Digital Commons Network^™

The Road To The White House: A Correlational Analysis Of Twitter Sentiment And National Polls In The 2016 Election Cycle, Melissa G. Pelletier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the author examines the last 131 days of the 2016 election cycle. This analysis focuses on how sentiment is present on Twitter when people engage in political communication on social media. With the increasing online political discussions created on social media such as Twitter, an analysis of sentiment is critical. The data could be obtainable for candidates to estimate the electorate’s opinion of each candidate. A shift of sentiment offers a deeper insight into tracking changing attitudes toward candidates. Because Twitter only allows each tweet to be 140 characters there is a simplicity that offers statements to …

Traversing Privacy Issues On Social Networking Sites Among Kuwaiti Females, Shahad Shihab

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive study explores privacy issues on social networking sites among young Kuwaiti females and their behavior when protecting their information. In this study, two of the most prominent social networking sites in Kuwait were selected to investigate Kuwaiti females’ privacy concerns. These platforms are Instagram and Twitter. The research was guided by two questions: What information do Kuwaiti females disclose on Instagram and Twitter? How do Instagram and Twitter differ in managing privacy?

Participants of this research are 15 young Kuwait females studying at Kuwait university in different educational fields. The data collection method used was semi-structured, face-to-face …

Smog Pollution In China: News Framing And Issue-Attention Cycle Per The, Yingying Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

China's smog air pollution has become an increasingly urgent environmental crisis in China. Using framing as theoretical framework, this research examined how much media attention is focused on smog air pollution and how print media frame smog air pollution. An empirical content analysis of 339 articles in the People’s Daily newspaper was conducted from 2000 to 2016, and the results showed that “non-voluntary solutions” and “problem” frames were the two frames that had been most utilized to construct stories about air pollution. Smog air pollution crisis also discussed in terms of Downs issue-attention cycle, a five-stage model explaining the rise …

Cyber Deterrence Against Cyberwar Between The United States And China: A Power Transition Theory Perspective, Yavuz Akdag

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last three decades, states and societies have increasingly been connected to each other through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as satellites and the Internet, thus expanding the sphere of influence of cyberspace. While offering numerous economic and security benefits, this increased global connectivity also poses various security challenges and threats at the national and international level. In particular, the threat of cyberwar has become one of the top national security issues in both the United States and China, as reflected in an increasing number of cyber disputes between the two nations recently. In the wake of this …

Political Media Bias In The United States: Immigration And The Trump Administration, Bryce Josepher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is aimed at identifying political bias in mainstream media news channels. Specifically, this thesis focuses on political bias portrayed through the media following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. This analysis explores the media’s coverage of the initial travel ban (enforced by executive order) during the first month of the Trump presidency. The content in this research explores specific frames, facts, statistics, wording, phrasing, and overall presentations of two primetime media hosts, Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity. This research explores several presentations from each host, all pertaining to the Trump Administration’s initial travel ban. Framing theory is used …

Reef Fish Biodiversity In The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Megan E. Hepner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The biological diversity of reef-fish in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) from 1999 – 2016 was evaluated in terms of abundance, biomass, species richness, evenness, Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity, and functional diversity, using observations collected by multiple agencies and institutions under the Reef Visual Census (RVC) program. To compare the different diversity indices species richness, Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity, and functional diversity were converted into effective number of species. I examined the seven indices by no-take marine zones, in seven benthic habitat strata, and across the three-distinct geographic subregions in the Florida Keys domain (Upper, Middle, and Lower …

How Transportation Network Companies Could Replace Public Transportation In The United States, Matthew L. Kessler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The quantity of cell phone applications or mobile apps have seen an upsurge at an exponential rate in under a decade. Many have been created for a variety of industries, including transportation. The advent and subsequent commercialized implementation of near-instant transport by a middleman-type of app is now known as a Transportation Network Company or TNC. Examples of the more renowned TNCs are Uber, Lyft and Sidecar.

In recent years, TNCs have cultivated a tremendous following, to the degree of taxicab desertion. Moreover, the massive success of TNCs led to expansion of its capacities into public transportation.

The TNC’s expeditious …

Framing Genetically-Modified Foods Communication In China: A Content Analysis Of News Coverage Of People’S Daily And Southern Metropolis, Linqi Lu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grounded in framing theory, this thesis presents a qualitative content analysis of newspaper coverage of genetically modified foods by two Chinese newspapers- People’s Daily and Southern Metropolis, in 2000-2017. The political, economic, public opinion and legal implications involved have made the reports of genetically modified (GM) foods present different framing, themes, and positions between People’s Daily and Southern Metropolis. This study aims to examine the various frames used in the coverage of GM foods in two major Chinese newspapers that operate within different media frameworks.

Results of the content analysis illustrated that significant differences existed in the newspapers in …

Cultivating Peace Via Language Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs And Emotions In An Efl Argentine Practicum, María Matilde Olivero

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to understand the intricate processes involved in second language teacher development, in the last decade studies in second language teacher education (SLTE) have addressed the need to explore pre-service teachers’ beliefs and emotions jointly as they occur in their contexts of teaching. SLTE researchers have referred to the importance of helping pre-service teachers verbalize their beliefs and try to understand and regulate their emotions as they can serve to explain what, how, and why pre-service teachers do what they do during their practicum experience. In addition, considering future teachers will be passing on their beliefs, values, and ways …

Social Media Use And Political Participation In China: The Mediating Role Of Political Efficacy, Bingyang Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the Chinese authoritarian and conservative political system, Chinese political efficacy and political participation are popular directions of research in recent years. Based on uses and gratifications theory and self-efficacy theory, this thesis explored the relationships among social media use, political efficacy, and political participation. The most important part of this study was examining the mediating role of political efficacy between social media use and political participation in mainland China. Internal political efficacy and external political efficacy are two dimensions of political efficacy that were separately examined in this study. The results revealed that internal political efficacy can mediate between …

Grassroots Branding: An Exploration Of Grassroots Businesses Within The Florida Skateboard Community, Lawrence M. Shaw

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Why do original/grassroots branding efforts occurring on a local level continue to proliferate despite the existing market saturation created by larger corporate entities? Using existing theoretical frameworks associated with “do it yourself” (DIY) culture, this thesis explores cultures and themes associated with skateboarding, including the production and consumption of brands of skateboarding products; the use of space and spatiality by skateboarders; and, finally, changes in skateboarding. I conducted ethnographic interviews within a network of skateboard entrepreneurs in the Florida skateboard community, seeking to understand why they start brands, their perceptions of their entrepreneurial efforts, and how these businesses operate. Drawing …

Re-Placing The Plantation Landscape At Yulee’S Margarita Plantation, Katherine M. Padula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U.S. Senator David Levy Yulee’s Margarita sugar plantation flourished from 1851 to 1864 in Homosassa, Citrus County, Florida. The plantation was abandoned in 1864 and memory of its precise location slowly faded, as the physical evidence of its existence deteriorated. Today, the only plantation structure known to be still standing is the sugar mill, preserved as part of the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park (CI124B). The remainder of the plantation, including its boundaries, remains unknown. Perhaps at least partly owing to this absence, the mill’s interpretive signage provides an unfortunate univocal historical interpretation of the site and lacking …

Physician Practice Survival: The Role Of Analytics In Shaping The Future, Janene Jones Culumber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation joins an ongoing discussion in the business management and information technology literature surrounding the measurement of an organization’s business analytic capability, the benefits derived from maturing the capability and the improvements being made toward maturity. The dissertation specifically focuses on the healthcare industry in the United States and more specifically independent physician practices specializing in orthopaedics. After an extensive literature review along with expertise from industry leaders and experienced academic faculty, a survey instrument was developed to measure organizational capabilities, technology capabilities and people capabilities which together measured an organizations overall business analytic capability maturity. The survey instrument …

Defining Data Science And Data Scientist, Dana M. Dedge Parks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The world’s data sets are growing exponentially every day due to the large number of devices generating data residue across the multitude of global data centers. What to do with the massive data stores, how to manage them and defining who are performing these tasks has not been adequately defined and agreed upon by academics and practitioners. Data science is a cross disciplinary, amalgam of skills, techniques and tools which allow business organizations to identify trends and build assumptions which lead to key decisions. It is in an evolutionary state as new technologies with capabilities are still being developed and …

Smart Inverter Control And Operation For Distributed Energy Resources, Ahmad F. Tazay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The motivation of this research is to carry out the control and operation of smart inverters and voltage source converters (VSC) for distributed energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV), battery, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). The main contribution of the research includes solving a couple of issues for smart grids by controlling and implementing multifunctions of VSC and smart inverter as well as improving the operational scheme of the microgrid. The work is mainly focused on controlling and operating of smart inverter since it promises a new technology for the future microgrid. Two major applications of the smart …

Grid-Based Rfid Indoor Localization Using Tag Read Count And Received Signal Strength Measurements, Nanda Gopal Jeevarathnam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) systems have gained immense popularity in recent years for their wide-scale industrial applications in inventory tracking and management. In this study, we explore the potential of passive RFID systems for indoor localization by developing a grid-based experimental framework using two standard and easily measurable performance metrics: received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and tag read count (TRC). We create scenarios imitating real life challenges such as placing metal objects and other RFID tags in two different read fields (symmetric and asymmetric) to analyze their impacts on location accuracy. We study the prediction potential …

Effects Of Release Contingencies On Bout-Like Responding, Chelsea E. Schubiger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Problem behavior is a concern for individuals with developmental disabilities. Research suggests that a release contingency time-out is effective to reduce problem behavior, but may increase the duration of time-out. Other sources recommend including a release contingency to avoid reinforcing problem behavior. It is possible clinicians generalize this concept to other domains, such as differential reinforcement with discrete-trial-training. Such a modification may be conceptualized as a tandem ratio requirement. Evidence from basic literature suggests that a tandem ratio requirement may increase a bout of responding. The current study examined effects of applied behavior analytic procedures using a bout analysis. The …

Understanding And Applying Emotional Intelligence: A Qualitative Study Of Tampa Veterans Administration Hospital Employees, Brenda Webb Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotional intelligence (EI) has not been studied extensively within the Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA). The VHA is the largest healthcare organization in America with over 360,000 employees and the organization invests heavily in competency development. The Tampa VA is a level 1 facility with over 5,000 employees in the Tampa Bay area. The facilities Education office offers competency development through soft skills training, leadership development, and contracted courses that include emotional intelligence for leaders.

The purpose of this study was to better discern ten Tampa VA medical center employees understanding and application of EI competence within their personal and professional …

Facilities Management: How Public Leadership Is Responding To Crisis, Rebecca Jane Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative investigation to understand the challenges of public sector facilities management and maintenance to include the negative impact of deferred maintenance, it’s history, the current industry practices and the potential to reverse the negative impact of the current trend.

History has been known to speak loudly, and with accuracy relative to the expansion of public facilities and the challenge to maintain them. The challenge to keep pace with the growing population and the ever-changing requirements for contemporary designs are felt in every sector of our public facilities. Regardless, we, the public …

Kinetic Problem Solving, Charles Arant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Government leaders stand to benefit from improved program management capabilities within their organizations. Often, they are faced with crisis situations that require a rapid-fire, precise, effective problem solving process. Some of these programs are more severe or complex than others. With time and certainty of the solution as constraints, efficient program management supporting the Defense Acquisition Life Cycle remains an enigma for organizations at best and a hazard at worst.

Program management dealing with crisis problem solving, which is characterized by critical events and high cost, is a real-time process where requirements are identified and resolved to achieve a desired …

Measuring Up: Standardized Testing And The Making Of Postwar American Identities, 1940-2001, Keegan J. Shepherd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Standardized testing is a defining feature of contemporary American society. It not only governs how people are channeled through their schooling; it amplifies existing social disparities. Nonetheless, standardized testing endures, namely because it has served as a vital tool for the post-1945 American state. The postwar state prioritized, on the one hand, the cultivation of intellects resilient enough to sustain American geopolitical supremacy through scientific discovery and technological innovation and, on the other hand, the maintenance of an obedient population that would not disrupt existing social hierarchies. Standardized testing helped the postwar state solve this mind-body dilemma. As a function …

Documenting An Imperfect Past: Examining Tampa's Racial Integration Through Community, Film, And Remembrance Of Central Avenue, Travis R. Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the Civil Rights Movement in Tampa, Florida through documentary film to recognize an imperfect past and visually reconstruct Central Avenue as a physical and Thirdspace site of remembrance located at an intersection of race and community. Motivated by an ethnographic approach and through community engagement, Tampa Technique: Rise, Demise, and Remembrance of Central Avenue is a 54-minute film that explores Central Avenue’s rise to prominence through segregation, its physical and symbolic demise as a racialized site of communal space, and how it is remembered through collective and public memory in the location it once occupied. Documentary film …

Validation Of Chimeric Viruses In Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test In Arboviral Disease Diagnostics, Jasmine Boykin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) is a confirmatory diagnostic assay that is used to confirm a variety of diseases. The performance of PRNT requires the use of infectious wild type viruses, which increases the risk of laboratory acquired infections. For instance, eastern equine encephalitis (EEEV) is a highly virulent pathogen used in PRNT that can result in potentially fatal neurological diseases among humans and equines. Therefore, arboviral PRNT must be performed in Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) containment facilities and may require select agent approved scientists, like in the case of EEEV. These stringent requirements restrict the ability of public …

Teaching Caregivers To Implement Speech-Generating Device-Based Mand Training: Evaluating The Efficacy Of Behavioral Skills Training, Rachel Suberman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many individuals with developmental disabilities do not develop vocal repertoires. Thus, teaching the use of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device is imperative. A speech-generating device (SGD) is an example of an AAC that is universally understood. Individuals with developmental disabilities have been taught to communicate using such device. Teaching caregivers to conduct communication training with their children may be one to way to foster communication in an individual’s natural environment. Thus, the purpose of this study was to extend previous research by using behavioral skills training (BST) to teach caregivers to implement SGD-based mand training using an adapted …

Vital Signs Of U.S. Osteopathic Medical Residency Programs Pivoting To Single Accreditation Standards, Timothy S. Novak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Osteopathic physician (D.O.) residency programs that do not achieve accreditation under the new Single Accreditation System (SAS) standards by June 30, 2020 will lose access to their share of more than $9,000,000,000 of public tax dollars. This U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funding helps sponsoring institutions cover direct and indirect resident physician training expenses. A significant financial burden would then be shifted to marginal costs of the residency program’s sponsoring institution in the absence of CMS funding. The sponsoring institution’s ability or willingness to bare these costs occurs during a time when hospital operating margins are at …

A Psychometric Evaluation Of The Compensatory Eating And Behaviors In Response To Alcohol Consumption Scale (Cebracs), Emily M. Choquette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drunkorexia refers to a set of disordered eating behaviors that occur in the context of a drinking episode for the purpose of 1) off setting caloric intake of the alcohol or 2) increasing the effects of alcohol. The Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale (CEBRACS) was developed with the purpose of measuring drunkorexia behaviors at three time points: before, during, and after a drinking episode. The purpose of this study was to further validate the measure for use in men and women by examining measurement invariance, reliability, and validity. First, single group confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) …

A Study On The Efficacy Of The Medicare Bundled Payments For Care Improvement Initiative At A Large Community Hospital In The Southeast United States, Elizabeth E. Kerns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2013, Medicare launched the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Initiative which linked payments for multiple services for a complete episode of patient care. With this innovative reimbursement model, hospitals accepted fixed target payments for certain types of clinical diagnoses that were intended to support better care coordination and better outcomes for patients at lower cost to Medicare. This was one of many programs aimed at addressing the serious challenges facing United States healthcare, including costs that are skyrocketing to unsustainable levels and lack of coordination of care across venues.

Preliminary Medicare results showed that bundled payments might lead …

Toward A Systemic Model For Governance And Strategic Management: Evaluating Stakeholder Theory Versus Shareholder Theory Approaches, James A. Stikeleather

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research’s intent is improvement in governance and strategic management initially by comparing Shareholder Theory and Stakeholder Theory and making results useful for both Practitioner and Academic audiences. A conceptual model for how a society establishes and evolves the roles it legitimizes for a business to support reasoning about those roles and the process originating the expectations, responsibilities, obligations, contributions and freedom to act in the roles is proposed. Understanding this process would enable better governance and strategic management of a firm while avoiding unintended consequences when fulfilling the role and consequences for failing the role. The model becomes a …

Healthcare It In Skilled Nursing And Post-Acute Care Facilities: Reducing Hospital Admissions And Re-Admissions, Improving Reimbursement And Improving Clinical Operations, Scott L. Hopes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Health information technology (HIT), which includes electronic health record (EHR) systems and clinical data analytics, has become a major component of all health care delivery and care management. The adoption of HIT by physicians, hospitals, post-acute care organizations, pharmacies and other health care providers has been accepted as a necessary (and recently, a government required) step toward improved quality, care coordination and reduced costs: “Better coordination of care provides a path to improving communication, improving quality of care, and reducing unnecessary emergency room use and hospital readmissions. LTPAC providers play a critical role in achieving these goals” (HealthIT.gov, 2013).

Though …

The Impact Of Implementation Fidelity On Middle School Student Outcomes In The Life Skills Training Program, Enya B. Vroom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have become increasingly popular during last 20 years, and have shown to reduce risky behaviors (i.e., substance use), improve communication skills, academic performance, and relationships among students of all ages when implemented in schools (Weissberg, Durlak, Domitrovich, & Gullotta, 2015; Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Although the benefits of SEL programs are significant, the issue of implementation fidelity often arises. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of implementation fidelity in the Life Skills Training program (LST) implemented with middle school students of a large South Florida school district. …