Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Ctd System For Environmental Measurements Using Novel Pcb Mems Fabrication Techniques, Heather Allison Broadbent

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of environmental continuous monitoring of physicochemical parameters via portable small and inexpensive instrumentation is an active field of research as it presents distinct challenges. The development of a PCB MEMS-based inexpensive CTD system intended for the measurement of environmental parameters in natural waters, is presented in this work. Novel PCB MEMS fabrication techniques have also been developed to construct the conductivity and temperature transducers. The design and fabrication processes are based on PCB MEMS technology that combines Cu-clad liquid crystal polymer (LCP) thin-film material with a direct write photolithography tool, chemical etching and metallization of layers of electroless …

The Assessment Of Appearance Factors Related To Intentional Uv Exposure, Guy Cafri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the motives for sunbathing and indoor tanning is an extremely important public health issue. Skin cancer rates have increased dramatically in recent years and UV exposure via sunbathing and utilization of sun lamps and tanning beds are considered important risk factors. Motives for sunbathing and tanning salon use have been thought to be related to appearance concerns, yet little research has examined the specific tan appearance attitudes that may contribute to use of these behaviors. Two studies were conducted with the aim of assessing distinct attitudes related to a tan appearance. In the first study items were created based …

Anti-Displacement Strategies: Nonprofit Organizations In Old Town Chinatown, Jenny Bajwa, Joanne Daunt, Sean Farrelly, Serah Overbeek, Jessica Sladek

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Old Town Chinatown is home to over 40 nonprofit organizations (nonprofits), including social service providers and arts, history, and culture groups. These groups contribute immeasurably to the community through the services and educational opportunities they provide and through their role in the social and economic fabric of the neighborhood. Urban renewal has come to the neighborhood in the form of several large projects that are either currently underway or scheduled to begin in the next several years. While these plans present an opportunity for much needed development in Old Town Chinatown, there is concern among nonprofits that redevelopment and private …

The Diggable City: Making Urban Agriculture A Planning Priority, Kevin Balmer, James Gill, Heather Kaplinger, Joe Miller, Melissa Peterson, Amanda Rhoads, Paul Rosenbloom, Teak Wall

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

In addition to an inventory of potential urban agriculture sites, the team also conducted a literature review, held focus groups with relevant stakeholders, conducted numerous interviews, and administered and analyzed surveys. The results of these outreach efforts greatly informed criteria development and recommendations, and expanded our understanding of the potential for urban agriculture in Portland. This project was conducted under the supervision of Sy Adler, Deborah Howe, and Connie Ozawa. A DVD version of this work produced in 2006 can be found at: http://search.library.pdx.edu/PSU:CP71113508690001451

From Mobile Ontologies To Mobile Aesthetics, Jos De Mul

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

We are living in a globalizing world, characterized by constant and rapid innovation. As we are inclined to go with this flow and its accompanying discourse of mobility, there is a danger that we overlook the persistence of cultural traditions. However, this paper argues that important differences exist between pre-modern, modern and post-modern traditions with regard to the form mobility takes. After a short discussion of the role information and communication technologies play in post-modern traditions, it is argued that these technologies transform our world, and not only our electronic files, into a global database and, as a consequence, generate …

Avant-Garde Or Pré-Jugé?, Sinead Murphy

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This paper receives its impetus from Gadamer's account of effective history (Wirkungsgeschichte) and his corresponding challenge to the 'problem of purity' that he locates in Kant's critique of aesthetic judgment and that derives from the attempt to establish universal founding principles for thought and action. This is a deep and wide-ranging issue, and so I focus on a very specific aspect of it: the division between intuition and understanding, between history as a given flux and enlightenment as a unifying synthesis, that motivates Kant's search for pure reflective grounds to reconcile them, and on the challenge posed to this division …

Carrying The Jade Tablet: A Consideration Of Confucian Artistry, Eric C. Mullis

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In this paper I discuss the aesthetic dimension of ritual action. In order to demonstrate how the rites render action aesthetically expressive, I draw on the notion of an "art of context" and further detail the Confucian understanding of artistic practice as an essential component for moral cultivation. In turn, I use John Dewey's account of aesthetic form in order to support and further demonstrate the ability of the rituals and arts to organize action and to thereby render it aesthetically significant. However, Dewey's account entails that we question either conceptual or institutional limitations of aesthetic form as such limitations …

Immersive Contemplation In Video Art Environments, Tiffany Sutton

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This essay examines a form of video art -- what is called a "video environment" -- that calls upon as much as it departs from familiar conventions that are bound up in museum display. I argue that the way that works in this genre are housed in museums enables them to give rise to a form of contemplation, one involving immersion, that is, if not unique to this genre, then certainly demonstrated by it. My examples of video environments make a case for the coherence of this rarely experienced immersive form of contemplation, the value of which, in turn, makes …

The Evolution And Revolutions Of The Networked Art Aesthetic, Jeanne Marie Kusina

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Mail art, artist books, artist amps, assemblings, experimental and visual poetry, Email art, video, and performance art have all, at various times, been considered members of the loosely configured classification known as "Networked art". Yet the common thread associating these diverse media is not the manner of their production, but rather the dynamic way in which they are distributed throughout artist networks. Emphasizing communication and generosity, Networked artists attempt to subvert conventional systems of exchange while also maintaining an intimacy of expression. I will discuss these qualities and how they often evolve from subtle attempts to undermine an allegedly flawed …

Teacher Learning: Documentation, Collaboration, And Reflection, William A. Parnell

Dissertations and Theses

Inspired by the Municipal preprimary schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, two art studio teachers and a researcher have explored experiences and meaning in the atelier. When studio teachers document children's thinking through digital photographs. transcribed audio tapes, quotations of a child's verbal thoughts, and copies of their work, an indescribable moment in teacher thinking interweaves with the child's learning, As teachers capture children's representations, investigate, interpret, and share their ideas with colleagues and community-an underlying question emerges. What are studio teachers' experiences o/teaching-learning in the atelier as they utilize documentation, collaboration, and reflection as a way to inform their practices? …

A Co-Orientational Analysis Of Public Involvement Perceptions In The Transportation Process: A Case Study, Kristen E. Carson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored public involvement within the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) using the co-orientational theory. Effective public involvement gives the public opportunities to be involved early in the planning and implementation of transportation projects that directly affect or may concern them. The co-orientational model looks at what an organization (FDOT) thinks about an issue (public involvement), what the public thinks of the issue, what the organization thinks the public thinks about the issue, and what the public thinks the organization thinks about the issue.

This study investigated whether the FDOT management has an accurate understanding of the perceptions of …

Social Construction Of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women In Panama City, Panama, Arlene Calvo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To learn how to address health issues specific to Hispanic cultures in an effort to address health disparities, learning from cultural aspects that affect health from the countries of origin would be most useful. Community programs built on rigorous and systematic research prove to be more powerful than ad-hoc programs. Qualitative research techniques offer powerful alternatives for public health professionals to develop adequate and directed programs at the community level, especially among underserved communities and those represented by oral/spoken traditions. The study was conducted among 132 working class single and married Mestizo women between the ages of 20-40 living in …

Effects Of Constructed Response Contingencies In Web-Based Programmed Instruction On Graphing Compared To Cued-Text Presentation Of The Same Information, Reinaldo L. Canton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Web-based lessons teaching graph construction techniques (via the internet) were presented to 144 undergraduate and graduate college students. One group experienced program-controlled tutorials requiring them to construct answers in a defined sequence. A second group experienced identical lesson material in the form of typographically cued text presentations. The programmed instruction students performed significantly better than the cued-text group on an immediate computerbased posttest assessing comprehension of the graphing lesson material. The cuedtext group performed better on an applied graphing assignment. The experiment did not account for individual’s internet study habits or the metacognitive approaches to learning employed by the study …

Exploring Women’S Complex Relationship With Political Violence: A Study Of The Weathermen, Radical Feminism And The New Left, Lindsey Blake Churchill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I use the radical, pro-violent organization the Weathermen as a framework to examine women and feminisms complex relationships with violence. My thesis attempts to show the many belief systems that second wave feminists possessed concerning the role(s) of women and violence in revolutionary organizations. Hence, by using the Weathermen as a framework, I discuss various feminist essentialist and pacifist critiques of violence. I also include an analysis of feminists who, similar to the Weathermen, embraced political violence. For example, radical feminists Robin Morgan and Jane Alpert criticized the Weathermen's violent tactics while other feminists such as Ti-Grace …

Finding My Voice: Adolescent Girls’ Experiences With Speaking Up And How Recounting These Experiences Impacts Future Expression, Deborah A. Cihonski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of the Expression of Voice experience in adolescent girls using an existential-phenomenological interview approach and also to explore the impact of participation in an interview session talking about Voice. Two open-ended interviews were conducted. During the first interview, participants are asked to "Please think of a specific time when you had something important to say, and although it was difficult, you did speak up and say what you thought. In as much detail as possible, describe that experience." During the second interview, each girl was asked if she "... feel[s] …

Dissecting Out The Contribution Of Cognitive, Social, And Physical Activities To Environmental Enrichment’S Ability To Protect Alzheimer’S Mice Against Cognitive Impairment, Jennifer R. Cracchiolo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Retrospective studies suggest that lifestyle activities may provide protection against Alzheimer s Disease (AD). However, such studies can be inaccurate and prospective longitudinal studies investigating lifestyle protection against AD are both impractical and impossible to control for. Transgenic (Tg+) AD mice offer a model in a well controlled environment for testing the potential for environmental factors to impact AD development. In an initial study, Tg+ and non-transgenic (Tg-) mice were housed in either environmentally enriched (EE) or standard housing (SH) from 2-6 months of age, with a behavioral battery given during the last 5 weeks of housing. In the Morris …

Development Of Interactive Web-Based Tutorials For Chemical Engineering Undergraduates, Stefan Cular

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design, creation, and testing of a web-based tool for generating interactive web-based problem set assignments. In prior research (Stetka, 2001) it was shown that students enjoyed interactive problems. In this research, multiple programming languages were used to provide a web-based, fully interactive, problem solving environment for the students. Sample problem sets were written by the author and a few chemical engineering students.

These web pages were then used as a basis to test the effectiveness of the webbased interactive problem sets for two engineering courses. Initial findings are presented illustrating the student’s results along with results …

Assessment Of The Community Healthcare Providers' Ability And Willingness To Respond To A Bioterrorist Attack In Florida, Jeffrey S. Crane

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous findings have demonstrated that the preparedness and infrastructure of the public health system are inadequately developed for a biological and/or chemical terrorism attack. (1-4) Chen et al. reported that those primary care providers that would have to respond to such an attack do not feel prepared to diagnose and manage such an event.(5)

This research was an observational study using e-mail/web based survey to assess the levels of preparedness (PL) and willingness to respond (WTR) to a bioterrorism attack, and identify factors that predict PL and WTR of Florida community healthcare providers. The conceptual framework and questionnaire was designed …

Communicating Collaboration And Empowerment: A Research Novel Of Relationships With Domestic Violence Workers, Elizabeth A. Curry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an experiment in thinking with the story, not about the story in order to erase the boundaries between analysis and narrative. CASA, Community Action Stops Abuse, is the context for this research on the lived realities and meaning of working with an empowerment philosophy. A University-Community Initiative (UCI) grant with CASA and the University of South Florida is the occasion to study the communicative aspects of individual and collective perceptions of empowerment. The dissertation focuses broadly on two UCI project goals: developing a collaborative relationship and producing a booklet of stories about the work of paid staff …

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation Of Phase Behavior Of Polymeric Systems In Supercritical Carbon Dioxide And Their Modeling Using Saft, Ratka Damnjanovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmentally friendly processing of materials is becoming an increasingly important consideration in a wide variety of emerging technologies. Polymer processing, in particular, has benefited tremendously in this venue from numerous advances achieved using high-pressure carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a viscosity modifier, plasticizing agent, foaming agent, and reaction medium. Polymer processing in supercritical fluids has been a major interest for a portfolio of materials processing applications including their impregnation into porous matrices. Also, SCF solvents are being examined as a media for polymerization processes, polymer purification and fractionation, and as environmentally preferable solvents for solution coatings. Pressurized CO_{2 …}

Development And Validation Of A Systematically Designed Unit For Online Information Literacy And Its Effect On Student Performance For Internet Search Training, Emily K. Dunsker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As online learning increases and classroom use of print textbooks are gradually replaced by web-based instruction, what features of online instruction prove beneficial to student learning? The present study has three purposes; (1) To examine the effects of conversion of textbook content to web-based instruction for an extant Internet search course. The researcher examined performance differences of an online textbook to web tutorial compared to a second version that included interactive features found in classroom instruction. (2) To investigate students’ perceptions of material that afforded high levels of learner control and compared responses to a more structured instructional module. (3) …

Political And Economic News During The Argentine Crisis Of 2000-2002: An Agenda-Setting Analysis Of Major Newspaper Coverage, Mariana Eberle-Blaylock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the years 2000-2002, the Republic of Argentina experienced one of the most, if not the most, devastating social/political/economic crises ever seen. President Fernando de la Rua, elected in 1999, was forced to resign on December 20, 2001, after several months of protests, public demonstrations, and a colossal economic recession. This unprecedented event in the history of the country created a state of chaos and confusion in a frantic population desperately searching for answers.

During the crisis, the media played a vital role in providing the public their daily updates. This study analyzed the newspapers’ role during the crisis using …

The Use Of Electrical Charge To Produce Cell-Cell Contact Prior To Electrofusion, Jyothi Fernandes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From previous studies it has been demonstrated that the fusion of tumor cells with antigen-presenting cells generates hybrids that are known to induce anti-tumor immunity. With the advancement of scientific research and medicine, the need to produce cell-cell hybrids for cancer immunotherapy and for various other applications is substantial.

Among the many methods used to generate these hybrid cells, electrofusion is a technique that is more widely used and recognized as a method to efficiently produce hybrids. Electrofusion requires two steps. In the first step, cells are brought into close adjacent contact either by a mechanical method like centrifugation or …

Negotiating Artistic Identity Through Satire: Subreal 1989-1999, Anca Izabel Galliera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research study is on major art works produced during the nineteen-nineties by the Romanian collective subREAL, composed of Calin Dan and Josif Kiraly. The thesis is an alternative to the literal-minded and politically biased Western view typified in two major exhibitions of art from Eastern Europe: Beyond Belief: Contemporary Art from East Central Europe (Chicago, 1995) and After the Wall: Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe (Sweden, 1999). Both exhibitions presented Post-Communist nations as a monolithic bloc, in which art was primarily a passive reflection of political and social events. It will be demonstrated that …

Study Of The Roles Of Lrba In Cancer Cell Proliferation And Ship-1 In Nk Cell Function, Joshua John Gamsby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

LRBA (LPS Responsive Beige-like Protein Kinase A anchor) gene expression is induced by the mitogen LPS and is a member of the WBW gene family member which is comprised of genes that are involved in cellular proliferation and differentiation. This work provides evidence for the over-expression of LRBA in certain cancers, and that LRBA promoter activity and endogenous LRBA mRNA levels are negatively regulated by the tumor suppressor p53 and positively regulated by E2F transactivators. Furthermore, we demonstrate that inhibition of LRBA expression or function leads to decreased proliferation of cancer cells and that LRBA plays a role in the …

The Role And Regulation Of Argininosuccinate Synthase In Endothelial Function, Bonnie L. Goodwin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While cellular levels of arginine greatly exceed the apparent Km for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), nitric oxide (NO) production is limited by availability of arginine. Results from this work have provided a unique understanding of endothelial NO production, showing that arginine regeneration, that is the recycling of citrulline back to arginine by argininosuccinate synthase (AS) and argininosuccinate lyase (AL), defines the essential source of arginine for NO production. Using RNA interference analysis, selective reduction of AS expression was shown to directly correspond with a diminished capacity of endothelial cells to produce NO, despite saturating levels of arginine in the …

Full-Page Versus Partial-Page Screen Designs In Web-Based Training: Their Effects On Learner Satisfaction And Performance, Phillip Eulon Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a report on research regarding the screen layout of Web-based training (WBT) programs, conducted with an eye toward providing evidence-based guidance for the design and development of WBT interfaces. Specifically, the study investigated the relative instructional benefits of two general types of WBT screen design, full-page and partial-page, in terms of both learner performance and learner satisfaction. The main hypotheses of the study were that the full-page design option would yield significantly better outcomes in both categories of interest.

The study employed a mixed-method design, generating both quantitative and qualitative data. The main phase of the study was …

Development Of A Dna Vaccine Against Streptococcus Mutans: A Novel Approach To Immunization Against Dental Caries, Thomas Han

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Streptococcus mutans is the main causative agent of dental caries, which is a widespread infectious disease. A number of surface molecules are involved in the pathogenicity of this organism, including adherence and aggregation factors. The wallassociated protein A (WapA) of Streptococcus mutans GS-5 was previously demonstrated to be a sucrose-dependent adherence and aggregation factor, and is a larger precursor to extracellular antigen A (AgA), a candidate antigen for a dental caries vaccine.

The full-length wapA gene and a C-terminal truncated version agA encoding the AgA were cloned into the mammalian expression vector pcDNA 3.1/V5/His-TOPO. The above constructs were …

A Discourse Concerning Two New Compositions, Stanley D. Harrison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses problems for theorists of writing and composition that arose in the 1990s when capital privatizes the production of internetworked writing and starts operating in the manner of a practicing compositionist. I begin by noting that capital in the 1990s converted internetworked writing machines into fixed capital and started composing its version of the cultural form of the "social" we call the Internet. Thereafter, I argue that composition theorists can best understand the Internet, internetworked writing, and internetworked subjectivities if they regard capital as a formidable compositionist, one capable of making the machinofactured internetworked composition into a privately …

Influence Of Gender On Heart Rate And Core Temperature At Critical Wbgt For Five Clothing Ensembles At Three Levels Of Metabolic Rate, Maeen Zakaria Islam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Three main factors that influence heat stress are clothing, work demands and environmental conditions. Gender may also influence the amount of heat stress an individual can tolerate. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of gender in heat stress limits (critical WBGT) and heat strain (heart rate and core temperature). The null hypothesis was that there was no gender difference among critical WBGT, heart rate and core temperature.

Fifteen subjects (11 men and 4 women) wore five different clothing ensembles (cotton work clothes, cotton coveralls, particle barrier Tyvek, water-barrier/vapor permeable NexGen LS417, and vapor barrier Tychem QC …