Digital Commons Network^™

Auction-Based Tolling Systems: Addressing Behavioral Economics And Social Equity Concerns, Tung Huy Vo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The value of time (VOT), or willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce travel time in the context of transportation, is not homogeneous across all road users. Everyone has their own unique VOT and may have multiple values for the VOT associated with factors such as the time of day or the trip purpose. However, the traditional distance-based, time-based, or demand-based congestion pricing methods cannot reflect the true WTP for the use of tolled facilities of the road users. Recent studies have explored and proposed an innovative congestion pricing scheme that integrates auction mechanisms into tolling systems, known as auction-based tolling …

Systems And Methods For Detection Of Chocolate Bloom, Joshua Stewart Heuler, Siyu He, Sharad Ambardar, Dmitri V. Voronin

USF Patents

In an embodiment, a bloom engine is created that can detect the formation of both fat bloom and sugar bloom in a chocolate product. A Raman spectrometer is used to generate a first or reference spectrum of a chocolate product. Based on peaks of the spectrum known to be associated with sugar and peaks of the spectrum known to be associated with fat, a ratio of sugar to fat for the chocolate product is determined based on the reference spectrum. Later, a second spectrum is generated from the chocolate product, and a ratio of sugar to fat is similarly determined …

Computing 2-Body Statistics On Graphics Processing Units (Gpus), Yicheng Tu, Napath Pitaksirianan

USF Patents

Disclosed are various embodiments for computing 2-body statistics on graphics processing units (GPUs). Various types of two-body statistics (2-BS) are regarded as essential components of data analysis in many scientific and computing domains. However, the quadratic complexity of these computations hinders timely processing of data. According, various embodiments of the present disclosure involve parallel algorithms for 2-BS computation on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Although the typical 2-BS problems can be summarized into a straightforward parallel computing pattern, traditional wisdom from (general) parallel computing often falls short in delivering the best possible performance. Therefore, various embodiments of the present disclosure involve …

N-Type Cdte Thin Films For Photovoltaic Applications, Wei Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cadmium Telluride is widely used as a thin-film solar cell material due to its nearly ideal optical bandgap (~ 1.5eV) and its high absorption coefficient (> 104 cm-1). In the past several decades, most of the research focused on p-type CdTe solar cells. In recent years, the research on CdTe devices is mainly based on CdSexTe1-x (CST) absorbers, leading to substantial advancements in conversion efficiency, comparable to that of silicon-based solar cells. Presently, p-type polycrystalline CST/CdTe thin-film solar cells exhibit a notable efficiency of 23.1%. The state-of-art CST/CdTe solar cell has attained an almost optimal short-circuit current density (JSC) of …

Can The Effluent From Wastewater Stabilization Ponds Be Effectively Managed For Health And Nutrient Recovery?, Michael Glass

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wastewater stabilization ponds, such as facultative and maturation lagoons, have been shown to be effective processes to manage conventional water quality parameters found in domestic wastewater. The main goal of this thesis is to explore whether wastewater stabilization ponds can simultaneously reduce pathogens to safe levels while supporting agricultural activities through nutrient recovery. A large dataset for water quality of wastewater lagoon effluent in the U.S. was obtained at the state level and combined into regional southern and northern locations. Analysis of data showed there was significant difference in lagoon effluent concentration between northern and southern states for the water …

Understanding Contributing Factors To Injury Severity And Improper Driver Actions In Work Zone Crashes And Evaluating Smart Work Zone Applications For Safety Improvement, Rakesh Rangaswamy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A work zone can be described as a roadway designated for construction, maintenance, or other activities that temporarily disrupt the normal traffic flow. Due to this disrupts in traffic conditions, work zones may bring sudden shifts in driving experience, depending on the sort of work zone present, creating unpredictable maneuvers, and putting both motorists and workers at risk. To understand these issues, this study uses work zone accident data obtained from Florida and uses several methodological techniques, including the mixed logit model with variance and mean heterogeneity, temporal instability test, log-likelihood test, out-of-sample analysis, and ANOVA test.

Firstly, this study …

Comparing National Benchmark Quantitative Literacy Paper-Based Tests Scores With Its Computer-Based Counterparts, Robert N. Prince

Numeracy

One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the rapid shift to replacing traditional, paper-based tests with their computer-based counterparts. In many cases, these new modes of delivering tests will remain in place for the foreseeable future. In South Africa, the National Benchmark Quantitative Literacy (QL) test was impelled to make this rapid shift. While test-makers attempted to ensure comparability between the computer-based and paper-based versions, some scholars have questioned the efficacy of these efforts. The International Test Commission (2005) declared that the equivalency of test scores obtained from computer-based and conventional paper-based testing should be established to ensure …

Preparing Children For Kindergarten Readiness: Early Childhood Teachers’ Goals And Practices, Julie Chappell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literature in the field of early childhood education suggests that standardization and the accountability movement in the United States has changed the way that teachers approach kindergarten, resulting in less play and more teacher-directed activities. This pedagogical shift causes challenges for early childhood educators striving to promote developmentally appropriate, play-based and child-centered approaches to learning for young children while preparing children for the expectations of kindergarten. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of prekindergarten teachers’ views about their role in preparing children for kindergarten. The study was guided by two research questions: How do prekindergarten …

Six-Year College Graduation Status For High School Students Participating In An Upward Bound Program, Raymond Upward Cabrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of high school academic indicators and participation in the federally funded Upward Bound program on college graduation rates for first-generation, low-income students. Specifically the extent to which participation in the federally funded TRIO Upward Bound program and related factors—high school GPA, course rigor, program involvement, gender, race, and college type—predict 6-year college graduation rates for first-generation, low-income students. Using stepwise logistic regression analysis on data of 163 students in an Upward Bound program in the Southeast, the results show that students with higher GPAs, active engagement in the program, and females were significantly more likely …

Performance And Trihalomethane Formation Potential Of Alternative Electron Donors For Wastewater Denitrification, Bruno Fulco Mancini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen removal from wastewater is critical to preserve ecosystems, as well as human health and welfare. Excess nutrients in receiving waters can cause many problems to the environment, such as algal blooms, drinking water contamination, and economic losses. Nitrogen removal in wastewater occurs mainly through the oxidation and reduction processes of nitrification and denitrification, which occur in engineered systems at wastewater treatment plants or water reclamation facilities.

The site for this research was the South Cross Bayou (SCB) Water Reclamation Facility, located in Pinellas County, FL, USA. At SCB, nitrogen is removed through a Modified Ludzak-Ettinger (MLE) process with the …

Analysis Of The Impact Of Pavement Characteristics On Road Traffic Safety And Pavement Management Using Statistical Heterogeneity Models, Huiqing Lyu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pavement shall accommodate current and predicted traffic needs in a safe, durable, and cost-effective manner. Among pavement surface characteristics, pavement friction is a critical factor contributing to roadway safety, as it directly impacts a driver's ability to execute steering, braking, and acceleration maneuvers safely. Ensuring an adequate level of pavement friction is essential to minimize the skidding risk for all road users. Continuous pavement friction measurement (CPFM) has recently become a proven approach, revolutionizing safety-related pavement management and skidding crash injury prevention. Meanwhile, pavement roughness has long been linked to vehicle fuel efficiency and pavement structural degradation. Perceptions of pavement …

Stochastic Predictive Modeling Of Social Media Stocks And Reliability Of Hard Disk Drives, Sameer Anand

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, social media has emerged as a highly appealing investment sector due to its substantial returns. Our research focuses on creating a predictive model for the financial performance of social media companies. We gathered data from five companies in the S&P 500: Meta, Etsy, Match, Pinterest, and Alphabet. We developed a non-linear, data-driven stochastic analytical model that employs real data, incorporating six financial indicators and four economic indicators, to forecast the weekly closing prices of these social media companies with an accuracy of 94.7%. Additionally, we ranked the statistically significant indicators and their interactions based on their percentage …

Improving College Students’ Attention Retention With A Brain-Controlled Drone Simulation, Ji Won Bae

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In contemporary society, individuals are continuously exposed to a plethora of stimuli, which can precipitate distractions and impede cognitive performance in tasks such as professional work and academic studies. This investigation proposes an innovative approach aimed at enhancing attentional focus through the utilization of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). BCIs represent advanced methodologies for deciphering neural activity patterns. Specifically,electroencephalography (EEG), a technique for monitoring the brain's electrical signals, serves as the foundation for BCI applications. EEG analyses reveal distinctive wave patterns indicative of states of concentration, vigilance, and cognitive engagement. Consequently, BCIs hold promise for the real-time assessment of users' attentional states. …

Robotic Multi-Object Grasping From A Pile: Techniques And Algorithms For Enhanced Dexterity, Tianze Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As robots become increasingly integrated into real-world applications such as warehousing, fulfillment centers, and manufacturing, the need for efficient and adaptable robotic systems grows. One of the key challenges is enabling robots to grasp multiple objects simultaneously, as this significantly boosts the efficiency of tasks like batch picking, sorting, and object transferring, reducing both time and energy consumption. This dissertation presents a comprehensive multi-object grasping (MOG) pipeline that includes pre-grasp selection, end-pose selection, grasping synergy calculation, and a data-driven model for estimating the number of objects being grasped. Central to this work is the development of the Experience Forest structure, …

Performance Optimization And Application Of P-Type Transparent Semiconductors In The Cdte Solar Cells, Md Zahangir Alom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CdTe thin-film solar cells are one of the major interests in the solar industry for their favorable properties. For example, CdTe has a near-ideal bandgap (1.45 eV) for absorption of the solar spectrum, and a high absorption coefficient ( ̴ 105 cm-1) and can capture 99% of light with only 2 µm of film thickness. Moreover, CdTe can be doped both n and p-type. Additionally, low production costs contribute to more affordable panel prices (0.40 $/W) [1]. The highest efficiency achieved to-date for this material is 23.1% demonstrated by First Solar, which is still lower than the theoretical limit [2]. …

Developing Robotic Task Planning Methods For Diverse Real-World Challenges, Md Sadman Sakib

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The deployment of robotic systems across various domains has expanded significantly, with applications ranging from domestic tasks, such as cleaning and cooking, to industrial operations requiring precision and automation. These advancements highlight the critical importance of effective task planning in ensuring that robots can perform tasks safely, efficiently, and autonomously. However, task planning in robotics faces challenges related to generalization, executability, flexibility, and limitations in existing knowledge bases.

This dissertation addresses these challenges through innovative strategies aimed at enhancing robotic task planning and execution. We first focus on adapting to unknown scenarios by utilizing the Functional Object-Oriented Network (FOON) to …

Multi-Sided Information Asymmetry In A Single Contract: Why Revocable Living Trusts Go To Court, James P. Wells

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Revocable living trust documents (trusts) are among the most important documents created in contemporary estate planning. One of the trust’s objectives is to provide clear guidance to the trustees on how to carry out the grantor's intent. When a trust is contested in court, the objective of the trust has clearly failed. Consequently, understanding why trusts go to court and developing approaches that reduce or eliminate the number of trusts in our courts is an endeavor worthy of research and the primary objective of this research effort.

Ideally, with a clearly stated grantor’s intent and clearly executed interpretation of the …

Understanding And Alleviating The Impact Of Convective Weather To Airfield Efficiency, Huang Feng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research in predicting annual passenger throughput at airports has been conducted, aiming at providing decision support for airport construction, aircraft procurement, resource management, flight scheduling, etc. However, few studies have been conducted on how airport operational throughput is affected by convective weather in the vicinity of the airport and how to predict short-term airport operational throughput. Convective weather near the airport could make arrivals miss their positions in the arrival stream and reduce airfield efficiency in terms of utilizing runway capacities. This research leverages the learning-based method (MB-ResNet model) to predict airport hourly throughput. It uses the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Edge Line Sinusoidal Rumble Strips On Lane Departure Crash Prevention And Injury Severity, Shubhankar Chintamani Shindgikar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lane departure crashes are one of the most prevalent accidents in Florida and the United States. Various forms of rumble strips have been employed to mitigate and decrease these incidents. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recently adopted a new sinusoidal rumble strip pattern for statewide implementation of audible and vibratory treatment (AVT). Recent research indicates sinusoidal rumble strips are highly effective in alerting drivers audibly and through tactile vibrations, thus aiding lane departure prevention. Moreover, they generate less external noise compared to other rumble strip textures.

However, a systematic assessment of the safety effectiveness of sinusoidal rumble strips in …

Electrochemical Copper Printing For Wearable Electronics, Nirmita Roy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wearable electronics have become a transformative force across industries like healthcare, aerospace, and military applications. However, a significant challenge persists in directly integrating electronic circuits onto fabrics. Addressing this challenge, the aim of this research is to introduce a novel sequential manufacturing process. Initially, a fabric is coated with a customized ink containing lignin, establishing a conductive template through laser burning. Subsequently, a localized Hydrogen Evolution Assisted (HEA) copper electroplating method is applied, resulting in a low-resistive circuit layout. Our investigations encompassed nanostructure analyses using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Raman Spectroscopy, and Fourier Transform Infrared …

Cactus Infused Beads For Off-Flavor Mitigation In Aquaculture Systems, Rama Mahita Kambhampati

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aquaculture has become a vital component of global food production, now providing 50% of the world's fish supply. However, the industry encounters major challenges due to off-flavor compounds like Geosmin and 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB), which give fish an unpleasant earthy or musty smell. These compounds are detectable by humans at extremely low levels 0.7 parts per billion (ppb) for MIB and ten parts per trillion (ppt) for Geosmin—making them a persistent problem. Their presence not only reduces the sensory quality of aquaculture products but also results in significant economic losses, with U.S. catfish production incurring an additional $15–$23 million annually due …

Balancing Context And Clarity Through Visualizations For Better Decision-Making, Bhavana Doppalapudi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this era of a data driven world, the effective communication of data through visualizations is pivotal for converting complex information into accurate insights. Effective visualizations not only enhance users' comprehension of complex data but also induce trust, leading to better decision-making. This dissertation explores methods to improve trust in visualizations by providing additional context and enhancing their clarity, ensuring appropriate data interpretations and better decisions from users.

The work in the dissertation begins by examining the impact of scatterplots combined with statistical metrics such as accuracy on users' trust and decision-making focused on recommender systems. In addition, we show …

Coding Connections: Exploring Relationships Between Computer Science Learning And Mathematics Achievement In Secondary Education, Bradley Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation in practice explores the intersection of computer science education, specifically computational thinking and programming, with mathematics achievement among 15-year-old students in selected English-speaking countries. The research addresses a gap in understanding whether skills developed through computer science can positively influence mathematics performance by assessing the extent to which learning in computer science transfers to mathematics.

To achieve this, a quantitative methodology was employed, incorporating pilot study data from a single school and large-scale survey data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. The analysis assessed the correlation between regular participation in programming activities and mathematics attainment, …

Efficient Smartphone Sensor Analysis For Behavioral Profiling In Transportation Research: A Case Study Of Driver And Passenger Classification, Wilson Lozano, Tempestt Neal

Research Reports

Our study investigates smartphone sensor data for classifying drivers and passengers, aligning with our original proposal to enhance multimodal transportation data collection via the OneBusAway app. We address challenges in balancing data quality with smartphone resource constraints and find that shorter data collection windows significantly improve classification performance. Additionally, feature standardization and selection enhance accuracy, particularly during extended data periods, supporting our goal of refining data quality from open-source platforms. These insights advance our objectives by optimizing data efficiency and supporting the real-world applicability of intelligent models in transportation safety and efficiency.

Advanced Strategies For Improving The Robustness Of Deep Learning, Keyu Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) have achieved great success across diverse fields in the last decades, such as facial recognition, medical diagnosis, and language translation. The success, however, largely hinges on the assumption that the training and testing data share the same distribution or domain. In practice, real-world data often exhibits domain shifts, leading to notable degradation in model performance. Hence, the generalization capability of machine lea=rning models is of great importance, which refers to the domain generalization problem. In this dissertation, we present DADG, an effective algorithm for domain generalization, aiming to learn domain-invariant features from seen …

Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase Regulated By The Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway Is An Actionable Vulnerability In Cutaneous Melanoma, Neel Jasani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metabolic alterations play a critical role in shaping tumor growth and development. Many metabolic enzymes are shown to play an important role in different aspects of tumor development, growth, and metastasis. One such enzyme that we are investigating in this project is the Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase (PHGDH). The PHGDH gene, encoding the rate-limiting enzyme of the serine synthesis pathway, is located at chromosome locus 1p12 and frequently amplified in melanoma. PHGDH is required for the proliferation of melanoma cells with chromosome 1p12 amplification. However, the role of PHGDH in chromosome 1p12 non-amplified melanoma is poorly understood. In this project, we sought …

Analyzing And Extending Machine Learning Frameworks On High Risk Domains, Chengbin Hu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning (ML) has become a transformative force in high-risk domains such as genomics and cybersecurity, where accurate predictions and robust defenses are essential. This dissertation advances ML frameworks in these areas by developing methods to enhance predictive power in health applications and assess vulnerabilities in machine learning systems.

In the genomics field, the work addresses challenges in Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) of monogenic disorders by proposing a deep learning model that reconstructs the fetal genome using maternal plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and parental whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data. This model achieves high accuracy in single nucleotide variation (SNV) prediction, surpassing …

Quality Assurance Of Cast-In-Place Foundation Elements, Tristen Mee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Construction of cast-in-place concrete deep foundation elements is a common practice, yet performed almost entirely blind, leaving uncertainty in the quality of the as-built, below-ground element. This dissertation focuses on three quality assurance aspects of cast-in-place foundations: an automated concrete tracking system for drilled shafts, an alternate approach to identifying if mass concrete conditions exist in cast-in-place foundations, and as-built auger cast pile grout volume determination.

The volume of concrete in a drilled shaft is relatively easy to track on a truck-by-truck basis, as well as the height of the rising concrete per truck. However, a more detailed volume distribution …

Control Of Multiagent Networks With Misbehaving Nodes, Emre Yildirim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overarching objective of this dissertation is to introduce system theoretical frameworks in control of misbehaving multiagent networks subject to limited resources (i.e., limited number of driver nodes), and the presence of disturbances and/or uncertainties (i.e., misbehaving nodes). Below, we briefly summarize each problem studied in this dissertation with their proposed solutions.

Specifically, we first consider multiagent networks subject to misbehaving nodes over fixed undirected graph topologies. To address this problem, we apply proportional-integral control signals to a subset of nodes (i.e., driver nodes) in the network to address the undesired effects arising from misbehaving nodes. Since multiagent networks with …

Examining Emergency Remote Teaching And Undergraduate Academic Outcomes During The Pandemic, Melissa S. Ramge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic represented an extraordinary public health emergency, leading to the most profound disruption to education systems in modern history. As higher education institutions expand their post-pandemic online course catalogs, it is necessary first to explore the student outcomes and student perceptions of learning related to the pandemic. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design to assess the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and students’ perceptions of online learning. The purpose of the study was to examine what, if any, trends in undergraduate student course grades and student perceptions of the instruction occurred coincident with the …