Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Thornton Biennial: The Kruszka Pavilion: The 29yr Apology, Ethan Kruszka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Thornton Biennial: The Kruszka Pavilion: The 29YR Apology document functions as a catalog for the art event of the same name that occurred in November 2004. The catalog features a director's statement detailing the organizational practices of the event as well as a curatorial statement highlighting motivations for the event. In addition the catalog features color plates and statements from the sole participant in the 2004 Thornton Biennial. Selected excerpts: -When writing, I tell myself that I will immediately delete the writing upon its completion. Not so much because I fear its contents or the repercussions of having written …

Multi-Event Crisis Management Using Non-Cooperative Repeated Games, Upavan Gupta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The optimal allocation of the resources to the emergency locations in the event of multiple crises in an urban environment is an intricate problem, especially when the available resources are limited. In such a scenario, it is important to allocate emergency response units in a fair manner based on the criticality of the crisis events and their requests. In this research, a crisis management tool is developed which incorporates a resource allocation algorithm. The problem is formulated as a game theoretic framework in which the crisis events are modeled as the players, the emergency response centers as the resource locations …

Investigating Second Seminole War Sites In Florida: Identification Through Limited Testing, Christine Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the results of limited testing at the Fort Dade (1836-1842) and Hope Homestead (1842-ca. 1900) archaeological sites to establish a method for quickly identifying threatened sites with minimal disturbance to surrounding areas. Artifact analysis, pattern recognition, and comparison with similar known sites are key elements. Pedestrian survey, metal detection, posthole and shovel testing, and test excavation are tools used to accomplish this. Artifact analysis is used to establish date ranges for the sites, as well as the material variation between military and homestead occupations. Artifacts used for analysis include glass, ceramics, nails, arms and personal items. Quantitative …

Evaluation Of The Current State Of Florida West Nile Surveillance Program As A Predictor For Control And Prevention Of Human West Nile Diseases, Angela E. Butler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

West Nile is an important novel virus in the United States, having spread rapidly since it was first detected in New York in 1999. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as many State Health Departments, have mandated programs for surveillance of West Nile Virus activity. These programs incorporate many different aspects including existing arboserology programs with additional testing for West Nile Virus and new plans that incorporate active and passive surveillance methods.

The objective of this study was to examine all aspects of the Florida West Nile surveillance program to determine if there was transmission in the …

Development Of A Generic Pda Based Control Mechanism For In-House Fabricated Miniature Sensors, Sunny Kedia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A novel method of controlling miniature sensors using Handspring Visor Prism PDA has been implemented. A generic motherboard was developed to map the data and address lines from the Visor onto a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) to provide basic electrical signals to the sensor board. The sensor board housed the sensor and contained application specific circuitry. The PDA, the motherboard, and the sensor board completed the control mechanism for the sensor. Miniature sensors and PDA based control mechanism scaled down the size of the complete system making the unit portable. This unit facilitated a faster analysis of data on …

Threatening Skies, Brandon Dunlap

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Tampa Heights Greenprinting Initiative: An Attempt At Community Building Through Park Revitalization, Maya Marie Harper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I discuss the Tampa Heights Greenprinting Initiative, an initiative to build community in a gentrifying neighborhood. I was primarily hired to find out what changes residents of Tampa Heights desired in their chosen park, observe the Greenprinting process, and write a report that could be used in future initiatives.

Due to my Anthropological training, I paid attention to the wider context associated with this project. I paid as much attention to who was not there as I did to who was there. The applied nature of my program enabled me to not only document the socio-economic factors …

Characteristics Of A Chronically, Rapidly Eroding Beach: Long Key, Pinellas County, Florida, Alyssa L. Saint John

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Long Key, on the central western coast of Florida, has been nourished repeatedly since 1975. Following nourishment, the beach has rapidly eroded. This study documents rates, processes, and mechanisms for the rapid erosion. To better understand the beach performance, it is crucial to quantify the background erosion rate when artificial beach fill is at its minimum. This year long study from February 2003 through March of 2004 provides a detailed examination of the performance of a natural beach experiencing intense erosion.

The primary objective is to analyze the performance of Long Key through detailed investigation of shoreline and beach-volume changes …

Morphodynamics Of Bunces Pass, Florida, Jack C. Wilhoit Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bunces Pass is an unstructured tide-dominated inlet just north of the main entrance to Tampa Bay, Florida. The inlet has been stable for at least 130 years, as the size, shape, and orientation have remained unchanged. The morphological evolution of the Bunces Pass ebb-tidal delta is influenced by adjacent inlets. Historically, the ebb tidal delta was extremely large, due to the presence of the south channel of Pass-A-Grille Pass. As the tidal prism decreased through the south channel, the sheltering effect produced by the large ebb tidal delta diminished, and large volumes of sand began migrating shoreward. Sediment from the …

Images Of Naples: Class, Gender And The Southern Character In Hester Piozzi’S Observations And Reflections, Kelley A. Cason

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

On the tenth of January 1786, Mrs. Hester Lynch Piozzi recorded her entrance into the city of Naples, Italy in her travel journal Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey Through France, Italy, and Germany. She emphasized the importance of her experience in Naples by stating that: "among all the new ideas I have acquired since England lessened to my sight upon the sea, those gained at Naples will be the last to quit me." This British woman's stay in Naples was but a brief period within her three year long Grand Tour, yet it represented …

An Analysis Of Key Deer Herbivory On Forest Communities In The Lower Florida Keys, Mark Allan Barrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) population has increased from less than 80 individuals in the 1950s to approximately 700 by 2000. Over two-thirds of the Key deer population resides on two islands out of a potential 26 islands within their range. The skewed distribution resulted in high deer densities on Big Pine, No Name, and Big Munson keys. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of Key deer herbivory in mangrove, buttonwood, hammock and pineland habitats between islands with low, medium, and high densities of deer. Host-plant choice trials were conducted to determine Key …

Transnational Social Movements And The War On Drugs, Ben Mostyn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the growing body of work on transnational social movement theory. Transnational social movement theory is an attempt to adapt social movement theory to the changing nature of international relations. To further this theory, I test the hypothesis that "a transnational social movement has caused drug law reforms at the local and state level".

To test this hypothesis I undertake a case study of one local and one national drug law reform. The drug laws in the state of New South Wales, Australia were reformed in 1999 to allow heroin addicts to use a medical center to inject …

On The Color Of The Orinoco River Plume, Ana L. Odriozola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In situ measurements were used to study the bio-optical properties of marine waters within the Gulf of Paria (GOP, Venezuela) and in the Southeastern Caribbean Sea (SEC) as they are affected by the seasonal discharge of the Orinoco River plume. The main purpose of this study was to determine the impact of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) (also known as Gelbstoff), phytoplankton, and total suspended matter (TSM) in the color of the Orinoco River plume. This information is essential for regional ocean color algorithms development.

Salinity and silica values indicate that the GOP and SEC waters were under the …

A P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface: Testing An Alternative Method Of Communication, Eric W. Sellers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system that operates by detecting a P300 elicited by one of four randomly presented stimuli (i.e., YES, NO, PASS, END). Two groups of participants were tested. The first group included three ALS patients that varied in degree of disability, but all retained the ability to communicate; the second group included three Non-ALS controls. Each participant participated in ten experimental sessions during a period of approximately 6 weeks. Sessions were conducted either at the participant's home or in the lab. During each run the participant's task was to attend to …

Road Crack Condition Performance Modeling Using Recurrent Markov Chains And Artificial Neural Networks, Jidong Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Timely identification of undesirable pavement crack conditions has been a major task in pavement management. Up to date, myriads of pavement performance models have been developed for forecasting pavement crack condition with the traditional preferred techniques being the use of regression relationships developed from laboratory and/or field statistical data. However, it becomes difficult for regression techniques to predict the crack performance accurately and robustly in the presence of a variety of tributary factors, high nonlinearity, and uncertainty. With the advancement of modeling techniques, two innovative breeds of models, Artificial Neural Networks and Markov Chains, have drawn increasing attention from researchers …

They Shoot Single People, Don't They?, Dianne J. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

They Shoot Single People, Don't They? is a romantic comedy of errors set in Boston about Lexie, a twenty-five year old pediatric nurse with still perky breasts and lightly dimpled thighs who can figure out pediatric drug dosages, but is so severely relationship-challenged that she can't make any choice at all when it comes to men. Her life becomes a convoluted mess that includes two guys and a tangled web of lies.

After Marcus dumps her with a post-it note taped to her refrigerator door, Lexie thinks that her five-year plan to get married and have a baby are back …

From Wounded To Woman: The Demasculinization Of Hemingway’S Wounded Male Characters, Myla B. Morris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During his time of service in the Italian Army in World War I, Ernest Hemingway was injured. He received a non-life-threatening wound and was forever changed. In his article, "Ernest Hemingway: The Life as Fiction and the Fiction as Life," Jackson J. Benson proposes the idea of Hemingway's "wounding what if?" that follows this course of thought: "What if I were wounded and made crazy?, what would happen if I were sent back to the front? I was only wounded in an accident, what do the really brave ones think of me? (351)" Shortly following the war, Hemingway was wounded …

Antenna Array Output Power Minimization Using Steepest Descent Adaptive Algorithm, Sandra Gomulka Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A beamforming antenna array is a set of antennas whose outputs are weighted by complex values and combined to form the array output. The effect of the complex valued weights is to steer lobes and nulls of the array pattern to desired directions. These directions may be unknown and so the antenna weights must be adjusted adaptively until some measure of array performance is improved, indicating proper lobe or null placement.

An adaptive algorithm to adjust the complex weights of an antenna array is presented that nulls high power signals while allowing reception of GPS signals as long as the …

African American Women With Type 2 Diabetes: Understanding Self-Management, F Bridgett Rahim-Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prescribed self-management behaviors have been found to be important factors affecting the rates of morbidity and mortality in multiple medical conditions including chronic diseases such as diabetes, a condition that disproportionately affects high health risk populations such as African Americans.

This study focused on understanding health behaviors, beliefs, and associated factors such as support systems and access to care that played a role in diabetes self-management and glucose control. The study also explored diabetes self-management education and its role in diabetes self-management. The research conducted in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in Florida, included twenty-five African American women between the ages …

Globalization, Ecotourism, And Development In The Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica, Edgar Allan Amador

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ecotourism has been promoted globally as a model for sustainable development because it simultaneously benefits the environment and the residents of the given destination. However, many conservationists have questioned the long term sustainability of ecotourism as it is difficult to mitigate the impact of even low levels of tourism on a particular ecosystem. Further, social scientists including anthropologists have similarly questioned whether most residents of a particular destination actually benefit significantly from the alternative tourism economy.

The Globalization Research Center in cooperation with the Monteverde Institue in the Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica, is undertaking a longitudinal study -- dubbed …

Lily’S Dilemma: Opposing Principles In The House Of Mirth, Debbie Lelekis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study is Lily Bart and how she maneuvers in the cold, competitive world of upper class New York. To create a framework for my investigation, I draw upon naturalistic readings of the story which portray Lily as an outsider or "other" in her society. Lily's ethical principles lead to her destruction. Her marriage problem is just an example of her rejection of the life that her society expects her to lead. As she becomes more aware of a different philosophy of life--characterized by Selden's "republic of the spirit"--she finds it impossible to abide by the rules …

Caffeine And Airway Resistance, Gwyn N. Crump M.D.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effect of caffeine on airway resistance. The subjects were drawn from volunteers (18-90 years old) in good health, with no major cardiopulmonary conditions.

We found no association between the consumption of a single cup of the caffeinated beverage coffee and a decrease in airway resistance within one hour in a normal sample of subjects as measured by impulse oscillometry nor with conventional spirometry . It appears that any possible bronchodilatory effect of the caffeine from a single cup of coffee in a normal population is below the limit of detection of spirometry and impulse oscillometry or …

The Effects Of Militant Press On Nigeria's Democratic Evolution, Oluwaniran Malaolu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is an in-depth study of the Nigerian press, the ubiquitous behemoth which called itself the "defender" of Nigeria's national independence and the last "hope" of the common man. It's a bold attempt to critically examine its antecedents, its evolution or development especially the historical, political, technological and socio-economic events that had impacted its growth, its world views and ideologies. It's a thorough assessment of the press' influence on Nigeria's socio-economic and political development, as well as the suitability of its tactics and posturing toward attaining its set goals of economic and political emancipation of Nigerians. Most importantly, this study …

Copd Dyspnea Management By Family Caregivers, Loris A. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An estimated 14 million people in the United States currently have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This nonreversible illness causes progressively decreasing airflow and is manifested by frequent episodes of acute and chronic dyspnea. The purposes of this study were: 1) to examine the relationships between mastery (MS), negative affectivity trait (NA), perceptions of patient dyspnea severity (DSI), and perceptions of which dyspnea interventions are effective (DE) among family caregiver-COPD patient dyads and 2) to examine the degree of agreement between the dyad members regarding dyspnea assessment and management. The study subjects were elderly (patients = 71.6 years, caregivers = …

Building A Case For The Unfamiliar Cause In Cause-Related Marketing: The Importance Of Cause Vested Interest, Charles G. O'Brien

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marketing and advertising practitioners are currently matching up a brand with a cause and broadcasting the association to consumers in a practice called cause related marketing (CRM). Scholars are building a stream of academic research which seeks to understand the relationship between a brand and a cause (a.k.a., alliance) in relation to the final outcome of a CRM campaign. Ostensibly, both partners benefit from this alliance, although many CRM studies seek to understand how to optimize this relationship for each partner.

In professional practice and academic research both practitioners and researchers have focused on established, popular, well-known causes in consideration …

Efforts To Promote Tourism As A Catalyst For Urban Redevelopment In Florida: Insights From The Anthropology Of Tourism And An Annotated Bibliography., John F. Collins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tourism is a major contributor to the global economy and is an agent of cultural change. Tourism has been utilized throughout the United States as an engine of economic renewal in the promotion of redevelopment within many of our most celebrated urban centers. Urban tourism as it is found within Florida is explored. A chapter is dedicated to Tampa, Florida. Anthropology has spent little time or effort in attempting to understand the complexities of urban tourism and what it means for the cities of 21st century. The anthropology of tourism is utilized in exploring the political economy of tourism within …

High Voltage Conversion For Mems Applications Using Micromachined Capacitors, Puneet Khanna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores high voltage converter circuits for MEMS applications using micromachined devices. A novel MEMS based tunable DC-DC converter has been developed. Conventional high voltage converters based on charge pumps are unable to convert voltages to higher than few tens of volts due to power handling limitations of the CMOS components. In order to overcome this limitation a high voltage circuit has been proposed, which when integrated with micromachined switches will generate output voltages in the range of 100 Volts. The converter is based on a two phase switched capacitor circuit, and allows regulation of voltage conversion ratio. Three …

Studies On Modeling Angular Soil Particles Using The Discrete Element Method, Amr M. Sallam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Discrete Element Method was first introduced by Cundall and Strack (1979) to model granular soils within the context of geotechnical engineering. The material is modeled as a random assembly of discrete elements. Each particle interacts with neighboring particles through contact forces that can be built up and broken at any time. The particles were modeled as discs in 2-D or as spheres in 3-D. Research studies have been conducted to improve the simulation of actual grain shapes. Ashmawy et al. (2003) developed the overlapping rigid clusters (ORC) method to accurately model irregular particle shapes. The idea relies on clumping …

Development Of A Sensitive And Specific Biosensor Assay To Detect Vibrio Vulnificus In Estuarine Waters, Robert M. Ulrich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biosensor development has the potential to meet the need for rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of pathogenic bacteria from natural sources. An antibody-based fiber-optic biosensor assay to detect low levels of Vibrio vulnificus in estuarine waters following an enrichment step was developed. The principle of the sensor is based on an immuno-sandwich assay where an anti-V. vulnificus polyclonal capture antibody preparation was first immobilized on a polystyrene fiber-optic waveguide using a biotin-avidin association. The capture antibody is responsible for binding the target cells to the waveguide. Cyanine-5-conjugated anti-V. vulnificus polyclonal antibodies are subsequently allowed to bind to immobilized …

Chemical And Photolytic Degradation Of Polyacrylamides Used In Potable Water Treatment, Peiyao Cheng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polyacrylamides (PAMs) are a class of polymers formed from acrylamide alone or copolymerized with other monomers. PAMs have been used in drinking water treatment as flocculants or coagulants in the highest volume among all the polymer types. In potable water treatment processes, polyacrylamides are often exposed to oxidants (e.g. chlorine and permanganate) and UV irradiation from sunlight or artificial sources. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possible degradation of PAMs caused by chemical oxidation and/or UV irradiation.

Three types of PAM products (nonionic, cationic and anionic) were studied under free chlorine and permanganate oxidation, UV irradiation, and …