Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

High-Resolution Event Stratigraphy Of Mm-Scale Laminated Sediments From Coastal Salt Ponds: St. John, Us Virgin Islands, Rebekka Amie Larson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A multi-proxy approach is utilized on mm- to cm-scale laminated sediment records in coastal salt ponds on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands to characterize the sediments, identify their sources and depositional processes/events (heavy rainfall, tropical cyclones, tsunamis). Historical records are combined with high-resolution geochronology (short-lived radioisotopes, ²¹⁰Pb, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁷Be) and scanning elemental techniques (XRF and LA-ICP-MS) to link depositional events to how they are manifested in the sedimentary record. Volcanic rocks are the terrigenous sediment source and the sedimentary signature of terrigenous sediment in the geologic record consists of higher amounts of Al, Fe, Ti, Co, and …

Usf's Coverage Of Women's Athletics: A Census Of The Usf Athletics Home Web Page, Laura Ann Lebeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the coverage of women’s athletics at USF provided through photographic representations on the university’s Athletics Internet home web page during the 2009–2010 academic year. Findings from this census of five areas that comprise the USF Athletics Internet home web page revealed that, consistent with recent research on coverage of female athletes and women’s athletics on university web pages, women, compared to men, were underrepresented in the majority of the five areas of the home page analyzed. The difference in the number of overall total photographs of women and men was not that large—48% and 52%, respectively, not …

The Search For The Missing Mantles Of Differentiated Asteroids: Evidence From Taxonomic A-Class Asteroids And Olivine-Dominated Achondrite Meteorites, Michael Peter Lucas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The apparent rarity of taxonomic A-class asteroids poses a significant paradox for understanding asteroid differentiation and the dynamical evolution of the early solar system. Based on results from asteroid taxonomic surveys, and on the abundances and mineralogy of different achondrite meteorites, it appears that olivine-dominated mantle remnants are missing from both the asteroid population and in meteorite collections. Several scenarios to explain this paradox have been proposed: (1) olivine mantle material has been stripped away by collisions and only remains as small fragments (< ~5 km), (2) A-class asteroids are abundant but have been altered in some way masking their presence, or (3) differentiated asteroids did not form thick olivine-rich mantles.

We have approached these questions through the collection of taxonomic and observational data on known A-class …

Automorphism Groups Of Quandles, Jennifer Macquarrie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis arose from a desire to better understand the structures of automorphism groups and inner automorphism groups of quandles. We compute and give the structure of the automorphism groups of all dihedral quandles. In their paper Matrices and Finite Quandles, Ho and Nelson found all quandles (up to isomorphism) of orders 3, 4, and 5 and determined their automorphism groups. Here we find the automorphism groups of all quandles of orders 6 and 7. There are, up to isomoprhism, 73 quandles of order 6 and 289 quandles of order 7.

Underwater Hearing In The Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta Caretta): A Comparison Of Behavioral And Auditory Evoked Potential Audiograms, Kelly Martin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Methods for collecting behavioral audiograms are often time consuming and require trained, captive subjects. It is more practical to measure hearing sensitivity using electrophysiological methods, such as auditory evoked potential (AEP) testing, in which electrodes measure action potentials in response to acoustic stimuli. These data can be collected in a matter of hours. However, results should be verified through behavioral testing. Current knowledge of marine turtle auditory abilities is based on a few electrophysiological tests. The purpose of this study was to collect and compare behavioral and auditory evoked potential audiograms in a captive adult loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta …

Environmental Health In The Latin American And Caribbean Region: Use Of Water Storage Containers, Water Quality, And Community Perception, Erlande Omisca

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water quality and availability are important issues in many developing countries where portions of populations still lack access to potable water. Throughout the English-speaking Caribbean and parts of Latin America, households and businesses invest in water supply systems even when they are connected to and pay for water services from a private or state owned provider. Inconsistent supplies of water from the water companies have led many people to invest in storage tanks which, if operated correctly, can provide water throughout the day even when the supply from the main is low or zero. While these individual systems help to …

Meta-Analysis Of Single-Case Data: A Monte Carlo Investigation Of A Three Level Model, Corina M. Owens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous ways to meta-analyze single-case data have been proposed in the literature, however, consensus on the most appropriate method has not been reached. One method that has been proposed involves multilevel modeling. This study used Monte Carlo methods to examine the appropriateness of Van den Noortgate and Onghena's (2008) raw data multilevel modeling approach to the meta-analysis of single-case data. Specifically, the study examined the fixed effects (i.e., the overall average baseline level and the overall average treatment effect) and the variance components (e.g., the between person within study variance in the average baseline level, the between study variance in …

An Architecture For Global Ubiquitous Sensing, Alfredo Jose Perez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A new class of wireless sensor networks has recently appeared due to the pervasiness of cellular phones with embedded sensors, mobile Internet connectivity, and location technologies. This mobile wireless sensor network has the potential to address large-scale societal problems and improve the people's quality of life in a better, faster and less expensive fashion than current solutions based on static wireless sensor networks. Ubiquitous Sensing is the umbrella term used in this dissertation that encompasses location-based services, human-centric, and participatory sensing applications. At the same time, ubiquitous sensing applications are bringing a new series of challenging problems.

This dissertation proposes …

New Media Photographic Representations Of Women`S Collegiate Volleyball: Game Faces, Action Shots, And Equipment, Alicia Pack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers consistently find that mainstream media often represent women athletes in stereotypical ways including trivialization, sexualization, infantilization, passivity, and utilization of camera down-angles. However, research on new media's visual representation of women athletes is still in its infancy. This study adds to the growing literature on new media's representation of women athletes and concurs with previous findings suggesting that new media might be an outlet that can counter old media gender stereotypes. This thesis used mixed methods of qualitative content analysis and photovoice in order to better understand how Big East volleyball players are represented in photographs on websites: Instances …

Carbon Nanotubes Interactions: Theory And Applications, Adrian Popescu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A theoretical framework describing the carbon nanotubes interaction, involving two distinct approaches, is presented. Based on the results obtained practical applications using carbon nanotubes are further proposed.

First a classical approach is employed for different geometrical configurations, such as parallel or concentric carbon nanotubes. For all the cases analytical expressions for the systems potential energies are derived.

The results obtained using the classical approach are used to propose a few practical applications. These applications include a non-contact device for profiling surfaces and a custom telescopic double wall carbon nanotube for nanolithography applications. It is expected that such devices can be …

Modularizing Crosscutting Concerns In Software, Nalin Saigal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Code modularization provides benefits throughout the software life cycle; however, the presence of crosscutting concerns (CCCs) in software hinders its complete modularization. Traditional modularization techniques work well under the assumption that code being modularized is functionally orthogonal to the rest of the code; as a result, software engineers try to separate code segments that are orthogonal in their functionality into distinct modules. However, in practice, software does not decompose neatly into modules with distinct, orthogonal functionality. In this thesis, we investigate the modularization of CCCs in software using two different techniques.

Firstly, we discuss IVCon, a GUI-based tool that provides …

Decision Aid Models For Resource Sharing Strategies During Global Influenza Pandemics, Alfredo Santana Reynoso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pandemic influenza outbreaks have historically entailed significant societal and economic disruptions. Today, our quality of life is threatened by our inadequate preparedness for the imminent pandemic. The key challenges we are facing stem from a significant uncertainty in virus epidemiology, limited response resources, inadequate international collaboration, and the lack of appropriate science-based decision support tools. The existing literature falls short of comprehensive models for global pandemic spread and mitigation which incorporate the heterogeneity of the world regions and realistic travel networks. In addition, there exist virtually no studies which quantify the impact of resource sharing strategies among multiple countries. This …

Mining Associations Using Directed Hypergraphs, Ramanuja N. Simha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes a novel directed hypergraph based model for any database. We introduce the notion of association rules for multi-valued attributes, which is an adaptation of the definition of quantitative association rules known in the literature. The association rules for multi-valued attributes are integrated in building the directed hypergraph model. This model allows to capture attribute-level associations and their strength. Basing on this model, we provide association-based similarity notions between any two attributes and present a method for finding clusters of similar attributes. We then propose algorithms to identify a subset of attributes known as a leading indicator that …

Foraminiferal Assemblages On Sediment And Reef Rubble At Conch Reef, Florida Usa, Christy Michelle Stephenson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Benthic foraminiferal assemblages are widely used to interpret responses of the benthic communities to environmental stresses. This study compares epibiotic foraminiferal assemblages, collected from reef rubble, with those from reef sediments. The study site, Conch Reef, is the site of the Aquarius Underwater Habitat research facility and includes protected areas used only for scientific studies. Although a number of studies have enumerated foraminiferal taxa from the Florida reef tract, no projects have focused on the assemblages that occur at Conch Reef.

Sediment and reef rubbles samples were collected via SCUBA from a depth range of 13 to 26 m during …

A Novel Device For Cell-Cell Electrofusion, Justin T. Stewart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cell transplantation therapy is a potentially powerful tool and can be used to replace defective cells with healthy cells. This offers the possibility of alleviating the destructive symptoms for many diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, spinal cord trauma, Type I diabetes and many more. While there are many diseases that could be positively impacted from cell transplantation therapy, the focus of this research is insulin dependent, Type I Diabetes.

The Islets of Langerhans are composed of various types of cells located in the pancreas and are responsible for a variety of biochemical functions. Specifically, the beta Islet …

Simplified Methodology For Designing Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plants, Ricardo Vasquez Padilla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The performance of parabolic trough based solar power plants over the last 25 years has proven that this technology is an excellent alternative for the commercial power industry. Compared to conventional power plants, parabolic trough solar power plants produce significantly lower levels of carbon dioxide, although additional research is required to bring the cost of concentrator solar plants to a competitive level. The cost reduction is focused on three areas: thermodynamic efficiency improvements by research and development, scaling up of the unit size, and mass production of the equipment. The optimum design, performance simulation and cost analysis of the parabolic …

Modeling Direct Runoff Hydrographs With The Surge Function, Denis Voytenko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A surge function is a mathematical function of the form f(x)=ax^pe^-bx. We simplify the surge function by holding p constant at 1 and investigate the simplified form as a potential model to represent the full peak of a stream discharge hydrograph. The previously studied Weibull and gamma distributions are included for comparison. We develop an analysis algorithm which produces the best-fit parameters for every peak for each model function, and we process the data with a MATLAB script that uses spectral analysis to filter year-long, 15-minute, stream-discharge data sets. The filtering is necessary to locate the …

Statistical Models For Environmental And Health Sciences, Yong Xu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Statistical analysis and modeling are useful for understanding the behavior of different phenomena. In this study we will focus on two areas of applications: Global warming and cancer research. Global Warming is one of the major environmental challenge people face nowadays and cancer is one of the major health problem that people need to solve.

For Global Warming, we are interest to do research on two major contributable variables: Carbon dioxide (CO2) and atmosphere temperature. We will model carbon dioxide in the atmosphere data with a system of differential equations. We will develop a differential equation for each of six …

An Examination Of The Impacts Of Urbanization On Green Space Access And Water Resources: A Developed And Developing World Perspective, Heather E. Wright Wendel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the impact of urbanization and land use change on the availability and accessibility of two urban amenities that are often inequitably distributed: green space and water features. Diverse methodologies were utilized in order to gain a better understanding of the role of these amenities in improving urban quality of life and integrated water management. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this research provides a unique perspective within both a developed and developing world context by evaluating aspects of urbanization to emphasize more sustainable and integrated approaches to development.

A preliminary analysis highlights potential drivers of green space revitalization in …

Alternative Statistical Methods For Analyzing Geological Phenomena: Bridging The Gap Between Scientific Disciplines, Joseph Frank Van Gaalen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When we consider the nature of the scientific community in conjunction with a sense of typical economic circumstances we find that there are two distinct paths for development. One path involves hypothesis testing and evolution of strategies that are linked with iterations in equipment advances. A second, more complicated scenario, can involve external influences whether economic, political, or otherwise, such as the government closure of NASA's space program in 2011 which will no doubt influence research in associated fields. The following chapters are an account of examples of two statistical techniques and the importance of both on the two relatively …

Optimization Of Proximity Judgment, Brian Day

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As humans, we have evolved to see in three dimensions. Our ancestors developed two eyes that only look forward, which allows the visual area that can perceive depth to be most of the field of view. A variety of sensors have been developed which can determine depth in the environment. They range from producing individual points of depth to the depth of everything in the environment. These sensors have become cheap and can now reliably produce accurate depth. Research is needed to determine how to present the proximity information to the people using the sensors. Touch, sound, and vision have …

Smart Grid Functionality Of A Pv-Energy Storage System, Nenad Damnjanovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Renewable Energy will be the key to preserving the Earth's remaining resources and continuing this surge of technological progress that we have experienced this past century. New philosophies of how/when/where energy should be consumed and produced are attempting to improve upon the current grid infrastructure. The massive advancement in communications, renewable and control systems will allow this new-age electric grid to maximize its efficiency while reducing cost. Renewable, "green" energy is now at the forefront of innovation. As the world population increases, there will be a need to free ourselves from natural resources as much as possible. Advanced Energy Storage …

Lead Discovery And Optimization Strategies Towards The Development Of 4(1h)-Quinolones And 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroacridone Analogs With Antimalarial Activity, Richard Matthew Cross

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of our research endeavor was to successfully employ modern lead discovery and optimization strategies towards the development and identification of compounds possessing antimalarial activity. Preliminary data from in vitro screening at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research identified several chemotypes including 4(1H)-quinolones and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridones to have potent antimalarial activities. Multiple synthetic routes were devised and implemented which enabled the rapid preparation and isolation of over 400 structurally diverse 4(1H)-quinolones and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridones.

Our research towards discovering and optimizing antimalarials was inspired from the severe impact malaria has had on our planet especially on impoverished countries. There are over …

Guanidines, Amidines And Carbamides As Novel Sigma Receptor Ligands For Post-Stroke Therapeutics, Michelle Yolanda Cortes-Salva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stroke is the 3^rd leading cause of death in the United States. For this reason, it has become our goal to find a drug that is capable of reestablishing intracellular and extracellular Ca⁺² flux upon direct binding to the sigma receptor, which can be delivered easily and efficiently. Our active research focuses the development of guanidine analogues that can serve as therapeutic drugs which target sigma 1 and sigma 2 receptors having a direct effect on Ca⁺² levels on the cell. The use of symmetrical guanidine analogues such as N,N'-di-o-tolyl guanidine (o-DTG) as therapeutic drugs for ischemic …

Using A Focus Measure To Automate The Location Of Biological Tissue Surfaces In Brightfield Microscopy, Daniel Toby Elozory

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study of microstructures in brightfield microscopy using unbiased stereology plays a large and growing role in bioscience research. Stereology enables objective quantitative analysis of biological structures within a tissue sample. A first step in the stereology process is to calculate the thickness of a tissue sample by locating the top and bottom surfaces of the sample. The aim of this project is to fully automate this location process by using the relative optical focus measure as an indicator of tissue surface boundary.

The current method for identification of focus bounding planes requires a trained user to manually select the …

Automated Quantification Of Biological Microstructures Using Unbiased Stereology, Om Pavithra Bonam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research in many fields of life and biomedical sciences depends on the microscopic image analysis of biological images. Quantitative analysis of these images is often time-consuming, tedious, and may be prone to subjective bias from the observer and inter /intra observer variations. Systems for automatic analysis developed in the past decade determine various parameters associated with biological tissue, such as the number of cells, object volume and length of fibers to avoid problems with manual collection of microscopic data. Specifically, automatic analysis of biological microstructures using unbiased stereology, a set of approaches designed to avoid all known sources of systematic …

A Modeling Analysis Of Dissolved Carbon Dioxide Discharged From Howard F. Curren Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, Dustin Capps

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, the US Environmental Protection Agency primarily regulates the discharge of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater treatment plants in the United States. A recent study has shown that the treated effluent of many plants contains concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide well above the expected theoretical equilibrium concentration of 0.6 mg/L, indicating that carbon dioxide may have been overlooked as a possible pollutant in receiving waters. For this reason, it is necessary to examine the possible presence of a discharge plume containing high levels of dissolved CO2 downstream from the outfall of a major wastewater treatment plant in Tampa, Florida. …

Generalizations Of A Laplacian-Type Equation In The Heisenberg Group And A Class Of Grushin-Type Spaces, Kristen Snyder Childers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In [2], Beals, Gaveau and Greiner find the fundamental solution to a 2-Laplace-type equation in a class of sub-Riemannian spaces. This fundamental solution is based on the well-known fundamental solution to the p-Laplace equation in Grushin-type spaces [4] and the Heisenberg group [6]. In this thesis, we look to generalize the work in [2] for a p-Laplace-type equation. After discovering that the "natural" generalization fails, we find two generalizations whose solutions are based on the fundamental solution to the p-Laplace equation.

Design And Synthesis Of Beta-Hairpin Peptidomimetics For Modulating Integrin Mediated Cell Adhesion, Abeta Fibrillogenesis And P53-Mdm2 Protein-Protein Interactions, Priyesh Jain

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inhibiting therapeutically important protein-protein interactions has been a tremendous challenge for medicinal chemists. The folded 3D structures of peptides and proteins, mainly comprise secondary structural elements i.e α-helices and β-sheet have created an opportunity to design small molecules and peptidomimetic inhibitors of protein-protein interaction (PPI). Hence, information about the formation and stabilization of these secondary structures is vital for designing future drugs. In this dissertation, several cyclic beta-hairpin peptidomimetics that mimic the recognition surface have been designed and synthesized as inhibitors for different targets such as integrin mediated extracellular matrix -cell adhesion in multiple myeloma, p53-MDM2 PPI, amyloid beta fibrillogenesis …

Dna Methylation And Its Association With Prenatal Exposures And Pregnancy Outcomes, Jennifer Straughen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Altered DNA methylation may lead to suboptimal fetal programming, increasing the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as small for gestational age (SGA); however, few studies have examined the associations between DNA methylation, prenatal exposures, and fetal outcomes. Cross-sectional data from a larger, ongoing study were used to assess the impact of prenatal smoking on gene specific methylation of umbilical cord blood derived DNA and to investigate the association between gene-specific methylation and risk of SGA. The association between gene-specific DNA methylation and birthweight was also assessed. Maternal and infant covariates were abstracted from medical records, cigarette smoke exposure was …