Digital Commons Network^™

Van Der Waals Interactions Through The Lens Of 2d Materials With Emphasis On Many-Body Effects, Thi Xuan Diem Dang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the long-standing challenge of accurately and efficiently modeling long-range electron correlations, with a particular focus on van der Waals (vdW) interactions. These interactions play an essential role in predicting the structure, stability, and functionality of molecular systems and condensed matter materials. Although Density Functional Theory (DFT) has become a robust cornerstone of computational materials science, traditional formulations of the theory frequently fail to capture dispersive interactions, leading to significant errors in determining interlayer distances, binding energies, and stacking configurations. These limitations become particularly pronounced in layered materials and vdW heterostructures (HSTs), where weak long-range correlations are sensitive …

Disability Stigma, Disability Identity, And Psychological Distress Among Young Adults With Disabilities, Dylan G. Serpas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disability discrimination is positively associated with psychological distress. Internalized disability stigma or the extent to which negative beliefs about one’s disability become personally adopted is implicated as a mediator. Moreover, disability identity processes, including identity affirmation and rejection may shape downstream consequences of navigating disability discrimination and internalization processes. These relationships are particularly relevant among young adults with disabilities (YAWD) who navigate a critical developmental period characterized by identity formation and heightened perception to social evaluation. In this study, 233 YAWD aged 18 to 25 completed a cross-sectional survey measuring disability microaggressions, internalized disability stigma, disability identity (rejection and affirmation), …

A Portable Device To Elicit Sensory Trick And Monitor Forearm Muscle Activity In Pianists With Musician’S Dystonia, Josef Franczak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Musician’s Dystonia (MD) is a condition that can be acquired in professional musicians,causing involuntary contractions and the loss of fine motor control. The most common pharmaceutical treatment, botulinum toxin injections, has been shown to have side effects of muscle weakness and atrophy. The sensory trick, shown to temporarily relieve symptoms of dystonia, has potential to be used as an alternative or alongside current therapies, allowing patients with MD to return to playing music professionally. To systematically deploy the sensory trick and monitor forearm muscle activity, the first prototype of the Wearable Sensorimotor Integrator (wSMI) has been developed.

The wSMI is …

Reproductive Trends Of Male Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (Stenella Frontalis) Following Two Hurricanes In The Bahamas, Tara Southerland Pedersen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine mammals are impacted by hurricanes that may influence reproductive success and genetic diversity. Understanding how populations respond to demographic change is increasingly important as extreme weather events become more frequent. A population of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) on Little Bahama Bank in the Bahamas has been observed continuously since 1985. In 2004, two hurricanes struck the region within one month, resulting in the loss of approximately 36% of the population. Population declines can alter the operational sex ratio (OSR), social structure, and encounter rates among potential mates, potentially influencing patterns of reproductive success. Previous molecular studies showed that …

Development Of A Coupled Hydrological-Nitrogen Modeling Framework For Urban Stormwater Pond Analysis, Tione Grant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization impacts the hydrological and biogeochemical processes that regulate water quality in downstream ecosystems, leading to increased stormwater volume and nitrogen loads in receiving aquatic environments. Although stormwater ponds are designed as simple hydraulic storage basins, they function more like managed ecosystems within urban drainage systems, offering both hydraulic attenuation and passive nutrient treatment. However, nitrogen removal efficiency varies significantly and depends on interactions between hydrological and biogeochemical factors. This thesis details the development, calibration, validation, and sensitivity analysis of a coupled hydrological-nitrogen model framework for Aaran’s Pond, an urban stormwater pond in Hillsborough County, Florida.

A process-based water budget …

Development And Evaluation Of The East Florida Coastal Ocean Model (Efcom), Orion B. Scharton-Witmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida’s Atlantic coast has abundant resources in beaches, state parks, aquatic preserves, and wildlife refuges as well as densely populated coastal cities in low lying areas that are all subjected to natural disaster threats from the oceans. There is an urgent need for a high-resolution coastal ocean circulation model for this region. Based on the application of the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM), an East Florida Coastal Ocean Model (EFCOM) is developed, downscaling from the deep ocean, across the continental shelf, and into the estuaries. It employs an unstructured grid with horizontal resolution varying from 3 kilometers at the …

Where Diagnosis Meets Daily Life: Testing Theoretical Models Of Social Anxiety, Jessica A. Birg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is thought to persist through self-reinforcing cycles linking threat perception, fear of evaluation, avoidance, and social behavior. This dissertation examined whether the nature of these daily processes generalize across individuals, cluster into subgroups, or vary by social anxiety severity. Two ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies were conducted: a community sample with and without SAD (Study 1: N = 96; five prompts per day across two 14-day bursts) and an undergraduate sample (Study 2: N = 129; six prompts per day across 14 days). Momentary variables included social anxiety, avoidance motivation, and threat and safety cues (hurt …

A System Dynamics Perspective Of User Adaptation: The Case Of Exoskeleton Technology, Enzo Novi Migliano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology implementation is a common occurrence in organizations to which workers must adapt. Although research on workers' technology acceptance is widely spread, research on the workers' technology adaptation process is less represented in the literature. The discrepancy in the literature permeates research on new technologies currently being implemented in organizations, such as occupational exoskeletons. As in other technologies, the variance research perspective dominates the literature on exoskeleton implementations. The current thesis aims to foster process research by formalizing the coping model of user adaptation (Beaudry & Pinsonneault, 2005) and exploring research questions regarding workers' adaptation to general technology and exoskeletons. …

From Cardiovascular Safety Assessment To Peptide Hemolytic Activity Prediction: Integrative Computational Analyses For Drug Evaluation And Discovery, Xinran Zhu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis applied integrative computational approaches to two major areas of drug evaluation and discovery: cardiovascular safety assessment and peptide hemolytic activity prediction. First, pharmacovigilance data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), electronic health records (EHRs) from TriNetX, and transcriptomic analyses were combined to evaluate anesthetic-associated cardiac rhythm adverse drug events. Among propofol, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, and midazolam, dexmedetomidine showed the strongest association with bradycardia across both FAERS and propensity score-matched EHR analyses. Stratified analyses further suggested substantially higher bradycardia prevalence among older patients and a modestly increased risk among male patients. Drug-drug interaction analyses identified risperidone and albuterol …

House Sparrows Reveal Hidden Reservoirs Of Antimicrobial Resistance, Nathan Dowling

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat, yet surveillance for antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) remains concentrated in clinical and livestock systems, leaving environmental and wildlife reservoirs comparatively understudied. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether one synanthropic bird species integrates landscape-level antimicrobial resistance pressures across socioeconomic gradients and to identify the predictors most strongly associated with cross-national variation in ARG prevalence. We examined ARG occurrence in the globally distributed house sparrow (Passer domesticus), sampling 205 individuals across eight countries spanning large gradients in economic development, antimicrobial use, and governance structure. Using targeted molecular screening of gastrointestinal …

Using The Good Behavior Game To Decrease Challenging Behavior In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Andrea M. Babb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Challenging behavior in school settings can negatively impact academic engagement, social relationships, and access to instruction. Previous research has shown that the Good Behavior Game (GBG) can improve academic performance and decrease challenging behavior. Generally, to play the GBG, the teacher establishes a set of rules (e.g., “remain seated during the lecture”) that the students should follow and divides the class into two teams. When a student on either team breaks a rule, the teacher gives that team a tally or hatch mark. The team with the fewest tallies at the end of the game wins a prize. The current …

Evaluating The Effects Of Response Cards On Active Student Responding And On-Task Behavior With Elementary Students Diagnosed With Autism And Other Disabilties, Joshua N. Alvarado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the most prominent difficulties that students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face in their education is consistently engaging in on-task behavior and active participation during whole-class group instruction. The use of response cards is one method that has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects for increasing on-task behavior and active participation for students with disabilities. However, there is limited research on effects with students diagnosed with ASD, particularly elementary students. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of two response card types to increase active student responding, on-task behavior and correct responding for elementary …

When “Mild” Isn’T Minor: Return-To-Work Challenges In Post-Stroke Mild Aphasia, Maya Berro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Return-to-work (RTW) is an important aspect of social participation and quality of life following stroke. However, limited research has explored the experiences of individuals with mild aphasia in the RTW process. This purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how individuals with post-stroke mild aphasia perceive their ability to RTW and identify factors that influence this process. Ten adults with mild or very mild aphasia participated in individual semi- structured interviews conducted via Microsoft Teams. Interview transcripts were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Three major themes emerged: (1) Barriers to RTW, (2) Facilitators to RTW, and (3) Perceptions of …

Exploring Culturally Responsive Leadership Practices Among Female Leaders In Title I Schools: Strategies For Enhancing Student Success, Tara K. Indar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The academic achievement gap between White students and diverse student populations remains a persistent and prominent disparity in schools across the United States. While this issue affects schools nationwide, it is particularly significant in Title I schools, where many students from diverse, lower-socioeconomic-status backgrounds are served. Although a substantial body of literature examines this gap and highlights the positive impact of culturally responsive leadership, there remains a limited understanding of which specific practices are most effective in improving students’ academic outcomes. This study explores the perceptions of female school leaders in Title I schools regarding the strategies they believe contribute …

Modeling And Mitigating Stale Hardcoded Secrets In Version Control History, Katarina Valentine Capalbo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hardcoded secret vulnerabilities remain a growing and persistent problem that can be difficult to mitigate once exposed. While there has been significant research and advancements in identifying and preventing hardcoded secrets, less attention has been given to understanding the risks of leaving these secrets behind in version control history, as well as analyzing the sanitization of hardcoded secrets. These challenges present a growing gap between the risk and ability to mitigate and sanitize existing secret exposures. This thesis begins to address this gap by formalizing a threat model for hardcoded secrets that persist in Git version control history after the …

Testing The Impact Of Sexual Minority Stress On Endorsement Of Prospective Behaviors Related To Borderline Personality Disorder Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Queer Adults, E. Elisa Carsten

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority individuals face increased risk for numerous forms of psychopathology compared to heterosexual individuals, including borderline personality disorder (BPD). Previous investigation into the causes of these mental health disparities highlights several sexual minority-specific factors that may render sexual minority individuals uniquely vulnerable to meeting criteria for a BPD diagnosis, including chronic exposure to minority stressors, such as sexual orientation-based discrimination and stigmatizing beliefs. Some scholars have argued that the relevance of these minority-specific stressful experiences hampers the utility of a BPD diagnosis among members of this historically marginalized population. The present study experimentally tested the influence of minority stressors …

Assessment Of Artificial Oyster Reef Health Based On Water Quality, Oyster Recruitment, And Perkinsosis Infection In Tampa Bay, Christian J. Goldman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Providing nursey habitat, regulating nutrients, stabilizing shorelines, increasing biological diversity, improving water quality, and creating three-dimensional environments are some of the ecosystem services of oyster reefs. Oyster reefs are threatened by overharvesting, changes in water quality, pollution, and disease. The Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is the primary oyster species along Florida’s Gulf coast. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between multiple parameters on artificial reefs and how they influence the health of these reefs. Here, young (less than five years old) artificial oyster reefs were monitored for one year across three sites in Tampa Bay, FL: Lassing Park (LAS), …

Evaluating Some Effects Of Exposure To Prompt Topographies On Intraverbal Acquisition Rates And Choice For Prompt Topographies, Isabella Zaccor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

People with developmental disabilities often have communication deficits, which create challenges with functioning in everyday life, making it more difficult for these people to foster meaningful relationships and live an independent life. People with developmental disabilities may need a more structured approach to learning important skills such as communication and social skills, such as learning with prompt topographies. By replicating Roncati et al. 2019, which evaluated exposure to prompt topographies and the effect on acquisition rates, we evaluated an adapted alternating treatments design within a multiple baseline across participants design to examine whether exposure to a specific prompt topography changed …

Discourse Production And Its Relationship To Cognition In Mild Aphasia, Marcy D. Edwards

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective:Standardized assessments such as the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised do not reliably detect subtle language impairments in mild aphasia (Dalton & Richardson, 2015). Discourse tasks may provide a more sensitive measure of impairment. Although discourse tasks differ in cognitive demands (Kim & Kintz, 2024), variation in discourse performance across tasks and the influence of cognition remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined (1) whether discourse performance differs across different discourse elicitation tasks, and (2) the extent to which cognition influences discourse performance in individuals with mild aphasia.

Participants & Methods: Fifteen participants with mild aphasia participated (mean age = 62.7 years). Discourse …

Morphodynamic Evolution Of Midnight Pass, West-Central Florida, Sydney C. Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study takes advantage of a rare opportunity provided by the reopening of Midnight Pass due to two consecutive hurricanes in 2024, to examine the morphologic evolution of a newly reopened inlet and subsequent beach-inlet interactions. Historical aerial photos since the 1940s were collected and analyzed to understand the last closure of Midnight Pass, and to gain knowledge on the future of the newly reopened inlet. Time-series topography and bathymetry survey of the beach-inlet system were conducted bimonthly to quarterly for the first year and a half after the reopening, with the goals of quantifying the morphologic changes and understanding …

Caregiver-Implemented Functional Analysis Of Moderate-To-Vigorous Physical Activity Of Children, Rachel B. Riccardo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most children do not currently meet the 60 min per day recommendation for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), which could lead to problematic health outcomes. Researchers have used behavioral assessments (i.e., functional analysis [FA]) to identify the maintaining variables (e.g., attention, interactive play) that produce elevated levels of MVPA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which a caregiver-implemented FA can identify the function of their child’s MVPA. All three participants engaged in elevated levels of MVPA when adult interaction and attention were delivered contingently. The results of this study showed that caregivers implemented FAs of MVPA …

Tribute To Bob Pantle, Andrea Patterson, Maren Gimpel

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

Documenting Patterns Of Spring And Autumn Bird Bigration At Phillips Tract Research Area, A Stopover Site In The American Midwest, Janice K. Enos, Michael R. Avara, Tara A. Beveroth

North American Bird Bander

Stopover habitat, which is used by birds during migration to rest and refuel, is scarce in the American Midwest due to intensive agriculture. Protected woodlots and other small parcels of habitat do exist in the landscape, and may be important for migratory birds to utilize as stopover sites. Here, using mist netting techniques, we documented abundance and age specific patterns of spring and autumn migration at Phillips Tract Research Area, a protected parcel of land comprised of woodlots and mixed grassland plots. We found that 69 migratory species use this site as stopover habitat, and the most common (n ≥ …

Evaluating Generalization-Enhanced Behavioral Skills Training To Teach Firearm Safety Skills To Children With Autism, Victoria Alvarez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the large number of firearm-related incidents and the high percentage of households that own firearms in the United States, it is crucial that children learn firearm safety skills. Although previous research has evaluated various procedures for teaching firearm safety skills to typically developing children, there is a limited amount of research evaluating these interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a generalization-enhanced behavioral skills training (BST) procedure, which included varied training settings and tangible reinforcers, to teach firearm safety skills to children with ASD. We evaluated generalization-enhanced BST and in …

Listener Factors In Integrating Syntax And Plausibility In Sentences Produced With Versus Without Stuttering, Gabriella L. Burgess Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Development of communication-focused therapy for people who stutter requires better understanding of how stuttering impacts oral comprehension. One aim was to investigate how stuttering impacts listeners’ ability to integrate syntax and world knowledge (plausibility) in sentence processing. A second aim was to investigate how listener factors predict ability to integrate information in sentences with stuttering.

Methods: 224 adults heard 24 experimental sentences interspersed with 24 fillers. Experimental sentences included six plausible double-object dative (DO) constructions, six plausible prepositional dative (PD) constructions, six implausible DO constructions, and six implausible PD constructions. Implausible constructions served as analogues of communication breakdowns. Half …

Measures Of Linguistic Complexity And Vocabulary Diversity As Indicators Of Oral Language Production Growth Of 4th Grade Spanish-Speaking Els, Carla T. Zayas-Santiago

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As fourth-grade students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, their ability to use language for academic purposes becomes increasingly important, particularly for Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs). However, students often have limited opportunities to produce extended oral language during instruction. Students’ oral language production reflects both structural aspects of language use, captured through measures of linguistic complexity, and lexical aspects of language use, captured through measures of vocabulary diversity. Although prior studies have examined transcript-derived measures of oral language production, limited research has examined how these measures predict English proficiency, capture growth over time, and respond to different …

The Architecture Of Chemical Understanding: How Representation Selection, Ordering, And Feature Salience Shape Students' Conceptions In Chemistry, Isaiah Nelsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chemical representations play a central role in how students learn and reason aboutchemistry. While representations are routinely used in chemistry classrooms, students often struggle to extract relevant information, connect representations to underlying chemical principles, and apply this information to problem-solving. This dissertation investigates the role of representations in supporting students’ conceptual understanding and reasoning across general and organic chemistry through three qualitative studies.

The first study in this work explores how variation in chemical representation influences how students understand foundational chemistry principles. This study sought to characterize how second semester general chemistry students approach dipole–dipole interaction tasks with four distinct …

Human-Ai Teaming Under Fire: Lessons From Ukraine’S Human-In-The-Loop Combat Ai Systems, Rahul Kumar Tiwari, Ram Babu

Journal of Strategic Security

This article examines human-artificial intelligence (AI) teaming in Ukrainian combat operations from 2022 to 2025, exploring the integration of AI systems with human decision-making in military contexts and how crisis-driven innovation can lead to human-AI teaming. The research addresses three questions: the effectiveness of human-AI teams compared with human-only or fully autonomous systems; the effect of organizational structures on the sustainability of AI integration; and strategic implications for the development of the doctrine and international security governance in the case of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The methodology uses mixed-method comparative case study analysis of three different Ukrainian systems: …

Escalation By Algorithm, Restraint By Architecture: Pakistan’S Military Ai Divergence, Sajjad Ahmed, Ahmad Nizar Yaakub, Asma Javed

Journal of Strategic Security

Debates on military artificial intelligence (AI) remain skewed toward great power dynamics, oscillating between techno-optimist celebrations of speed and techno-pessimist warnings of collapse. This binary overlooks how middle powers, operating under nuclearized rivalry and asymmetric sanction risk, embed restraint into organizational and technical practice. This article develops Systems Restrained Realism (SRR), a framework that extends defensive realism into the machine age by theorizing restraint as a deliberate doctrinal posture rather than a symptom of incapacity. Using Pakistan as a critical case, the study draws on expert interviews, procurement manuals, and UN submissions to demonstrate how restraint is operationalized through latency …

Unquaint Pigs’ Stakeholder Perspectives On Wild Swine In Central Western Florida, Tyler Koerner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Anthropocene presents important questions for how to address the continuous transferal of new species into new spaces and the cascading impacts of environmental transformations. Novel ecosystems present one such outline for conservation that acknowledges the modification of historic ecosystems and the social entanglements that arrive with new species. I argue that novel ecosystems can benefit from further anthropological integrations that aid in describing the entanglements of introduced species and the pursuit of best managerial outcomes. For wild swine in Florida, the adoption of a novel approach is especially relevant because of entanglements with historic and modern Floridian stakeholders and …