Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Significance Of The European Investment Bank, Maria L. Pisaneschi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the implementation of the Treaty of Rome in 1958, the Common Market of six European states has grown to the European Union of twenty-five states as of May 2004. From the outset, the integration of these states into a single economic system has made more apparent the differences in levels of economic development among and within the member states. The original members of the Common Market were aware of these regional differences in 1958 and created the European Investment Bank as part of the Treaty of Rome to provide investment funds to reduce the development gap among the member …

Broad-Band Space Conservative On Wafer Network Analyzer Calibrations With More Complex Solt Definitions, Sathya Padmanabhan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An improved Short-Open-Load-Thru (SOLT) on-wafer vector network calibration method for broad-band accuracy is proposed. Accurate measurement of on-wafer devices over a wide range of frequency, from DC to high frequencies with a minimum number of space conservative standards has always been desirable. Therefore, the work is aimed at improving the existing calibration methods and suggesting a best "practice" strategy that could be adopted to obtain greater accuracy with a simplified procedure and calibration set.

Quantitative and qualitative comparisons are made to the existing calibration techniques. The advantages and drawbacks of each calibration are analyzed. Prior work done at the University …

High Level Synthesis Of An Image Processing Algorithm For Cancer Detection, Anuleka Bilhanan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a crucial need for real time detection and diagnosis in digital mammography. To date, most computer aided analysis applications are software driven and normally require long processing times. Digital filtering is often the initial stage in processing mammograms for both automated detection and tissue characterization, which relies on Fourier analysis. In this research the main objective is to lay the groundwork for converting software driven mammography applications to hardware implementations by using Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). The long-term goal is to increase processing speed. This research focuses on achieving the main objective by using one specific mammographic image …

Core Issues In Graph Based Perceptual Organization: Spectral Cut Measures, Learning, Padmanabhan Soundararajan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grouping is a vital precursor to object recognition. The complexity of the object recognition process can be reduced to a large extent by using a frontend grouping process. In this dissertation, a grouping framework based on spectral methods for graphs is used. The objects are segmented from the background by means of an associated learning process that decides on the relative importance of the basic salient relationships such as proximity, parallelism, continuity, junctions and common region. While much of the previous research has been focussed on using simple relationships like similarity, proximity, continuity and junctions, this work differenciates itself by …

Adaptive Digital Predistortion Linearizer For Power Amplifiers In Military Uhf Satellite, Jayanti Patel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The existing UHF Satellite Communications (SATCOM) transponders used for military applications use efficient, saturated power amplifiers, which provide one earth-coverage antenna beam. The amplifier is dedicated to small frequency band and only handles a few carriers simultaneously.

The communications capacity needed to support future military forces on the move will require satellite payload power amplifiers to support hundreds of channels simultaneously, with the channels spread over the entire military UHF SATCOM band. To meet the capacity requirements and simultaneously meet the out-of-band emission, power amplifiers will have to be highly linear. The high-efficiency, ultra-linear power amplifier architecture proposed to support …

High Level Vhdl Modeling Of A Low-Power Asic For A Tour Guide, Umadevi Kailasam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We present the high level (VHDL) modeling and high level synthesis of an ASIC (TOUR NAVIGATOR) for a portable hand held device - a tour guide. The tour guide is based on location-aware mobile computing, which gives the information of the current location to the user. The TOUR NAVIGATOR designed in this work is interfaced with off-the-shelf components to realise the tour guide system. The current location is given by an on-board GPS receiver chip. The TOUR NAVIGATOR is a search and play module which interfaces with the flash memory, GPS receiver and the audio codec.

The functionality of the …

Benefit Of Staged Cooling In Shrink Fitted Composite Cylinders, Nathaniel Oren Collier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To assemble the fulcrum of bascule bridges, a trunnion is immersed into liquid nitrogen so that it can be shrunk fit into the hub. This is followed by immersing the resulting trunnion-hub assembly into liquid nitrogen so that it can be then shrunk fit into the girder. On one occasion in Florida, when the trunnion-hub assembly was put into liquid nitrogen, development of cracks on the hub was observed. Experimental and numerical studies conducted since 1998 at University of South Florida show that the cracking took place due to combination of high interference stresses in the trunnion-hub assembly, low fracture …

Level Of Demoralization As A Predictor Of Stage Of Change In Patients With Gastrointestinal And Colorectal Cancer, Cheryl Anne Cockram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Demoralization is a concept that evolved out of the study of individuals under stress. It is defined as the combination of distress and subjective incompetence in the presence of inadequate social bonds. When patients with alcohol abuse problems are diagnosed with cancer they may become demoralized and be unable to summons adequate resources to address issues associated with changing their addictive behavior. The Stage of Change Model (SOC), one of the primary approaches in addiction therapy, is used to guide individuals through the process of behavioral change.

This two phase study examined the relationship between demoralization and stage of change. …

Ammonia Flux At The Air/Water Interface Of Tampa Bay, Constance Anne Mizak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An ammonia emissions inventory discovered that 90% of the ammonia emitted from Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Polk counties, originated from the latter two counties. This finding is significant and suggests that a substantial portion of the ammonia deposited to Tampa Bay is transported with easterly air masses.

Ammonia and ammonium concentrations at the coastal Gandy Bridge site were seasonally and diurnally consistent, but the rural Sydney site showed greater variability. It was determined that wind direction was the most influential parameter affecting the Gandy Bridge site, which supports the hypothesis that an advection of ammonia from the east is a major …

Detection And Quantification Of Karenia Brevis Blooms On The West Florida Shelf From Remotely Sensed Ocean Color Imagery, Jennifer P. Cannizzaro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Karenia brevis, a toxic dinoflagellate species that blooms regularly in the Gulf of Mexico, frequently causes widespread ecological and economic damage and can pose a serious threat to human health. Satellite-based ocean color imagery may provide a means for detecting and monitoring blooms, providing early alerts to coastal communities. However, a technique for discriminating K. brevis from other chlorophyll-containing algae is required. Between 1999 and 2001, a large bio-optical data set consisting of spectral measurements of remote-sensing reflectance (Rrs(lambda)), absorption (a(lambda)), and backscattering (bb(lambda)) along with chlorophyll a concentrations was collected on the central west Florida shelf (WFS) as …

Development Of Cadmium Selenide As An Absorber Layer For Tandem Solar Cells, Sathyaharish Jeedigunta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cadmium Selenide is a binary compound. It has a band gap of 1.7 eV. This is one of the suitable materials for an absorber layer in the top cell of a tandem solar cell. CIGS with a low Gallium content has a band gap of 1 eV suits well as an absorber layer for the bottom cell. CIGS cells have already attained an efficiency of 15% [1,2]. Since years, research has been done in developing the bottom cell. The results of the bottom cell are promising. So the fabrication of an efficient top cell in a tandem solar cell is …

Personality And Motivational Characteristics Of The Successful Mentor, Lizzette Lima

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mentor characteristics (i.e., motivational tendencies, personality traits), mentoring provided, and protégé outcomes. A motivational approach was taken, in the sense that motives to mentor, as well as personality characteristics of the mentor, were considered in regard to their ability to predict the type of mentoring provided and outcomes for the protégé. Specifically, the potential relationships between personality traits (Intrinsic Motivation, Learning Goal Orientation, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Machiavellianism) and mentor motives, as well as the provision of career and psychosocial mentoring, were examined. In addition, the current study examined …

The Interaction Between Victim Race And Gender On Capital Sentencing Outcomes: An Exploration Of Previous Research, Amy Reckdenwald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploration and extension of previous research on the interactive effects of victim-race and victim-gender on death sentence outcomes. Williams and Holcomb's (2004) study suggests that an interactive effect exists between victim-race and victim-gender on Ohio death sentencing outcomes, such that killers of White women are especially singled out for capital punishment. The current study analyzes a sample of death eligible cases at the trial level in North Carolina to determine if Williams & Holcomb's findings hold up for a different sample of cases and in a different state. Logistic regression is used to determine if there …

Supramolecular Metal-Organic And Organic Materials, Elisabeth Rather

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rational design of functional solids based upon the development of strategies for controlling intermolecular interactions and structural arrangement of simple molecular building units, represents a salient feature in the context of supramolecular chemistry and crystal engineering. Consideration of chemical functionality, geometrical capability and knowledge of the interplay between two or more sets of supramolecular interactions specific of preselected chemical components will facilitate further extension of crystal engineering towards the construction of supramolecular materials possessing valuable properties.

Calixarenes represent excellent building blocks for the design of solid-state architectures, in particular calix-4-arenes crystallize easily and the introduction of a wide range …

Alternative Formulations Of Joint Model Systems Of Departure Time Choice And Mode Choice For Non-Work Trips, Constantinos A. Tringides

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modeling travel demand by time of day is gaining increasing attention in travel demand forecasting practice. This is because time of day choice has important implications for mode choice and for quantifying potential modal and time of day shifts in response to traffic congestion and peak period travel demand management strategies. In this context, understanding the causal relationship between time of day (departure time) choice and mode choice behavior would be useful in the development of time of day based travel demand modeling systems both within the four-step modeling paradigm and within newer tour-based and activity-based microsimulation paradigms. This thesis …

Investigation Of Oxide Thickness Dependence Of Fowler-Nordheim Parameter B, Shashank Bharadwaj

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During recent years the thickness of the gate oxide has been reduced considerably. The progressive miniaturization of devices has caused several phenomena to emerge such as quasi-breakdown, direct tunneling and stress induced leakage currents. Such phenomena significantly modify the performance of the scaled-down MOSFETs. As a part of this research work, an effort has been made to study the performance and characteristics of the thin Gate oxide for MOSFETs and Tunnel Oxide for Floating Gate (FG) MOS devices. The exponential dependence of tunnel current on the oxide-electric field causes some critical problems in process control. A very good process control …

Development Of Structural Equations Models Of Statewide Freight Flows, Siva S. Jonnavithula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The modeling of freight travel demand has gained increasing attention in the recent past due to the importance of efficient and safe freight transportation to regional economic growth. Despite the attention paid to the modeling of freight travel demand, advances in modeling methods and the development of practical tools for forecasting freight flows have been limited. The development of freight demand models that incorporate the behavioral aspects of freight demand face significant hurdles, partially due to the data requirements, which are a consequence of the inherent complexity of the mechanisms driving freight demand. This research attempts to make a contribution …

Phase Imaging Digital Holography For Biological Microscopy, Daniel Parshall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We apply the techniques of digital holography to obtain microscopic 3D images of biological cells. Both the amplitude and phase images are obtained from a single hologram, with approximately 1 [mu]m lateral and 10 nm longitudinal resolution. The results are combined with previous experiments resolving the 2 [pi] ambiguity to produce continuous phase images of the samples.

Distribution, Metabolism And Trophic Ecology Of The Antarctic Cydippid Ctenophore, Callianira Antarctica, West Of The Antarctic Peninsula, Kerri M. Scolardi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The distribution, abundance, chemical composition, metabolism, and feeding ecology of the tentaculate ctenophore, Callianira antarctica (Chun 1897), were investigated during austral winter 2001and autumn & winter 2002, in the vicinity of Marguerite Bay west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Callianira antarctica had a widespread distribution during autumn and winter, and variable abundance (0.02 to 2.6 ind. m-2) during winter 2001 associated with specific circulation features. Size frequency distributions for autumn and winter suggest that more than half of the C. antarctica population may have experienced 'degrowth' during winter due to low food availability. Callianira antarctica is a fairly robust ctenophore with …

Risk Factors For Pediatric Community Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Melissa Gail Kessler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) began as a nosocomial infection due to overuse of antibiotics. Several previous studies have reported an increase in this infection in adult patients who have not been hospitalized. It has also been reported that there is an increase in MRSA in children. Some of these children became infected even though they were not at high risk for the infection. After approval from the All Children's Hospital Institutional Review Board (IRB), a cross sectional study was conducted with pediatric admissions and pediatric emergency room visits to determine the characteristics of Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA. During this …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Potential Drug Delivery Systems Using Nonionic Surfactant “Niosome”, Sukit Leekumjorn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Niosomes are synthetic microscopic vesicles consisting of an aqueous core enclosed in a bilayer consisting of cholesterol and one or more nonionic surfactants. They are made of biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic, non-immunogenic and non-carcinogenic agents which form closed spherical structures (self assembly vesicles) upon hydration. With high resistance to hydrolytic degradation, niosomes are capable of entrapping many kinds of soluble drugs while exhibiting greater vesicle stability and longer shelf life.

In this work, a potential drug delivery system has been designed, synthesized and characterized. For the synthesis of niosomes, a hydration process was developed with varying design parameters such as mass …

Indium Oxide As A High Resistivity Buffer Layer For Cdte/Cds Thin Film Solar Cells, Umamaheswari Balasubramanian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transparent conductive oxides are an essential part of technologies that require both large-area electrical contact and optical access in the visible portion of the light spectrum.

SnO₂ doped with Fluorine (SnO₂: F) and In₂O₃ doped with tin (ITO) are the most popular choices of front contacts for CdTe solar cells. In this thesis, CdS/CdTe devices were fabricated with SnO₂: F (MOCVD) and ITO (sputtering) as front contacts without a high resistivity (resistivity relatively greater than front contact) buffer layer. The device characteristics of these devices were low but improved considerably after the …

Important Extrema Of Time Series: Theory And Applications, Harith Suman Gandhi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We describe techniques for fast compression of time series and hierarchical indexing of compressed series based on the assignment of importance levels to the extrema of time series and their derivatives. We formalize the distance functions used in compression and retrieval techniques. We describe retrieval techinques that use the developed compression and indexing techniques for fast retreval of series from a database that match a given pattern.

A Vhdl Implemetation Of The Advanced Encryption Standard-Rijndael Algorithm, Rajender Manteena

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has initiated a process to develop a Federal information Processing Standard (FIPS) for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), specifying an Advanced Encryption Algorithm to replace the Data Encryption standard (DES) the Expired in 1998. NIST has solicited candidate algorithms for inclusion in AES, resulting in fifteen official candidate algorithms of which Rijndael was chosen as the Advanced Encryption Standard.

The Advanced Encryption Standard can be programmed in software or built with pure hardware. However Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) offer a quicker, more customizable solution. This research investigates the AES algorithm with …

The Antidepressant Drug Tianeptine Blocks Working Memory Errors: Pharmacological And Endocrine Manipulations Of Stress-Induced Amnesia In Rats, Adam Marc Campbell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stress has been shown to influence learning and memory in humans and rats (Diamond et al, 1996; Diamond et al, 1999; Krugers et al, 1997; Kirschbaum et al, 1996; Lupien et al, 1997). The hippocampus and is an area of the brain involved in memory function in humans and rats (Kirschbaum et al, 1996; Lupien et al, 1997) and is highly susceptible to stress (Diamond et al, 1990). Research has indicated that a number of stressors such as exposure to a predator (Diamond et al, 1999) can lead to stress effects. Recently efforts have been made to counteract the effects …

The Social Construction Of Workplace "Diversity", Brenda G. Shawver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a study of "workplace diversity" from a social constructionist perspective. The perspective holds that while human meaning is socially created, it is the social order which gives us resources for making this meaning. There is much literature about workplace diversity from objectivist standpoints that takes for granted the term "diversity." What is missing is a comprehensive understanding of diversity: what does this term mean? What does it conceal? I attempt to contribute to a better understanding of diversity by interrogating its construction in popular culture.

I analyze the content of an advertising supplement called "Diversity Works," published in …

Synthesis Of Nanoscale Structures In Single Crystal Silicon Carbide By Electron Beam Lithography, Jay A. Bieber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanostructures were formed on diced specimens of several silicon carbide polytypes and silicon using electron beam lithography. A general introduction to nanostructure synthesis and electron beam lithography,are presented. A scanning electron microscope was retrofitted with a commercially available electron beam lithography package and an electrostatic beam blanker to permit nanoscale lithography to be performed.

A process was first developed and optimized on silicon substrates to expose, poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) resist with an electron beam to make nanoscale nickel masks for reactive ion etching. The masks consist of an array of nickel dots that range in size from 20 to 100 nm …

Effects Of Two-Way Left-Turn Lane On Roadway Safety, Haolei Peng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL) is one of the common median treatments on the roadway. It is found that a number of crashes reported in Florida State are related to TWLTLs. This research focused on evaluating the effect of TWLTLs on these crashes by using the statistical crash prediction model that can estimate the expected number of crashes on TWLTLs. The crash database for analysis was extracted from the Florida Traffic Crash Database based on the TWLTL section list provided by FDOT and combined with some traffic characteristics. It consisted of totally 1688 sample sections within a three-year period from 1996 …

Effects Of Hydrodynamic Regime On Photosynthesis In The Green Alga Caulerpa., Mark D. Driscoll

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The delivery of nutrients to the surface of marine algae can be controlled by the local hydrodynamic regime: in higher flow velocities, the Diffusive Boundary Layer (DBL) at the uptake surface is thinner, which can increase the flux of dissolved chemicals to the algal surface. If the primary productivity of an alga is controlled by the availability of a dissolved chemical, increased water flow should result in greater primary productivity due to increased chemical flux. To test the hypothesis that increased water flow will increase Photosystem II kinematics (PSII) in the green alga Caulerpa we used a Diving Pam Fluorometer …

Improving The Environment In Distance Learning Courses Through The Application Of Aesthetic Principles, Darryl J. Hancock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary goal of this project has been to research and create aesthetic visual environments in distance-learning media through the application of expert criteria and to explore the effects of those environments on student satisfaction and motivation. To accomplish this three instructors with distinct courses were selected to apply aesthetic criteria within the process of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Courses selected were Art Appreciation -- ARTS 1100, Advanced Surveying -- ENGR 2502, and Introduction to Sociology -- SOCI 1101.

The project goal was subdivided into four objectives.

1) Develop criteria for the inclusion of visual aesthetics in the …