American Studies Commons^™

Design And Optimization Of Broadband Planar Baluns And Dipole Antennas, Sergio E. Melais

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the rapid growth in the filed of RF and Microwaves circuits, the demand for smaller, faster, and more precise devices has increased. In this thesis, a compact shielded balun, a diode detector, and a broadband sleeve dipole are modeled and implemented resulting in optimal devices presenting accurate operation.

The balun circuit is designed to meet the need for a miniaturized device with broadband application. A balun is a transformer used to connect unbalanced to balanced circuitry, for example, the unbalanced connection from a power splitter (coax) to the balanced input (two-wire) of a dipole. The main objective for …

Stress Diagnostics And Crack Detection In Full-Size Silicon Wafers Using Resonance Ultrasonic Vibrations, Anton Byelyayev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-destructive monitoring of residual elastic stress in silicon wafers is a matter of strong concern for modern photovoltaic industry. The excess stress can generate cracks within the crystalline structure, which further may lead to wafer breakage. Cracks diagnostics and reduction in multicrystalline silicon, for example, are ones of the most important issues in photovoltaics now. The industry is intent to improve the yield of solar cells fabrication. There is a number of techniques to measure residual stress in semiconductor materials today. They include Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and infrared polariscopy. None of these methods are applicable for in-line diagnostics of …

Assessing The Issue Of Arbitrariness In Capital Sentencing In North Carolina: Are The Effects Of Legally Relevant Variables Racially Invariant?, Judith Kavanaugh Earl

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed case and sentencing data from 632 capital cases involving Black and White defendants and victims, processed in North Carolina from May 1990 through December 2002. Logistic regression analysis of all cases and race-specific data allowed assessment of the variable effects of jury acceptance of statutory aggravating and mitigating factors on capital sentencing outcomes (death versus life). The purpose was to evaluate the role race plays in shaping jury use of legally defined factors in capital sentencing. Significant variance in the effect of jury acceptance of aggravators was observed between Black and White defendants. Black defendants pay a …

The Impact Of Victim-Offender Familial Relationships On Capital Sentencing Outcomes, Katharine D. Evans

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is an investigation of whether familial relationships among offenders and their victims affect capital sentencing. Using a sample of capital cases from North Carolina restricted to familial homicides, logistic regression models are used while controlling for legal and extra-legal factors that influence decision outcomes. Such models of capital sentencing are developed to (1) determine whether familial-victim cases have unique correlates; and (2) whether there are variations in the effects of these correlates across gender. Contradictory to these hypotheses, results suggest that acquaintance and stranger relationships are less likely to receive a capital outcome when compared to familial relationships. …

Self-Control, Gang Membership, And Victimization: An Integrated Approach To The Risk Factors Of Violent Victimization, Kristina Childs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study integrates one of the most empirically tested individual characteristics (self-control) with situational factors (risky lifestyle) in an attempt to explain the risks involved in violent victimization. Data came from a diverse sample of 3,907 middle school students who participated in the G.R.E.A.T. program during the 1993-1994 school year. Gang membership is used as a proxy variable to measure risky lifestyle. It is hypothesized that 1) gang membership will mediate the effect of self-control on violent victimization and 2) self-control and gang membership will interact to amplify the risk of violent victimization.

Logistic regression was used to analyze the …

High Resistivity Zinc Stannate As A Buffer Layer In Cds/Cdte Solar Cells, Sudhakar R. Gayam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The electrical conductivity of transparent conducting oxides is well exploited in front surface electrodes for solar cells where high transmission is also important. Fluorine doped tin oxide (SnO₂: F) is the most popular choice of front contacts for CdTe solar cells. In this thesis, Cd₂SnO₄ and Zn₂SnO₄ thin films are investigated focusing on their electrical and optical properties and used them in solar cells. Processing for these materials is optimized for optimum solar cell performance.

Cd₂SnO₄ thin films are deposited by co-sputtering of CdO and SnO₂ targets in …

Understanding Roi Metrics For Software Test Automation, Naveen Jayachandran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Software test automation is widely accepted as an efficient software testing technique. However, automation has failed to deliver the expected productivity more often than not. The goal of this research was to find out the reason for these failures by collecting and understanding the metrics that affect software test automation and provide recommendations on how to successfully adopt automation with a positive return on investment (ROI). The metrics of concern were schedule, cost and effectiveness. The research employed an experimental study where subjects worked on individual manual and automated testing projects. The data collected were cross verified and supplemented with …

Stability Studies Of Cdte Solar Cells Fabricated With Varying Amounts Of Cu In The Back Contact, Swetha Erra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Solar energy is one of the abundant, non-polluting renewable energy options in our planet. During the last three decades considerable progress has been achieved in developing technologies to produce electricity from solar radiation, but producing electricity with low cost and low pollution is of concern. The CdTe solar cells are the leading source for the production of cost effective solar cells. The main issue of concern in these CdTe solar cells is degradation observed when stressed at elevated temperatures. The degradation in CdTe solar cells can be attributed to the back contact, which often contains Cu to improve the electronic …

Hybrid Model For Characterization Of Submicron Particles Using Multiwavelength Spectroscopy, Alicia Garcia-Lopez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The area of particle characterization is expansive; it contains many technologies and methods of analysis. Light spectroscopy techniques yield information on the joint property distribution of particles, comprising the chemical composition, size, shape, and orientation of the particles. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a hybrid scattering-absorption model incorporating Mie and Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory to characterize submicron particles in suspension with multiwavelength spectroscopy.

Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory (RDG) was chosen as a model to relate the particles joint property distribution to the light scattering and absorption phenomena for submicron particles. A correction model to instrument parameters of relevance was implemented to …

Multichannel Functional Data Decomposition And Monitoring, Hani Kababji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With current advances in sensors and information technology, online measurements of process variables become increasingly accessible for process control and monitoring. Such measurements may take the shape of curves rather than scalar values. The term Multichannel Functional Data (MFD) is used to represent the observations of multiple process variables in the shape of curves. Generally MFD contains rich information about processes. The challenge of process control in MFD is that Statistical Process Control (SPC) is not directly applicable. Furthermore, there is no systematic approach to interpret the complex variation in MFD. In this research, our objective is to develop an …

Characterization Of L-Cysteine Thin Films Via Photoemission Spectroscopy, Roy Gargagliano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using photoemission spectroscopy (PES) the interface between the amino acid Lcysteine and a Au substrate was characterized to determine its electronic and chemical structure. L-cysteine was deposited on a Au substrate in several experiments via dipping into solution or via evaporation. The depositions were performed in several steps. Between deposition steps x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) measurements were taken. XPS was used to characterize the chemical interaction at the interface while UPS was used to determine the orbital line-up at the interface and the highest molecular orbital (HOMO) structure of L-cysteine. The results indicate the formation …

Performance Oriented Scheduling With Power Constraints, Brian C. Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current technology trends continue to increase the power density of modern processors at an exponential rate. The increasing transistor density has significantly impacted cooling and power requirements and if left unchecked, the power barrier will adversely affect performance gains in the near future. In this work, we investigate the problem of instruction reordering for improving both performance and power requirements. Recently, a new scheduling technique, called Forced Directed Instruction Scheduling, or FDIS, has been proposed in the literature for use in high level synthesis as well as instruction reordering [15, 16, 6]. This thesis extends the FDIS algorithm by adding …

Rational Fraction Approximations For Passive Network Functions, William Joel Dietmar Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In electrical engineering, the designer is often presented with the problem of synthesizing a circuit for which the mathematical specifications are unsuitable for physical realization. Hence, the engineer must approximate as well as possible the prescribed network function by another function which is realizable. This paper describes a new approximation method for solving the problem of realizing passive network transfer functions, where the realization is carried out through the use of passive, reciprocal, lumped, linear, and time-invariant elements.

Optical Response Of Polycrystalline Mercuric Iodide Photoconductive Detectors, Prashant Chegoor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mercuric Iodide in its tetragonal form has received a lot of attention for many years as a prospective room temperature X-ray and y-ray detector. Its basic properties are well suited for this purpose. Its wide band gap of 2.1eV contributes to a high dark resistivity of 10¹²ohm-cm or higher. A high atomic number of its constituent atoms (Hg-80, I -53) and a density of 6.3g/cm³ result in its efficient interaction with incident X-ray or y-ray radiation. Single crystalline mercuric iodide has been thoroughly studied and successfully utilized in commercial radiation detectors. But with the urgent need for …

Leakage Power Driven Behavioral Synthesis Of Pipelined Asics, Ranganath Gopalan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditional approaches for power optimization during high level synthesis, have targetted single-cycle designs where only one input is being processed by the datapath at any given time. Throughput of large single-cycle designs can be improved by means of pipelining. In this work, we present a framework for the high-level synthesis of pipelined datapaths with low leakage power dissipation. We explore the effect of pipelining on the leakage power dissipation of data-flow intensive designs. An algorithm for minimization of leakage power during behavioral pipelining is presented. The transistor level leakage reduction technique employed here is based on Multi-Threshold CMOS (MTCMOS) technology. …

Flood Forecasting Using Time Series Data Mining, Chaitanya Damle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Earthquakes, floods, rainfall represent a class of nonlinear systems termed chaotic, in which the relationships between variables in a system are dynamic and disproportionate, however completely deterministic. Classical linear time series models have proved inadequate in analysis and prediction of complex geophysical phenomena. Nonlinear approaches such as Artificial Neural Networks, Hidden Markov Models and Nonlinear Prediction are useful in forecasting of daily discharge values in a river. The focus of these methods is on forecasting magnitudes of future discharge values and not the prediction of floods. Chaos theory provides a structured explanation for irregular behavior and anomalies in systems that …

Process Development And Characterization Of Sol-Gel Lead Zirconate Titanate Films For Fabrication Of Flexural Plate Wave Devices, Praveen Kumar Sekhar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research on development of chemical, biological and hazardous gas sensors for homeland security have attracted great deal of interest. Actuators possessing high sensitivity, easy fabrication techniques and excellent integration compatibility are in great demand. Towards this need, the development and characterization of improved solgel processing for in-house fabrication of highly sensitive and reliable Flexural Plate Wave (FPW) device was pursued

This work focuses on an experimental design approach to improve texture and morphology of PZT thin film by systematically controlling the spin, pyrolysis and anneal cycles. The process alterations resulted in an 8-fold increase in the relative …

An Analysis Of Media Perceptions Regarding African Americans In Gettsyburg Throughout 1963, Brendan M. Shelley

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

On Monday, September 28, 1863, the Compiler, Gettysburg Pennsylvania’s Democratic newspaper, published an article taken from the Sussex Messenger about a black man forcing himself onto a white woman. The girl, daughter of Mr. Daniel Messick, was going from her father’s house which was just outside of the town limits to a neighbor’s home when she was suddenly assaulted by a black man. The man jumped out from behind thick brush and grabbed the girl. A struggle ensued and the assailant ripped off the girl’s clothing and put his hand over her mouth in order to keep her from …

The Social Foundations Of Law, Martha Albertson Fineman

Faculty Articles

There are several important questions to ask both our politicians and ourselves as we seek to refine and further define an otherwise abstract commitment to substantive equality with which to replace our current formal version. As with many concepts of historic magnitude, some of the most significant questions to pose about equality have to do with how we should respond to evolutions in understanding and changes in aspiration for the term: ls a mere commitment to formal equality sufficient for a humane and modem state? How should the state respond to the fact that our society is increasingly one in …

A Novel Approach: How E-Book Technology Is Impacting The American Fiction Market, Jodi L. Kastel

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Behind The Bestsellers: Building The Formula For Success In Children's Literature, Zenja R. Quarles

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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But Who Is Any Longer Interested In The Possible?: Kathy Acker In Hell Failing Fuck You, Jake Kennedy

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In 'But who is any longer interested in the possible?': Kathy Acker in Hell Failing Fuck You I explore and celebrate Acker's use of a tropics of failure (plagiarism, pain, terror, gender-play, bad jokes, dumbness) as an inimitable strategy for achieving counter-cultural art and community. The prose style and scholarly apparatus of my article reflect not only my position as a poet/academic but also attempt to model an ethical, non-authoritative, Acker-informed critical language.

Beyond 'Hot Lips' And 'Big Nurse': Creative Writing And Nursing, Sandra Young

English Faculty Publications

This essay describes a special topics creative writing course designed for nursing students, and argues that creative writing strategies work to improve nurses' compositional skills. Also discussed are other potential benefits from creatively writing patients' lives, notably, the blending of arts and sciences, and the ways in which medical schools are encouraging their students to study the humanities, especially literature and creative writing. The essay includes student creative writing samples.

The essay also discusses the depiction of nurses in popular culture. M*A*S*H*, Richard Hooker’s black comedy about the antics of doctors and nurses during the Korean War, gave us “Hot …

Grappling With Scholarship On Pro Wrestling: Comparative Media Studies Inside The Ring., Sam Ford

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

No abstract provided.

[Introduction To] What Caused The Civil War? Reflections On The South And Southern History, Edward L. Ayers

Bookshelf

The Southern past has proven to be fertile ground for great works of history. Peculiarities of tragic proportions—a system of slavery flourishing in a land of freedom, secession and Civil War tearing at a federal Union, deep poverty persisting in a nation of fast-paced development—have fed the imaginations of some of our most accomplished historians.

Foremost in their ranks today is Edward L. Ayers, author of the award-winning and ongoing study of the Civil War in the heart of America, the Valley of the Shadow Project. In wide-ranging essays on the Civil War, the New South, and the twentieth-century South, …

Interracial Love, Virginians' Lies, And Donald Mccaig's Jacob's Ladder, Suzanne W. Jones

English Faculty Publications

The Old South's taboo against love between blacks and whites has cast a long shadow. No cross-racial relationship has been so pathologized by American society. Even in 1967, when the Supreme Court finally declared antimiscegenation laws unconstitutional in the case of Loving v. Virginia, sixteen states still prohibited interracial marriage, down from thirty states as recently as 1948. Not until 1998 and 2000 did ballot initiatives in South Carolina and Alabama finally eliminate the last of the antimiscegenation laws, although no one had tried to enforce them for years. Recent U.S. census figures show interracial unions increasing--up from 3 …

The Graveyard Of Genre: David Markson's Postmodern Epitaphs, Camelia Elias

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

David Markson is a writer who in a series of novels entitled Wittgenstein's Mistress (1988), Reader's Block (1996), and This is not a Novel (2001) explores some of our basic conceptions of genre. Can we call a book of fragments a novel? Is a novel still a novel when the characters are given names such as Author, Protagonist, Reader? What are we left with, when critics resort to labels such as novel of intellectual reference and allusion . . . minus the novel, or seminonfictional semifiction to categorise his texts? Through an apparently endless list of anecdotes and facts regarding …

One-Way Street In A Global City: Don Delillo And The Lugubrious Boredom Of The New Economy, Samuel Gerald Collins

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

few of the things we have fought against in cultural studies include the erroneous perceptions that the forces associated with globalization are 1) benefiting the world's peoples and 2) producing a homogeneous global culture. Against this, we have proffered endless texts documenting the sufferings of the world's peoples and critiquing the underlying assumptions regarding U.S. and Western hegemony as well as more hopeful tracts charting a more equitable future as an alternative to crushing regimes of neo-liberalism. In this, we have been joined by countless activists as well as others in women's studies, Latino/a studies, international relations and …

Self-Guided Micro Vehicle: An Autonomous Vehicle With Gps Navigation And 802.11b Communications, Roberto J. Guerra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To facilitate the learning of automatic navigation systems by engineering students an easy to obtain platform is useful. The topic of this thesis is the design and implementation of a basic self-guided vehicle that can be programmed and expanded by anyone possessing basic experience with the C programming language. The Self-Guided Micro Vehicle, (SGMV), uses off-the-shelf easy to obtain parts such as a toy R/C truck and the Handyboard to maximize availability of this technology to students.

This thesis divides the SGMV design process by functionality. It starts by documenting the locomotion system, which was a modified R/C toy truck. …

Molybdenum As A Back Contact For Cucl Treated Cds/Cdte Solar Cells, Matheshkumar Jayabal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CdTe is one of the most promising absorbers for use in inexpensive semiconductor solar cells having achieved a high efficiency of 16.4% in small area cells [1]. One of the most important technological problems in obtaining high efficiencies is to have a good ohmic contact on the CdTe, which is characterized by a very high work function [2]. Cu is used as a dopant in CdTe at the contact to promote quantum mechanical tunneling [3]. But the oversupply of Cu causes the diffusion of Cu through CdTe to the underlying CdS layer resulting in the degradation of the cell performance. …