Digital Commons Network^™

Introductory Geology Laboratory Students' Learnings From And Perceptions Of Physical And Virtual Polarizing Light Microscopes – An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study, Christy M. Bebeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate geoscience laboratory courses provide hands-on learning about earth materials. However thin section analysis is not typically included in introductory geology laboratories, likely due to the polarizing light microscope (PLM) costs. Therefore, there is a lack of research about the educational outcomes of novices learning these skills.

In this inquiry, I conducted mixed methods research about novice students' learning of thin section analysis in an introductory geology laboratory and evaluated learning and perception differences between students who used a virtual PLM and those who used a physical PLM. I collected data from Creative Exercise (CE) assessments in student midterm and …

Integrated Process Modeling, Techno-Economic Analysis And Life Cycle Assessment For Enhanced Biogas-To-Energy Sustainability And Efficiency, Rarosue Jennifer Amaraibi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to enhance the cost competitiveness and minimize the environmental footprint of technologies that convert biogas to energy, contributing to global climate change mitigation efforts. Biogas, a by-product of the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste from various sources, is a renewable energy source with the potential to reduce carbon emissions and meet local energy needs. However, widespread adoption requires the development of economically viable and environmentally friendly technologies.The central hypothesis of this dissertation suggests that by adopting a holistic strategy that combines cutting-edge techniques to purify biogas and improve its conversion into valuable liquid fuels, we can substantially …

Electrospun Nanofiber Technology Based Energy Storage And Biosensor Devices For Wearable Electronics, Bianca Seufert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As progress in the field of nanotechnology continues to evolve, it is becoming more and more prevalent to apply this small but powerful technology to portable wearable electronics. The unique scale of such a technology lends its expertise to the investigation of enzymes for biometric related diagnostics or in the development of light weight flexible energy storage devices. Furthermore, as the need for highly precise and durable wearable electronics grows, the next generation of electronics must keep pace with this development in terms of shape, flexibility, functionality, and performance.

The presented research reviews the current state of art of nanofiber …

A Gateway To Next-Generation Patient Monitoring System, Kishore Kumar Kadari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare patient monitoring is undergoing a significant digital transformation, and the integration of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly crucial in reshaping patient care. In an era where digital technology is revolutionizing medical practices, this research aims to take a leading role in advancing a fundamental aspect of predictive and sustainable healthcare practices, enhancing patient outcomes and uplifting the practice of medicine.

This research focuses on the study of Digital Twins for precision health, which are designed to monitor and provide intricate, personalized feedback dynamically during a patient's healthcare experience. The architecture of the system is …

The Experiences Of A Black Teacher Educator Surrounded By Whiteness In Teacher Education: A Critical Autoethnography, Lamicah Lindsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of teacher education is dominated by whiteness, perpetuating the influence of white ideologies in designing and implementing teacher education at each phase of the continuum (pre-service teaching, in-service teaching, teacher educators). This study employs a critical autoethnographic approach to examine how my experiences as a Black educator have shaped my social justice pedagogy across the teacher education continuum. It also identifies the supports I received during my journey. The findings reveal persistent racial discrimination throughout all phases of teacher education, as well as struggles with imposter syndrome, self-doubt, racial identity, and fear of the unknown. These findings underscore …

Avoiding The Debt Sentence: A Narrative Inquiry On The Endarkened Financial Socialization Of Student Debt-Free, First-Generation Black College Women, Candace Marie Henry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of first-generation Black women who completed at least a bachelor’s degree without student loans. While Black women are most burdened by student loan debt, little is known about the experiences of those who navigate college without accruing student loans. Combining endarkened feminist epistemology with the family financial socialization model, I developed the endarkened financial socialization model to guide this inquiry. Using endarkened narrative inquiry, I engaged eight first-generation Black women who completed college without student loan debt in semi-guided conversations about the financial messages they received growing up and …

Becoming Conscious: An Autoethnographic Study Analyzing The Relationship Between Identity And Leadership, Aaron Izzo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to define the connection between one’s perceptions of self and how one conceptualizes leadership. This study first conceptualized my own identity, seeking to connect my past experiences and interactions with others utilizing a term borrowed from Eastern philosophy, samskara, to see how they impact my current practice within leadership. Within the current body of research, various forms of leadership approaches, such as relational, appreciative, feminist, queer, and conscious leadership, were described and explored. What was found to be missing from the current body of work was a connection between who a person is, how they identify, and …

Going Through To Get Through: Life Histories Of Black Women In Educational Leadership, Ann Marie M. Mobley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black women who become school-based administrators are severely understudied in scholarly research (Lomotey, 2019). Studies suggest that Black women in the United States, who ascend into educational leadership positions, rely on professional training(s) associated with their employment and understandings accrued from inter/personal background experiences (cultural, familial) to navigate discrimination while attempting to lead. The purpose of this study was to examine how Black women use personal and professional lessons to reconcile tensions and contradictions in their administrative roles in public schools. Using a life history approach, I gathered data by interviewing seven Black women administrators (all identified as African American), …

Human Motion-Inspired Inverse Kinematics Algorithm For A Robotics-Based Human Upper Body Model, Urvish Trivedi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop a human motion-inspired inverse kinematics algorithm framework specifically designed for a Robotics-Based Human Upper Body Model (RHUBM). This framework offers solutions to challenges in various fields. In humanoid robotics, the framework addresses the problem of unnatural robot movement by enabling the development of motion planning algorithms that incorporate human-like movements. For prosthetics, the framework tackles the challenge of amputee difficulty in learning and controlling prosthetics by providing a user-friendly interface that predicts and visualizes upper limb movements, enabling learning and practice. In rehabilitation therapy, the framework tackles …

Introductory Chemistry Student Success: Evaluating Peer-Led Team Learning And Describing Sense Of Belonging, Jessica D. Young

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Identifying approaches that make science and engineering education broader and more inclusive is core to discipline based education research. Both fundamental and applied research are important in advancing a STEM education that retains the necessary scientists of the U.S.’s future. Thus, the major goal of this work was to evaluate and describe efforts that promote student success within introductory STEM courses. This began with applied research by utilizing quantitative analyses like case-matching, logistic regression, independent sample t-tests, and repeated measures while evaluating the efficacy of peer-led team learning (PLTL). Later, this work delves into qualitative approaches to answer fundamental research …

Osteoarthritis, Social Role Participation, And Satisfaction With Life: A Quantitative Study Informed By The Social Identity Model Of Identity Change (Simic), Stephanie E. Rosado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional survey study utilized an adapted version of the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC) to investigate associations between post-diagnostic factors, role salience identity changes, and satisfaction with life for U.S. adults with osteoarthritis (OA). Data were collected from 193 adults with OA using ResearchMatch. Results suggest that role limitations significantly contributed to explaining variations in role salience identity. Furthermore, a positive relationship was observed between change in role salience identity and satisfaction with life. A moderated moderation analysis assessing the interaction effects of satisfaction with role performance and social support on the relationship between role salience identity …

Disability, Blackness, And Online Community: Black Twitter As Self-Narrative, Morgan S. Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black disabled people, especially those with invisible disabilities, are often not included or welcomed by all in the disabled community. In addition, Black disabled individuals also face discrimination and exclusion within the Black community due to ableism. This project will be an investigation of Black disabled community and health culture in online spaces, specifically using Twitter hashtags as a starting point. This research project is about helping to write the whole story, an opportunity that my Black ancestors did not have but still demand, for our generation and those who will come after us. For this project, I conducted an …

Hurricane Impacts On Water Resources: A Look At Nature-Based Solutions To Improve Long-Term Resilience, Fautemeh Sajadi Bami

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Severe storms are a common occurrence in the state of Florida. Hurricane events may cause hazards such as flooding, property damage, death, and many others. Such far-reaching impacts may potentially result in dangerous consequences where they occur. Of interest to this study were the impacts on water resources and water quality caused by storms. Hurricanes can bring about a deluge. An apparent excess of water may cause the notion of water scarcity to seem less significant. However, problems with potable water can be quite frequent due to storms.

This research sought to address the impacts of severe storms on water …

Explorations On Non-Covalent Interactions: From Supramolecules To Drug-Like Molecules, Zhanpeng Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-covalent interactions are everywhere in our material world. From the microstructures of organisms to the functional materials used in industrial production, whenever matter exists, there are non-covalent interactions between the molecules that build up the matter.The exploration of non-covalent forces helps people understand the intrinsic principles of life processes, it can be applied to create new supramolecular materials as well. Supramolecular chemistry is a research field focusing on the properties and applications of non-covalent interactions. Various non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, metal-ligand coordination, π-π interaction, hydrophobic interaction, etc., are objects of research in supramolecular chemistry.

Not only supramolecular chemists, …

Modeling Studies Of An Intensified Reforming/Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Process For Gas To Liquid Conversion, Brian Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite rigorous study and advancement in fields of green energy, the world's transportation industry remains poised to continue reliance on liquid hydrocarbon fuels. To date, the primary source of diesel and jet fuels is the petroleum industry; however, continuing trends in rising greenhouse gas emissions present a need for study into processes for the production of synthetic hydrocarbon fuels. The most promising technologies to meet this goal are gas-to-liquid (GtL), biomass-to-liquid (BtL) and coal-to-liquid (CtL). The commonality of these technologies is that they utilize a feedstock to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas (syngas) which becomes the building blocks of …

Grp94 Selective Inhibitors And Uses Thereof, Sanket Jaiprakash Mishra, Brian S. J. Blagg, Chad Anthony Dickey

USF Patents

The present technology provides compounds according to Formula I or Formula III as well as compositions including such compounds useful for the treatment of metastatic cancer and/or glaucoma.

An Argument For Expanding Research On Quantitative Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Randall E. Groth

Numeracy

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) traditionally has been used in research concerning prospective and practicing classroom teachers. This essay argues that PCK is also relevant to other professions including those advancing quantitative reasoning (QR). To illustrate, the case of PCK for teaching QR is considered. Those in fields such as public health, journalism, meteorology, and government increasingly find themselves responsible for helping the public understand an ever-growing amount of quantitative information that has a bearing on societal well-being. Several examples illustrate how such professionals’ responsibilities require knowing prevalent QR patterns in society, strategies for fostering sound reasoning, and the general nature …

Improving Medical Image Classification Accuracy Through Unsupervised Segmentation And Confounder Mitigation With Limited Data, Nikolai Fetisov

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Medical images are indispensable for assisting health care professionals to make more accurate cancer diagnosis and prognosis decisions. Several image modalities exist including, but not limited to, histopathology or whole slide images (WSI), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET) and radiography (i.e., X-Ray), each having their own application in clinical practice.

Today, machine learning and deep learning methods have evolved to the point of being practically usable. These approaches learn and extract knowledge from data to make possible automating certain tasks. At the point of writing this dissertation, they have reached human-level performance in general image recognition tasks, became …

Interfacial Magnetism And Anisotropy In Dirac And Weyl Semimetals, Noah Schulz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Semimetals have gained intense interest recently due to their exotic magnetic and electronic properties. One of the most widely studied semimetals is graphene, a Dirac semimetal. The utilization of graphene in devices and sensors requires interfacing it with other materials, which may induce potentially strong interfacial effects. Furthermore, graphene alone does not possess magnetic order. Studying the interfacial effects between graphene and magnetic materials is therefore of great importance in the application of graphene to meet modern technological needs. Furthermore, by understanding the fundamental interfacial physics between graphene and magnetic materials, new properties can be unlocked, broadening the possible applications …

An Analysis Of Florida Manatee (Trichechus Manatus Latirostris) Rescues (1993-2022) With Recommendations For Future Rehabilitation Program Needs, Katherine Frisch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) are threatened marine mammals that inhabit the coastal and near shore waters along the southeastern United States, primarily Florida. Manatee conservation is multi-faceted. One component of the manatee recovery program is the rescue and rehabilitation program that provides care for sick, injured and orphaned manatees. The science of conservation biology, whose goal is to maintain biodiversity using a multidisciplinary approach, can be applied to aspects of the manatee rescue and rehabilitation program.

A federally authorized, state implemented, rescue system has been in place for many years to rescue and treat injured and orphaned animals. Rescued …

Leveraging Systems Thinking For Global Environmental Health, Martha M. Mcalister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmental health inequities such as household air pollution, inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene, and chemical pollution persist globally and have myriad consequences on individual and societal well-being. Unfortunately, while billions of dollars and countless hours of research have been applied towards addressing these issues in development, humanitarian, and environmental justice contexts, attempts to reduce the environmental burden of disease can seem successful at first, but then backslide to pre-intervention conditions (or worse). This is indicative of policy resistance, a tendency of complex systems that makes it very difficult to enact change if the “rules” of the system are misunderstood. There …

Effects Of Diminazene Aceturate On Drosophila Melanogaster: A Lipidomic Analysis, Gabriela Suarez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pesticides are agents designed to eradicate living organisms to preserve agricultural needs.¹ Today the most commonly used pesticides are termed “modern pesticides”, they are characterized by lower lipophilicity and limited stability, making them less time persistent in the environment. Among these modern pesticides are organophosphorus, urea, phenoxy alkanoic, triazine, chloroacetanilide, and glyphosate-based pesticides.² The issue faced with most of these pesticides is that they affect more than just the targeted pest and pose a danger to not only humans, but also entire ecosystems.^1,3,4 While there are many different types of pesticides, insecticides show the most variance and …

System And Method Of Dynamic Light Source Control, Dennis Karl Killinger

USF Patents

A system and method of adjusting a field of view in an imaging system includes transmitting light across a transmission optical path and defining a field of view encompassing both uniform and spatially tenuous target objects within the transmitted light. A sensor within a return optical path of reflected light from at least a portion of one of the target objects allows a data processing computer to compile an image from a series of data outputs from the sensor. The image is analyzed to determine a region of interest within the image and by dynamically adjusting the light source, the …

Hsp90 Activator Aha1 Drives Production Of Pathological Tau Aggregates, Chad Dickey, Lindsey Shelton, Brian Blagg, John Koren, Laura Jenelle Blair

USF Patents

Disclosed herein are compounds and methods for inhibiting Aha1 for the treatment of tauopathies and neurodegenerative diseases. The Aha1 inhibitor may reduce the interaction between Aha1 and Hsp90. The Aha1 inhibitor may reduce aggregation of tau protein. The Aha1 inhibitor may include a compound selected from KU-177, KU-174, and KU-308.

A Longitudinal Investigation Of The Relationships Between Experiences With Sexual Harassment, Self-Objectification, And Self-Concept Clarity Among Women, Roxanne N. Felig

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This longitudinal research investigates the nuanced relationship between sexual harassment and self-concept development among both men and women over a six-week period, presenting a unified model that integrates theories of self-objectification and self-concept clarity. Across three waves of data collection (N= 370, N=315, N=279, respectively), I find evidence that women experience higher rates of sexual harassment, greater self-objectification, and lower self-concept clarity than men. Across time, I find that experiencing sexual harassment predicts heightened self-objectification, which further predicts a disrupted sense of self among both men and women. Critically, this work investigates the reciprocal nature of self-objectification and self-concept clarity, …

Dissolved Nitrogen Removal In Biochar Amended, High Permeability Media For Urban Stormwater Treatment, Mark Vicciardo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient pollution in stormwater drives the eutrophication of inland and costal waterbodies which leads to sea grass retreat and the proliferation of harmful algal blooms (HAB). These anthropogenic effects destabilize ecosystems, and some HABs can pose direct human health risk. Bioretention, or the storage and controlled discharge of stormwater run-off in an ecologically engineered setting, is a potential solution to this problem. However, it relies heavily on the settling of particles as a nutrient removal mechanism, and thus struggles with pollutants, such as dissolved nitrogen, which is a particular problem in Florida where the geological prominence of phosphorus leaves nitrogen …

African Spirituality In Literature Written By Women Of African Descent, Brigét V. Harley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African spiritual memory is the thread that connects members of the African diaspora, irrespective where we are or what we are doing. However, because of white supremacy, the longevity of African spiritual memory and its duration as a living, thriving, breathing force often becomes distorted under the weight of anti-black prejudice. This dissertation debunks the myth that people of African descent required outside input from non-Africans and Arabs to establish the world’s oldest and most studied civilizations, Ta-Seti and then the Egyptian Empire. Women writers of African descent capture the ever-present thread of African spiritual memory, providing a glimpse of …

Programmable And Scalable Bit-Sliced Vlsi Architecture For Decision Tree Based Machine Learning Edge Inference, Raaga Sai Somesula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the volume and diversity of Internet-of-Things (IoT) data continues to grow, traditional cloud-based processing methods face significant challenges, including latency, bandwidth constraints, and privacy concerns. Our research focuses on employing decision trees (DTs) as an intelligent filtering mechanism on the edge. Preliminary comparisons across four datasets revealed DTs are significantly more efficient than multilayer perceptrons (MLP), saving 97-98\% in area and power, leading to the selection of DT for our proposed architecture for lightweight IoT devices. We propose a novel programmable and scalable custom application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) architecture designed for Decision Tree based ML inference. Each bit-slice …

Automatic Image-Based Nutritional Calculator App, Kejvi Cupa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutrition plays a pivotal role in shaping an individuals’ health and quality of life, making the evaluation of dietary intake crucial for promoting healthier lifestyle choices. Various solutions, particularly mobile apps, have been developed to facilitate the process of dietary estimation. Accurate nutritional intake assessment relies on two key components: ingredient recognition and food portion estimation. For a mobile app to offer a comprehensive solution for automatic nutritional assessment, it must address both components.

In this work, we focus on a mobile app pipeline: the semi-automatic pipeline which focuses on automatic food ingredient recognition. This pipeline integrates state-of-the-art models for …

Bird Strike Hazard Assessment For The Tampa International Airport, Florida, Usa, Yakubu Ogwu Isah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Managing wildlife at airports poses a challenge for ensuring safety for aviation traffic. Airports, with their surrounding habitats and infrastructure, serve as attractants for avian species. Threats created by these species have led managers to develop management techniques in and around airports (DeVault et al 2013). One approach is the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for analyzing avian strike data and airport bird surveys. Spatial analysis of strike data identifies species of threat by categorizing strike occurrence, species sizes, phase of flight, and risk of damage. In addition, GIS can be used to map hotspots of bird strikes. These …