Digital Commons Network^™

Slot Machine Addiction: The Untold Story Of Contradictions Between Self And America's Neoliberal Risk Society, Melanie C. Falconer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ability to take risks is nothing short of heroism in the modern United States which thrives on a diet of hyper mobility, technological progress, and globalized, deregulated “free” markets. Such relentless instability affirms scholarly contentions that the U.S. is now a “risk society.” Indeed, in Gambling with the Myth of the American Dream: The Pokerization of America, rhetoric scholar Aaron Duncan suggests that media stories of modern poker tournaments signify a collective desire to grapple with this heightened modern “chanciness” within our established gambling lore and make it cohere with our deeply cherished notions of American individualism. While Duncan …

Development Of Novel Analytical Methods For The Investigation Of Mammalian Tissues And Cells, Grace A. Binder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation endeavors to advance the frontiers of analytical chemistry by addressing critical challenges across three distinct chapters. In the first chapter, the focus is on the evaluation of digestion methods for the analysis of trace metals in mammalian tissues and the Standard Reference Material NIST 1577c. The primary goal is to optimize methodologies, laying the groundwork for reliable trace metal analysis and furthering our understanding of their roles in biological systems.

Transitioning into the realm of immunomodulation, the second chapter elucidates immune response, disease and treatment through the optimization and discovery of STING modulators, utilizing the luciferase assay for …

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 A, Ivette Cruzado, Alberto M. Figueroa-Medina, David R. González, Didier M. Valdés, Luz G. Rivera-Pérez, Bryan E. Ruiz-Hernández, Josué A. Dieppa-Ortiz

Research Reports

The research initiative focuses on exploring the feasibility of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for incident detection in high-speed multi-lane and freeway corridors. Previous phases of this research have laid the groundwork for developing and validating UAV-based incident detection methodologies. The research methodology involved developing an incident detection methodology using real-time video data from single and multiple flying UAVs, UAV path planning for corridor incident detection, and designing experiments to establish protocols, standards, and guidance for using UAVs in accordance with FAA regulations. The study's conclusions highlights key insights into the performance of the YOLO7 algorithm, emphasizing the impact of …

Context-Aware Affective Behavior Modeling And Analytics, Md Taufeeq Uddin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Affective computing (AC) is a sub-domain of AI that has the potential to assist people by assessing mental states and making appropriate recommendations to patients, loved ones, caregivers, and domain experts. Humans usually produce an enormous amount of data (such as face videos) every day. One of the major challenges for affective computer vision is to efficiently deal with high volumes of data to facilitate automated model development. To cope with this challenge, we developed computer vision algorithms that measure the expressivity of the human face from video data. More precisely, the developed algorithms can map complex affect information from …

Seminoles, Soldiers, And Settlers: Identity And Power On The Florida Frontier, Jean Louise Lammie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project uses an historical archaeological approach to analyze the processes of cultural negotiation between disparate social groups living in a remote borderland in the early to mid-nineteenth centuries. Florida, first colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s was passed to the United States in 1821 as part of the young nation’s nascent Manifest Destiny. The Seminoles experienced multiple colonial conflicts, dealt with new diseases, and selected aspects of European culture to incorporate into their daily practices of lifeways.

Archaeological studies of culture change tend to focus on the product of colonial interactions rather than the processes of change that …

Microparticle Compositions For Controlled Delivery Of Telmisartan And Actinomycin D, Subhra Mohapatra, Shyam S. Mohapatra, Eleni Markoutsa, Alejandro J. Gonzalez, Heta N. Jadhav

USF Patents

This disclosure is directed to therapeutic compositions, and more particularly to microparticle compositions for the controlled delivery of telmisartan and actinomycin D.

Narrative Language Assessment And Intervention: Applications With Children With And Without Disabilities, Norah M. Almubark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Narrative is the art of conveying a sequence of causally and temporally linked events through monologic telling. Various functions can be served through narratives including sharing experiences, expressing ideas, providing entertainment, and imparting cultural or social values. Narrative language represents an authentic type of language that is useful for assessment and intervention because it can be analyzed according to content and form. The ability to use complex narrative language and produce quality narratives is associated with long-term academic and social benefits (Uccelli et al., 2019; Suggate et al, 2018). Given this crucial link, narrative language is suitable for child language …

Dispersion Of Artificial Tracers In Ventilated Caves, Claudio Pastore, Eric Weber, Frédéric Doumenc, Pierre-Yves Jeannin, Marc Lütscher

International Journal of Speleology

Artificial CO₂ was used as a tracer along ventilated karst conduits to infer airflow and investigate tracer dispersion. In the karst vadose zone, cave ventilation is an efficient mode of transport for heat, gases and aerosols and thus drives the spatial distribution of airborne particles. Modelling this airborne transport requires geometrical and physical parameters of the conduit system, including the cross-sectional areas, the airflow and average air speed, as well as the longitudinal dispersion coefficient which describes the spreading of a solute. Four gauging tests were carried out in one mine (artificial conduit) and two ventilated caves (natural conduits). …

Local Ecological Knowledge, Education, And Bilingualism: Ethnography Of A Stem Program For Elementary Students In Southwestern Florida, Barbara D. Herrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to the limited inclusion of cultural relevant pedagogy in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) centered educational programs, this study illustrates dynamics that encourage inclusivity and provide a space for minority students to develop self-efficacy while also exposing them to formal modes of STEM knowledge. Elementary level English/Spanish speaking children were taught local ecological knowledge (LEK) during a STEM summer program in a city in Southwestern Florida. The use of participant observation, group interviews with the students, and interviews with the educators allowed for an in-depth analysis of the program and the established goals. This study provides insight …

Comparative Analysis Of Time Series Models On U.S. Stock And Exchange Rates: Bayesian Estimation Of Time Series Error Term Model Versus Machine Learning Approaches, Young Keun Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a comparative analysis of contemporary applications of time series models, focusing on the Bayesian approach. In contrast to many nonparametric studies, the Bayesian approach circumvents the common issue of bandwidth selection by offering systematic estimation and avoiding ad hoc methods. Specifically, we delve into the Bayesian approach for estimating the autocovariance function of a time series model’s error term. Traditional time series models often make the unrealistic assumption of a constant error term. Furthermore, models such as autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) and general autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) address the limitation of constant variance by assuming an autoregressive …

Ay 2023/2024 Sec Agenda, 2024-04-03, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Ay 2023/2024 Sec Meeting Minutes, 2024-04-03, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Advancing Text Summarization And Classification: Deep Insights From Transformer-Based Statistical Learning, Kun Bu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a part of human's daily life nowadays. Machine Learning (ML) as one aspect from AI has been rapidly developing during the past two decades, especially from the statistical learning approaches, which emphasized the use of probability and statistics to model data, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) for classification and regression tasks to the ensemble learning techniques, such as Random Forest, Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), and stacking. Ensemble learning has evolved into a pivotal concept in contemporary machine learning, empowering practitioners to amalgamate multiple models to enhance generalization, accuracy, and robustness. As the field of machine …

Rate Of Latine Caregiver Involvement In The Well-Being Promotion Program Using Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Communication Practices, Nicole G. Pacateque Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Latine and Hispanic youth tend to have higher rates of mental health disturbances in school compared to non-Latine youth, yet they are less likely to receive support (Alegría et al., 2008). Additionally, Latine families are more likely to terminate treatment for youth early due to negative stigma, lack of culturally appropriate mental health care, racial and ethnic discrimination, and linguistic and cultural barriers involving care (Kapke & Gerdes, 2016). Best practices in school-based mental health services often involve including caregivers in care (Hoover et al., 2019) as it can benefit outcomes of treatment for the child (Richards et al., 2007). …

Mapping Mangroves And Coral Habitats Health And Benefits To People, Nature-Based Solutions Workshop & Ground Truthing Report: Placencia, Belize (Report No. 5), J. Delevaux, N. Batista, H. Neal, M. Wallen, N. Gibson, V. Faux, L. Cheek, R. Mckenna, C. Baron-Aguilar, M. Trotz

Strong Coasts Collection

On February 2nd and 3rd, 2024, 14 members of the Placencia Peninsula community gathered for a collaborative workshop to provide feedback on maps related to coastal and marine habitat health, marine recreation, and anthropogenic stressors.

Hosted by the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University, this two-part workshop was part of the Strong Coasts Coastlines and People (CoPE) project which studies Nature-Based Solutions to flooding and erosion risks.

On February 2nd, 4th and 5th, 2024 members of the CoPe team, including Belizean partnering organization Fragments of Hope Ltd., and Placencia Peninsula community residents visited Laughing Bird Caye National Park (LBCNP), the …

Engagement With Radical Propaganda Drives Cognitive Radicalization: An Analysis Of A Right-Wing Online Ecosystem, Julius B. Calvert

Journal of Strategic Security

Cognitive radicalization remains an issue for communities battling terrorism. Recent empirical investigations into the psycho-social processes involved with radicalization have revealed social exclusion, cognitive inflexibility, and perceived threats to an ingroup as significant predictors for one’s propensity to engage with radical content and commit to offline behaviors. This study investigates the utility of user engagement and the proxy effect on cognitive radicalization by examining users’ engagement with a radical-right online ecosystem. The study supported the assumption that content featuring outgroup prejudice would affect the cognitive radicalization process. Several results demonstrate the importance of user engagement in the process of radicalization. …

Bukele’S Formula For Terrorism, Yovani E. Chavez Rodriguez

Journal of Strategic Security

The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Mara Barrio 18 (18thStreet Gang) are two of the most notorious Maras. Their army-sized membership and extraordinary levels of brutality once led them to commit more murders than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Boko Haram, and Al Qaeda. Currently, their activities have expanded to the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. While they are undoubtedly terrorist organizations, Bukele’s formula has proven effective in combating them. Nonetheless, Bukele’s government needs to implement measures to effectively counteract terrorism without affecting the rule of law, transparency, and the respect of human rights.

The Older Adults; Oral Health Crisis: An Exploration Into Barriers, Intervention, And Development, Sydney Wojcieszak

USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

This thesis examines the growing oral health crisis among older adults in the United States by exploring the barriers that prevent access to dental care and evaluating potential strategies for improvement. Through an interdisciplinary review of literature spanning dentistry, public health, gerontology, and healthcare policy, the study highlights the significant relationship between oral health and overall well-being, demonstrating how conditions such as dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth loss, and reduced salivary flow can contribute to systemic illnesses, diminished quality of life, and increased healthcare costs. The research identifies key barriers faced by older adults, including limited mobility, transportation challenges, cognitive …

The Thermodynamics And Structure Of Tumor Suppressor P53 And Helical Mutants Binding To Inhibitors Mdm2 And Mdmx At The Primary And Secondary Sites, Pirada Serena Higbee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

p53 is an intrinsically disordered protein that is a tumor suppressor. The transactivation domain is split into two parts (TAD1 and TAD2). These TADs bind to inhibitors MDM2, and a homolog, MDMX, but TAD1 binds with greater affinity. MDM2 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that leads to the degradation of p53. MDMX is not an E3 ubiquitin ligase, but it does prevent p53 from binding to DNA, thus preventing its tumor suppressor role.

Previous research showed that increasing p53 helicity by mutating prolines to alanines increased p53's helicity but not the length of the helix. The increase in helicity increased …

Effectiveness Of Contact-Based Strategies On Improving Mental Illness Stigma And Help-Seeking Behaviors Within Families, B. Michelle Wilks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is a developmental period that often involves extreme physical, psychological, and emotional changes and sometimes the experience of significant personal and social challenges. In addition to these challenges, youth are trying to find their place in the world and developing their identities, which depend heavily on their relationships with others. Adolescents who struggle with their mental health and also fail to develop meaningful connections with others, tend to have poor self-esteem, self-isolate, are ostracized by others, and have a poor social self-concept, all of which are associated with poor mental health and increased risk for suicidal ideation. The impact …

Individual Behavioral Modeling Across Games Of Strategy, Logan Fields

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An individual’s actions in a particular environment and with specified resources can reveal their decision-making tendencies and patterns, and by analyzing the variations in cognitive traits among individuals, it may be possible to identify trends that can foretell their future behaviors. This can be a powerful tool in various fields including cognitive modeling, player analytics, computer security, and threat detection. Collectible card games are a fruitful test space for studying cognitive differences in decision-making, as they can have clearly defined and replicable environments and large player bases. As such, in this work, I explore the potential of using two virtual …

Sociocultural Factors, Definitions, And Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence Among Latina And Hispanic Women, Vanessa Centelles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pressing public health concern in the United States (US), particularly for women. Some studies have shown that Hispanic and Latina women are at an elevated risk of experiencing IPV due to a notable passiveness of violence among traditional Hispanic and Latina women. Thus, it is crucial for research to examine the effects of sociocultural variables—such as cultural orientation, gender norm beliefs, and ethnic identity—on IPV within this demographic, particularly for women in the US. Furthermore, while the experiences of IPV victimization among Hispanic and Latina women have begun to be recognized in the broader …

It's Real, It Just Hasn't Happened Yet: A Three-Article Dissertation On Emerging Technologies In Higher Education, Jeanette Abrahamsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this three-article dissertation is to better understand the role emerging technologies are playing in learning. This dissertation explores tools on a spectrum of reality from fully immersive virtual reality (VR), semi-immersive VR, non-immersive VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and extended reality (XR). Three studies focus on emerging technologies from the student, educator, researcher perspectives to develop a holistic picture of emerging technologies in higher education. I explore factors that impact new technology adoption, which includes advantages and disadvantages to deploying different digital tools. This dissertation begins with a systematic literature review of 20 research studies …

Stereotyped Non-Stereotypicality: Exploring Positive Effects Of Non-Stereotypical Gender Portrayals On Consumer Perceptions, Veronika Ponomarenko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research attempts to identify contexts where non-stereotypical gender portrayals may have positive effects on consumer perceptions. It tests the perceived self-expressiveness of non-stereotypical gender portrayals as the mediating mechanism behind these effects as well as other alternative mechanisms in a comprehensive experiment. The analysis results show that an interpretation of gender through the theoretical lens of extravagance rather than self-expressiveness seems to be more appropriate. This study also introduces an overarching theoretical framework of metacognitive experiences that may explain the processes driving the effects of non-stereotypical gender portrayals on consumer perceptions. Finally, this research explores different types of gender …

Beliefs Of Male Elementary School Special Education And General Education Teachers Regarding Full Inclusion For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Saudi Arabia, Sultan Alanazi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

AbstractThe current educational settings for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in Saudi Arabia consist of special institutions for students with intellectual disabilities and special classrooms within public schools. The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia is interested in full inclusion for students with ASD because of the social, psychological, and educational benefits it can provide them. One crucial factor for achieving full inclusion is considering elementary teachers’ perceptions and beliefs toward full inclusion, as they are one of the primary stakeholders in this venture. Therefore, elementary general education and special education teachers’ beliefs regarding full inclusion for students with …

The Integration Of Assistive Technology By Female In-Service Teachers Of Students With Learning Disabilities In Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Interview Study, Badriah Alotaiby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to explore the teachers’ perceptions of integrating assistivetechnology into the curriculum for students with learning disabilities in Saudi Arabia. It is known that teaching students with learning disabilities had been one of the significant difficulties in the past and nowadays. Therefore, integrating assistive technology into the educational process would make it easier for the teachers of students with learning disabilities to teach these students through the use of integrating assistive technology. The use of such assistive technologies will be beneficial for learning disabilities students as well. The main question guiding this research is: What …

Hidden Monstrosities: The Transformation Of Medieval Characters And Conventions In Shakespeare's Romances, Lynette Kristine Kuliyeva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When Shakespeare’s First Folio was published in 1623, it was entitled Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, the title designating the three genres under which his plays would be categorized for the next 250 years. Later, Irish critic Edward Dowden took it upon himself to restructure the Shakespearean canon by adding plays that were not previously published in the First Folio, reclassifying the genres of several of the plays, and establishing a new genre to accompany the previous three: romance. Within this fourth generic category of romance, Dowden situated four of the Shakespearean plays: Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Cymbeline; …

An Ecofeminist Ontological Turn: Preparing The Field For A New Ecofeminist Project, M. Laurel-Leigh Meierdiercks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ecofeminists have predominantly refuted oppressive conceptual frameworks by rejecting dualistic logic and value hierarchies, despite the foundational view of ontology that underlies our logic and value systems. I argue that ecofeminists must engage in the creative process of articulating an ecofeminist ontology. I demonstrate that the omission of ontological discourse in ecofeminist scholarships is primarily due to the time period during which ecofeminism gained peak traction and their concerns with essentialism. I also show that feminists experienced an ontological turn in the 2000s that produced a new model for ontological theories that would be beneficial for ecofeminists to embrace. In …

Making The Invisible Visible: (Re)Envisioning The Black Body In Contemporary Adaptations Of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Urshela Wiggins Mckinney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A trend in neo-Victorian adaptations -- both novels and films-- that reimage, and at times reinterpret, canonical Victorian texts is the inclusion of nonwhite, mainly Black, perspectives, which has gained considerable traction in recent years. A vital aspect of this trend is the purposeful attempt to re-establish iconic Victorian characters through Black characterizations. In doing so, filmmakers and authors are reinvigorating familiar texts to provide an inclusionary space for the Black experience previously ignored in the original texts. These adaptations, which revisit and often reinterpret Victorian fiction, have undergone notable transformations by incorporating Black characters to fill voids in traditional …

Band Members’ Attitudes Toward The Queer Community And Perception Of Band As A Safe Space, Brian J. Panetta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework of human development and Yuval-Davis’ analytical framework of belonging as a lens to explain how the band environment might cultivate positive attitudes toward the queer community, this study investigated band members’ attitudes toward the queer community and their perception of the band as a safe space. Utilizing adapted inventories with established reliability and validity, the following research questions were addressed: 1) What are queer and non-queer band members’ attitudes toward the queer community? 2) What are queer and non-queer band members’ attitudes toward the band as a safe space? 3) What differences exist between the independent …