Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Alien Encounters And The Alien/Human Dichotomy In Stanley Kubrick‘S 2001: A Space Odyssey And Andrei Tarkovsky‘S Solaris, Keith Cavedo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The alien encounter has long been a defining and popular subject of science fiction cinema. However, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972) are interrogative, complex, and distinct artistic accomplishments that stand apart from and above the conventional science fiction film. 2001 and Solaris not only represent but complicate the alien/human dichotomy; in the end, they destabilize the dichotomy and even suggest a radical synthesis of the dichotomous elements. 2001 and Solaris further emphasize epistemological and specifically anthropocentric limitations when it comes to understanding the alien or attempting to make sense of the alien encounter. …

The Effects Of Learning-Styles Information On The Achievement Of Community College Developmental Math Students, Kevin A. Hoeffner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Four out of five Americans will require some postsecondary education. Therefore, a majority of population will return to a community college for retraining and personal growth (McCabe, 2003). Since the turn of this century, many studies have been conducted to examine the success and challenges of the relatively new community college system. One of the most significant challenges is the large percentage of the U.S. population requiring remedial coursework. Fifty-five percent of students entering Florida's postsecondary system require remediation. Of this large remedial population, only 51% will complete their preparatory classes. Students who do complete classes take an average of …

Impact Of Globalization On Socio-Economic And Political Development Of The Central Asian Countries, Karina Orozalieva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this thesis is to understand the economic, social and political impacts of globalization on the Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries in general. The empirical studies based on panel data analyses and the case study on Kyrgyzstan demonstrate that the socio-economic effect of globalization on development of these countries is twofold. On the one hand benefits produced by globalization such as migration and remittances can be useful for economic development in the short run. They take a role of a "shock absorber" of the challenges that are associated with transition to a free market economy. On …

Spring Design Optimization With Fatigue, John L. Porteiro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to look into the fundamental issues regarding spring design and develop a new, easy to use software program that would allow for optimal, flexible spring designs. Most commercial programs that address this function are basic and do not allow the designer much control over the variables hindering design. This is so because most programs start from the premise that the spring is a general purpose part of the system or that other design parameters can be altered to accommodate the chosen spring. In cases where this is not so, such as in hydraulic cartridge …

Answer Distortion On The Epworth Sleepiness Scale During The Commercial Driver Medical Examination, Keith E. Proctor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Commercial vehicle drivers are required to maintain Department Of Transportation medical certification which entails a Commercial Driver Medical Examination (CDME) and optimally leads to a two-year certification. The examination must be performed by a licensed "medical examiner" administered by a variety of health care providers including physicians, advanced registered nurse practitioners, physician assistants and doctors of chiropractic. Unfavorable findings in the examination can yield either a shortened medical certification period or denial of certification. Sleep disorders including sleep apnea are assessed by a single question located in the health history portion of the CDME form which is filled-out by the …

Faculty Perspectives On Doctoral Student Mentoring: The Mentor‘S Odyssey, Carol A. Burg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, mentoring has emerged as a research domain, however, the preponderance of mentoring research has been situated first, in the business or organizational settings and second, in the K-12 educational setting, focusing on protégé experiences, using quantitative survey instruments to collect data. Thus, mentoring research literature includes a paucity of formal studies in the arena of graduate education.

Situated in the higher education setting, this study investigated the perspectives of faculty-mentors who provided mentoring to doctoral students who completed the doctoral degree, employing the qualitative research methodology known as phenomenology, as an orthogonal but complimentary epistemology to previous …

Influence Of Crosslink Density On Swelling And Conformation Of Surface-Constrained Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels, Ryan S. Cates

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A stimuli-responsive microgel is a three-dimensional polymer network that is able to absorb and expel a solvent (commonly water). These materials are unique in the fact that their sponge-like behavior can be actuated by environmental cues, like temperature, ion concentration, pH, and light. Because of the dynamic properties of these materials they have found applications in drug-delivery systems, micro-assays, selective filtration, artificial muscle, and non-fouling surfaces. The most well-known stimuli-responsive polymer is Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) or PNIPAAm and it experiences a switchable swelling or deswelling over a critical temperature ( T_c=~32°C). Below the critical temperature, the gel begins mixing with …

Lived Experience: Near-Fatal Adolescent Suicide Attempt, Phyllis Ann Dougherty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent suicide has become a national health crisis. Suicide now ranks as a leading cause of adolescent death in the U.S. In response to this, the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (2001b) recommended the promotion and support of research into suicide and prevention, particularly high-risk groups such as adolescents. However, due to concerns for safety and liability, there have been few studies of highly suicidal individuals, specifically adolescents. Leading suicidologists have agreed that studying the qualities of the near-fatal suicide attempt can most resemble the completed suicide.

This case study explored the phenomenon of the near-fatal suicide attempt through the …

Optimization Of A Ball-Milled Photocatalyst For Wastewater Treatment Through Use Of An Orthogonal-Array Experimental Design, Bradley J. Ridder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The effects of various catalyst synthesis parameters on the photocatalytic degradation kinetics of aqueous methyl orange dye are presented. The four factors investigated were: i) InVO₄ concentration, ii) nickel concentration, iii) InVO₄ calcination temperature, and iv) ballmilling time. Three levels were used for each factor. Due to the large number of possible experiments in a full factorial experiment, an orthogonal-array experimental design was used. UV-vis spectrophotometry was used to measure the dye concentration. The results show that nickel concentration was a significant parameter, with 90% confidence. The relative ranking of importance of the parameters was nickel concentration > InVO …

Low Documented Risk Cesarean Sections And Late-Preterm Births: The Florida Experience, Heather Breeze Clayton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are increasing concerns about the excessive use of cesarean delivery in the United States, as cesarean deliveries have been associated with adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. Currently, the cesarean section (C/S) rate for Florida is the second highest in the nation. Furthermore, preliminary reports from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) have implicated the increasing rate of cesarean delivery to an increase in the rate of late preterm births (PTB) in Florida (births at 34 to 36 weeks gestational age). Information on the impact of late PTB associated with cesarean delivery on the rate of maternal and infant …

Active Surface Topographies In Constrained Hydrogel Films For Biomedical Applications, Ophir Ortiz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate relative to all types of cancers, and unfortunately there still exist numerous challenges towards decreasing this rate. One of these challenges is gaining a clear understanding of why metastatic lung cancer cells attach and detach to colonize other areas of the body. Reports suggest that the attachment of cells to secondary tumor sites does not occur randomly. It is theorized that both the physical and chemical properties of the tissue are able to create a suitable environment for their adhesion. Therefore, the motivation for the work presented herein is to use dynamic thermoresponsive …

Corrosion Of Epoxy-Coated Reinforcement In Marine Bridges With Locally Deficient Concrete, Kingsley Lau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Epoxy-coated rebar (ECR) has been used in approximately 300 Florida bridges, in an attempt to control corrosion of the substructure in the splash-evaporation zone. Early severe ECR corrosion was observed in the substructure of several Florida ECR bridges (Group 1) where the substructure was built with permeable concrete of high apparent chloride diffusivity D_App. Other ECR bridges built during the same period and having similar D_App were projected to show corrosion damage starting on the following decade. Examination of several of those bridges (Group 2) confirmed that projection. Other recently examined Florida ECR bridges (Groups 3 and …

Noise And Multipath Characteristics Of Power Line Communication Channels, Hasan Basri Çelebi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the recent developments in technology, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming more widespread and one of the basic building blocks of every humans life. The increasing demand in broadband communication calls for new technologies. Power line communication (PLC) is one of the potential candidates for next generation ICTs. Although communication through power lines has been investigated for a long time, PLC systems were never taken into account seriously because of its harsh communication medium. However, with the development of more robust data transmission schemes, communication over the power lines is becoming a strong alternative technology because of the …

Perceptions Of Career And Psychosocial Functions Between Mentor And Protégé Teachers, Allison A. Vanderbilt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the career and psychosocial functions that mentor teachers and their protégé teachers believed occurred during the 2008-2009 mentoring relationship.

This comparative survey study was conducted in a suburban middle-sized Florida school district. The target population for this study involved one group of matched mentor teachers and protégé teachers. Two survey instruments were used during this study, Mentoring Functions Scale for the Mentor and the Mentoring Functions Scale for the Protégé modified by Wilson (2006). This instrument was selected because it measures the career and psychosocial functions of the mentoring process. The survey …

Corrosion Of Dual Coated Reinforcing Steel With Through-Polymer Breaks In Simulated Concrete Pore Solution, Adrienne Accardi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This investigation is an examination of the behavior of dual coated reinforcing steel (DCR) with defects in the polymer coating exposing the only zinc layer in simulated concrete pore solution with and without chlorides. The intentional defects simulated the condition typically experienced by the rebar in service. Specimens were tested at open circuit potential, +100 mV, -500 mV, and -1000 mV for 30 to 100 days. The results were compared with that from previous DCR investigation with to-steel defects and epoxy-coated rebar (ECR). DCR with to-zinc defects had extensive corrosion damage when under strong anodic polarization and exposed to chlorides …

Total Internal Reflection Holographic Microscopy (Tirhm) For Quantitative Phase Characterization Of Cell-Substrate Adhesion, William Mason Ash Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Total Internal Reflection Holographic Microscopy (TIRHM) combines near-field microscopy with digital holography to produce a new form of near-field phase microscopy. Using a prism in TIR as a near-field imager, the presence of microscopic organisms, cell-substrate interfaces, and adhesions, causes relative refractive index (RRI) and frustrated TIR (f-TIR) to modulate the object beam's evanescent wave phase front. Quantitative phase images of test specimens such as Amoeba proteus, Dictyostelium Discoideum and cells such as SKOV-3 ovarian cancer and 3T3 fibroblasts are produced without the need to introduce stains or fluorophores. The angular spectrum method of digital holography to compensate for …

Implicit Affect And Alcohol Outcome Expectancies, John M. Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Expectancy theory provides a useful framework within which to examine the link between cognitive representations of anticipated alcohol related outcomes and affective processes that ought to shape behavior at the level of implicit, or automatic, processing. The role of affect in alcohol expectancies is an important one as it reflects the approach-avoid contingency associated with reward learning presumed to underlie addictive processes. This study examined the relationship between affect and expectancy operation by using suboptimally presented alcohol related cues to prime affectively congruent evaluations of otherwise unrelated targets. Hypotheses predicted that drinkers who reported higher positive and arousing expectancies for …

A Study Of Selected Teachers‘ Perceptions Of Grade Retention In A Florida School District, Julius L. Wynn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined and analyzed selected middle school teachers' perceptions of grade retention, and informed teachers about current and past research on grade retention. Through analysis of teacher interviews and using a Likert scale instrument, responses indicated that teachers continue to support and to use retention when students do not master required objectives for promotion. Because of the new Florida retention policy and the No Child Left Behind policy, it was critical to measure teachers' levels of understanding and perceptions of grade retention.

Their perceptions gave insight into their thoughts and beliefs about the practice. Survey responses of 326 teachers …

Bird Communities Of Isolated Cypress Wetlands Along An Urban Gradient In Hillsborough County, Florida, Nathaniel L. Goddard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Migratory bird communities are sensitive to landscape alteration. Urban development significantly impacts bird communities on breeding grounds, as well as en-route during migration. One current theory is that Neotropical migratory birds are not limited by breeding or wintering habitat constraints but by food and habitat availability along major migration routes. The eastern flyway is the route taken by neotropical land-birds through eastern North America that follows coastal areas denoted by intense urban development. Coastal areas funnel birds to major departure points along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the western coast of Florida.

Birds were monitored for …

Characterization Of Cannabinoid Receptor 2 Transcript Expression In B Cells, Tracy Sherwood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cannabinoids and cannabinoid receptors have been shown to play important roles in immune regulation particularly as modulators of anti-inflammatory cytokines and antibody production. The predominant cannabinoid receptor involved in this immune regulation is cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB₂), which is robustly expressed in B cells. Utilizing a combination of bioinformatics, 5' RACE, real time RT-qPCR, and reporter assays, we showed that human B cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) expressed one CB2 transcript while mouse B cells from spleen express three CB₂ transcripts. Alignment of the sequenced B cell RACE products to either the mouse or human …

Statistical Learning And Behrens-Fisher Distribution Methods For Heteroscedastic Data In Microarray Analysis, Nabin K. Manandhr-Shrestha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present study is to identify the di®erentially expressed genes be- tween two di®erent conditions and apply it in predicting the class of new samples using the microarray data. Microarray data analysis poses many challenges to the statis- ticians because of its high dimensionality and small sample size, dubbed as "small n large p problem". Microarray data has been extensively studied by many statisticians and geneticists. Generally, it is said to follow a normal distribution with equal vari- ances in two conditions, but it is not true in general. Since the number of replications is very small, …

Experiences Of Foreign Language Teachers And Students Using A Technology-Mediated Oral Assessment, Jeannie Ducher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of the speaking skill at the lower levels of proficiency is seldom assessed as a matter-of-fact in the foreign language classroom, for reasons of impracticality and difficulty of implementation. Although the practice of the speaking skill is an important part of current approaches to the teaching of foreign languages, issues of time and logistics often prohibit the direct evaluation of the skill in a manner consistent with best practices, which purport that practice and assessment must be closely aligned, and that students benefit from self-evaluation and teacher feedback. Classroom research has shown that a skill that is not …

School Psychologists Involvement And Perceived Preparedness In The Provision Of Suicide-Related Services: A Comparison Of Practitioners Serving Different School Levels, Jennifer M. Cunningham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While the manifestation of suicidal thoughts and/or behavior is more common among adolescents, children are capable of, and do experience, suicidal ideation as well as demonstrate suicidal behaviors. Suicide is the sixth leading cause of death among children aged 5-14 years (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2008). However, children may not always be referred or brought to the attention of the school psychologist, as their threats may be considered immature and unfounded. The purpose of this study is to provide data that clarifies the need for the provision of suicide-related services for children in elementary school. An archival dataset of …

Manifestations Of Hidden Curriculum In A Community College Online Opticianry Program: An Ecological Approach, Barry Hubbard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the influential factors at work within an online learning environment is a growing area of interest. Hidden or implicit expectations, skill sets, knowledge, and social process can help or hinder student achievement, belief systems, and persistence. This qualitative study investigated how hidden curricular issues transpired in an online learning environment's institutional and organization systems using an ecological paradigm. A phenomenological approach rooted in a case study context was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of a group of students, faculty, and administrators involved with an online academic program (opticianry) at a community college. Interviews, non-participant observation, and a …

An Interpretive Policy Analysis Of Bullying Law And The Development Of Bullying Policy In A Central Florida School District, Scott D. Richman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bullying has been an issue in schools and became a major concern for school leaders over the past two decades. Olweus (1993) defined three characteristics of bullying behavior: intent to harm another, repeated offenses, and a perceived or real power imbalance. This study examined the law's provisions concerning bullying in schools; specifically examining the Florida Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Student Act (2008), and the required policy implemented in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Discourse theory framed the study, as defined by Habermas (1996) and the derivative Interpretive Policy Analysis was used to analyze the district policy, as defined …

Writing To (Re)New Orleans: The Post-Hurricane Katrina Blogosphere And Its Ability To Inspire Recovery, Daisy Pignetti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nearly every website or software application these days features a feed to subscribe to, a network to join, or a social timeline to track—all of which do their part to influence public opinion, promote products, and bring people closer together. Being a blogger since 2003 exposed me to these user-generated trends, but never did I expect my blog space, or any others, to play such an important role in my emotional well-being; not until Hurricane Katrina hit. Sharing my story as a transplanted New Orleanian watching the disaster unfold from afar in a public forum quickly linked me to other …