Digital Commons Network^™

Class Ceilings: Filming An Elite Salvadoran Family, Alexander Wilson

Theses & ETDs

In the opening months of 2012, I visited El Salvador to conduct visual ethnographic fieldwork with my extended family, a group of political and economic elites. The study used hand-held digital video technology and a combination of visual and symbolic anthropological theory to frame and analyze the production of political and personal knowledge. The thesis and Spanish-language anthropological documentary film, Que mas, mi nino?, explore intersecting points of class and memory within an elite Latin American family to produce a living account of community identity. By tracing narratives and experiences, I argue that history is a malleable social construction that …

Yielding To The Octopus An Environmental History Of Agriculture, Imperialism, And Landlessness In Guatemala, Sophia Zimmerman

Theses & ETDs

Guatemala is home to some of the most diverse and ecologically significant ecosystems in Central America. Recently, the degrading rainforests and dramatic biodiversity loss has received attention from foreign conservation programs. These circumstances are complex and the stakeholder relationships, whether ecological or human, are often extremely vulnerable. Guatemala's colonial and liberal history, analyzed from an ecological perspective, illuminates aspects of the country's development and produce a more holistic understanding of current political, social, as well as environmental circumstances. Specific aspects of the country's development, such as the role of agriculture, private industry, and land dispossession, are vital to addressing these …

The Impact Of The New College Of Florida Seawall Project On The Adjacent Seagrass, Cassandra Wood

Theses & ETDs

Seagrass is an important primary producer in marine ecosystems. It is under threat by many anthropogenic activities, particularly the ones that reduce water clarity and uproot living seagrass. Coastal construction, such the New College of Florida (NCF) Seawall Project conducted spring 2012 by Tandem Construction, can disturb sediment and soil, causing it to cloud the water and cover the seagrass, reducing seagrass coverage. To monitor the impact of the NCF seawall reconstruction on the nearby seagrass cover, the changing distance of the seagrass Halodule wrightii from shoreline was determined and sediment and turbidity data were collected. The restoration construction did …

Nanotechnology In The Food System: Consumer Acceptance And Willingness To Pay, Guzhen Zhou

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Nanotechnology is one of the key innovative technologies in the present century. The food industry has applied this technology in each of its sectors. Nanotechnology has tremendous potential in food and agriculture, including advancing agricultural cultivation and food production, enhancing food nutrition and flavor, and improving food packaging and preservation. However, the novel properties of nanoscale materials that allow beneficial applications are also accompanied with uncertainties, even unknown risks. A number of studies have examined public understanding as well as acceptance of nanotechnology via surveys in both the US and Europe. However, most of these studies concentrated on public attitudes …

The Leaky Common Law: An "Offer To Sell" As A Policy Tool In Patent Law And Beyond, Lucas S. Osborn

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

2013 Symposium Brochure

Programs

No abstract provided.

Automatic Macro- And Micro-Facial Expression Spotting And Applications, Matthew Adam Shreve

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Automatically determining the temporal characteristics of facial expressions has extensive application domains such as human-machine interfaces for emotion recognition, face identification, as well as medical analysis. However, many papers in the literature have not addressed the step of determining when such expressions occur. This dissertation is focused on the problem of automatically segmenting macro- and micro-expressions frames (or retrieving the expression intervals) in video sequences, without the need for training a model on a specific subset of such expressions. The proposed method exploits the non-rigid facial motion that occurs during facial expressions by modeling the strain observed during the elastic …

An Application Developed For Simulation Of Electrical Excitation And Conduction In A 3d Human Heart, Di Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis first reviews the history of General Purpose computing Graphic Processing Unit (GPGPU) and then introduces the fundamental problems that are suitable for GPGPU algorithm. The architecture of GPGPU is compared against modern CPU architecture, and the fundamental difference is outlined. The programming challenges faced by GPGPU and the techniques utilized to overcome these issues are evaluated and discussed.

The second part of the thesis presents an application developed with GPGPU technology to simulate the electrical excitation and conduction in a 3D human heart model based on cellular automata model. The algorithm and implementation are discussed in detail and …

Myoglobin Detection On Sic: Immunosensor Development For Myocardial Infarction, Alexandra Oliveros Villalba

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide (SiC) has been around for more than 100 years as an industrial material and has found wide and varied applications because of its unique electrical and thermal properties. In recent years there has been increased attention on SiC as a viable material for biomedical applications. Among these applications are those where SiC is used as a substrate material for biosensors and biotransducers, taking advantage of its surface chemical, tribological and electrical properties.

In this work we have used the proven bio- and hema-compatibility of SiC to develop a viable biorecognition interface using SiC as the substrate material for …

Energy Efficient Context-Aware Framework In Mobile Sensing, Ozgur Yurur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ever-increasing technological advances in embedded systems engineering, together with the proliferation of small-size sensor design and deployment, have enabled mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) to recognize daily occurring human based actions, activities and interactions. Therefore, inferring a vast variety of mobile device user based activities from a very diverse context obtained by a series of sensory observations has drawn much interest in the research area of ubiquitous sensing. The existence and awareness of the context provides the capability of being conscious of physical environments or situations around mobile device users, and this allows network services to respond proactively and intelligently …

Automatic Identification Of Points Of Interest In Global Navigation Satellite System Data: A Spatial Temporal Approach, Khoa Anh Tran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In addition to the emergence of smartphones and tablets in recent years, the rise of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) has allowed mobile tracking applications to become popular and be put into many uses. Analyzing tracking records to identify points of interest (POIs) is useful for both prediction applications and research such as human behavior analysis, transportation planning, and especially travel surveys. Past research in travel surveys has shown that a GPS mobile phone-based survey is a useful tool for collecting information about individuals. Moreover, a passive travel survey collection is preferred to an active travel survey method by the …

Comparison Of Acquisition Rates And Child Preference For Varying Amounts Of Teacher Directedness When Teaching Intraverbals, Victoria Lynn Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The intraverbal is argued to be the most socially significant verbal operant and yet it is the least studied. Heal and Hanley (2011) suggest that different teaching strategies will lead to different rates of acquisition and child-preference with the tacting operant. This study continued this research into the realm of intraverbals, with focus on whether the embedded teaching strategy could be punishing on play or engaging in learning opportunities. The teaching strategies of discovery teaching, embedded prompting, and direct teaching were compared to see which strategy correlated with higher rates of acquisition and higher child preference. The study utilized a …

Assessing The Relationship Between Hotspots Of Lead And Hotspots Of Crime, Kimberly L. Barrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous medical and environmental toxicology studies have established a link between lead (Pb) exposure, crime, and delinquency. In human environments, lead pollution- like crime- is unequally distributed, creating lead hot spots. In spite of this, studies of crime hotspots have routinely focused on traditional sociological predictors of crime, leaving environmental predictors of crime like lead and other neurotoxins relatively unaddressed. This study attends to this gap in the literature by asking a very straightforward research question: Is there a relationship between hotspots of lead and hotspots of crime? Furthermore, what is the nature and extent of this relationship? Lastly, is …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Tablet Application To Increase Eye Contact In Children Diagnosed With Autism, Tricia Jeffries

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies have shown that increasing eye contact can be accomplished by using reinforcement, prompting, shaping, functional movement training, punishment, and self-monitoring. However, there is a lack of research that evaluates the use of technology as a way to increase eye contact. This study tested the effectiveness of a tablet application at increasing eye contact in children diagnosed with autism. The application requires the child to look at a picture of a person's face and identify the number displayed in the person's eyes in order to receive reinforcement. Data was collected immediately after training, one hour after training, and in the …

Vapor-Liquid-Solid(Vls) Grown Silica (Siox) Nanowires As The Interface For Biorecognition Molecules In Biosensors, Eduardo Murphy-Pérez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

SiOx nanowires grown through the VLS mechanism were electrophoretically deposited on top of Au electrodes. GOx was immobilized using APTES and the EDC-NHS chemistry. Cyclic Voltammetry was used as the method to characterize the electrodes through their processing steps, and CV was also used to detect glucose in a PBS based solution. Ferro-Ferri Cyanide couple was used as the mediator.

African Americans And Reconceptualization Of Identity: Black Participation In World War I And The Rise Of The New Negro Consciousness, Farshid Nowrouzi Roshnavand, Rajabali Askarzadeh Torghabeh

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Before the beginning of the twentieth century, the American Negro had undergone an allencompassing process of Otherization and inferiorization which represented blacks as inhuman, heathen and demonic. Under the tenacious hold of Calvinism, Capitalism and most notably Social Darwinism, blacks were forced to internalize the dominant negative stereotypes and thus over time came to view Uncle Tomism and assimilationism as the only possible survival strategies in the white-dominated United States. However, there emerged a paradigm shift in African Americans’ conception of themselves and their status in the country when a number of factors went hand in hand in the early …

In Utero Exposure To Antiretroviral Medication And Congenital Malformation Outcomes In New York State 1998-2010, Stephen Goins

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Objective: To examine the relationships between HIV ARV use during pregnancy and congenital malformations outcomes in New York State.

Evolution And Expression Of The Lysozyme And Beta1,4-Galactosyltransferase Families In Mammals : Possible Roles In Fertilization, Jason Michael Biegel

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Understanding the specificity of sperm-egg recognition during mammalian fertilization has been a topic of intense study for many years, and yet the biochemical basis for this process is still largely unknown. Mammalian eggs are covered by thick glycoprotein coats, called zona pellucida (ZP), which contain glycans of varying structures that must be specifically recognized, and presumably cleaved, for fertilization to occur. Various experiments have implicated B1,4-galactosyltransferase 1 (B4GalT1) in the ability of mouse sperm to bind the ZP. Here I present evidence that additional members of the B4GalT family (specifically B4GalT3 and B4GalT4) are present on mouse and rat sperm, …

Injurious Benevolence : How Washington Irving's "The Sketchbook" And "A Tour On The Prairies" Illuminates Nineteenth Century Us-Indian Policy, Ashley Tanzillo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The most common narratives of encounters with the indigenous race are from the early colonial period of American history. Indian relations were central to the struggle of early American settlers to tame the American wilderness and flourish as colonies under the Crown. After the Revolution, however, it seems that the Indian position in history has been thought of as a side story to the main event of American Independence. In this thesis I explore an alternate perspective, a reading of history which promotes the idea that after the American Revolution, the fate of the new nation was irrevocably defined by …

The Motion Of Mesoscale Snowbands In Northeast U.S. Winter Storms, Jaymes Kenyon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The distribution of snowfall accumulation attending winter storms is a product of both precipitation intensity and duration. Many heavy snowfall events are associated with distinct mesoscale snowbands that strongly modulate snowfall accumulation. Mesoscale snowbands are known to be favored within environments characterized by frontogenesis in the presence of weak moist symmetric or gravitational stabilities. Although the development of mesoscale snowbands often can be anticipated at 24–36-h ranges, anticipating band residence time at a fixed location remains a forecasting challenge. However, given that snowband residence time is related to characteristics of band motion, improved understanding of band motion presents an opportunity …

The Consumption Of Mechanically Resistant Foods By Anthropoid Primates And Its Influence On Cranial Integration And Variation, Jana Makedonska

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

Participation In Immersion Weight Loss Treatment May Benefit, Not Harm, Young Adult Staff Members, Katherine Elizabeth Schaumberg

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

American teens and young adults are at risk for developing pathological eating patterns, which can lead to eating disorders and obesity. Despite the success of weight management programs for obese individuals, some researchers caution that participation in an aggressive approach to weight management could promote the development of eating disorders. The current study evaluated the risks of following a weight management program for healthy young adults who served as staff members in immersion treatment of obesity over the course of a summer. Participants included Wellspring staff members (n = 108) along with a comparison group of young adults with similar …

Exploring The Impact Of Behaviorally Enacted Vs. Imaginal Delivery Of An Acceptance-Based Metaphor On Acute Panicogenic Distress In Acceptance And Commitment Therapy : A Comparative Evaluation, Kristin N. Herzberg

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Metaphors, or indirect and less literal forms of communication in the therapeutic setting, can be powerful and clinically impactful components of psychosocial interventions. Metaphors are widely used in therapeutic practice, and rest at the core of newer third generation behavior therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl & Wilson, 2011). Yet, to date, systematic empirical evaluations of the effectiveness of metaphor in the treatment of anxiety disorders and other forms of psychopathology have been largely ignored. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of an ACT-relevant metaphor on acute panicogenic distress (i.e., panic-like symptoms). Specifically, …

Neutralizing Antibodies Against The Ricin Toxin Binding Subunit (Rtb), Anastasiya Yermakova

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Ricin is a toxin that is naturally produced by the seeds of the castor bean plant Ricinus communis, and is part of a family of A-B toxins that includes Shiga, cholera, and anthrax toxins. The toxin consists of two subunits, RTA and RTB, which are linked by a disulfide bond. RTA is an RNA N-glycosidase that selectively targets and inactivates 28S ribosomal RNA, thereby arresting protein synthesis and leading to cell death. RTB is a galactose/ N-acetylgalactosamine-specific lectin that mediates attachment, entry, and intracellular trafficking of ricin in host cells. Currently, there is no approved vaccine or therapeutics available against …

Ecology Of Earthworms In Riparian Habitats, Rebecca Annette Pinder

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Research on earthworm ecology in North America has shifted from a focus on agricultural systems to investigations of their impacts on forested ecosystems. Many of the earthworms (family Lumbricidae, Megascolecidae, and Sparganophilidae) found so far appear to be groups of exotic species, many recently arrived from Eurasia. My preliminary research established their presence along forested headwater stream banks, previously assumed to be earthworm-free zones. These riparian areas are integral landscape elements that influence many downstream processes. This dissertation is the first to examine four aspects of earthworm ecology in riparian zones: species composition and distributions; community structure of earthworm assemblages; …

Products Of Social Distinction : Organic Residue Analysis Of Specialized Products In Bronze Age Cyprus, Zuzana Chovanec

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this study, I examine the emergence of social complexity during the Prehistoric Bronze Age (c. 2400-1750 B.C.) on the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus through a systematic program of organic residue analysis. I define a model based on the theoretical concept of the feast in conjunction with a product-centered approach that aims to identity a range of prestigious products, including perfumes, medicines, and psychoactive substances, that have been preserved in ceramic containers using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). The basis of the model is that feasting, in all its forms, serves as an arena in which various social, economic, political …

Alternative Vaccination Schedules (Avs) : Detection Of Avs In New York State Using Immunization Registry Data, Jessica A. Nadeau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Intentional deviation from the recommended childhood vaccine schedule (RVS), referred to as an alternative vaccination schedule (AVS) is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States. Physicians may accommodate vaccine-hesitant parents with an AVS as a compromise position to allow some vaccinations to be given, but in doing so children remain vulnerable to vaccine-preventable disease for a longer period of time. This research expands upon the nascent literature by proposing a unified definition of AVS, quantifying the prevalence of infants following an AVS in New York State (NYS) (exclusive of New York City) by geographic area and community and medical practice …

Illusion In The Commonplace : Reinterpreting Ernst Gombrich's Concept Of Illusion, Jonathan Auyer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In the dissertation I analyze and interpret Ernst Gombrich's book Art and Illusion, focusing on his view that illusion is involved in pictorial representation. Since Gombrich never gave a concise, systematic account of illusion, my goal will be to fill this void by using the text of Art and Illusion as well as Gombrich's subsequent writings in order to present a coherent account of how illusion might play a role in a picture's representing an object.

Writing From Life : Women And Economics In The Short Fiction Of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Nicole Ranieri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) believed that women's economic independence from their husbands ultimately benefitted the entire family. In her short stories, Gilman reached out to women and empowered them to make choices in their lives that did not pertain solely to the domestic sphere. This thesis discloses that Gilman expertly and practically incorporated into her fictional writings an expanded version of the ideas she set forth in her non-fiction Women and Economics to instruct women on the alternative choices at their disposal for work and an independent life outside of the home and the means to effect …

Exposure To Persistent Organic Pollutants And Metabolic Diseases, Zafar Zayirovich Aminov

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a group of diseases that tend to occur together, including diabetes, hypertension, central obesity, cardiovascular disease and hyperlipidemia. Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have been associated with increased risk of development of several of the components of the MetS.