Digital Commons Network^™

Trace Detection In Complex Gas Mixtures By Feedback-Assisted Multipass Raman Scattering, Jaspreet Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The recent development of Raman spectroscopy as a powerful analytical tool for trace gas analysis owes much to not only advancements in modern optoelectronic tools but also to substantial research in enhancement techniques. Feedback-assisted, non-resonant, multipass cavity Raman spectroscopy stands out among various Raman enhancement methods. We effectively employed this technique to estimate the deuterium/hydrogen ratio in water vapor, to simultaneously identify and quantify multiple analytes, even at extremely low concentrations such as 20 parts-per-billion for methane (CH4), and to detect hydrogen (H2) at concentrations as low as 75 parts-per-billion. This dissertation focuses on the practical application of spontaneous Raman …

Designing A Cave Air Monitoring System: Guide And Feedback From 15 Years Of Monitoring The Cussac Cave (France), Nicolas Peyraube, Jessica D. Villanueva, Fabien Naessens, Roland Lastennet, Sylvain Mateo, Alain Denis

International Journal of Speleology

Understanding the cave’s ventilation system is important for determining how the cavity interacts with external airflow. This requires a well-designed monitoring system. This article addresses these key aspects: how to build a monitoring system for cave air parameters and how to assess the ventilation of a cave. We proposed a flowchart to help address the issues in: 1) the modularity of a monitoring system, 2) the use of “homemade device” or “ready to use device”, 3) the frequency of measure and its effect on the electrical consumption, 4) the duration of the survey, and 5) the accessibility of the recorded …

Gas Loader Cell For Solid-State Nmr Spinning Or Static Rotors, Jason Mast, Edwin Rivera

USF Patents

Described herein relates to an apparatus and method for holding a solid state NMR rotor under vacuum gas exposure during ssMAS experiments. As such, in an embodiment, the novel gas loader cell apparatus may be miniaturized and/or formed from a material other than glass to provide ease of use, efficient use of gaseous materials, affordability, and portability. Additionally, in an embodiment, a novel forming tool may be used to form the cavity holding the rotor end cap.

“Smart Trap”: A Portable Device For Real-Time Mosquito Capturing And Classification Using Image-Based Analysis, Fahim Rahman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Capturing mosquitoes in real-time and taking high-quality images for classification with state-of-the-art methods is not only time-consuming but also expensive. Sometimes even carefully controlled environments and experimental setups fail to capture living mosquitoes. Catching live mosquitoes is necessary to be able to study aspects of their physiology and behavior that cannot be investigated by collections of resting mosquitoes and dead specimens, and to help estimate the local population numbers. My thesis introduces a “Smart Trap”, a small portable device that can attract mosquitoes in real-time, capture them, take high-quality images with dual cameras, and store those images in the cloud. …

Distributed Repeaters For Extending The Range Of Harmonic Rf Tags, Trevor Saunders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Passive harmonic Radio Frequency (RF) tags are highly advantageous compared to theiractive counterparts due to their ability to operate effectively in environments that are cluttered or where access to the tag for battery maintenance is challenging, dangerous and/or time consuming. They are also resistant to the local oscillator (LO) phase noise in radar applications where the doppler frequency from slow moving targets is buried beneath the noise. One of the major constraints of passive harmonic RF tags, however, lies in their operating range and the significant amount of power required to overcome the conversion loss and activate the nonlinear device …

Vietnam Syndrome And The Genetic Consequences Of Agent Orange Poisoning: A Materialist Approach, Moriah M. Haley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis was to propose and apply a materialist approach to “Vietnam Syndrome” found at the intersection of masculinity, disability, and state power as it manifests in modern military strategy. Through an analysis of the physical veteran body rendered infertile from Agent Orange poisoning during the Vietnam War, the material conditions of infertility are found to have threatened the hegemonic masculinity on which the military relied for its justification and continuation amongst young American men. The turn to technological warfare was intended to remedy the insufficiency of the military body, but the solution was costly and ineffective …

Exploring Religious Leaders’ Perspectives On Genetic Counseling, Testing, And Related Technologies, Kristina M. Wittenburg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Religion significantly influences healthcare decisions, including those related to genetic testing, by shaping ethical and emotional considerations. While some religious groups provide formal stances on genetic testing, others lack clear guidelines, leaving both patients and healthcare providers without consistent resources for navigating faith-informed decisions. Understanding religious leaders’ perspectives is critical to bridging this gap and supporting diverse patient needs. This study aimed to examine religious leaders’ perspectives on genetic testing, genetic counseling, in vitro fertilization (IVF), gene therapy, stem cell research, and abortion. These topics were explored to understand the role of religious beliefs in healthcare decisions, and to develop …

Synthesis, Characterization And Electrical Properties Evaluation Of Zirconium Dioxide Capacitors, Thomas P. Chandy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the fabrication and comprehensive characterization of thin-film capacitors utilizing zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) as the dielectric material, placed between aluminum electrodes. The research primarily aims to examine the impact of varying ZrO2 film thickness and the effects of post-deposition annealing on the structural, morphological, and electrical properties of the capacitors. A controlled sputtering deposition technique was employed to ensure uniform film growth, maintaining consistency in thickness and material quality across all samples.

A comprehensive set of characterization techniques was employed to analyze the capacitors. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to assess surface roughness, revealing fewer defects …

In Case I Make It: An Autoethnographic Argument For Care, Space, And Utopia, Faelyn T. Cowan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Taking an autoethnographic and autotheoretical approach I examine within this project TomboloBooks’ Queer Comic Book Club. Drawing from José Esteban Mun֮oz’s ideas of queer utopia and Jen Jack Gieseking’s framework of constellations, and analyzing my own experiences, I present the Queer Comic Book Club (QCBC) as a moment of utopic queer worldmaking and argue for it’s potential as a site of alternative mental health care. Though I cannot provide here a generalizable model of book clubs as care, what I offer here is a series of possibilities, arguing for the potential of these spaces as community resources and sites of …

Predicting Freshwater Spring Distribution Using Maxent Modeling: A Case Study In Groundwater Management Area 9 (Gma-9), Texas, Zayed Mallick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater springs are one of the most vital groundwater sources and they have been a reliable water source for mining, irrigation, drinking, and farming, particularly in hot and arid regions like Groundwater Management Area-9 (GMA-9), Texas. However, excessive groundwater extraction, climate change, and environmental degradation have created tremendous stress on the sustainability of freshwater springs and as a result, they might not be able to meet the future water demand. This study uses the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model to predict the distribution of springs in GMA-9 and to identify the key topographic and climatic factors influencing their occurrence. This study …

Understanding The Coping Mechanisms Used By Older Formerly Incarcerated Persons During Reentry, Sayla Victores

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study investigated the coping mechanisms employed by older formerly incarcerated individuals during reentry. While there is research on the reentry experiences of older formerly incarcerated individuals, less is known about how they cope with the strains of reentry. As such, this study fills this gap in the literature by exploring both adaptive and maladaptive coping mechanisms employed by this population during reentry. Using in-depth interviews with 20 older, formerly incarcerated individuals, I found that older formerly incarcerated persons experienced challenges related to securing stable housing, finding employment and economic security, community supervision, stigma and judgment, and overall reintegration. …

Synthesis, Characterization And Delamination Studies Of Metallic Thin Films Prepared Using Sputtering And Ebeam Evaporation Methods, Anoop Joseph

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In many mechanical applications, including the manufacturing, automotive, and cutting tool sectors, metallic thin film coatings are crucial due to their tribological and protective properties. This research focuses on the development of metallic thin films of Aluminum (Al), Chromium (Cr) and Titanium (Ti) using deposition techniques like Sputtering and Electron Beam Evaporation. Metallic thin films were fabricated, with variations in thickness for each material, allowing for an in-depth study of the effects of Sputtering and Ebeam Evaporation deposition method on film characteristics. The thickness of these metallic thin films were evaluated using High-Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HRSEM) and Profilometer while …

Efforts To Improve General Chemistry Student Success: Describing Stoichiometry Solution Patterns And Investigating Challenge Perceptions, Dianna Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a need for capable STEM graduates to fill needed STEM career gaps, particularly for people who have been historically under-represented in the STEM field (e.g., women, people of color, people of lower economic status, etc.). A course that have great impact would be General Chemistry which typically acts as a pre-requisite for manty STEM majors and careers. The efforts to be described in this thesis was conducted at a large, public doctoral granting university in the southeastern United States of America. The first effort described in this thesis explores how students solve different types of stoichiometry-based problems along …

Crow's Nest, March 10, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The March 10, 2025, issue of Crow's Nest.

Llms In Network Intrusion Detection – A Comprehensive Analysis, Sudharshan Balaji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) play a critical role in identifying and mitigating malicious activities within computer networks. With the rapid evolution of natural language processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as transformative tools across various domains. LLMs, such as OpenAI’s GPT series and Meta’s LLaMA models,have demonstrated remarkable performance in tasks like language generation, reasoning, and classification. Their ability to understand and process vast amounts of data has enabled groundbreaking advancements in areas like healthcare, finance, and cybersecurity. Recent trends highlight their potential to handle unstructured data, perform complex reasoning, and adapt to a wide range of …

“We Will Tend To It”: The Reconstruction Of The Wimauma, Florida’S Bethune Area Through Archival Research And Oral Histories, Alanah Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on heritage preservation efforts led by Wimauma community members interested in preserving the history and heritage of Wimauma’s Bethune Area—a historically African American community. This study aims to challenge the dominant narratives of Wimauma that erase/silence the tangible and intangible legacy of the Bethune Area. By collecting and drawing upon oral histories from community residents; engaging in participant observations; conducting archival research, my thesis will strive to construct an expanded narrative of Wimauma to include the history and heritage of the Bethune Area and the everyday lives of underrepresented people and families who helped shape Wimauma. This …

Relationship Between Stress Management And Decision Making: A Research On Pilots, Mert Dural, Aysun Dogan, Hulusi C. Sozen

Journal of Global Business Insights

Uncertainty and crisis create a stressful environment. Among these environments, airline pilots must cope with this stress and manage their workload at the same time. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and study the effect of stress factors on the decision-making process of airline pilots to prevent undesired and unsafe events during flight operations. In this context, the aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between decision-making behaviors and stress management of civil aviation pilots. The study was conducted using the quantitative data analysis method. The data obtained from 206 captains and first mates working in a private …

A Bibliometric Analysis Of The Pygmalion Effect In Organization Studies, Perihan Senel Tekin, Fevziye Bekar, Duysal Askun Celik

Journal of Global Business Insights

This research aims to examine the literature on the Pygmalion effect, which is expressed as a self-fulfilling prophecy in the context of management organization from a bibliometric perspective. In this context, all relevant publications in the Web of Science database were scanned between 01-06.06.2024. In the first and second searches with the words Pygmalion, Pygmalion effect, Pygmalionism, management, and organization, a total of 27 research articles were subjected to content analysis within the scope of a systematic review. As a result of the content analysis, it was seen that although the Pygmalion effect has been found in …

Crow's Nest, February 24, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The February 24, 2025 edition of Crow's Nest.

Systems And Methods For Determining Cell Number Count In Automated Stereology Z-Stack Images, Palak Pankajbhai Dave, Dmitry Goldgof, Lawrence O. Hall, Peter R. Mouton

USF Patents

Systems and methods for automated stereology using deep learning are disclosed. The systems include an update in the form of a semi-automatic approach for ground truth preparation in 3D stacks of microscopy images (disector stacks) for generating more training data. The systems also present an exemplary disector-based MIMO framework where all the planes of a 3D disector stack are analyzed as opposed to a single focus-stacked image (EDF image) per stack. The MIMO approach avoids the costly computations of 3D deep learning-based methods by using the 3D context of cells in disector stacks; and prevents stereological bias in the previous …

Automated And Assisted Identification Of Stroke Using Feature-Based Brain Imaging, Karl A. Kasischke, William Scott Burgin

USF Patents

Provided herein are systems and methods for automated identification of volumes of interest in volumetric brain images using artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced imaging to diagnose and treat acute stroke. The methods can include receiving image data of a brain having header data and voxel values that represent an interruption in blood supply of the brain when imaged, extracting the header data from the image data, populating an array of cells with the voxel values, applying a segmenting analysis to the array to generate a segmented array, applying a morphological neighborhood analysis to the segmented array to generate a features relationship …

3d Printed Physically Unclonable Wireless Systems (Puws), Gokhan Mumcu, Huseyin Arslan

USF Patents

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is implemented to introduce randomness into systems and devices that are being manufactured. 3D printed physically unclonable wireless systems (PUWS) provide flexibility in system package complexity, number of physically unclonable function (PUF) based security measures/types, and customization of the PUF parameters. Using flexibility and economics of 3D printing, PUWS can combine multiple PUF measures in a 3D package for cryptographic secret keys and introduce PUFs at the physical layer of the communication system. A 3D printed wireless system packaging concept is described herein where 3D printing parameters are randomized to 1) generate new physically unclonable functions (at …

Crow's Nest, February 10, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The February 10, 2025, issue of Crow's Nest.

Developing Sustainable Medical Tourism: A Framework In The Perspective Of Developing Countries, Abel Ansporthy Mamboleo Dr.

Journal of Sustainability and Resilience

This study reviewed the literature to develop the framework for sustainable medical tourism in developing countries. According to the findings, the development of a sustainable tourist destination necessitates the involvement of various stakeholders and adherence to sustainability principles. The framework suggests five essential tasks for sustainable medical tourism development. It contributes to the knowledge of sustainable medical tourism by suggesting the framework for analysing a specific situation for the development of a medical tourist destination. It provides a better understanding of sustainable medical tourism operations by integrating medication, travel, hospitality, and tourism. Moreover, it contributes to the sphere of medical …

Development Of Comprehensive Roadmap And Resource Guide Towards Congestion Reduction, Pei-Sung Lin, Mark Hansen, Zhenyu Wang, Yaye Keita, Elzbieta Bialkowska-Jelinska, Shubhankar Shindgikar, Nikou Khoshnevis

Research Reports

Traffic congestion poses a significant challenge in the United States, affecting mobility, public health, and the environment. With national travel delays and fuel waste on the rise, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive approach to congestion mitigation. This research develops a congestion reduction roadmap, focusing on 12 key mitigation areas, including advanced traffic signal optimization, incident management, and multimodal transportation strategies. Through a combination of literature review, expert interviews, and case study analysis, the roadmap provides actionable steps for state and local agencies to manage congestion effectively. The framework addresses both short-term and long-term solutions, emphasizing technology integration …

Targeting And Selecting Journals For Article Submissions: Library Resources And Impact Measures, Matt Torrence, Allison Symulevich

USF Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This workshop will provide an overview of journal metrics and rankings in all academic fields, including traditional impact measures from sources including the Web of Science (Impact Factor) and Scopus (CiteScore) databases. Additionally, general information will be offered regarding other additional academic impact databases and methods to maximize benefit of any information on journal, author, and subject area data points. Other impact measures will be presented, including Altmetrics tools. Presenters will introduce other topics on relevant author profile and archiving options for immediate and future use, including ORCiD and examples based on the USF Libraries’ Digital Commons repository.

Sensitive And Robust Biosensing Using Plasmonic Enhancement Of Fluorescence By Rapid Thermal Annealed Silver Nanostructures, Shuangming Li, Venkat R. Bhethanabotla

USF Patents

Chips and metallic nanostructure biosensors comprising a dielectric substrate and discontinuous and disordered metallic nanostructures of flat island shapes thereon are disclosed herein. Also disclosed are methods of making and using the same.

Methods For Optimizing A Transmittance And/Or A Self-Cleaning Property Of A Substrate Using A Self-Cleaning Coating, Dharendra Yogi Goswami, Mohammed Khaleel M. Alhussain

USF Patents

Described herein relates to methods for optimizing a transmittance and/or a self-cleaning property of a substrate using a self-cleaning coating. As such, the substrate may be treated using a photocatalytic reaction of titanium dioxide (hereinafter “TiO2”)-based solution via a light treatment. The substrate may be treated using a combination including but not limited to wet chemicals, dry-cleaning, and/or mechanical polishing. Additionally, the substrate may then be overlayed with a self-cleaning coating, such that the transmittance and the self-cleaning properties of the substrate may be optimized. Furthermore, the methods for optimizing the transmittance and/or the self-cleaning functionality of the substrate may …

Cost-Effective Bulk Glass Reinforced Composite Columns, John Michael Cotter, Rasim O. Guldiken

USF Patents

A structural column comprises an inner sleeve comprising a first non-glass material, at least one sheet comprising bulk glass, and an outer sleeve comprising a second non-glass material. The inner sleeve has an outer surface and an inner surface defining a hollow interior of the structural column. An inner surface of each sheet is adjacent to at least a portion of the outer surface of the inner sleeve. The outer sleeve has an inner surface that is attached to at least a portion of an outer surface of each sheet, and the inner surface of the outer sleeve is attached …

The Affordable Diy Mandeye Lidar System For Surveying Caves, And How To Convert 3d Clouds Into Traditional Cave Ground Plans And Extended Profiles, Loris Redovniković, Antun Jakopec, Janusz Będkowski, Jurica Jagetić

International Journal of Speleology

The paper examines the potential use of low-cost LiDAR for cave surveying. Mobile mapping using LiDAR complements traditional speleological surveying using a polygonal traverse. These methods assist each other, with one serving as an independent control measurement for the other, ultimately resulting in a more accurate 3D model. The testing results show that achieving high accuracy and detailed cave representation is possible using open hardware and open-source software. Both spacious and well-indented cave sections and narrow passages barely passable by humans were successfully mapped. The surveying process is significantly faster than traditional cave mapping, as drawing cave sketches by hand …