Digital Commons Network^™

Narrating Climate Change At The San Juan National Historic Site At The Community Level, Leslie Paul Walker Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While the National Park Service is charged with interpreting and preserving areas designated as park resources, they must also manage environmental issues such as erosion resulting from climate change. This research sets out to narrate how Palo Seco, Puerto Rico, a neighboring community of the San Juan National Historic Site, perceives similar environmental conditions and motivations for addressing these issues. My research sits at the intersection between the park’s charter and understanding community implications of environmental changes that affect local heritage. Using Authorized Heritage Discourse and environmental justice as theoretical frameworks, I suggest that the National Park Service should include …

A Forward Genetic Screen Identifies Factors Associated With Fever Pathogenesis In Plasmodium Falciparum, Phaedra J. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious diseases that spread from person-to-person and continent-to-continent are a cause for concern for any health entity. One such disease is malaria, a mosquito-borne infection instigated by the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Hundreds of millions of people are affected annually and it is responsible for nearly 1 million deaths. It is the most fatal species causing malaria and proliferates in human red blood cells with a life cycle occurring every 48 hours. At this time, the parasite’s late stage form or schizont bursts from the erythrocyte releasing immune-inducing particles and infective forms (merozoites) into the bloodstream. The merozoites go …

Authentication Via Multiple Associated Devices, Jean-Baptiste Subils

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a practical method of authentication utilizing multiple devices. The factors contributing to the practicality of the method are: the utilization of devices already commonly possessed by users and the amenability to being implemented on a wide variety of devices. The term “device” refers to anything able to perform cryptographic operations, store data, and communicate with another such device.

In the method presented herein, multiple devices need to be associated with a single user to provide this user an identity in the system. A public key infrastructure is used to provide this identity. Each of the devices associated …

Technology Literacy Skills Needed In Further Education And/Or Work: A Delphi Study Of High School Graduates’ Perspectives, Christina Louise Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology and the importance of computers in education have been recognized since the educational reform movement of the 1980’s. Change that acknowledged a need for high school students to: understand the computer as an information, computation, and communication device; use computers for personal and work-related purposes; and understand the world of computers, electronics, and related technologies (A Nation at Risk, 1983, p. 26). The study, A Nation at Risk recognized our nation’s lack of computer technology skills and since, the standards in education have changed to design curriculum and integrate technology to better prepare high school students with necessary ready …

The Impact Of Lingual Resistance Training In Two Individuals With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Case Series, Raele Donetha Robison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal and progressive disease characterized by the deterioration of motor neurons within the body. This degeneration leads to bulbar dysfunction in the form of an impaired ability to communicate and swallow. Currently, bulbar dysfunction is treated via compensatory methods aimed at maximizing comfort and safety that include environmental adaptations, augmentative and assistive communication and gastrostomy tube placement to replace speech and oral feeding. The role of active intervention is controversial in this patient population and no investigations have examined the potential role lingual exercise might play in ALS bulbar management. The purpose of …

Effect Of Timely Treatment On Malaria Gametocytemia In Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Miguel Reina-Ortiz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malaria is a disease that causes great burden in public health worldwide. It was estimated that in 2011 there were 3.3 billion people at risk of acquiring malaria. According to data from the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador, malaria incidence has shown a 99.9% steady decrease since year 2000. This study evaluated the effect of timely treatment on circulating gametocyte and malaria incidence rates. All cases reported in the province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador from July 2012 to March 2015 and to the national headquarters between February 2012 and December 2014 were studied. The effect of early treatment on: 1) …

Assessment Of Soil Transmitted Helminth Infection (Sthi) In School Children, Risk Factors, Interactions And Environmental Control In El Salvador., Sharad Suryakant Malavade

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background:

Soil transmitted helminth infections (STHI) are important Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). The three main STHI are infections with Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms. STHI have a significant effect on the growth and development of children. A national survey for STHI in El Salvador by Pan American Health Organization and Ministry of Health in 2012 in school children aged 8years to 10 years. The survey collected data on age, gender, behavioral habits, and source of drinking water, type of toilet facility used and ecological zone of residence.

A) We did an analyses of the data with an aim to …

Effects Of Nicotine On A Translational Model Of Working Memory, David Alderson Macqueen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive research with human non-smokers has demonstrated that nicotine generally enhances performance on tasks of attention but, working memory does not appear to be affected. In contrast, nicotine has been shown to produce robust enhancements of working memory in non-human animals. To address this disparity, the present study investigated the effects of nicotine (2mg, 4mg nicotine gum, and placebo) on the performance of 30 non-smokers (15 male) completing a working memory task developed for rodents (the odor span task, OST). Nicotine has been reported to enhance OST performance in rodents and the present study sought to determine whether the effect …

Validity Of A Nonspeech Dynamic Assessment Of Phonological Awareness In Children From Spanish-Speaking Backgrounds, Bianca Angelica Loreti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literacy development in Spanish-speaking children is a growing concern in the United States (Invernizzi, 2009). Phonological awareness is a predictor of literacy achievement in most alphabetic languages (Anthony et al., 2011; Davison & Brea-Spahn, 2012; Durgunoğlu, Nagy, & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993; Goikoetxea, 2005). Bilingual children with complex communication needs (CCN) demonstrate increased difficulties in speaking, reading, and writing, making learning two languages a difficult task (Toppelberg, Snow, & Tager-Flusberg, 1999). Literacy attainment in bilingual individuals who have CCN is important to improve their overall language development and communication interaction skills (Harrison-Harris, 2002). A valid and reliable phonological awareness assessment that does …

Energy Production And Effluent Quality In Tubular Digesters Treating Livestock Waste In Rural Costa Rica, Maureen Njoki Kinyua

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Use of tubular anaerobic digesters to treat livestock waste in developing countries has energy, agricultural, health, social and environmental benefits. However, careful use of digester effluent as a soil amendment is required due to the potential presence of protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia. This research investigated the performance of four tubular digesters in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. High (>75%) volatile solids and BOD5 removal efficiencies were observed, which was attributed to the formation of a biologically active floccular sludge layer. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and bioprocess models were developed to evaluate the transport and transformation …

Aspirin Triggered Resolution Phase Interaction Product D1: A Novel Treatment For Hyperoxic Acute Lung Injury, Ruan Rollin Cox, Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Acute Lung injury (ALI) and the more severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are respiratory maladies that present immense clinical challenges. ALI affects 200,000 individuals annually and features a 40% mortality rate. ALI can be initiated by both pathogenic and sterile insults originating locally in the lungs or systemically. While immense research has been poured into this disease in an effort to find a therapeutic strategy, the heterogeneously diffuse nature of the disease has not yielded a cure for the disease. Death from this disease is strongly attributed to reduced gas exchange from a severely compromised alveolar-capillary barrier. The only …

Investigation Of Bioactive Metabolites From The Antarctic Sponge Dendrilla Membranosa And Marine Microorganisms, Chris G. Witowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural products continue to be a valuable source of compounds in research involving chemical ecology and drug discovery. Secondary metabolites are biosynthesized to benefit the host organism in its environment (feeding deterrence from predators, antibiotic properties to avoid infection, etc.) but these compounds also serve as useful scaffolds in drug discovery applications. The research herein describes both aspects of these two branches of natural products chemistry. The Antarctic sponge Dendrilla membranosa produces diterpenes, of which membranolide A, deters feeding of the predatory amphipod Gondogenia antarctica. A metabolomic study of several sponges was undertaken to determine environmental factors that govern …

Effect Of Interactive Digital Homework With An Ibook On Sixth Grade Students' Mathematics Achievement And Attitudes When Learning Fractions, Decimals, And Percents, Jennifer Zakrzewski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, technology has become a prominent feature in our lives. Technology has not only been integrated into our lives, but into the classroom as well. Teachers have been provided with a tremendous amount of technology related tools to educate their students. However, many of these technologically enhanced tools have little to no research supporting their claims to enhance learning.

This study focuses on one aspect of technology, the iBook, to complete homework relating to fractions, decimals, and percents in a sixth grade classroom. An iBook is a digital textbook that allows the user to interact with the …

Large-Eddy Simulation Of The Inner Continental Shelf Under The Combined Effects Of Surface Temperature Fluxes, Tidal Currents And Langmuir Circulation, Rachel Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a shallow shelf region, turbulent motion can have a major effect on coastal processes including ecosystem functioning, surface gas exchange and sediment resuspension. Many factors contribute to such turbulence; wind and wave forcing, buoyancy induced by surface heat fluxes and tidal forcing all play a key role in generating vertical mixing in this shallow region. Alongside these independent sources of turbulence, combinations thereof can lead to full-depth turbulent structures acting secondary to the mean flow and leading to enhanced vertical mixing throughout the entire water column.

Field and laboratory experiments can often prove to be costly and time consuming, …

Slope Settlement And Post-Disaster Health Needs Of Urban Displacement In La Paz, Bolivia, James Steven Arango

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2011, a landslide displaced approximately six thousand people from the urbanized mountain slopes of La Paz, Bolivia. The municipal government of La Paz (GAMLP) managed the displacement by housing thousands of people in displacement camps throughout the city. By 2013, residents were attempting to return to still damaged lands. This research used participant observation and interviews with residents over eight weeks in 2013 to address the following questions: 1) What social, cultural, economic or historic factors influence the settling and then resettling of at-risk slope neighborhoods in La Paz, Bolivia? 2) What are the most pressing health needs of …

Mainstreaming Green Infrastructure: The Nexus Of Infrastructure And Education Using The Green Space Based Learning (Gsbl) Approach For Bioretention Plant Selection, Ryan Charles Robert Locicero

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Green Space Based Learning (GSBL) approach builds on a long-term partnership between a Research I university, surrounding community, and local school district, transforming underutilized community green space into an interactive educational tool to addresses national infrastructure and educational challenges. The GSBL approach is an educational platform for engaging K-12 and the local community in engineering design and construction of sustainable Green Infrastructure (GI) projects. GSBL was piloted as a part of a federally funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program in which teachers participated in two intensive 6-week summer research experiences and two consecutive academic year components. The summer …

Interpreting Bronze Age Exchange In Sicily Through Trace Element Characterization Of Ceramics Utilizing Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (Pxrf), Erin Marie Mckendry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history and prehistory, Sicily has played a key role for maritime trade in the Mediterranean. Interactions with Sicily are attested to in research for various societies throughout the Mediterranean as early as the Neolithic. However, much of this research paints Sicilian societies as passive, focusing primarily on external groups of people in a given period and their influence on the island. By ignoring the importance of the indigenous population, current research lacks a balanced approach to investigations and subsequent conclusions. This is most evident in literature pertaining to Mycenaean interactions with Sicily during the Bronze Age. Ceramic evidence and …

A Conceptual Analysis Of Perspective Taking In Support Of Socioscientific Reasoning, Sami Kahn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scientific literacy is concerned with the informed citizens' ability to negotiate scientifically-related societal issues. The suite of skills necessary to negotiate these complex issues is referred to as Socioscientific Reasoning (SSR). SSR requires, among other things, perspective-taking abilities in order to consider the multi-faceted nature of these open-ended, debatable socioscientific issues (SSI). Developing interventions and instruments to foster and measure perspective taking in support of SSR is therefore critical to the promotion of functional scientific literacy through both research and practice. Although widely studied in many disciplines, perspective taking is a particularly tangled construct that has been used to describe …

Gene Expression Analysis Of Upregulated Genes By 20-Oh Ecdysone In Brugia Malayi, Monica Lazaro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Brugia malayi is a filarial nematode causing lymphatic filariasis in humans characterized by swelling of the lower extremities. The aim of this study was to conduct a real time PCR (qRT-PCR) to verify gene expression levels of Brugia malayi nematodes treated with 20 hydroxyecdysone. Transcriptome analysis was previously performed resulting in the identification of 44 genes that were upregulated by exposure to 20-hydroxyecdysone. Based on transcriptome results, known GO Terms and functions, four genes and one endogenous housekeeping gene were chosen for validation by RT-PCR. Induced samples showed a mean increase of microfilarie by 2.2 fold. Induced wells exhibited a …

The Political Pilgrim: William Lithgow Of Lanark On God And Country, Philip Anthony Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Travel literature has been understood to comment on the expectations and impressions of the traveler as they encountered foreign spaces, customs, and people. There has been an unspoken understanding, at best, that travelers who wrote their tales used these foreign spaces to engage in debates that were meaningful to their domestic audience. However, the author has been central to much of the analysis, disconnecting travel literature from other linguistic exercises that more directly offered observations that were directly rooted in domestic culture. Author-centered analysis isolates the traveler from the wider world in which they engaged. It also ignores the other …

Multi-Isotope Analysis To Reconstruct Dietary And Migration Patterns Of An Avar Population From Sajópetri, Hungary, Ad 568-895, Liotta Desiree Noche-Dowdy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Avar were nomadic people from Central Asia who migrated into the Carpathian Basin in Central-Eastern Europe during the mid to late Migration Period (AD 568 - 895). Archaeological evaluation of grave goods and documentation of mortuary practices have been the primary means of understanding the Avar. However, this approach has largely neglected skeletal and biochemical analysis, in particular as these approaches relate to the biological variation, ancestry, and dietary patterns of the Avar.

There remains debate as to whether disparities existed among the socially stratified Avar population of ancient Hungary. It is argued by some that these disparities existed …

Trash Talk: Understanding Food Waste At A Charter Elementary School In Florida, Steven A. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational …

Retail Investors' Perceptions Of Financial Disclosures On Social Media: An Experimental Investigation Using Twitter, Neal Michael Snow

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, companies disseminated financial information via the press release. The ability to disseminate information now exists on multiple "new media" channels beyond just the press release, with each channel reaching a different audience. With the different channels of communication come different connotations and associations that people have about the channels, which may affect the interpretation of the message, thereby altering management's ability to effectively communicate with stakeholders. I investigate whether retail investors' processing of financial information disclosures is dependent upon the fit between the channel and the type of information sent on the channel. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model, I …

Direct-To-Consumer Messaging: A Phenomenological Examination Of Dtc Best Practices, Nicholas Dominick Fancera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is designed as the building of a foundation in standardizing best practices when designing Direct-to-Consumer messaging. With this being a new and expanding field of marketing and advertising for the high visibility pharmaceutical industry, an establishment of conceptual templature, around which Direct-to-Consumer messaging campaign can be built, offers an opportunity to build a new and vibrant branch on the well-established messaging field. This is particularly important when recognizing the unique needs and requirements of both the pharmaceutical industry and its audience in learning of and about new products.

This study attempted to identify current perception of Direct-to-Consumer practices …

Facilitating Motivation In A Virtual World Within A Second Language Acquisition Classroom, Andrew Warren Gump

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Fetal Testosterone: Developmental Effects On Externalizing Behavior, Troy A. Webber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fetal testosterone (FT) exposure influences sexual differentiation and may promote well-established sex differences in externalizing (EXT) behavior. Although puberty may be a critical period for these effects, it is unknown how FT exposure influences EXT as a function of pubertal development. We used a longitudinal, multi-sample design to test the relationships between two proxy indices of FT exposure and EXT as a function of age and pubertal development (approximately ages 6, 9, 11, 14, and 16). Twin data were used to approximate FT exposure (TT-FT) because testosterone is thought to cross the intrauterine membrane and cause variability in co-twin gonadal …

Spatial Analysis Of Archaeological Assemblages From The Late Ceramic Age (Ad 400-1400) Site Of Grand Bay, Carriacou, West Indies, Kara I. Casto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study utilizes a geographic information system (GIS) to examine the spatial relationships between the assemblages of major artifact and ecofact categories at the Late Ceramic Age (AD 400-1400) site of Grand Bay, Carriacou. In addition, the study examines how these assemblages formed through various cultural and natural formation processes and have been affected by recent episodes of coastal erosion. Previous archaeological research for this region of the Caribbean is lacking, but with the determined efforts of the Carriacou Archaeological Field Project, Grand Bay's role has been brought to the forefront of current investigations answering questions about pre-Columbian migration …

Stories Of Care In The Virtual Classroom: An Autoethnographic Narrative Inquiry, Brooke Boback Eisenbach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since their inception in 2006, K-12 virtual classrooms have spread across the nation, reaching millions of students every day. Despite the technological changes in today's society, adolescents who lack key personal characteristics may struggle to successfully complete online coursework. A caring teacher-student relationship may assist today's virtual learners in ways that enhance motivation, learning, and online education success. Although a veteran teacher of nine years, in this autoethnographic narrative inquiry, I shared my experience as a novice, English I virtual teacher as I strived to enact relational with my virtual education students.

Acquisition And Generalization Of Tacts Across Stimulus Modes In Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Luz Elena Correa Gómez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the speed of acquisition and level of generalization of tacts across three different stimulus modes: picture-flashcard, video clip, and 3D object. Three young children diagnosed with autism participated in this study. The acquisition of tacts was evaluated during Discrete Trial Training sessions (DTT). Two of the three participants learned the tacts more rapidly in the video clip condition in contrast with the picture condition. All three participants generalized the three tacts learned through a specific stimulus mode to the remaining stimulus modes. One week after the generalization test, all participants generalized to all novel 3D objects.

Morphodynamics Of Mullet Key, West-Central Florida, Emeli Sandoval

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mullet Key is a right angle barrier island located at the mouth of Tampa Bay, west-central Florida. Based on historical shoreline data from 1873, the Gulf (west)-facing section of the beach has been dynamic illustrating large beach advances and retreats of up to 500 m on a decadal scale, while the south (channel)-facing section of the beach has shown to maintain a stable shoreline. This study focuses on the morphodynamics of the Gulf-facing beach. Since the 1920s, most of the Gulf-facing beach has been accreting except at the southern end near the Tampa Bay main channel. However, over the past …