Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Antecedent Choice On Academic Engagement And Disruptive Behavior In The Classroom, Ivy Grace E. Morgan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of students enrolled in public school systems receiving special education services continues to increase. Students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those classified with emotional disturbance (ED) often engage in challenging behaviors such as inappropriate outbursts, disruptive behaviors, and off-task behavior that distract other students from learning. These behaviors can negatively impact educational outcomes for both the student and their classmates. Unfortunately, teachers often lack adequate training in addressing disruptive behavior in the classroom and have limited access to feasible interventions. Across-activity choice is a feasible antecedent intervention teachers can use in the classroom. It allows students …

Do Emotion Malleability Beliefs Buffer Social Ostracism? An Experimental Investigation, Bingjie Tong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social ostracism is linked to adverse psychological outcomes, including increased suicide risk among college students. This study examined a manipulation targeting emotion malleability beliefs and its effect on psychological outcomes after a lab-induced social ostracism task (Cyberball). Psychache, a well-established predictor for suicide risk, was examined as a potential moderator variable. College students (N = 243) were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition, which presented information stating that emotions are malleable, or a neutral control condition. Participants in the experimental condition reported a greater increase in beliefs about emotional malleability, greater use of cognitive reappraisal, and less perceived burdensomeness …

Evaluating A Web-Based Training To Teach Behavioral Analysis Students To Implement Behavioral Skills Training, Kate N. Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have found that behavioral skills training (BST) is often an effective strategy when teaching safety skills to children and adults with and without developmental disabilities. Despite BST being an effective intervention to teach safety skills, it requires substantial time from trained behavior analysts to implement with fidelity. Trainee-implemented BST may allow many children to access high-quality safety skills training while not requiring the presence of a behavior analyst. A web-based module may be a cost-effective and easily accessible option for parents, teachers, or Registered Behavior Technicians to teach children these safety skills. The researcher used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline …

Increasing Behavior-Specific Praise Use And Variability With Secondary Education Teachers Using Behavioral Skills Training, Tactile Prompts, And Multiple Exemplars, Cecilia Pannone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers often receive minimal training in classroom management strategies, leading to punitive-based teacher-student interactions. Negative interactions (e.g., reprimands) may decrease behaviors momentarily but do not yield lasting behavior change. Behavior-specific praise (BSP) is a low-response effort classroom management strategy that positively impacts students’ behaviors and academic performance. However, training does not guarantee that BSP will be used throughout the academic years or across student cohorts, leading teachers to revert to negative interactions to manage classroom behaviors. Limited research has investigated the components of praise that increase effectiveness and saliency. This study aimed to increase teachers’ use of BSP using tactile …

A Combined Cognitive Behavioral Therapy And Social Skill Intervention For Autistic Youth With Symptoms Of Anxiety, Ashley Dreiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent co-occurring diagnoses in autistic youth, often exacerbating challenges in social functioning and quality of friendships. While social skills interventions and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) have demonstrated efficacy in addressing these difficulties separately, limited research has examined the integration of these approaches within an individualized format, while including measures of self-report and generalization of skills. This study investigates the development, implementation, and efficacy of a combined CBT/social skill intervention for autistic youth with symptoms of anxiety. Utilizing a single-case multiple baseline design, the study evaluates outcomes across levels of anxiety symptoms and social competence …

Creative Climates: The Impact Of Different Environmental Exposure On Group And Individual Creativity, Michael P. Hopkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the influence of indoor versus outdoor environmental exposure and individual versus group participation on verbal creativity performance. Guided primarily by Attention Restoration Theory (ART; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989), it was predicted that outdoor natural settings would enhance creativity through restorative cognitive processes. Additionally, it was hypothesized that groups would outperform individuals due to the cognitive advantages of collective induction and information pooling. Participants (N = 256) completed verbal creativity tasks—Remote Associates Task (RAT; convergent creativity) and Alternate Uses Task (AUT; divergent creativity)—following a 30-minute exposure period in either an indoor student center or outdoor botanical garden setting, …

Unveiling Success: A Qualitative Exploration Of Job Offer Attainment Among International Female Master's Graduates In Technology, Anna Bahvala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the job search experiences of international female graduates from a Master of Science in Business Analytics and Information Systems (MS BAIS) program in the United States. I focus on the job search and preparation strategies that differentiate graduates, earning $100,000 and above from their peers. Using an Appreciative Inquiry framework and attribution theory as a foundation, the research examines the intersection of gender, mindset, risk-taking, negotiation skills, and self-efficacy in job attainment outcomes. Nine participants were interviewed, with data analyzed using Saldaña’s coding techniques to identify common themes and behaviors. Findings indicate that high earners demonstrated …

Systems, Methods, And Media For Monitoring The Production Process Of A Product, Chris Peter Tsokos, Lohuwa Mamudu

USF Patents

In accordance with some embodiments, systems, methods, and media for monitoring a production process of a product are provided. In some embodiments, a system comprises a remote server, a communications connection between the remote server and a facility database, at least one processor coupled to the communication system, and a memory device having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions. The set of computer readable instructions cause the at least one processor to: receive a first set of data related to the production process, calculate a first monitoring index indicator for the production process based on the first set …

Evaluating Student Driver Knowledge And Behaviors Through A University Driver Education Safety Refresher Program, Jason Jackman, Audrey Everett, Kayleigh Murray, Leomar White

CUTR Internal Grant Research Program

This pilot program utilized an online survey to identify driver behaviors among students, faculty, and staff on the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa campus. Adopting a social marketing approach, the program focused on identifying and addressing driver safety issues and behaviors. The research aimed to develop recommendations for creating a safer driving environment at USF by updating driver safety information for students and raising awareness about safety across all campus transportation modes.

As part of this initiative, the USF Student Government (SG) partnered with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) to pilot a new student transportation officer position …

Evaluating The Protective Role Of Epo-R76e In Oxidative Stress-Induced Cell Death In Retinal Pigment Epithelium, Jemima Alam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) causes dysfunction and loss of Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The degeneration and death of RPE cells causes irreversible visual impairment. Oxidative stress is a widely accepted triggering factor for RPE dysfunction. A hormone called Erythropoietin (EPO) is responsible to facilitate the erythropoiesis process, prevents progenitor cells from apoptosis and protects photoreceptors downregulating retinal degeneration. In this study, we aim to elucidate the role of EPO in downregulating oxidative stress in RPE. It is hypothesized that EPO will have a positive impact on suppressing oxidative stress and ferroptosis-mediated RPE degeneration due to its vital role in apoptosis …

Motivations To Learn English Among First-Year Undergraduate Chinese Students, Yunyu Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the motivations to learn English among first-year Chinese undergraduates enrolled at an American university in the southeastern United States and it is essentially grounded in theories such as Self-Determination Theory and Achievement Goal Theory. It addresses a central research question about how is motivations to learn English shaped by external and internal factors among the first-year undergraduate Chinese students? Recognizing that many Chinese students experience low levels of interest and confidence in English, the study explores internal and external factors that shape motivations, including emotional engagement, cultural and academic expectations, and supportive roles played by teachers and …

The Organizing Role Of Function Knowledge In Scene Schemas, Teresa P. Pham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Schemata, or schemas, are conceptualized as “building blocks” of cognition that guide human information processing, object recognition, retrieval of memory, and more. Major work on schema theory was done in the 1970s, conceptualizing it as a useful framework for understanding how individuals organize knowledge and apply it to understand the world (e.g., Rumelhart, 1980). Research on schema theory has continued to have implications for reading comprehension, visual processing, and encoding and retrieval of memories. Despite the vast literature, the concept of schema itself remains loosely defined, with little consensus on how schemas are organized. This study explores whether function acts …

Myths, Music, And Misconduct: A Lyrical Analysis Of "Epic: The Musical: And How It Bridges The Gap Between Criminology And A Contemporary Audience, Gabriel Simpson

USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

This thesis explores the modern interpretation of Homer’s Odyssey through Epic: The Musical, examining its viability as a bridge between Criminological scholars and a contemporary audience. Epic: The Musical, a musical retelling of The Odyssey created by Jorge Rivere-Herrans, begins with Odysseus and his crew at the end of the Trojan War and ends with Odysseus arriving home at Ithaca. The musical consists of 40 songs and 9 Sagas, or albums, each focused on a different part of Odysseus’ journey. The focus of this thesis is in the relationship between Calypso and Odysseus. The two songs, “Love in Paradise” and …

Counting Doors By Integrating Pomdp Models And Pid Controllers, Rwaida Alssadi, Sara Zuiran, Jolie Elliott, Phi Duong, Chinedum Ajabor, Alwaleed Alsaleemi, Samuel Boddepalli, Vamshi Gattikoppula, Pavan Manigandla, Akram Alghanmi, Muntaser Syed, Samaher Damanhori, Marius Silaghi

Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This paper presents an enhanced hybrid planning architecture that integrates Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) with Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control for indoor robot navigation under uncertainty. Our approach uses PID controller feedback—proportional, integral, and derivative signals—as observation variables in the POMDP model, exploiting well tested mechanisms of processing sensor data. A case study is conducted using an iCreate3 robot navigating a university corridor to deliver a load to a specified room by identifying door frames. We evaluate three progressively refined models with increasing sensor integration and probabilistic reasoning. Experimental results demonstrate that the multi-sensor fusion model achieves an 85% task …

A Visual Question Answering-Based Object Detection Framework Using A Team Of Multi-Agent Uavs, Stéphane Lee, Nathan Rayon, Hakki Erhan Sevil

Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This paper presents an autonomous multi-agent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system designed to perform object detection through Visual Question Answering (VQA) using aerial imagery. The system utilizes an entropy-based distributed behavior model to coordinate UAV movements toward designated waypoints. A VQA model is used to analyze aerial footage for detection of objects of interest. The study investigates the impact of various distributed behavior configurations, including number of UAVs, UAV formations, flight altitude, and separation distance. After analysis, a final optimized configuration for maximizing surface area coverage and VQA model performance were found. These findings contribute to the development of aerial …

Evaluating Relative Localization In Gps-Denied Environments Using Starling2 Uavs, Taiwo Hazeez, Cosme Penney, Daniel Guido, Pratik Mukherjee

Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

This paper presents preliminary results from a study that evaluated vision-based methods for relative localization in GPS-denied environments using Starling 2 drones as test agents. For distributed multi-agent coordination, robot-to-robot localization is critical. In this direction, we evaluate two vision- based detection methods: fiducial-marker based and neural network-based. We use a You Only Look Once (YOLOv8) neural network for drone detection for the on-board localization method. The model was trained from scratch and fine-tuned on a custom dataset. The model performance was 0.94 for [email protected] and 0.63 for [email protected]:0.95. The results demonstrated robust detection under diverse visual conditions. Additionally, we …

Accelerating Early-Stage Robot Navigation Development With Motion Capture And Ros, Daniel Granda, Vladimir Gunichev, Caleb Sanchez, James Vanzwieten, Yufei Tang, Pratik Mukherjee

Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Developing and testing navigation controllers for mobile robots often involves significant challenges related to onboard sensor limitations and the complexities of sensor fusion. Inaccurate or noisy localization data can obscure the true performance of a control algorithm, and sensor integration represents a time-consuming aspect of robotics projects. This paper presents a framework utilizing an external motion capture (MoCap) system integrated with the Robot Operating System (ROS) to provide high-fidelity, ground-truth localization for a Clearpath Husky robot. We detail the system architecture, including custom ROS tools for waypoint collection and navigation. By decoupling controller development from onboard sensor challenges, this framework …

Text-To-Image Model-Based Image Segmentation For Scene Understanding In Autonomous Robot Navigation, Stéphane Lee, Hakki Erhan Sevil

Florida Conference on Recent Advances in Robotics

Image segmentation is essential for navigation and scene understanding in autonomous systems, particularly in un- structured outdoor environments. This study investigates the seg- mentation capabilities of DALL-E 3, a generative text-to-image model, that is not explicitly trained for semantic segmentation. A custom segmentation pipeline was developed to evaluate and refine DALL-E 3 outputs on outdoor images from the RELLIS- 3D dataset. The post-processing workflow includes morphological operations with varied structure elements to enhance segmenta- tion accuracy. Segmentation accuracy was assessed using mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) across selected terrain classes. Results show that the raw DALL-E 3 outputs were improved …

Systems And Methods For At-Home Monitoring Of An Individual, Reese Kyle Starowesky, Carlos Eduardo Pena Duran, Autar Kaw, Ali Yalcin, Carla Vandeweerd

USF Patents

In one embodiment, a sensor unit includes an outer housing including a top plate and a base member that together define an interior space, the top plate being configured to directly receive and support the leg of the piece of furniture, a load cell provided within the interior space configured to measure forces imposed by the leg on the top plate, the load cell including a planar metal plate having a deformable element to which the top plate is mounted and a sensor element mounted to the planar metal plate at a location at which the deformable element extends from …

High-Throughput Nmr Approach For In-Membrane Protein Ligand Screening, Libin Ye, Xudong Wang

USF Patents

This disclosure relates to the identification of interactions between ligands and in-membrane proteins using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Also provided are methods for high-throughput identification of in-membrane ligand-membrane protein interactions.

Contribution To The Knowledge Of Cave-Dwelling Fauna From The Prokletije Mountains, Joanna Kocot-Zalewska, Iwona Słowińska, Paweł Domagała, Jakub Bienias, Dominik Szymański, Dawid Szymański, Hubert Szymański, Paweł Sienkiewicz, Andrzej Józef Woźnica

International Journal of Speleology

The article presents the results of the study on invertebrate fauna inhabiting caves in the Prokletije Mountains. This mountain range is located on the border of Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo. During the expeditions to Albania in 2021 and to Montenegro in 2022–2023, 17 caves and one bauxite mine were visited altogether. All the studied caves are located very high, above 1,700 m a.s.l., where the temperature inside is low, and several are filled with ice or snow. During the Albanian expedition 102 arthropods have been collected altogether. Among these were 19 beetles (Coleoptera), 44 flies (Diptera), three crickets (Orthoptera), five …

Corridor-Wide Surveillance Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems Phase Iii: Exploration Of The Implementation Of Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems For Freeway Incident Detection And Management: Part B, Yu Zhang, Achilleas Kourtellis, Joseph Post, Bai Li, Brian Porter, Mahdi Monemi Nodehi

Research Reports

In the third phase of the project, the research team continued utilizing drone systems equipped with thermal cameras to enable real-time detection of traffic incidents and their resulting non-recurrent congestion on freeways, while distinguishing them from recurrent congestion. A comprehensive literature review on existing traffic incident detection methods was conducted. Building on insights from the literature and prior accomplishments, the team designed and implemented a drone-based incident detection framework. This framework first extracts vehicle trajectories at fixed intervals from thermal video data and generates corresponding trajectory images. A customized convolutional neural network (CNN) based deep learning model is then developed …

Work, War, Wit, Wisdom: Lessons And Legacies From Ybor City, Donna Piñero Parrino

Tampa Bay History

No abstract provided.

Enhancing State-Of-The-Art Motor Imagery Classification With Reinforcement Learning, Anton Shepelev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the key obstacles to the rapid adoption of non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) for Motor Imagery (MI) is the low signal-to-noise ratio, and the substantial data requirements which can be mentally taxing for users. EEGNet, a compact Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), has long been considered the state-of-the-art (SOTA) for MI classification, demonstrating strong performance even with limited data. However, recent studies advocate for integrating Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) to further enhance classification accuracy by dynamically optimizing feature extraction and decision-making processes. Despite this potential, practical implementations remain scarce due to challenges in stabilizing RL training and adapting it to …

Corruption And Foreign Influence: A Cross-National Analysis Of Environmental Violence, Jamilah D. Christiansen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

World systems theory argues that wealthier nations exploit less developed nations, exerting their power and influence to take advantage of resources, often with little pushback. However, there is an ever-growing number of conflicts organized by citizens and activists alike that seek to push-back against the exploitation of their homes and labor, working to resist the political corruption and foreign manipulation within their governments. This dissertation examines the factors that contribute to the rise in environmentally-related conflicts, the impacts of those conflicts, and finally the resolutions of those conflicts using data that includes 1370 instances of conflict across 101 nations from …

Pilot Application Of Biometric-Based Vehicle Occupancy Detection On Managed Lanes For Congestion Reduction, Sara J. Hendricks, Philip L. Winters, Poojitha Bolleni

Research Reports

This study tested the accuracy and reliability of a biometric vehicle occupancy detection technology. Downloaded onto a carpooler’s mobile device, the app enables measuring the number of passengers in a vehicle for purposes of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) and high occupancy toll (HOT) lane management and incentivization. Volunteers recruited from South Florida, the Tampa Bay area, and Utah used the app to log carpool trips that were recorded and validated by the app. The data were compared against digital photos taken at the same time as the trip to verify that the carpool validation was correct. A survey was conducted …

Combating Genocide Denial Through Rwanda’S Foreign Policy, Jonathan R. Beloff

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Rwanda’s foreign policy is still greatly influenced by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, commonly referred to as the Rwanda Genocide. Despite the genocidal massacres ending over thirty years ago, the Rwandan government still perceives its continued threat. Despite tangible threats to the state, such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) decline, the concern of the genocide’s lasting ideology and denial still concerns Rwandan policymakers responsible for the nation’s foreign policy and remembrance. This research relies on in-depth fieldwork with various Rwandan government agencies responsible for crafting state security, foreign policy, and anti-genocide policies. It examines …

Communicating Assessments With Impact: Insights From The Scientific Community, Emily M. Mccarthy

Journal of Strategic Security

Assessments analysts are extensively trained in the application of analytic techniques, but less time is spent equipping them with the tools needed to communicate their assessments effectively. Great pains can be taken to frame, research, and answer an assessment question, but that effort is wasted if the message isn’t heard and embraced by decision makers. An analogous challenge is experienced in the scientific community, where researchers are traditionally trained in methodological rigor rather than impactful communication. Acknowledging this, the scientific community has undertaken a concerted effort to develop and implement evidence-based strategies to communicate its findings with impact. This article …

Security Conditionality: Evidence And Effectiveness, Philip Reynolds

Journal of Strategic Security

Conditionality, the practice of attaching conditions to aid, loans, or grant assistance, has become a ubiquitous feature of security assistance. Conditionality is predicted on its deterrent or motivational effects with the ultimate goal being to incentivize and influence the behavior of recipient countries to align with the strategic interests and values of the provider country. While lauded for its potential to promote reforms and good governance, conditionality has also been criticized for its intrusiveness, ineffectiveness, and potential to undermine national sovereignty. This paper argues that security conditionality in the emerging multiplex system will have no influence on recipient behavior. Middle …

Full Issue 18.3

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.