Digital Commons Network^™

Literacies Of Resistance: How Florida Teachers Story Policy Navigation And Response, Katharine E. Hull

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers are inundated with education legislation and the policy texts and discourses that surround them. Over nine months beginning in March 2024, I collaborated with three Florida P-12 teachers to explore their literacy practices and stories as they engaged with policy in a state that has recently passed an astounding amount of education legislation. This study explored how (1) teachers story the current policy context and their roles within it; (2) teachers use literacy practices to understand and respond to P/policies that impact their labor/working lives; and (3) teachers’ literate identities, agency, and collectivity intersect and shape one another. Guided …

Leveraging Dna Methylation Profiling And Microrna Sequencing To Characterize The Epigenomic Landscape Of Major Depressive Disorder Disease Trajectory, Jan Dahrendorff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and debilitating mental disorder associated with a significant disease burden and economic cost. Despite ample evidence documenting the efficacy of a diverse array of established MDD therapies, a large proportion of patients are inadequately responsive to initial treatment attempts, with first-line treatments leading to remission in only ~30% of the patients. Importantly, about a third of patients even fail to achieve symptom improvement after two or more antidepressant trials, resulting in what is commonly defined as treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The ability to identify which treatments are most likely to elicit a positive response …

A Multi-Faceted Study Of Antibiotic-Resistant, Opportunistic Pathogens In Wastewater And Environmental Water, Jeanette Calarco

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

More than 2.8 million infections due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria occur annually in the United States, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. Domestic wastewater (sewage), which contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes, is collected at treatment plants for removal of contaminants, e.g. pathogenic microorganisms and nutrients. While wastewater treatment is designed to remove antibiotic-resistant bacteria and other microorganisms through treatment and disinfection, some bacteria may escape treatment. Treated wastewater effluent is generally discharged into surface waters; however, some fraction of the effluent may be used as recycled water. Compromised wastewater collection infrastructure and sewage spills can disseminate …

The Barriers And Facilitators Of Maternal Influenza Vaccination, Rashida Karida Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Influenza remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with Black individuals disproportionately affected. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable due to their modulated immune state, placing them at increased risk of complications, hospitalization, and intensive care admission. Despite strong evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of maternal seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV), uptake remains suboptimal. This study employed a multi-method design to identify barriers and facilitators of maternal SIV uptake, with a particular focus on racial disparities.

Quantitative analyses utilized the Florida Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (FL PRAMS) dataset from the years 2018–2022. In the fully …

Breaking The Cycle: A Teacher And Mother’S Examination Of Multi-Tiered Systems Of Support, Jessica Hinton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) included Response to Intervention (RTI) as an option for determining eligibility for learning disabilities. However, there is no required structure to follow for RTI implementation. This lack of guidance leads to a lack of clarity in implementation at district and site levels. Many states use RTI as the primary indicator of whether a student needs special education services for a learning disability. RTI is a model for delivery of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). The terms RTI and MTSS are often used interchangeably. For clarity, I use MTSS-RTI to …

The Relationship Between Perceived And Actual Knowledge Of Multi-Tiered Systems Of Support/Response To Intervention (Mtss/Rti) In Middle School Principals In Florida, Susan L. Sanger-Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Principals play a crucial role in implementing MTSS/RtI (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support/Response to Intervention), yet little is known about their understanding of the RtI component. This quantitative survey examined Florida middle school principals’ actual and perceived knowledge of MTSS/RtI, as well as how training and demographic factors—such as special education certification, education level, Title I status, administrative experience during rollout years (2006–2010), district training hours, and college coursework—relate to that knowledge. Data from 54 principals were collected through perception scales, training background, and knowledge-based questions. Results showed principals rated their perceived knowledge higher than their actual knowledge, with a moderate …

Enhancing Nitrogen Removal In High Permeability Bioretention Media: The Combined Role Of Biochar, Wood Chips And Hydraulic Design, Joshelyn Guimaray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urban stormwater runoff can transport high nutrient loads to receiving waters, leading toeutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and the formation of hypoxic zones. Bioretention systems are a form of green infrastructure designed to mitigate these impacts, but their application in dense, ultra-urban environments is often limited by large land area requirements. This has led to the adoption of high permeability media (HPM) to accommodate higher hydraulic loading rates (HLRs) and reduce the system footprint. However, conventional HPM systems often show inconsistent removal of dissolved nitrogen species due to short hydraulic retention times (HRTs), a lack of organic carbon, and insufficient anoxic …

Improving Coral Restoration Outcomes Through Novel Molecular Applications, Matthew H. Gamache

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coral reef ecosystems are declining globally from numerous stressors, including localized pollution, disease, and marine heatwaves induced by climate change. To preserve these ecosystems, it is critical to identify corals that can withstand stressors—primarily future marine heatwaves—and prioritize them for coral restoration efforts until these stressors are mitigated. Coral responses to thermal stress can be influenced by several partners, including mutualistic microalgae and a vast prokaryotic community. Here, I use advanced molecular techniques to examine which partners (coral host, algal symbiont, and microbial communities) are associated with coral health, how they contribute to holobiont physiology, and their potential to increase …

The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Cognitive Performance In African American Older Adults, Rio S. Tate

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of older adults in the United States is expected to increase in the years to come. As we age, cognitive performance is noted to decline. African American older adults are more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to experience cognitive impairment and dementia. It is known that physical activity is a modifiable risk factor for dementia. It is not known the extent to which physical activity engagement is related to cognitive performance in African American older adults, and which variables, if any, moderate this association. To answer this question, the authors examined the association between three intensities of physical activity …

Exploring Perceived Parental Vulnerability In Pediatric Cancer Survivors: A Comparative Thematic Analysis Of English And Spanish-Speaking Families., Yusnavi Martinez Pineiro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how perceived parental vulnerability is expressed among parents of pediatric cancer survivors and explored potential differences between Spanish-speaking and English-speaking families. Data were drawn from an existing ongoing clinical trial in the IHOPE lab of the University of South Florida, who collaborates with over 10 pediatric cancer survivorship clinics across the country. The study used a total of 26 (13 Spanish-speaking and 13 English-speaking) structured interview transcripts from parent participants. The transcripts were the first session with the parent participant, the interventionist spoke the parent’s preferred language (English or Spanish), perceived parental vulnerability was one of six …

Proceedings Of The Global Conference On Business And Economics, Bhuvan Unhelkar, Valentina Della Corte, Cihan Cobanoglu, Mehmet Erdem

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This is the third volume of the Global Conference on Business and Economics Proceedings Series. This volume also includes papers presented at the Global Conference on Technology & AI in Hospitality and Tourism.

Mosquito Classification And Explainability From Image Data Via Deep Learning Techniques, Farhat Binte Azam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on Earth, responsible for more human deaths annually than any other species. Mosquito-borne illnesses continue to pose severe risks to global health. In 2015 alone, there were an estimated 214 million malaria cases worldwide. Similarly, a 2016 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that Puerto Rico’s Department of Health received over 62,500 suspected cases of Zika, with 29,345 confirmed positive cases. In 2019, Southeast Asia experienced its worst dengue outbreak in recorded history. Of the approximately 4,500 mosquito species distributed across 34 genera, …

English, Lamia Saad Alnomei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is crucial to integrate technologies into childhood education and teaching digital citizenship, but there are certain barriers to this integration in Saudi Arabia. Elicitation interviews were conducted in the context of this study with six participants, including kindergarten teachers and school leaders. They showed different levels of understanding the concept of digital literacy and citizenship and various levels of valuing technologies as tools for education. For instance, some expressed the need for more awareness and training, and other exhibited a deep understanding of digital citizenship. The study used Rogoff’s sociocultural theory, explored the influence of culture and parents on …

The Ruling Relations Of Care: An Institutional Ethnography Of High-Risk Prenatal Care Experiences, Nicole L. Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disrespect during pregnancy, labor, and delivery is common in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that approximately one in five women overall, and over 30% of Black women, report being ignored, dismissed, or verbally mistreated during their care. Public health efforts have primarily focused on individual-level interventions to improve patient-provider communication or reduce provider bias; however, these strategies have been critiqued for their limited scope and effectiveness in shifting outcomes. Instead, researchers and advocates have called for an examination of the structures that shape clinical encounters, including policies, protocols, workflows, and organizational culture. This …

The Role Of Peer Networks In Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs, Bayan Alnaim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research provided insight into how peer networks related to the professional learning of TC as they moved through an elementary teacher preparation program. These formal and informal peer networks helped nurture collegiality among TCs to aid learning and provide emotional support, which allowed an edge toward forming an identity. This study examined the particular role of teacher networks in TCs’ learning (Al Sultan, 2021; Anderson et al., 2022). The study applied Social Constructivism and Communities of Practice frameworks to analyze the influence of peer networks on the development of teaching skills and professional identities. Data from TCs participating in …

Dissecting The Intrinsic And Extrinsic Regulators Of Prostate Cancer Dormancy In The Bone Microenvironment, Mostafa M. Nasr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metastatic disease is the primary driver of cancer-related mortality. In prostate cancer (PCa), patient survival decreases dramatically once the disease spreads to distant organs, with over 80% of metastases occurring in the bone. This dissemination is often followed by a clinically silent period of tumor dormancy that can last for years, creating a critical reservoir of cells poised for lethal relapse. A significant barrier to understanding and targeting this dormant phase has been the lack of robust experimental models. This thesis first addresses this challenge by establishing a novel stress-induced model of PCa dormancy, validated across multiple murine and human …

Promoting Sophomore Progression: Academic Advocates’ Perceptions Of Holistic Interventions And Data Analytics, Sarah Angela Wray Marshall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explored academic advocates’ perceptions regarding holistic student interventions and data analytics utilization to enhance sophomore success at their institution. This study contributes to the literature on sophomore success by providing an academic advocacy perspective and to the emerging literature using data analytics to enhance retention, persistence, and graduation rates in higher education. Multiple methods of data collection were employed, including four academic advocate interviews, document analysis, and reflexive journaling. A hybrid thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data. By exploring practitioners’ narratives, the research addressed a gap in scholarship on how academic advocates enact their …

Rattlesnakes And Enlightenment Science: An Unlikely Epistemology Of Early American Herpetology, Sahir Hismiogullari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the hybrid epistemologies developed by early American naturalists, such as Hans Sloane, Pehr Kalm, John and William Bartram, and Benjamin Smith Barton that blended empirical observation, spiritual frameworks, and Indigenous ecological knowledge. These figures, implicitly or explicitly challenging the dominant mechanistic and reductionist models of Enlightenment science, pioneered a more holistic ecological thinking, even as they operated within colonial power structures.

Through historical and textual analysis based on letters, natural histories, and other written sources, the study reveals how these naturalists synthesized multiple ways of knowing, particularly in their encounters with New World peoples and environments. Within …

Protocol For Assessing And Managing Radon Gas Exposure Risks In Caves: A Case Study Of Altamira And Paleolithic Cave Art Of Northern Spain World Heritage Site, Sergio Sanchez-Moral, Javier Lario, Soledad Cuezva, Juan Carlos Cañaveras, Tamara Martín-Pozas, Angel Fernández-Cortés

International Journal of Speleology

Exposure to radon and its progeny poses a significant health risk for workers in tourist caves. Implementing protective measures is challenging due to increasingly strict gas concentration and dose limits in new regulations. This study evaluates the annual effective radiation doses received by workers and researchers, considering seasonal and spatial radon variability. Radon levels, temperature, and ventilation patterns were continuously monitored for at least one year in each cave. Results show significant radon fluctuations influenced by seasonal ventilation regimes driven by thermal gradients between the cave and external atmosphere. Using International Commission on Radiological Protection guidelines, the study calculates the …

Building Insight One Tray At A Time: A Systematized Review Of Sandtray Expressive Arts On Counselor Trainees’ Self-Awareness, A'Lyse M. Miranda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of sandtray expressive art interventions on the self-awareness of counseling students, recognizing the vital role self-awareness plays in counselor development. It is essential for counselors to practice self-awareness so that they may connect effectively with clients, make ethical decisions, and enhance their professional competence. Self-awareness is best identified as a transformative and reflective integration process. While traditional methods like journaling and supervision are commonly studied, the use of sand tray therapy as an expressive art intervention has received limited attention. This review synthesizes existing literature on self-awareness and sandtray expressive art interventions in counselor education, …

Community, Autonomy, Irony: Lessons From Historic Rosenwald Schools, Ronald B. Matus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing evidence suggests the Rosenwald schools of the American South, which anchored thousands of Black communities for a half century before desegregation, boosted academic outcomes for generations of Black students and helped fuel the civil rights movement. The research literature, however, is thin on what specifically made these schools successful. My research attempts to narrow the gaps by asking the Rosenwald alums themselves. Through semi-structured interviews, 10 alums in Florida identify defining features of their schools, including seamless community connections; a culture of high expectations for academic achievement and character development; and especially caring and committed teachers. The alums’ insights …

“The Best Laid Plans”: Evaluating How Housing Expectations Impact Prison Reentry, Vittoria A. Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study assesses the expectations of housing stability pre-release and evaluates how closely these expectations align with actual housing outcomes. Additionally, this study examines how the alignment between pre-release housing expectations influences recidivism. The aim is to understand how individuals’ perceptions of their housing plans prior to release affect their reentry experiences and to offer insights that may inform policy and program design. Using data collected pre- and post- release within a prison reentry program from 115 individuals, results indicate that higher overall housing concern is associated with slightly higher odds of recidivism, and mismatches between expected and actualized housing …

Graphene Screen-Printed Electrode For Wound-Related Biosensing, Chanyapat Sriviroch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Monitoring wound healing is critical for improving patient outcomes, especially for chronic wounds, which often have complications like delayed healing and infections. Current methods for monitoring wound healing are invasive and costly. Also, these methods have a limited ability to provide real-time, continuous data. This study seeks to explore a graphene screen-printed electrode (SPE) electrochemical biosensor that is non-invasive and efficient to constantly monitor wound healing in real time. This research study focuses specifically on the electrochemical detection of the Human Neutrophil Elastase (HNE) and Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor (SLPI), which is one of the most abundant neutral proteinases in …

Mapping Seagrass Extent Using Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery: A Case Study In Salt River Bay, United States Virgin Islands, Chelsea O. Bryant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Seagrass beds provide important services in many coastal ecosystems. They provide habitat and food for a wide range of marine species, stabilize sediments, and prevent coastal erosion. These services support local fisheries and tourism-driven economies. Yet, seagrass ecosystems are threatened by changes in water quality, sedimentation, and other stressors. This study investigated the interannual variability in seagrass extent in Salt River Bay, United States Virgin Islands (USVI), from 2018 to 2024. The goals were to better understand temporal dynamics in seagrass extent and evaluate the influence of turbidity as a driver of seagrass health and distribution. The overarching research question …

Exploring The Behaviors Of Women Who Are Mentally Thriving With Autoimmune Disease: A Mixed Methods Approach, Emilie Ann Ellenberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autoimmune diseases encompass a variety of conditions that impact millions of Americans, with a higher prevalence among women than men. These diseases involve immune system dysregulation, leading to tissue damage and dysfunction. Despite progress in understanding their underlying mechanisms, important aspects remain inadequately understood, such as the relationships among immune dysregulation, medical outcomes, and psychiatric comorbidities. Preliminary qualitative research indicates that perceived diagnostic invalidation leads to the mental health needs among women with autoimmune diseases often being unmet, and behavioral health help-seeking behaviors being reduced. Although perceived diagnostic invalidation can lead to increased mental health symptomology and decreased help-seeking behaviors, …

Myfoodrx: A Personalized Food-As-Medicine Mhealth Application For Food-Insecure Adults With Chronic Conditions, Jay Hiteshkumar Jariwala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food insecurity (FI) remains a persistent public health challenge in the United States, disproportionately affecting underserved populations and contributing to higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Traditional Food-as-Medicine programs have emerged as promising interventions, but often follow a generalized, non-personalized approach that limits long-term effectiveness, especially among diverse, high-risk communities. This thesis presents MyFoodRx, a personalized mobile health (mHealth) application designed to address the intersection of food insecurity and chronic disease through tailored nutritional guidance, real-time pantry integration, and adaptive educational content.

Developed through a User-Centered Design (UCD) process, MyFoodRx leverages a modular client–server architecture, …

Marigold-Silver Nanoparticles (Agnps) Complex: Characterization, Therapeutic Potential, And Future Approaches For Lung Injury Via Antioxidant And Anti-Inflammatory Effects, Navdeep Kaur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) and other lung conditions are a key cause of the problems facing global health, as they greatly increase morbidity, death, and the financial burden. In order to achieve the third Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations, which is to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable illnesses by one-third by 2030, updated epidemiological statistics are crucial for directing prevention, control, and treatment measures. One of the major reasons of illness and death globally is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Lung damage and the emergence of CRDs, such as asthma, emphysema, COPD, and other respiratory disorders, are largely …

Formulation And Characterization Of Albumin Nanoparticles For Nsclc Photochemotherapy, Faisal Mohammad Shamim Khan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer and is a leading cause of worldwide cancer-related death, which is a strong motivation to develop more efficacious approaches to its treatment. This thesis outlines the construction of folate-targeted bovine serum albumin (FA-BSA) nanoparticles co-loading Chlorin e6 (Ce6), a photodynamic therapy photosensitizer, and Evofosfamide (EVO), a hypoxia-activated prodrug, to enable synergistic photochemotherapy. The 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) is a water-soluble carbodiimide coupling reagent and used for amide bonds between carboxylic acid and amines. FA-BSA nanoparticles were prepared through a desolvation approach and stabilized through crosslinking by the carbodiimide reagent …

Econometric Analyses Across The Continuum Of Care For Individuals With Hearing Loss, Teresa I. Anthony

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hearing loss affects individuals across the age span and, if left untreated, can lead to developmental delays and health and well-being concerns. This dissertation applies econometric analyses to investigate factors influencing diagnostic outcomes in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), intervention enrollment rates among babies with permanent childhood hearing loss (PCHL), and utilization and hospitalization outcomes among adults with sensory impairment (SI). The first study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of automated auditory brainstem response (aABR) versus transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) for newborn hearing screenings in a Thailand hospital NICU. Decision tree modeling and economic evaluation suggested that although aABR is …

Connectedness And Belonging: An Autoethnography About Military Veteran Transition, Benjamin A. Smet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Military veterans often face profound challenges transitioning to civilian life, yet prevailing narratives focus narrowly on PTSD and combat trauma. This dissertation uses autoethnography to broaden that view, blending personal narrative with theory to explore seven interrelated transition stressors: grief and bereavement, loss of military identity, autobiographical memory, service-connected nostalgia, moral injury, stereotype threat, and socialized masculinity and stoicism. These layered stories illuminate the cultural, emotional, and relational dimensions of transition, showing how isolation, disconnection, and loss of belonging shape veteran experiences as deeply as trauma. The analysis demonstrates that healing emerges not from prescriptive programs but from relational practices …