American Studies Commons^™

Investigation Of The Factors Influencing Skid Resistance And The International Friction Index, Luis G. Fuentes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is compiled of the findings of several phases of a detailed research study that was aimed at investigating the Skid Resistance phenomenon. In the first phase of the dissertation research a study was performed to evaluate the different factors that influence frictional measurements obtained using the Dynamic Friction Tester (DFT). A temperature calibration factor that would account for temperature effects on DFT readings and IFI computations was developed. In addition, other variables that also affect the friction measurements obtained using the DFT are identified. In the next phase of the dissertation research the effect of pavement roughness on …

The Development Of A Human Polyomavirus Quantitative Pcr Assay To Assess Viral Persistence, Water Quality, And Human Health Risks, Shannon M. Mcquaig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microbial water quality is generally assessed using fecal indictor organisms; however host-specific microbial source tracking (MST) methodologies can be employed to differentiate sources of fecal pollution. The central goal of this research was to develop and validate a QPCR assay for the quantification of two human-specific polyomaviruses (HPyVs) in environmental water samples. These viruses are prevalent worldwide and produce lifelong, asymptomatic viruria in immunocompetent individuals.

A Taqman® quantitative PCR (QPCR) assay based on the conserved T-antigen of two HPyVs (JCV and BKV) was developed and optimized (Chapter 2). HPyVs were detected in a high proportion of human-associated waste samples (e.g. …

From China To Cuba: Guerilla Warfare As A Mechanism For Mobilizing Resources, Jorge Barrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Guerilla Warfare is a weapon of the weak; it is decisive only where the actor in power fails to commit adequate resources to the conflict. The Chinese and Cuban revolutions are examples of guerilla warfare success, albeit under different conditions and employment techniques; while Mao Tse-tung utilized decentralized guerilla warfare to indoctrinate and mobilize the masses of peasants for revolutionary struggle against a stronger enemy; Fidel Castro employed a more centralized approach to create the conditions necessary for popular support of the revolution. However, in both cases guerilla warfare was simply part of a pragmatic grand strategy to build nationalism …

Globalization, Migration And The U.S. Labor Market For Physicians: The Impact Of Immigration On Local Wages, Finnie B. Cook

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The healthcare labor market has experienced some significant changes in the last half century, including the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, the emergence of managed care in the 1980s, and the worldwide mobility of labor encouraged by globalization. Currently, more than 25% of physicians working in the U.S. are foreign-born. The existing body of literature related to the impact of immigration on local wages has to date found conflicting results. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of immigration of foreign physicians on local physician wages. This study employs physician survey data from the AMA …

Task Oriented Simulation And Control Of A Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm, Fabian Farelo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of my research is to improve the control structure for the new Wheelchair Mounted Robotic Arm (WMRA) to include new algorithms for optimized task execution; that is, making the WMRA a modular task oriented mobile manipulator. The main criterion to be optimized is the fashion in which the wheelchair approaches a final target as well as the starting and final orientation of the wheelchair. This is a novel approach in non-holonomic wheeled manipulators that will help in autonomously executing complex activities of daily living (ADL) tasks.

The WMRA is a 9 degree of freedom system, which provides …

Warren, Rosanna, B. 1953 (Sc 2056), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2056. Letter from Rosanna Warren, the daughter of Robert Penn Warren, to Dr. Henry Hardin, thanking him for his hospitality when she and her mother attended the Robert Penn Warren Symposium at Western Kentucky University on 26 April 1992. She expresses her hope to write a poem about the ticking clock in Hardin's home.

Interrogating Virginia Woolf And The British Suffrage Movement, Gwen Trowbridge Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Interrogating Virginia Woolf and the British Suffrage Movement Gwen Trowbridge Anderson ABSTRACT Much has been written about Virginia Woolf's involvement with feminism and women's rights, but there has been far less exploration about her ties to suffrage. Many of her friends and family are involved in this exploration: Vanessa Stephen Bell, Ethel Smyth, and the Pankhursts (Emmeline, Sylvia, and Cristobel). Other important figures who are relevant to Woolf's work are Sonia Delaunay, Lewis Carroll, and Edmund Spenser. Important concepts like the New Woman, the suffrage movement, feminism, and women's rights are vital to understanding Woolf's involvement with suffrage. This dissertation …

Sensitivity Analysis Of Three Assembly Procedures For A Bascule Bridge Fulcrum, Luke Allen Snyder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many different hub assembly procedures have been utilized over the years in bascule bridge construction. The first assembly procedure (AP1) involves shrink fitting a trunnion component into a hub, followed by the shrink fitting of the entire trunnion-hub (TH) assembly into the girder of the bridge. The second assembly procedure (AP2) involves shrink fitting the hub component first into the girder, then shrink fitting the trunnion component into the hub-girder (HG) assembly. The final assembly procedure uses a warm shrink fitting process whereby induction coils are placed on the girder of the bridge and heat is applied until sufficient thermal …

A Computational Kinematics And Evolutionary Approach To Model Molecular Flexibility For Bionanotechnology, Athina N. Brintaki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modeling molecular structures is critical for understanding the principles that govern the behavior of molecules and for facilitating the exploration of potential pharmaceutical drugs and nanoscale designs. Biological molecules are flexible bodies that can adopt many different shapes (or conformations) until they reach a stable molecular state that is usually described by the minimum internal energy. A major challenge in modeling flexible molecules is the exponential explosion in computational complexity as the molecular size increases and many degrees of freedom are considered to represent the molecules' flexibility. This research work proposes a novel generic computational geometric approach called enhanced BioGeoFilter …

Janice Holt Giles Symposium, 17-18 May 1991 (Mss 283), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 283. Five videocassette recordings of the Janice Holt Giles Symposium presentations made on 17-18 May 1991. Also inlcudes, "Janice Holt Giles", a publication based on papers delivered at the Symposium.

Effects Of Geomorphic Setting On Shallow-Groundwater Exchange And Water Temperature Of Salmon-Bearing Headwater Streams Of The Lower Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, Jason C. Bellino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Temperature is an important physical characteristic of headwater streams that controls the presence and health of juvenile salmonids. Surface water temperature is controlled by many factors including exchanges with groundwater. A study of the hydrology of wetlands associated with headwater streams on the Lower Kenai Peninsula was conducted to determine the effect of geomorphic setting on groundwater discharge to streams and ultimately on in-stream water temperature. Attention was focused on drainage-way and discharge slope wetlands as two end-members of the geomorphic settings of the study area.

Data were collected at 18 study reaches spanning four major watersheds in the study …

Microbial Population Analysis In Leachate From Simulated Solid Waste Bioreactors And Evaluation Of Genetic Relationships And Prevalence Of Vancomycin Resistance Among Environmental Enterococci, Bina S. Nayak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Degradation of the several million tons of solid waste produced in the U.S. annually is microbially mediated, yet little is known about the structure of prokaryotic communities actively involved in the waste degradation process. In the first study, leachates generated during degradation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the presence (co-disposal) or absence of biosolids were analyzed using laboratory-scale bioreactors over an eight-month period. Archaeal and bacterial community structures were investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) targeting 16S rRNA genes. Regardless of waste composition, microbial communities in bioreactor leachates exhibited high diversity and temporal trends. Methanogen sequences from a …

The Citric Acid Cycle Of Thiomicrospira Crunogena: An Oddity Amongst The Proteobacteria, Ishtiaque Quasem

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thiomicrospira crunogena,

a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chemolithoautotroph,

uses the Calvin-Bensen-Bassham cycle to fix carbon. To meet its biosynthetic needs for

oxaloacetate, oxoglutarate, and succinyl-coA, one would expect that this obligately

autotrophic

Gammaproteobacterium would use a ‘wishbone’ version of the citric acid

cycle (CAC) to synthesize the intermediates necessary for biosynthesis, instead of the

fully oxidative version to minimize carbon loss as carbon dioxide. However, upon

examination of its complete genome sequence, it became apparent that this organism did

not fulfill this expectation.

Instead of a wishbone pathway,

T. crunogena appears to run a fully oxidative

CAC. The cycle is ‘locked’ …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2009-11-01, Jean Vermette

Family Affairs newsletter (2004-2016)

FAMILY AFFAIRS was a free, twice-a-month, social activities newsletter for the GLBTQI (gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/queer/intersex) community, sent out around the 1st and 15th of each month. It covered the State of Maine only. The list was begun and maintained for many years by Jean Vermette in Bangor, and later operated by Zack Paakkonen of Portland. Over the years it evolved from a social activities newsletter into a business directory, classified ad service, and community bulletin board.

Sustainable Planning And Design For Ecotourism: Ecotecture Embraced By The Essence Of Nature On Amboro National Park, Santa Cruz-Bolivia, Claudia P. Gil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The concern for the environment and social aspects have been emphasizing in the concept of ecotourism. Tourism is the world's largest industry. "It accounts for more than 10% of total employment, 11% of global GDP, and total tourist trips are predicted to increase to 1.6 billion by 2020". As such, it has a major and increasing impact on both people and nature. The increase of travels and tourists in the world, has led to the acknowledgement of tourism as part of the emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the framework of sustainable development in tourism has been developed as well as …

Performance Analysis Of A Binary-Tree-Based Algorithm For Computing Spatial Distance Histograms, Sadhana Sharma Luetel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The environment is made up of composition of small particles. Hence, particle simulation is an important tool in many scientific and engineering research fields to simulate the real life processes of the environment. Because of the enormous amount of data in such simulations, data management, storage and processing are very challenging tasks. Spatial Distance Histogram (SDH) is one of the most popular queries being used in this field. In this thesis, we are interested in investigating the performance of improvement of an existing algorithm for computing SDH. The algorithm already being used is using a conceptual data structure called density …

The Roles Of Social Bonds, Personality, And Rational Decision-Making: An Empirical Investigation Into Hirschi’S “New” Control Theory, Jonathan Intravia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Control theories have substantively contributed both theoretically and empirically to criminological research. Recently, Hirschi moved away from the personality constructs associated with self-control and created a new conceptualization that favors social bonds. Specifically, Hirschi suggests that counting the number of inhibitors (derived from social bonds) is the best way to predict delinquency. Using middle school and high school students from Largo Florida, this study examines Hirschi's new conceptualization of inhibitors by comparing it with self-control and a traditional social bonding scale. In addition, this study also explores whether Hirschi's new conceptualization and self-control operate through a cognitive scale. Results suggest …

Hemocompatibility Assessment Of 3c-Sic For Cardiovascular Applications, Norelli Schettini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The hemocompatibility of crystalline Silicon Carbide (SiC), in its cubic form (i.e., 3C-SiC), has been evaluated and compared to Silicon (Si), the leading material in biosensing applications. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a hard, chemically robust material, very well suited for harsh environment applications, and has been suggested to have very good biocompatibility. Additionally, SiC in its amorphous form, has been used as a coating for medical implantable devices such as bone prosthetics and cardiovascular stents. However, assessment of single crystal 3C-SiC for cardiovascular applications has not been reported. In this research we have studied the interactions of single crystal 3C-SiC …

Running Toward The Apocalypse: John Updike’S New America, Bob Batchelor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation explores two critical points in understanding John Updike's recent career. First, I examine him from a perspective outside the heavily-studied Rabbit tetralogy. Focusing on Updike's novel Terrorist, I attempt to counter the misperception that he offers little beyond the chronicling of middle-class, suburban America. Instead, this work digs for a deeper understanding of Updike.

Next, I consider Updike's role as an artist, professional writer, and celebrity to draw out a sense of the writer's life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Using him as a case study enables the analysis to include his changing role as a …

The Effect Of Growth Factors On The Corneal Stroma Extracellular Matrix Production By Keratocytes, Latia Shaquan Etheredge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The corneal wound healing process is a complex process, which often leads to the development of scar tissue with loss of transparency. When the cornea is wounded, some of the viable keratocytes are activated by growth factors to proliferate, and repair the wound by the production of a new extracellular matrix (ECM) that is either normal or is disorganized (fibrotic). The first part of this dissertation aims to show that the growth factors IGF-I, TGF-ß, FGF-2, and PDGF stimulate keratocytes to synthesize different levels of collagens and proteoglycans and are therefore responsible for initiating the wound healing repair process. FGF-2 …

Fireproofing The Lawn: Reclaimed Water And Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers In Tampa Bay, Ryan C. Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reclaimed water has increased in popularity as a means to recycle water and thus decrease the amount of wasteful water use. This process is widely used in Tampa Bay for watering of lawns. This increase in popularity and use has raised questions as to what contaminants are in the reclaimed water.

The purpose of this study was to analyze reclaimed water for contaminants believed to be detrimental to health and conduct interviews to ascertain perceptions of risk in the local population. As water reuse grows in popularity further research will need to be conducted to address potential human health concerns. …

Coffins, Closets, Kitchens, And Convents: Women Writing Of Home In Gendered Spaces, Nicole Spottke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coffins, Closets, Kitchens, and Convents uses anthropologist Liz Kenyon's categories of home, Gaston Bachelard's theories on the importance of imagination and metaphor in home building, as well as literary criticism, sociology, and feminist theory to examine values of "home" in various literary works of the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. This dissertation's focus on the struggles within traditional home spheres highlights the female characters' need of a protected space. Yet these characters realize they must allow for connections with various individuals to bring about such a safe space. Through the creative act of writing, Mary Leapor's Mira in the poem, "Crumble …

Investigation Of Residual And Thermal Stress On Membrane-Based Mems Devices, Lynford O. Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thin films have become very important in the past years as there is a tremendous increase in the need for small-scale devices. Thin films are preferred because of their electrical, mechanical, chemical, and other unique properties. They are often used for coatings, and in the fabrication of Microelectronic devices and Micro-electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). Internal (residual) stress always exists when a thin film is employed in the device design. Residual and thermal stresses cause membrane bow, altering the anticipated dynamic response of a membrane-based MEMS design. The device may even become inoperable under the high stresses conditions. As a result, …

Pulsed Power And Load-Pull Measurements For Microwave Transistors, Sivalingam Somasundaram Meena

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A novel method is shown for fitting and/or validating electro-thermal models using pulsed I(V) measurements and pulsed I(V) simulations demonstrated using modifications of an available non-linear model for an LDMOS (Laterally Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor) device. After extracting the thermal time constant, good agreement is achieved between measured and simulated pulsed I(V) results under a wide range of different pulse conditions including DC, very short (<0.1%) duty cycles, and varied pulse widths between these extremes. A pulsed RF load-pull test bench was also assembled and demonstrated for a VDMOS (Vertically Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor) and an LDMOS power transistor. The basic technique should also be useful for GaAs and GaN transistors with suitable consideration for the complexity added by trapping mechanisms present in those types of transistors.

Handover Performance In The Mobile Wimax Netrworks, Yongxue Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mobile terminals allow users to access service while on the move. This unique feature has driven the rapid growth in the mobile network industry, changing it from a new technology into a massive industry in less than two decades.

In this thesis, an in-depth study of the handover effects of mobile WiMAX networks is carried out. The mobile WiMAX technology is first presented as literature study and then the technologies of handovers for previous generations are introduced in detail. Further, the hard handover of the mobile WiMAX is simulated by Network Simulator-2 (NS-2). In addition, the "ping-pang" effect of handover …

Mercury Perception, Community Awareness And Sustainability Implications For The Tampa Bay Region, Florida, Trina Halfhide

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over one million acres of land and water in Florida has been classified as impaired by mercury. Approximately 80% of national fish advisories are issued due to mercury contamination. There have been a number of consumption advisories in the Tampa Bay Region for locally eaten fish such as largemouth bass (

Micropterus salmoides), bowfin (Amia calva), and alligator gar (Lepisosteus osseus). The main purpose of this study was to determine if there is adequate dissemination of mercury related risk information by government agencies to recreational and subsistence fishermen in the Tampa Bay Region. This research …

Environment, Channel, And Interference Awareness For Next Generation Wireless Networks, Serhan Yarkan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wireless communication systems have evolved substantially over the last two decades. The explosive growth of the wireless communications market is expected to continue in the future, as the demand for all types of wireless services is increasing. Beside providing higher data rates, next generation wireless networks (NGWN) are expected to have advanced capabilities such as interoperability, efficient spectrum utilization along with a wide variety of applications over different domains (e.g., public safety and military, aeronautical networks, femtocells, and so on) to the mobile users while serving as many users as possible.

However, these advanced capabilities and services must …

Development Of Cdte Thin Film Solar Cells On Flexible Foil Substrates, Deidra Ranel Hodges

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is a leading thin film photovoltaic (PV) material due to its near ideal band gap of 1.45 eV, its high optical absorption coefficient and availability of various device fabrication methods. Superstrate CdTe solar cells fabricated on glass have to-date exhibited efficiencies of 16.5%. Work on substrate devices has been limited due to difficulties associated with the formation of an ohmic back contact with CdTe. The most promising approach used to-date is based on the use of an interlayer between the CdTe and a metal electrode, an approach that is believed to yield a pseudo-ohmic contact. This research …

Shaping The Dream: A Survey Of Post-World War Ii St. Petersburg, 1946-1963, Jon L. Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

St. Petersburg stood on the cusp of great change in 1946. Returning veterans sought jobs and housing, and St. Petersburg experienced its first major growth era since the real estate boom of the 1920s. The decade of the 1950s saw the city's population leap from 96,738 to 181,298, an 87 percent increase driven by boosters and national publicity about the city's leisurely ambience. Tract houses replaced remaining pockets of pasture and pine trees as subdivisions sprawled toward the city limits and beyond. On fertile truck-farming acreage called Goose Pond, developers built Central Plaza, a shopping center positioned to drain business …

Additive Latent Variable (Alv) Modeling: Assessing Variation In Intervention Impact In Randomized Field Trials, Peter Ayo Toyinbo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to personalize or tailor treatments to maximize impact among different

subgroups, there is need to model not only the main effects of intervention but also the variation

in intervention impact by baseline individual level risk characteristics. To this end a suitable

statistical model will allow researchers to answer a major research question: who benefits or is

harmed by this intervention program? Commonly in social and psychological research, the

baseline risk may be unobservable and have to be estimated from observed indicators that are

measured with errors; also it may have nonlinear relationship with the outcome. Most of the …