Digital Commons Network^™

Florida Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma Coerulescens) And Fire: Update From An On-Going, Multi-Decadal Experiment, Sahas Barve, Tori D. Bakley, John W. Fitzpatrick

Florida Field Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Instance Of A Mourning Dove (Zenaida Macroura) Reusing A Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma Coerulescens) Nest, Charlotte Hood, Tori Bakley, Sahas Barve

Florida Field Naturalist

No abstract provided.

High Ability, Hidden Gaps: Building Quantitative Reasoning Amongst Singapore’S Mathematically Literate, Rebecca M. Nichols

Numeracy

In Singapore, where primary and secondary students routinely top standardized worldwide mathematics examinations, a paradox emerges: when reaching university, many struggle to apply their skills critically in real-world contexts. This commentary examines the challenges and strategies involved in teaching quantitative reasoning (QR) to mathematically literate students in a top-ranking Singaporean university. While these students arrive well-trained in computation and procedural problem-solving, they often lack confidence and flexibility in ambiguous, data-driven decision-making. This article argues that fostering QR education is crucial not only for Singapore but for education globally, as QR skills underpin evidence-based reasoning within and across disciplines. Such an …

Crow's Nest, April 28, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

No abstract provided.

Essay, Father John Crossing The Gandy: A Micro-History With Music, Julie Buckner Armstrong

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

“Father John Crossing the Gandy: A Micro-History with Music” synthesizes Father John Culmer’s 1927 passage across the Gandy Bridge with the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” to plot out Culmer’s role in the proliferation of church access and spirituality throughout and beyond the Black communities of South Florida. The work blends historical legacy with speculative interiority to produce an insightful and empathetic statement regarding, what has been, what can be, and how to build a bridge between the two.

Poem, Cornerstones Of A City, Pedro El Poeta Jarquin

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

Cornerstones of a City is a three-part poem that explores Ybor City’s role as an important cultural touchstone of Tampa. The poem references the great Ybor City fire of 1908 and frames this tragic event as a point around which residents would rally to rebuild their neighborhood and preserve Ybor City’s status as the hub of immigrant community in the Tampa area.

Poem, Creek Freak, Tyler Gillespie

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

“Creek Freak” is a first-person prose-poetic hybrid that portrays a short-lived romance between the narrator and a creature composed of various swamp elements that reveals how many of the narrator’s attempts at compassion or sincerity for the swamp creature are hollow platitudes that reflect the moral grandstanding gestures of those who wish to appear ecologically sensitive. The repetitive, back-and-forth exchange that concludes “Creek Freak” emphasizes the gap that continues to exist between ecological emergencies and collective social action.

Essay, Madira Bickel Mounds, Diane Roberts

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

“Madira Bickel Mound” critiques the common contemporary view of Florida history as beginning with European intervention and excavates the centuries of cultural development that occurred prior to the arrival of European entities. The mounds that remain standing across the state act as mementos of a displaced people and cultural system whose ancient presence is not as detached from the current moment as one might believe.

Poem, Research Note, Or, All The Colors Vary According To The Point Of Vision, Tyler Gillespie

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

research note, Or, all the colors vary according to the point of vision is a poem that examines a sketch of two birds that appears in Ellis Hughes’s diary. Instead of conjecturing about Hughes’s intention, the narrator connects the sketch to the formation of their own intimate relationship and how the formation of that relationship metaphorically mimics the subjective romance of the sketched birds.

Essay, Waterskiing Lake Maggiore, Jack E. Davis

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

“Waterskiing Lake Maggiore” is a first-person narrative that recalls Davis' experience waterskiing Lake Maggiore, a body of water that has been polluted by manmade endeavors. The narrative draws parallels between human action, natural consequences, and the desire for a more equitable relationship with nature.

Poem, Maximo Park Picnic, Amanda Hagood

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

Maximo Park Picnic is a sestina (poem) that observes various messages carved into the trees that populate the waterfront park, messages that alternate between youthful and reverential. As a modified natural setting, the park serves as a reflection point for the narrator to remark on what has been, what is, and what is yet to come along the ever-shifting shoreline.

Essay, Oysters, Gary Mormino

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

“Oysters” explores Tampa Bay’s history of oyster harvesting and how this once-revered and plentiful delicacy has suffered from infrastructural expansion and unchecked pollution. The eponymous mollusk oscillates between a readily available bounty and an environmental omen that signals the ecological doom of the region, demonstrating the significance of the oyster regarding the identity of Tampa Bay.

Poem, 1923: A Crowd Of People Swimming In The Water And Walking Through The Sand On Sunset Beach In Treasure Island, Florida, Thomas Hallock

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

1923: A crowd of people… in Treasure Island, Florida is a modified pantoum (poem) that frames the Floridian beach as a space often thought of as frozen in time and insulated from grim consequences. The reality of what can happen at the beach, however, imbues the poem’s tone with the weight of the knowledge that even this conceptual slice of veritable paradise must adhere to the rules of the world beyond the shoreline.

Essay, Lake Legacies, Black And Beautiful, Sheree Greer

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

“Lake Legacies, Black and Beautiful” is a short, observational meditation on the natural surroundings of Lake Rogers Park and other nearby bodies of water as witnesses and repositories of history that reverberate with the identities and deeds of Black families and figures. The observations culminate in a vision of subtropical comfort that simultaneously echoes past lives and assures the respite of the present.

Poem, Water Hyacinths, Gloria Muñoz

Creekshed: Ekphrastic Writing with the Archives

Water Hyacinths is a poem that explores the sights, sounds, and composition of Florida through a synthesis of mythological imagery and theatrical descriptions. The poem presents the state as a natural entity that conceals and reveals itself in both whimsical and dire situations and phrases.

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 …

Crow's Nest, April 14, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The April 14, 2025, issue of Crow's Nest.

Between The Land And The Sea: Belizean Voices In Environmental Governance, Kris-An K. Hinds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal communities around the world are at the epicenter of dynamic socio-environmental transformations driven by the impacts of climate change, shifting human–more-than-human environmental relationships, and the decisions made in response to these challenges. As environmental concerns intensify, the governance decisions made to address these impacts will determine the severity of the impacts and the future of affected coastal areas. In regions such as the Caribbean, Central America, and Latin America, environmental governance is complicated by uneven power dynamics, historical legacies of racialized environmental spaces, and the ongoing challenge of balancing national economic growth with environmental preservation. These transformations are not …

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 …

Unraveling The Narrative: How External Messaging Shapes The Academic Identities Of Neurodiverse Women Of Color, Timarie A. Franco

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examines how neurodiverse Women of Color understand and experience academic self-concept (ASC) within higher education systems shaped by whiteness, ableism, and gendered expectations. Traditional ASC measures rely on internalized perceptions of ability and often exclude the influence of external messaging and systemic oppression—especially for students with intersecting marginalized identities. Grounded in Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), this study centers the voices of nine undergraduate collaborators at a large public university who identify as Women of Color and experience neurodivergence. Using narrative interviews and arts-based methods, collaborators explored how academic, social, and cultural experiences informed their sense of …

Mysterious Munitions In Sleepy St. Pete: The Story Of A 1924 Filibustering Campaign, Arturo Sebastian Gonzalez

Tampa Bay History

No abstract provided.

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

Tampa Bay History

No abstract provided.

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 …

Cyber Security Of Autonomous Vehicles: The Implications For City Planning, Tegg Westbrook

Journal of Strategic Security

The rise of autonomous vehicles (AVs) has proclaimed positive consequences for urban quality, including reductions in accidents and deaths. As automobiles become digitalized, questions over cyber or electronic threats require further contextualization in urban security scholarship. Focusing on literature on radiofrequency interference of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-aided and -dependent systems, the aim of this article is to consider threats to vehicle safety from electronic interference and the implications for users, city planners, asset managers, and vehicle manufacturers.

While well-known issues such as privacy aversion, tax avoidance, and fraud are documented, it expands on other less-well-known threats to autonomous vehicles …

Understanding The Strategic Value Of The Assassination Of President Juvénal Habyarimana, Jonathan R. Beloff

Journal of Strategic Security

This article examines the assassination of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana through the utilization of strategic theory. The President's assassination on the night of April 6, 1994, ignited the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which killed up to a million Rwandan Tutsis and non-extremist Hutus within 100 days. While the assassins are still unknown, speculation exists of whether the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) or the former ruling akazu ordered the attack. It concludes that the akazu was the most likely actor behind Habyarimana's assassination, given that the structure of strategic incentives favored its position over the alternatives.

Act Tdm-Cp (Transportation Demand Management-Certified Professional) Exam Study Guide Domain I For Preparing Tdm-Cp Exam Candidates, Sara J. Hendricks

Research Reports

Reducing traffic congestion while improving mobility and access will require a combination of coordinated initiatives that include the use of transportation demand management strategies. TDM is a growing transportation specialization that needs more practitioners with education and training in the development, planning, application, and evaluation of TDM programs. TDM is the set of strategies that influences travelers’ decisions to travel by choice of travel mode, trip timing, travel frequency, as well as route, facility, and destination selection. The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT), the premier international professional organization for TDM professionals, established the TDM-CP professional certification in 2020, to elevate …

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 …

Arts & Literature: Orizaba, The Magical Town: A Scholar’S Experience With A Mothers’ Search Collective In Mexico, Pedro J. Gonzalez Corona

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The crisis of forced disappearances in Mexico reaches thousands of regular citizens in every aspect of their lives. Beyond studying the mechanics of the phenomenon: the formation of search collectives, and state-citizenship interactions, the experience of being a witness of a mass graves search provides crucial details on the micro-dynamics of collaboration essential to understanding the attempt and/or the beginning of a personal and societal healing process.

Beyond States And Spies: The Security Intelligence Services Of The Private Sector. By Lewis Sage-Passant. Edinburgh University Press, 2024., Angeliki Martinou Phd

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

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 …