Digital Commons Network^™

Quarrelsome Siblings – The Relationship Between Special Operations And Conventional Forces, Anna M. Gielas Phd

Journal of Strategic Security

The relationship between U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Conventional Forces (CF) has historically been challenging, leading to mission failures and the loss of lives. An unprecedented integration of the two forces was seen following 9/11 during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. This article investigates whether this intimate collaboration in Afghanistan and Iraq improved relations between SOF and CF. Drawing from a sample of 48 master’s theses authored by U.S. officers on the topic of SOF–CF integration from 1994 to 2018, this article documents a deterioration in the relationship between the two forces and identifies four underlying causes. It …

Individual Behavioral Modeling Across Games Of Strategy, Logan Fields

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An individual’s actions in a particular environment and with specified resources can reveal their decision-making tendencies and patterns, and by analyzing the variations in cognitive traits among individuals, it may be possible to identify trends that can foretell their future behaviors. This can be a powerful tool in various fields including cognitive modeling, player analytics, computer security, and threat detection. Collectible card games are a fruitful test space for studying cognitive differences in decision-making, as they can have clearly defined and replicable environments and large player bases. As such, in this work, I explore the potential of using two virtual …

It's Real, It Just Hasn't Happened Yet: A Three-Article Dissertation On Emerging Technologies In Higher Education, Jeanette Abrahamsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this three-article dissertation is to better understand the role emerging technologies are playing in learning. This dissertation explores tools on a spectrum of reality from fully immersive virtual reality (VR), semi-immersive VR, non-immersive VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and extended reality (XR). Three studies focus on emerging technologies from the student, educator, researcher perspectives to develop a holistic picture of emerging technologies in higher education. I explore factors that impact new technology adoption, which includes advantages and disadvantages to deploying different digital tools. This dissertation begins with a systematic literature review of 20 research studies …

Advancing Depth-Storage-Discharge Modeling In Regional Hydrology, Fahad Alshehri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development of an innovative approach to populating rating characteristics and supporting hydrologic modeling, designed to simplify complex real-world hydrological systems and accurately estimate their responses to rainfall, runoff, baseflow and evaporation stresses. The core of this research addresses the challenges inherent in characterizing hydrography elements in hydrologic modeling, particularly in regions lacking comprehensive stream reach survey data, flow and stage. This issue is pronounced in areas with extensive wetland hydrography, where traditional modeling requires intensive manual calibration, and course rating data that are often unavailable. To overcome these challenges, this study introduces a novel procedure that …

Spatial Patterns Of Building Damages And Associated Socio-Economic Factors By Hurricane Ian, Md Zakaria Salim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literature shows that communities with different socio-economic conditions suffer from different levels of damage in disasters. In addition to the physical intensity of hazards, such disparities are also related to varying abilities to prepare for and respond to natural hazards. The study analyzes the spatial patterns of building damage in Hurricane Ian in 2022 and investigates the socio-economic disparities related to building damage. Specifically, this study employs NASA’s Damage Proxy Map (DPM2) to analyze Ian's spatial patterns of building damage. Then, it uses statistical analysis to assess the relationship between building damage and various physical and socio-economic variables at building …

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 …

Zeros And Ones: Digital Video Aesthetics And Geopolitical Economy In Blackhat, Everett Barnett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Film and media theory has been fundamentally altered by the advent of digital technology, both in terms of film production and broader aesthetic overtures but also in terms of greater digital mediation. Blackhat (Michael Mann, 2015), although not a commercial or critical success, articulates many of the exact circumstances and broader consequences of digital technology in relation to its digital video aesthetics but also its narratives content involving global telecommunication and data systems. As a wholly digital film, Blackhat is uniquely situated to speak not only developments in digital filmmaking but also, by way of its plot line involving stateless …

Count Me In: A Study Of Social Validity, Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports, And A High School, Amie Dia Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has been attributed to a decrease in office discipline referrals (ODRs) and suspensions and to increase academic performance, and engagement, as well as staff, family, and student perceptions of a safe and positive school climate. High schools have had more significant issues than elementary sites with implementing PBIS and garnering staff support due to larger faculty, staff, and student size, multi-faceted organizational culture, and the age of the students served. In addition, factors that have also been cited as inhibiting successful implementation at the high school level are lack of student …

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 …

Development Of Data-Driven Models To Predict Chemical Dosage And Energy Intensity For Different Supply Sources Of Drinking Water, Rehnuma Salsavil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG6), access to clean water for the entire population and sustainable management of water resources have been stressed. Demand for water is increasing due to population growth, economic development, water quality degradation, and climate change. More water needs to be produced for the community at lower treatment costs. The chemical dosage and energy intensity are two important factors that influence water treatment costs and sustainable management of resources as well.

Previously, chemical dosage modeling to reduce treatment costs have been explored but there have been more focus in coagulant dosage modeling. Other …

The History And Explanation Of Stormwater Ponds In East Tampa, Natasha Sutton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall goal of this research was to explore and understand the history of stormwater ponds in the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), a 4,800-acre urban community comprising many different historic African American neighborhoods in Florida's City of Tampa. Seen as one of the most affordable stormwater management solutions in southeastern parts of the United States, stormwater ponds dot the East Tampa landscape. As the manager of CRA funds, the City of Tampa stands out as a main decision maker around the stormwater ponds within the East Tampa CRA. Over the years the stormwater ponds have generated much interest …

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 …

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 …

Routing Problems Through The Lens Of Hybrid Algorithms, Sasan Mahmoudinazlou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores novel approaches to address complex combinatorial optimization challenges in transportation and routing scenarios. Three sets of contributions are presented, each encapsulated in a chapter. The first set of contributions introduces a pioneering hybrid genetic algorithm meticulously crafted to address the intricacies of the Traveling Salesman Problem with Drone (TSPD) and the Flying Sidekick Traveling Salesman Problem (FSTSP). These emerging problems involve the strategic use of both ground-based trucks and aerial drones for efficient package delivery. Our algorithm stands out by leveraging sophisticated chromosomes and dynamic programming, allowing for broad exploration by the genetic algorithm and effective exploitation …

Forgotten Learners: An Examination Of The Experiences Of English Language Learners In Advanced Placement And International Baccalaureate Social Studies Courses, Elizabeth Rasmussen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States is rapidly increasing, particularly in high schools. Although the number of ELLs is growing at a fast pace in the United States, the number of ELLs enrolled in advanced educational programming has not increased. After an in-depth review of the extant literature, it is evident that limited scholarly research on ELLs in advanced coursework exists. This is especially true in AP and IB social studies courses, where in many states where “Open Access” and “AP for All” have been adopted. This qualitative study sought to reveal the lived experiences …

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 …

Exploring The Use Of Enhanced Swad Towards Building Learned Models That Generalize Better To Unseen Sources, Brandon M. Weinhofer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Deep learning models, typically, take significant time to train. Classifier ensembles are areliable way to increase classifier accuracy and perhaps generalizability to unseen sources of data. These classifiers can be combined with a simple voting scheme. The problem is that having multiple models can very heavily increase training time. Snapshot ensembles have been shown to provide a boost in performance by creating an ensemble of classifiers with different weights during the training of a single deep learned model. This can somewhat solve the problem of the increased training time as you do not have to train separate models. As Machine …

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 …

Development And Evaluation Of Novel Applications For The Ethos Cbct-Guided Online Adaptive Radiotherapy System, Nour Nasser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Radiation therapy (RT) is an important pillar of modern cancer treatment, in neoadjuvant, curative, adjuvant, and palliative settings. The physics underlying RT is ionizing radiation that produces charged particles, which deposit their energy in the tissues they pass through. This energy results in unrepairable DNA damage resulting in the death of cancer tissue. The aim of RT is to deliver the desired radiation dose to the tumor while maximizing normal tissue sparing. Over the past decades, physics, engineering, and computational improvements has allowed advancement of external beam RT techniques, for example from 2D RT to 3D RT to now intensity …

An Analysis Of Driven Pile Relaxation In Florida Soils, Dalton E. Knowles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prestressed concrete piles (PCP) are a common geotechnical foundational element employed in marine and land bridges. PCP are commonly driven by an impact diesel hammer until the desired nominal bearing resistance is reached at the end of the initial drive (EOID). At a later time, the pile resistance may be verified, but not always, via a restrike, usually with the same impact hammer. At the beginning of a restrike, the resistance of the pile is rarely equal to the resistance at the EOID either increasing, known as set-up, or decreasing, known as relaxation. Set-up is clearly beneficial, however, this thesis …

Context-Aware Data Analytics In Healthcare: A Fairness Perspective, Motahareh Pourbehzadi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation is an accumulation of applied data analytics research in healthcare. In the first chapter, the focus is on detecting ineffective self-management in diabetic patients. Through the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP), the project investigates links between the diabetic patients' discharge notes and their compliance to exercise, dietary restrictions and medications. A bi-product of this research is the development of an online dashboard that allocates scores to six compliance categories. This tools allows healthcare provider to assess patient progress and compare it to the population averages. The dashboard also offers a patient summary generated using the Chat …

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 …

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 …