Digital Commons Network^™

The Adaptive, Social, Communication, And Cognitive Skills Of Monolingual And Bilingual Toddlers With Autism, Marcela A. Galicia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2019) and bilingual individuals are rapidly increasing in the United States (Zeigler & Camarota, 2019). Yet, research on the global development of bilingual children with ASD is limited. Despite the lack of research in this vein, educators and clinicians are tasked with the assessment and intervention planning for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with ASD (Dilly & Hall, 2019). There are mixed findings regarding the effect of bilingual exposure on the development of adaptive, social, communication, and cognitive skills of children with ASD (e.g., Hambly & Fombonne, …

Biochar Amended Bioretention Systems For Nutrient And Fecal Indicator Bacteria Removal From Urban And Agricultural Runoffs, Md Yeasir Arif Rahman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Excessive nitrogen and fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in stormwater runoff from urban areas or dairy farm operations impair water bodies resulting algal blooms, gastrointestinal illness, and economic losses. Recent advancements in stormwater management, including low impact development (LID) techniques, have provided engineers with a variety of tools to use in place of traditional catch basins and retention ponds. One promising LID technology for runoff management is bioretention, which consists of a shallow depression containing engineered porous media and vegetation. Prior studies have shown that modified bioretention systems that include an internal water storage zone (IWSZ) to promote denitrification can improve …

Early Indicators Of Cognitive Dysfunction: The Role Of Mild Behavioral Impairment, Hillary J. Rouse

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Older age is associated with an increased risk for cognitively impairing diseases such as dementia. Despite significant research to find ways to cure this disease, there has been little success. However, a critical need when an intervention is discovered is a need to find ways to identify people who are at the greatest risk of developing dementia earlier in the disease process so that interventions can be implemented at that time. This could potentially lessen their risk or delay when they are diagnosed. Using longitudinal data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), the aims of this current dissertation were …

Role Of Nhe3 In The Intestine And Thick Ascending Limb Of The Kidneys, Jianxiang Xue

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The sodium-hydrogen exchanger isoform 3 (NHE3, SLC9A3) mediates most Na+/H+ exchange in the gastrointestinal tract and the kidney, where it plays crucial roles in Na+ and fluid absorption as well as acid-base homeostasis. Whole body NHE3 knockout (NHE3-/-) mice show overt absorptive defects in both the intestine and kidneys. Genetic mutations of NHE3 gene in humans are associated with congenital sodium diarrhea (CSD). In the kidneys, NHE3 is expressed in the proximal tubule (PT) and the thick ascending limb (TAL). Whole kidney-specific (PT and TAL) NHE3 knockout (NHE3Pax8cre) mice and PT-specific NHE3 knockout (PT-NHE3-/-) mice have shown the importance of …

Development Of A Bipolar Radiofrequency Ablation Device For Renal Denervation, Noel Perez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The American Heart Association (AHA) reported in March 2020, hypertension (HT) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and heart stroke. Resistant hypertension (RH) is a subset of HT and affects 11-16% of hypertensive patients. RH is diagnosed when a patient cannot achieve blood pressure control despite taking three or more medications and is a serious clinical management challenge.

Renal denervation (RD) using radiofrequency (RF) ablation is an accepted form of RH therapy. RD devices are typically delivered through femoral access into the renal artery with the assistance of a standard guided sheath. In the European Union (EU), the …

Metal Oxide Sensor Array Test Bed Prototype For Diagnostic Breath Analysis, Tiffany C. Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Detection of specific target biomarkers is a critical step for electronic nose technologies in breath analysis. Electronic nose technologies have been successfully demonstrated in the air quality, meat processing, and the citrus industries, as well as cancer clinical trials. The novel design, assembly, and implementation of a test bed prototype of an electronic nose system is introduced in this Dissertation. To verify the feasibility of a test bed prototype design, a Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) breath simulation mixture of alcohol, acetone, and carbon monoxide was presented to the test bed prototype in the laboratory. The COVID-19 breath simulation mixture …

Novel Synthetic Ketogenic Compounds, Michael Scott Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ketogenic diet has grown in popularity in the last decade as a weight loss tool. Research into the diet’s effects on the body have revealed a variety of other health benefits. The use of exogenous ketone supplements to confer the benefits of the diet without strict adherence to it represents an exciting new area of focus. Synthetic ketogenic compounds are of particular interest that has received very little emphasis and is an untapped area of focus for chemical synthesis.

The first chapter of this manuscript provides an overview of the history of the ketogenic diet along with a summary …

Alternative Approaches To Protect Sensory Inner Ear Tissue Against Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity, Nicole K. Febles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder often involving permanent damage and loss to the inner ear’s mechano-sensory hair cells and spiral ganglion neuron fibers. Significant causes of SNHL are ototoxic drugs, environmental factors, loud noises, and continuous wear with age. A successful but ototoxic chemotherapeutic known as Cisplatin often damages auditory hair cells via mitochondria dysfunction, DNA fragmentation, and cellular death through apoptosis. Despite the high prevalence of SNHL, there currently is no FDA-approved prevention or cure. Thus, auditory and cancer researchers have investigated various individual otoprotective agent preventions with limited success. This dissertation used a novel …

The Effects Of Agrochemical Pesticide Applications On Target And Off-Target Species In Aquatic Ecosystems, Bryan K. Delius

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The increase in the global human population is driving agricultural expansion, which increases the likelihood and degree by which agrochemicals impact aquatic systems. It is projected that by 2100 the global human population will exceed 11 billion, and to feed the increased human population, the necessary increase in agricultural infrastructure is estimated to double irrigation, nearly triple fertilizer applications, and increase pesticide applications by tenfold. It stands to reason that wetlands impacts from agriculture are also likely to increase as the industry expands its operation to meet the globally growing demand for food.

Wetlands are highly productive habitats that not …

Metabolic Rate, Critical Oxygen Partial Pressure, And Oxygen Supply Capacity Of Farfantepenaeus Duorarum At Their Lower Thermal Limit, Alexandra L. Burns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Temperature and environmental oxygen availability affect oxygen supply and demand in ectotherms, which are hypothesized to control the geographic limits of many marine species. The oxygen supply capacity (α) is calculated from commonly measured metabolic traits, including the standard metabolic rate (SMR) and critical oxygen partial pressure at SMR (Pcrit). It may be used to estimate the metabolic capacity and aerobic scope across changes in temperature and oxygen partial pressures as α reflects adaptations of the cardiorespiratory system to meet maximum energy demands at a given oxygen partial pressure (PO2). In this study, α was measured for the Tampa Bay …

A Review Of Marine Turtle Orientation And Artificial Lighting Impacts With Novel Results From Florida’S Gulf Coast, Andrea M. Fisher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial light (i.e. unnatural light emitting from a human-made source) is one of the most extensively distributed, and least managed, type of anthropogenic pollution. Due to the disproportionally high rates of urbanization in critical coastal ecosystems, species, like marine turtles that use beach habitat for nesting activities, are especially vulnerable. Marine turtles employ the use of multiple visual cues (e.g. wavelength, intensity, background illumination, and dark silhouettes) to conduct sea-finding behavior and different variations in cue usage exist across species and geographic location. During nesting and emergence activities, orientation can be interrupted and manipulated by artificial lighting resulting in lower …

Examining The Presence Of A Possible Species Complex Of Octopus Joubini (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) In The Eastern Gulf Of Mexico, Haley Holloway

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Pygmy Octopus Octopus joubini (Robson, 1929) is a small, shallow water species found throughout the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), western Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Caribbean Sea (Mather, 1982; Jereb & Roper, 2014; Judkins, 2009). This species is believed to belong to a complex based upon morphological features including arm length, web depth, sucker size, egg size, hatchling ecology, and chromatophore coloration. It has been proposed that Octopus mercatoris, another pygmy species found in the GoM, may belong in this complex; however, no analyses have been performed to verify this claim. The present study incorporated morphological comparisons with …

Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge Of The Brain: Implications For Autonomy-Supportive And Controlling Motivational Styles, Katie Jansen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neuromyths, or misconceptions about the brain and learning that are rooted in scientific fact, have been documented among educators across various subject areas and educational levels throughout the world. The endorsement of neuromyths may affect the ability of educators to support the psychological needs of their students. The present study examined neuromyth endorsement and neuroscience literacy among pre-service educators, as well as their orientations toward autonomy-supportive or controlling motivational styles. Associations between pre- service teachers’ knowledge of the brain (i.e., neuromyth endorsement and neuroscience literacy) and their motivational styles (i.e., autonomy-supportive or controlling) were also explored. Data were gathered from …

Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Doctoral Students' Strategies To Understand Idiomatics In Comics And Comic Strips, Himelhoch Luz-Aydé

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Everyday language consists of many idiomatic and figurative expressions. For non-native English speakers to achieve native fluency, control of idiomatics—native speech that includes the use of both idiomatic and figurative language—is paramount. In this study, I aimed to explore the use of comics and comic strips in the learning and comprehension of L2 (second language) idiomatics. Seldom has the topic of comics and comic strips been addressed as it applies to idiomatics learning in second language acquisition (SLA). I employed a descriptive and exploratory approach in this study to address this gap in SLA pedagogy. A total of 21 doctoral …

Flow Visualization And Aerosol Characterization Of Respiratory Jets Exhaled From A Mannequin Simulator, Sindhu Reddy Mutra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is important to understand the airborne transmission of infectious diseases due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical experiments were conducted to understand the dispersion of aerosols emitted from a mannequin simulator replicating human tidal breathing through the nose and mouth with and without a protective face mask in an enclosed space. Flow patterns are observed via high-speed visualization, and the concentration and size distribution of the particles is measured as a function of distance from the mannequin using an optical particle sizer. Masks were shown to effectively reduce the horizontal dispersion of aerosol for both mouth and nose breathing. Further, …

Treatment Responses Among Youth With Anxiety Disorders And Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors In A Clinic Sample, Katrina Scarimbolo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety disorders are considered to encompass multiple conditions, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder and specific phobias. Related conditions include post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive and compulsive disorder. Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) are a group of disorders that result in repetitive touching, picking, and/or pulling to areas of the body such as the scalp or skin (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). An anxiety disorder and a BFRB commonly co-occur in youth. This comorbid presentation produces further impairment in school attendance, peer socialization, or other functional domains. These difficulties youth experience make it pertinent to study …

Phenotypic Diversity And Costs Of Early Hatching In Lizards, Zachary Winstead

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early hatching is a form of environmentally cued hatching in which embryos can emerge early to improve chances of survival and is considered a means of antipredator defense. Early hatching as a response to predation has been well documented in amphibians, but its prevalence among other animal groups is unknown. Moreover, any trade-offs between early hatching and other traits, and thus survival, are not well understood. There is anecdotal evidence that lizards exhibit early hatching behavior, but quantitative evidence is limited to one study. In the present study, I tested for the presence of early hatching in six species of …

Exploring Prokaryotic And Viral Communities Within Florida’S Freshwater Springs, Kema Saydoon Malki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida’s freshwater springs serve as a crucial ecosystem for the state, having both ecological and economic importance. Springs occur where there is an opening where aquifers discharge groundwater. Florida’s springs are fed by the Floridan aquifer system (FAS), which underlies the entire state and extends into several neighboring states. The FAS provides potable water to over 10 million people. The constant flow of groundwater through the springs feeds major river systems and creates unique freshwater systems that support numerous plants and animals. The combination of natural beauty and charismatic fauna attract tourism and generate millions of dollars in revenue for …

Transparent Planar Micro-Electrode Array For In-Vitro Electric Field Mediated Gene Delivery, Raj Himatlal Shah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gene delivery is the process of delivering the modified gene into the human cell. There are two types of gene delivery depending on where the target cells are. The in-vivo gene delivery deals with delivering the altered genes into the cells while still in the host body. While another approach is to extract the cells from the host body, transfer the modified gene into cells and then put these cells back into the host body, this approach is called the ex-vivo method.

A vector is a carrier that carries the modified gene to the host cell or body. Hence, depending …

Recognizing Patterns From Vital Signs Using Spectrograms, Sidharth Srivatsav Sribhashyam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spectrograms extract frequency components from a signal. Spectrograms have beenin use for a long time mainly to analyze frequency components in audio signals. Typically, these audio signals have a very high sampling rate, various frequency components and high frequency variability with time. Vital signs on other hand have very low sampling rate with no frequency variability. This work explores if spectrograms can be used to analyze and recognize patterns from vital signs signals.

As mentioned above, spectrograms deal with frequencies. More the variability of frequency, better the patterns emerge when spectrograms are applied on the signals. As vital signs lack …

Improving Environmental Protection: One Imagined Touch At A Time, Luke Ingalls Liska

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Can imagined touch of flora and fauna (i.e., the plants and animals of the natural world) make you more willing to support environmental protection efforts? Across seven studies, I demonstrate that by asking consumers to imagine touching fauna, marketers can encourage consumers to become more engaged in environmental protection efforts. This effect occurs because imagined touch generates haptic imagery, which enhances a consumer’s emotional attachment to fauna. I demonstrate that emotional attachment to fauna induced via imagined touch enhances individual’s willingness to share Facebook posts, improves their willingness to support increased fines for environment-related offenses, and increases the number of …

Cetacean Maternal Investment: Importance In Conservation Across Species And Drivers For Interspecific Altruism, Christopher Klein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cetacean maternal investments can be useful for conservation management as well as examining behaviors such as interspecific altruism in the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae. Cetaceans are among the most threatened group of marine mammals. In the second chapter, maternal investments across ~90 species/subspecies of Cetacea were analyzed to aid in the understanding of recovery/replacement for conservation and management. Using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), a relative maternal-investment index for 41 cetacean species was built. The maternal-investment index was a composite of four maternal-investment variables, the duration of gestation, lactation, calving intervals, and the number of reproduction years per female per species. …

Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element Binding Protein 2 Alternative Splicing Regulates Hif1Α During Chronic Hypoxia, Emily M. Mayo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic pulmonary hypoxia commonly results in the sustained expression of HIF1 (hypoxia inducible factor 1), a heterodimeric transcription factor, that, if unrestrained, can result in dramatic vasculature remodeling, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and right-sided heart failure. Together, these pulmonary disorders cost approximately $100 billion annually to treat due to the limited therapeutic targets designed to inhibit HIF1 expression. In this study, we introduce a translational regulator of HIF1 expression, known as Cytosolic polyadenylation element binding proteins 2 (CPEB2). Our lab has previously demonstrated in cancer cells that alternatively spliced isoforms of CPEB2 regulate the translation of the HIF1 oxygen-dependent subunit, HIF1α, …

Home Range Area, Overlap, Homing Behavior And Movement Patterns In Plestiodon Reynoldisi, Paul Wieczorek Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Home range and home range overlap information are crucial to create management plans for species of conservation concern. It provides information as to how much land a viable population needs to survive. The South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan highlights the need for home range and movement information for Plestiodon reynoldsi (Florida Sand Skink), a threatened lizard species precinctive to Florida Scrub habitat. We investigated home range sizes, their relationship with SVL and mass, home range overlap, homing behavior, and movement patterns of the Florida Sand Skink (FSS) and over a three-year period in the Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge. …

Ware And Tear In Ancient Tampa Bay: Ceramic Elemental Analyses From Pinellas County Sites, Mckenna Loren Douglass

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research tested a null hypothesis on whether ceramics from a variety of archaeological sites around the Pinellas County peninsula were sourced locally for their materials. The sites in this study include Weeden Island (8PI1-5-6-A/B/C/D), Bayshore Homes (8PI41), Yat Kitischee (8PI1753), and Maximo Point (8PI19). Since there were multiple sites that I assessed in the Tampa Bay, Florida area, I focused on one cultural period, Safety Harbor (AD 900-1500), and the ceramics created during it at the various locations. My research questions included: Were materials locally sourced for ceramic production at each of these sites? If not, what is the …

“Be Valiente”: Investigating Ethnic Identity Through Digital Storytelling With Latinx Fourth-Grade Students, Jennifer Michelle Barreto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multilingual and multicultural students face the challenge of understanding where their ethnic identity lies in learning. The education system in the United States lacks inclusivity in classrooms, continuing monocultural views and monolinguist ideals as the norm and encouraged in curriculum and standards (Flores, 2020). This dissertation study seeks to break cultural and linguistic ideologies to better understand the development of ethnic identity in three Latinx fourth-grade students by creating a digital story. Through a sociocultural lens that includes a bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1977; Vélez-Agosto et al., 2017) and multimodality (NGL, 1996) framework the study emphasizes all funds of knowledge (Moll …

Rethinking Settlement Patterns At The Weeden Island Site (8pi1) On Florida’S Central Gulf Coast, Heather E. Draskovich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Weeden Island site (8PI1), despite its importance as a Weeden Island period (AD 200-900) settlement and ceremonial center of the southeastern United States and type site for the ceramic series bearing its name, has largely remained poorly-dated given its size and multiple components. With the limited number of dates available to archaeologists from the Weeden Island component, there has continued to be a lack of temporal and spatial control needed to answer many of the significant questions involving change at the site. Through the execution of shovel testing in previously uninvestigated areas of the site and analysis of material …

Green Business And The Culture Of Capitalism: Constructing Narratives Of Environmentalism, Julia S. Jester

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are widespread colloquial arguments claiming that any actions taken to combat climate change will be bad for business and the economy, scaring people into continuing their support for the status quo for fear of their financial security. Alternatively, those attempting to combat ecological destruction have subsequently made transitions to sustainable development of products and shifting consumer behavior within this system. There is one core argument that both sides have, albeit in different ways – capitalism and environmentalism are seemingly incompatible; one cannot be successful without the eradication of the other. While it may appear there are only strict binary …

Measuring State Empathy: Exploring The Efficacy Of A Film Clip Task And Examining Individual Differences In Empathic Responding, Stephanie R. Hruza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study of trait empathy and the experience of empathy has implications for psychopathologies, the enactment of prosocial behaviors, and inhibition of aggression. For the most part, studies on empathy have been limited to the examination of trait empathy and/or empathy-related prosocial behaviors. However, to better understand how trait empathy may translate into empathy-related behaviors, it is important to find the best ways to elicit and measure state empathy, as well as characterize the relationship between trait and state empathy. Additionally, research into the relationship between normal-range personality traits and empathy on both a trait and state level has largely …

Leaf Cutter Ant Nest Soil Cement Stabilized Earthen Bricks: Materials And Methods For Engineering Field Applications, Faith Malay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As climate change threatens vulnerable tropical climates and development outpaces resource availability, the need for diverse construction material grows. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to reduce poverty in all forms. Diversifying construction material works toward reducing indoor air pollution, the eradication of houselessness, encouraging diversification in industry, and supporting small scale industrialization. In the Province of Bocas del Toro in Panama, there is a tenuous connection to the greater industries in the country due to location and existing infrastructure.This research presents a literature review of the historical approaches to the construction and chemistry of cement stabilized earth bricks, …