Digital Commons Network^™

Characterization Of The Lone Extracytoplasmic Function Sigma Factor, Ós, And Its Role In The Staphylococcus Aureus Virulence And Stress Responses, Halie Kay Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previously our laboratory had identified a novel component of the Staphylococcus aureus regulatory network, an extracytoplasmic function ó factor, óS, involved in stress response and disease causation. Here we present additional characterization of óS, demonstrating a role for it in protection against DNA damage, cell wall disruption and interaction with components of the innate immune system. Promoter mapping reveals the existence of four unique sigS start sites, one of which appears to be subject to auto-regulation. Transcriptional profiling revealed that sigS expression remains low in a number of S. aureus wild-types, but is upregulated in the highly mutated strain RN4220. …

Multiple Intelligences In The Text: Examining The Presence Of Mi Tasks In The Annotated Teacher's Editions Of Four High School United States History Textbooks, Carey Mullican

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current state of the social studies classroom comprises one of uninspired students using unexciting textbooks as their guide for learning U.S. history (Hope, 1996; NCES, 1993; Banks, 1990; Wakefield, 2006). With multiple intelligences gaining popularity in education, renewed hope exists for social studies to produce quality textbooks with differentiated instruction to reach all learners. The purpose was to design a rubric for measuring the presence of multiple intelligences structured tasks in teacher's editions of four 11th grade U.S. history textbooks. Using 1995 to 2007 as a purposeful sample of consistent authorships and similar publications, the study looked at teacher's …

Estimation Of The Impact Of Single Airport And Multi-Airport System Delay On The National Airspace System Using Multivariate Simultaneous Models, Nagesh Nayak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Airline delays lead to a tremendous loss of time and resources and cost billions of dollars every year in the United States (U.S.). At certain times, individual airports become bottlenecks within the National Airspace System (NAS). To explore solutions for reducing the delay, it is essential to understand factors causing flight delay and its impact on airports in the NAS. Major causal factors of flight delay at airports include over-scheduling, en-route convective weather, reduced ceiling and visibility around airports, and upstream delay propagation. Delay at one airport can be passed on to other airports in the NAS, in another word, …

Defining Earth Smarts: A Construct Analysis For Socioecological Literacy Based On Justly Maintaining Quality Of Life, Bryan H. Nichols

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes the creation and validation of a new educational construct. Socioecological literacy, or earth smarts, describes the qualities we need to justly maintain or improve our quality of life in a changing world. It was created using construct analysis techniques and systems tools, drawing on an extensive, transdisciplinary body of literature. Concepts related to environmental, ecological and scientific literacy, sustainability and citizenship were combined with educational frameworks, new research in science education, and modern cognitive psychology. After the initial formulation, the results were considered by a variety of experts and professionals from the fields of ecology, environmental science …

Mangroves, Mudbanks And Seawalls: Political Ecology Of Adaptation To Sea Level Rise In Suriname, Ravic Nijbroek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand how global discourses of sea level rise (SLR) and mangrove ecology influence national climate change adaptation policy to reduce coastal vulnerability in Suriname. A majority of the Surinamese population lives along the low elevation coastal zone and is highly exposed to projected SLR. Failure by the international community to reach agreement on climate change mitigation means that vulnerable coastal communities must adapt. The Suriname coast is predominantly shaped by mudbanks and mangroves which together provide protection against coastal erosion and trap sediments resulting in coastal accretion. Knowledge claims of mangrove ecology and utility in SLR …

Impact Of School Counselors' Use Of Deliberate Practice And Accountability Measures On Perceived Levels Of Self-Efficacy And Student Academic Success, Allison Paolini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the degree and frequency to which school counselors' utilized accountability measures and deliberate practice and their impact on perceived levels of counselor self-efficacy, as well as, perceived levels of student academic success. This study attempted to answer several critical questions regarding school counselor accountability and deliberate practice. It assessed the relationship between receipt of formal training in the American School Counseling Association Model (ASCA) or another counseling model and likelihood of using ASCA principles, the relationship between years of work experience and use of accountability measures and deliberate practice, the relationship between use of accountability measures and …

Maternal Immune Dysregulation In The Pathogenesis Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Interleukin-6 As A Central Mechanism And Therapeutic Target Of Flavonoids, Ellisa Carla Parker-Athill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Activation of the maternal immune system and resultant maternal cytokine expression due to prenatal infection has been implicated as a significant contributor to the pathology of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Increased maternal interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression, observed clinically and in animal models of prenatal infection, and resultant activation of key signaling pathways, has been shown to be a biological indicator of pathology, and a central component of the pathological mechanism. In animal models of prenatal infection and clinically in pregnancy disorders hallmarked by immunological irregularities and increased IL-6 expression, inhibition of IL-6 has …

Four English Language Learners' Experiences And Strategy Use In Learning Environments Of Multiliteracies, Ho Ryong Park

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

English language learners (ELLs) develop their reading by engaging in diverse literacy activities in the learning contexts of multiliteracies. I investigated ELLs' experiences and their use of strategies when they read computer-based texts at home and in school. In addition, I identified a variety of influential factors that affected the ELLs' use of reading strategies when they read computer-based texts in both research contexts.

This research was conducted at homes and at three public elementary schools. Participants were two fourth-grade and two fifth-grade ELLs, four parents, and five classroom teachers. The study included observations, interviews, verbal reports, documents, field notes, …

Volume-Phase Transitions In Responsive Photo-Cross-Linked Polymer Network Films, Leena Patra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall thrust of this project is to gain an insight into a class of surface-tethered cross-linked thin films of poly(N-alkylacrylamides) that display a lower critical solution temperature (LCST).The structure of the alkyl group and the modification of the amide groups determine the LCST and resultant volume-phase transition behavior. The aim of this study involves synthesis and characterization of thin films and to correlate the volume-transition behavior to the structure of the alkyl group. For better understanding the volume-transition behavior, the polymer films are perturbed by the Hofmeister salt series to examine trends between different alkyl groups. While most of …

Field And Laboratory Comparison Of The Hydraulic Performance Of Two Ceramic Pot Water Filters, Duncan Peabody

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently 884 million people worldwide are living without access to an improved source of drinking water (WHO/UNICEF, 2011). Piped-water on premises is the ultimate goal of World Health Organization (WHO) due to the ability to treat all of the water and distribute it safely in pressurized pipes. However, Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) is an option for improving the quality of drinking water where that infrastructure is not yet developed, especially where there is a risk of recontamination between point of collection and point of use (Clasen, 2006).

This study analyzed one such HWTS, the ceramic pot water …

Cell Adhesion And Migration On Ndga Cross-Linked Fibrillar Collagen Matrices For Tendon Tissue Engineering, Ana Ysabel Rioja

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tendons, essential tissues that connect muscles to bones, are susceptible to rupture/degeneration due to their continuous use for enabling movement. Often surgical intervention is required to repair the tendon; relieving the pain and fixing the limited mobility that occurs from the damage. Unfortunately, post-surgery immobilization techniques required to restore tendon properties frequently lead to scar formation and reduced tendon range of motion. Our ultimate goal is to create an optimal tendon prosthetic that can stabilize the damaged muscle-bone connection and then be remodeled by resident cells from the surrounding tissues over time to ensure long-term function. To achieve this, we …

Investigation Of Reservoirs Of Fecal Indicator Bacteria And Water Quality On The Presence Of Allochthonous Pathogens And The Ecology And Virulence Of Vibrio Vulnificus, Christopher Staley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The quality of recreational and shellfishing waters has historically been monitored using commensal, allochthonous bacteria shed in feces (fecal indicator bacteria, FIB). The fate of FIB in the environment should mimic that of bacterial, protozoan, and viral human pathogens, which may also be allochthonous (e.g. Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, or enteric viruses) or autochthonous (e.g. Vibrio spp.) to aquatic environments. FIB are contributed to water from human and animal sources; however, pollution source cannot be determined by conventional FIB measurements. Because fecal source determination is important for pollution remediation and assessment of human health risks, microbial source tracking (MST) methods are …

Cultivating An Engaged Workforce: The Roles Of Leader Personality, Motivation, And Leadership Style, Amy Marie Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the links between leadership style, leader personality, and motivation to lead, with employee engagement. Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and abusive supervision styles were examined in relation to levels of employee engagement via a sample of n=195 employees and n=130 managers. Consistent with findings from Christian, Garza, and Slaughter (2011), transformational leadership showed a positive link to employee engagement (r= .38, p< .05). On the opposite end, abusive supervision was negatively related to employee engagement (r= -.27, p< .05). Contingent reward leadership showed a positive link to employee engagement (r= .32, p< .05).

Relationships between personality and leadership style were framed according to the socioanalytic framework (Hogan & Shelton, 1998). This study did not find any significant differences in the relationships between the expected leadership behaviors and the traits …

Monstrous Dialogues: The Host And South Korean Inverted Exile, James Lloyd Turner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bong Joon-ho‟s monster movie blockbuster, The Host (Gweomul, 2006), is the most commercially successful film in South Korean cinema history. The film‟s popularity and significance derive from its unearthing of the ambivalence concerning South Korea‟s rapid transformation from a rural dictatorship to an urban democracy with one of the strongest economies on the planet. This ambivalence is buried beneath a veneer of "progress" blanketing contemporary South Korea and constitutes a condition I call inverted exile. The Host explicitly engages life in inverted exile through my notion of aesthetic dialogue. Aesthetic dialogue, takes influence from the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and …

Comparative Developmental Transcriptomics Of Echinoderms, Roy Vaughn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The gastrula stage represents the point in development at which the three primary germ layers diverge. At this point the gene regulatory networks that specify the germ layers are established and the genes that define the differentiated states of the tissues have begun to be activated. These networks have been well characterized in sea urchins, but not in other echinoderms. Embryos of the brittle star Ophiocoma wendtii share a number of developmental features with sea urchin embryos, including the ingression of mesenchyme cells that give rise to an embryonic skeleton. Notable differences are that no micromeres are formed during cleavage …

Competing Narratives: Hero And Ptsd Stories Told By Male Veterans Returning Home, Adam Gregory Woolf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study seeks to extend the existing body of scholarly literature on returned veteran civilian reintegration by exploring "hero" and "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" narratives. The character of the hero, as a social construct located within hegemonic notions of masculinity, is widely portrayed and believed to possess highly prized, extraordinary, almost superhuman personal qualities. However, this widely disseminated belief stands at odds with some of the stories returned veterans tell. This qualitative study explores and illuminates the enigmatic intersectionality of hero and PTSD narratives.

Extant hero and PTSD narratives contain paradoxical implicit meanings embedded within them. The hero is understood …

Patients With Cancer And Family Caregivers: Management Of Symptoms Caused By Cancer Or Cancer Therapy At Home, Daniela M. Hazelwood, Sabine Koeck, Martin Wallner, Kathryn H. Anderson, Hanna Mayer

Nursing: Faculty Publications

People are diagnosed with cancer sooner nowadays thanks to increased awareness and improvements in cancer screenings. Patients are able to live longer due to cancer treatment regimens; however, they suffer the consequences of living with cancer and therapy-related symptoms. Symptom management is challenging for both patients and family caregivers. Therefore, family members must be integrated in the patient’s care plan. For this review, a literature search was conducted to determine what types of interventions were available that involved family members of cancer patients with the management of cancer and therapy-related symptoms. The following interventions were found that were designed for …

A Ray Model Of Sound Focusing With A Balloon Lens: An Experiment For High School Students, Cleon Dean, Kendez Parker

Physics & Astronomy: Faculty Publications

A weather balloon filled with carbon dioxide gas is used as a positive spherical acoustic lens. High frequency but audible sound from a circular loudspeaker ensonifies the balloon and produces increased sound pressure levels in a region along the principal axis according to a ray acoustics model. This enhancement was measured experimentally and was found to agree with theory. The possibility that interference from reflected sound off walls or the floor could mask or mimic the expected focusing was countered by calculating and measuring within a “shadow zone” in which only direct rays or rays refracted by the balloon exist …

A Hemoglobin-Based Multifunctional Therapeutic: Polynitroxylated Pegylated Hemoglobin, Carleton C. J. Hsia, Li Ma

Physics & Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Polynitroxylated pegylated hemoglobin (PNPH) as a multifunctional therapeutic takes advantage of the ability of hemoglobin (Hb) to transport oxygen, the antioxidative stress activities from the redox coupling of nitroxide and heme iron, and the hypercolloid properties of pegylation. The published preclinical data demonstrating that PNPH acts as a neurovascular protective multifunctional therapeutic in an animal model simulating prehospital resuscitation of traumatic brain injury (TBI) with hemorrhagic shock (HS) are reviewed. Preliminary results on the potential utility of PNPH for neurovascular protection in thrombolytic stroke therapy and for correction of vascular dysfunction through transfusion in sickle-cell disease (SCD) are also discussed. …

Ascension, Megan Hopkins, David Thompson, Mary Beth Spence, Betsy Nolen, Katie Stambek, Paul Czech

Research & Economic Development

editor: Betsy Nolen director: Megan Hopkins designer: photographer: Victoria Sprankel

Ua64/2 The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 28, Winter 2012), Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

Full Newton-Step Interior-Point Method For Linear Complementarity Problems, Goran Lesaja, Antre M. Drummer, Ljiljana Miletić

Mathematical Sciences: Faculty Publications

In this paper we consider an Infeasible Full Newton-step Interior-Point Method (IFNS-IPM) for monotone Linear Complementarity Problems (LCP). The method does not require a strictly feasible starting point. In addition, the method avoids calculation of the step size and instead takes full Newton-steps at each iteration. Iterates are kept close to the central path by suitable choice of parameters. The algorithm is globally convergent and the iteration bound matches the best known iteration bound for these types of methods.

Estimating Population Exposure To Fine Particulate Matter In The Conterminous U.S. Using Shape Function-Based Spatiotemporal Interpolation Method: A County Level Analysis, Lixin Li, Xingyou Zhang, James B. Holt, Jie Tian, Reinhard Piltner

Mathematical Sciences: Faculty Publications

This paper investigates spatiotemporal interpolation methods for the application of air pollution assessment. The air pollutant of interest in this paper is fine particulate matter PM_2.5. The choice of the time scale is investigated when applying the shape function-based method. It is found that the measurement scale of the time dimension has an impact on the quality of interpolation results. Based upon the result of 10-fold cross validation, the most effective time scale out of four experimental ones was selected for the PM_2.5 interpolation. The paper also estimates the population exposure to the ambient air pollution of …

Student Perceptions Of Wikipedia As A Learning Tool For Educational Leaders, Jason Lafrance, Daniel W. Calhoun

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

This non-experimental qualitative study examined archival survey data collected to evaluate the e‑cacy of a research assignment utilizing Wikipedia. Respondents were 14 doctoral students enrolled in Educational Leadership coursework during Fall 2011. There is limited research available on this topic, as Wikipedia has been minimally utilized as a legitimate learning tool in the education setting. Parker and Chao (2007) noted that Wikis are one of many Web 2.0 components that could be used to enhance the learning process. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate doctoral student's perceptions of Wikipedia as an instructional tool in Educational Leadership coursework. …

Library Annual Report

Library Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Honors Research Symposium Program [2012], University Honors Program Students And Staff

Honors College: News & Publications (2008-2020)

No abstract provided.

Editor's Comment, Alan Altany

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

No abstract provided.

Defending Our Life: The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning In An Academy Under Siege, Jeffrey L. Bernstein

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Excerpt: In academics, these are the times that try professors’ souls. A sampling of recent book-length treatments of higher education suggests that our underachieving colleges (Bok 2006) are declining by degrees (Hersh and Merrow 2005) as our students are cast academically adrift (Arum and Roksa 2011). Faculty, responding rationally to the incentive structures in their jobs, spend so much time on research that they have little time to focus on teaching (Hacker and Dreifus 2010). Much of the responsibility for teaching ultimately falls to a poorly paid army of adjuncts toiling “in the basement of the ivory tower” with …

Increasing The Impact Of Sotl: Two Sometimes Neglected Opportunities, Kathleen Mckinney

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The most important function of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is to enhance student learning. There are numerous strategies to increase application and positive impact of our SoTL work on student learning. In this essay, I remind readers of two, sometimes neglected, strategies: 1. incorporating methods and measures in our SoTL studies to find and understand the processes and conditions at work and 2. doing all we can to share the results of relevant SoTL work directly with students so they can make use of the implications of SoTL findings. Our neglect of these two strategies in much …

International Collaboration In Sotl: Current Status And Future Direction, Jane Mackenzie, Annie Meyers

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

In this essay we consider the current status, and future directions, of international collaboration between colleagues doing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) work. We start by offering a working definition of collaboration. Then we address the increasingly collaborative nature of work in many academic spheres, and describe models of Higher Education collaboration that we can use to frame our thinking about international SoTL collaboration. Next we explicate some of the initiatives we have instigated, and research we have undertaken, to explore and facilitate international collaboration in SoTL. We finish by identifying a set of challenges that confront international SoTL …