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An Assessment Of Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Individuals Gender Affirming Health Care Practices In The Greater Tampa Bay, Sara J. Berumen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The LGBTQ+ community faces discrimination and oppression throughout U.S. history and today. In particular, transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals may face a variety of challenges when seeking biomedical health care tied to hostility, discomfort, lack of training, stigma, and denial of care at clinics or hospitals (Baker & Beagan, 2014; Lykens et al., 2018; Safer, 2021). TGNC individuals face medical gatekeeping when trying to access medical gender-affirming care (Aizura, 2018; Malatino, 2020). The research project aims to investigate these individuals' healthcare experiences, and access to both medicalized and nonmedicalized gender affirming health care practices.

In order to conduct this …

A Convergent Approach To Aqueous Lead (Pb) Mitigation Of A Supplemental Self-Supply Shallow Groundwater Source Accessed By Handpumps In Madagascar, Adaline Marie Buerck

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently listed lead (Pb) as one of the ten chemicals of major public health concern. Though the toxic nature of lead has been known since the 20th century it is still utilized in a wide variety of products due to its favorable properties. Exposure to lead still accounts for approximately 900,000 deaths annually and disproportionately impacts those in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) due to a variety of reasons such as poverty, malnutrition, and lack of knowledge on the toxic nature of lead. Lead exposure routes include air, soil, dust, diet, and water. Though …

Population Genomics Of The Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone Condylactis Gigantea (Anthozoa: Actiniidae) In Florida And Across The Caribbean, Nancy E. Sheridan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The giant Caribbean sea anemone Condylactis gigantea is a long-lived, conspicuous, and phenotypically diverse species native to the western Atlantic Ocean (from Bermuda to southeast Brazil), Caribbean Sea, and southeastern Gulf of Mexico. This sea anemone is an important benthic community member that provides habitat to numerous species, including cleaner shrimp. This relationship makes these animals desirable to aquarists for both enjoyment and the service provided by the shrimp for the overall health of an aquarium, and which is why they are sought.

The extraction of about 3.3 million C. gigantea individuals in Florida over a 23-year period for the …

An Integrated Approach For Dynamic Process Modeling And Optimization Of Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Komal Rathore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The subareas of process systems engineering including process modeling, simulation, and optimization are becoming progressively substantial for understanding processes, making decisions, improving efficiency, and complying with stricter environmental and safety legislation. Additionally, the availability of user-friendly flowsheet simulators and computational resources with the current trend of data collection and analysis has allowed for a more accurate representation of complex processes such as wastewater treatment systems. Despite all the progress in the areas of process modeling and simulation, the first-principle mechanistic models for wastewater treatment processes are at best employed during the design stage, and therefore, not used optimally for day-to-day …

The Integration Of Positive Psychology And Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports To Improve Minoritized Students' Social, Emotional, And Behavioral Outcomes, Jasmine L. Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a culturally adapted 9-session group positive psychology intervention with and without an added peer reporting intervention on student levels of social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Many studies have evaluated either school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) or positive psychology interventions (PPIs) in isolation, but very few studies have examined the extent to which combining these interventions and approaches may promote complete mental health. The Well-Being Promotion Program is a multitarget positive psychology intervention that has been evaluated in both elementary and middle school populations (Roth et al., 2017; Lenz et al., …

Assessing The Human-Health Risk Of Exposure To Pathogens From Beach Sands, Javier Federico Gallard-Góngora

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fecal contamination at recreational beaches impacts the health of beachgoers, through the introduction of disease-causing microorganisms, and the well-being of communities dependent on income from recreational beach activities. Beach ecosystems are also impacted by sewage through the introduction of nutrients that can cause abnormal increases in autochthonous microorganisms which can impact the population of larger organisms in the ecosystem. Fecal contamination is introduced into sand via untreated sewage, direct deposition of human feces into sand, runoff, and deposition of animal feces into sand. The introduction of fecal contamination into sand exposes individuals to pathogens (disease causing microorganisms) which can result …

Interdisciplinary Communication By Plausible Analogies: The Case Of Buddhism And Artificial Intelligence, Michael Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Communicating interdisciplinary information is difficult, even when two fields are ostensibly discussing the same topic. In this work, I’ll discuss the capacity for analogical reasoning to provide a framework for developing novel judgments utilizing similarities in separate domains. I argue that analogies are best modeled after Paul Bartha’s By Parallel Reasoning, and that they can be used to create a Toulmin-style warrant that expresses a generalization. I argue that these comparisons provide insights into interdisciplinary research. In order to demonstrate this concept, I will demonstrate that fruitful comparisons can be made between Buddhism and Artificial Intelligence research.

Organizing Economies: Narrative Sensemaking And Communciative Resilience During Economic Disruption, Timothy Betts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation unites organizational communication, and economic theory to understand how individuals make sense of economic crises, imbed power and logic in those understandings, and construct new economic realities in the aftermath of crisis. Contra economic orthodoxy, this project conceives of economy and economics as a social construct. As a social construct, individuals organize economy and economics through discourse, make sense of through narrative, and rebuild through communication. This dissertation combines different theoretical perspectives—actor-network theory, antenarrative organization theory, and the communication theory of resilience—to recenter social scientific accounts of economic reality around communication, story, and power.

Specifically, I focus on …

Hope 4 Boys: The Impact Of A Youth Diversion Program, Justine C. Connolly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) is developing programs targeting first-time nonviolent offenders who might benefit from community-based treatment and positive youth development to prevent these individuals from becoming adult criminals. Thus, the DJJ seeks new and innovative ways to prevent juvenile delinquency and reduce recidivism among first-time nonviolent offenders. The present study aimed to evaluate the Hope 4 Boys program, a juvenile diversion program that addresses the academic and social-emotional needs of juvenile delinquents. The study examined how participation in the program is associated with changes in participants’ levels of hope for the future, life satisfaction, and resiliency …

Promoting Subjective Well-Being In Middle School: Role Of Internalizing And Externalizing Behaviors In A Targeted Positive Psychology Intervention, Letty Langton Dileo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a dual-factor model, complete mental health entails average-to-high subjective well-being (SWB, happiness) and few internalizing and externalizing behaviors (IEB, mental illness). Although positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have been shown to increase middle school students’ SWB, more research is needed to understand how baseline IEB influences post-intervention outcomes. The current study examined the effect of baseline IEB on SWB outcomes for 122 middle school students who participated in the Well-Being Promotion Program (WBPP). The WBPP is a 10-week, small group, school-based PPI for students with low SWB, as identified from universal screening of life satisfaction. The dataset analyzed is part …

Fragmentation Of Chemically Herded Oil Slicks By Obstacles: Visualizations, Flow Measurements, And Spatial Distributions, Ali Alshamrani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chemical herders are a promising technique for treatment of oil spills in icy waters at high latitudes. However, obstacles on the water surface such as floating ice affects or interferes with all spill response countermeasures including chemical herder operations by fracturing the contracting oil slick and trapping small oil patches. Chemical herders are likely to be especially useful in containing oil spills in remote, ice-infested Arctic waters, where using booms to contain an oil slick is difficult. Much of the previous research into chemical herder has focused on the effectiveness of different types of chemical herder agents to thicken oil …

Seroprevalence Of Sars-Cov-2 Antibodies, The Gut Microbiome, And Peripherally Circulating Cytokines In Pregnant Hispanic Females, Tina Susanna Mutka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pregnant Hispanic females have been disproportionately impacted by SARS-CoV-2 andhave experienced high rates of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, unrecognized infection. Acute SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with gut microbiome changes and altered peripherally circulating cytokine levels in symptomatic, non-pregnant individuals.

This study investigated the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in a sample of pregnant Hispanic females (n = 197). A sub-sample of SARS-CoV-2 seropositive and seronegative pregnant Hispanic females were followed across pregnancy and their bacterial gut microbiome was characterized, and cytokine levels measured to investigate relationships between SARS-CoV-2 serostatus, the gut microbiome, and peripherally circulating cytokine levels across pregnancy. …

Characterizing And Explaining Prevalence And Factors Associated With Non-Fatal Opioid Overdose In Florida, Jesse M. Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many factors contribute to the opioid epidemic in Florida, including, but not limited to, physician over prescribing, opioid manufacturer malfeasance (direct marketing to physicians, hospitals, and universities, as well indirect political contributions, and deliberately obfuscating the impact of the addictive properties of their various drugs), and as the epidemic approaches its 25th year, sociodemographic characteristics. This body of work examines three of these. First, because an opioid naïve persons’ typical initial encounter with the drug is through a physician, we sought to shed light on the impact of direct pharmaceutical marketing to physicians. We identified opioid providing physicians from the …

Academic Resource And Social Emotional Advisory Period: Promoting Communities Of Care And An Equitable Learning Environment, Mary Jane Lucas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological, single case study was to evaluate the innovative programming of an Academic Resource and Social Emotional Learning (AR/SEL) Advisory Period at one large suburban public high school in the southeastern United States. The AR/SEL Advisory Period incorporates academic, mindfulness, and mental health initiatives, in tandem with relationship building tools for adults and students. The AR/SEL Advisory Period aims to provide an equitable learning environment where all students have an opportunity to develop high quality relationships with adult mentors and peers, as well as experience a sense of belongingness and community of care. The question that …

An Exploratory Investigation Of Student-Level Factors And Perceptions Of Safety In Secondary Schools Implementing Swpbis, Nicholas L. Scheel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Past and recent violent incidents (e.g., shootings, bullying) within schools in the United States have caused great concern among the public about the safety of students. Although research has shed light upon the positive and negative impacts of current crisis prevention initiatives (e.g., federal and state legislation, security cameras, trauma-informed practices) on student perceptions of safety, the breadth of literature focused on the impact multitiered systems of supports (i.e., school-wide positive behavior supports and interventions [SWPBIS]) have on student perceptions of safety is limited (Nowicki, 2020). This exploratory investigation utilized a multivariate analysis of variance to examine perceptions of safety …

Two Essays In Applied Microeconomics: Retirement, Income Inequalities, And Other Economic Indicators Of Health And Life Satisfaction, Zahra Akbari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following proposal includes two essays in applied microeconomics. The first essay studied the relationship between income differences among siblings and the health outcomes of the individuals. Health inequalities and the factors associated with them have been a significant interest of health economists. Among those factors that can lead to health differences in adulthood, many studies have studied financial status. There are still many questions about these factors which should be answered in this area, especially about the adulthood income relative to a reference group and how it can be related to differences in adulthood health. The main goal of …

Data-Driven Analytical Predictive Modeling For Pancreatic Cancer, Financial & Social Systems, Aditya Chakraborty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deathly disease and becoming an increasingly commoncause of cancer mortality. It continues giving rise to massive challenges to clinicians and cancer researchers. The combined five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is extremely low, about 5 to 10 percent, owing to the fact that a large number of the patients are diagnosed at stage IV when the disease has metastasized. Our study investigates if there exists any statistical significant difference between the median survival times and also the survival probabilities of male and female pancreatic cancer patients at different cancer stages, and irrespective of …

Evaluation Of Aluminum Dissolution, Current Density, And Pitting Patterns During Electrocoagulation, Monica Castro Carias

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electrocoagulation (EC) is a sustainable water treatment process involving the generation of coagulants on-site through the application of a voltage on metal (usually aluminum or iron alloys). The factors that impact EC system performance have been well researched, however further research is needed on the factors that impact anodic dissolution of aluminum electrodes, especially when the technology is transferred to full-scale applications. Electrode fouling is one of the factors that can impact dissolution of the anode during EC due to the formation of a protective oxide/hydroxide layer on the electrode surface. Previous studies have addressed electrode fouling by reversing polarity, …

Examining The Relationship Between Racial Respect Among Black Early Childhood Professionals And Their Perceptions Of Black Children, Kayla Nembhard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black children are exposed to the highest rates of negative teacher perceptions and punitive consequences. Healthy People 2020 acknowledges the significance of the first five years of child development and the various factors that promote or hinder health outcomes during this time. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of quality relationships between children and their caregivers, including their ECE teachers. Overall, Black children tend to fare better academically when they are able to engage with Black educators and other ECE professionals. However, there is recent evidence Black educators in ECE settings, specifically, also uphold racialized negative perceptions of Black students that …

“Even If You Have Food In Your House, It Will Not Taste Sweet”: Central African Refugees’ Experiences Of Cultural Food Insecurity And Other Overlapping Insecurities In Tampa, Florida, Shaye Soifoine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, resettled African refugee populations experience food insecurity at rates up to seven times higher than those of the general population. In Tampa, Florida, anthropologists have documented high levels of food insecurity among Central African refugee households since members of this population began to be resettled in the area in 2016. Utilizing an intersectional lens and drawing upon theoretical concepts such as cultural food security, navigational capital, and social reproduction, this thesis examines how Central African refugees, particularly women, experience food (in)security and other overlapping forms of (in)security as they integrate into US systems of structural inequality …

The Weekly Challenger, June 23, 2022, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The June 23, 2022, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

A Theoretical Framework For Understanding Breast Cancer Survivor's Post-Treatment Lived Experiences In An Educational Program: A Qualitative Data Analysis, Katherine Jinghua Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent type of cancer among women and the most common cancer diagnosis for all the population in the United States. Early screening and treatment for BC have improved the prognosis for breast cancer survivors (BCSs) and increased survival rate. Current evidence showed insufficient data related to BCSs’ post-treatment symptoms, coping issues, and availability and impact of educational and support programs associated with breast cancer survivorship.

The overall purpose of this qualitative data analysis research project is to explore and identify BCSs’ perceptions (post-treatment) of physical, cognitive, and psychological symptoms experienced, as well as perceptions …

Degradation Performance Modeling And Optimal Maintenance Planning Of Deteriorating Critical Infrastructures, Hung Q. Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Serving as the backbone of the nation’s economy, a large and growing number of deteriorating critical infrastructures, such as transportation and water infrastructures, are underperforming, aging, becoming structurally deficient, and must be repaired or replaced. Due to the influence of a variety of factors (e.g., material structure, design, operation, and environmental conditions) at different phases of lifecycle and the costly data acquisition process, field degradation of deteriorating infrastructures is highly uncertain with limited degradation data. The co-location and spatial proximity between many infrastructures, such as road and water infrastructures, further makes them physically and operationally interdependent. The sheer deterioration of …

Japan’S Covid 19 Infection Rate: A Focus On Tokyo Neighborhoods, Lauren Koerner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis asks, are neighborhood demographic and economic variables connected to COVID-19 infection rates in Tokyo, Japan? I hypothesize that variation in urbanization and neighborhood demographics account for Japan’s low, though not uniform COVID-19 infection rates. This thesis applies several anthropological perspectives: The biocultural perspective because I look at epidemiology of COVID 19 considering socio-cultural, economic, and ecological factors as well as biological susceptibilities. The critical biocultural perspective because I look at how structures of power and inequality may impact health and healthcare access. Biomedical/applied anthropology, well placed to study the current epidemiologic situation of COVID 19 in Japan and …

Nonparametric Estimation Of Transition Probabilities In Illness-Death Model Based On Ranked Set Sampling, Ying Ma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ranked set sampling (RSS) design is applied widely in agriculture, environmental science, and medical research where the exact measurements of sampling units is costly, but sampling units can be ranked by a correlated concomitant variable. RSS is usually a cost-efficient alternate to simple random sampling (SRS) for selecting more representative samples. This study presents a novel methodology to investigate the nonparametric estimation of transition probabilities in illness-death model using the RSS design. We study the Aalen–Johansen estimator of transition probabilities in illness-death Markov model based on RSS design under random right censoring time and propose nonparametric estimators of the …

Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia Coli And EnterococcusSpp. In Sand And Water At Tampa Bay Beaches, Jennifer K. Sabater

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As antibiotic resistance in the environment continues to rise there is an increased concern that infections may become harder to treat as bacteria acquire genes for multidrug resistance. Recreational beach waters in the Tampa Bay area are routinely monitored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the presence of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) such as Escherichia coli and enterococci. Exceedances of beach action values (BAV) 235 CFU/100 mL (E. coli) and 70 CFU/100 mL (enterococci) indicate the presence of fecal contamination which is associated with an increased risk of disease for beachgoers. Antibiotic-resistant E. coli and Enterococcus spp. have …

The Use Of Acceptance And Commitment Training To Improve Teacher Interactions With Students, Taylor Raaymakers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers in classrooms with students who engage in challenging behavior often experience high levels of stress and may leave the profession. Few research studies have evaluated interventions to decrease teacher stress. Therefore, this study assessed the use of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTr) with teachers for decreasing stress and increasing positive interactions with students. The ACTr intervention consisted of both a one-time training and subsequent activities throughout the intervention phase of the study. Two self-report measures were administered during baseline and post follow-up observations. These self-report measures provided information on the levels of psychological distress the teachers were experiencing and …

Security And Privacy Enhancing Technologies In The Deep Learning Era, Gamage Dumindu Samaraweera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Our search queries, online purchase transactions, the videos we watch, and our movie preferences are a few types of information collected and stored daily. This private data collection happens within our mobile devices and computers, on the streets, and in our homes, most of the time even without our consent. Nevertheless, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) in the big data era have increased the capability to capitalize on and benefit from the collection of this private data. Such private data is being used for various machine learning (ML) applications in different domains, such as marketing, insurance, financial services, mobility, social …

Health And Friendships Of Lgbtqia+ College Students, Komal Asim Qidwai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and Others (LGBTQIA+) college students continue to face discrimination in seeking healthcare, having to navigate lack of access, heteronormative practices and protocols, and biased attitudes, even when accessing university health services. Moreover, LGBTQIA+ college students are unlikely to be able to rely on traditional sources of support such as family, and have a need to create a sense of home, by making friends. In this thesis, I explore friendships as an avenue through which these students seek health information and knowledge. I argue that health and friendship intersect in the lives of LGBTQIA+ …

Spillover Effects In Product Customization, Samuel Babu Sekar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Product customization is increasingly being offered as consumers interact with businesses online. When consumers customize a product, they often choose from among multiple, inter-related categories. Thus, the choices made in a prior category could influence choices in later categories (spillover effect). Currently, marketers attempt to nudge consumers to choose more expensive/profitable options by preselecting these options (explicit reference). In this dissertation, I explore whether implicit references can be employed to generate a spillover effect. Implicit references are generated by arranging the options within a category in either descending or ascending price order, with descending price order favoring the selection of …