Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

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.

A Review Of Deborah Weiss's Women And Madness In The Early Romantic Novel: Injured Minds, Ruined Lives, Jennifer L. Nault Ms

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

A review of Women and Madness in the Early Romantic Novel by Jennifer Nault.

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 …

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.

Heatwaves Compounded With Flflooding In Tampa Bay: Intensity, Frequency, And Risks, Lucas Nofsinger, Ogugua Onochie, Sidharth Sudheer, Alejandra R. Enriquez

Making Waves REU

Rising coastal temperatures and intensity of heatwaves increasing the extremity of flooding events pose growing threats to the health and resilience of coastal communities. Building on recent global compound hazard assessments (Zhou et al., 2024), this study provides a high-resolution analysis of heatwave trends across the Tampa Bay area from 1993 to 2026 using land surface temperatures (LST). To evaluate compound hazards, flood maps were sourced for comparison. LST’s were derived from 30 m Landsat imagery to characterize temperature increases in the region. Utilizing LST climatology and land cover maps, spatial and temporal warming trends were investigated. Areas of rapid …

Adaptive Multi-Agent Intelligence: A Dynamic Data Management System For Enhanced Data Quality And Reconciliation, Anthony Taeyang Vigil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizations struggle with data quality problems that cost them millions of dollars annually. Manual data cleanup and standardizing, also known as reconciliation, can take skilled analysts days to complete and can still contain human errors. This dissertation addresses this challenge by developing and validating the Origin Data Management System, which automates processes that traditionally require days of manual work. The system achieved up to 100% accuracy in standardizing vendor names and identifying CEO information across real-world test datasets from Jefferson County Public Schools, Forbes, and Fortune Magazines. Processing time dropped from days to minutes—a 96-fold improvement over manual methods. These …

Correlation Analysis Of Factors Associated With Students’ Numeracy Skills Using Decision Tree Algorithms, Yenita Roza, Arisman Adnan, Zul Indra, Tuti Alawiyah

Numeracy

Numeracy is a critical competency for academic and everyday functioning. This study investigates the key factors associated with students’ numeracy skills by employing decision tree algorithms as a data mining technique. The dataset used in this study is educational assessment data from Indonesia. Utilizing a dataset comprising 6,953 entries and 60 variables from Education Report, the research adopts an exploratory approach involving data preprocessing, exploratory data analysis, and decision tree model construction. The findings reveal that students’ literacy skills serve as the most dominant predictor of numeracy proficiency, emerging as the root node in the decision tree structure. Additional associated …

Tidal Flooding Compounded With Extreme Temperatures In Tampa Bay, Jonicia Cardin, Ogugua Onochie, Sidharth Sudheer, Alejandra R. Enriquez

Making Waves REU

Coastal communities, like Tampa Bay, face growing compound hazards as tidal flooding and extreme temperatures increasingly co-occur. Tidal flooding is shallow, recurring inundation during routine king tides and intensifies in frequency and extent with sea level rise. In some instances, its cumulative impact on infrastructure and daily life can amount to that of a major hurricane over time (Moftakhari et al., 2018).

In Florida, this risk is heightened as king tides, peak temperatures, and hurricane season overlap in late summer and early fall. Zhou et al. (2024) identified flood-heat convergence as a global threat, but their focus on extreme sea …

Assessing The Impact Of Visitors On Airborne Particle Deposition In The Giant Gypsum Geode Of Pulpí (Se Spain), Ana Camila Mendoza, Ángel Fernández-Cortés, Fernando Gázquez, Jesús Morilla, Milagros Carretero, Jose Maria Calaforra, David Benavente

International Journal of Speleology

The Giant Geode of Pulpí is a unique mineralogical phenomenon worldwide, remarkable for its large selenite gypsum crystals. Its recent development as a tourist site and inclusion on UNESCO’s Tentative World Heritage List, highlight the need to assess the impact of visits on its conservation. This study investigates airborne particle dynamics inside the Geode, focusing on tourist activity and natural ventilation. We measured deposition rates and composition of airborne particles using passive traps and a continuous laser-optical particle counter. Microenvironmental variables linked to ventilation, such as temperature and radon gas concentration (²²²Rn), were simultaneously monitored. Results show a predominance of …

A Study Of The Impacts Of Infusing Data Analysis And Research In An Interdisciplinary Environmental Economics Course, Sean P. Macdonald

Numeracy

This paper explores the impacts of introducing quantitative literacy skills in an interdisciplinary Environmental Economics course typically taught as an issues and policy course without a quantitative component. The study examines the effects of infusing an engaging, student-selected data collection and analysis assignment on students' quantitative reasoning skills, as well as their interest in and attitudes about data analysis and quantitative information. Using data gathered from a set of pre- and post-assessment questions designed to measure changes in quantitative reasoning skills and attitudes, the findings point to significant attitudinal impacts, gains, but smaller, insignificant gains in quantitative reasoning skills.

A Comparison Of First- And Continuing-Generation Students Completing A Project-Based Introductory Statistics Course, Susan A. Dumais, Naomi J. Spence, Lisa Dierker

Numeracy

Traditional introductory statistics courses that focus on techniques are not engaging for many college students; this may be especially true for first-generation college students, who generally have more difficulty engaging in the college environment than continuing-generation students. We study first-generation college students’ experiences in a course-based undergraduate research experience called Passion-Driven Statistics. Passion-Driven Statistics is a multidisciplinary, project-based introductory statistics course where students develop their own research topics, analyze publicly available quantitative data, and focus on conceptual understanding of statistics rather than hand calculations. Using pre-course and post-course surveys from students taking Passion-Driven Statistics in colleges throughout the United States, …

Toward Fairer And More Equitable Numeracy Measurement: Improvements To The Quantitative Reasoning For College Science Assessment, Vonna L. Hemmler, Isaac Rosenthal, Kate Follette, Catherine Sarosi, Erin Galyen, Sanlyn Buxner, Jackson Carter, Samantha Maynard, Sarah Bunnell

Numeracy

Numeracy has become an increasingly important 21st-century skill that, due to the relationship between math and science, is often formally developed at the college level in general education science courses. These courses serve a diverse group of students, many of whom have historically experienced science teaching, curriculum, and assessment on the margins. The well-documented biases of assessments in particular against Individuals of Color (IoC) have inspired us to approach numeracy for social justice in our work from this angle, and in this paper, we detail our efforts to revise our validated numeracy assessment to ensure it more fairly and equitably …

Ai In Ocean Traffic Monitoring, Tyler Hawkins, Steven D. Meyers, Aishlin Ingraham, Mark E. Luther

Making Waves REU

The Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) produces over 100 terabytes of data annually. offering vital insights into globaJ vessel traffic, identity, and navigation patterns. However, the massive volume and inconsislent quality of AIS data introduce challenges for researchers seeking to extract reliable and applicable information. This study investigates the, effectiveness of Julius Al, an off-the-shelf data science platform, for streamlining the analysis of a ilarge AIS dataset, spanning 2015 to 2019 and covering over 42 million messages from Florida's five busiest ports. The results were compared to a previous human analysis. By leveraging only natural language prompts, we explore how …

Making Waves Through Expedition, Jenna Malloy, Natalia López-Figueroa, Ana Arellano

Making Waves REU

No abstract provided.

Florida's Maritime Edge: Built Through Leadership, Ready For What's Next, Tad Schnaufer Ii

GNSI Conference Reports

This report analyzes evolving threats, funding challenges, and strategic priorities for protecting Florida's critical maritime infrastructure in an era of nation-state adversaries, adversarial Al, and complex hybrid threats.

Designing For Engagement: A Comparison Of Canvas And A Visual Peer Review Dashboard, Alon Friedman, Md Dilshadur Rahman, Ly Dinh, Paul Rosen

School of Information Faculty Publications

Peer review is an underutilized yet potentially powerful strategy for fostering evaluative judgment and design literacy in visualization education. Critiquing visual work requires domain-specific competencies that extend beyond generic peer feedback; however, widely adopted platforms such as Canvas provide limited support for the cognitive and visual demands of visualization critique. We introduce VisPeerReview, a visualization-specific learning analytics dashboard (LAD) designed to scaffold peer feedback through an integrated visualization display, rubric-guided prompts, and inline annotation tools. We evaluated VisPeerReview through a three-phase mixed-methods study conducted in an undergraduate data visualization course, comparing it with Canvas’s default peer-review workflow. Drawing on interaction …

Full Proceedings, Nckri

Sinkhole Conference 2026

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Quantum Computing For Enterprise Cybersecurity And Data Integrity, Manikantha Varaprasad Inakollu

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Quantum computing represents a paradigm shift in computational capabilities that poses both unprecedented threats and opportunities for enterprise cybersecurity. This research examines the implications of quantum computing advancement on current cryptographic systems, data protection mechanisms, and organizational security frameworks. Through analysis of quantum computing developments from 2019-2024 and surveys of 280 cybersecurity professionals across various industries, this study identifies critical vulnerabilities in existing encryption standards and explores emerging quantum-resistant solutions. The findings reveal that approximately 78% of enterprises remain unprepared for quantum threats, with current RSA and ECC encryption systems facing potential compromise within the next 10-15 years. The research …

Arts & Literature: Cursed, Nadeem Zaman

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Arts & Literature: Impotent Witness: A Tale Of Two Genocides, And Counting, Lisa M. Simeone

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This essay draws on memory, ethnography, and theory to consider a scholar’s personal and political responsibility as witness.

Ifnγ-Driven Skewing Towards Th1 Over Th17 Differentiation Underlies Crs And Neutropenia In Car-T Therapy, Payal Goala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CAR-T therapy has improved overall and complete response rates, andprolonged progression free survival of patients with relapsed/refractory hematological malignancies. The short-term and long-term impacts of anti-CD19 CAR-T products on the immune landscape of B cell malignancies has garnered considerable attention in recent years. Most notably, a subset of patients experience high-grade cytokine toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome and immune cell-associated hematologic toxicity that manifest as prolonged cytopenia. Whereas etiology of CRS is more well established, the mechanisms leading to CAR-T associated cytopenia remains elusive. Rejeski et. al. showed that severe cytopenia in patients post CAR-T treatment led to frequent infections …

Reps: A Multimodal Recipe Recommendation System For The Misty Social Robot, Jasmine Kaur Kohli, Alissa Josy, Jingjing Li, Zhao Han

Bellini College REU Symposium (BCREUS)

Meal-planning technologies such as recipe apps and diet trackers are widely used but typically rely on text or static visuals and lack social engagement, emotional responsiveness, and conversational adaptability. Social robots, with expressive speech, gesture, and display capabilities, offer the potential to make everyday tasks like cooking more accessible and enjoyable. Recent work highlights the growing role of large language models (LLMs) in robotics and embodied AI systems. This project presents REPS (Recipe Embodied Partner System), a multimodal recipe recommendation system for the Misty social robot that integrates structured recipe retrieval, LLM-based reasoning, and multimodal robot output to create a …

A Predictive Model For Multi- Week Respiratory Risk From Red Tide On Florida’S Gulf Coast., Elmer S. Ochaeta

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Florida’s Gulf Coast red tide (Karenia brevis) can put toxins into the air, making people cough, irritating the throat, and worsening asthma or other breathing problems especially when winds blow from the ocean toward the beach. Right now, most public updates don’t really help with the question people actually ask when planning a weekend or vacation: “Will going to or close to the beach be risky in the next few weeks?”.

In this project, I build a weekly early warning system that estimates respiratory risk for specific beaches and predicts that risk 2 to 4 weeks ahead. The study covers …

Career Readiness Competencies Among First-Generation Undecided Students And Their Parents In The United States, Nicole M. Kotlan, Evan W. Faidley

Journal of Global Education and Research

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between first-generation status and the value of career readiness competencies of first-generation undecided students (n = 106) and their parents (n = 178), explored through social cognitive career theory and Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and social and cultural capital. A non-experimental design using a non-random sample revealed, through an independent t-test, statistically significant differences in global/intercultural competency among students based on their first-generation status. The results of a multiple linear regression analysis suggest that parents’ values are associated with students’ values and professionalism/work ethic; however, no relationship was …

Internationalization Of Indian Higher Education: Mapping The Origins And Academic Choices Of International Students, Sanjeev Kumar Jha

Journal of Global Education and Research

This study explores the geographical origins, academic preferences, and key factors influencing the enrollment of international students in Indian higher education institutions. Drawing on primary data from interviews with 25 international students and secondary data from All India Survey on Higher Education reports, it provides an in-depth analysis of student mobility trends and factors shaping their choices. The results indicate that the international student enrollment is significantly below the Indian government’s target of 500,000 by 2024. Students come from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Nigeria, with Karnataka and Punjab emerging as the most preferred states within India. Engineering, particularly …

The Paleoecology Of The Lower Chincha Valley, Peru Using Pollen, Phytolith, And Geomorphological Analyses, Christine L. Bergmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is a part of a larger project, undertaken by the Programa Arqueológico Chincha (i.e., PACH). The focus of the project centered on the societal, economic, political, and environmental mechanisms involved in the advent of social complexity on the south coast of Peru, specifically in the Chincha Valley. PACH comprehensively studied archaeological sites in the upper, middle, and lower valleys. One of the sites studied was Pozuelo. Pozuelo is a type site located in the lower Chincha Valley (and the focus of this dissertation). Pozuelo possesses the earliest ceramics, domestic activities, and mound structures in the Chincha Valley. Furthermore, …

When Shame Leads To Silence: Leadership Style Moderates Shame, Silence, And Job Satisfaction, Andrew M. Lyman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT Shame is a fundamental self-conscious emotion that shapes behavior and communication in the workplace. This study examined how shame interacts with leadership styles to influence employee silence and job satisfaction. Survey data were collected from 1,500 professionals across diverse industries, and statistical analyses were conducted to test nine hypotheses. Three hypotheses were assessed through direct linear regression while six moderation hypotheses were evaluated using moderated multiple linear regression models to capture leadership style as a contextual influence.

Findings indicated that shame significantly predicted higher levels of silence and lower levels of job satisfaction. Silence was also negatively associated with …

Does The National Benchmark Quantitative Literacy Test Predict Performance In Stem Programmes In Commerce, Engineering And Science?, Robert N. Prince

Numeracy

In South Africa, university completion rates remain low, with only 23% of students finishing within the regulation time (three or four years). These completion rates continue to reflect racial inequalities, with ‘White’ students significantly more likely to complete degrees in professional fields such as engineering and commerce compared to their ‘African’ counterparts. To address these challenges, the South African higher education institutions, through their umbrella body, introduced the National Benchmark (NB) tests to assess students’ academic literacy skills—including quantitative literacy, academic literacy, and mathematics—to identify those most at risk of struggling with the curriculum. The NB tests aim to evaluate …

Reducing Data Requirements In Polymer Science: Deep Neural Networks For Predicting Surface Tension Of Copolymer Compatibilizers, Md Mushfiqul Islam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In polymer chemistry, compatibilization involves adding a substance often a block or graft copolymerto stabilize polymer blends that would otherwise not mix well, leading to rough structures and weak me- chanical properties. Compatibilizers improve miscibility and reduce interfacial tension, which is critical for applications such as mixed-waste polymer recycling. Sequence-controlled polymers offer unique potential by combining the tunable chemistry of synthetic polymers with the precise, function-driven design of biological macromolecules, but unlike proteins, they lack large, evolution-shaped datasets to guide discovery. This research develops a deep learning framework to predict the surface tension of sequence-controlled copolymer compatibilizers across varying concentrations. …