Digital Commons Network^™

Sensi-Train: Context-Aware Sensitive Content Detection Using Transformers And Large Language Models, Nazeefa Muzammil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The detection of sensitive content has become a critical task in natural language processing due to the widespread use of online platforms and the social harm caused by it. Even though current methods have advanced significantly, many of them mainly rely on surface-level text and neglect to take into consideration contextual and cultural elements that are crucial for correctly assessing sensitivity of any content to a particular individual. Due to this, implicit offense, sarcasm, and culturally grounded expressions frequently cause problems for such systems. To enable culturally grounded sensitive content detection, this thesis presents Sensi-Train, a context-rich dataset and modeling …

Inside The System, Outside The Circle: A Parent-Educator’S Journey Of Navigating Through Systemic Oppression While Advocating For Her Son With A Learning Disability, Sanora L. White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This autoethnographic study examines how I, as a Black parent-educator, navigated racialized and ableist educational systems while advocating for my child with a learning disability. Grounded in Disability Studies in Education, DisCrit, Critical Pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning, and Black Feminist Thought, the study explores how systemic inequities shape parent–teacher collaboration and how advocacy functions as relational care and resistance. The guiding research question asked how I experienced and navigated collaboration within racialized and ableist special education systems. Data sources included reflective journals, IEP documents, personal narratives, and dialogic conversations with critical friends. Using composite narratives and thematic analysis, the …

Crow's Nest, February 23, 2026, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The February 23, 2026 issue of Crow's Nest.

Navigating (M)Otherhood: Perception, Practice, & Policy Of Adolescent Pregnancy In The North Coast Of Perú, Mahir Rahman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“It’s a vicious circle”, the obstetricians of Huanchaco repeated time and time again after discussing a recently pregnant 13-year-old girl who had just moved to the North Coast of Perú. Adolescent pregnancy is an extremely stigmatized topic in global maternal and child health discourse. Pregnant adolescents are subject to educational policy, clinical protocol, and community practice. While global scholarship emphasizes adolescent pregnancy prevention, limited scholarship focuses on the conditions in which adolescent pregnancy is perceived, discussed, and managed. More importantly, these perspectives are even less documented amongst the North Coast of Perú.

This thesis serves as an ethnographic exploration of …

The Role Of Campus Symbols In College Student Belonging: A Photo-Elicitation And Photovoice Qualitative Study, Abigail W. Bradley-Tyler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examines the impact of campus symbols on the sense of belonging among second-year students at a public, four-year institution in Florida. This topic is relevant as there is a lack of research about positive or neutral campus symbols. Using sense of belonging and symbolic interactionism as theoretical frameworks, this study investigates how students interpret and emotionally connect with university symbols, including campus mascots, monuments, personnel, and campus traditions and rituals. Using photo-elicitation and photovoice interviews, participants engaged with photographs of official university symbols and captured images representing their campus experience. Using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis, the …

Monitoring Strategies In Cave Microclimate Studies, Nenad Buzjak, Dalibor Paar, Aurel Persoiu, Christos Pennos, Franci Gabrovšek, Valerija Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

Cave atmospheres are spatially confined but dynamical systems that influence subterranean ecosystems, geomorphological processes, registration and preservation of climatic signals in sedimentary archives, cultural heritage, and conservation management. Despite major advances in cave climatology, methodological approaches to microclimate monitoring remain fragmented and are in some cases still shaped by the long-standing assumption that cave air temperature simply reflects the mean annual surface temperature. This paper revisits that assumption and develops an experience- and literature-based methodological framework for cave microclimate research. Key terminology is addressed by distinguishing between cave climate, cave microclimate, and cave meteorology, and by situating microclimatic variability within …

“It’S Like Being Interrogated For A Crime:” The Job Interview Experiences Of Late Diagnosed Autistic Women, Brianna M. Sandner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autistic adults face disproportionately high unemployment rates, with traditional job interviewsserving as a significant barrier due to their emphasis on social norms and the importance of first impressions. Research on barriers late-diagnosed autistic women—a population historically marginalized in both autism and employment research—encounter during job interviews is nascent. This study examines four key areas through the voices of participants: challenges encountered during interviews, coping mechanisms, masking behaviors, and the impact of receiving a late diagnosis on their understanding of past job-seeking experiences. Women described experiencing difficulties with an inaccessible interview structure, navigating social and professional norms, and answering questions on …

Gnsi Decision Brief: Intelligence, Technology, And The Future Of The American Republic, Jeffrey P. Rogg

GNSI Decision Briefs

Technology has always shaped intelligence but never has the relationship between the two been as consequential as it is today. Emerging technology is transforming the four “core missions” of intelligence—collection, analysis, covert action, and counterintelligence. The intelligence organizations that traditionally conduct these missions are trying to keep up with the pace of transformation, including the role of non-state actors, especially private corporations, in introducing disruptive technology and tradecraft to intelligence activities. It is not just intelligence that is changing in response to technology. States and societies must adapt to the new intelligence environment as well. This is particularly true of …

Improving Quantitative Support Across An Institution Using An Ecosystem Framework, Laura Muller, Melissa Eblen-Zayas

Numeracy

In our keynote address at the 2025 National Numeracy Network Annual Meeting, we introduced the framework we developed for considering four domains of an institution’s quantitative skills/reasoning support ecosystem that includes bridge programs with a quantitative component, approaches to assessing readiness, curricular on-ramps, and supplementary support. We believe this ecosystem framework has the potential to help campus leaders coordinate institutional efforts around student success in areas connected to students’ quantitative preparation. This keynote highlighted the idea that coordination of stakeholders and their engagement with domains of the ecosystem fall along a spectrum. We provide approaches for using this framework to …

An Autoethnographic And Relational Exploration Of Identity Negotiation Within Romantic Relationships Between Nonbinary Partners And Cisgender Women, Maddison L. Russell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how trans and cisgender partners negotiate gender identity, care, and relational well-being through an autoethnographic examination of everyday communication. The study draws from eighteen personal narratives across family, academic, and romantic contexts to trace how gender-based microaggressions and cisnormative expectations become embedded in ordinary talk, gestures, and silences, shaping identity development and relational stability. At its core, this work argues that relationality emerges as a pervasive and constitutive condition that shapes how affirmation, misrecognition, and belonging are experienced within trans/cis relationships and across time. Through examining moments of misunderstanding, minimization, and avoidance, the study reveals how microaggressions …

Crow's Nest, February 9, 2026, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The February 9, 2026 issue of Crow's Nest.

Microplastic Contamination In Longfin Squid (Doryteuthis Pealeii) From The Florida Gulf Coast: Evidence Of Marine Based Pollution, Jordan Kleinschmidt Dilena

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microplastic contamination is a pervasive global issue, yet its impact on ecologically significant cephalopod populations remains poorly understood. This study quantified microplastic prevalence and distribution in longfin squid (Doryteuthis pealeii), a key trophic link in the Gulf of Mexico. Following hydrogen peroxide digestion of digestive tract and mantle tissues, microplastics were isolated via vacuum filtration and characterized using microscopy. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed polymer identities. Microplastic contamination was exceptionally high, with 96.4% of individuals containing particles (mean = 36.6 ± 20.0 particles per individual, range = 0–94, n = 110 squid). From 4,072 total particles analyzed, fragments dominated (98.3%), …

Exploring Enacted Active Learning Practices In Postsecondary Chemistry Lecture And Laboratory Courses, Kendall M. Zammit

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work in this thesis begins to explore the enacted active learning practices in postsecondary chemistry lecture and laboratory courses. Chapter 1 explores the level of inquiry in postsecondary laboratories. Chapter 2 explores instructional and assessment practices at two-year institutions.

Chemistry postsecondary laboratories offer a unique opportunity to engage students in inquiry-based instruction. Inquiry-based instruction was categorized by the asking faculty members at four-institutions about six characteristics of laboratory design: choosing a problem, background research, designing procedures, analyzing data, communicating results, and interpreting results. As students have the freedom to make decisions on more characteristics of inquiry learning, the closer …

Microtransit In Florida: Strategic Considerations And Research Needs, Jennifer Flynn, Martin Catala, Victoria Perk

CUTR Internal Grant Research Program

In response to increasingly dispersed trip patterns, changing travel behavior, and new technology platforms, transit agencies are under pressure to modernize their services to sustain ridership and remain relevant. One strategy gaining traction is microtransit, an on-demand service model that allows riders to request trips (in real time or in advance) and receive service in smaller vehicles that may be shared with other passengers.

Agencies are exploring microtransit to address well-known fixed-route challenges, particularly in low-density areas where limited demand, circuitous routing, and weak pedestrian connectivity can lead to low productivity. By right-sizing service to real-time demand, microtransit can reduce …

A Review Of Books And Borrowing 1750–1830: An Analysis Of Scottish Borrowers' Registers, Sophie Coulombeau

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Still Scribbling: Reflections On The Grub Street Project At Twenty Years, Allison Muri

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This article reflects on twenty years of the Grub Street Project, assessing its sustainability and the design principles and editorial practices that have supported its continuity and coherence from 2005 to 2025.

Review Of Female Printmakers, Printsellers, And Print Publishers In The Eighteenth Century: The Imprint Of Women, C. 1700-1830, Edited By Cristina S. Martinez And Cynthia E. Roman, Michelle Levy

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Female Printmakers, Printsellers, and Print Publishers in the Eighteenth Century is a far-reaching collection of fifteen essays that addresses three main topics: women artists who made prints, women who were engaged in making prints, and the business of printmaking and printselling as engaged in by women. The collection addresses both known artists (like Angelika Kauffman) and printmakers (like Mary Darly), but also relatively obscure women, like Laura Piranesi, daughter of Giovanni, and Jane Hogarth, William Hogarth’s widow

Learning From The Legacies Of Phillis Wheatley Peters: A Collaborative Pedagogical Public Humanities Project, Sandra Zagarell

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

“’Learning from the Legacies of Phillis Wheatley Peters’: A Collaborative Pedagogical Public Humanities Project” is an account of a Spring, 2024 Zoom and web-based public humanities project for primary, secondary and post-secondary teachers interested in learning more about African-born American poet Phillis Wheatley Peters (c.1746-1784) and developing writing-based curricular materials about her. Foregrounding the levels of pedagogy the project involved, the essay describes leaders’ planning processes and our sessions with teacher-participants and provides links to the materials the teachers prepared. The instructional approaches the essay details can be adapted by educators working in a wide variety of classroom settings.

Teaching Phillis Wheatley Peters’S “On Being Brought From Africa To America” For The First Time In An Online Undergraduate Women’S Literature Course, Shazia Khan

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

As one of Phillis Wheatley Peters’ most famous poems, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” is often introduced to undergraduates; however, it is also an often-misunderstood text by undergraduate and graduate students alike when they first read it. Students often believe that Wheatley Peters is happy about her condition as an enslaved person in America and out of Africa. But upon deeper analysis of her word choice, use of punctuation, and biblical references, a reader can see her unique voice as an enslaved person criticizing slavery through sarcasm. Such responses can discourage instructors from teaching the poem, especially in …

Teaching Phillis Wheatley (Peters) As A Working Artist, Lenora Warren

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In recent years, the challenge of teaching the poetry of Phillis Wheatley (Peters) has been managing my students’ expectations of what constitutes “representative” African American literature and coming to a more comprehensive idea of constitutes both “political” and black art. In managing some initial confusion around Wheatley’s muted response to her enslavement I have landed on presenting Wheatley’s insistence of her work as a poet as “labour” to be the most interesting tact to take with students. For Wheatley it is the imperative of becoming a poet that allows her access to what might be seen as a more vital …

Teaching Phillis Wheatley Peters’S Morals On Words And Actions In American Literature To 1860, Don Holmes

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This article argues that teaching Phillis Wheatley-Peters (c. 1753-1784) as a moral authority during the American Revolution provides a robust historical framework for fostering an empowering humanism in students. When Phillis Wheatley Peters wrote to Indigenous Mohegan Minister Samson Occom (1723-1792) in 1774, she expressed satisfaction with his reasons for recognizing the conditions faced by enslaved Africans in North America. Her didactic perspective aimed to enlighten her readers about the limitations of the human condition: “This I desire not for their Hurt, but to convince them of the strange Absurdity of their Conduct whose Words and Actions are so diametrically …

On Being Brought From Gambia Or Ghana To Colonial Boston: Teaching Phillis Wheatley And Place, D. Quentin Miller

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In this pedagogical article, I describe my classroom practice in which the context of place becomes supremely important when introducing Wheatley’s work to students. With the help of experiential learning in the form of a walking tour of Wheatley's Boston and some maps, I call attention to spatiality as a crucial context for framing the poet’s most persistent concerns. The article contains images that can be useful to instructors who do not have the benefit of teaching Wheatley in Boston.

Introduction: Concise Collection On Teaching The Works Of Phillis Wheatley Peters, Part Ii, Mona Narain, Sarah Ruffing Robbins

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This short essay introduces part two of a two-part Concise Collections special issue on teaching Phillis Wheatley Peters. It discusses how the life and works of the poet can be taught in various educational settings.

Framing Affect: Close Up To Feeling With Women At The Eighteenth-Century Theatre On The Twenty-First Century Screen, Ros M. Ballaster Professor

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Period films and television dramas of the twenty-first century use scenes of attendance at the theatre by women in the (long) eighteenth century as a test of their capacity to feel. Such scenes provide an opportunity to measure the competing affordances of screen and stage regarding affect in the eighteenth century and our present moment. Explored are scenes of theatrical affect from Dangerous Liaisons (1998) to The Duchess (2008), Harlots (2017), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Bridgerton (2020). The figure of the liberated, educated, and aesthetically sensitive woman serves in period fiction on stage, screen and page more …

“[B]Oth In Body And Mind”: Gothic, Affect, And Power In Eliza Parsons’S The Mysterious Warning (1796), Rayna Rosenova

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Drawing on recent enquiries into how affect theory could enhance our understanding of eighteenth-century fiction, this article offers a reading of Eliza Parsons’s Gothic novel The Mysterious Warning (1796) to examine how affective resonances in the text are used to codify relations of power. It therefore argues that the power dynamics between the characters are enacted through encounters with human agents and material objects, such as letters and haunting (dis)embodied voices. The article further suggests that affective intensities in the novel, articulated through the language of sensibility typical of mid- and late eighteenth-century writing, generate an ensuing imbalance of power, …

The Gendered Duality Of Coldness In The Portrayals Of Eliza Hayley, Francesca Blanch-Serrat

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In the eighteenth century, coldness was defined, on the one hand, in relation to the body and the senses (a body that is lacking in heat) and on the other, to emotion (an individual lacking in passion). It was linked to illness and disability (Turner, 2012), equated to death, seen as both a cause and effect of physical decline and older age, and used as a synonym for low libido and infertility (Toulalan, 2015). In contrast to these negative connotations, coldness was also regarded as a remedy to temper the passions and to ensure longevity (Yallop, 2015), and taking cold …

Curious Objects: Form And Feeling In Mary Leapor's Thing Poems, James Metcalf

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Mary Leapor (1722–1746) has long been recognized as something of a curiosity: a Northamptonshire kitchen maid with a rudimentary education who died at the age of 24, but who also wrote two volumes of poetry. In this essay I read Leapor’s “thing poems” to show how curiosity is also a supervening affective regime in her poetics. Minor and marginal, fixated by perverse objects which tend more to derail than deepen the production of knowledge, curiosity is an unsettling mode of inquiry because of its imaginative attachment to the strange stuff lurking within the ordinary as a diminished site of aesthetic …

Epic Anger And Shame In Lucy Hutchinson’S Order And Disorder, Mary Trull

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In his didactic epic, De rerum natura, the Roman poet Lucretius rejects the unity of affect and genre in Homeric epic. Instead, in Lucretius anger is anti-heroic: the human race is demeaned by fear, cowering before a fabricated vision of vengeful gods. The gods are not angry, and human fear is therefore absurd, even shameful, since it leads to outrageous acts of appeasement that violate basic human decency. When Lucy Hutchinson, the first English translator of the full De rerum natura, approached the task of writing an epic version of the book of Genesis, affect was already a central, …

Queer Excess And Hybrid History In Elizabeth Cary’S Edward Ii, Kelley K. Glasgow

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Elizabeth Cary’s prose history The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward II (1627) follows the fourteenth-century king of England, whose love affairs with his favorite courtiers ultimately resulted in his overthrow and execution. She identifies Edward’s queerness, and his resulting lack of emotional control, as central to his inability to govern England, and as an example of the dangers of excessive emotions for her readers. Because of Edward II’s complicated publishing and attribution history, much of the scholarly effort around this text has been spent attempting to interpret it through Cary’s personal life and political aims. …

True To Form: Genre And Critical Affect In The Study Of Early Modern Women’S Writing, Michelle M. Dowd

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This essay considers how incorporating the critical study of affect into feminist formalist analyses can help move the field of early modern women’s writing forward in new and productive ways. After a brief historical and theoretical overview of the relationship between formalism and feminism in the study of early modern women’s writing, the essay turns to the specific topic of genre and affect. Reading the affective registers of literary genre, which often requires reading across traditional period divides, can productively enable us to deepen our understanding of early modern women’s forms. However, turning our critical eye to our own affective …