Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Character Strengths And Virtues Of Young Internationally Adopted Chinese Children: A Longitudinal Study From Preschool To School Age, Troy Loker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Shifting from traditional deficit-based psychological research, the current study aimed to broaden the understanding of post-adoption development through a strength-based approach and further explore the recently developed Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Character Strengths among a particularly resilient population of young children-internationally adopted Chinese children. Archival longitudinal data of parents' descriptions about their adopted Chinese children's positive characteristics were analyzed from two time points two years apart. Data on 179 children ages 4 - 5 years old (M = 59.67 months SD = 6.60 months) in Time 1 from 172 families were analyzed with content analysis coding procedures.

Overall, …

Mixture Distributions With Application To Microarray Data Analysis, O'Neil Lynch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main goal in analyzing microarray data is to determine the genes that are differentially expressed across two types of tissue samples or samples obtained under two experimental conditions. In this dissertation we proposed two methods to determine differentially expressed genes. For the penalized normal mixture model (PMMM) to determine genes that are differentially expressed, we penalized both the variance and the mixing proportion parameters simultaneously. The variance parameter was penalized so that the log-likelihood will be bounded, while the mixing proportion parameter was penalized so that its estimates are not on the boundary of its parametric space. The null …

The Babel Paradox, Michel Machado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the book of Acts is still not well understood. Various interpretations have been offered in order to make sense of the narrative and its author's intention. What is the point of Luke's second book in portraying the evangelization of the Roman Empire as a rabid confrontation between Jewish followers of Jesus and other Jewish people? This matter calls for an examination of the relationship between the mother religion and the Jesus movement as it expands into a universal religion. Luke portrays the Jesus movement as the focus of divine favor, in contradistinction to the Jewish nation which …

Photography’S Creative Influence On Lewis Carroll’S Alice’S Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There, Bridget Mahoney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lewis Carroll's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There share many characteristics with the author's photographs. Both Carroll's portraits and literature utilize dreamlike imagery to move beyond the present time and space into a dream world. The similar imagery demonstrates an important creative link between Carroll's novels and photographs. The creation of Carroll's masterpiece, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, creatively depended on the photographic images Carroll produced. Utilizing the four step process of creativity generally accepted by psychologists, Carroll's photographs are …

Architecture Of Materialism: A Study Of Craft In Design Culture, Process, And Product, Logan Mahaffey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is estimated ten thousand hours of experience are required to master any given process (Sennett 20). Whether it is wood joinery, music, culinary arts or weaving, it is about making something that can be seen, heard, touched, and/or used. Society seems to be losing an appreciation for craft as an idea. Especially in the US, materialism has reduced quality and craftsmanship to merely a luxury to those that can afford a $10,000 Maloof chair or an $8000 Amish table. Developers build for maximum profit while buyers seek maximum square footage. Yet it seems while mainstream society continues to "progress", …

Cardiovascular Risk Factors For Mild Cognitive Impairment, Michael Malek-Ahmadi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between cardiovascular conditions and the presence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been well-documented in a number of recent studies. Generally, the presence of cardiovascular conditions such as high total cholesterol and hypertension have been shown to significantly increase the risk for the development of AD. Given the results of these studies, it is possible that these same risk factors might also increase the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An analysis of 216 subjects (119 cognitively normal (CN), 77 aMCI, 20 naMCI) found that after adjusting for age, education, ethnicity, and gender, only hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) showed …

Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution Management: Water Quality Impacts Of Balm Road Treatment Marsh, Hillsborough County, Florida, Sarah J. Malone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Balm Road Treatment Marsh is a 12 ha constructed wetland treatment system in south-central Hillsborough County, Florida created to improve water quality in Bullfrog Creek and ultimately Tampa Bay. The treatment system was designed to treat runoff from approximately 741 ha of upstream agricultural land prior to discharging into the creek, with the primary goals of reducing sediment and nutrient loads. Water quality data from four sites on Bullfrog Creek were analyzed to determine impacts to ambient water quality and pollutant load reductions downstream. Results were compared to the performance of other wetlands to treat both nonpoint and point source …

Using Staff Management Procedures To Improve Staff Adherence With A Toileting Program At An Intermediate Care Facility For Individuals With Developmental Disabilities, Paula A. Matos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate feedback systems for improving staff adherence to a toileting program at an intermediate care facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. The facility uses interoffice memos in order to provide their staff with feedback. Following baseline, we evaluated the effectiveness of the memo (B), memo plus in-service (C), and memo plus feedback (D) in an ABCDBD reversal design across 4 residences. The results showed that memo plus feedback was the most effective intervention.

Facial Skin Motion Properties From Video: Modeling And Applications, Vasant Manohar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deformable modeling of facial soft tissues have found use in application domains such as human-machine interaction for facial expression recognition. More recently, such modeling techniques have been used for tasks like age estimation and person identification. This dissertation is focused on development of novel image analysis algorithms to follow facial strain patterns observed through video recording of faces in expressions. Specifically, we use the strain pattern extracted from non-rigid facial motion as a simplified and adequate way to characterize the underlying material properties of facial soft tissues. Such an approach has several unique features. Strain pattern instead of the image …

Program Satisfaction, School Climate Perceptions, And Psychoeducational Experiences In College Preparatory Programs: A Comparison Of Caucasian And Ethnic Minority Students, Yanique T. Matthews

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study focused on the extent to which participation in academically rigorous college preparatory programs, International Baccalaureate (IB) and the Advanced Placement (AP) particularly, impacts students from racially diverse backgrounds (Caucasian, African American, Asian American and Hispanic/Latino American). Student outcomes of interest included the program satisfaction, school climate perceptions (relationships with peers and teachers), and psychoeducational adjustment (academic and mental health functioning). The experiences of 381 college preparatory participants were also compared to 143 general education peers and subjected to a series of MANOVAs and ANOVAs. General findings indicated that, regardless of the student's racial identity, students in AP …

A Novel Antibody Based Capture Matrix Utilizing Human Serum Albumin And Streptococcal Protein G To Increase Capture Efficiency Of Bacteria, Christie Renee Mccabe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A novel capture matrix utilizing human serum albumin (HSA) and streptococcal Protein G (PG), which possesses an albumin binding domain (ABD), was used to immobilize antibodies for improved bacterial capture efficiency in immunoassays. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to characterize and optimize a specific protocol for the HSA-PG capture matrix; which revealed several critical factors that should be considered. The Fc binding domain, on PG, should have high affinity for the species of capture antibody used in the assay. Goat and rabbit species antibodies bound strongly to the Fc binding domain of PG. Displacement of the capture antibody, …

The Daily Show: Journalism’S Jester, Mark R. Mccarthy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The social meaning of television news has been under transformation since the successes of cable news in the final years of the previous century. In their attempts to preserve viewership and to remain relevant, traditional broadcast news outlets increasingly emulate the conventions of cable news. Instead of retaining audiences, the result has been declining news content and a continued loss of viewers. Amid these industry transformations, the concept of "journalist" continues to undergo change. This evolution of the news allows for a decidedly unique response to news programming in The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Though advertised as a half-hour …

“Desirable Images”: Sexual Mapping In William S. Burroughs’S Naked Lunch And Samuel R. Delany’S Dhalgren, Patrick Mcgowan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In "Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism," Fredric Jameson describes the disappearance, within postmodernism, of an objective framework for mapping the social totality. In order to illustrate this concept, Jameson draws upon the ideas of urban planner Kevin Lynch as formulated in his seminal work, The Image of the City. For Lynch, the design of the postwar alienated city results in varying and fragmentary "cognitive maps" used by its inhabitants to negotiate urban space, a problem that can be rectified by "good" urban planning, which aims to create mappable public space through the implementation of external orientation markers. …

Identity Negotiation: The Perspective Of Asian Indian Women, Pangri Mehta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditional Indian cultural narratives are pervasive and serve to typify personal identity and experience. These cultural narratives portray Indian women as a wife and mother, nurturing, obedient, forbearing, soft-spoken, and the primary transmitters of the ethnic culture. American culture, on the other hand, encourages independence, individualism and a more elastic view towards gender. As assimilation theory suggests, Asian Indians in the United States are likely to assimilate at least some degree into American society. Accordingly, these narratives make up the cultural identity of Indian women in the United States. The contrasting cultural narratives shape the identities of Indian women residing …

Foraminiferal Responses To Arsenic In A Shallow-Water Hydrothermal System In Papua New Guinea And In The Laboratory, Bryan Mccloskey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The tropical Indo-Pacific is the location of highest global foraminiferal biodiversity. However, the shallow-water hydrothermal system in Tutum Bay at Ambitle Island, Papua New Guinea, possesses some of the world's highest naturally-occurring [As]. Foraminifers were collected in this intriguing system in 2003 and 2005 as part of a larger project to examine the possible effects of As and other hydrothermal factors on benthic communities. Despite the high ambient [As], a diverse foraminiferal fauna was observed. Foraminferal communities were examined from surface sediment and from material adhered to rubble at locations from 1-300m from venting and from reference sites, at depths …

Characterization Of Electrowetting Systems For Microfluidic Applications, Pradeep K. Mishra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electrowetting is the change in apparent surface energy in the presence of an electric field. Recently, this phenomenon has been used to control the shape and location of individual droplets on a surface. However, many microfluidics researchers have acknowledged unexplained behaviors and performance degradation. In this work, electrowetting systems are characterized with different methods. The electrowetting response is measured by measuring contact angle for different applied voltages. A novel technique for direct measurement of Electrowetting Force (EWF) using nano indenter is proposed in this work. The EWF measurements show that, for aqueous solution the EWF is more as compared to …

An Evaluation Of The Influence Of Case Method Instruction On The Reflective Thinking Of Msw Students, Marleen Milner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social work practice requires that graduates be prepared to deal with complex, multifaceted problems which cannot be defined completely, do not have absolute, correct answers and can be approached from multiple perspectives. This study evaluated the influence of case-based instruction on MSW students' reflective judgment, an aspect of critical thinking associated with the ability to reason through ill-structured problems. (King, Wood, & Mines, 1990). The Reflective Judgment Model, which describes a developmental continuum based upon epistemic assumptions regarding the source and justification of knowledge claims, served as the theoretical framework for the assessment of reflective thinking in this mixed methods …

Giving Birth In A Different Country: Bangladeshi Immigrant Women’S Childbirth Experiences In The U.S., Mst Khadija Mitu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrant women often lack the social support and help from extended family and other social relationships, which is very significant during the pregnancy, delivery, and postnatal period. This research was conducted among Bangladeshi immigrant women living in the United States, in order to understand their experiences during pregnancy and childbirth: how they coped with the settings of a different country during that period, and how they felt about this situation. While there are several studies on immigrant women and maternal health issues in anthropology, to my knowledge, there have been none that focused specifically on the childbirth experiences of Bangladeshi …

Gallium Nitride Sensors For Hydrogen/Nitrogen And Hydrogen/Carbon Monoxide Gas Mixtures, Christopher Nicholas Monteparo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As hydrogen is increasingly used as an energy carrier, gas sensors that can operate at high temperatures and in harsh environments are needed for fuel cell, aerospace, and automotive applications. The high temperature Fischer-Tropsch process also uses mixtures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to generate synthetic fuels from non-fossil precursors. As the Fischer-Tropsch process depends upon particular gas mixtures to generate various fuels, a sensor which can determine the proper ratio of reactants is needed. To this end, gallium nitride (GaN) has been used to fabricate a resistive gas sensor. GaN is a suitable semiconductor to be used in hydrogen …

The Morphological Complexity Of Spelling, Ages 8 To 15 Years, Courtney R. Mossing

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Learning to spell requires integration of phonological, orthographic, and morphological knowledge. Historically, spelling development has been characterized by linear stages in which children learn to use these knowledge bases in succession. A more recent view challenges the linearity of this approach and proposes that spelling development from the beginning is characterized by the simultaneous interaction of all three linguistic factors. Minimal research exists that qualitatively investigates the integration of these three factors, especially as noted in derivational morphology. The study's purpose was to investigate spelling accuracy and qualitatively analyze the morphological error patterns of typically developing children, ages 8-15 years, …

The Realization Of The Speech Act Of Refusal In Egyptian Arabic By American Learners Of Arabic As A Foreign Language, Nader Morkus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how the speech act of refusal is realized in Egyptian Arabic by intermediate and advanced American learners of Arabic as a foreign language. It also compared the performance of the learners to that of native speakers of Egyptian Arabic and native speakers of American English. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between the learners' language proficiency and their pragmatic competence. In addition, it examined the extent of pragmatic transfer from L1 and whether there was a relationship between the degree of pragmatic transfer and the level of L2 proficiency. The study also examined how refusals are …

Particulate Carbon, Nitrogen And Phosphorus Stoichiometry Of South West Florida Waters, Susan Mary Murasko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The southwestern Florida shelf marine environment has often been characterized as oligotrophic, yet these waters can support large, high biomass, persistent phytoplankton blooms, including blooms of the toxin producing dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. Little is known regarding which major nutrient potentially limits primary production in these waters as both inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations are often near the limits of analytical detection and it is difficult to estimate what percentage of the dissolved organic pool is available for phytoplankton uptake. To assess the nutrient status of phytoplankton populations on the southwest Florida shelf, this project examines the particulate nutrient stoichiometry of …

Songs For Cripples, Michael Nelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work is a fragmented novel or collection of stories which attempts to commingle the profound and the profane while scrutinizing the absurdity of inexplicable hope and the endless pursuit of avoiding loneliness.

Analysis Of Mass Transfer By Jet Impingement And Study Of Heat Transfer In A Trapezoidal Microchannel, Ejiro Stephen Ojada

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis numerically studied mass transfer during fully confined liquid jet impingement on a rotating target disk of finite thickness and radius. The study involved laminar flow with jet Reynolds numbers from 650 to 1500. The nozzle to plate distance ratio was in the range of 0.5 to 2.0, the Schmidt number ranged from 1720 to 2513, and rotational speed was up to 325 rpm. In addition, the jet impingement to a stationary disk was also simulated for the purpose of comparison. The electrochemical fluid used was an electrolyte containing 0.005moles per liter potassium ferricyanide (K3(Fe(CN6)), 0.02moles per liter ferrocyanide …

Devised Architecture: Revitalizing The Mundane, Jason Novisk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In today's society, we view new as good, a universal standpoint that has become so commonly accepted as true, that to question it would be absurd. While many new items are an upgrade over their predecessor, it is important to understand that used items still retain a high amount of value and efficacy. Our landscape is filled with the mundane, industrial elements that surround us, yet due to our familiarity with them they are pushed to the background of our consciousness. However their commonplace should not mask their true potential value. By using what is already there before us, we …

Lateral Macropore Dominated Flow On A Clay Settling Area In The Phosphate Mining District, Peninsular Florida, Natalie Pechenik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to use an applied tracer to study lateral ground water flow paths in the top ~0.5 m of clay settling areas (CSA) in order to gain better understanding of hydrologic connectivity of CSAs to the surrounding hydrologic systems. The study site was located on the non-operational Mosaic Fort Mead Mine property in Fort Meade, Polk County, Florida. This lateral tracer test study is a follow up from a vertical tracer test study performed at the same site location in 2007. The CSA is generally composed of a well developed, clay rich, subangular-blocky surface layer …

Exploring Efficient Design Approaches For Display Of Multidimensional Data To Facilitate Interpretation Of Information, Chitra S. Pathiavadi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prescriptions for effective display of quantitative information involving more than two variables are not available. To explore the effectiveness of retinal variables in facilitating the interpretation of information and decision making when used in conjunction, a study with 135 participants was conducted. The study involved the use of color shape, color value, and value shape as retinal variables in interactive displays that required participants to answer nine questions in three levels of complexity (identification of data points, analyses of local comparisons and global trends). Time-on-task scores and performance scores were measured. In addition, a View Clamp eye tracker system was …

Statistical Changes In Lakes In Urbanizing Watersheds And Lake Return Frequencies Adjusted For Trend And Initial Stage Utilizing Generalized Extreme Value Theory, Shayne Paynter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many water resources throughout the world are demonstrating changes in historic water levels. Potential reasons for these changes include climate shifts, anthropogenic alterations or basin urbanization. The focus of this research was threefold: 1) to determine the extent of spatio-temporal changes in regional precipitation patterns 2) to determine the statistical changes that occur in lakes with urbanizing watersheds and 3) to develop accurate prediction of trends and lake level return frequencies. To investigate rainfall patterns regionally, appropriate distributions, either gamma or generalized extreme value (GEV), were fitted to variables at a number of rainfall gages utilizing maximum likelihood estimation. The …

The Examination Of The Implementation Of The Second Step Program In A Public School System, Lynn Pedraza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As school districts integrate evidence-based prevention programs into their daily regime, they may struggle with implementing these programs with fidelity. This is a multi-method, multi-source, retrospective explanatory study of the implementation factors associated with program installation and partial implementation of an evidence-based violence prevention program, Second Step, in six elementary schools within a large urban school district. The goals of this study were to provide a better understanding of (a) the factors that support implementation of evidence-based programs in K-12 public schools, (b) the factors that constrain implementation, and (c) how developers and researchers might facilitate the application of research …

Prevalence And Influence On Quality Of Life Of Symptoms Caused By Inhaled Odors, Chemicals And Irritants: A Comparison Between Hispanics And Americans, Carmen Perez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to estimate the population prevalence of chemical sensitivities have been limited and have yielded different estimates of the prevalence of affected individuals. Researchers recognize that people differ in their biological susceptibility to environmental contaminants as well as the amount of contaminant to which they are potentially exposed. Lack of information on the population prevalence of people, who report sensitivity to a chemical or many chemicals, as well as variables associated, has been recognized in previous studies (Kreutzer et al., 1999). In a more recent report, Berg et al., in 2007 reported the prevalence and consequences related to inhalation of …