. Yet current research indicates that there are macro-level structural and contextual influences on population health that cannot be reduced to individual or compositional effects. This study investigated the associations between social structural factors, community social context, individual characteristics, and self-reported correlates of disease. Distal influences included social structural inequalities such as …

Crystal Engineering Of Novel Pharmaceutical Forms, Jennifer Anne Mcmahon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the context of pharmaceutical development, it is abundantly clear that there is a need for greater understanding and control of crystalline phases. The field of crystal engineering is poised to address such issues and has matured into a paradigm for the supramolecular synthesis of new compounds with desired properties. Crystal structures are unpredictable by nature, however, the interactions that lead to crystal formation are becoming much more predictable. By means of model compound studies, the delineation of the hierarchy of hydrogen bonding between complementary functional groups or supramolecular heterosynthons can be accomplished. Competitive co-crystallization studies along with data extracted …

Evaluation Of Aashto Design Specifications For Cast-In-Place Continuous Bridge Deck Using Remote Sensing Technique, Ebrahim Mehranipornejad

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research project concerns the construction, testing, and remote health monitoring of the first smart bridge structure in Florida, the East Bay bridge in Gibsonton, Hillsborough County. The East Bay Bridge is a four span, continuous, deck-type structure with a total length of 120' and width of 55'. The superstructure consists of an 18'' cast-in-place reinforced concrete slab, and is supported on pre-stressed pile bents, each consisting of 5 piles. The smart sensors used for remote health monitoring are the newly emerged Fabry --Perot (FP) Fiber Optic Sensors, and are both surface-mounted and embedded in the concrete deck.Static and Dynamic …