Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Peripheral Nerve Repair Using Biomaterial Nerve Guides Containing Guidance Channels, Oren D. Rosenthal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic injuries to peripheral nerves often leave gaps that cannot be repaired by direct suture methods. In such instances, repair with a tubular nerve guide, allows connection of the nerve ends, provides directional guidance, and concentrates endogenous trophic factors for regenerating axons. We hypothesized that collagen nerve guides containing longitudinally oriented channels would further improve the outcome of nerve repair by increasing the surface area available for cell migration. We restored the continuity of a 10mm peripheral nerve gap (rat sciatic nerve) by suturing the nerve stumps into a type I collagen nerve guide (1.5 mm ID), which contained longitudinal …

Multi-Robot Task Allocation Using Affect, Aaron Gage

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mobile robots are being used for an increasing array of tasks, from military reconnaissance to planetary exploration to urban search and rescue. As robots are deployed in increasingly complex domains, teams are called upon to perform tasks that exceed the capabilities of any particular robot. Thus, it becomes necessary for robots to cooperate, such that one robot can recruit another to jointly perform a task. Though techniques exist to allocate robots to tasks, either the communication overhead that these techniques require prevents them from scaling up to large teams, or assumptions are made that limit them to simple domains. This …

Differential Adolescent Delinquency Tolerance And The Effect Of Race And Gender, Evaristus Obinyan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study was designed to examine the attitudes of adolescents towards the tolerance of delinquent behavior. It was postulated that there would be a differential in the tolerance of delinquent behavior by juveniles from different age, gender, and racial groups. It was hypothesized that different groups would score higher or lower on select measures or dimensions (definition, reporting, controlling, preventing, correcting) of delinquency tolerance, and that their level of tolerance of delinquency might prove useful in explaining participation in delinquency.

The focus of the study was on identification of differential attitudes of various subgroups towards the violations of norms relating …

Technology And Teacher Training: The Systematic Design And Development Of A Framework For Integrating Technology Into Jamaica’S Teacher Training Programs, Carol N. Granston

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last five years, there has been an increased number of computers in schools and teachers' colleges in Jamaica. In addition, recently revised national policy documents have indicated the need to infuse technology into the curricula of all schools. Despite these investments in computers, however, there has been little corresponding development in training teachers to use computers and emerging technologies as teaching learning tools.

The purposes of the study were three-fold: (a) to describe the current state of technology integration in Jamaica's teacher training programs (b) assess the extent to which teachers' college faculty and pre-service teachers perceived themselves …

Intelligent Telerobotic Assistance For Enhancing Manipulation Capabilities Of Persons With Disabilities, Wentao Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the development of a telemanipulation system using intelligent mapping from a haptic user interface to a remote manipulator to assist in maximizing the manipulation capabilities of persons with disabilities. This mapping, referred to as assistance function, is determined on the basis of environmental model or real-time sensory data to guide the motion of a telerobotic manipulator while performing a given task. Human input is enhanced rather than superseded by the computer. This is particularly useful when the user has restricted range of movements due to certain disabilities such as muscular dystrophy, a stroke, or any form of …

Design And Evaluation Of The Combined Input And Crossbar Queued (Cicq) Switch, Kenji Yoshigoe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Packet switches are used in the Internet to forward information between a sender and receiver and are the critical bottleneck in the Internet. Without faster packet switch designs, the Internet cannot continue to scale-up to higher data rates. Packet switches must be able to achieve high throughput and low delay. In addition, they must be stable for all traffic loads, must efficiently support variable length packets, and must be scalable to higher link data rates and greater numbers of ports. This dissertation investigates a new combined input and crossbar queued (CICQ) switch architecture.

Some unbalanced traffic loads result in instability …

Translation, Adaptation And Validation Of An Instrument To Evaluate Hiv/Aids Knowledge And Attitudes For Use With Salvadorian High School Students, Carlos Salvador Zometa Iii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study translated, cross-culturally adapted and validated an instrument's scores for use in public high schools in San Salvador, El Salvador. The original instrument consisted of items developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge and five dimensions of attitudes (Abstinence, Peer-pressure, Condom use, Drug use, and Threat of HIV) in grades 7 to 12 in the United States. Items were translated into Spanish using the back-translation method. The instrument was cross-culturally adapted using guidelines proposed by Guillemin, Bombardier, and Beaton (1993). A cross-culturally equivalent version of the original instrument was obtained using three …

Evaluation Of Digital Imaging Systems Used In Highway Applications, Alex Mraz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Manual pavement condition surveys are gradually replaced by more comprehensive automated surveys conducted by multi-function highway evaluation vehicles. Highway evaluation vehicles are generally equipped with laser profiling, land navigation, and imaging sub-systems. The imaging system consists of three cameras; forward-view and side-view digital area-scan cameras for capturing images of traffic signs and right-of-way safety features, and a pavement digital line-scan or area-scan camera for capturing images of the pavement surface. In addition to the 3-laser and accelerometer-based profiling system, these vehicles are also equipped with differential global positioning equipment (DGPS) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for cross-slope, curvature and …

Seasonality In Western Equatorial Pangaea During The Early Permian (Upper Sakmarian): Δ18O, Δ13C, And Elemental Analysis Of Brachiopod Shells From The Robledo Mountains, New Mexico, Usa, Steve N. Guggino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sclerochronology was conducted on the pedicle valves of four Sakmarian-age brachiopods (Squamaria moorei) to constrain climate model predictions of temperature seasonality along western equatorial Pangaea (WEP). The brachiopods are from a Lower Permian section within the Robledo Mountains, NM, and they reveal seasonal trends of δ¹⁸O and temperature for that interval that suggest global warming and moderation of seasonality. Elemental and SEM analyses verified the specimens were well preserved. δ¹⁸O profiles show a relatively rapid and consistent two-year growth rate corresponding to the organism's juvenile stage, followed by a slower, seasonal growth rate corresponding …

An Application Of The Grundgestalt Concept To The First And Second Sonatas For Clarinet And Piano, Op. 120, No. 1 & No. 2, By Johannes Brahms, Devon Burts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A distinct feature of Brahms's compositional style is the cumulative development of melodic material that occurs throughout the composition. This motivic treatment appears in rhythmic and pitch fragments that are prolonged though various repetitions and newly derived figures related to earlier statements at the beginning of the composition. The compositional practices of Brahms as they relate to thematic unity reflect an earlier concept of the Grundgestalt, described in elements of nature by the 19th century philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The creative application of this concept by Brahms influenced the work of Arnold Schoenberg, who provided a more formal …

Radical Religious Groups And Government Policy: A Critical Evaluation, Tori Chambers Lockler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Religion, many times, is one of the phenomena that is misunderstood and often rejected due to apprehension. There is an expected "norm" within our culture for religion and those that fall outside that "norm" are typically criticized for their beliefs. Within Christianity there are a number of extremist groups that follow millennial doctrines and believe they are living in the end times. These organizations tend to view the government as oppressive, disrespectful, immoral and corrupt. Because of this when an incident occurs with one of these millennial groups and the government steps in to control the situation, the way it …

Frames In The U.S. Print Media Coverage Of The Kashmir Conflict, Durga, Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the frames used by the U.S. print media -- The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times -- in their coverage of the Kashmir conflict and the parties involved in it from 1989 to 2003. It divided the 15-year period of coverage into four phases -- 1989-1990, 1991-1998, 1999-2001, and 2002-2003 -- and focused on the coverage of seven subjects. It then identified sources and keywords from 180 news reports and placed them into categories from which it isolated thematic clusters or frames.

The study found that in the first two phases, …

Cord Blood Cell Therapy For Ischemic Stroke, Martina Vendrame

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infusion of the "mononuclear fraction" of human cord blood cells (HUCBC), which is composed of immature blood cells and hematopoietic progenitors, is known to reduce neurobehavioral deficits in rats subject to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). When MCAO rats are infused with 106 cells 24 hours after the induction of the stroke, their motor function improves. To extend these findings, we first examined the behavioral recovery of MCAO rats in the presence of increasing doses of HUCBC. The recovery in behavioral performance seen with measurements of spontaneous activity and motor deficits, depended on the amount of cells delivered, with 10 …

Behavioral And Morphological Consequences Of Rearing Florida Largemouth Bass With Non-Elusive Prey, Alpa Patel Wintzer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

(1) Hatchery-reared Florida largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides floridanus, feed on inert pellet food while their wild counterparts capture elusive prey. Differences in levels of prey elusivity often mandate the use of alternate methods of prey capture and are accompanied by a related phenotypic change.

(2) This study investigates (a) differences between the prey capture kinematics and strike modes of hatchery and wild juvenile Florida largemouth bass raised on pellets and live prey, and (b) whether elusivity-based variation in prey capture translates to a phenotypic and functional change during skull development.

(3) Analysis of high-speed videography demonstrates that wild bass capture …

Outsiders And The Impact Of Party Affiliation In Ecuadorian Presidential Elections, Rachel Lynne Hammond

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How has the party affiliation of presidential candidates impacted presidential elections in Ecuador? Historically, how have political party candidates and outsiders performed in elections and how has this changed over the last 20 years of democratic history? This case study attempts to answer fundamental questions about the connections between parties and electablility of presidential candidates. In a country with an inchoate party system and a history of populism, personalist candidates have always had relatively high levels of electoral success. Yet, it would seem that preference for unaligned candidates is increasing. After years of domination by political party candidates, the Ecuadorian …

The French Art Song Style In Selected Songs By Charles Ives, Christy Jo Talbott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Charles Ives is commonly referred to as the "Father of American Music." The implication is one that Ives himself would agree with, that he wrote purely American ideas from his own environment without reference to other styles or methods, in particular the widespread European tradition. Some composers, like Aaron Copland and Roger Sessions, created an American sonority by incorporating the concepts of musical construction they studied at the Paris Conservatoire. Ives, conversely, received no instruction in Europe, but the techniques so prevalent in the music of the French art song are found in certain songs written by Ives. Though he …

Udp-Glucuronosyltransferase (Ugt) Genetic Variants And Their Potential Role In Carcinogenesis, Jean Bendaly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) such as benzo(a)pyrene are important risk factors for cancer. Three UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, UGT1A9, UGT1A10, and UGT2B7, have been shown to play an important role in the phase II metabolism of carcinogenic metabolites of BaP. Because UGT1A9 and UGT2B7 are well-expressed in digestive tract tissues including liver and colon, it is possible that genetic variations in either enzyme may play an important role in colon cancer risk. However, UGT1A10 is extrahepatic and is expressed in the oral cavity and the larynx; therefore, genetic variations in this enzyme may play an important role in risk for orolaryngeal …

Multiple Hazards And Community Vulnerability In Hillsborough County, Florida, Keith Allen Albury

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hillsborough County, Florida is subject to a variety of natural and technological hazards, which have the potential to threaten both the population and the built environment. This research focuses on several natural hazards (coastal flooding, sink hole, and hurricane) and technological hazards (toxic transportation spills and toxic release from fixed storage facilities) and the population that is potentially exposed to these hazards. Social vulnerability for this population was determined using racial composition, gender, age and household rental/ownership status.

Both social vulnerability and exposure to hazardous conditions occur as a continuum across geographical space. The determination of who is exposed; the …

Bayesian And Empirical Bayes Approaches To Power Law Process And Microarray Analysis, Zhao Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we apply Bayesian and Empirical Bayes methods for reliability growth models based on the power law process. We also apply Bayes methods for the study of microarrays, in particular, in the selection of differentially expressed genes.

The power law process has been used extensively in reliability growth models. Chapter 1 reviews some basic concepts in reliability growth models. Chapter 2 shows classical inferences on the power law process. We also assess the goodness of fit of a power law process for a reliability growth model. In chapter 3 we develop Bayesian procedures for the power law process …

The Importance Of Program-Delivered Differential Reinforcement In The Development Of Classical Music Auditory Discrimination, Gudmundur Torfi Heimisson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Posttest performances after two forms of Web-based tutorial instruction were compared. Both forms were designed to teach students to identify musical compositions that typify Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century music. The first treatment condition was a series of Web pages with text and accompanying hyperlinks to musical selections matched to the text. In this condition, students read and listened at their own discretion -- without Web software program restrictions. The second treatment contained exactly the same text and musical selections, but students in this condition read the text in small portions while being required to fill in missing …

A Geochemical And Spatial Characterization Of The Champagne Hot Springs Shallow Hydrothermal Vent Field, Dominica, Lesser Antilles, Kevin Thomas Mccarthy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies of seafloor hydrothermal activity and its associated geochemical and mineralogical effects have primarily focused on deep sea systems. These processes are not limited to deep sea locations. Numerous shallow hydrothermal systems have been identified along the submerged flanks of volcanic islands such as Vulcano Island, Italy and Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea. This study investigates the Champagne Hot Springs shallow marine hydrothermal system, located along the submerged flank of the Plat Pays volcanic system on the southwest section of the island of Dominica, Lesser Antilles. The main objective is determine the source of the hydrothermal fluids and gases and …

Physiological Responses Of Men During The Continuous Use Of A Portable Liquid Cooling Vest, Theresa J. Medina

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heat stress is a well documented hazard across industries. The combination of environmental conditions, work demands, and clothing contribute to heat strain. Left unchecked, heat strain causes changes in an individual's physiological state that can lead to serious and fatal conditions with little warning. Although engineering and administrative controls are the first choice to abate this hazard, they frequently are not feasible. In these cases, personal cooling is often employed. There are three main types of personal cooling: liquid, air, and passive. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

This study focuses on continuous cooling using a portable liquid cooling …

Governing Wayward Consumers: Self-Change And Recovery In Debtors Anonymous, Adam Morenberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research on self-change in support groups has focused on the ways individuals accomplish self-change in the "local cultures" of the support group settings. This ethnographic study of the 12-step self-help group Debtors Anonymous (DA) departs from that tradition by focusing on the ways that DA members achieve self-change by employing "recovery" strategies learned from the group in their everyday lives. DA members enter the group during financial crises, and often believe they cannot manage their own personal finances. By learning techniques of financial management taught by the group, DA members gradually gain "sobriety" and financial management skills. This analysis …

Women, Domestic Abuse, And Dreams: Analyzing Dreams To Uncover Hidden Traumas And Unacknowledged Strengths, Mindy Stokes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Domestic abuse is the number one cause of injury to women in the United States. Women and their children flee everyday to shelters to escape the abuse. Once inside the shelters, material resources are rendered so that the women can continue to lead lives outside the shelter and different therapies are employed so that the women can better understand the abuse and their options once leaving. A type of therapy used in other therapeutic forums, such as patients sexually abused as children, is dream analysis. This type of therapy has allowed formerly traumatized victims a safe space to uncover hidden …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Role Of Mitigation In Capital Sentencing In North Carolina Before And After Mckoy V. North Carolina (1990), Janine Kremling

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the influence of mitigating circumstances on the sentencing outcome before and after the McKoy (1990) decision. In McKoy (1990) the Supreme Court decided that the jurors did not have to find mitigating circumstances unanimously. Results are reported based on a sample of North Carolina first-degree murder cases where the state sought the death penalty. Logistic regression is used to determine the importance of mitigating circumstances as predictors of jury decision-making in North Carolina, controlling for the variety of other factors that influence that decision.

The descriptive statistics show that the average number of mitigating circumstances submitted …

“Symbolism Of Language: A Study In The Dialogue Of Power Between The Imperial Cult And The Synoptic Gospels”, Sharon Matlock-Marsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Long before the writings of the New Testament gospels, where Jesus was being proclaimed as the Son of God, and Savior, the world existing under the influences of Hellenism resulting from the conquests by Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, had already been well acquaint

ed with and expected to hear certain symbolic language in determining titles for their divine ruler the emperor. Living within a cosmological framework, i.e., a sacred cosmos, the citizens of the empire accepted the emperor as the manifestation of divinity in the world. This belief existed for centuries prior to Christianity as a reality that …

Feasibility Of Using Nanofiltration As A Polishing Process For Removal Of Cyanobacterial Exudates From Treated Surface Water, Anand J. Mody

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanofiltration (NF) membrane technology is effective for removal of natural organic matter (NOM) and Disinfection By-Product (DBP) precursors from treated surface water (Allgeier et al., 1995, Chellam et al., 2000, Smith et al., 2002). However, there is a need to control other micropollutants, such as compounds released from algal blooms. In this research, the feasibility of using NF for removal of cyanobacterial exudates was evaluated as a polishing process for conventionally treated surface water.

Screening tests were conducted to compare the performance of four NF membranes, Filmtec's NF90 and NF270, and Hydranautics's LFC1 and NTR7450, for removal of NOM and …

Chemical And Biological Investigation Of The Antarctic Red Alga Delisea Pulchra, Santhisree Nandiraju

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Our interest in the red alga Delisea pulchra (=D.fimbriata) (Greville) Montagne 1844 (Rhodophyceae, Bonnemaisoniales, Bonnemaisoniaceace) was stimulated by its activity in the biosssays done at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Halogenated compounds from D. pulchra interfere with Gram-negative bacterial signaling systems, affect the growth of Gram-positive bacteria, inhibit quorum sensing and swarming motility of marine bacteria (inhibit bacterial communication). They also inhibit surface colonization in marine bacteria and exhibit antifouling properties against barnacle larvae and macroalgal gametes.

Chemical investigation of D.pulchra collected near Palmer Station, Antarctica yielded three new dimeric halogenated furanones, pulchralide A-C (41-43), along with previously reported …

Australian Great Barrier Reef Initiation Timing Constrained By Seaward Shallow-Water Sediment Drift Architecture (Odp Leg 194, Marion Plateau), Stephen P. Obrochta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I resolved the sedimentary architecture of a shallow water (< 500 m), hemipelagic sediment drift located on the Marion Plateau, seaward and downstream of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The drift responded increasingly to sea-level fluctuations during the Pleistocene. In the early Pleistocene, local climatic variations introduce a precessional rhythm to drift architecture that is out of phase with sea level-forced cyclicity. Beginning in the mid Pleistocene, sea level variations dominate drift architecture, with the highest carbonate and terrigenous fluxes likely occurring during highstand and transgression, respectively. At the sea-level transgression of MIS 15 and subsequent isotope stages, the phasing of maximum terrigenous flux corresponds to sea-level transgression, indicating siliciclastic sediment accumulated on the continental shelf behind an exposed barrier reef during the lowstand of MIS 16 and was remobilized by rising sea-level. These sedimentological data indicate GBR initiation occurred during MIS 17. The normal polarity exhibited by the central GBR and thick section of underlying sediments rules out initiation during MIS 19.

MIS 17 was the first of the asymmetric glacial cycles characteristic of the Late Pleistocene. If the Florida Keys and Belize barrier reef initiations were indeed simultaneous with that of the GBR, then the changing nature of cyclicity in global sea level and climatic fluctuations likely influenced the initiation of the world's major, modern barrier reefs.

Optimization Of The Two Stage Process For Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells, Shirish Pethe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Copper Indium Gallium DiSelenide absorber layers are fabricated using a two stage manufacturing friendly process. The first step involves the sequential deposition of Copper and Gallium and co-deposition of indium and selenium at 275oC. This is followed by the second stage where the substrate is annealed in the presence of Selenium and a thin layer of copper is deposited to neutralize the excess Indium and Gallium on the surface to form the CIGS absorber layer. The top copper thickness as well as the time of deposition was varied to study the effect of Copper on the performance of the cells. …