Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Narrative Study Of Perspectives Of Puerto Rican Doctoral Graduates, Doreen Rivera Rapp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A review of the literature indicates that Latinos lag behind Whites and Blacks in college degree attainment. This educational disparity is of concern because Latinos are currently the largest minority group in the United States, and the Latino population is expected to increase exponentially in the future. College degree attainment for Latinos is imperative because statistics show an undeniable relationship between degree attainment and income level. In order to ensure the economic wellbeing of Latinos, it is important that Latinos persist through college degree programs. This is especially true for Puerto Ricans because they are the second largest Latino subgroup. …

Understanding School Readiness Abilities Of Bilingual Latino Head Start Children And The Differences Among Latin American Regions, Liza Arango

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Limited research has been conducted focusing on the school readiness abilities among bilingual Latino children. Additionally, little is known about how children from different Latin American regions may differ in their readiness skills. This study examines the differences in school readiness abilities in both English and Spanish of a group of bilingual Latino Head Start children in five counties in Florida (n = 202). Specifically, the study investigates the differences in abilities among children from different Latin American Regions (i.e., North American, Caribbean, Central American, and South American). School readiness skills were assessed using subtests from the Woodcock Johnson III …

Small Antennas Design For 2.4 Ghz Applications, Ibrahim Turki Nassar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In many wireless devices, antennas occupy the majority of the overall size. As compact device sizes become a greater focus in industry, the demand for small antennas escalates. In this thesis, detailed investigations on the design of a planar meandered line antenna with truncated ground plane and 3D dipole antenna at 2.4 GHz (ISM band) are presented. The primary goal of this research is to develop small, low coast, and low profile antennas for wireless sensor applications. The planar meandered line antenna was designed based on a study of different miniaturization techniques and a study of the ground plane effect. …

The Virtual Hip: An Anatomically Accurate Finite Element Model Based On The Visible Human Dataset, Jonathan M. Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if element decimation of a 3-D anatomical model affects the results of Finite Element Analysis (FEA). FEA has been increasingly applied to the biological and medical sciences. In order for an anatomical model to successfully run in FEA, the 3-D model’s complex geometry must be simplified, resulting in a loss of anatomical detail. The process of decimation reduces the number of elements within the structure and creates a simpler approximation of the model. Using the National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Male dataset, a virtual 3-D representation of several structures of the …

A Comparison Of Feedback Procedures On Teachers’ Use Of Behavior Support Strategies And Children’S Problem And Alternative Behaviors In Preschool Classrooms, Jada-Rae D. Traub

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two feedback procedures: written feedback and written feedback plus audio feedback on two teachers’ use of behavior support strategies and two children’s problem and alternative behaviors in two community preschool settings. A non-concurrent multiple-baseline design across teacher-child dyads with an A-B-C sequence was used to assess the effects of the feedback procedures on teacher and child target behaviors. A 10-second partial interval recording system was used to measure child target behaviors during 10-minute sessions and an event recording system to measure teacher use of strategies. The results indicated that …

The Human In 3d: Advanced Morphometric Analysis Of High-Resolution Anatomically Accurate Computed Models, Summer J. Decker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Computed virtual models of anatomical structures are proving to be of increasing value in clinical medicine, education and research. With a variety of fields focused on craniofacial and pelvic anatomy there is a need for accurate anatomical models. Recent technological advancements in computer and medical imaging technologies have provided the tools necessary to develop three-dimensional (3D) functional models of human anatomy for use in medicine (surgical planning and education), forensics and engineering (computer-aided design (CAD) and finite element analysis).

Traditionally caliper methodologies are used in the quantitative analysis of human anatomy. In order for experts in anatomy and morphometrics to …

Field-Coupled Nano-Magnetic Logic Systems, Javier F. Pulecio

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation addresses the study of nano-magnetic devices configured to produce logic machines through magnetostatic coupling interactions.

The ability for single domain magnets to reliably couple through magnetostatic interactions is essential to the proper functionality of Magnetic Cellular Automata (MCA) devices (p. 36). It was significant to explore how fabrication defects affected the coupling reliability of MCA architectures. Both ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic coupling architectures were found to be robust to common fabrication defects. Experiments also verified the functionality of the previously reported MCA majority gate [1] and a novel implementation of a ferromagnetic MCA majority gate is reported.

From …

The Biogeochemistry Of Submerged Coastal Karst Features In West Central Florida, Keith Michael Garman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

West Central Florida is a complex karst environment with numerous sinkholes, springs, and submerged cave systems. Many of these karst features are anchialine, located within the subterranean estuary where freshwater and saltwater mix. Water quality data and/or fauna data were obtained from twenty-one karst features and their associated cave systems. The anchialine karst environment of the study area has a wide range of habitats with measured salinities ranging from freshwater at <0.2 ppt to sulfidic, hypersaline water at 38.5 ppt and measured pH readings ranging from 6.39 in water impacted by sulfur oxidizing bacteria to 10.3 in an isolated room of a cave. Stygobitic crustaceans were identified in conduits extending beneath the Gulf of Mexico supporting the hypotheses that freshwater crustaceans could survive higher sea levels in freshwater conduits beneath saltwater. The fauna associated with the anchialine cave systems included Sabellidae and Polychaeta worms, hydroids, cnidarians and hydrobiid snails. Jewfish Sink, like other anaerobic marine basins that were submarine springs, has four zones: oxic zone, transition zone, upper anoxic zone and anoxic bottom water. The upper zones have seasonal water quality variations from winter cooling and sinking of surface water and changes in the microbial communities. Activity of sulfate reducing bacteria is carbon limited in the anoxic zones, where sulfate reduction is the major metabolic process, and primary production is phosphate limited in the oxic zones. Organic input from the Gulf of Mexico drives the bacterial anaerobic ecosystem, resulting in a “sulfide pump”, in which sulfide percolates upward removing oxygen from the overlying sediment.

N-Glycosylation Modulates Gating And Antibiotic Block Of The Human Potassium Channel, Herg1a, Sarah A. Norring

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Arrhythmias are often caused by aberrant ion channel activity, resulting in remodeling of the cardiac action potential. Two K

+ currents, IKs and IKr, contribute to phase III repolarization of the human cardiac action potential. Human ether-a-go-go-related gene 1 (hERG1), a voltage-gated potassium channel, underlies IKr. Alterations in the repolarization phase of the action potential, and in particular IKr, can lead to arrhythmias, long or short QT syndrome, heart disease, and sudden cardiac death. HERG1A has two putative N-glycosylation sites located in the S5-S6 linker region, one of which is N-glycosylated. The aim of the first study was to …

Factors That Influence Faculty Intentions To Support The Community College Baccalaureate, Lori Kielty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An increasing number of community colleges in the United States are becoming baccalaureate-granting institutions. Proponents of the community college baccalaureate (CCB) argue that the CCB provides students with access to higher education, while others argue the CCB will compromise the community college's core values.

The purpose of this study is to explore faculty members' intention to support the CCB transition. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior provides the theoretical framework for the study. The theory assumes that changes in behavior are intentional and, therefore, can be planned. This theory posits that attitudes, subjective (social) norms, and perceived behavioral control predict intentions …

Academic Performance, Persistence, And Degree Completion Of Associate In Arts Degree Recipients Transferring To A Four-Year Multi-Campus Institution, Saul Reyes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed if there were differences in the academic performance, persistence, and degree completion for Associate in Arts transfer students in selected majors who enrolled in the different campuses of a multi-campus university. This causal comparative study analyzed historical student enrollment data from a large, urban, public, research university. Multiple and logistic regression techniques were used to simultaneously control for important independent variables identified in the literature. Variables that were significant (p < .05) for at least one of the three dependent variables included campus, major, community college GPA, gender, and ethnicity. Significant campus differences were found in academic performance, but not for persistence or degree completion. Significant differences by major were reported for academic performance, persistence, and degree completion.

Microbialites From The Freshwater System Of Cuatro Ciénegas, Mexico: Genomic, Molecular Organic, And Stable Isotopic Perspectives, Anthony G. Nitti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern microbialites are carbonate-precipitating microbial mats and

represent the closest living analogues to ancient stromatolites. These ancient

carbonate formations are the oldest fossil evidence of life on Earth; however, our

comprehension of their relationship to early earth ecosystems relies heavily on

understanding the formation of modern microbialites. Research regarding these

formation processes has suggested that chemical constraints of CaCO

3

precipitation vary on sub-millimeter spatial scales within the living microbial

community. In an attempt to shed light on the importance of these chemical

microenvironments, this study focused on understanding the spatial distribution

of the organisms and processes involved in the …

A Microwave Radiometer For Close Proximity Core Body Temperature Monitoring: Design, Development, And Experimentation, Quenton Bonds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Presented is a radiometric sensor and associated electromagnetic propagation models, developed to facilitate non-invasive core body temperature extraction. The system has been designed as a close-proximity sensor to detect thermal emissions radiated from deep-seated tissue 1 cm – 3 cm inside the human body. The sensor is intended for close proximity health monitoring applications, with potential implications for deployment into the improved astronaut liquid cooling garment (LCG). The sensor is developed for high accuracy and resolution. Therefore, certain design issues that distort the close proximity measurement have been identified and resolved. An integrated cavity-backed slot antenna (CBSA) is designed to …

Ensemble Learning With Imbalanced Data, Larry Shoemaker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We describe an ensemble approach to learning salient spatial regions from arbitrarily

partitioned simulation data. Ensemble approaches for anomaly detection

are also explored. The partitioning comes from the distributed processing requirements

of large-scale simulations. The volume of the data is such that classifiers

can train only on data local to a given partition. Since the data partition reflects

the needs of the simulation, the class statistics can vary from partition to partition.

Some classes will likely be missing from some or even most partitions. We combine

a fast ensemble learning algorithm with scaled probabilistic majority voting in

order to learn …

The Emotional Guardianship Of Foreign-Born And Native-Born Hispanic Youth And Its Effect On Violent Victimization, Amy Sheena Eggers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to expand the scope of assimilation theory by integrating it with elements of routine activities theory to better understand what influence assimilation has in regard to violent victimization. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to determine whether or not differences in victimization rates between foreign-born and native-born Hispanic youth are related to variations in emotional guardianship. Emotional guardianship refers to the aspect of relationships (i.e., affection and communication) between Hispanic youth and their parents that serve to protect the youth from being victimized. I hypothesize that foreign-born Hispanics have greater emotional guardianship than native-born Hispanics, and …

The Restorative Effects Of Smoking Upon Self-Control Resources, Bryan W. Heckman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Based on a model that considers self-control (SC) to be a limited resource, research suggests that diminished SC resources increase the likelihood of smoking. Yet, no study has evaluated how smoking affects SC resources. This study used a randomized, 2 x 2 crossed factorial (SC depletion manipulation X smoking manipulation), between-subjects design to test the hypothesis that smoking restores depleted SC resources. To manipulate SC depletion, half of the 132 dependent smokers were instructed to suppress their emotional reaction to a brief video depicting environmental damage (i.e., Depletion), whereas the other half were instructed to “act natural” (i.e., No Depletion) …

Growth And Characterization Of Epitaxial Thin Films And Multiferroic Heterostructures Of Ferromagnetic And Ferroelectric Materials, Devajyoti Mukherjee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multiferroic materials exhibit unique properties such as simultaneous existence of

two or more of coupled ferroic order parameters (ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity,

ferroelasticity or their anti-ferroic counterparts) in a single material. Recent years have

seen a huge research interest in multiferroic materials for their potential application as

high density non-volatile memory devices. However, the scarcity of these materials in

single phase and the weak coupling of their ferroic components have directed the

research towards multiferroic heterostructures. These systems operate by coupling the

magnetic and electric properties of two materials, generally a ferromagnetic material and

a ferroelectric material via strain. In this work, …

A Case Study Of The Significant Events And Legal Parameters Surrounding Charter School Movement At The State And Federal Level, Monica L. Ilse

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

All states have different perspectives and various statutes within broader constitutional law. Perception of public dissatisfaction with public schools has led to choice schooling options for parents. One of the fastest growing choice options in schooling is charter schools; schools privately run by organizations through public funds. This study analyzes the governance of charter schools and how charters operate under legal guidelines and Florida statutes, with significant legislative events cited. This study answers the following questions as they relate to evolution and legal parameters surrounding the charter movement using exploratory case study method: 1) What is the evolution of the …

Architecture And Compiler Support For Leakage Reduction Using Power Gating In Microprocessors, Soumyaroop Roy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Power gating is a technique commonly used for runtime leakage reduction in digital CMOS circuits. In microprocessors, power gating can be implemented by using sleep transistors to selectively deactivate circuit modules when they are idle during program execution. In this dissertation, a framework for power gating arithmetic functional units in embedded microprocessors with architecture and compiler support is proposed. During compile time, program regions are identified where one or more functional units are idle and sleep instructions are inserted into the code so that those units can be put to sleep during program execution. Subsequently, when their need is detected …

Design Of A New Suturing And Knot Tying Device For Laparoscopic Surgery, Sinan Onal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Minimally invasive or laparoscopic surgery has completely changed the focus of surgery becoming an alternative to various types of open surgery. Minimally invasive surgery avoids invasive open surgery as the operation is performed through one or more small incisions in the abdomen and using a small camera called laparoscope. Through these incisions, surgeons insert specialized surgical instruments to perform the operation resulting in less postoperative pain, shorter hospital stay, and faster recovery. However, the main problems during minimally-invasive surgery are the limited space for operating instruments and the reduced visibility and range of motion inside the patient’s body. During minimally-invasive …

Applications Of Molecular Dynamics Techniques And Spectroscopic Theories To Aqueous Interfaces, Anthony Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary goal of spectroscopy is to obtain molecularly detailed information about the system under study. Sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy is a nonlinear optical technique that is highly interface specific, and is therefore a powerful tool for understanding interfacial structure and dynamics. SFG is a second order, electronically nonresonant, polarization experiment and is consequently dipole forbidden in isotropic media such as a bulk liquid. Interfaces, however, serve to break the symmetry and produce a signal. Theoretical approximations to vibrational spectra of O-H stretching at aqueous interfaces are constructed using time correlation function (TCF) and instantaneous normal mode (INM) …

An Analysis Of The Travel Patterns And Preferences Of The Elderly, Sujan Sikder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of elderly is increasing; to meet their transportation needs, it is important to clearly understand their travel patterns and preferences. Since travel patterns and preferences depend on socio-demographic and other factors, it is essential to identify these factors first to understand the travel behavior of the elderly. The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the travel patterns and preferences of the elderly age 65 and above using 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data. This thesis presents a detailed descriptive analysis of 2009 NHTS data to understand the travel patterns of the elderly. Along with a …

A Roof Runoff Strategy And Model For Augmenting Public Water Supply, Robert Carnahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water is the essential resource that is becoming extremely scarce worldwide. The 21st century will further stress all available water resources through the growth and expansion of developing nations. It is not only the quantity of cheap water that is being depleted, but the quality of these waters is being endangered. Florida is an example where rapid development and an exploding population are competing for shrinking groundwater resources. Current water use does not address the use of alternative supplies and reuses in the United States.

The objective of this research was to determine a strategy for augmenting existing water supplies …

Design, Combinatorial Synthesis, And Biological Evaluation Of Novel Α-Helical Mimetics Based On Functionalized Piperazines As Antagonists Of P53/Mdm2 Interactions, Melissa Elizabeth Topper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The p53 protein promotes tumor eradication upon activation, making it an attractive target in cancer therapies. A reported 50% of all human cancers display aberrant activation of the MDM2 oncoprotein, which directly promotes tumorgenesis by inactivating the transcriptional activity of wild type p53, and is commonly associated with drug, chemo, and radio therapy resistance. Previously reported crystallographic analysis of the p53/MDM2 complex infers that the p53 protein forms a 2.5 turn amphipathic alpha helix whose hydrophobic face interacts within a deep hydrophobic cleft in the NH2-terminal domain of the globular MDM2. This suggests that the synthesis of small molecular antagonists …

Enhancement Of Predictive Capability Of Transit Boardings Estimation And Simulation Tool (Tbest) Using Parcel Data: An Exploratory Analysis, Tejsingh Rana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

TBEST is a comprehensive third generation transit demand forecasting model, developed by the FDOT Public Transit Office (PTO) to help transit agencies in completing their Transit Development Plans (TDPs). The on-going project funded by FDOT, related to TBEST, aims at further enhancing the capabilities of the TBEST model based on additional opportunities identified by the research team. The project focuses on enhancing TBEST’s capabilities in following areas: 1) Improving the precision of socio- demographic data by using property appraisal data (parcel data) and, 2) Improving the quality of data regarding trip attraction. Based on the improvement areas, this study aims …

Design And Combinatorial Synthesis Approach Of Non-Peptidic Trimeric Small Molecules Mimicking I, I + 4(3), I + 7 Positions Of Alpha-Helices, Mingzhou Zhou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Protein-protein interactions are key to several biological processes that facilitate signal transduction and many other processes. These interactions are involved in pathways that are critical to many human diseases. Targeting specific protein-protein interactions is a challenging goal because protein-protein interactions are predominately through hydrophobic interactions. Antagonists of the protein-protein interactions need to be perfectly fit into the binding pockets to ensure the activity. The -helical domain of the proteins behaves as the recognition motifs for numerous protein-protein, and protein-nucleic acid interactions. Research has shown that pathways of many diseases contain protein-protein interactions involving -helical domains, e.g. neurological disorders, bacterial infections, …

Core Promoter Function In Brugia Malayi, Michelle Bailey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have indicated that the promoters of the human filarial parasite Brugia malayi are unusual in that they do not exhibit the CAAT or TATAA sequences usually found in the core domains of promoters of most eukaryotic organisms. Analysis of the promoters of the ribosomal proteins showed that the region flanking the splice leader (SL) addition site plays an important role in transcription and may function as the core promoter domain in B. malayi. To test the hypothesis that the SL addition domain is the most important essential region of the ribosomal protein promoters, the SL addition site of …

An Ethnography Of The Bay Area Renaissance Festival: Performing Community And Reconfiguring Gender, Matthew Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This performance ethnography analyzes the means by which performers at Tampa, Florida‘s Bay Area Renaissance Festival constitute community and gender through performance. Renaissance Festivals are themed weekend events that ostensibly seek to allow visitors to experience life in an English Renaissance village. Beginning with the theoretical assumption that performance is constitutive of culture, community, and identity, and undergirded by David Boje‘s festivalism, Richard Schechner‘s restored behavior, Victor Turner‘s liminoid communitas and Judith Butler‘s performative agency, The Festival is explored as a celebratory community that engages in social change through personal transformation.

Employing reflexive ethnography and narrative as inquiry, Chapter Two …

Discrimination Of Human And Non-Human Sources Of Pollution In Gulf Of Mexico Waters By Microbial Source Tracking Methods And The Investigation Of The Influence Of Environmental Factors On Escherichia Coli Survival, Asja Korajkic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water quality worldwide is assessed by enumeration of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) (fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and enterococci) intended to act as surrogates for human enteric pathogens. In environmental waters, this predictive relationship is confounded by many possible sources of FIB with varying implications for human health. Many physico-chemical and biological factors influence the fate of enteric pathogens and FIB in aquatic habitats, but are poorly understood, thus limiting our understanding of the usefulness of FIB as fecal pollution indicators.

These studies explored the field application of a “toolbox” approach to microbial source tracking (MST) intended to discriminate between human …

Evolution Of The Hammerhead Cephalofoil: Shape Change, Space Utilization, And Feeding Biomechanics In Hammerhead Sharks (Sphyrnidae), Kyle Reid Mara

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between form and function is often used to elucidate the biological role of a structure. Hammerhead sharks offer a unique opportunity to study form and function through phylogeny. Because sphyrnid sharks display a range of cranial morphologies this group can be used to address questions about the evolution of cranial design and investigate the effects of changes in head morphology on feeding structures and bite force. Geometric morphometrics, volumetric analyses, morphological dissections, and phylogenetic analyses of the cephalofoil were used to gain insight into changes in cranial design through evolutionary history. External morphometrics and internal volumetric analyses indicated …