Arts and Humanities Commons^™

I'M Not Who I Was Then, Now: Performing Identity In Girl Cams And Blogs, Katherine Bzura

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The task of documenting the evolution of the self over time has been attempted by women artists throughout history. The practice of this documentation has been greatly enhanced in the last several years by the progression of new technologies for the capture of digital images, the advent of the internet as a common textual and visual communication device, and the availability of free resources to publish and disseminate the resulting constructions. Women artists now have the tools needed to document the life of the self, and to publish it immediately to an audience.

Most of the women documenting their lives …

Danger Afoot: Sidewalks, Environmental Justice, And Pedestrian Safety In Pinellas County, Florida, Craig W. Harmak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Though often taken for granted, few everyday activities involve so much genuine danger as the hazards associated with motor vehicles. Urban areas are built, modified, and/or deconstructed with motoring in mind. Also true is that few are at as much risk, as are those pedestrians who dare to cross paths with motor vehicles. Unfortunately, all too often, pedestrians are casualties of encounters with the ubiquitous automobile. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has recently been deemed, by one study, to be the nation's second most dangerous MSA for pedestrians. Using information on pedestrian/motor vehicle accident sites, sidewalk location …

Fabrication And Analysis Of Poly(3-Hexylthiophene) Interfaces Using Electrospray Deposition And Photoemission Spectroscopy, John Lyon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

P3HT (Poly(3-hexylthiophene)) is an organic polymer that shows promise as an active material in semiconducting electronics. It is important to study the electronic properties of this material in order to determine its efficacy in such devices. However, many current studies of thiophene only examine the oligomer, since it is a simpler material to investigate.

In this study, several P3HT interfaces were analyzed to determine their electronic properties. The P3HT was deposited on Au, highly-ordered pyrolitic graphite (HOPG), and indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates via electrospray deposition. The depositions were performed in several steps, with x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet …

On Comparison Of Indentation Models, John Louis Daly Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thin films that are functionally gradient improve the mechanical properties

of film-substrate layered materials. Mechanical properties of such materials are

found by using indentation tests. In this study, finite element models are

developed to simulate the indentation test. The models are based on an

axisymmetric half space of a specimen subjected to spherical indentation. The

film layer through the thickness is modeled to have either homogeneous material

properties or nonhomogeneous material properties that vary linearly.

Maximum indenter displacement, and maximum normal and shear

stresses at the interface are compared between the homogeneous model and

the nonhomogeneous model for pragmatic contact …

Hurricane Forecasting, Warning And Response Systems: A Lake Wales Public Perception Study, April E. Raulerson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the public perception of hurricane forecasting and warning systems with a view to improving response activities. The hazard literature shows that the effectiveness of such systems is contingent upon on the smooth operation of all components of the system and that warning recipients fully understand the implications of the warning message by taking appropriate action. It is argued that public perception of warning systems will vary depending on various socio-demographic factors, such as age, gender, level of education, socioeconomic status and area, factors that will ultimately influence overall effectiveness. To test this, a questionnaire survey was undertaken …

The Rise Of Clostridium Difficile In Florida, Owen Bendixsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clostridium difficile, a bacterium that causes diarrhea in hospitalized patients, is on the rise in the United States as well as in other countries. This study was done to determine the extent of the problem in Florida's acute care hospitals. The Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) provided data for patients discharged from Florida's acute care hospitals for the years 1998 through 2004.

This study will focus on changes in the prevalence of Clostridium difficile associated disease (CDAD) over time. The mortality and morbidity of patients that have CDAD will also be examined to show if the disease is increasing …

Naming And Inhibition In Aphasia, Lori R. Bartels-Tobin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lexical retrieval models illustrate both activation and inhibition between concepts, words, and phonemes. When semantic activation spreads from one concept to its related concepts, inhibition is recruited so that competition between related concepts can be overcome and a target production achieved. Persons with aphasia often exhibit difficulty with producing the desired response, which could be the result of inadequate inhibitory processes to overcome response competition.

Inhibitory processing is typically measured using a negative priming task. Twenty participants with aphasia, twenty-five young participants, and twenty age-matched aphasia group controls were recruited for this study. Participants with aphasia completed a picture-naming task, …

The Influence Of Dialect On The Perception Of Final Consonant Voicing, Stacy Nicole Kile

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children at risk for reading problems also have difficulty perceiving critical

differences in speech sounds (Breier et al., 2004; Edwards, Fox, & Rogers, 2003; de-

Gelder & Vroomen, 1998). These children rely more heavily on context than the acoustic

qualities of sound to facilitate word reading. Dialect use, such as African American

English (AAE) may influence literacy development in similar ways. Dialect use has been

shown to affect speech sound processing and can even result in spelling errors (Kohler, et

al., in press). The purpose of this study is to determine if children who speak AAE

process cues indicative of …

Making Sense Of Complex System Failure: The Case Of 9/11, Sandra M. Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks attributed the September 11 attacks on the U.S. homeland to the terrorists' exploitation of "deep institutional failings." These findings are similar to the conclusions of the Presidential Commission investigating the 1986 Challenger accident and the Columbia Accident Investigative Board (2003). Generally Commissions aim to provide the fullest possible account of events contributing to the catastrophe under investigation and to identify lessons learned, but avoid specifying responsibility and accountability. For this reason, various commission reports have been criticized for being abstract and shallow. These criticisms make a valid point. How commissions make sense of failures …

American Odyssey, Bernadette Kafwimbi Cogswell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of the two opening chapters of American Odyssey, a nouveau plantation novel that has its roots in two American fiction traditions---the nineteenth-century plantation novel and the twentieth-century neo-slave narrative. It is 1855 and Charles DeCoeur's only motivation to remain Riverwood's owner and master is that his widowed mother and sickly sister rely on the profits of the estate. Charles chafes under the responsibility and physicality of plantation life, unable to reconcile himself to the role of master of a cotton estate in the forgotten heart of East Florida. Then a female Negro, Hellcat, wanders onto the …

Kauffman-Harary Conjecture For Virtual Knots, Mathew Williamson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we examine Fox colorings of virtual knots, and moves called k-swap moves defined for virtual knot diagrams. The k-swap moves induce a one-to-one correspondence between colorings before and after the move, and can be used to reduce the number of virtual crossings. For the study of colorings, we characterize families of alternating virtual knots to generalize (2, n)-torus knots, alternating pretzel knots, and alternating 2-bridge knots. The k-swap moves are then applied to prove a "virtualization" of the Kauffman-Harary conjecture, originally stated for classical knot diagrams, for the above families of virtual pretzel knot diagrams.

Government Public Relations: A Quantitative Assessment Of Government Public Relations Practitioner Roles And Public Relations Model Usage, Joelle Wiley Castelli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to identify how public relations are practiced in local governments. Traditional literature has stated that the public information model of public relations is the model of public relations practiced in local governments. This study also attempts to determine which roles are most common for lead communicators in municipal organizations governments. Based on Internet survey research methods, research findings indicated that while most practitioners stated they practiced a two-way communications model, they had the most expertise in the public information and press agentry models. The researcher also found that the role most often held by the highest ranking …

The Role Of Computer-Mediated Communication In Non-Native Speakers’ Acquisition Of Academic Literacy, Rui Cheng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that academic literacy is discipline specific. Students have to learning the ways of communication in order to gain access to the discourse community of the selected discipline through understanding and performing required genres and learning necessary disciplinary knowledge. Scaffolding is important in the process to help students internalize the disciplinary knowledge and improve students' performance on academic papers. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) provides good chances of scaffolding and mediation especially for non-native graduate students who may have lost many opportunities of class participation due to their limited language proficiency or other cultural issues.

In this dissertation, the researcher investigated …

An Unexplored Realm In The Heartland Of The Southern Gulf Olmec: Investigations At El Marquesillo, Veracruz, Mexico, Travis F. Doering

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines El Marquesillo, a settlement in an archaeologically unexplored region of the Southern Gulf Lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Evidence suggests the site has been consistently occupied from the Early Formative period (c. 1500 BC) to the present. Thus, this investigation presents an opportunity to re-examine the sociopolitical continuum encompassing the Olmec cultural phenomenon (c. 1150-300 BC), the emergence of which has been used repeatedly as an example of incipient social complexity.

Theorists have portrayed the development of sociopolitical complexity as a mosaic process in which environmental, social, political, economic, ideological, and demographic variables act independently or in combination …

How Individual Values And Trait Boredom Interface With Job Characteristics And Job Boredom In Their Effects On Counterproductive Work Behavior, Kari Bruursema

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among individual values, trait boredom, job boredom, job characteristics, and CWB. Job boredom and trait boredom were expected to be positively related to CWB. Individual values and job characteristics were expected to moderate the relationship between boredom and different types of CWB.

Completed online questionnaires were received from 211 participants, and 112 co-worker matches also submitted online surveys. The Schwartz Value Survey, Job Descriptive Index, Job Boredom Scale, and Boredom Proneness Scale were used to assess independent variables. The Counterproductive Work Behavior Checklist measured the dependent variable. Results were analyzed using …

Maximizing Manipulation Capabilities Of Persons With Disabilities Using A Smart 9-Degree-Of-Freedom Wheelchair-Mounted Robotic Arm System, Redwan M. Alqasemi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical and cognitive disabilities make it difficult or impossible to perform simple personal or job-related tasks. The primary objective of this research and development effort is to assist persons with physical disabilities to perform activities of daily living (ADL) using a smart 9-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) modular wheelchair-mounted robotic arm system (WMRA).

The combination of the wheelchair's 2-DoF mobility control and the robotic arm's 7-DoF manipulation control in a single control mechanism allows people with disabilities to do many activities of daily living (ADL) tasks that are otherwise hard or impossible to accomplish. Different optimization methods for redundancy resolution are explored and …

The Conundrum Of Women’S Studies As Institutional: New Niches, Undergraduate Concerns, And The Move Towards Contemporary Feminist Theory And Action, Rebecca K. Willman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I address current debates on the perceived lack of contemporary feminist activism and concerns of Women's Studies as existing within university institutions. I propose that Women's Studies programs and departments serve as locations useful for feminists interested in participating in feminist activism in and beyond the university. By viewing Women's Studies programs and departments as contemporary abeyance structures in feminist movements, I revisit the ways in which debates on differences between second and third wave feminisms have contributed to social change. In doing so, I highlight how the feminist movement maintains itself between upsurges in mass-based visible …

The Constructions Of Fay Weldon, Woman Of Letters, Harriet Blymiller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary British novelist Fay Weldon negotiates the postmodern "culture industry" as the self-conscious heir to a traditon of women writers dating back to the Middle Ages. Like her predecessors, Weldon defensively and offensively negotiates ideological constructions of womanhood, including injunctions to chastity, modesty, and silence; prohibitions against formal education for women; disdain for the literary production and commercial success of women writers; and the application of double standards in the critical reception of their works. Modernizing the strategies traditionally deployed by women writers, Weldon engages with the advertising industry and the mass-oriented literature of radio and television, using them to …

Academic Capitalism In The Social Sciences: Faculty Responses To The Entrepreneurial University, Deanna Barcelona Bullard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how faculty in the social sciences experience and respond to academic capitalism. Academic capitalism is about market and market-like activity at the university and professorial efforts to secure external money. This research expands existing literature which has focused on the hard or natural sciences, and other areas more closely aligned with the market.

Thirty-seven qualitative research interviews were conducted between March and July of 2006 with professors of sociology, criminology, economics at the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of South Florida. Results reveal academic capitalism in the social sciences is mostly about grant …

Internalized Racism As A Moderator For Stereotype Threat: Effects On Self-Handicapping, Performance, And Cardiovascular Responses In Black Individuals, Nicole Ellis Jagusztyn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between internalized racism, stereotype threat, self-handicapping, test performance, and cardiovascular responses in Black individuals. Stereotype threat, or apprehension about confirming a negative stereotype, has been shown to lead to self-handicapping, poor academic performance, as well as increased cardiovascular reactivity. Internalized racism, or the acceptance of negative stereotypes about one's group, is a factor that may moderate these relationships. One-hundred nine (84% female, 16% male) Black undergraduates participated in a laboratory study. Half of the participants were put in a stereotype-threatened condition and the other half were in a neutral …

Queer Identity? Discussing Identity And Appearance In An On-Line “Genderqueer” Community, Sharla N. Alegria

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The relatively new field of Queer Theory creates ways of thinking about people living without binary gender, but does not provide for a research model with which to give context to the material struggles of such people. Through the use of Internet discussion groups, the current research project attempts to examine the challenges that people who identify with the concept "genderqueer" describe facing as they fashion selves in social interactions; a process which inevitably requires consumer goods that typically only allow for heteronormative binary gender. Findings suggest that there are similarities in how respondents came to identify with "genderqueer," but …

The Relationship Between Sleep-Wake Disturbance And Pain In Cancer Patients Admitted To Hospice Home Care, Marjorie Acierno

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is evidence of a relationship between sleep-wake disturbances and pain variables in cancer patients. It is hypothesized that pain affects all aspects of sleep patterns. Pain has been known to affect sleep disturbances; however there are different facets of sleep-disturbances and pain that can be evaluated. These variables include pain distress, pain intensity, pain at its worst, relief from pain, sleep distress, how well the patient sleeps, how tired one feels, and drowsiness distress. Several studies identify relationships between sleep-disturbances and pain. This study using secondary analysis was designed to correlate variables related to sleep-wake disturbance and pain in …

Evaluation Of Unknown Foundations, Ronald W. Florkowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, bridge foundations have been in the spotlight throughout the nation. Bridges built over running water are susceptible to erosion or scour around their foundations. The reduction in load capacity to piers and abutments pose a safety risk to highway motorists. It has become necessary for engineers to examine and monitor these "scour critical" bridges. The difficulty arises with subsurface foundations of which very little is known about their construction. Hence, the methods applied to analyzing "Unknown Foundations" have become a necessary topic of research.

This thesis explores a method to determine foundation lengths. Similar to Sonic Echo …

Filecules: A New Granularity For Resource Management In Grids, Shyamala Doraimani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grids provide an infrastructure for seamless, secure access to a globally distributed set of shared computing resources. Grid computing has reached the stage where deployments are run in production mode. In the most active Grid community, the scientific community, jobs are data and compute intensive. Scientific Grid deployments offer the opportunity for revisiting and perhaps updating traditional beliefs related to workload models and hence reevaluate traditional resource management techniques.

In this thesis, we study usage patterns from a large-scale scientificGrid collaboration in high-energy physics. We focus mainly on data usage, since data is the major resource for this class of …

Using Agnewís General Strain Theory To Explain The Relationship Between Early Victimization And Deviant Behavior, Dena C. Carson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study used Agnew's General Strain Theory to examine the relationship between early victimization and deviant behavior, as well as the mediating effects through negative emotions and social bonds. This study draws on developmental psychology literature and general strain literature to develop its hypotheses. Also, it expands the current research in developmental psychology and general strain theory by operationalizing strain as early victimization and using (a) dichotomous measures of alcohol use, drug use, and delinquency, (b) measures of frequency of binge drinking, drug use, and delinquency, (c) and measures of age of first binge drinking and drug use. Data from …

The Relationship Of Initial Flooding Depositional Facies To Global Sea Level And Climate On The Marion Plateau, Ne Australia (Odp Leg 194), Katherine T. Ciembronowicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Coral Sea has been the host to a variety of large carbonate platforms over the geologic past and presently hosts the world's largest system of coral reefs, the Great Barrier Reef, stretching more then 2,300 km along Australia's northeast coast. The Marion Plateau, which today is the site of 400 m deep hemipelagic sediment drifts, once supported two large carbonate platforms that were precursors to reef growth on the central and southern Great Barrier Reef. Previous work examining the growth phases, drownings and rejuvenation of these platforms is extensive. The purpose of this research is to examine the factors …

Prevalence Of Language Disorders Among Children With Severe Behavioral Problems Referred For A Psychiatric Evaluation By A Large Urban School District, Brenda J. Curtwright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the language skills and behavior characteristic of 63 students with severe behavior disorders who were referred by a large, mostly urban school district for a neuropsychiatric evaluation between 2001 and 2005. Archival data were retrieved by chart review for this study and was used to answer the following questions: 1) What is the prevalence of language disorders in children referred for a psychiatric evaluation? 2) Do behavioral symptoms vary among children with and without a language disorder? and 3) What is the initial area of concern identified by the parents of children with language and behavior disorders? …

Using Frequency Analysis To Determine Wetland Hydroperiod, Lisa D. Foster

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands are nominally characterized by, vegetation, presence of saturated soils and/or period and depth of standing water (inundation). Wetland hydroperiod, traditionally defined by the period or duration of inundation, is considered to control the ecological function and resultant plant community. This study seeks to redefine "hydroperiod" to incorporate both surface and subsurface water-level fluctuations, to identify predominant hydroperiod of different wetland types, and to find the range of the water-level fluctuations during the predominant hydroperiod durations. The motivation being that wetland ecological condition is controlled not just by the period of inundation but also by the proximity and depth to …

Investigation Of Zrni, Zrmn2 And Zn(Bh4)2 Metal/Complex Hydrides For Hydrogen Storage, Diego Escobar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The demand for efficient and clean fuel alternatives has been increasing in recent years and is expected to become more pronounced in the future. Utilization of hydrogen as a fuel is one of the most promising energy resources due to its easy production, abundance, regeneration and not creation of greenhouse gases during its combustion. Although gaseous hydrogen has a very high energy content per unit weight, its volumetric energy density is rather low. The large scale use of hydrogen as a fuel crucially depends on the development of compact hydrogen storage materials with a high mass content of hydrogen relative …

Tunable Patch Antenna Using Semiconductor And Nano-Scale Barium Strontium Titanate Varactors, Samuel Andrew Baylis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patch antennas are fundamental elements in many microwave communications systems. However, patch antennas receive/transmit signals over a very narrow bandwidth (typically a maximum of 3% bandwidth). Design modifications directed toward bandwidth expansion generally yield 10% to 40% bandwidth.

The series varactor tuned patch antenna configuration was the bandwidth enhancement method explored in this research; this configuration is implemented by dividing a patch antenna into multiple sections and placing varactors across the resultant gaps. In addition to yielding a large bandwidth, the configuration has a number of ancillary benefits, including straightforward integration and design flexibility. Through the research represented by this …