Digital Commons Network^™

The Perceptions Of Speech-Language Pathologists Toward Augmentative And Alternative Communication In Thailand, Wansiya Kamonsitichai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems have gained increasing acceptance in the US, they are not well-known and broadly used in Thailand. To begin introducing AAC systems and interventions to children with complex communication needs (CCNs) in Thailand, understanding Speech-Language Pathologists’ (SLP) perceptions toward various AAC systems is considered an important first step. This study assessed SLPs’ perceptions toward three AAC modalities: gestural communication, communication boards, and speech-generating devices. All SLPs in Thailand (n ~ 200) were invited to participate. A total of 78 SLPs watched three video vignettes with a Thai child illustrating each AAC mode. They then …

The Ring Of Gyges 2.0: How Anonymity Providing Behaviors Affect Willingness To Participate In Online Deviance, Cassandra E. Dodge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anonymity has long been discussed as a source of disinhibition. The myth of the Ring of Gyges illustrates how a person may act immorally solely because they know they will not be caught (Plato, 375/2017). Incorporating perspectives of rational choice and deterrence, anonymity serves as a form of risk reduction within hedonistic calculus (Beccaria, 1764/1963; Bentham, 1781/2000). Analogous to the myth of the Ring of Gyges (Plato, 375/2017), techniques of anonymity “hide” users from others while online. These techniques serve as a form of risk reduction, reducing the certainty of punishment (Becarria 1764/1963). Additionally, there are many ways by which …

Evacuation Decision Making And The Role Of Social Connections Across Evacuation Statuses During Hurricane Irma, Nathan D. Shull

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine the evacuation decision-making process during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Special consideration was given to the role of an individual’s social connections (SCs). Additionally, the dependability, density (i.e., social network size and number of connections), and diversity of SCs were compared between those who: (a) evacuated to a shelter in Pinellas County, (b) evacuated to somewhere outside of the Tampa Bay area, and (c) did not evacuate. Data for evacuees and non-evacuees from Collins et al. (2018) were used to perform this comparison, while the data for shelter evacuees were acquired via a …

Postojna-Planina Cave System In Slovenia, A Hotspot Of Subterranean Biodiversity And A Cradle Of Speleobiology, Maja Zagmajster, Slavko Polak, Cene Fišer

KIP Articles

The Postojna-Planina Cave System (PPCS) in central Slovenia is a globally exceptional site of subterranean biodiversity, comprised of many interconnected caves with cumulative passage length exceeding 34 km. Two rivers sink into the caves of the PPCS, called the Pivka and Rak, and join underground into Unica River, which emerges to the surface. The studies of fauna of PPCS began in the 19th century with the first scientific descriptions of specialized cave animals in the world, making it “the cradle of speleobiology”. Currently, the species list of PPCS contains 116 troglobiotic animal species belonging to eight phyla, confirming its status …

Autonomous Cave Exploration Using Aerial Robots, Mihir Dharmadhikari, Huan Nguyen, Frank Mascarich, Nikhil Khedekar, Kostas Alexis

KIP Articles

No abstract provided.

A Self-Study Of Need-Supportive Teaching In Elementary Art, Craig Jacobowitz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I present a self-study of my need-supportive teaching practice. I have long been curious about what it is about my teaching, what I say and do, that motivates students to work harder on their artwork and persevere when they become mired in difficulties. Need-supportive teaching addresses students' basic psychological needs within the classroom setting through high-quality teacher/student relationships and structure. Need-supportive teaching, motivation, and academic resilience are areas I made an extensive study of, as presented in chapter two. In March of 2020, the educational landscape in the United States was altered by the arrival of the unprecedented and novel …

Factors Controlling Circulation At The Terminus Of A Shallow Seagrass-Dominated Estuary, Fort Desoto Bay, West-Central Florida, Charles Gray Vickery

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fort DeSoto Bay is a shallow seagrass-dominated estuary located landward of Mullet Key that is home to the most extensive seagrass beds in all of Tampa Bay. During a period of development in the 1950s and early 1960s, the bay underwent extensive physical modifications, including the construction of earthen causeways and dredged channels, which altered the bathymetry of the seafloor and changed natural circulation patterns. The stagnation of water in the southern bay and increased estuarine residence time led to elevated summer temperatures, reduced dissolved oxygen levels, and die-offs of seagrasses. Two 40-foot circulation bridges were installed on each causeway …

Mental Health Problems, Traumatic Brain Injury, And Offending Behavior Among Persons Incarcerated In A County Jail, Lauren F. Fournier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous work has found that although mental illness is positively related to offending behavior, it is a fairly poor predictor of aggression, violence, offending, and recidivism after controlling for sociodemographic and historical risk factors (i.e., criminal history, age, race, gender). This refutes the model that mental illness is a direct cause of crime. Instead, risk for recidivism or crime related to mental health problems may be higher when combined with other risk factors. The current study evaluated traumatic brain injury (TBI) and associated symptoms of post-concussion syndrome (PCS) as potential moderators of the relationship between mental health problems and concurrently …

The Weekly Challenger, June 11, 2021, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The June 11, 2021, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

The Feasibility Of 18f-Fdg Labeled Rbc And Pet/Ct Imaging Blood Perfusion And Vascular Dysfunction Measurements In Pre-Clinical Research, Shaowei Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heart disease, dementia, and stroke are significant public health issues and leading causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Abnormalities in blood perfusion and vascular structures are seen in varieties of pathologies, including cerebrovascular diseases like stroke and dementia, hypertension, cardiovascular disease like atherosclerosis, diabetes, peripheral artery disease, and vasculitis, and tumor angiogenesis. Imaging perfusion/vascular abnormalities in these patients often plays a vital role in clinical diagnosis and treatment decisions.

Vascular diseases typically present as macrovascular or microvascular diseases. Microvascular disease (MVD) refers to vascular disease primarily affecting the arterioles, venules, and capillaries in various organs. Furthermore, MVD is widely found …

Chorine Conversion: Biological And Water Quality Impact On Activated Carbon Block Point Of Use Filters, Horace S. Jakpa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Point-of-use (POU) activated carbon (AC) filters are ubiquitous in many U.S. households. AC can reduce concentrations of lead, other heavy metals, and mitigate taste and odor issues. However, AC filters also remove residual disinfectants, thus allowing for the proliferation of microbes in the filter. In chloraminated systems, this can lead to localized, filter-induced nitrification. Most notably, high nitrite and nitrate in drinking water can cause methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome) in children under the age of three, raising public health concerns.

As a control measure for nitrification within distribution systems, utilities practice periodic, short-term secondary disinfectant switches from chloramine to free …

Ay 2020/2021 Sec Agenda, 2021-06-09, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Ay 2020/2021 Sec Meeting Minutes, 2021-06-09, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Health Risk Assessment Of Local Populations Ingesting Water With Naturally Occurring Arsenic And Fecal Related Contaminants In Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, Marisol Alvarez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala acts as a sink for wastewater discharge and as a source of drinking water. The populations living in the lake basin are primarily indigenous with a large percentage (70%) living in poverty. Wastewater effluent entering the lake poses an immediate health risk to those using it as a drinking-water source. Additionally, the lake is surrounded by three volcanoes and the water has concentrations of naturally occurring arsenic above the recommended reference level of 10 µg/L. Arsenic is acutely poisonous at high concentrations and has carcinogenic and neurological effects when chronically exposed at low concentrations.

The goal of …

An Examination Of Covid-19 Health Behaviors And Public Health Messaging Using The Health Belief Model And Organization-Public Relationship Quality, Aaron L. Nichols

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the most severe pandemic in over 100 years, this study examined public health behavior and public health messaging using the health belief model (HBM) and organization-public relationships (OPR) as frameworks. The study employed a cross-sectional survey of students (N = 288) and employees (N = 203) at a large public university in the southeastern United States. First, the study empirically tested the components of the HBM as determinants of engaging in public health behaviors meant to slow or prevent the spread of COVID-19 and found all components of the model to be significantly related to engaging …

Agenda And Supplementary Materials, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board Programs Update Workshop, June 8, 2021, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus Board

Campus Board Agendas, Minutes, and Supporting Documents

The agenda and supplementary materials for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board programs update workshop held on June 8, 2021.

Data-Driven Analytical Modeling Of Multiple Myeloma Cancer, U.S. Crop Production And Monitoring Process, Lohuwa Mamudu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Globally, cancer disease is a major health issue causing a lot of deaths. The duration of time an individual diagnosed with a particular type of cancer survives has become a major area of research concern. The Kaplan Meier and Cox Proportional Hazard (Cox-PH) model have been a traditionally used method for survival analysis of cancer data. These techniques of cancer survival analysis are developed from nonparametric and semi-parametric approaches, respectively, which are not as robust as a parametric approach. In this dissertation, we proposed a new method of cancer survival analysis based on a parametric approach using multiple myeloma cancer …

Development And Validation Of An Isothermal Amplification Assay For Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, Mikayla D. Maddison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a neurotrophic alphavirus for which there is no effective treatment or vaccine for humans. Periodic outbreaks in the Eastern United States represent an ongoing public health problem; Florida serves as the reservoir for EEEV for the rest of the country. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the current gold standard for molecular diagnostic testing of the presence of EEEV in vectors. However, RT-PCR is technically complex and can be difficult for mosquito control districts to utilize. In order to provide a simple, cost-effective alternative for mosquito surveillance and control, a novel one step reverse …

The Presence Of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, A Fungal Pathogen Of Bats, Correlates With Changes In Microbial Metacommunity Structure, Matthew Grisnik, Joshua B. Grinath, Donald M. Walker

KIP Articles

Metacommunity theory provides a framework for how community patterns arise from processes across scales, which is relevant for understanding patterns in host-associated microbial assemblages. Microbial metacommunities may have important roles in host health through interactions with pathogens; however, it is unclear how pathogens affect host microbial metacommunities. Here, we studied relationships between a fungal pathogen and a host-associated microbial metacommunity. We hypothesized that a fungal pathogen of bats, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, correlates with a shift in metacommunity structure and changes in relationships between community composition, and factors shaping these assemblages, such as ecoregion. We sampled bat cutaneous microbial assemblages in the …

Serious Mental Illness In Nursing Homes: Quality Concerns, Dylan J. Jester

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: This dissertation is made of two academic papers followed by a chapter discussing policy implications of the findings. The objective of this dissertation is to better understand if high-serious mental illness (SMI) nursing homes (NHs) provide poorer quality of care (e.g., operationalized as staffing levels, NH Compare quality star ratings, and health deficiencies) and whether quality in high-SMI NHs is confounded by payer mix (e.g., the proportion of residents who are Medicaid-reimbursed). A modified Donabedian Structure, Process, Outcome (SPO) Model was used as the main theoretical framework.

Methods: Data came from the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) …

An Ecological Momentary Assessment Of Disordered Eating Behaviors Within Alcohol Use Episodes: Determining Temporal Sequencing In Food And Alcohol Disturbance, Emily M. Choquette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The co-occurrence of disordered eating and alcohol use has been well documented in the literature. Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD), previously referred to as “drunkorexia,” refers to the use of disordered eating behaviors within an alcohol use episode for the purpose of increasing alcohol effects and/or offsetting caloric intake from alcohol. There is a relatively limited literature base which examines FAD; however, there is evidence that FAD is associated with alcohol-related consequences and health risk behaviors. As such, further study into this phenomenon is necessary. The current study aimed to address significant limitations in the literature. While the aims of …

Risks Posed By Sars-Cov-2 To North American Bats During Winter Fieldwork, Jonathan D. Cook, Evan H. C. Grant, Jeremy T. H. Coleman, Jonathan M. Sleeman, Michael C. Runge

KIP Articles

The virus that causes COVID‐19 likely evolved in a mammalian host, possibly Old‐World bats, before adapting to humans, raising the question of whether reverse zoonotic transmission to bats is possible. Wildlife management agencies in North America are concerned that the activities they authorize could lead to transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 to bats from humans. A rapid risk assessment conducted in April 2020 suggested that there was a small but significant possibility that SARS‐CoV‐2 could be transmitted from humans to bats during summer fieldwork, absent precautions. Subsequent challenge studies in a laboratory setting have shed new information on these risks, as has …

The History And Evolution Of The Denisovan-Epas1 Haplotype In Tibetans, Xinjun Zhang, Kelsey E. Witt, Mayra M. Bañuelos, Amy Ko, Kai Yuan, Shuhua Xu, Rasmus Nielsen, Emilia Huerta-Sanchez

KIP Articles

Significance The discovery of the archaic Denisovan hominins is one of the most significant findings in human evolutionary biology in the last decade. However, as of today, we have more questions than answers regarding this mysterious hominin group. This study leverages the information from the well-known example of adaptive introgression on the EPAS1 gene in Tibetans, to gain insight on the history of our species’ interaction with Denisovans. We show that the Tibetan- EPAS1 haplotype came from the East Asian-specific Denisovan introgression event, and it remained selectively neutral for a long time in the population before positive selection occurred, which …

Cutr Connections [June 2021], Cutr

CUTR Newsletters

No abstract provided.

A Unique View Of Sars-Cov-2 Through The Lens Of Orf8 Protein, Sk Sarif Hassan, Alaa A. A. Aljabali, Pritam Kumar Panda, Shinjini Ghosh, Diksha Attrish, Pabitra Pal Choudhury, Murat Seyran, Damiano Pizzol, Parise Adadi, Tarek Mohamed Abd El-Aziz, Antonio Soares, Ramesh Kandimalla, Kenneth Lundstrom, Amos Lal, Gajendra Kumar Azad, Vladimir N. Uversky, Samendra P. Sherchan, Wagner Baetas-Da-Cruz, Bruce D. Uhal, Nima Rezaei, Gaurav Chauhan, Debmalya Barh, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Guy W. Dayhoff, Nicolas G. Bazan, Ángel Serrano-Aroca, Amr El-Demerdash, Yogendra K. Mishra, Giorgio Palu, Kazuo Takayama, Adam M. Brufsky, Murtaza M. Tambuwala

All publications

Immune evasion is one of the unique characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) attributed to its ORF8 protein. This protein modulates the adaptive host immunity through down-regulation of MHC-1 (Major Histocompatibility Complex) molecules and innate immune responses by surpassing the host's interferon-mediated antiviral response. To understand the host's immune perspective in reference to the ORF8 protein, a comprehensive study of the ORF8 protein and mutations possessed by it have been performed. Chemical and structural properties of ORF8 proteins from different hosts, such as human, bat, and pangolin, suggest that the ORF8 of SARS-CoV-2 is much closer to …

Peristaltic Micropumps And Fluid Delivery Devices That Incorporate Them, David A. Borkholder, Farzad Forouzandeh, Robert Nash Carter, Denis Roger Cormier, Joseph P. Walton, Robert Dana Frisina

USF Patents

In one embodiment, a peristaltic micropump comprising a substrate having a first side and a second side, a microtube that extends across the first side of the substrate, and multiple pump actuators formed on the first side of the substrate and positioned adjacent to the microtube at discrete, spaced positions along the length of the microtube, wherein the micropump is configured to sequentially actuate the pump actuators so as to create peristaltic action that drives fluid contained in the microtube along the length of the tube.

Partnerships To Promote Inclusive Education For Students With Disabilities In Thailand, Somkate Uttayotha, Andrew R. Scheef

Journal of Global Education and Research

Inclusive education provides opportunities for students with disabilities to learn alongside peers without disabilities. In some countries, such as Thailand, a dearth of opportunities for inclusive education means that students with disabilities are only offered enrollment in residential schools designed for students with disabilities. As a result, students are forced to leave their home communities to receive a public education. Inclusive education allows students to follow the same path as peers in their community, which benefits all parties. This qualitative pilot study featured interviews with stakeholders to better understand how schools can partner with regional entities to increase opportunities for …

Teaching In A Global Society: Considerations For University-Based Educational Leadership, Penny L. Tenuto

Journal of Global Education and Research

Those who work in university-based programs are in a unique position to positively influence teaching, leading, and learning in the 21st century—whether in traditional face-to-face classrooms or online. To ensure culturally responsive practices, postsecondary faculty and administrators must be proactive about critically reflecting on their own professional praxes related to adult learning. This paper offers a mini-review of concepts derived from the literature for promoting inclusive postsecondary learning communities in a diverse and global society. This conceptually based paper blends current practices with traditional adult learning theories and includes considerations for those who work in university-based programs that prepare educational …

Inland Flyway Review- Fall 2020 Report, Vernon Kleen

North American Bird Bander

No abstract provided.

Social Studies Through The Visual Arts: A Case Study Of A Professional Development Program On Teachers' Curricular And Instructional Decision-Making, Cristina M. Viera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ongoing educational reforms and the accountability movement in public education can pose significant challenges for teachers as they strive to meet a critical, social-justice vision for the social studies. Teachers’ continued professional growth and learning are viewed as the main factors towards achieving this goal; however, quite often the long-term impact of professional development goes unexplored. This qualitative case study explores the impact of an arts-based professional development program called InsideART on social studies teachers’ decisions for curriculum development and instruction. Semi-structured interviews, curricular and instructional artifacts, and researcher’s reflective journaling illuminated the impact of InsideART on social studies teacher-participants’ …