American Studies Commons^™

Role Of Foxo Factors As The Nuclear Mediator For Pten-Ar Antagonism In Prostate Cancer Cells, Qiuping Ma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

FoxO proteins are transcriptional factors acting downstream of the tumor suppressor PTEN. Their activity is negatively regulated by AKT-mediated phosphorylation. Our previous studies showed a mutual suppression between PTEN and the androgen receptor (AR) in regulating growth and apoptosis in prostate cancer (PCa) cells. We hypothesize that nuclear FoxO proteins are involved in mediating this mutual antagonism. In this dissertation, we report that PTEN inhibits AR activity through FoxO1 and provide evidence for the involvement of FoxO factors in the androgen-mediated suppression of PTEN-induced apoptosis. Our studies identify a novel mechanism for AR inhibition by FoxO1 and demonstrated the participation …

Structural Diversity In Metal-Organic Materials, Gregory J. Mcmanus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The interest in metal-organic materials namely, coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks has risen dramatically over the past few years. To a certain extent this interest is a consequence of the realization chemists have discovered how to play a form of molecular Lego® in which metal cations or metal clusters represent the bricks (or nodes) and organic ligands such as 4,4-bipyridine (bipy) or benzene-dicarboxylate represents the glue (or spacers). The "node-and-spacer" approach to self-assembly can be invoked in such a manner that a plethora of infinite architectures and discrete polyhedra can be generated from geometric principles, some of which are unprecedented …

Gardens At Home, Gardens At School: Diet And Food Crop Diversity In Two Q'Eqchi' Communities In Southern Belize, Douglas Carl Reeser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A district-wide school garden project has been initiated in the Toledo District of Southern Belize in response to reported high rates of poverty and undernutrition. This paper will discuss research conducted in the summer of 2007 with Q'eqchi' Maya in the Toledo District to determine the effect of school gardens on household diet and gardening, the composition of the household diet, and the makeup of homegardens. Food frequency questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted in two rural villages, one with a school garden program and one without. Various members of NGOs working on school garden projects in the district were …

Can Using One Trainer Solely To Deliver Prompts And Feedback During Role Plays Increase Correct Performance Of Parenting Skills In A Behavioral Parent Training Program?, Michael M. Cripe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral Parent Training refers to a broad range of instructional programs that teach parents and other caregivers ways to build and change behavioral repertoires of children. Most, if not all, such programs employ Behavioral Skills Training (modeling, prompting, role-play practice and feedback) to teach parenting skills. However, specific ways to use prompting during role plays have not been described in the behavioral parent training literature. The present study compared two methods of conducting role plays during parent training. A between group, pretest/posttest design was used to evaluate and compare the effect of using one versus two trainers on the role-play …

Effects Of Supervisor’S Presence On Staff Response To Tactile Prompts And Self-Monitoring In A Group Home Setting, Judy M. Mowery

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Staff management research in group home settings has involved direct observation of staff performance during pre-treatment and treatment conditions. Collecting accurate research data is crucial to analyze treatment effects; however, reactivity to being observed has been cited as a limitation in several studies. The current study evaluated the use of a tactile prompt, self-monitoring, and feedback to increase positive interaction in a group home setting. Direct support professional staff were trained on the purpose and use of the MotivAider which provided tactile prompts to remind them to engage in positive client interaction. Reactivity was assessed by having a confederate observe …

Health Decision Behaviors: Appropriateness Of Dietary Choice, Daryle Hermelin Wane

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dietary choice is a complex mechanism that is influenced by multiple internal and external factors that impact individuals across the life span. The study was designed to examine how individuals make snack food choices based on integration of food motives (cues), appropriateness (nutritional index) as functions of nutritional knowledge, food-related motives, and information processing styles. Community college students participated in a multi part on line survey that ascertained food motives (FCQ), nutrition knowledge (FNQ), information processing (NFC), food pairing task and demographic background data. The single sided Lens model was used to determine the regression weights of the nine food …

Regional Differences In Demographic Characteristics, Professional Practices, And Employment Conditions Of School Psychologists Across The United States, Dama W. Abshier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of school psychology has grown tremendously within the past 100 years, and legislation has played a major role in many changes related to the field. A review of the literature revealed that many studies have been conducted that explored demographic information, professional practices, and employment conditions. The studies tend to be somewhat narrow in focus (e.g., one study may look at demographic characteristics, while another considers only professional practices) and consider state differences rather than regional differences. In accordance with a policy established by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) that a study be conducted every five …

Perceptions Of Programming: Cultivation And Third Person Influences On College Students, Suzette Marie Fisher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There have been many studies conducted on television and its effects. Since the 1950's, when television emerged, there has been an influx of patterns and behaviors associated with television viewing and programming. Many researchers are fascinated with television and the reactions of those who are directly affected by it. People have been known to act out in many ways as a result of something they saw on television. Many believe that television viewing directly affects a person's mind.

An analysis of the results of this qualitative study indicates that college students perceive television has an impact on viewers. Throughout the …

Mechanical Properties Of Particulate-Reinforced Boron Carbide Composites, Lorenzo W. Hankla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The mechanical properties of boron carbide (B₄C) with 10 and 20 vol% particulate inclusions of commercially available nano-sized alpha-phase silicon carbide (a-SiC) or micron-sized titanium diboride (TiB₂) were investigated so as to produce a fine-grained material with high hardness, toughness, and overall strength in order to increase the effectiveness of B₄C as a structural ceramic, whose use in the field has been limited because of the extreme brittle nature of the material.

Full density sintering of the ceramics (≥99% theoretical) was completed using the novel Plasma Pressure Compaction (P²C®) technique, which limited grain growth …

Molecular Mechanism Of Aurora-A Kinase In Human Oncogenesis, Lili He

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aurora-A is a mitotic kinase, which regulates cell cycle progression through modulating centrosome function. Aurora-A expression is frequently altered in human malignancies. The discrepancy between overexpression and amplification suggests that elevated Aurora-A level is likely to be regulated also by transcriptional and/or translational modifications. In this study, we have demonstrated: 1) transcriptional regulation of Aurora-A by E2F3; 2) feedback regulation between tumor suppressor CHFR and Aurora-A; 3) CNTD2 as a novel Aurora-A partner and oncogene to activate Aurora-A and induce transformation.

Aurora-A expression and activity are cell cycle regulated. The mechanism of Aurora-A upregulation at onset of mitosis is largely …

Improving Staff Performance By Enhancing Staff Training Procedures And Organizational Behavior Management Procedures, Dennis Martin Mcclelland Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ability of direct care staff members to carry out behavior programs, specific protocols written by a behavior analyst, or recommendations made after completion of a functional behavioral assessment is an essential tool needed for such documents to actually be meaningful to patients. Since direct care staff members spend the most time directly working with patients, it is imperative that they carry out intervention procedures with reliability and fidelity. This study evaluated the effectiveness of staff training procedures as well as organizational behavior management techniques used to ensure that staff members are equipped with the tools they need and are …

Kibby, Cynthia L. "Cyndi" (Fa 285), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 285. Paper: "Establishing Individual Identity Within a Military Family Through Folklore: written by Cynthia L. Kibby for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Investigating Environmental Change Due To Hypoxic Conditions On The Louisiana Continental Shelf: A Geochemical Approach, Marianne E. Dietz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Louisiana (LA) shelf is chronically affected by seasonal hypoxia that has been shown to be spatially expanding and growing progressively more severe. Hypoxic conditions on the shelf have been closely linked to the large quantities of nutrients delivered to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. Multiple geochemical proxies on a suite of sediment cores from the LA shelf provide a record of environmental change that parallels the onset of hypoxic conditions over the last century and prior to anthropogenic influences. The sedimentary record for the last century shows a shift from terrestrial to algal sources to the …

Enantioselective Brønsted Acid-Catalyzed Reaction Methodology Part A: Enantioselective Mannich Reaction Part B: Enantioselective Desymmetrization Of Meso-Aziridines, Emily Bretherick Rowland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The synthesis of enantiomerically pure compounds is of vital importance. Most biologically active natural products are chiral and require asymmetric synthesis, chiral resolution, or the use of naturally chiral starting materials for their preparation. Organocatalytic enantioselective reaction methodology is a continuously growing area in organic chemistry. The use of organocatalysts as a potentially environmentally friendly alternative to metal catalysts is appealing to the pharmaceutical industry.

In this dissertation an enantioselective Mannich reaction using an organocatalyst was investigated. The reaction was between a ß-keto ester and an imine electrophile catalyzed by vaulted biphenanthrol (VAPOL) phosphoric acid. The reaction resulted in products …

Enantioselective, Bronsted Acid-Catalyzed Additions Of Nitrogen And Carbon Nucleophiles To Imines, Gerald B. Rowland Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of enantioselective reaction methodology has been at the forefront of research in both academic and industrial research laboratories due to the importance of chiral molecules in biological systems. An emerging area of research in the development of enantioselective reaction methodology has been the development of organocatalytic reactions. Organocatalysis, the use of small, chiral organic molecules as catalysts, has the advantage over traditional Lewis acid catalysis in that the reactions in general produce less toxic by-products. One recent breakthrough in the development of enantioselective methodology has been the development of chiral phosphoric acids as organocatalysts. Chiral phosphoric acids have …

Pandemic Vibrio Parahaemolyticus: Defining Strains Using Molecular Typing And A Growth Advantage At Lower Temperatures, Carisa Renee Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a leading cause of seafood-borne illness with a newly emerged pandemic strain. Previous studies compared the pandemic and non-pandemic strains to understand the evolution of the pandemic strain but no definitive explanation for its emergence has been discovered. This study investigated the molecular characteristics of the pandemic strain and growth characteristics at different temperatures. The hypothesis tested was that pandemic strains of V. parahaemolyticus have modifications to their proteome that give a selective advantage over the other V. parahaemolyticus strains at temperatures normally encountered in the environment. Molecular typing techniques; automated ribotyping, pandemic specific PCR and multilocus …

Low Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Performance Degradation, John Andrew Fedock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to quantify the degradation experienced by a polymer electrolyte fuel cell after storage at subzero temperatures ranging from 0 to -40°C. The performance loss was determined by comparing the polarization and other applicable power curves before and after the subzero storage cycle. The causes of this performance degradation were investigated by the use of Scanning Electron Microscope, Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy, and porosity scanning technologies. It was found that there are two distinct types of degradation experienced by the membrane. The first type was identified as a variance of the actual voltage - current …

Psycho-Socio-Cultural Risk Factors For Breech Presentation, Caroline Peterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Breech Baby Study is a mixed methods study which combines qualitative and quantitative inquiry. This study explores psycho-social-cultural risk factors for breech presentation from an evolutionary perspective. The quantitative component of the study uses Florida birth certificate and Medicaid data sets from 1992-2003 to evaluate the influence of ethnicity and socio-economic status on breech presentation.

Ethnicity and socio-economic status account for less than two percent of the variance of risk factors for breech presentation. The qualitative study includes 114 mothers of breech and cephalic presentation babies who completed the State Trait Personality Inventory and a socio-demographic survey. Of these, …

The Efficacy Of Florida’S Approach To In-Service English Speakers Of Other Languages Teacher Training Programs, Ronald D. Simmons Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of how Florida and other states across the country justify the practice of mainstreaming English language learners into regular content classrooms rests on the premise that with the guidance of state officials, local school districts adequately train content teachers to work with English language learners. Yet little to no research exists that can help identify and analyze the overall efficacy of these programs. Consequently, this study has attempted to determine whether district training sessions in Florida are sufficiently covering the state-mandated content areas that teachers are required to learn and to what extent in-service teachers agree or disagree that …

Is The Automobile Essential To Freedom?: Yes!, Rolf A. Jacobson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

American Again In My Lai, Charles Waugh

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Equality News (Summer 2008), Matthew R. Dubois

Equality news / EqualityMaine (2004-2008)

No abstract provided.

Family Affairs Newsletter 2008-07-01, 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.

Review: The Sugar Queen, Carol Malcolm

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the novel "The Sugar Queen," by Sarah Addison Allen.

Review: Flamingo's First Christmas, Tracy Walker

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the children's book "Flamingo's First Christmas," by Nancy Raines Day and illustrated by Fiona Robinson.

Review: Orange Mint And Honey, Katrina Cooks

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the novel "Orange Mint and Honey," by Carleen Brice.

Review: The Sorta Sisters, Nikki Terrell

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the middle school book "The Sorta Sisters," by Adrian Fogelin.

Creating A Space For Yal With Lgbt Content In Our Personal Reading: Creating A Place For Lgbt Students In Our Classrooms, Katherine Mason

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

“West Of The West?”: The Territory Of Hawai’I, The American West, And American Colonialism In The Twentieth Century, Aaron Steven Wilson

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Hawai’i holds a somewhat nebulous place in American History. While it easily fits in the dominant narrative surrounding the Spanish American War of 1898 and World War II, Hawai’i rarely factors into other major historical fields, often making a brief cameo appearance when it does. Because the state is geographically placed at the western extreme of America, one supposes that western historians would gladly accept the task of chronicling Hawaiian history; yet, even academics in this field hesitate to embrace the region. In fact, some scholars who study the American West completely dismiss the notion of including the Hawaiian Islands. …

Review: The Body In Flannery O'Connor's Fiction: Computational Technique And Linguistic Voice, Leslie R. G. Bullington

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the non-fiction book "The Body in Flannery O'Connor's Fiction: Computational Technique and Linguistic Voice," by Donald E. Hardy.