Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Modification Of Mdmx By Ubiquitination And Sumoylation, Yu Pan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

MDM2 and MDMX are two major negative regulators of tumor suppressor p53. Both MDM2 and MDMX can inactivate p53 and play important roles in mouse embryonic development in a p53 dependent manner. MDM2 possesses ubiquitin E3 ligase activity and mediates self-ubiquitination as well as ubiquitination and degradation of p53 by proteasome. We identify MDMX as another ubiquitin E3 ligase substrate of MDM2. MDM2 promotes the ubiquitination and degradation of MDMX through proteasome pathway. The RING domains of both MDMX and MDM2 are required and sufficient for MDM2-mediated MDMX ubiquitination. ARF overexpression, DNA damage or MDM2 overexpression can all stimulate MDMX …

Development And Characterization Of Carbon Nanotubes For Sensor Applications, Jessica Eileen Otto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this research was to develop, characterize, and analyze carbon nanotubes as biosensors. In particular, pH and lactate molecules were targeted in this study. The reason these analytes were chosen was twofold. Firstly, when hydrogen ions and lactate are excreted in abnormal amounts in human sweat, they may be an indicator of a separate health problem. Thus, there is a clinical need for such biosensor applications. Secondly, pH and lactate detection represent two different types of electrochemical sensing techniques.

The carbon nanotubes used in this research were single walled and existed in bundles. They were further functionalized with …

Music Integration: Educators’ Perceptions Of Implementation And Student Achievement In Public School Elementary Education, Cynthia Marie Shuck

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigated the levels and frequency of music integration being implemented at a public elementary school in central Florida, what key issues affect the successful implementation of effective music integration, and if music integration has an influence on academic achievement.

This study focused on 14 elementary school educators actively involved with music integration at one public elementary school. The multiple formats of data collection and analysis provided triangulation and increased the viability and transferability of the results. The five data collection formats that were used consisted of surveys, observations, lesson plans, interviews, and student achievement documents. Data …

Neurochemical Analysis Of Cocaine In Adolescence And Adulthood, Kirstie Helen Stansfield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is a time of high risk behavior and increased exploration. This developmental period is marked by a greater probability to initiate drug use and is associated with an increased risk to develop addiction and dependency in adulthood. Human adolescents are predisposed toward an increased likelihood of risk taking behaviors (Zuckerman M, 1986), including drug use or initiation. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in developmental risk taking behaviors and neurochemical responsivity to cocaine based on these behavioral characteristics. Adolescent and adult animals were exposed to a novel stimulus in a familiar environment to assess impulsivity, novelty …

Effect Of Sno2 Roughness And Cds Thickness On The Performance Of Cds/Cdte Solar Cells, Lingeshwar Nemani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Textured SnO₂ films as TCO have been investigated to determine the effect of surface roughness on the performance of CdS/CdTe solar cells. Film roughness was controlled by varying the substrate temperature. Characterization of the SnO2 films has also carried out using AFM measurements. It was found that increase in substrate temperature results in increased roughness of the film.

A series of cells were fabricated with different CdS thicknesses to determine the combined effect of SnO₂ roughness and CdS thickness. As a part of fabrication process, cells were subjected to different post deposition treatments. It was observed that roughness …

County Level Predictors Of Homicide And Suicide In The State Of Florida, Kelly K. Browning

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study expands the range of theoretical perspectives and empirical questions that have occupied the recent literature on homicide and suicide. The study examines county-level predictors for homicide and suicide in all sixty-seven counties in Florida. The current examination identifies which county-level variables are most closely related to each other, which variables explain the greatest amount of differences within the Florida counties, as well as which variables are most significantly correlated with the homicide and sucide rate by county. Additionally, the variables included in the present research are driven by the theorectical perspectives of social disorganization and anomie/strain theory. …

An Implementation Of The Usf/ Calvo Model In Verilog-A To Enforce Charge Conservation In Applicable Fet Models, Joshua Nicodemus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary goal of this research is to put into code a unique approach to addressing problems apparent with nonlinear FET models which were exposed by Calvo in her work in 1994. Since that time, the simulation software for which her model was appropriate underwent a significant update, necessitating the rewriting of her model code for a few applicable FET models in a Verilog-A, making it more compatible with the new versions of software and simulators.

The problems addressed are the inconsistencies between the small-signal model and the corresponding large-signal models due to a factor called transcapacitance. It has been …

The Effects Of Hand Fidgets On The On-Task Behaviors Of A Middle School Student With Disabilities In An Inclusive Academic Setting, Karen S. Voytecki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many students with mild disabilities display off-task behaviors during academic content classes. The off-task behaviors can negatively impact their academic progress. In primarily clinical settings, specific interventions derived from the theory of sensory integration have been shown to increase on-task behaviors in students with mild disabilities. Using a single subject A-B-A-B withdrawal design, the researcher investigated the effects of hand fidgets on on-task behaviors demonstrated by a middle school student with mild disabilities who typically displayed off-task behaviors when participating in an inclusive, academic content class (language arts). Social validity was assessed to evaluate student and teacher perceptions regarding the …

Two Essays On Security Offerings: Information Production, Investor Perception And The Types Of External Financing, And A Unified Analysis On Financing Choices And Offering Costs, Bingsheng Yi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I investigate the impacts that information production, information asymmetry have on firms financing choices 3/4 equity financing or debt financing. I find that equity issue announcements encourage more information production than debt issue announcements, which in turn raises the probability of equity financing. In addition, the post-issue stock market performance is positively associated with information production. The results are robust after controlling for investor optimism. I also apply the Heckmans two-step procedure to jointly investigate firms financing choices and offering costs. I find that security-issuing firms choose the less-costly financing type.

Examining A Framework Of Dialogue E-Mails And Inquiry Into Practice To Scaffold Reflective Practice In Preservice Teachers During Their Early Field Experience, Susan L. Lloyd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study focused on the development of reflective practice with preservice teachers through a framework during an early field experience. The framework provided an explicit structure for the preservice teachers to investigate four focus areas (teachers role, active learning, culture, and assessment). The preservice teachers explored a focus area, dialogued via e-mail with a peer, and then discussed their findings in small groups.

The preservice teachers were given a pre and post survey that queried them about their beliefs related to the four focus areas and the concept of reflection. Content analysis of the explanatory statements on the survey, …

The Effects Of A Parent Intervention On The Phonological Awareness Skills Of Kindergarten Students, Andrea Ofiara

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the efficacy of the Sound Foundations program, implemented by parents, for increasing phonological awareness (PA). Three kindergarten students identified with PA deficits and their mothers served as participants. Parents implemented Sound Foundations twice per week for five and a half weeks. The effects of the intervention were evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants design. PA was measured using the Phoneme Segmentation Fluency measure of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. Results showed that two students showed increases over time in phonemes per minute after the parent intervention. A third student did not show substantial …

Computation Of Fluid Circulation In A Cryogenic Storage Tank And Heat Transfer Analysis During Jet Impingement, Santosh Kumar Mukka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study presents a systematic single and two-phase analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in a liquid hydrogen storage vessel for both earth and space applications.The study considered a cylindrical tank with elliptical top and bottom. The tank wall ismade of aluminum and a multi-layered blanket of cryogenic insulation (MLI) has been attached on the top of the aluminum. The tank is connected to a cryocooler to dissipate the heat leak through the insulation and tank wall into the fluid within the tank. The cryocooler has not been modeled; only the flow in and out of the tank to …

Ammonium, Nitrate, And Nitrite In The Oligotrophic Ocean: Detection Methods And Usefulness As Tracers, Robert T. Masserini Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall focus of this research was to achieve the first detailed understanding of temporal and geographical distributions of inorganic-nitrogen-nutrients within an oligotrophic euphotic zone. In addition to low supply of nutrients, the uptake of nutrients by phytoplankton within the euphotic zone draws the nutrient concentrations down, resulting in very low concentrations of these nutrients and results in these regions being classified as oligotrophic. The site selected for the research was the West Florida Shelf (WFS). There were two main challenges. One was that the detection limits of the standard chemistries used to determine inorganic nitrogen nutrients are not low …

The Effects Of The Presence Of A Dog On The Social Interactions Of Children With Developmental Disabilities, Stephanie Walters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The effects of the presence of a dog on the social interactions between children with developmental disabilities and their teacher were analyzed in this study. We examined whether the presentation of a dog would improve the social interactions of three children with developmental disabilities. A baseline condition consisting of the child and teacher in the presence of three toys, one of which was a toy dog was followed by an intervention in which a real dog was added to the sessions. A multiple baseline design across participants was employed to assess experimental changes in interactions during the intervention condition.

All …

Disentangling The Repurchase Announcement An Event Study Analysis To The Purpose Of Repurchases, Robin S. Wilber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have consistently shown that a firms repurchase announcement is met with positive abnormal stock price return reactions. Open-market repurchases are extremely flexible, non-committal and non-punitive; thus, it is puzzling that the mere announcement of an open-market repurchase will likely increase a firms stock price. I propose to disentangle a firms choice to repurchase its stock to determine when a repurchase announcement is good news for shareholders and when the announcement is not.

I find that the purpose of the repurchase announcement matters. At the announcement date, managers intention of avoiding dilution is significantly negative and enhancing shareholder value is …

Design And Evaluation Of A New Authentication Mechanism For Validating The Sender Of An Email, Sai Sakamuri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A new authentication mechanism for validating the source of messages over the Internet is designed and evaluated. This mechanism is applied to email and is called Email++. Email++ prevents identity forging (spoofing) and tampering of email contents. By preventing identity forging, Email++ can reduce the amount of spam received and limit the spread of viruses like Melissa, Love Bug, Bagle Worm, and Killer Resume. Email++ validates both the sender and the receiver of an email by confirming the senders identity with the domain mail server that delivered the email for the sender, and authenticates the receiver with hash value comparisons. …

Giving Voice To Parents Of Young Children With Challenging Behavior, Jonathan Worcester

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been increased interest in the science of child development, particularly relative to early childhood (i.e., birth to 5 years) and children with challenging behavior. A broad interest in brain-behavior relationships and prevention services for young children has led to a renewed interest in the developmental significance of early life experiences (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000). Armed with an increasingly large body of neuroscience research, researchers have begun to examine the efficacy of prevention services and supports for young children and families, particularly those with challenging behavior (i.e., behaviors that interfere with optimal …

Optimization Study Of Ba-Filled Si-Ge Alloy Type I Semiconducting Clathrates For Thermoelectric Applications, Joshua Martin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thermoelectric phenomena couple thermal and electric currents, allowing for solid-state conversion of heat into electricity. For decades Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators have supplied power to NASA satellites and deep space probes. A more accessible application to consumers is the automotive industry's aspiration to incorporate thermoelectrics into active waste heat recovery systems. Higher power demands require these new thermoelectric devices to operate at higher temperatures and higher efficiencies, justifying new materials research. Recently, clathrates have gained interest for thermoelectric applications due to the unique properties they possess.These properties are directly related to their crystal structure. Therefore, clathrates are not only of interest …

Reconstructing Women's Identities: The Phenomenon Of Cosmetic Surgery In The United States, Cara L. Okopny

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The popularity of cosmetic surgery in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the last ten years - particularly for women, who make up the largest group of cosmetic surgery consumers. Cosmetic surgery can include relatively simple procedures such as permanent hair removal or Botox to more complicated procedures like breast augmentations and face-lifts. The rise in popularity of cosmetic surgery exalts only one kind of beauty and excludes many women from ever attaining this ideal, so while women may feel empowered, surgery acts as a form of assimilation, because the act of cosmetic surgery reifies an exclusionary beauty norm. With …

Toward A Social-Cognitive Psychology Of Speech Technology: Affective Responses To Speech-Based E-Service, Melanie Diane Polkosky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Speech technologies, or technologies that recognize and respond to human speech, have recently emerged as a ubiquitous and cost-effective form of customer self-service (e-service). Although customer satisfaction is regarded as an important outcome of e-service interactions, little is known about users affective responses to conversational interactions with technology. Using a theoretical foundation derived from research in social cognition, interpersonal communication, psycholinguistics, human factors, and services marketing, two studies develop items for a speech interface usability scale, which is then used to examine interrelationships among individual differences (e.g., self-monitoring, need for interaction with a service provider, inherent novelty seeking), usability, comfort, …

Loving Loving? Problematizing Pedagogies Of Care And Chéla Sandoval’S Love As A Hermeneutic, Allison Brimmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis project is an argument for and an investigation into the complex dynamics of what I term a critical, feminist, anti-racist pedagogy. Drawing from scholarly work in the fields of feminist theory, cultural studies, whiteness studies, and rhetoric and composition, in what follows I argue for a “blurring” of the traditional reason-emotion split that, I believe, continues to stifle learners in today’s U.S. educational system. I then offer a pedagogical theory that rejects or “blurs” this split, acknowledges and examines the affective realm, and is fueled by the more holistic notion and theory of “love as a hermeneutic” put …

School-Based Mental Health Services Delivered By School Psychologists, Emily Luis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study involved analyses of an existing database conducted for the purposes of identifying and understanding factors that are associated with the delivery of school-based mental health services by school psychologists. The study examined the average number of hours per week in which school psychologists engage in mental health services and the types of mental health services in which they engage. Factors such as training, desire to deliver mental health services, time available and support for mental health services were investigated. The database that served as the basis for these analyses had been created by mailing a survey to 1000 …

The Florida Burrowing Owl In A Rural Environment: Breeding Habitat, Dispersal, Postbreeding Habitat, Behavior, And Diet., Robert Mrykalo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The first observations of Florida burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia floridana) occurred in the 19th century on historical dry prairie habitat in south central Florida. These early observations documented the ecology of burrowing owls in rural environments. Since then the vast majority of research on this subspecies has been undertaken in suburban and urban environments during the breeding period. The research undertaken on burrowing owls in suburban and urban environments includes determining natal dispersal distance, assessing female fecundity, mate fidelity, territory fidelity, date of juvenile and adult dispersal from breeding habitat, date of clutch initiation, nesting success, density of …

Racial Disparities In Breast Cancer Surgical Treatment And Radiation Therapy Use, Tracey Lynn Koehlmoos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between race and surgical treatment and radiation therapy use for localized breast cancer patients in the state of Florida in 2001. The study will be useful in raising awareness of the relationship between Black race and appropriate breast cancer treatment within the Florida Cancer Data System. The Healthy People 2010 initiatives call to eliminate racial disparities and the high placement of breast cancer on the national research agenda make this study timely and insightful for health policymakers, clinicians and other health researchers. Also, the study evaluates the effect of other health system and patient related …

The Impact Of Peer Tutoring And Self-Monitoring On Oral Reading Fluency For Children Who Exhibit Symptoms Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Shannon M. Leis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of peer tutoring and self-monitoring interventions on the oral reading performance of students exhibiting symptoms of AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Predominantly Inattentive Type. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the peer tutoring and self-monitoring interventions with four second grade students who were tutored by fourth grade students. Results indicated that the median number of words read correct per minute as measured by curriculum-based measurement reading probes increased from baseline to intervention phases for three of the four tutee participants. In addition, the median number of errors from baseline to intervention …

System Level Energy Optimization For Location Aware Computing, Hariharan Sankaran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We present an energy conscious location-aware computing system that provides relevant information about the users current location. The location-aware computing system is initialized with a map (in the form of a graph) as well as audio files associated with several locations in the map. The system consists of: GPS receiver module, Serial port, Compact flash module, Stereo codec, Power manager module implementing three sub modules namely, GPS-to-real-world position conversion module (implements algorithm to convert GPS co-ordinates to graph nodes), Nearest-location-search module (implements modified Dijkstras algorithm), and User speed estimation module. The location-aware computing system receives the GPS co-ordinates for the …

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Aided Preparation Of Nickel Oxide/Alumina Aerogel Catalyst, Haitao Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The strength, thermal stability, pore structure and morphology are keys to success for wider deployment of aerogels. Furthermore, co or subsequent functionalization of the surfaces are equally, if not more important. This study addresses these issues through a new method. The path involves successful use of surfactant templating, supercritical extraction and drying, and supercritical fluid aided functionalization of the surface. Alumina support and alumina supported nickel catalyst particles are used to evaluate the approach. Initially thermally stable surfactant alumina was synthesized. The surfactant template was removed completely with the aid of a supercritical solvent mixture. Surfactant-templated alumina aerogel showed remarkable …

Scaling Up Support Vector Machines With Application To Plankton Recognition, Tong Luo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Learning a predictive model for a large scale real-world problem presents several challenges: the choice of a good feature set and a scalable machine learning algorithm with small generalization error. A support vector machine (SVM), based on statistical learning theory, obtains good generalization by restricting the capacity of its hypothesis space. A SVM outperforms classical learning algorithms on many benchmark data sets. Its excellent performance makes it the ideal choice for pattern recognition problems. However, training a SVM involves constrained quadratic programming, which leads to poor scalability. In this dissertation, we propose several methods to improve a SVM's scalability. The …

Adolescents And Their Fathers: Do Dads Make A Difference?, Dimitra Kamboukos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the role of fathers in adolescents behavioral and emotional functioning. Results revealed gender differences in adolescent ratings of their parents. Compared to girls, boys endorsed significantly lower negative affect toward mothers and fathers. Girls reported higher levels of maternal versus paternal involvement, monitoring and acceptance, and higher positive and lower negative affect toward mothers than fathers. Few gender differences were found in associations between maternal and paternal variables and adolescent outcomes. Results supported the unique contribution of fathers in explaining adolescent emotional and behavioral functioning. When considering boys and girls separately, fathers added unique variance in explaining …

The Origins Of Jewish Apocalyptic Literature: Prophecy, Babylon, And 1 Enoch, Sarah Robinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From what wells did the apocalyptic writers draw? What motivated them to write such bizarre and fantastic stories about the future end of history and battles between the forces of good and the forces of evil? The Book of Daniel is considered the first and only apocalypse of the Hebrew Bible, and it was the primary inspiration for much of the Book of Revelation, Apocalypse of John in the Christian New Testament. But well before Daniel, apocalyptic passages appeared in Jewish literature. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 came also the discovery of the oldest …