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Investigation Of Hsf1 Interacting Partners Via A Genome-Wide Yeast Two-Hybrid Screen, Jamie Elizabeth Mendez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) is the master transcriptional regulator of the heat shock response (HSR), an evolutionarily conserved cellular stress response. HSF1 promotes the expression of a variety of molecular chaperones that aid in restoring protein homeostasis upon exposure to proteoxic stress. However, all of the proteins responsible for regulating the HSR together with HSF1 are unknown. A genome-wide yeast two hybrid screen was performed to identify new S. cerevisiae Hsf1 protein interacting partners. Two GAL4 DNA binding domain-Hsf1 fusion proteins (baits) were constructed with mutations in the Hsf1 C-terminal activation domain to dampen Hsf1 mediated auto-activation of the …

Gradients In Season, Latitude, And Sea Ice: Their Effect On Metabolism And Stable Isotopic Composition Of Antarctic Micronekton, Erica H. Ombres

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Respiration, metabolic enzyme assays, and body composition parameters were measured in the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba during the summer, fall and winter on the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). E. superba of all sizes decrease their metabolism from the summer to the winter. These same parameters were also measured along the WAP during the austral fall 2010. E. superba's enzyme activity indicated that there was a latitudinal gradient to the decline in metabolism along the WAP with the more northerly sites having significantly higher metabolic enzyme activities than the sites to the south.

Carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ^{15 …}

Functional And Mutational Analysis Of Human Recq-Like Dna Helicases In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Hamed Mirzaei-Souderjani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

RecQ-like proteins are a family of DNA helicases that are evolutionary conserved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. A large amount of experimental evidence suggests these proteins have a major role in the maintenance of genome stability. In humans five RecQ like helicase have been identified (RecQL1, BLM, WRN, RecQL4, and RecQL5), three of which are associated with rare genetic disorders with sever chromosomal and developmental abnormalities, and an elevated predisposition to cancer. Among the disease associated RecQ-like helicases, BLM and WRN have been subject to extensive research, while our collective knowledge about the function of RecQL4 is still very limited. Similarly, …

Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices Of Adult Education English For Speakers Of Other Languages And English For Academic Purposes Teachers, Christy Michele Rhodes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the culturally responsive teaching practices of adult education ESOL and EAP teachers in the state of Florida. Using Ginsberg and Wlodkowski's Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching, an online survey of 17 teaching practices was developed and validated. In the survey, participants assessed how frequently they used each practice and how important they believed each practice was to their teaching on 5-point frequency scales. The sampling frame consisted of teachers from 15 colleges, 2 universities, 8 school districts, and Bay Area Regional TESOL (BART) and resulted in 134 responses.

Results indicated …

Light-Environment Controls And Basal Resource Use Of Planktonic And Benthic Primary Production, Kara Radabaugh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Consumers in marine and estuarine environments have a strong reliance on planktonic and benthic primary production. These two basal resources form the foundation of aquatic food webs, yet the abundance of phytoplankton and benthic algae are frequently inversely related due to competition for light and nutrients. As a result, optimal habitats for benthic and planktonic consumers vary spatially and temporally. To investigate these trends, three studies were conducted focusing on light attenuation and basal resources in a bay, river, and on a continental shelf.

δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N stable isotopes can be used as endogenous tracers to …

Preparing For The Next Generation Of Senior Population: An Analysis Of Changes In Senior Travel Behavior Over The Last Two Decades, Joseph Nicholas Samus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past several decades, the senior age group has become the fastest growing segment of the population in the United States (Warner, 2011). This study seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the impacts that the increases in senior travel will have on the future transportation systems and planning efforts. The main objective of this research is to conduct an explorative analysis of the changes in senior travel behavior over the past two decades and discuss the implications of these changes to transportation planning in the future. This thesis seeks to further understanding of this topic by providing …

Do Mathematics And Reading Competencies Integrated Into Career And Technical Education Courses Improve High School Student State Assessment Scores, Kristin Bowles Pierce

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A quasi experimental study tested a contextual teaching and learning (CTL) model for integrating reading and mathematics competencies through 13 introductory Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses. Volunteer CTE Lead Teachers with assistance from academic teachers, developed integrated units. The purpose of this study was to determine whether students who participated in CTE courses that integrated core mathematics and reading standards performed better on a test of mathematics and reading skills compared to students who participated in traditional, non-integrated courses. The treatment group consisted of students in the 13 introductory courses taught by the CTE Lead Teachers and the control …

The Development And Validation Of The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised (Pacs-R), Lauren M. Schaefer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale (PACS; Thompson, Heinberg, & Tantleff, 1991) is a widely used 5-item measure that assesses an overall tendency to compare one's own appearance to the appearance of others in social situations. Research using the PACS and other measures of appearance comparison has shown this construct to be related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. However, the measure is limited in that it only assesses comparison tendencies within a narrow range of social contexts and body sites. In the current investigation, the PACS was revised to examine a broader range of social contexts (e.g., …

Navigation And Immersion Of The American Identity In A Foreign Culture To Emergence As A Culturally Relative Ambassador, Lee H. Rosen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Globalization is forcing many American college students to re-evaluate their perspective on foreign travel. If they are offered an opportunity to improve their cultural relativity skill set by immersing themselves into a new culture, the more astute students might choose to embark on that journey especially if it would result in resume enhancement. This paper focuses upon a group of twelve community college students' cross-cultural experiences, navigation techniques, and adaptation methods as student interns teaching conversational English in Changchun, China for a period of nine to thirteen weeks in spring 2011. Several areas of interest emerged from their experiences …

The Baby Blues: Mothers' Experiences After Adoption, Brigette Barno Schupay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

It is not uncommon for new mothers to experience depression. However, depression after the arrival of a child is not limited to biological mothers. The term Post-Adoption Depression Syndrome (PADS) was created to capture the unique type of depression that may occur after adopting a child. The nature and prevalence of depression after adoption is still largely unknown since there is little published research exploring the experiences of mothers in the first year after adopting a child. The characteristics of this disorder are reportedly comparable to postpartum depression in a biological mother. A review of postpartum literature reveals risk …

High School Students In College-Level Classes: Associations Between Engagement, Achievement, And Mental Health, Rachel Anne Roth

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Student engagement is a multifaceted construct gaining increased interest within the fields of psychology and education. Current literature suggests that student engagement is linked to important student outcomes including academic achievement, psychopathology, and mental wellness; however, there is a dearth of studies that have examined all components of student engagement simultaneously as they relate to the aforementioned outcomes. Additionally, past literature has found support for a decreasing trend in student engagement across the school years, but less attention has been paid to student engagement in the high school years. Among high school students, a particular subgroup has been virtually ignored: …

Sirt1 Regulation Of The Heat Shock Response In An Hsf1-Dependent Manner And The Impact Of Caloric Restriction, Rachel Rene Raynes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The heat shock response (HSR) is the cell's molecular reaction to protein damaging stress and is critical in the management of denatured proteins. Activation of HSF1, the master transcriptional regulator of the HSR, results in the induction of molecular chaperones called heat shock proteins (HSPs). Transcription of hsp genes is promoted by the hyperphosphorylation of HSF1, while the attenuation of the HSR is regulated by a dual mechanism involving negative feedback inhibition from HSPs and acetylation at a critical lysine residue within the DNA binding domain of HSF1, which results in a loss of affinity for DNA. SIRT1 is a …

Blending Work And School: Positives And Negatives Of The Interface, Neha Singla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study draws from the extensive research on work and family, and examined a model of the antecedents and outcomes of work-school conflict and work-school facilitation. As an extension of previous research on the work-school interface, the purpose of this study is two-fold. First, this study aimed to examine the impact of conflict and facilitation on personal health. Second, the study set out to investigate the role of emotional support from friends and family, and self-efficacy as moderators. Data were obtained from 329 full-time students who were also employed part-time. The model was tested using structural equation modeling techniques. One …

Utilizing Habit Reversal And Contingency Contracting To Impact Eating Habits With Obese Individuals, Christopher Thomas Scull

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the most difficult set of behaviors for individuals to engage in is weight management. The United States boasts an astonishing 35% obesity rate in adults while children show almost a 20% obesity rate. These statistics identify the importance of developing effective methods to help change an individual's eating habits. There are many eating habits that may contribute to an individual gaining or losing weight over a period of time. Simplified habit reversal (SHR) has an impressive history in shaping desirable responses to compete with many different types of habitual behaviors. The present study extended the SHR procedure to …

Direct And Indirect Effects Of Agrochemicals On Bacterial Pathogens And Fecal Indicator Bacteria, Zachery Staley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The presence of agrochemical residues in both urban and agricultural water bodies has become ubiquitous, often producing deleterious effects in the impacted watershed including reductions in biodiversity, alterations in species interactions, and toxicity to non-target organisms. While these effects have been studied on metazoan consumers, the consequences of agrochemical contamination on microorganisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, are poorly understood. Agrochemicals could act directly on microorganisms, including pathogens, by either facilitating their survival or decreasing their abundance. Further, a multitude of indirect effects of agrochemicals on microorganisms are possible, whereby agrochemicals alter predation, competition, or parasitism on or available …

Efforts To Engage Parents And Case Outcomes In The Child Welfare System, Patty Sharrock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The vast majority of child maltreatment in the United States is perpetrated by parents and over half of maltreated children placed in out-of-home care are reunified with the parents from which they were removed. Additional victimization of these children sometimes necessitates their reentry into out-of-home care. These realities emphasize the need to engage parents in assessment, planning, and services throughout the life of a child welfare case. Engagement is a key ingredient in social work practice and is widely accepted in the child protection arena as critical to successful service planning and participation. However, little research has focused on the …

Non-Equilibrium Melting And Sublimation Of Graphene Simulated With Two Interatomic Potentials, Brad Steele

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The mechanisms of the sublimation of graphene at zero pressure and the condensation of carbon vapor is investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The interatomic interactions are described by the Reactive Empirical Bond Order potential (REBO). It is found that graphene sublimates at a temperature of 5,200 K. At the onset of sublimation, defects that contain several pentagons and heptagons are formed, that are shown to evolve from double vacancies and stone wales defects. These defects consisting of pentagons and heptagons act as nucleation sites for the gaseous phase. The influence of the interatomic interactions on the sublimation process are …

Synthesis And Properties Of Polymer Nanocomposites With Tunable Electromagnetic Response, Kristen Lee Stojak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multifunctional polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) are attractive for the design of tunable RF and microwave components such as flexible electronics, attenuators, and antennas due to cost-effectiveness and durability of polymeric matrices. In this work, three separate PNCs were synthesized. Magnetite (Fe3O4) and cobalt ferrite (CFO) nanoparticles, synthesized by thermal decomposition, were used as PNC fillers. Polymers used in this work were a commercial polymer provided by the Rogers Corporation (RP) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). PNCs in this thesis consist of Fe3O4 in RP, CFO in RP, and Fe3O4 in PVDF. Characterization techniques for determining morphology of the nanoparticles, and their resulting …

Archaeology Of The Early Eighteenth-Century Spanish Fort San José, Northwest Florida, Julie Rogers Saccente

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Spanish Fort San José, located on the St. Joseph Peninsula, was occupied from 1719 until 1723. This site is significant as it preserves key details on Spanish settlement, trade, and ethnic diversity on the northern Gulf Coast and relationships with aboriginal and other European peoples of the region. The first archaeological testing of this site was conducted in the 1960s, but limited information exists on this work, and the fort's structural remains are now gone. My research examines a recently discovered artifact collection from this site and combines the new data with information from extant collections from Florida State …

Aligning Human Resource Development With The Strategic Priorities Of Healthcare Organizations: The Cfo Perspective, Carla Breedlove Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

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Collecting Stardust: Matter, Memory, And Trauma In Patricio Guzman's Nostalgia For The Light, Nora Szegvari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work situates Patricio Guzmàn's Nostalgia for the Light in the broader field of essay documentary film and unveils it as a locus of discursive resistance and the generative crux of diverse conventionally isolated academic dialogues. In doing so, it addresses the challenging and controversial questions of historical meaning-making, remembrance and oblivion, melancholia and mourning. My thesis also endeavors to detect the dynamic and anxiety-inducing threshold between singularity and collectivity, and the human and the cosmic. I lay the historically unprecedented common ground for trauma theory and the essayistic comportment and argue that bearing the clash of time planes, paradoxicality, …

Turning Water Into Wine: The Political Economy Of The Environment In Southern California's Wine Country, Jason Simms

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines questions of water sustainability in contexts of wine production and state-led neoliberal development in the Temecula Valley, southern California, where wine tourism is at present being harnessed as an engine of economic growth. Natural and anthropogenic forces, such as global climate change, desertification, urban development, and the marketization and commodification of natural resources, affect the distribution and availability of water throughout the globe. As a result, the use of water, and associated political and environmental processes and consequences, in the production of global commodities, including wheat, citrus, and coffee, recently have come under increased scrutiny. Given wine's …

Source Memory And Generation Effects In Parkinson's Disease, Lynn Elizabeth Oelke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to investigate source memory performance in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD). The secondary goal was to explore how memory was impacted when subjects were asked to generate responses during encoding. Fifty idiopathic PD patients and fifty healthy control subjects completed a task measuring item memory and source memory which also included a generation manipulation. Relative to controls, PD patients exhibited deficits in source memory but not item memory. Both groups demonstrated enhanced memory performance in the generative condition of the item memory task. The PD group displayed a marginally significant trend toward …

Regulation Of The Tumor Suppresser P53 And Survivin By Ras And Ral Gtpases:Implications For Malignant Transformation, Awet G. Tecleab

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Although the critical role of the small GTPases Ras and Ral in oncogenesis has been well documented, much remains to be investigated about the molecular mechanism by which these GTPases regulate malignant transformation. The work under this thesis made two major contributions to this field. The first is the discovery that K-Ras, RalA and/or RalB are required for the maintenance of the high levels of the anti-apoptotic protein survivin in some human cancer cells, and the second is the demonstration that down regulation of K-Ras, RalA and/or RalB, but not Raf-1 or Akt1/2, stabilizes the tumor suppressor p53 and …

Archaeological Site Distribution In The Apalachicola/Lower Chattahoochee River Valley Of Northwest Florida, Southwest Georgia, And Southeast Alabama, Adam M. Schieffer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examines and compares the distributions of archaeological sites and materials in order to investigate native settlement patterns and resources use throughout 12,000 years of prehistory and protohistoric time within the Apalachicola/Lower Chattahoochee River valley of northwest Florida, southwest Georgia, and southeast Alabama. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are used to map the distributions of sites from different time periods and to explore their relation to various environmental characteristics that are now available in digital format. I employ tools now available in GIS to examine several longstanding research questions and expand upon archaeological interpretations within this region, where the University …

"When You Tell Them, Your Secret Is Out There": Experiences Of Sexuality And Intimacy Among Hiv Positive Black Women, Mackenzie Rae Tewell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

HIV/AIDS infections disproportionately impact African Americans within the United States. In 2010, black Americans made up 12 percent of the United States population, yet accounted for 44 percent of new HIV/AIDS infections (Kaiser Family Foundation 2013). The majority of black women (85 percent) are infected with the virus through heterosexual contact, meaning it is critical examine their sexual lives in order to gain insight into this infection within this population (CDC 2011b). Through semi-structured interviews at a Tampa, Florida AIDS service organization, this study presents the experiences of sexuality and intimacy among HIV positive black women. Results demonstrate that HIV …

Comparisons Of Acute Neuromuscular Fatigue And Recovery After Maximal Effort Strength Training Using Powerlifts, Nicholas Todd Theilen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

COMPARISONS OF ACUTE NEUROMUSCULAR FATIGUE IN MAXIMAL EFFORT STRENGTH TRAINING USING POWERLIFTS.

N. T. Theilen, B. I. Campbell, M. C. Zourdos2, J. M. Oliver3, J. O'Halloran1, N. Asher1, J. M. Wilson4

1University of South Florida, Exercise and Performance Nutrition Laboratory, Tampa, FL

2Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL

3Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX

4University of Tampa, Tampa, FL

Neuromuscular fatigue is associated with a decrease in velocity. Following powerlift training, the extent to which fatigue affects the performance velocity of each lift after a specified recovery interval has not yet been investigated.

Purpose

To assess the level of acute …

Computational Approaches For Structure Based Drug Design And Protein Structure-Function Prediction, Sai Lakshmana Kumar Vankayala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation thesis consists of a series of chapters that are interwoven by solving interesting biological problems, employing various computational methodologies. These techniques provide meaningful physical insights to promote the scientific fields of interest. Focus of chapter 1 concerns, the importance of computational tools like docking studies in advancing structure based drug design processes. This chapter also addresses the prime concerns like scoring functions, sampling algorithms and flexible docking studies that hamper the docking successes. Information about the different kinds of flexible dockings in terms of accuracy, time limitations and success studies are presented. Later the importance of Induced fit …

Refiguring Indexicality: Remediation, Film, & Memory In Contemporary Japanese Visual Media, Janine Marie Villot

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Through an analog between film and memory, I argue contemporary Japanese visual media constantly remediates this relationship in order to develop a more inclusive, plastic indexicality that allows media without direct material contiguity access to an indexicality not typically attributed to it. Amidst the early twenty-first century shift from old, mechanical media to new, electronic media, each Japanese text engages the West through intercultural discourses and intracultural responses, just as Japan has continually encountered the West since its forced opening by Commodore Perry in 1853. The plasticized indexicality figured by contemporary Japanese visual media implies the plastic nature of abstracted …

Investigations For Utilizing Pteropods As Bioindicators Of Environmental Change Along The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Paul Mark Suprenand

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pteropods are holoplanktonic gastropod molluscs found globally. Although species diversity is greater at lower latitudes, species abundance is greater at temperate and polar latitudes. Declines in pteropod populations have not only been correlated to declines of their major predators, but pteropods have also been used as bioindicators of global environmental changes such as ocean acidification. With high latitude abundances, pteropods provide significant sustenance for species such as the Atlantic salmon in the Atlantic Ocean and Pleuragramma antarcticum in the Southern Ocean. Because pteropods eat phytoplankton and other pteropods, factors that affect pteropod abundance influence many trophic levels. This dissertation explores …