Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Preservice Elementary Teachers‟ Pedagogical Content Knowledge Related To Area And Perimeter: A Teacher Development Experiment Investigating Anchored Instruction With Web-Based Microworlds, Matthew S. Kellogg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Practical concepts, such as area and perimeter, have an important part in today's school mathematics curricula. Research indicates that students and preservice teachers (PSTs) struggle with and harbor misconceptions regarding these topics. Researchers suggest that alternative instructional methods be investigated that enhance PSTs' conceptual understanding and encourage deeper student thinking. To address this need, this study examined and described what and how PSTs learn as they engage in anchored instruction involving web-based microworlds designed for exploring area and perimeter. Its focus was to examine the influences of a modified teacher development experiment (TDE) upon 12 elementary PSTs' content knowledge (CK) …

Community College Faculty Perceptions And Behaviors Related To Academic Advising, Karl A. Debate

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary propose of this study was to identify community college faculty's perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the self-contained campus academic advising center, the importance of the eight established NACADA advising goals, and the role of faculty in the advising process. In addition, the current advising behaviors of faculty at a community college with a self-contained advising system were examined. The study also investigated if perceptions and behaviors regarding advising vary among full-time and part-time faculty.

The results of this study provide an overview of community college faculty perceptions and behaviors with regard to academic advising and the established NACADA …

Sound Production And Behavior Of Red Grouper (Epinephelus Morio) On The West Florida Shelf, Misty D. Montie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Red grouper (Epinephelus morio) are long-lived, commercially important, soniferous fish belonging to the family Epinephelidae. Found throughout the western North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, they are protogynous hermaphrodites, and peak spawning occurs from March through May. Unlike many grouper species, red grouper do not form large spawning aggregations; rather, they form small polygynous groups, and remain in relatively close proximity to rocky depressions excavated in the sandy bottom by males. This excavation activity creates structure and habitat for a wide variety of species, and as a result, red grouper are a keystone species on the West Florida Shelf. While …

Three Essays On Analytical Models To Improve Early Detection Of Cancer, Chaitra Gopalappa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Development of approaches for early detection of cancer requires a comprehensive understanding of the cellular functions that lead to cancer, as well as implementing strategies for population-wide early detection. Cell functions are supported by proteins that are produced by active or expressed genes. Identifying cancer biomarkers, i.e., the genes that are expressed and the corresponding proteins present only in a cancer state of the cell, can lead to its use for early detection of cancer and for developing drugs. There are approximately 30,000 genes in the human genome producing over 500,000 proteins, thereby posing significant analytical challenges in linking …

Exergy Modeling To Compare Engineered Products To Biological Systems For Sustainable Design, Richard D. Stokes Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An ambitious and novel approach to engineering design and sustainability has been taken to explore the potential of drawing parallels between mechanical and biological systems for the possible development of sustainable engineering design metrics using a thermodynamic model. This approach looks to biology. Natural selection has given biological beings and processes high exergetic efficiencies, even while being only 30-40% energy efficient on the cell level. This energy inefficiency, resulting in a release of heat, can then be used to aid in driving other biochemical processes. The Gibbs free energy becomes more negative proportionally with an increase in temperature, resulting in …

Evaluating Knowledge And Attitudes Of Undergraduate Nursing Students Regarding Pain Management, Jessica Latchman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unmanaged pain is a widespread problem that many cancer patients face on a daily basis. Cancer pain, which can either be caused by complications due to the disease process itself or from treatment measures used, has devastating effects on the quality of life for these patients and their caregivers. This study examined the knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate students regarding pain management.

The sample in this study consisted of 41 undergraduate students at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. The students sampled were predominantly white, (n=30), female (n=37), seniors (n=41) taking Leadership and Management in Nursing. After volunteering …

Diffuse Degassing And The Hydrothermal System At Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua, Sophie C. P Pearson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hydrothermal systems change in response to volcanic activity, and in turn may be sensitive indicators of volcanic activity. Fumaroles are a surface manifestation of this interaction. We use time series of soil temperature data and numerical models of the hydrothermal system to investigate volcanic, hydrologic and geologic controls on this diffuse degassing.

Soil temperatures were measured in a low-temperature fumarole field located 3.5 km from the summit of Masaya volcano, Nicaragua. They respond rapidly, on a time scale of minutes, to changes in volcanic activity also manifested at the summit vent. The soil temperature response is repetitive and complex, and …

Human-Wildlife Conflict Across Urbanization Gradients: Spatial, Social, And Ecological Factors, Amanda H. Gilleland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As suburban and exurban residential developments continue to multiply in urban areas, they encroach on wildlife habitats leading to increased human-wildlife interactions. The animals involved in direct conflict with homeowners are often relocated or exterminated by the homeowners. Often the homeowners contact state licensed wildlife trappers to eliminate the problem animal. In this study I examined how landscape, ecological, and social factors influence the incidence of human-wildlife conflict of thirty two residential areas in the Tampa, Florida metropolitan area. These residential areas, totaling over 300 km2, are part of the urban development gradient representing a range of urban land use …

Evaluation Of The Flicker Effect As A Generative Strategy In Enhancing Computerbased Instruction (Cbi) Of Visual Recognition And Classification, Ping Luo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Few studies address the question of the technology-based instructional methods of visual patterns, so the overarching purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three treatments on pattern recognition. Specifically, with a pretest-posttest control group experimental study, the effectiveness of three instructional strategies, a flicker treatment, a no-flicker treatment, and a comparison treatment, (groups respectively analyzing sequential displays of two similar images with and without a blank screen in between and simultaneous displays of two images), was compared based on recognition (memory) and classification (transfer) test scores. The group differences in learning effectiveness and efficiency were also measured …

Comparison And Improvement Of Different Access Methods In Femtocell Networks, İbrahim Demirdögen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A variety of wide band wireless systems have been pushed towards their limits in order to meet growing interest for high data rate in wireless communications.In particular, the limit due to the spectrum scarcity forces communication systems to utilize the spectrum resource at maximum efficiency level. One of the methods that allow effective spectrum employing is to cover multiple systems over same spectrum source by allowing bearable interference to occur between them. Femtocells have been recently introduced as a remedy to spectrum scarcity and coverage problems in current cellular structures. Femtocells are personal use base stations and they share the …

Founding Fathers: An Ethnic And Gender Study Of The Iliadic Aeneid, Rob Brannon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a 2005 work, Yasmin Syed concluded that the Aeneid created for ancient readers an idea of Romanness that was inclusive for all and not founded along strict genetic lines. Under this hypothesis, the Aeneid offers a sort of blueprint for becoming Roman, one in which biological descent from Aeneas is unnecessary. Syed reached this conclusion by analyzing themes of ethnicity and gender, in particular the ethnic other represented by the epic's female characters. This was accomplished in the manner so often chosen by Vergil scholars-by limiting analysis to the first half of the epic. The work concludes with an …

Refusing To Go Silently: Female Wit As Combating A Culture Of Silence In Frances Burney And Elizabeth Inchbald's Texts, Megan M. Weber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the hands of two prominent authors, Elizabeth Inchbald and Frances Burney, a critical paradox concerning female silence arises: while both authors operate very successfully in the publishing world, both do so while subverting impositions of silence, exhibiting a clear breach of propriety. An examination of Inchbald's novel A Simple Story and play Wives as they Were, Maids as they Are and Burney's novel Cecilia and play The Witlings, elucidates how each author adapts literary genres to portray female wit, exposing eighteenth-century impositions of silence in the process. By engendering female characters with the ability to employ humor as …

Religion And Resistance: The Role Of Islamic Doctrine In Hamas And Hezbollah, Matthew Lawson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The recent conflict in Gaza between the state of Israel and Palestinians led by Hamas has again brought the question of Palestinian statehood to the attention of the international community. Religion has often been mentioned as a cause for the conflict between the two, as well as a reason for the perceived instability of the Middle East. It is within this frame of reference that this study takes place. This study attempts to use this emergence in current events as the starting point for the interaction between religion and resistance movements, examining the incorporation of Islamic doctrine into the actions …

Carbon Dioxide Capture From Fossil Fuel Power Plants Using Dolomite, Drupatie Latchman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this research is to develop a simple and cost effective separation method that captures carbon dioxide from power plant flue gas, as a pure stream that can be stored using regenerable dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate) as the sorbent. The developed dolomite sorbent was evaluated for carbon dioxide capture capacity using muti-cycle tests of cyclical carbonation/calcination experiments in the thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) model SDT 600. The variables controlled in the experiment were weight of calcium oxide and sintering time of the sample. The dolomite materials investigated were from two sources Alfa Aesar and Specialty Minerals. The prepared …

Analysis Of Two Strategies For Structuring Medicare Reimbursement To Maximize Profitability In Acute Care General Hospitals, James D. Barrington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The healthcare literature sometimes cites Medicare as a negative determinant of hospital profitability. However, a review of Florida acute care short-term general hospital data revealed a subset of profitable hospitals with high percentages of their revenue structure comprised of Medicare reimbursements. Some investigators might contend that these hospitals are just better managed; that hospital profitability is not related to patient mix or payer source. Although good management enhances financial health, there are perhaps other reasons why certain hospitals can become profitable with Medicare as their primary revenue source.

Research findings indicate there is wide geographic variability shown for per-capita volumes …

Dust, Ash, And The Sublime: Tracing Kant's Aesthetics In Cormac Mccarthy's The Crossing And The Road, Ben Gerdts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis entails an examination into the presence of the sublime in two novels by Cormac McCarthy: his postmodern western The Crossing and his apocalyptic work The Road. I draw on Kant's aesthetic theory of the sublime, specifically focusing on the Dynamical and Mathematical sublime in relation to the settings of these two narratives. For the sake of brevity, I limit my study to nature's and religion's relation to the sublime in these works. Areas of particular interest to me include: a) How/why the characters of each novel appear unaffected by or even resigned to the lack of control …

Re-Tooling An American Metropolis, Robert Shawn Hott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Re-tool:

v.tr. re-tooled, re-tooling, re-tools

1. To fit out (a factory, for example) with a new set of machinery and tools for making a different product.

2. To revise and reorganize, especially for the purpose of updating or improving.

The American ideals inherent in the suburbs are the promise of space, affordability, convenience, and traditional family life; conversely the public realms of the suburban typology become disconnected from each other as well as the larger city. The Generic City condition in which the periphery is no longer captivated by the center from which it was created is pervasive in the …

Illusion In Troilus And Cressida, Edward Janz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of Shakespeare's 1603 satire Troilus and Cressida that looks at illusion and the value given to it by means of war, Helen of Troy, and ultimately the two lovers themselves. Although it is depressingly obvious throughout the drama that life is an illusion, it is also obvious that there is a need for that illusion, and an equally profound necessity to have the illusion debunked.

The first part of the thesis examines the impact of war on Troy. This part concentrates on the myth of the hero, who like Falstaff presents himself to the world …

Elevating Communication, Thao Thanh Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The products of vehicular transportation have led the modern traveler into a crisis of place. The modern journey that is held within ceaseless flux, confine movement to edges facilitating prompt passage yet negating active participation. These edges govern movement, highlighting points of destination while simultaneously obscuring our journey in between travels. The limited participation and extended observation of one's place within the concurring boundaries renders the senses dormant, causing passivity and reluctance to participate or communicate with the city. These lines of movement, demanding our attention toward beginning and end but omitting the middle, transforms the city, home, and place …

“An Indescribable Sound” In William Faulkner’S The Sound And The Fury, Lynn Ramsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Sound and the Fury is a noisy book. Through the audible, the barely audible, and the silence, William Faulkner supports his narrative design with sound beyond dialog to inform and inflect the destabilizing narrative voices. This essay explores Faulkner's use of the sound and noise of the novel as another narrative voice. Faulkner's rich use of sound as a recurring motif, almost a persona or narrator itself, functions not merely to animate the action, the characters, and the title; it also speaks in the "hush" and the freighted "stiffly sibilant" whispers of those who dare not speak, or are …

The Third Realm: Suburban Identity Through The Transformation Of The Main Street, Alberto Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When one researches the city, the neighborhood appears as an indispensable building block. Kevin Lynch, In The Image of a City, suggests that neighborhoods are "the basic element of the city" and the main way "most people structure their city". Furthering the idea of the neighborhood as a building block of the city, Sidney Brower discusses the need for different types of neighborhoods to allow for a diverse social setting to create diversity in the city. The research put forward by Lynch and Brower shows the idea of the neighborhood as a strong concept in older cities. However, the concept …

Neuroprotection With Anesthetics In Two Models Of Cerebral Ischemia, Rafael Eduardo Chaparro Buitrago

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neuroprotection with anesthetics has been studied for many decades; important advances in this field have modified the way Anesthesiologists treat patients in the operating room. Animal models have played an important role in the study of ischemia in the operating room. Recent studies have demonstrated that the effect of anesthetics seems to be different in different animal models. We decided to evaluate anesthetics in a well-known model of cerebral ischemia and also in hypotensive models designed by us. We used a model of cerebral ischemia (MCAO) to test anesthetics neuroprotective effect in a two-week period. Then, we used a model …

Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation And The Ethical Obligations Of The Dying Person: A Narrative Approach, Ellen W. Klein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The person experiencing chronic or protracted illness is confronted with a complex array of physical, emotional and spiritual trials. This thesis explores how chronic illness can be viewed through the lens of the shamanic experience of dismemberment and re-memberment and shows how clinical, narrative, and relational models on their own are insufficient to speak meaningfully to illness experiences, but the integration of aspects of each of these models when coupled with shamanic initiation experience creates an innovative model for patients and those with whom they are in relationship.

Wayfinding In Architecture, Jason Brandon Abrams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In many of today’s modern educational institutions, architects have designed spaces that are disconnected and difficult for users to navigate. The underdevelopment of directional guides more accurately describes common issues of wayfinding. Wayfinding is a term used to describe user experience and orientation within an environmental context. When accomplished successfully, wayfinding contains order and simplicity achieved through five hierarchical components including; point of reference, location of information, determining a path to take, maintaining that path, and access or denial of the path chosen.

Currently, the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, a design institution of higher learning, lacks the components necessary to …

Is There An "Innocent Female Victim" Effect In Capital Punishment Sentencing?, Amelia Lane Kirkland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disparities in the administration of capital punishment are a prominent social and political issue. While the focus of death penalty disparity research initially lay with the defendant and how the defendant’s race or ethnicity affects sentencing outcomes, only marginal support for offender effects has been found. A consistent finding, however, is that victim race has a significant effect on capital sentencing outcomes. Recent examinations of the joint effects of victim characteristics indicate that victim gender also has some influence in capital sentencing decisions. While these prior studies have examined the interactive effects of victim gender and victim race the current …

Haole, Shawn Alff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Just after midnight on a chilly April night in 2005, the author finds himself homeless in Hawaii, searching for a place to sleep. The account that follows is the true story of a young man's misadventures on the road as he attempts to reconcile his wanderlust with a need for order and security. This work of creative nonfiction reconstructs the first half of the summer the narrator spent wandering Hawaii. Specifically, this section concentrates on the author's experiences on the island of Oahu. There, the narrator, who constantly changes his name, is stuck at a crossroads; he is torn between …

A Descriptive Study Of The View From The Top: Perspectives Of Experts In Continuing Medical Education, Martha C. Baker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study describes and explains the perspectives of selected experts in continuing medical education (CME) and provides a glimpse at their lived experience. The theoretical frameworks are inclusive of constructivism and social constructivism reflecting the learning that takes place in medicine and that which occurs in the interview process. The voice of the researcher is heard through her professional role as a continuing medical education provider.

The major elements of CME are identified as the role of accreditation and physician involvement in the design and delivery of CME; the primary influences as funding, physician involvement and accreditation; the significant issue …

Who Owns Disability? An Investigation Into The Politics Of Representation, Shelby Forbes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I show how a community of professionals providing equine therapy to individuals with disabilities discursively make sense of their enterprise. A market metaphor illustrates how disability is constructed as the capital sustaining the livelihood of their industry. Disability is a problem-centered concept. It is generally conceptualized according to a medical model which locates disability within the individual, as opposed to understanding it in a sociological sense which accounts for structural, cultural, and communicative factors. Therapy, on the other hand, is problem-determined-it needs to explicitly determine a problem to be treated in order to sustain itself as an …

Sports Fans’ Media Usage At A Kansas City Chiefs’ Fan Club, Robert J. Huebert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The media play a major role in every part of American society by distributing content that has value to individuals, and a National Football League (NFL) sports fan club is no different. This study examines how members of a Kansas City Chiefs' fan club use media to stay connected to their team and socialize with fellow members. Social identification theory explains that when an individual comes together with one or more individuals with like-minded interests, they form social bonds. Their shared interests allow them to disseminate Chiefs' information through content gathered from media usage. To understand how the Chiefs' fans …

Struggle In The Sunshine City: The Movement For Racial Equality In St. Petersburg Florida 1955-1968, Peyton L. Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent decades have seen a shift in the focus of civil rights historiography. Building upon the exhaustive studies of national figures and events, and in search of new perspectives, many historians have concentrated on local movements often ignored or forgotten. Other than the work of a few local scholars, the civil rights movement as it occurred in St. Petersburg, Florida, has received little attention. Furthermore, the limited scholarship lacks the cohesion necessary to compare and contrast the movement with similar events throughout the state and across the nation. The story of St. Petersburg's active and significant struggle for social equality, …