American Studies Commons^™

Full-Page Versus Partial-Page Screen Designs In Web-Based Training: Their Effects On Learner Satisfaction And Performance, Phillip Eulon Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a report on research regarding the screen layout of Web-based training (WBT) programs, conducted with an eye toward providing evidence-based guidance for the design and development of WBT interfaces. Specifically, the study investigated the relative instructional benefits of two general types of WBT screen design, full-page and partial-page, in terms of both learner performance and learner satisfaction. The main hypotheses of the study were that the full-page design option would yield significantly better outcomes in both categories of interest.

The study employed a mixed-method design, generating both quantitative and qualitative data. The main phase of the study was …

Asperger Syndrome: A Case Study On One Family’S Understanding, Ben Graffam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the way members of one family understand the presence of developmental delays, especially Asperger Syndrome, in the children of that family. Specifically the study sought to glean how each parent constructed individual understanding of the presence of Asperger Syndrome in their twin, 13 year-old boys. It also sought to explore how each twin experienced the phenomenon of being labeled a child with Asperger Syndrome, and how their experiences affected their growing understanding of the syndrome. A third son, 10 years old, with PDD-NOS, was also a central focus in this study in that he also created and …

Prehistoric Human Subsistence Patterns In Northern Patagonia, Argentina: Isotopic Evidence For Reconstructing Diet, Scott Grammer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the isotopic signatures of human skeletal remains that were recovered from several sites along the coast and inland in the north-central Patagonian region of Argentina. Human skeletal remains, dating from 2500 BP through the early historic period, are examined to determine the relative significance of terrestrial and aquatic food resources and subsequently, the extent to which coastal food resources were exploited by indigenous Argentinians. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes contained within human bone collagen and apatite are measured quantitatively to determine the relative significance of marine and terrestrial foods. This study, one of the first isotopic studies of …

Reducing Pollutants In Industrial Stormwater Runoff: Improved Water Quality Protection Using Prioritized Facility Regulation, Lindsay M. Griffen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater pollutants originating from industrial facilities can lead to degraded water quality, even in residentially dominated regions of the country. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program regulates stormwater pollutants generated at industrial sites using Multi-Sector General Permits (Generic permits) for industrial facilities and a permit requirement for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) operators. All industrial facilities within 11 broad categories of industry are responsible for self-identifying the need to comply with the Generic permit, and subsequently, implementing self-selected pollution prevention strategies. MS4 operators are required to identify and inspect “high risk” industrial and commercial facilities that may …

Ground Penetrating Radar Response To Thin Layers: Examples From Waites Island, South Carolina, Swagata Guha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thin layers (layers that are not resolvable in terms of GPR wavelengths) are very common in sedimentary deposits. To better understand ground penetrating radar (GPR) wave behavior in sequences of thin layers with contrasting electromagnetic parameters, 1D FDTD simulations are run for simple layer distributions. Laminated (mm-scale) sequences can produce reflected energy with 10-20% of the amplitude of reflections from equivalent isolated contacts. Amplitude spectra from laminae packages are shifted toward higher frequencies. Such spectral shifts in radar profiles may potentially be used as indicators of fine-scale laminations. A comparative study of GPR records and models generated from core data …

Development Of A Dna Vaccine Against Streptococcus Mutans: A Novel Approach To Immunization Against Dental Caries, Thomas Han

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Streptococcus mutans is the main causative agent of dental caries, which is a widespread infectious disease. A number of surface molecules are involved in the pathogenicity of this organism, including adherence and aggregation factors. The wallassociated protein A (WapA) of Streptococcus mutans GS-5 was previously demonstrated to be a sucrose-dependent adherence and aggregation factor, and is a larger precursor to extracellular antigen A (AgA), a candidate antigen for a dental caries vaccine.

The full-length wapA gene and a C-terminal truncated version agA encoding the AgA were cloned into the mammalian expression vector pcDNA 3.1/V5/His-TOPO. The above constructs were …

Attenuation Of Bromobenzene-Induced Hepatotoxicity By Poly(Adp-Ribose) Polymerase Inhibitors, Kelly Waggoner Hall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have shown extensive cellular damage can activate poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and cause a rapid decrease in the levels of NAD+ and ATP, thereby preventing apoptosis and promoting necrosis and inflammation. The purpose of this study was to extend previous observations that inhibitors of PARP-1 could alter acetaminophen and carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity. Bromobenzene (BB) a glutathione dependent hepatotoxicant was tested. Groups of male mice were treated with a single dosage of 112mg/kg (0.075 ml/kg) BB by the intraperitoneal (ip) route. All animals were maintained in a controlled environment and provided food and water ad libitum. This dosage of BB …

Reliability Of Hand Measures Of Ultrasound Analysis, Sarah A. Hardin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As ultrasound imaging gains popularity in speech research, an important question to address is the reliability of the measures taken from these images. This study examines the reliability of hand measures of ultrasound data collected by graduate student researchers in the University of South Florida’s speech science lab. Speech production data from “Ultrasound analysis of velar fronting” (Wodzinski, 2004) and “Ultrasound study of errors in speech production” (Frisch, 2003) were used to obtain inter-rater reliability measures. This study compares the rater’s choice of video frame depicting alveolar or velar closure image, anterior and posterior points of closure, tongue blade and …

Multiculturalism, Public Policy, And The High School United States And American Literature Canon: A Content Analysis Of Textbooks Adopted In The State Of Florida In 1991 And 2003, Angela L. Hansen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the content of United States and American Literature textbooks adopted in Florida in 1991 and 2003 to determine any change in the inclusion of multiculturalism, as a response to public policy. Since Florida is a key adoption state, textbooks adopted would probably be reflective of national developments. To determine effects of public policy on literary selections appearing in high school United States and American literature textbooks, a variety of strategies was employed. Literary selections for each textbook and each adoption year were categorized by race and/or ethnicity and gender of the author, and genre of selections. In …

Light Element And Lithium Isotope Signatures Of The Emii Reservoir - The Society Islands, French Polynesia: Geochemical Results And An Educational Application, Judy Ann Harden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the abundance systematics of Li, Be and B, and Li isotopic systematics in lavas from the Society Islands, an enriched mantle (EMII) intraplate site, to further characterize the chemical signatures in the sources for ocean island basalts that may result from subduction-related processes and mantle entrainment. The goal is to see how light-element and Li-isotope systematics vary during ocean-island volcanic evolution and during tropical weathering.

B/K, B/Be and Li/V ratios in basaltic Moorea lavas are 0.0001-.0002, 0.6-2.0 and 0.01-0.05 respectively, and the more evolved samples are somewhat higher. These ratios are similar …

The Position Of The Ophiuroidea Within The Phylum Echinodermata, Mary C. Harmon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cladistic analyses of the interclass relationships of the phylum Echinodermata have not provided a phylogeny that is separately supported by both larval and adult characters. Similar to the reported incongruence with cladistic analyses, molecular analyses of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes have also given ambiguous results, which could be due to a number of factors. The use of short sequences, systematic errors such as long branch attraction, and mis-alignments of the data that are introduced by programs which are unsuitable for non-protein coding genes, have resulted in a controversy as to the true nature of echinoderm relationships. Historically, it is the …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Urbanicity And Children With Emotional Disturbances Served In Restructuring Public Schools, Karen Monk Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to affect changes in student achievement through altering the manner in which schools operate have been countless. However, there are few empirical studies on the relationship between these reform activities and student outcomes, especially outcomes for students with emotional disturbances from geographically diverse locations.

The current study was a secondary analysis of data collected as part of the School and Community Study and the Urban School and Community Study conducted by the Research and Training Center for the Childrenís Mental Health at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. Both studies …

A Discourse Concerning Two New Compositions, Stanley D. Harrison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses problems for theorists of writing and composition that arose in the 1990s when capital privatizes the production of internetworked writing and starts operating in the manner of a practicing compositionist. I begin by noting that capital in the 1990s converted internetworked writing machines into fixed capital and started composing its version of the cultural form of the "social" we call the Internet. Thereafter, I argue that composition theorists can best understand the Internet, internetworked writing, and internetworked subjectivities if they regard capital as a formidable compositionist, one capable of making the machinofactured internetworked composition into a privately …

Spatial Analysis Of Pedestrian Accidents, Tomoyuki Hashimoto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improving traffic safety for pedestrians is an urgent task for the Hillsborough County. The objective of this research is to understand the contributing factors that cause pedestrian accidents in Hillsborough County in the State of Florida. Specifically, this research attempts to determine the effects of demographic, land use, roadway and traffic volume factors on the number of pedestrian accidents. Five hypotheses were proposed to examine these factors. GIS was used to perform spatial analysis. Based on pedestrian accident records from 1999 to 2001, accident density map was created using Kernel density method. The value of the accident density was assigned …

“Ethnographizing” Service-Learning: Creating Politically Engaged Anthropology, Wendy Ann Hathaway

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Service-Learning is a popular teaching method that is increasingly being adopted by institutions of higher learning throughout the nation and is enthusiastically promoted as a progressive method for mediating the alleged decline in civic responsibility and ameliorating subsequent social ills. Servicelearning courses are also seen as an answer to growing student disinterest by connecting students to “real world” experiences while simultaneously providing much needed community support in the face of receding social services in this “Post-Welfare” moment (Goode and Maskovsky 2001a).

Anthropological insights, born out of a liberal humanistic tradition, can be employed to critically examine this popular educational and …

Service-Learning Literacies: Lessons Learned From Middle School Youth, Steven Michael Hart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dominant ideology driving the current educational reform movement positions adolescents as deficient in basic literacy skills. To address this deficiency, the trend has been to implement high-stakes standardized literacy tests and increase accountability to schools for developing basic literacy skills. Opposing this Discourse of “deficient youth,” literacy researchers have moved to adolescents’ cultural spheres of life beyond school to discover that traditional structures for teaching literacy appear to have resulted in a growing dissonance between literacies that take place within schools and those employed by youth in their personal worlds.

This research was conducted to explore how adolescents constructed …

Florida's Civil War Soldiers, Jennifer J. Hawley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to chronicle the actions of the soldiers of Florida during the Civil War, both within and without Florida. As there has not been a great deal written on this topic, it is hoped that this thesis will contribute to the discussion and perhaps lead others to study this field.

The soldiers of Florida during the Civil War deserve the same attention given to the soldiers from more prominent states. Those who fought for the Confederacy and stayed to defend their state often had to fight against overwhelming odds. Abandoned for a time by the …

Standardizing The Auditory Evoked Potential Technique: Ground-Truthing Against Behavioral Conditioning In The Goldfish, Carassius Auratus, Randy J. Hill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) have become commonly used to measure hearing thresholds in fish. However, it is uncertain how well AEP thresholds match behavioral hearing thresholds and what effect variability in electrode placement and tank composition has on AEPs. In the first experiment, the effect of testing tank composition and electrode placement on AEPs was determined by recording AEPs in the same individual fish in a steel and PVC cylindrical testing tank, and simultaneously recording AEPs from four locations and two different depths on each of 12 goldfish, Carassius auratus. Results from these studies show that tank composition has …

Fat Commentary And Fat Humor Presented In Visual Media: A Content Analysis, Susan Himes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to examine the phenomenon of fat messages presented through visual media, a content analysis was used to quantify and categorize fat-specific commentary. Fat commentary vignettes were identified using a targeted sampling procedure, and 135 scenes were excised from movies and TV shows. The material was coded by trained raters. Reliability indices were uniformly high for the seven categories (% agreement ranged from .90-.98; kappas ranged from .66-.94). Results indicated that fat commentary and fat humor is often verbal, directed toward another person, and is often presented directly in the presence of the overweight target. Results also indicated that …

The Effects Of A Comprehensive Post-Treatment Recovery Program For Breast Cancer Survivors, Keri Ann Hockett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Breast cancer and its treatment often result in side effects that persist long after treatment has ended. The increased survival rate for breast cancer has allowed for the study of the physical and psychosocial symptoms that persist into the post-treatment period. Although research has tested various interventions and demonstrated improvement in some symptoms, no standard of care exists for management of symptoms in the post- treatment period as part of the continuum of care. Objective: The aim of this research was to examine the effects of a comprehensive recovery program of education, exercise, and support for breast cancer survivors …

Development And Initial Validation Of The Work-Family Facilitation Scale, Sheila K. Holbrook

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The benefits of occupying multiple roles have typically been overlooked. One reason for this oversight is the lack of a well-established scale measuring work-family facilitation. This study developed and validated short, self-report scales of work-to-family facilitation and family-to-work facilitation. Based on conceptualizations of work and family facilitation presented in current research content domains and definitions of the constructs are presented. Work-to-family facilitation is defined as a form of role facilitation in which the experiences in the job, work skills, and emotional gratification from work makes participation in the family easier. Family-to-work facilitation is defined as a form of role facilitation …

The Effects Of An Internet-Based Program On The Early Reading And Oral Language Skills Of At-Risk Preschool Students And Their Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Program, Mary Huffstetter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This investigation examined the effects of instruction, within the context of the Headsprout Reading Basics program, on the oral language and early reading skills of atrisk preschool students, and their teachers’ perceptions of the program. Random assignment was used in a pretest-posttest, control group design to assess the effects of this program. Thirty-one students, across two preschool settings, participated in the experimental group, and 31 students participated in the comparison group. The experimental group received instruction through the Headsprout Reading Basics program, which teaches the alphabetic principle, decoding strategies, print awareness, vocabulary, and deriving meaning from texts. The comparison group …

Concerted Evolution In Sm50, A Gene With Unusual Repeat Structure, Sofia Hussain

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Genes present in multiple copies and genes that contain regions of repetitive sequences can undergo concerted evolution, which results in homogenization of the nucleotide sequence of the genes or repetitive regions. In regions of tandem repeats, this occurs through misalignment of repeat units followed by unequal crossover, which generates two products with differing numbers of repeat units. Gene conversion is thought to lead to one of these products becoming fixed in a species. The homogenous sequence of previously studied genes that have been thought to undergo this process has made it difficult to determine the exact models involved. Here I …

Lessons Learned About Boys’ And Girls’ Mathematical Problem Solving: The Solution Processes, Performance, Linguistic Explanations, Self-Efficacy, And Self-Assessment Of Fifth-Grade Students Of Varying Reading And Mathematics Abilities, Patricia D. Hunsader

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental, causal-comparative study was to examine how gender, reading ability, and mathematics ability differentially moderated students’ mathematical problem-solving processes, linguistic explanations of those solution processes, achievement on a mathematical problem-solving test, self-efficacy on a self-reported rating scale, and selfassessment on a self-reported rating scale. The investigation addressed five research questions. First, to what extent are students’ mathematical problemsolving processes related to gender? Second, to what extent is children’s performance in mathematical problem solving related to gender, reading ability, and mathematics ability? Third, to what extent is the quality of students’ linguistic explanations of their problem-solving processes …

Influence Of Gender On Heart Rate And Core Temperature At Critical Wbgt For Five Clothing Ensembles At Three Levels Of Metabolic Rate, Maeen Zakaria Islam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Three main factors that influence heat stress are clothing, work demands and environmental conditions. Gender may also influence the amount of heat stress an individual can tolerate. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of gender in heat stress limits (critical WBGT) and heat strain (heart rate and core temperature). The null hypothesis was that there was no gender difference among critical WBGT, heart rate and core temperature.

Fifteen subjects (11 men and 4 women) wore five different clothing ensembles (cotton work clothes, cotton coveralls, particle barrier Tyvek, water-barrier/vapor permeable NexGen LS417, and vapor barrier Tychem QC …

All The News That’S Fit To Print? Media Reporting Of Environmental Protection Agency Penalties Assessed Against The Petroleum Refining Industry, 1997-2003, Melissa L. Jarrell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although examination of the relationship between the media and crime has received considerable attention in the academic literature, only a few studies have examined news media coverage of environmental crimes. The present study examines print news media coverage of federal penalties assessed against the petroleum refining industry from 1997 to 2003. The Environmental Protection Agency initiated and/or settled 162 cases involving seventy-eight petroleum refining companies from 1997 to 2003. While a news search of the nation’s twenty-five largest newspapers produced seventy-four articles related to petroleum refining industry violations, only seventeen articles matched the EPA cases analyzed in the present study. …

The Effects Of Small-Scale Heterogeneities On Aquifer Storage Recovery Systems, William C. Hutchings

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) is a recently developed (circa 1970) method (in the U.S.A.) to reduce groundwater-pumping stresses by injecting treated wastewater or surface water during periods of low demand into an aquifer followed by its recovery during periods of high demand. This method has been successfully implemented in numerous locations across the U.S.A. and worldwide, mainly due to the cost savings provided by the use of an unlimited reservoir (aquifer) in which to store water compared to the costs to construct surface impoundments and the inherent problems with storing such water for extended periods of time under evaporative atmospheric …

A Comparison Of Traditional Physical Laboratory And Computer Simulated Laboratory Experiences In Relation To Engineering Undergraduate Students’ Conceptual Understandings Of A Communication Systems Topic, Giti Javidi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate an alternative to the use of traditional physical laboratory activities in a communication systems course. Specifically, this study examined whether as an alternative, computer simulation is as effective as physical laboratory activities in teaching college-level electronics engineering education students about the concepts of signal transmission, modulation and demodulation. Eighty undergraduate engineering students participated in the study, which was conducted at a southeastern four-year university.

The students were randomly assigned to two groups. The groups were compared on understanding the concepts, remembering the concepts, completion time of the lab experiments and perception toward the laboratory …

Occupational Role Portrayals Of African-American Women On Prime-Time Television, Shani Tyhirah Jefferson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined portrayals of African-American women shown in professional careers on prime-time network television during the May 2005 sweeps month. Specifically, the study compares these portrayals to actual U.S. Department of Labor workforce statistics to observe a possible similarity. Additionally, the study identifies any behavioral and conversational stereotyped attributes ascribed to AfricanAmerican female characters shown in the workplace. A quantitative content analysis of four broadcast networks (FOX, ABC, UPN, and WB) ranked by Nielsen Media as having the highest rated prime-time television programming among minority households for 2003-2004 revealed that African-American female characters on network television are over-represented in …

“The Wil Of His Wif:” Discourse, Power, And Gender In Chaucer’S The Tale Of Melibee, Sara D. Jenkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the Tale of Melibee, Chaucer gives us an excellent illustration of a point French theorist Michel Foucault would make centuries later: That power is something that moves and shifts between people and within institutions, that it is not fixed nor permanent, that it is used as needed toward specific ends, and that it is enacted through the medium of discourse. In Melibee, Melibee’s wife Prudence achieves a place of authority and influence in her marriage via her use of discourse, and specifically by using a more “male” way of speaking. Chaucer is often considered feminist-friendly due to …