American Studies Commons^™

Counting Or Discounting Television Information: An Examination Of Viewer Perceptions About Old-Age From A Cognitive Processing Perspective Of Cultivation Effects, Lynda Pasteur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cultivation theory (Gerbner & Gross, 1976) suggests that the cumulative effect of heavy exposure to television's underrepresentation and negative portrayal of people 65+ as sexless, insignificant, and comical can cause people to assume such television-like perceptions of the age group in the real world. This study's purpose was to explore not only television's cultivation effect on viewers' perceptions of the number and nature of people 65+, but also the psychological processes that are expected to mediate this effect. As an extension of Shrum, Wyer, and O'Guinn's (1998) study on the role of source discounting in cultivation, this quasi-experiment employed three …

Victorian Perspectives On The Supernatural: The Imaginary Versus The Real In Two Brontë Novels, Crystal Sidell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Victorians obsessed over the supernatural and this fascination with the otherworldly emerges in the literature of the day. With this thesis, I look at two nineteenth century novels that exhibit supernatural phenomena: Charlotte Brontë's Villette (1853) and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847). Both novels, I propose, utilize this aspect of the gothic tradition to enhance their characters' psychological realism.

With Villette, I examine the supernatural as a fabricated experience. First, I study the protagonist's psyche and show how her emotional state directly contributes to the appearance of fantastic material. Specifically, I examine Lucy Snowe's childhood experiences in Bretton …

Population Densities Of The Cuban Treefrog, Osteopilus Septentrionalis And Three Native Species Of Hyla (Hylidae), In Urban And Natural Habitats Of Southwest Florida, Teresa Piacenza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Cuban treefrog, Osteopilus septentrionalis, is an invasive species in Florida that may be negatively impacting adult and larval native treefrog species through competition via direct predation. The purpose of this study was to determine the abundance and distribution of O. septentrionalis in urban, semi-urban and natural habitats. The distribution and abundance of native treefrogs within the study area, Hyla cinerea, Hyla femoralis and Hyla squirella, were also estimated and compared to that of O. septentrionalis. Treefrogs were captured using PVC pipes with two internal diameters, 1.9 cm and 4.45 cm, hung on three tree types, …

Digitally Implemented Interactive Fiction: Systematic Development And Validation Of “Mole, P.I.”, A Multimedia Adventure For Third Grade Readers, Denise Haunstetter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Interactive fiction" has been used to describe many of today's multimedia products. In reality, there is not a universal understanding of what interactive fiction is or what it should entail. The meaning of "interactive" is often interpreted in different ways. Many stories are considered to be interactive because they are placed on the computer. Meanwhile, such stories may lack most of the essential qualities for good literature. Interaction fiction should be upheld to the same standards as traditional texts. Following this belief, this research covers the underlying theories of interactive fiction, examples of misleading "interactive fiction" studies, and guidelines for …

Organizational Culture In Children's Mental Health Systems Of Care, Jessica Mazza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A cohesive organizational culture has been linked to positive outcomes in child-serving agencies, such as improved child-level outcomes and positive organizational climate (Glisson & Green, 2006; Glisson & Hemmelgarm, 1998; Glisson & James, 2002; Hemmelgarn, Glisson, & James, 2006). Although isolated studies of organizational culture have been conducted in individual agencies (child welfare and juvenile justice), no study has examined the organization culture of successful, holistic systems of care that involve the coordination of multiple agencies, such as child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and education. Data collected from the three system-of-care sites selected for participation in Case Studies of …

Comparing A Low-Volume Piezometer To Traditional Wells In Evaluating Hydraulic Lag Caused By Low-Permeability Sediments, John M. Spencer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally-constructed wells are commonly used to measure hydraulic head in all saturated systems, even in fine-grained sediments. Previous studies (Hvorslev 1951, Penman 1961) have shown that time lag in response to head changes between traditional wells and the surrounding fine-grained sediments can be a significant source of error. Time lag is caused by the time required for water to flow into or out of the well to reflect the appropriate change in head.

A low-volume piezometer was constructed to measure changes in hydraulic head without requiring a change in fluid volume within the piezometer by directly measuring pore pressure in …

The Benefits Of Interleaving Different Kinds Of Mathematics Practice Problems, Kelli M. Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In most mathematics textbooks, virtually all of the problems in each set of practice problems, or in each practice set, relate to the immediately preceding lesson - an arrangement described here as the standard format of practice. Alternatively, the problems within a shuffled practice set are drawn from numerous lessons. With the shuffled format, each practice set has two distinguishing features: within-session spacing, in which problems of the same kind appearing in a single practice set are separated by some period of time, and mixed practice, in which different types of problems are interleaved. Although previous studies …

Electoral Abuse In The Late Roman Republic, Howard Troxler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Escalating abuse of elections was a hallmark of the collapse of the Republic that governed at Rome for nearly 500 years before it was swept away and replaced by emperors and Empire. The causes of the Republic's fall are well-explored, but electoral abuse was one of the agencies by which it was brought low - a "how" that helps explain the "why." The abuse of regular electoral form, practiced by all parties, inured the Romans to further and ever-widening abuse. In the end their elections - and the Republic - lost both meaning and independence. This is a controversial claim …

Cysteine Based Pna (Cpna): Design, Synthesis And Application, Sung Wook Yi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This report mainly discusses the development of the cysteine based PNA (CPNA), which is an analogue of PNAs. Peptide nucleic acids (PNA), a pseudopeptide DNA mimic, was discovered by Nielsen and his coworker in 1991. PNA is proved to sequence-specifically form a very stable duplex with complementary DNA and RNA strands through Watson-Crick base paring, and it is also capable of binding to duplex DNA by helix invasion. These intriguing properties of PNA implicated great potential for medical and biotechnical applications. Therefore, PNA has attracted many scientists in the fields of chemistry, biology, medicine including drug discovery and genetic diagnostics, …

A Place In Time: Maria Osborne And Her Daughters, Waterville, Maureen Elgersman - Lee (Ed.)

The Griot

No abstract provided.

Allan Bérubé: A Visionary Historian, John D'Emilio

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

I first met Allan in the spring of 1979. In the two preceding years, in the time he carved out from the odd jobs that kept him afloat, he had systematically pursued leads from Jonathan Ned Katz's Gay American History, in the process amassing his own trove of queer historical documents. One thick line of research especially delighted him. To his surprise, 19th-century San Francisco newspapers ran extended stories, amounting at times to almost mini-biographies, of "women who passed as men."

The John Muir Newsletter, Spring 2008, The John Muir Center For Environmental Studies

Muir Center Newsletters (1981-2015)

John Muir Newsletter University of toe Pacific, Stockton, CA Vdlume,18, Number 2 Spring 2008 _EI Reflections on Muir's 1868 Walk from Oakland to Gilroy A Study in Literature and Environment Howard Cooley Belmont, California "See how God writes history. No technical knowledge is required; only a calm day and a calm mind. " Yellowstone National Park Atlantic Monthly, April 1898 John Muir wrote extensively about his 1869 walk to Yosemite from Snelling in the Central Valley of California, and this was the story that was published as My First Summer In The Sierra in 1911; thus it is also the …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2008-04-01, 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.

Art As Propaganda In Revolutionary America And France: A Comparative Analysis, Megan Blair

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Historians should not limit themselves to studying political, economical, and social aspects of the American and French Revolutions, but should observe cultural factors, such as art, as well. Though wary of art as potentially corrupting, revolutionaries in both cultures employed it as propaganda, though focusing on different genres. In America, where formal art had not advanced either technically or in popularity, artistic propaganda was primarily exhibited through political cartoons, though a few examples of propagandistic portraiture do exist. Here, tradesmen, not trained artists, produced art. Contrarily, while there was an equally productive culture of political cartooning and pornography in France, …

The Design Of An Autonomous Recycling Robot, Eric Davidson

Grace Allen Scholars Theses

For my thesis project, I worked in a team with five electrical and a mechanical engineer, to design and build an autonomous robot. This robot needs to be able to locate, collect, sort, and store to recycle beverage containers to be able to compete in the 2009 IEEE Southeast Conference Hardware Competition. The robot consists of a U-shaped base, with a robotic arm with a front-loaded shovel connected to the arm. Ultrasonic pings are then used to find and position the robot towards the container. Then front sweepers are used to sweep the container into the shovel. To realize that …

Equality News (Spring 2008), Matthew R. Dubois

Equality news / EqualityMaine (2004-2008)

No abstract provided.

Review: The Monster Who Did My Math, Sharon Mitchell

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the children's book "The Monster Who Did My Math," written by Danny Schnitzlein and illustrated by Bill Mayer.

Review: The Death Of A Confederate Colonel: Civil War Stories And A Novella, Crystal Renfro

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the short story collection "The Death of a Confederate Colonel: Civil War Stories and a Novella," by Pat Carr.

Review: Spirit Willing: A Savannah Haunting, Christina Hodgens

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the novel "Spirit Willing: A Savannah Haunting," by Susan B. Johnson.

Review: Ralph Ellison: Emergence Of Genius, Tamika Maddox Strong

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the non-fiction book "Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius," by Lawrence Jackson.

Review: Code Orange, Ginger Nelms

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the young adult novel "Code Orange," by Caroline B. Cooney.

Review: Quest For The Dragon Stone, Erika Gschwind

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the picture book "Quest for the Dragon Stone," by Ami Blackford.

Review: At Home In Mossy Creek, Emily Rogers

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the shared novel "At Home in Mossy Creek," by Debra Leigh Smith, Sandra Chastain, Debra Dixon, and Martha Crockett, with others.

Cob Building: Movements And Moments Of Survival, Jeanine Marie Minge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cob, as an arts-based research process, creates movements and moments of survival. Survival is an ideological construction and an actual, local practice. Survival is also about desiring and fulfilling arts-based desires to work with the land through academic and material scavenging. Cob creates strategies for surviving, for working with our respective environments wisely. Cob building teaches people how to negotiate the natural economy and their relationships to labor and each other through an artistic and intimate practice. From a feminist poststructural lens, survival happens on the local level, between and with people. Cob building creates knowledge through creative, kinesthetic, and …

The Influence Of Valenced Images On Perceptual Learning, Noah Sulman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to determine whether the rate of perceptual learning in a vernier discrimination task could be influenced by affective images. Forty-eight (30 Female, 18 Male) subjects were instructed to indicate the direction of an offset over 620 trials. Subjects were primed with either negative, positive or neutral photographs before making the discrimination on all test trials. Feedback regarding offset performance was provided on each trial. Despite initial pilot data indicating that subjects primed with negative, arousing images improved performance over those primed with either neutral or positive images, there was ultimately no reliable advantage for any of the …

Metallopeptides As Model Systems For The Study Of Cu(Ii)-Dependent Oxidation Chemistry, William Maung Tay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Copper is one of the essential metal ions for aerobic organisms. Two well known functions of copper in the biological systems are electron transfer and molecular oxygen interaction. Thus, this metal can be found in haemocyanin, an oxygen carrier protein, and superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that involves in electron transfer. In addition, having a positive redox potential allows copper to be involved in redox chemistry. It is the redox properties of copper that are responsible for many important biochemical processes. Although the copper-containing oxidases have been well studied over the years, certain mechanistic details such as reaction intermediates remain to …

Lagrange Interpolation On Leja Points, Rodney Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation we investigate Lagrange interpolation. Our first result will deal with a hierarchy of interpolation schemes. Specifically, we will show that given a triangular array of points in a regular compact set K, such that the corresponding Lebesgue constants are subexponential, one always has the uniform convergence of L_n(f) to f for all functions analytic on K. We will then show that uniform convergence of L_n(f) to f for all analytic functions f is equivalent to the fact that the probability measures γ_n = 1/n Σ^{n …}

Cederquist, Nancy (Fa 206), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 206. Paper: "Local Ghost Legends of the Bowling Green-Warren County Area" written by Nancy Cederquist for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

The Effects Of Non-Surgical Interventions On Osteoarthritis-Like Changes In The Mouse Knee, Wendy K. Anemaet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating condition affecting over 21 million persons in the United States. This number is expected to rise in the coming decades. Treatment approaches for OA focus on symptom modifying measures (i.e., pain relief) as disease modifying interventions do not currently exist. However, some of the interventions used to alleviate the symptoms of OA are also thought to have disease-modifying benefits. Two such non-surgical interventions for OA are intra-articular hyaluronan (HA) injections and physical exercise. In order to effectively study their effects in human OA, animal models that are amenable for studying intervention outcomes are needed.

The …

The Influence Of Apathy And Depression On Cognitive Functioning In Parkinson’S Disease, London C. Butterfield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Depression and apathy are two of the most common psychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) with prevalence estimates at higher rates than in medical populations with similar levels of disability. Several studies have provided evidence to suggest that apathy and depression are independent clinical phenomena that may differentially affect cognition. Recent research suggests that apathy may account for cognitive deficits over and above that of depression, especially in the domain of executive functioning. However, few studies have examined the independent influence of depression and apathy on cognitive abilities in patients diagnosed with PD using sensitive measures of specific cognitive domains. …