American Studies Commons^™

Mining The Meaning Of Collective Memory And Imagination: The Construction Of Identity In The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Courtney Hooper

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

This project illuminates the relationship between cultural resistance, cultural production, and cultural identity in the poetry of Puerto Ricans in New York (“Nuyoricans”). Through textual analysis, informal interviews, and participant observation conducted in the South Bronx, this project is interested in how the descriptions of the island as “home” are used to mediate a cultural or ethnic identity, particularly amongst a people who do not live there, or perhaps never have. While the construction of an ethnic identity and a conceptual homeland in a diasporic community has been studied in past research, the intention here is to elaborate upon the …

Hot Flashes In Men With Prostate Cancer: Prevalence, Severity, And Psychosocial Correlates, Erin Winters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study evaluated the prevalence, severity, and psychosocial correlates of hot flashes in men receiving androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. Seventy-two men completed a detailed packet of questionnaires prior to the initiation of treatment and again three-months later. Results indicated that the extent to which hot flashes interfered with patients' daily functioning significantly contributed to changes in depressive symptoms. Changes in fatigue were found to mediate the relationship between hot-flash related interference and depressive symptomatology, suggesting that increases in fatigue were responsible for the concurrent increases in symptoms of depression. The coping strategy of catastrophizing moderated the relationship …

Inorganic Sorption In Polymer Modified Bentonite Clays, Melody Schwartz Nocon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1986, geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) were invented and successfully used as a replacement for the soil layer in composite lining systems. In some applications an additive (polymer) is mixed with the bentonite to increase performance, especially in those that have low concentrations of sodium bentonite (EPA 2001).Studies showing significant increases in hydraulic conductivity values for bentonite in the presence of high salt concentrations are frequently documented and there is a risk of early breakthrough due to performance failure of the GCL clay component. (Ashmawy et al, 2002). It has also been stated that sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium have …

Understanding Eating Boundaries: A Study Of Vegetarian Identities, Susan Kremmel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My research uses participants' understandings to look at how people define and use the identities and categories of "vegetarian" and "meat-eater." My research examines what it means to be vegetarian, how ideals and moral hierarchies are understood, and how issues of identity importance, social support, and boundary work are components of vegetarian identity construction processes. My research highlights the unmarked character of the meat-eating identity and investigates the variations and complexities of eating behaviors and identities. Learning more about how both vegetarians and meat-eaters construct vegetarian identities contributes to our understanding of identities and how, despite ambiguities, people experience identities. …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2006-05-15, 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.

An Investigation Into The Antifungal Activities Of N-Thiolated Beta- Lactams Against Selected Candida Species, Marci Culbreath

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

β-lactam antibiotics have long been a reliable course of treatment for bacterial infections. However, with recent increases in resistance and rising populations of immunocompromised patients new β-lactams have been synthesized and tested. The Turos laboratory has recently discovered novel β-lactams that have a mode of action distinct from penicillin and other β-lactam antibiotics as cell lysis is not observed. In the current investigations, these compounds are shown to also have antifungal properties. The rising incidence and prevalence of invasive fungal infections has become an increasing concern. The most common fungal pathogens involved in these infections are species in the genus …

The Influence Of Habitat Features On Selection And Use Of A Winter Refuge By Manatees (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris) In Charlotte Harbor, Florida, Sheri L. Barton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigating alternate winter refuges for Florida manatees is increasingly important

as sustained warm-water discharges from industrial and some natural sites becomes more

uncertain. This study examined habitat features of possible importance to manatees by

comparing a winter refuge in Charlotte Harbor, FL (the Matlacha Isles canal system) to

two nearby, seemingly similar sites that are not frequented by manatees during winter.

Water temperature, salinity, boat traffic, canal depth, and tidal flushing were assessed at

these sites. Additionally, this study examined when and how manatees use the Matlacha

Isles refuge by documenting movements, habitat use, and behaviors of manatees during

the …

"Don't Believe The Hype": The Construction And Export Of African American Images In Hip-Hop Culture., John Ike Sewell Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines recurring motifs and personas in hip-hop.

Interviews with influential hip-hop scholars, writers and music industry personnel were conducted and analyzed using qualitative methods. Interview subjects were selected based on their insider knowledge as music critics, hip-hop scholars, ethnomusicologists, publicists, and music industry positions.

The vast majority of constructed imagery in hip-hop is based on a single persona, the gangsta. This qualitative analysis reveals why gangsta personas and motifs have become the de facto imagery of hip-hop. Gangsta imagery is repeatedly presented because it sells, it is the most readily-available role, and because of music industry pressures.

This …

System Optimization For Micron And Sub-Micron Particle Identification Using Spectroscopy-Based Techniques, Eduardo Zurek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes an approach and a model for the analysis of critical parameters related to the optical and electronic components of spectroscopy systems. The model described herein enables a systematic study of the impact of these parameters on the total performance of the system; therefore, it is a tool for the design and optimization of spectrometers.

Although the physics of the optical and electronic components in spectroscopy systems are known and well established, the systemic approach to the understanding of their interactions is recent and it is an area of active research. The results from this study are at …

Simulations For Thermodynamic Analyses Of Transcritical Carbon Dioxide Refrigeration Cycle And Reheat Dehumidification Air Conditioning Cycle, Mark Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Carbon dioxide is a natural refrigerant that has been considered for certain refrigeration and air conditioning applications. The coefficient of performance (COP) of carbon dioxide cycles is low compared to classical vapor compression cycles. The aim of this portion of the thesis is to present a thermodynamic analysis of carbon dioxide cycles in order to evaluate the potential performance of a refrigeration cycle using carbon dioxide. A thermodynamic model for the cycle is proposed which can simulate the operation of a carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle. This model takes into account the practical effects of the thermo-physical properties of carbon dioxide …

Tolstoy And The Woman Question, Jeanna Marie Whiting

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the perceptions of women in art and literature in Russia during the later half of the nineteenth century. It specifically focuses on the women question and examines women's function and role in Russian society and how different visual artists along with Tolstoy examine this issue through their artwork.

The first section of the work focuses specifically on women's social conditions in Russia highlighting their role as daughter, wife and mother. It examines the educational system in place designed for women and the limitations placed upon women concerning marriage and family life. Along with the historical and social …

Impacts Of Rainfall Events On Wastewater Treamtent Processes, Erin K. Mcmahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current research is revealing that stormwater can carry pathogens and that this stormwater is entering wastewater treatment facilities. During periods of intense rainfall, not only can stormwater carry higher amounts of pathogens, but it also increases the flow rate to the wastewater treatment facility. In many instances, the flow rate exceeds the facilities' treatment capacity and can impact treatment performance. The purpose of this study was to identify whether wastewater treatment is impaired during periods of increased rainfall, and to compare current policies that address this issue. The study was conducted using a case study approach to analyze historical precipitation …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2006-05-01, 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.

Thomas Boyd: Lost Author Of The" Lost Generation", Brian Bruce

University of Akron Press Publications

Mentored by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis and published under the renowned Scribner editor Maxwell Perkins, Thomas Boyd attained only modest success as a novelist and biographer. He is known most widely for his World War I novel Through the Wheat, which critics, praising its realistic depiction of war and battle, compared to The Red Badge of Courage. How does a writer like Boyd, with his prominent literary friends, political ideals, professional aspirations, complicated personal life, and early death, fall so easily into obscurity? In this first full biography of Thomas Boyd, Brian Bruce explores the events of Boyd's …

Handling And Preventing Journalistic Fraud: Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, Kenneth Munson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Fraud is a growing concern in the news business, especially in recent years where numerous journalism scandals rock its foundation. This paper examines the most prominent cases: Stephen Glass, the reporter for The New Republic newsmagazine who completely or partially fabricated 27 stories in the late ‘90s; Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who was found to have plagiarized or made up his supposedly on-thescene reporting in 2003; and Janet Cooke, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for her Washington Post story about a child heroin addict who, in actuality, did not exist. This paper will examine flaws …

Cultural Analysis Of The Indian Women's Festival Of Karvachauth, Puja Sahney

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The festival of Karvachauth is celebrated by upper class married women of North India and occurs in the month of October or early November. On this day married women fast to ensure the long lives of their husbands. They wake up before dawn and eat a meal. After sunrise they do not drink water or eat any food until they see the moon at night. The moon is watched through a sieve and prayed to before breaking the fast. An important part of Karvachauth is a ritual that is performed by women in the afternoon. This ritual is hosted by …

Predicting Delinquency In Adolescence And Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Risk And Protective Factors, Amy E. Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Longitudinal studies that track individuals from childhood into adulthood may be the best method to identify risk and protective factors for crime and delinquency. The primary goals of this study were to determine 1) the ability of risk factors identified by the end of elementary school to predict delinquency referrals, 2) the extent to which positive assets (promotive factors) add to the prediction of delinquency, and 3) potential interactions between these risk and promotive factors that moderate the relationship between risk and delinquency referrals. The final purpose was to identify gender and racial differences in these relationships. The current study …

Vision And Disease In The Napoleonic Description De L’Egypte (1809-1828): The Constraints Of French Intellectual Imperialism And The Roots Of Egyptian Self-Definition, Elizabeth L. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the travel conventions manifest in the engravings of the

thirty-volume

Description de l’Egypte produced as a result of the Napoleonic campaign

to Egypt in 1798 and published between 1809 and 1828. The first chapter examines the

discourse established on Egypt in travelogues throughout the eighteenth century prior to

the invasion of the country. I argue that the perceptions developed around the country

did not stem from actual experience, but from political and economic motivations that

cast Egypt in a light favorable for occupation.

I examine how this perception was challenged during the collapse of distance

between the …

The Development Of Leibniz’S Substance Ontology From 1666-1688, Justin Sean Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leibniz’s early conception of individual substance ontology is one of the most puzzling, and fascinating, within the history of philosophy. It is the purpose of this paper to show that: 1) Leibniz did develop a coherent scheme that embodied his substance ontology, 2) the exposition of his early substance ontology is in A Specimen of the Discoveries of the Admirable Secrets of Nature in General, written in 1688 and, 3) the scheme is not sufficiently represented in the Discourse on Metaphysics.

Leibniz slowly developed a multifaceted view of substance within the twenty years previous to the writing of the Discourse. …

Family Affairs Newsletter 2006-04-15, 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.

Cruising John Rechy's City Of Night: Queer Subjectivity, Intimacy, And Counterpublicity, Jennifer Moon

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

No abstract provided.

Interview With Samuel V. Wickliffe Regarding Campbellsville & Taylor County (Fa 202), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an oral history interview done with Samuel V. Wickliffe regarding his life as an African American teacher in Campbellsville, Kentucky. He talks about his work at the African American Durham High School and the eventual integration of schools in Campbellsville. He also discusses his military service during the Korean War.

Modeling The 100-Year Flood Using Gis: A Flood Analysis In The Avon Park Watershed, Alan Stephen Booker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using hydraulic modeling and Geographic Information System (GIS) software, the 100-year flood was delineated for the municipality of Avon Park located in Highlands County, Florida. A detailed and rigorous approach was undertaken to first collect and develop an extensive spatial database to store the data collected that is pertinent to the model. This analysis combined ArcGIS version 8.3 and the Interconnected Channel and Pond Routing (ICPR) model version 3.02 to develop hydraulic models that assigned regulatory flood elevation within the watershed. The model results were post processed and brought into GIS to delineate the 100-year flood.The steps outlined in this …

Middle Woodland Mound Distribution And Ceremonialism In The Apalachicola Valley, Northwest Florida, Anya C. Frashuer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

University of South Florida field investigations in northwest Florida’s Apalachicola Valley have resulted in the relocation of some lost mounds from the Middle Woodland period (ca. A.D. 1 to 650) by trekking through the forest and consulting with avocationals and collectors. This thesis project was triggered by a collector’s donation of some Swift Creek pots and the attempt to relocate the mound from which they came. In the 1970s, Gardner and Nidy recorded this site, named Poplar Springs Mound, categorized as Middle Woodland due to its Swift Creek and Weeden Island pottery. The donated collection contained pottery of the Swift …

Joyce...Beckett...Dedalus...Molloy: A Study In Abjection And Masochism, Patricia A. Mccabe-Remmell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Irish male identity in James Joyce's and Samuel Beckett's novels shows evidence of abjection. The oppressive natures of the Church and State in Ireland contribute to abjection in some Irish men. Furthermore, the state of abject being can lead to masochistic practices. According to Julia Kristeva, abjection translates into a ìconceptual spaceî that has its roots in the Freudian Oedipal complex. Kristeva, following Lacan, also points to the connection between abjection and language. Joyceís character Stephen Dedalus and Beckettís Molloy/Moran both utilize this conceptual space and language in the narrative provides clues to their abject states. Joyceís A Portrait of …

Before The Inca: Prehistoric Dietary Transitions In The Argentine Cuyo, Nicole Shelnut

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A dietary reconstruction was performed in order to understand changing prehistoric subsistence patterns in the Central Andean geographical area of the Argentine Cuyo that includes the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza. Archaeologically, the Cuyo is also known as a boundary between Andean agriculturalists and the foragers of Patagonia. One hypothesis being tested is whether this area was one of the last South American cultural groups to convert to maize cultivation, probably around 2000 BP. The process of stable isotope analysis is used to reconstruct the diets of individuals, as it reveals the relative proportions of C3 and C4 plants …

Animal Husbandry At Tell El Hesi (Israel): Results From Zooarchaeological And Isotopic Analysis, Shannon Marie Peck-Janssen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Located in today’s southern Israel, Tell el Hesi provides archaeologists with important clues to political and social changes in the ancient Near East. Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic analyses were conducted to evaluate shifts in animal husbandry practices during changing socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions in the southern Levant.

During the Early Bronze Age, Tell el Hesi thrived as an agricultural grain producing center for the southern Levant. The acropolis served as both a storage and redistribution center for the inhabitants of Tell el Hesi. Coinciding with the collapse of the southern Levant, Tell el Hesi was abandoned throughout the Middle Bronze …

Viva Wallace Tampa Latins, The Politics Of Americanization, And The Progressive Party Campaign Of 1948, Jared G. Toney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research deals with the presidential election of 1948 and the questions it raises concerning issues of ethnic identity and the experiences of working-class migrants in the U.S. South. Central to the discussion is the unprecedented success of third-party challenger Henry Wallace and his Progressive campaign in the immigrant enclaves of Tampa, Florida. Stigmatized by controversial foreign and domestic programs which drew disabling connections between Wallace and the Communist Party, the Progressive Party campaign hardly got its proverbial feet off the ground before falling victim to virulent criticism and widespread opposition. Carrying just over two percent of the votes nationwide, …

The True Picture Of The Indian—As Jackson Viewed It: The Portrayal Of Alessandro As An Atypical Native American, Carrie. Olin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Helen Hunt Jackson wrote the sentimental novel,

Ramona, to call attention to social justice for Native Americans. This thesis presents a reconsideration and reevaluation of the novel, especially that of the Native American voice the novel presents, by recognizing the complexities of Native American literature and culture. Previous criticism of the novel focuses on the portrayal of Hispanics or the "real life" events, such as the shaping of Southern California, the "true" Ramona, or the life of Jackson. Since there is little critical debate of the text itself, this thesis initiates further exploration. An extensive review of the scholarship …

Video-Based Person Identification Using Facial Strain Maps As A Biometric, Vasant Manohar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on video-based face recognition has started getting increased attention in the past few years. Algorithms developed for video have an advantage from the availability of plentitude of frames in videos to extract information from. Despite this fact, most research in this direction has limited the scope of the problem to the application of still image-based approaches to some selected frames on which 2D algorithms are expected to perform well. It can be realized that such an approach only uses the spatial information contained in video and does not incorporate the temporal structure.Only recently has the intelligence community begun to …