Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Seismic And Geodetic Investigation Of The 1996-1998 Earthquake Swarm At Strandline Lake, Alaska, Wayne Walter Kilgore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microearthquake (< M3.0) swarms occur frequently in volcanic environments, but do not always culminate in an eruption. Such non-eruptive swarms may be caused by stresses induced by magma intrusion, hydrothermal fluid circulation, or regional tectonic processes, such as slow-slip earthquakes. Strandline Lake, located 30 km northeast of Mount Spurr volcano in south-central Alaska, experienced an intense earthquake swarm between August 1996 and August 1998. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) catalog indicates that a total of 2,999 earthquakes were detected during the swarm period, with a maximum magnitude of M_w 3.1 and a depth range of 0-30 km below sea level (with the majority of catalog hypocenters located between 5-10 km BSL). The cumulative seismic moment of the swarm was 2.03e¹⁵ N-m, equivalent to a cumulative magnitude of M_w 4.2. Because of the swarm's distance from the nearest Holocene volcanic vent, seismic monitoring was poor and gas and GPS data do not exist for the swarm period. However, combined waveforms from a dense seismic network on Mount Spurr and from several regional seismic stations allow reanalysis of the swarm earthquakes. I first developed a new …

Organizational Information Markets: Conceptual Foundation And An Approach For Software Project Risk Management, Areej M. Yassin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs both design science and behavioral science research paradigms to investigate an emerging form of technology-enabled human collective intelligence known as information markets. This work establishes a conceptual foundation for the study of organizational information markets and the design and use processes of information markets inside organizations.

This research conceptualizes markets from an information systems perspective and presents an information systems research framework for organizational information markets. This work develops a systems theory of information markets to facilitate investigation of the relationships and interactions between markets as systems and their context of use. It proposes a structuration model …

Headline Hawai`I: Racial Aloha In Kama`Aina News, Cory J. Weaver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The front page of Hawai`i's largest-circulated newspaper - The Honolulu Star-Bulletin - was reviewed for a three-month period: March 1, 2008 - June 1, 2008, to examine representations of race in a media market where Caucasian individuals are the minority. Analysis of the newspaper seeks to present a greater understanding of ethnic portrayals in island news and examines ethical implications that have/can arise from adopting journalistic values typical of "white news" or mainstream reporting practices in areas where the mainstream is, in fact, the minority.

Measurement Of Community And Laboratory-Generated Airborne Particulates Using A New Sampling Method, Laura Farina

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project resulted from an alleged dust problem affecting the residents in a Florida community. The residents claimed that there were elevated dust levels caused by a rock quarry adjacent to their homes. The purpose of this work was to assess total particulate, respirable particulate, and the coarse content of the sampled particles through traditional NIOSH methods, and using a new, real-time instrument known as the EPAM 5000. Data from the EPAM and NIOSH methods were compared to the EPA's particulate matter standards and the OSHA permissible exposure limits for total and respirable dust. Dust levels using the NIOSH methods …

Architectural Symbiosis, Tim Kimball

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The world is facing two fundamental problems. The first problem is a rapidly increasing demand for energy. The second problem is increasing greenhouse gas emissions that are directly resulting from our energy consumption. The primary greenhouse gas in question here is carbon dioxide produced from the burning of fossil fuels. It has been demonstrated through scientific articles and studies that carbon dioxide is directly linked to rising atmospheric temperatures. Buildings represent a significant percentage of this CO2 production.

Many architectural theses and treatises have been written advocating architecture that is more energy efficient and which uses sustainable materials and processes …

The Effects Of Physical Distinctiveness And Word Commonness On Brain Waves And Subsequent Memory: An Erp Study, Siri-Maria Kamp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Words that deviate in their physical characteristics from their surrounding lead to enhanced recall memory, a pattern known as the Von Restorff effect. Furthermore, common (high frequency; HF) words are more likely to be recalled than uncommon (low frequency; LF) words when they occur in pure lists, while this pattern is reversed in mixed lists of both HF and LF words. This study investigated whether the Von Restorff effect and the reversal of word frequency effects in mixed lists, which may both be explained by enhanced perceived distinctiveness, are associated with common underlying brain processes. Event-related potentials (ERPs) …

Factors Affecting The Process Of Clinical Decision-Making In Pediatric Pain Management By Emergency Department Nurses, Teresa A. Russo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe the cognitive processes/knowledge sources used by Emergency Department (ED) nurses in decision-making activities regarding triage and pediatric pain assessment and management. Deficiencies persist in ED pediatric pain assessment, and management methods or approaches that might help resolve these deficiencies have not been identified previously. Methodology triangulation with sequential use of qualitative- quantitative methods provided a rich description of knowledge sources and cognitive processes used by ED nurses relative to pediatric pain assessment decisions. Based on qualitative results, a set of vignettes was developed to assess ED nurses. Data analysis using …

Extending Situational Crisis Communication Theory: Attitude And Reputation Following The 2004-05 Nhl Lockout, Melanie Formentin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory case study positions the 2004-05 National Hockey League (NHL) lockout as an organizational crisis, studying it within a Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) frame. A mixed methodology approach used qualitative and quantitative content analyses and a survey of NHL fans to gauge the NHL's reputation five years after the lockout. For the content analyses, 282 newspaper articles from 7 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada were coded for SCCT variables and presentation of the lockout by news writers. NHL fans (n = 140) were surveyed with the goal of assessing SCCT variables as predictors of attitude. Results …

Upgrading Design: A Mechatronic Investigation Into The Architectural Product Market, Matthew Gaboury

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It was first stated 200 years ago, and reiterated numerous times since, that "architecture is frozen music". While this romantic analogy sufficiently satisfies many in the realm of architecture, it actually is a sad way of defining an idea so inherently lively. Goethe's quote conjures up the notion of a world that is silent, one in which we can see the notes but never hear the music because we are trapped by stasis in time. Like the note admired on a piece of paper, architecture in this world is static regardless of the changing conditions around it.

What if the …

Analysis Of Mangrove Structure And Latitudinal Relationships On The Gulf Coast Of Peninsular Florida, Peter Novitzky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The coastline of Florida has been formed by geomorphic processes which have created suitable habitats for certain vegetation and organisms. One type of vegetation is the mangrove; this plant has a latitudinal range of 24° to 32° N latitude which is associated with local climatic changes (Mitsch 2000). There are three species of mangrove found in Florida: red (Rhizophora), black (Avicennia), and white (Languncularia) (USGS 2006). Mangroves have adapted overtime to live in different ecosystems which cause mangroves, along the Florida coast, of the same species not be the same.

Climatic variation causes individual mangrove trees have structural differences such …

From Airport To Spaceport: Designing For An Aerospace Revolution, Paula Selvidge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Airports will shape business location and urban development in the 21st century as much as highways did in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th and seaports in the 18th" - John D. Kasarda, Ph.D. Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina http://www.aerotropolis.com/author.html

I say, spaceports will shape the urban development of the 21st century, more than airports, bringing about an aerospace revolution. Just as new technologies triggered the global revolutions of the past, so the invention of reusable spacecraft will revolutionize transportation.

The invention of such spacecraft suggests the need for a different kind of transportation hub: a spaceport. …

Perceiving Architecture: An Experiential Design Approach, Ashley Verbanic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perception of the physical environment is largely dependent on a range of criteria which are not always readily identifiable. Such a difficulty to identify how a person perceives an environment creates a situation in which architects and designers can easily neglect this idea of the individual user and their experience.

Through the design of a preschool, this thesis focuses largely on understanding how children and other users perceive and interact with their environments. The design process employed synthesizes user based research and analysis of environmental cues such as light, sound, and smells and their effect on how we interpret a …

Evaluation Assessment Of Metropolitan Ministries “Uplift U™” Program And Preliminary Analysis Of Collected Data, Robert D. Bowers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using the methodology and criteria put forth by the Juvenile Justice Evaluation Center (part of the Justice Research and Statistics Association, Washington D.C.), an assessment for evaluation of the Metropolitan Ministries "Uplift U^TM" Program was conducted using review of data previously collected by Metropolitan Ministries, examination of documents provided by the organization, participant observation, and interviews with Metropolitan Ministry staff. This assessment reveals that there are significant problems in several areas that must be addressed before their program can be formally evaluated; including data collection and organization, outcomes measures, client selection standards, and how the program is portrayed …

Extending The Principal Stratification Method To Multi-Level Randomized Trials, Jing Guo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Principal Stratification method estimates a causal intervention effect by taking account of subjects' differences in participation, adherence or compliance. The current Principal Stratification method has been mostly used in randomized intervention trials with randomization at a single (individual) level with subjects who were randomly assigned to either intervention or control condition. However, randomized intervention trials have been conducted at group level instead of individual level in many scientific fields. This is so called "two-level randomization", where randomization is conducted at a group (second) level, above an individual level but outcome is often observed at individual level within each group. …

Prospects For Nuclear Non-Proliferation: An Actor-Oriented Case Study Of Iran’S Future, James Martin Lockwood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is designed to assess the effectiveness of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime and analyze theories for effectively analyzing countries that are a risk for proliferating nuclear armaments. The initial phase of my research is designed to assess the existing literature and primary theoretical approaches for analyzing nuclear non-proliferation initiatives and potential nuclear proliferators. My main means of analysis will be to examine the national and international actors involved in each case. With this method, I plan to analyze a government at the level of each of its ruling institutions. Each of these institutions will be analyzed in the context …

The Psychometric Validation Of The Physical Body Experiences Questionnaire, Jessie E. Menzel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Embodiment is defined as a state in which one experiences one's body as an essential and loved aspect of one's lived experiences, a potential protective factor against body image and eating disturbance. While qualitative studies have been conducted to examine the nature of embodiment, a quantitative measure has not yet been created. The Physical Body Experiences Questionnaire was rationally derived as a measure of embodiment based on focus groups, literature reviews, and expert review. These qualitative methods resulted in a 32-item scale measured on a 7-point Likert scale. Based on the results of a pilot study conducted with 670 female …

Local Environmental Perceptions And Cognitive And Affective Learning In A Rural, Andean Community In Mollepata, Peru, Luisella Mazzone De Angelis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the linkages between environmental field trips and cognitive and affective gains in two groups of homogenous elementary-aged students in Mollepata, Peru. One group participated in an environmental field trip to a local, non-profit farm (Aprodes) to explore watershed and agricultural issues. The second group received the same content within the classroom setting. The research also examines the environmental perceptions of local residents via semi-formal open-ended interviews to assess their environmental awareness and their willingness to receive environmental education services from an outside organization.

Data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively via pre and post tests containing science …

Differential Decomposition Patterns Of Human Remains In Variable Environments Of The Midwest, Melissa A. Pope

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Where do people die alone when they remain undiscovered for extended periods of time? Estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is critical to reconstructing the events surrounding a person's death and this is an area in which forensic anthropologists have played a leading role. This thesis applied an anthropological framework that takes a comprehensive approach to analyzing the demography of unaccompanied deaths, the relationships and timing of decomposition in multiple depositional contexts, and created a model for the prediction of accumulated degree days (ADD) for bodies within enclosures.

While there have been extensive experimental and case study reviews on decomposition …

The Female Colonizer And Othered Woman In Isak Dinesen's Out Of Africa, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, Tayeb Salih's Season Of Migration To The North, And Paule Marshall's The Chosen Place, The Timeless People, Lindsay L. Sloan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The central issue of this thesis is the complicated relationship between the colonized individual and the constitutive as well as emblematic female colonizer in Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North, and Paule Marshall's The Chosen Place, The Timeless People. Each of these novels displays colonization by a female (or females) and relates back to historical colonialism, but each characterizes the relationship between the oppressors and oppressed differently. Dinesen's and Rhys's works stem from historical colonization in which European colonizers conquered and ruled other territories; …

Synthesis And Physical Properties Investigations Of Intermetallic Clathrates, Stevce Stefanoski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intermetallic clathrates have long been of interest for materials science research. The promise these materials hold for useful applications ranges from thermoelectrics to photovoltaics and optoelectronics to potentially ultra-hard materials and magnetic cooling applications. Their unique physical properties are intimately related to their intriguing structural properties. Thus a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and physics of inorganic clathrates offers the possibility to assess their potential for use in the various applications mentioned above.

The purpose of the current work is to expand the current knowledge of the synthetic routes for obtaining clathrate materials, their structural, chemical, and physical properties, particularly …

Statistical Idealities And Expected Realities In The Wavelet Techniques Used For Denoising, Eric-Jan D. Denooyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the field of signal processing, one of the underlying enemies in obtaining a good quality signal is noise. The most common examples of signals that can be corrupted by noise are images and audio signals. Since the early 1980's, a time when wavelet transformations became a modernly defined tool, statistical techniques have been incorporated into processes that use wavelets with the goal of maximizing signal-to-noise ratios. We provide a brief history of wavelet theory, going back to Alfréd Haar's 1909 dissertation on orthogonal functions, as well as its important relationship to the earlier work of Joseph Fourier (circa 1801), …

Synthesis And Physical Properties Investigations Of Intermetallic Clathrates, Stevce Stefanoski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intermetallic clathrates have long been of interest for materials science research.

The promise these materials hold for useful applications ranges from thermoelectrics to

photovoltaics and optoelectronics to potentially ultra-hard materials and magnetic cooling

applications. Their unique physical properties are intimately related to their intriguing

structural properties. Thus a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and physics of

inorganic clathrates offers the possibility to assess their potential for use in the various

applications mentioned above.

The purpose of the current work is to expand the current knowledge of the

synthetic routes for obtaining clathrate materials, their structural, chemical, and physical

properties, particularly …

The Waiting Unknown: Stories, James R. Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

These collected stories are a narrative exploration of a collective life in middle‐class suburbia. Here the reader is introduced to a troop of characters who share a community but yet they are adrift in the atmosphere between identity and memory. At times, as in “When to Lie” and “Afraid of the Question” we see conflict arise when the suburban religious dogma alters character identity, leaving behind haunting memories and scar tissue. Memory and identification play an important roll when, as in “Rx” the protagonist is faced with the sudden loss of his family as he struggles to keep their memories …

Empowered For Practice: The Relationship Among Perceived Autonomy Support, Competence, And Task Persistence Of Undergraduate Applied Music Students, Julie F. Troum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among undergraduate applied music students' perceptions of autonomy support, competence, and task persistence. One assumption of self-determination theory was that competence would increase when social environment supported self-organization. A motivational-cognitive framework designed to promote sustained motivation in undergraduate applied music students was proposed.

Three self-report scales administered in the form of a web survey were completed by undergraduate applied music students (N = 366) at six Florida universities. The scales were designed to measure perceived autonomy support, perceived competence, and perceived persistence in practice in the applied music studio setting. …

Functional Connectivity And Responses To Chemoreceptor Stimulation Of Medullary Ventrolateral Respiratory Column Neurons, Mackenzie M. Ott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ventrolateral medullary neurons have important roles in cardiorespiratory coordination. A rostral extension of the ventral respiratory column (RVRC), including the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN), has neurons responsive to local perturbations of CO2 / pH. Respiratory-modulated firing patterns of RVRC neurons are attributed to influences of more caudal (CVRC) neurons. These circuits remain poorly understood. This study addressed the hypothesis that both local interactions and influences from the CVRC shape rostral neuron discharge patterns and responses. Spike trains from 294 rostral and 490 caudal neurons were recorded with multi-electrode arrays along with phrenic nerve activity in 14 decerebrate, vagotomized cats. Overall, 214 …

Accurate Localization Given Uncertain Sensors, Jeffrey A. Kramer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The necessity of accurate localization in mobile robotics is obvious - if a robot does not know where it is, it cannot navigate accurately to reach goal locations. Robots learn about their environment via sensors. Small robots require small, efficient, and, if they are to be deployed in large numbers, inexpensive sensors. The sensors used by robots to perceive the world are inherently inaccurate, providing noisy, erroneous data or even no data at all. Combined with estimation error due to imperfect modeling of the robot, there are many obstacles to successfully localizing in the world. Sensor fusion is used to …

Splicing Systems For Studying Signaling To The Spliceosome, Hercules S. Apostolatos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alternative splicing is a major contributing factor to protein diversity. The human genome project validated that there are about 25,000 genes, but over 100,000 proteins. Genes contain numerous exons that are specifically regulated; thus, elucidating alternative splicing mechanisms of pre-mRNAs is an immense undertaking. Two basic tools are used to study this mammoth task. For in vitro studies, usually in vitro transcription followed by splicing assays is used. For in vivo studies, the main technique is the construction of minigenes. These techniques enable one to study the mechanisms/conditions that explain an exon's inclusion or exclusion in the mature mRNA.

In …

Translating Neil Simon‘S The Dinner Party: A Linguistic Approach, Brigitte Philippe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Translation is a challenge. More than just words, languages are ways of looking at the world and these unique perspectives make it hard to talk about a reality which might not exist in the language in which we are trying to express it. It becomes a greater challenge when one tackles theater as it is not a genre translation theories have studied extensively, which means the translator cannot rely on tradition. And the challenge reaches a new level when it comes to translating humor: humor is linguistically and culturally determined. Indeed, languages do not express humor using the same tools …

Mubarak’S Machine: The Durability Of The Authoritarian Regime In Egypt, Andrea M. Perkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian authoritarian regime is a mammoth machine created and headed by President Hosni Mubarak as an instrument for the exercise of his own power. His ability to influence every facet of the character of Egypt lies in his previous career experience, the involvement in politics of his immediate family, his commitment to unpopular but lucrative foreign policies, and the bureaucratic obstacle course he created for opposition entities to navigate.

Through persistent efforts to prepare himself for national leadership prior to gaining power, then to consolidate his power in the institutions of Egypt, Mubarak has built a state organization with …

Unamuno's Concept Of The Tragic, Ernesto O. Hernandez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses in presenting Miguel de Unamuno’s concept of the tragic. Historically this concept has suffered various changes of meaning and application. If successful the project shall provide the distinct connotation, features, and characteristics that Unamuno attributes to the tragic. His special treatment of the tragic harnesses a way for the will to become aware of its existential condition. This awakening of consciousness evokes an arousal of dichotomies that the will must confront. Faith against reason, religion against science, heart against intellect, are amongst these conflicting predicaments. The will’s constant struggle between these opposing forces constitutes for Unamuno the …