Digital Commons Network^™

Orientation Invariance Methods For Inertial Gait, Ravichandran Subramanian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intelligent devices such as smart phones, smart watches, virtual reality (VR) headsets and personal exercise devices have become integral elements of accessories used by many people. The ability of these devices to verify or identify the user could be applied for enhanced security and user experience customization among other things. Almost all these devices have built-in inertial sensors such as accelerometer and gyroscope. These inertial sensors respond to the movements made by the user while performing day to day activities like walking, getting up and sitting down. The response depends on the activity being performed and thus can be used …

Early Literacy Abilities In Spanish-English Emergent Bilingual Children From Varied Dialectal Backgrounds, Antonietta Mastrota

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Hispanic population within the United States has grown to a considerable amount. The state of Florida’s population is 25% Hispanic, with projected estimates of this population continuing to grow in the coming years (Ortman & Shin, 2011). Statistics show that 28.3% of the state’s population, over the age of five, speak a language other than English at home. With this considerable number of Spanish-speakers comes the responsibility to adjust certain educational practices to best meet their needs. Literacy is an essential part of learning, and therefore assessing early literacy is an essential part to any child’s academic development.

Phonological …

Evaluating A Peer-Implemented Intervention For Increasing Physical Activity During School Recess, Carolina E. Luque

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Physical inactivity is a significant issue in the United States that has been linked to multiple health concerns. Few studies have used behavioral interventions during opportunities available in school, such as recess. There is a need for low effort and accessible interventions to increase children’s physical activity during these opportunities. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of a peer-implemented recess intervention that uses student pairing and feedback to increase physical activity. Step count was recorded by a pedometer. Peer leaders were trained in a group using behavioral skills training. A new leader performed the task-analyzed …

Using Contingency Maps To Teach Requests For Information, Roberto Andrade-Plaza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder characterized by social, behavioral, and communicative deficits. Although there is no known cure for autism, there are many research-based interventions that aid in strengthening such deficits, especially those associated with failures of stimulus control One way to address such failures is to provide additional stimuli that enhance or override information provided by naturally occurring stimuli. Contingency maps are one such example. This study uses an observing response (i.e., hand-raising) to allow the subjects to request contingency maps. The purpose of this study is to identify if contingency maps function as reinforcers and if …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Shape Characteristics Of Marine Snow Particles With Interactive Visualization: Validation Of Assumptions In Coagulation Models, Palak P. Dave

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that started on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. There was an unexpected and prolonged sedimentation event of oil-associated marine snow to the seafloor due to the oil spill. The sedimentation event occurred because of the coagulation process among oil associated marine particles. Marine scientists are developing models for the coagulation process of marine particles and oil, in order to estimate the amount of oil that may reach the seafloor along with marine particles. These models, used certain assumptions regarding …

Chemical Investigation Of Bioactive Marine Extracts, Selam Hagos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural products have been a fundamental source of medicinal scaffolds for decades; with sixty percent of marketed drugs. Many synthetic chemists are focused on synthesizing potent and nontoxic compounds for pharmaceutical targets, however, nature is still proving to be a source of new bioactive compounds. Produced by the host organism for defense, reproduction and communication, secondary metabolites also demonstrate promising bioactivity against human pathogens. Hence, natural product chemists continue their quest for new leads.

As a continuation of these efforts, this thesis attempts to explore fungi and sponges for new chemistry, and ultimately, new drug candidates. Antarctica is largely untapped; …

Development Of The Cybersecurity Attitudes Scale And Modeling Cybersecurity Behavior And Its Antecedents, David J. Howard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As organizations have become more reliant on computers and technology to operate in a globalized world, they have also become more vulnerable to cyberattacks on their networks. The expense to organizations from cyberattacks now exceeds $400 billion USD annually. These costs highlight the need for behavioral research in the cyber domain. The first phase of this research developed an instrument to measure workers’ cybersecurity attitudes. An iterative process resulted in a scale with good psychometric properties - The Cybersecurity Attitudes Scale. The scale measures two factors: cyber policy adherence attitudes and perceived vulnerability to a cyberattack. The second phase of …

Articulatory Patterns In Children Who Use Cochlear Implants: An Ultrasound Measure Of Velar Stop Production In Bilingual Speakers, Katherine Javier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coarticulation occurs in running speech when one speech sound or phoneme overlaps with another. It can be considered a result of the way we sequence and organize our articulators to efficiently produce consecutive consonants and vowels in fluent speech. Previous research has suggested that measures of coarticulation can provide insight into the maturity of the motor speech planning system (Barbier, Perrier, Ménard, Payan, Tiede, & Perkell, 2013; Zharkova & Hewlett, 2009; Zharkova, Hewlett, & Hardcastle, 2011). Speech stability has also been suggested as an indicator of motor speech maturity in previous research using ultrasound imaging of velar-vowel targets (Frisch, Maxfield, …

The Experience Of Coparenting Within The Parameters Of Divorce: Perspectives From Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Nycole C. Kauk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a disorder that includes persistent impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication, social interaction, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, or activities. The purpose of this study is to capture the perspectives and experiences of parents who are divorced but are still coparenting their child with ASD. Current literature gives insight into how ASD affects the family system, but there is no literature to date that examines how parents coparent their child when the family system is split. ASD is a lifelong and impactful disorder impacting not just the individual’s adaptive functioning, but also …

Diversity Of Ssdna Phages Related To The Family Microviridae Within The Ciona Robusta Gut, Alexandria Creasy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The gut microbiome is a complex ecosystem of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that strongly influences animal health. The bacterial component, for example, contributes orders of magnitude more gene products to host physiology than the host genome; thus, changes to the composition of these bacterial communities can have profound influences on the health of the animal. By infecting and lysing their hosts, viruses (particularly viruses infecting bacteria or phages) can affect critical functions in these environments, yet the consequences of these infections remain to be fully described. Most studies investigating gut viromes to date have focused on double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) phages …

Therapeutic Modulation Of Alzheimer’S Disease With Biological (Hucbs) And Pharmacological (Lispro) Approaches, Md Ahsan Habib

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dementia is the top global public health threat of the twenty first century. Within the dementia spectrum, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia that occurs with aging and accounts for about 60% - 80% of diagnosed cases. But currently available discoveries failed to develop disease-modifying therapies for all patients living with AD. Recent discoveries can only partially slow down cognitive decline in a small subset of patients with limited effectiveness. The heterogeneity and complexity of the pathophysiology of AD indicate that a single drug approach may not be sufficient to prevent disease onset and progression. Human …

Hybridizers And The Hybridized: Orchid Growing As Hybrid "Nature?", Kellie Petersen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orchid growing is a hobby that includes not only acquiring and caring for orchids, but also learning about the diverse care requirements of various orchids, attending meetings of orchid groups, having one’s orchids evaluated by American Orchid Society judges or being a judge, or even creating hybrids. In this way, orchid hobbyists compose a distinctive subculture (Hansen 2000). Yet the activity of orchid growing also forms a nexus between the non-human and the human, two categories that are often constructed as an opposing binary. This thesis focuses on how orchid growing represents both the embedded, institutionalized characteristic of the binary …

The Role Of Fathers In Behavioral Parent Training: An Exploration Of Parent-Related Factors In Parent And Child Treatment Outcomes, Brittany L. Jordan-Arthur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite a well-documented need for parent training in the treatment and prevention of child behavior problems, as well as the well-documented benefit of including fathers in preventative and treatment interventions, surprisingly little clinical intervention research examines the role of fathers in such trainings. This research examined the role of father involvement in behavioral parent training by examining parent-related characteristics in relation to treatment outcomes for both mothers and fathers, examining differences between mothers and fathers, and examining the additive benefit of including fathers in treatment across two studies. Both studies utilized archival data obtained from a university- and community-based parent …

Channel Camouflage And Manipulation Techniques In Wireless Networks, Song Fang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The security of wireless networks and systems is becoming increasingly important as wireless devices are more and more ubiquitous nowadays. The wireless channel exhibits the spatial uncorrelation property, which is that the characteristics of a wireless channel become uncorrelated every half carrier wavelength over distance. This property has prompted an emerging research area that utilizes wireless channel characteristics to achieve location distinction, to detect location changes or facilitate authentication of wireless users, and to establish shared secret key between legitimate communicators. This dissertation includes two work toward the security improvement of existing wireless networks and systems. With the discovered channel …

Evaluating Video Modeling To Teach Job Seeking Skills: Composing A Professional Email, Scott A. Fontechia Ii

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the disabilities community, individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis consistently have some of the most detrimental employment related statistics. To address this issue, this study evaluated video modeling, an evidence-based procedure, in teaching professional emailing skills to individuals diagnosed with ASD when applying for a job. Results of the study support video modeling research as an effective teaching tool. Significant skill acquisition, in composing a professional email, occurred across all participants. Seventy-five percent of participants concluded the study at mastery level. Implications of this study are immediately impactful on the ASD community as a new evidence-based transition …

Expediting The Consolidation Of Clayey Soils Utilizing Microwaves, Thilini Jayatissa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Post-construction settlement has been an issue in the field of construction due to the excessive time taken for the dissipation of pore water pressure. This is significant for construction carried out on clayey soils primarily due to the low permeability of clayey soils. Therefore, attention has been directed at finding means of increasing the rate of pre-consolidation. Recent research has focused on the effects of temperature on consolidation. It has been shown that elevated temperature increases the hydraulic conductivity of pore water due to both the reduction of viscosity and differential volumetric expansion of soil and water. This results in …

Relationship Between Intelligibility And Response Accuracy Of The Amazon Echo In Individuals With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Exhibiting Mild-Moderate Dysarthria, Caroline A. Layden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is an ever-growing and increasing amount of technology options that use speech recognition software. Currently, the market includes smartphones, computers, and individual smart home personal assistants that allow for hands-free access to this technology. Research studies have explored the utility of these assistive devices for the completion of activities of daily living; however, there is limited research looking at the accuracy of voice recognition software within smart home personal assistants in populations with disordered speech. In persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), symptoms include changes to motor functions, speech in particular, and it is unknown how some of these …

The Impact Of Vocabulary Knowledge On Nonword Judgments In Spanish-English Bilinguals, Marisa E. Leyden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis suggests that the range of vocabulary in an individual’s lexicon has an influence on in their assessment of nonword wordlikeness. The study included thirteen Spanish-English bilinguals who participated in a language dominance questionnaire, standardized assessments of Spanish and English vocabulary knowledge, and Spanish and English wordlikeness judgment tasks. Resulting data demonstrated moderate correlations between vocabulary knowledge and performance on nonword wordlikeness judgement tasks in Spanish and English. Participants with larger lexicons appeared more tolerant of less probable nonwords, those with low phonotactic probability, while those with smaller lexicons were less accepting of nonwords with low phonotactic probability. The …

“Livin’ The Dream?” How Veterans Of Operations Enduring Freedom And Iraqi Freedom Negotiate The Experience Of Illness As They Transition From Healthy Warrior To Sick Veteran, Jodie L. Sweezey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As combat veterans returned from supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, questions over the safety of vaccinations as well as exposure to burn pit smoke and toxic metals lying dormant in the sand emerged. For many, returning home was marred by unexplained symptoms followed by diagnoses of autoimmune diseases and/or cancer. This research examines how these veterans negotiate this transition from healthy to sick struggling with the many forces that interact with this transition. I focused on the lived experience of their illness as it is non-verbally expressed through embodiment, verbally expressed through illness narratives, and negotiated to avoid …

Through The Lens Of Objectification Theory: Social Media Use And Women's Behavioral Health, Gina-Maria Roca

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Objectification theory considers how gender and culture intersect to position women at a greater risk of developing eating disorders, depression, and sexual dysfunction. Self-objectification is defined as the internalization of a third person perspective to view one’s own body, which then leads to mental health consequences of anxiety, body shame, insensitivity to internal drives, and decreased peak motivational states. Body surveillance, the habitual and constant monitoring of the body, denotes the behavioral manifestation of self-objectification. Altogether, the accumulation of objectifying experiences and mental health consequences heighten women’s risks of developing the aforementioned mental disorders.

Rationale: Extant experimental and correlational …

Partial Characterization Of Plasmodium Falciparum Protein Kinase Abck2 (Pfabck2), Muhammad Khalid

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malaria is a major threat to the public health worldwide as it is affecting populations in tropical and subtropical areas globally. Among those populations are around 40% of pregnant women and children who are susceptible to this disease. Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal agent that causes malaria in human. Currently, there is drug resistance against antimalarial drugs in parasite against treatment of malaria infections, it is essential to search for new drug targets in order to find cure and alleviate suffering of human population.

There are approximately 100 protein kinases in P. falciparum that are involved in phosphorylation of …

Determining Level Of Cognitive Impairment Via Computing Fractals Using A Computer, Kodhanda Karthik Siriyala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mild Cognitive Impairment is a condition that affects an individual's thinking and decision making capabilities. Specifically, it is one where an individual's capabilities of memorizing, thinking and decision making are less efficient when compared to others. In order to diagnose this condition, a conventional method is to provide the subject with a small challenge they should be completed using pen and paper. This thesis focuses on how this method can be converted to a computer based test. A data visualization tool named Processing has been used to develop a system that runs a game-like test, which is completed by individuals …

Evaluating The Influence Of Time Of Day On Activity Engagement In Persons With Dementia, Darienne E. Boyden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dementia is a serious disease affecting a growing number of people. With the onset of dementia comes a decline in social activity engagement which can negatively impact multiple aspects of a person’s life. Research suggests that time of day may influence activity engagement of a person with dementia, but such research is limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of time of day on engagement in activities in persons diagnosed with dementia. The secondary purpose of this study was to assess the validity of preference assessments in individuals diagnosed with dementia and determine if low preference …

Pre-Service Teacher Micro-Hegemonic Construction Of Literacy Teacher Identity, Brian M. Flores

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents findings from a qualitative discourse analysis study of three pre-service teachers enrolled in the Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program (UTRPP); a clinical teacher preparation setting at a major southeastern university. UTRPP is a full-time teacher preparation program that focuses on university student achievement through embedded coursework and provides preservice teachers (PSTs) with the opportunity to work with a content coach. Through coaching cycles, these PSTs work one-on-one with a literacy content coaches to enrich their teaching experiences and connect theory to practice through content coaching cycles. A content coaching cycle consists of a pre-conference, video-recorded observation of …

A Case Study Exploration Of Internships In Undergraduate Business Education, Kawana W. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A single case study was used to examine internships at an (AACSB) accredited business school located at a Research 1 university in the southeastern United States. Internships are the dominant form of experiential learning used within the college under study and the “preferred method of business schools worldwide to give students practical experience and help them transition to the real world” (Kosnik, Tingle, Blanton, 2013, p. 616). The Grant University College of Business, pseudonym selected for this case, supports an internship and career services office that oversees nine internship courses representing six departments within the college. At minimum, each department …

An Analysis Of Organ Donation Presentations On Weibo, Shengfei Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the presentation of organ donation organization on Weibo. This study used content analysis to find out the Love.Hope organ donation organization’s main content of Weibo’s content.

The main content includes six themes. The theme of popularizing organ donation knowledge is the majority. Through analyzing the correlation of content of each themes with shares, likes, and comments. It is concluded that people are more inclined to engage with Weibo posts with popularization of organ donation knowledge and stories of organ donors and recipients, and people also concern about the organ supply and demand situation in China.

It turns …

Simulation Of Radiation Flux From Thermal Fluid In Origami Tubes, Robert R. Bebeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spacecraft in orbit experience temperature swings close to 240 K as the craft passes from the shadow of the Earth into direct sunlight. To regulate the craft’s internal energy, large radiators eject unwanted energy into space using radiation transfer. The amount of radiation emitted is directly related to the topology of the radiator design. Deformable structures such as those made with origami tessellation patterns offer a mechanism to control the quantity of energy being emitted by varying the radiator shape. Three such patterns, the Waterbomb, Huffman Waterbomb, and Huffman Stars-Triangles, can be folded into tubes. Origami tubes offer greater control …

The Influence Of Instagram Selfies On Female Millennials’ Appearance Satisfaction, Diliara Bagautdinova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have proved negative effects of social network sites on women’s body image caused by social comparison processes. However, only a few studies have examined the effects of Instagram on women’s appearance satisfaction and no selfies were taken into consideration in regard to that issue. The purpose of this research was to examine the social comparison theory through the lens of Instagram selfies and determine the effects of selfies on women’s appearance satisfaction. In-depth interviews with 26 female millennials, ages 18 to 32, reveal the re-defined standard of an ideal body image, shifting away from being skinny to becoming fit, …

Cue Competition During Phonotactic Processing In Bilingual Adults As Measured By Eye-Tracking, Katherine Manrique

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well documented in the literature that bilingual speakers simultaneously activate both languages during spoken language processing (e.g., Marian & Spivey, 2003). However, parallel activation can lead to competition between the two languages (e.g., Blumenfield & Marian, 2013; Freeman, Shook, & Marian, 2016). The Unified Competition model (UCM) provides a theory as to how bilingual speakers navigate through two languages while different linguistic cues are competing (MacWhinney, 2005). The UCM proposes that cues are used to process language, based on cue validity (the product of how reliable and available a cue is), which is determined by cue strength (a …

Evaluation Of A Hierarchal Training Model For Group Home Staff, Elizabeth Marie Lynch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Direct-care staff working with individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) are frequently exposed to challenging behavior from residents and expected to respond correctly to challenging resident behavior, but often receive insufficient training due to lack of resources and high staff turnover (e.g., Collins, 2012; Collins, Higbee, & Salzberg, 2009; Haberlin, Beauchamp, Agnew, & O’Brien, 2009; Pelletier, McNamara, Braga-Kenyon, & Ahearn, 2010). Training methods such as Behavioral Skills Training (BST) are highly intrusive and require high amounts of resources (e.g., Parsens, Rollyson, & Reid, 2012). Research suggests technological based alternatives are more cost effective, decreases training time and response effort from management, …