Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2006, The John Muir Center For Environmental Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir's World Tour (part III) Introduction by W. R. Swagerty Director, John Muir Center In this issue, we resume John Muir's unpublished notebooks from his World Tour, 1903-1904. This double issue covers the dates August 18 through November 2, 1903, all recorded in notebook number fifty of the John Muir Papers at University of the Pacific. The transcription by Pulizer-prize winner and Muir-biographer Linnie Marsh Wolfe (1881-1945) is part of her papers, also at Pacific in Holt-Atherton Special Collections, a subset of.. ' the Muir Papers. The Wolfe Papers are described thus in the on-line catalog to Holt-Atherton Department …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2006-04-01, Jean Vermette

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.

Spaces Of Encounter: The Cultural Labor Of Class Difference, Ardis Cameron

American and New England Studies [Discontinued]

This article explores the complicated relationship between narratives of working-class America and formations of national Otherness. Arguing that class, sex, and ethnicity are deeply relational, it seeks to map the symbolic terrain and emotional depth of class difference as it circulates in the American imaginary. It ask how we might think about the cultural poetics of class difference in ways that make a difference-in ways that register class narratives as participants in constructions of the Nation and the "normal," the irregular and the queer? Attending to the kinds of emotional and conceptual services stories of class perform, it locates "class" …

Reforging The White Republic: Race, Religion, And American Nationalism, 1865-1898 (Book Review), R. Bryan Bademan

History Faculty Publications

Book review by R. Bryan Bademan.

Blum, Edward J. Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism, 1865-1898. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2005.

African American Literature: Books To Stoke Dreams, Jane M. Gangi, Aimee Ferguson

Education Faculty Publications

In addition to market forces, unconsciously damaging trends in many textbooks for teacher education have resulted in classroom trade book collections that represent children who are primarily white and middle class. While all children—whether from Argentina, Afghanistan, or Algeria—deserve to see themselves and their families in books, the focus of this article is on new publications that depict African Americans.

Teachers who are committed to learning all they can about multicultural literature and culturally and gender relevant pedagogy become agents of change.

Includes significant bibliography of Resources and list of Children’s Literature That Picture Children of African Descent.

Race, Nation, And Religion In The Americas, Edited By Henry Goldschmidt And Elizabeth Mcalister, R. Bryan Bademan

History Faculty Publications

Book review by R. Bryan Bademan.

Goldschmidt, Henry and Elizabeth McAlister, eds. Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

ISBN 978-0195149197

On Chris Lehmann's Revolt Of The Masscult, George Ciccariello Maher

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

The good folks at Prickly Paradigm are certainly doing their job. Their stated objective is “publishing challenging and sometimes outrageous pamphlets,” and Lehmann's short piece fulfills this claim brilliantly, evoking intellectual mood swings that span from shouting for joy at a particularly lucid formulation to shouting angrily at the deftness with which Lehmann transforms his lucidity into suspiciously wrongheaded and reactionary assessments. The clinical bipolarity of this work, as we will see, is no coincidence: it is precisely the political entanglement of the subject of mass culture (“masscult”) that leads to both respect for one's opponents and suspicion …

A Joint Rolled In Toilet Paper: Funkadelic’S Funky Soul, Joseph T. Thomas Jr.

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

Through an examination of Parliament-Funkadelic’s lyrics and music, this paper explores shit, dirt, and the funk, investigating their relationship to George Clinton and his band’s desire to darken the Humanistic project of Enlightenment, their desire to soil language, and thereby question conventional, bourgeois values. The author argues that Funkadelic participate in what Mikhail Bakhtin calls the “peculiar logic” of the carnivalesque, detourning status quo notions of culture and society, creating complex contortions through the blurring of the good and the bad, the cerebral and the carnal, the sublime and the mundane. In essence, Funkadelic are a musical carnival that exists …

An Analysis Of The United Nations: Two Peace Operations In The Congo, Sofia Fargo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace-building efforts undertaken by the United Nations (UN) in the Congo. Part one investigates the UN mission in Congo 1960 to 1964 and the second part looks at the current mission that started in 1999 which is currently ongoing. The final part makes a comparative analysis of the two case studies.

Peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace-building are some of the approaches the UN uses in order to manage and settle conflict. While these concepts are often related to one another, they possess certain characteristics making them distinguishable. I solemnly use these concepts …

Production And Perception Of Place Of Articulation Errors, Adrienne M. Stearns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Speech errors have been utilized since the beginning of the last century to learn more about how speech is produced, both physically and cognitively. Collection of speech errors has progressed from writing down naturally occurring speech errors to recording experimentally induced speech errors to current studies, which are using instrumentation to record acoustic and kinematic information about experimentally induced speech errors. One type of instrumentation being used in articulatory research is ultrasound. Ultrasound is gaining popularity for use by those interested in learning how speech is physically produced because of its portability and noninvasiveness. Ultrasound of the tongue during speech …

The Theoretical Modeling, Design, And Synthesis Of Key Structural Units For Novel Molecular Clamps And Pro-Apoptotic Alpha Helix Peptidomimetics, Stephanie Tara Weiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the theory and practice of designing, synthesizing and using peptidomimetics to disrupt protein-protein interactions. Our general strategy is to design and synthesize peptidomimetics that will mimic peptide secondary structures (alpha-helices and beta-sheets). Chapter One is a theoretical examination of the feasibility of using beta-sheet mimics called molecular clamps to inhibit substrate-receptor interactions by blocking the substrate rather than the receptor or enzyme. Several natural and synthetic examples of this approach are given in support of this concept. We also present the results of a kinetic modeling study and a consideration of which types of systems would be …

Evaluation Of Geophysical And Thermal Methods For Detecting Submarine Groundwater Discharge (Sgd) In The Suwannee River Estuary, Florida, Matthew Weiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) represents a significant portion of the total discharge from coastal aquifers through diffuse seepage and point source springs, but can be difficult to locate. SGD is important as it can be a source of nutrients to estuaries and other coastal ecosystems. In an effort to evaluate geophysical and thermal methods for detecting SGD on the Florida Gulf coast, a suite of water-borne surveys were run in conjunction with aerial thermal imagery over the lower Suwannee River and estuary in March and September 2005. Thermal imagery exploits temperature differences between discharging groundwater and surface water. Thermal images …

Spelling Development In Young School Age Children, Kelly M. Fawcett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research investigations in the area of spelling development have adopted

two approaches, the broad approach and the narrow approach. The broad approach

suggests that spelling develops in sequential stages whereas the narrow approach focuses

on individual linguistic patterns. However, research findings have revealed that children’s

spellings do not exhibit errors pertaining to specifically one stage or reflecting one

linguistic element, yet a research void exists in resolving how these two approaches

might intermix.

This study examined the spelling errors of typically developing children in first

through fourth grades (N = 400) to determine the quantitative and qualitative differences

in …

Ashes From Falling Stars, John A. Nieves

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a book length collection of poetry—all original and by the author. The book has three chapters, each with a different mode of expressing the work’s overall theme: the remnants of unfulfilled wishes. The first chapter deals with ordinary or mundane manifestations of the theme. The second chapter covers extraordinary, but still feasible, variations on the theme. The final chapter deals with subconscious versions of these unfulfilled wishes. It is far more surreal than the other two chapters and exists in a sort of dream-reality.

The poetry included in this work is all free verse. There are narrative …

Modeling The Throughput Performance Of The Sf-Sack Protocol, Laura M. Voicu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Besides the two classical techniques used to evaluate the performance of a protocol, computer simulation and experimental measurements, mathematical modeling has been used to study the performance of the TCP protocol. This technique gives an elegant way to gain insights when studying the behavior of a protocol, while providing useful information about its performance.

This thesis presents an analytical model for the SF-SACK protocol, a TCP SACK based protocol conceived to be appropriate for data and streaming applications. SF-Sack modifies the multiplicative part of the Additive Increase Multiplicative Decrease of TCP to provide good performance for data and streaming applications, …

Development Of A Gis Based Infrastructure Replacement Prioritization System; A Case Study, Brian D. Pickard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maintenance, repair, and replacement of transmission mains and distribution system piping is expected to cost approximately $75 billion over the next two decades to ensure that public water systems are capable of providing the United States with safe drinking water. However, there is a significant gap between the funds available and the projected costs of infrastructure replacement or rehabilitation. Infrastructure Management Systems (IMS) have been developed to assist utilities and decision-makers in determining how to allocate resources for infrastructure. This project utilizes theTampa Water Department (TWD) as a case study to develop a tool for prioritizing infrastructure replacement.

TWD is …

A Feminist Perspective On The Precautionary Principle And The Problem Of Endocrine Disruptors Under Neoliberal Globalization Policies, Erica Hesch Anstey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Industrialization and "development" during the last 200 years have led to an increase of pesticides, an intensified use of synthetic chemicals, higher levels of environmental pollution, and more exposure to hazardous working conditions. Environmental toxins, many of which are endocrine disruptors, are stored in fat tissue, increasing reproductive health risks for both women and men. Women’s bodies are particularly vulnerable as sites for creating, growing, feeding, and nurturing the next generation. And yet, women’s lives are consistently devalued, especially in a capitalist economy, so that a woman’s rights to her own reproductive health are no longer guaranteed.

In this thesis …

Association Of Sound To Motion In Video Using Perceptual Organization, Sunil Babu Ravulapalli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technological developments and innovations of the first forty years of the digital era have primarily addressed either the audio or the visual senses. Consequently, designers have primarily focused on the audio or the visual aspects of design. In the perspective of video surveillance, the data under consideration has always been visual. However, in light of the new behavioral and physiological studies which established a proof of cross modality in human perception i.e. humans do not process audio and visual stimulus separately, but percieve a scene based on all stimulus available, similar cues are being used to develop a surveillance system …

Assessment Of Image Analysis As A Measure Of Scleractinian Coral Growth, Steven K. Gustafson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Image analysis was used to measure basal areas of selected colonies of Montastraea annularis and Porites astreoides, following the colonies over a three-year period from 2002 to 2004. Existing digital images of permanently-marked quadrats in the Caye Caulker Marine Reserve, Belize, were selected based on image quality and availability of images of selected quadrats for all three years. Annual growth rates were calculated from the basal-area measurements. Mean growth rates (radial skeletal extension) for M. annularis and P. astreoides were 0.02 cm yr-1 and -0.20 cm yr-1, respectively. Basal area measurements demonstrated a large degree of variability. Increases were approximately …

Detection Of Cracks In Single-Crystalline Silicon Wafers Using Impact Testing, Christina Hilmersson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is about detection of cracks in single-crystalline silicon wafers by using a vibration method in the form of an impact test. The goal to detect cracks from vibration measurements introduced by striking the silicon wafer with an impact hammer. Such a method would reduce costs in the production of solar cells. It is an inexpensive, relatively simple method which if commercialized could be used as an efficient in-line production quality test.

A hammer is used as the actuator and a microphone as the response sensor. A signal analyzer is used to collect the data and to compute frequency …

Dynamic Monitoring Of Cytotoxicity Using Electric Cell Substrate Impendence Sensing, Alfred Brian Wafula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) pioneered by Giaever and Keese is suitable for continuous, automatic and real-time cell attachment analysis. ECIS is a novel electrical method to study, in real time, many of the activities of animal cells when grown in tissue culture. These include morphological changes, cell locomotion, and other behaviors directed by the cell's cytoskeleton. One of the most direct ECIS measurements is that of the attachment and spreading behaviors of cells. These measurements allow one to study and quantify the interaction of cultured cells with extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and other macromolecules continuously and in real time. …

A Benefit-Cost Analysis Of A State Freeway Service Patrol: A Florida Case Study, Harkanwal Nain Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Road Ranger program is a freeway service patrol (FSP) designed to assist disabled vehicles along congested freeway segments and relieve peak period non-recurring congestion through quick detection, verification and removal of freeway incidents in Florida. It consists of approximately 88 vehicles in fleet and provides free service to about 918 centerline miles. The program is funded by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and its partners, and is bid out to private contractors. The objective of this study is to examine and evaluate the benefits of the Road Ranger service against their operating costs in five of the seven …

Nanoindentation Of Layered Materials With A Nonhomogeneous Interface, Praveen K. Chalasani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Indentation is used as a technique for mechanical characterization of materials for a long time. In the last few decades, new techniques of mechanical characterization at micro and nano level using indentation have been developed. Mechanical character-ization of thin films has become an important area of research because of their crucial role in modern technological applications. Theoretical and computational models of indentation are less time consuming,cost effective, and flexible. Many researchers have investigated mechanical properties of thin films using theoretical and computational models. In this study, an indentation model for a thin layer-substrate geometry with the possibility of nonhomogeneous or …

Postcolonial Herstory: The Novels Of Assia Djebar (Algeria) And Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine): A Comparative Analysis, Oksana Lutsyshyna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work is a comparative analysis of the works of the Ukrainian author Oksana Zabuzhko (Field Work in Ukrainian Sex) and the Algerian writer Assia Djebar (Women of Algiers in Their Apartment). Although the lives of Algerian and Ukrainian women were shaped by different historical and social forces, discourses and traditions, common themes exist in their writings because of their common postcolonial background. Both authors examine the relations of women to history in the postcolonial setting, the problem of inscribing women into history, and the double oppression women experienced during colonial times (as colonized subjects and as gendered subjects).

One …

Post-Charley Evaluation Of Undamaged Homes In Punta Gorda Isles, Virgilet Pierrissaint

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane Charley was the third named storm and the second major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. At that time, it was also the strongest hurricane to strike the US coast since 1992. Charley made landfall on Friday, August 13, 2004 on the barrier islands off Lee County, Florida whence it moved rapidly inland towards Port Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee counties.

The purpose of this study was to understand the performance of undamaged residential home in Punta Gorda Isles (PGI) in Port Charlotte County that was crossed by Charley’s eye shortly after it made landfall. To achieve this goal, …

A Damage Assessment And Wind Loading Analysis Of Residential Structures Built Post-1996 In Punta Gorda In The Wake Of Hurricane Charley, James Newberry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the communities in the path of Hurricane Charley as it came ashore

August 13, 2004, was Punta Gorda, recording gusts up to 145 mph. This project

utilizes aerial photos taken approximately 10 days after the storm battered the

area, using a digital photography program. Focusing on the one-story residential

structures (houses) of the Punta Gorda area, a damage assessment could be

made of the area’s homes, and how they stood up to the storm. This study

focused further on homes built after major changes to the local/state building

codes went into effect (starting in 1996) after the devastation …

Coastal Processes And Anthropogenic Factors Influencing The Geomorphic Evolution Of Weedon Island, Florida, Jeanne Lambert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weedon Island, a peninsula located on the western inner shoreline of Tampa Bay, Florida, is the location of a collaborative geological and archaeological project that aims to relate the present day geomorphology to natural processes and human occupational activity during the middle to late Holocene. The area is known for extensive archaeological sites, which were originally investigated in the 1920s, although they have received relatively little scientific attention during most of the last century. We hypothesize that activities associated with pre-historic human occupation of Weedon Island at various times during the last ca. 5,000 years influenced the geomorphic evolution of …

A Platform For Research On Localization And Tracking Using Wireless Sensor Networks, Sai Kiran Rupanagudi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research proposed the integration of wireless sensor networks, a mobile platform and a fixed station for the development of a test bed system to conduct research on localization, tracking, navigation and network mapping. The overall integrated system acts as a basis for future research on localization of wireless nodes in an indoor environment. The system enables the transfer of information from the sensor node on the platform to a distant computer through wireless communication. In addition, a robotic platform is proposed that uses the developed integrated system as well as other potential applications. The user interface to the system …

Optimizing Biofuel Cell Performance Using A Targeted Mixed Mediator Combination, Jason C. Klar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study of how mediators interact with the catabolic pathways of microbes was undertaken with a view towards improving the performance of microbial fuel cells. The use of mediators is known to improve the power density in microbial fuel cells, but this work suggests that no single mediator is ideally suited to the task. Instead, a carefully selected mixture of two targeted mediators (Methylene Blue and Neutral Red) might be optimal. To test this hypothesis, a yeast-catalyzed microbial fuel cell was built and empirically evaluated under different mediation conditions while keeping all other parameters constant. The results clearly show that …

The Feasibility Of Establishing A Telecenter In An Urban Corridor: A Case Study Of The Sr 836/Dolphin Expressway Corridor In Miami, Florida, Anurag Komanduri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Telecenters are alternate work locations and are used as a means to reduce the commute discomfort to employees. Telecenters provide advantages to both the employees and the employers and are a good Travel Demand Management measure. The history of telecenters is relatively new. Many telecenters were established in the early 1990's with the support of the Federal and State Governments. While initial signs were encouraging, the inability of these telecenters to carry on running in the absence of continued funding made them cost intensive unsuccessful experiments. There have been fewer attempts by private individuals/ Governments to work with the concept …