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Proceedings Of The International Interdisciplinary Business And Economics Conference: Volume 8, Cihan Cobanoglu, Serdar Ongan

University of South Florida (USF) - M3 Publishing

This is the eighth volume of the International Interdisciplinary Business and Economics Conference Proceedings Series.

ISSN: 2372-5885

Understanding The Linkages Between Urban Transportation Design And Population Exposure To Traffic-Related Air Pollution: Application Of An Integrated Transportation And Air Pollution Modeling Framework To Tampa, Fl, Sashikanth Gurram

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid and unplanned urbanization has ushered in a variety of public health challenges, including exposure to traffic pollution and greater dependence on automobiles. Moreover, vulnerable population groups often bear the brunt of negative outcomes and are subject to disproportionate exposure and health effects. This makes it imperative for urban transportation engineers, land use planners, and public health professionals to work synergistically to understand both the relationship between urban design and population exposure to traffic pollution, and its social distribution. Researchers have started to pay close attention to this connection, mainly by conducting observational studies on the relationship between transportation, urban …

Bayesian Inference On Quantile Regression-Based Mixed-Effects Joint Models For Longitudinal-Survival Data From Aids Studies, Hanze Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In HIV/AIDS studies, viral load (the number of copies of HIV-1 RNA) and CD4 cell counts are important biomarkers of the severity of viral infection, disease progression, and treatment evaluation. Recently, joint models, which have the capability on the bias reduction and estimates' efficiency improvement, have been developed to assess the longitudinal process, survival process, and the relationship between them simultaneously. However, the majority of the joint models are based on mean regression, which concentrates only on the mean effect of outcome variable conditional on certain covariates. In fact, in HIV/AIDS research, the mean effect may not always be of …

Full-Time Teleworkers Sensemaking Process For Informal Communication, Sheila A. Gobes-Ryan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizations have traditionally accomplished connectivity among their workers by co-locating them in shared organizational workplaces. However, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are offering alternative ways to accomplish this kind of connection. This change raises important questions about what it is possible to accomplish through such mediated communicative connections, and if there are work activities that are best accomplished face-to-face. Practitioners and researchers have historically identified informal communication as a process essential to organizational success that is difficult or impossible to accomplish outside of shared physical environments. This study documents the ways full-time teleworkers are accomplishing informal communication without being in …

Radiocarbon Chronology Of Manot Cave, Israel And Upper Paleolithic Dispersals, Bridget Alex, Omry Barzilai, Israel Hershkovitz

KIP Articles

The timing of archeological industries in the Levant is central for understanding the spread of modern humans with Upper Paleolithic traditions. We report a high-resolution radiocarbon chronology for Early Upper Paleolithic industries (Early Ahmarian and Levantine Aurignacian) from the newly excavated site of Manot Cave, Israel. The dates confirm that the Early Ahmarian industry was present by 46,000 calibrated years before the present (cal BP), and the Levantine Aurignacian occurred at least between 38,000 and 34,000 cal BP. This timing is consistent with proposed migrations or technological diffusions between the Near East and Europe. Specifically, the Ahmarian could have led …

The Common Core State Standards And The Elementary Social Studies Curriculum: A Case Study Of Teacher Perceptions In Florida, Kacie M. Nadeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The most recent phase of curriculum reform in the era of accountability is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) which have essentially reshaped the landscape of public education. Its objective of preparing K-12 students for college and career upon high school graduation have prioritized English language arts, mathematics, and science over social studies, which is not part of widespread high-stakes testing for elementary students. This qualitative case study investigated eleven intermediate elementary teachers’ perceptions of alignment between CCSS and the elementary social studies curriculum. Data gathering analysis included two semi-structured interviews and an archival analysis of the mandated curriculum. The …

Statistical Analysis And Modeling Of Stomach Cancer Data, Chao Gao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to address some important questions associated with stomach cancer patients using the data from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of the United States. To better understand the behavior of stomach cancer, we first perform parametric analysis for each patient group (white male, white female, African American male, African American female, other male and female) to identify the probability distribution function which can best characterize the behavior of the malignant stomach tumor sizes. We evaluate the effects of patients’ age, gender and race on the malignant stomach tumor sizes by developing quantile …

Minutes, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg Undergraduate Council Meeting, November 8, 2017, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Faculty Senate. Undergraduate Council

USF St. Petersburg Undergraduate Council

Minutes from the November 8, 2017, meeting of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's Undergraduate Council.

Surveilling Hate/Obscuring Racism?: Hate Group Surveillance And The Southern Poverty Law Center's "Hate Map", Mary Mckelvie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In what ways does the legal and political monitoring of “hate groups” and "hate group activities" benefit the American left? Possible victims of crimes? Law enforcement? The state? Specifically, in what ways does the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map” challenge and/or reiterate relations of power and knowledge? This thesis offers a feminist critical analysis of hate group surveillance and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s mapping of hate. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a progressive legal advocacy group that aids in the surveillance of “hate groups” and legislation against “hate crimes.” I investigate the assumptions grounding the SPLC’s …

Traversing Privacy Issues On Social Networking Sites Among Kuwaiti Females, Shahad Shihab

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive study explores privacy issues on social networking sites among young Kuwaiti females and their behavior when protecting their information. In this study, two of the most prominent social networking sites in Kuwait were selected to investigate Kuwaiti females’ privacy concerns. These platforms are Instagram and Twitter. The research was guided by two questions: What information do Kuwaiti females disclose on Instagram and Twitter? How do Instagram and Twitter differ in managing privacy?

Participants of this research are 15 young Kuwait females studying at Kuwait university in different educational fields. The data collection method used was semi-structured, face-to-face …

Perceptions Affecting Tree Valuation: An Analysis Of Recently Sold And Leased Properties In Tampa, Florida, Cody R. Winter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The urban forest is a structure that is fluid in both species composition and how it is integrated in our cities and suburban areas. Much like the fluidity in its structure, the urban forest provides ecosystem services and disservices in many forms. These services and disservices can often come in the form of temperature regulation, lower crime rates, and even higher property values. The latter, which is associated with the economic value of trees, is a part of the hedonic pricing literature which suggests that there is a disparity in the value associated with trees to house prices. With the …

Smog Pollution In China: News Framing And Issue-Attention Cycle Per The, Yingying Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

China's smog air pollution has become an increasingly urgent environmental crisis in China. Using framing as theoretical framework, this research examined how much media attention is focused on smog air pollution and how print media frame smog air pollution. An empirical content analysis of 339 articles in the People’s Daily newspaper was conducted from 2000 to 2016, and the results showed that “non-voluntary solutions” and “problem” frames were the two frames that had been most utilized to construct stories about air pollution. Smog air pollution crisis also discussed in terms of Downs issue-attention cycle, a five-stage model explaining the rise …

The Role Of High-Elevation Headwater Runoff In Streamflow Generation And Water Supply In The Northern Andes, Colombia, Laura Lotero Lozano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water security requires that sufficient quantities of water be available at critical times. This is particularly challenging for high-intensity urban and agricultural settings. In underdeveloped nations, streamflow is commonly the preferred water source, as it is readily available and delivered cost-free to users. Yet, the sources of these critical streamflows are often unknown. This issue is salient in the Northern Andes, where basic knowledge of controlling factors for the quantity, quality, and timing of runoff is lacking. High-elevation headwaters are the primary catchment areas in the Northern Andes, but the extent of water providing to municipalities in the Northern Andes …

Reef Fish Biodiversity In The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Megan E. Hepner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The biological diversity of reef-fish in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) from 1999 – 2016 was evaluated in terms of abundance, biomass, species richness, evenness, Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity, and functional diversity, using observations collected by multiple agencies and institutions under the Reef Visual Census (RVC) program. To compare the different diversity indices species richness, Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity, and functional diversity were converted into effective number of species. I examined the seven indices by no-take marine zones, in seven benthic habitat strata, and across the three-distinct geographic subregions in the Florida Keys domain (Upper, Middle, and Lower …

Cutr Connections [November 2017], Cutr

CUTR Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (Campephilus Principalis) In Indiana, Benjamin E. Leese

Indiana Audubon Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Climatic Control On Icelandic Volcanic Activity During The Mid-Holocene, Graeme T. Swindles, Elizabeth J. Watson, Ivan P. Savov, Ian T. Lawson, Anja Schmidt, Andrew Hooper, Claire L. Cooper, Charles B. Connor, Manuel Gloor, Jonathan L. Carrivick

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Human-induced climate change is causing rapid melting of ice in many volcanically active regions. Over glacial-interglacial time scales changes in surface loading exerted by large variations in glacier size affect the rates of volcanic activity. Numerical models suggest that smaller changes in ice volume over shorter time scales may also influence rates of mantle melt generation. However, this effect has not been verified in the geological record. Furthermore, the time lag between climatic forcing and a resultant change in the frequency of volcanic eruptions is unknown. We present empirical evidence that the frequency of volcanic eruptions in Iceland was affected …

Precise Dating Of The Middle-To-Upper Paleolithic Transition In Murcia (Spain) Supports Late Neandertal Persistence In Iberia, João Zilhão, Daniela Anesin, Thierry Aubry

KIP Articles

The late persistence in Southern Iberia of a Neandertal-associated Middle Paleolithic is supported by the archeological stratigraphy and the radiocarbon and luminescence dating of three newly excavated localities in the Mula basin of Murcia (Spain). At Cueva Antón, Mousterian layer I-k can be no more than 37,100 years-old. At La Boja, the basal Aurignacian can be no less than 36,500 years-old. The regional Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition process is thereby bounded to the first half of the 37th millennium Before Present, in agreement with evidence from Andalusia, Gibraltar and Portugal. This chronology represents a lag of minimally 3000 years with the …

Darwin Day In Deep Time: Promoting Evolutionary Science Through Paleontology, Sarah L. Sheffield, Jennifer E. Bauer

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Charles Darwin’s birthday, February 12th, is an international celebration coined Darwin Day. During the week of his birthday, universities, museums, and science-oriented organizations worldwide host events that celebrate Darwin’s scientific achievements in evolutionary biology. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) has one of the longest running celebrations in the nation, with 2016 marking the 19th year. For 2016, the theme for our weeklong series of events was paleontology, chosen to celebrate new research in the field and to highlight the specific misconceptions of evolution within the context of geologic time. We provide insight into the workings of one of our …

Exploring The Facilitators And Barriers Of Cognitive Engagement Among Ninth Grade Students In Accelerated Curricula, Kai Zhuang Shum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive engagement has been linked to positive outcomes such as academic achievement (Eccles & Wang, 2012). However, students’ level of cognitive engagement tend to decline as students move into middle childhood and adolescence (Archambault, Janosz, Morizot, & Pagani, 2009; Wang & Eccles, 2012a; Wiley & Hodgen, 2012). In addition, two out of three high school students nationwide reported feeling bored at school because the academic tasks are not interesting or relevant (Yazzie-Mintz, 2006). In regard to this matter, researchers have examined factors that relate to cognitive engagement. Most of the existing research is quantitative in nature and only involves students …

Grassroots Branding: An Exploration Of Grassroots Businesses Within The Florida Skateboard Community, Lawrence M. Shaw

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Why do original/grassroots branding efforts occurring on a local level continue to proliferate despite the existing market saturation created by larger corporate entities? Using existing theoretical frameworks associated with “do it yourself” (DIY) culture, this thesis explores cultures and themes associated with skateboarding, including the production and consumption of brands of skateboarding products; the use of space and spatiality by skateboarders; and, finally, changes in skateboarding. I conducted ethnographic interviews within a network of skateboard entrepreneurs in the Florida skateboard community, seeking to understand why they start brands, their perceptions of their entrepreneurial efforts, and how these businesses operate. Drawing …

Re-Placing The Plantation Landscape At Yulee’S Margarita Plantation, Katherine M. Padula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U.S. Senator David Levy Yulee’s Margarita sugar plantation flourished from 1851 to 1864 in Homosassa, Citrus County, Florida. The plantation was abandoned in 1864 and memory of its precise location slowly faded, as the physical evidence of its existence deteriorated. Today, the only plantation structure known to be still standing is the sugar mill, preserved as part of the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park (CI124B). The remainder of the plantation, including its boundaries, remains unknown. Perhaps at least partly owing to this absence, the mill’s interpretive signage provides an unfortunate univocal historical interpretation of the site and lacking …

Skin And Fur Bacterial Diversity And Community Structure On American Southwestern Bats: Effects Of Habitat, Geography And Bat Traits, Ara S. Winter, Jennifer J.M. Hathaway, Jason C. Kimble, Debbie C. Buecher, Ernest W. Valdez, Andrea Porras-Alfaro, Jesse M. Young, Kaitlyn J.H. Read, Diana E. Northup

KIP Articles

Microorganisms that reside on and in mammals, such as bats, have the potential to influence their host’s health and to provide defenses against invading pathogens. However, we have little understanding of the skin and fur bacterial microbiota on bats, or factors that influence the structure of these communities. The southwestern United States offers excellent sites for the study of external bat bacterial microbiota due to the diversity of bat species, the variety of abiotic and biotic factors that may govern bat bacterial microbiota communities, and the lack of the newly emergent fungal disease in bats, white-nose syndrome (WNS), in the …

Sustainability Of Community-Managed Rural Water Supply Systems In Amazonas, Peru: Assessing Monitoring Tools And External Support Provision, Jacob E. Mangum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Globally, there is still a large number of people without access to safe drinking water; a known health risk. In rural areas of countries like Peru, when potable water systems are built the responsibility for maintaining these systems is given to volunteer water committees. Despite its prevalence as a management model, there is a consensus that community management alone cannot ensure sustainable water service. Therefore, the overall goal of this research is to assess the sustainability of community-managed water systems in rural areas of the department of Amazonas, Peru. Specifically, this research examines two mechanisms that have been shown to …

Determinants Of Tipping Rates: New Findings And Extensions, Christopher Carl Olson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a movement underway to eliminate the practice of tipping restaurant servers that is gaining momentum (Goldberger, 2015). In lieu of gratuities, restaurants are simply raising menu prices or assessing a service charge and paying servers a fixed hourly wage (Kummer, 2016). Before restaurateurs can adopt such a strategy, they need to thoroughly understand the factors that affect tipping behavior in order to develop meaningful fixed wage rates that do not diminish service levels or employee morale. The first step in this process is a better understanding of the determinants of tipping rates.

The existing research has identified many …

A Study On The Efficacy Of The Medicare Bundled Payments For Care Improvement Initiative At A Large Community Hospital In The Southeast United States, Elizabeth E. Kerns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2013, Medicare launched the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Initiative which linked payments for multiple services for a complete episode of patient care. With this innovative reimbursement model, hospitals accepted fixed target payments for certain types of clinical diagnoses that were intended to support better care coordination and better outcomes for patients at lower cost to Medicare. This was one of many programs aimed at addressing the serious challenges facing United States healthcare, including costs that are skyrocketing to unsustainable levels and lack of coordination of care across venues.

Preliminary Medicare results showed that bundled payments might lead …

Mobile-Based Sidewalk Inventory App For Smart Communities, Health, And Safety, Madhav Erraguntla, Dursun Delen, Rupesh K. Agrawal, Karthic Madanagopal, Richard Mayer

Suburban Sustainability

As the United States and other nations strive to cope with the obesity epidemic (NCHS, 2015), progressive communities are developing sidewalk infrastructure to promote physical activity and health. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that community-based interventions like neighborhood walk, bike programs etc. have shown to be effective in promoting physical activity and health. Smart cities are embracing the development of community trails and promoting their use to increase physical activity among youth and adults. System implementation, data collection, and analysis were performed from January 2015 through July 2015. To promote these objectives, communities and cities need accurate information …

Technological Variability At Sibudu Cave: The End Of Howiesons Poort And Reduced Mobility Strategies After 62,000 Years Ago, Paloma De La Peña, Lyn Wadley

KIP Articles

We evaluate the cultural variation between the youngest Howiesons Poort layer (GR) and the oldest post-Howiesons Poort layers (RB-YA) of Sibudu Cave (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). We first conducted a technological analysis, secondly we performed a cladistic study with all the technological traits and, finally, we compare the technological variability with other data from Sibudu (ochre, micromorphology, fauna and plant remains). The synapomorphies of the cladistical analysis show numerous lithic technological changes between the youngest Howiesons Poort and the oldest post-Howiesons Poort layers as previously concluded. However, some technological strategies that are present, yet uncommon, in the Howiesons Poort become abundant …

Mpo Staffing And Organizational Structures, Jeff Kramer, Alexandria Carroll, Behzad Karimi, Alexander Bond, Chanyoung Lee

Transportation Planning, Policy, and Processes (TP3) Final Reports

This research report documents how MPOs have structured their organizations and allocated staff resources and expertise. It is an update to the 2010 report Staffing and Administrative Capacity of Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

The Weekly Challenger, September 28, 2017, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The September 28, 2017, issue of The Weekly Challenger.