Digital Commons Network^™

A Robust Data-Driven Framework For Artificial Intelligent Systems, Quoc H. Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have demonstrated remarkable performance across various domains. However, their robustness remains a critical concern, particularly in terms of data and model reliability. This dissertation aims to address the challenges associated with building robust AI systems by focusing on two key aspects: data robustness and model robustness. Data robustness poses significant challenges, including data shift, concept shifting, limited and imbalanced datasets, and interoperability issues in IoT systems for data collection. Existing methods fall short in handling dynamic business objectives and evolving data landscapes effectively. To bridge these gaps, we propose an IoT framework that ensures interoperability, seamless …

Model-Based Systems Engineering For Engineering Education Systems Simulation, Pallavi Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the engineering education system continuously evolves to meet the demands of modern industry and society, there is a need for a methodology that would manage and resolve the complexities inherent in engineering educational systems. Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is a structured approach to system design that utilizes models across all stages of the system's life cycle and supports requirements management, design, analysis, verification, and validation processes. While MBSE has been applied successfully in industries like defense, aerospace, and automotive, its application in engineering educational systems remains unexplored. This dissertation develops a dynamic model of the university-level engineering education system …

‘The Overheated World’: Crisis Politics And Neoliberal Inertia, Shomik Chakrabarti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers were forced to balance the maintenance of ongoing economic activity alongside the measures advised by epidemiologists and other public health officials to contain the viral spread. The magnitude of the pandemic forced major conduits of the global economy to come to a sudden halt through incidents such as border closures, supply chain disruptions, lockdowns and calls for individuals to distance themselves from one another. Like the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, COVID-19 was thought to signal an inflection point for neoliberal political economy where a possible post-neoliberal era would develop in the aftermath …

Reaching New Generations: Exploring Museums' Social Media Strategies For Engaging Younger Audiences In The Post-Covid-19 Era, Lauren Parker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the evolving landscape of museum communication and marketing strategies on social media, particularly focusing on engaging younger audiences in the post-COVID-19 era. Through qualitative interviews with marketing managers and social media coordinators from ten American museums, this research identifies strategic communication goals, changes in social media strategies post-pandemic, and specific tactics for engaging younger audiences, especially on TikTok. The study revealed that museums have key strategic communication goals for their use of social media: increasing visibility and awareness, fostering community engagement, and providing educational outreach. Post-pandemic, museums significantly enhanced their digital presence by increasing digital programming, utilizing …

The Use Of Proactive Progressive Muscle Relaxation To Increase Academic Engagement For Elementary School Students, Lillian G. Mccook

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) has been shown to produce desired outcomes by decreasing disruptive behavior in the classroom and increasing academic engagement. The integration of technology into the educational setting alleviates some of the burden on educators and enhances the learning experience for students. This study evaluated the effectiveness of brief video-based PMR to increase academic engagement in the classroom with three elementary school students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, this study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of video based PMR within a classroom setting. Results from this study show that PMR was a feasible, acceptable and effective …

Using Functional Communication Training For Students With Disabilities, Carey J. Walls Iv

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When implementing functional communication training (FCT), a gradual reduction in the frequency of reinforcement becomes necessary to minimize the resurgence of problem behavior and systematically fade out the FCT intervention. This study evaluated the implementation of FCT combined with a delay-to-reinforcement procedure for children with disabilities who engage in problem behavior due to limited communication skills. The study participants were three elementary school students, ages 9 or 10 years old and their respective paraprofessionals and classroom teachers in two self-contained classrooms at two public schools. The intervention outcomes for functional communication response (FCR) and problem behavior were evaluated using a …

Teaching Caregivers To Implement The Picture Exchange Communication System: An Evaluation Of Video Modeling, Carlie Lawson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities may not develop functional vocal repertoires. For these individuals, the use of an alternative augmentative communication (AAC) system may be required. Training caregivers to use an AAC system with their children can increase communication in the home. The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is type of AAC commonly used with individuals that have little to no vocal speech. Video modeling is a training procedure that has been shown to be effective when training individuals to implement behavioral analytic procedures. To date, there is no published research on the use of video modeling to train caregivers …

Using Instructive Feedback To Expand Second Language Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Barbara D. Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are millions of people who speak multiple languages (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019), yet there is a common misconception that teaching a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) more than one language will cause delays in language acquisition (Trelles & Castro, 2019). This misconception has led to fear amongst bilingual caregivers, resulting in many choosing to not speak to their child in their heritage language, which in turn can cause communication barriers between them and their child. It is imperative that a child from a bilingual home can communicate (e.g., respond to instructions) in both languages. However, because many children …

Comparing The Genomes Of Multidrug And Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus Faecium From A Florida Wastewater Treatment Plant, Eleanor Brodrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are a serious health threat, causing 50,000 infections and 5,000 deaths each year in the United States (CDC, 2019). Multidrug-resistant VRE are becoming more prevalent, and treatment options for infections caused by these organisms are limited (Arias et al., 2010; CDC, 2019). Multidrug resistant VRE have been previously isolated from wastewater in Brazil, Canada, and Portugal (Araújo et al., 2010; de_Farias et al., 2022; Sanderson et al., 2019). Thirteen vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolated from three stages of a Florida wastewater treatment plant were fully resistant to the following antibiotics: vancomycin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, tetracycline, and nitrofurantoin, and …

Immunogenicity Of A Plasmodium Vivax Circumsporozoite Protein Vaccine, Eric Cruz Murphy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malaria is a disease of global public health importance. Improving treatment methods focus on novel antimalarial drugs to combat parasite resistance and the development of vaccines with effective adjuvants. The current vaccine RTS,S/AS01 is moderately effective only against Plasmodium falciparum. There is no vaccine for Plasmodium vivax to date. The development and implementation of a vaccine against P. vivax would inhibit sporozoite infection of hepatocytes, block development into the blood stage and confer future immune protection. The circumsporozoite protein (CSP) is the most abundant on the surface of sporozoites and protein variants VK210 and VK247 are leading vaccine candidates for …

Evaluating The Prevent-Teach-Reinforce Secondary (Ptr-Sec) Model For Middle School Students With Disabilities Requiring Individualized Behavior Supports, Paris N. Thie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prevent-Teach-Reinforce (PTR) is a manualized, team-based, function-based intervention model designed to prevent problem behavior from occurring (prevent), teach functional replacement behaviors or skills (teach), and promote the replacement and other desired behaviors (reinforce). The current study extends the literature on the PTR intervention model by further evaluating the PTR model for middle school students in a public middle school setting. In particular, the PTR Secondary (PTR-SEC) model was evaluated with three students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and other disabilities, involving their classroom teachers. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the behavioral outcomes of the …

A Comparison Of Video Feedback And Video Self-Evaluation To Improve Tap Skills, Ellie Warmund

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the research on behavioral interventions in sports, researchers have evaluated various feedback-based interventions to enhance performance of skills. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of video feedback (VF) to improve performance across a variety of sports. Video self-evaluation (VSE), though less studied, is another feedback-based intervention that has been proven to improve sports skills. By using a multiple baseline across participants with an embedded alternating treatments design, this study compared VF to VSE to improve the performance of tap skills. We evaluated three skills for each dancer; one skill received VF, one received VSE, and one did not receive an …

“Even The Birds Got More Out Of Her Than I Did”: Wrecking And Constructive Memory In Key West, Florida, Sarah L. Whiting

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the creative nature of memory at work in coastal city of Key West, Florida. Using the commemoration of the wreckers as a medium, I argue that the memory of wreckers is based on fictional maritime literature from the nineteenth century. The basis of the collective memory of wreckers in Key West from maritime fiction affects the way that the residents define themselves. Through embracing the fictional wrecker past that the monument to the wreckers represents, the residents of Key West embody their Conch identity. Thus, collective memory in this city works as a creative vehicle and shows …

Examining The Effectiveness And Acceptability Of A Single-Session Problem-Solving Teleconsultation Package With Caregivers, Tiara J. Rowell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study implemented a single case concurrent multiple baseline design to examine the effects of a single-session problem-solving teleconsultation package for behavioral caregiver training. This study sought to address a gap in the Problem-Solving Consultation (PSC) literature regarding the treatment of children’s challenging behaviors. Participants included three caregivers who received a single-session PSC through teleconsultation. The session focused on creating a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) in order to address their child’s challenging behaviors. The BIP was developed based on baseline data, questionnaires, and emails exchanged between the consultant and the three caregivers. Results indicated that two of the three caregivers …

Disruptions In The Experiences Of First-Time Military Family Members, Ana C. Vidal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Military service members and their families encounter many obstacles throughout their time in the military (as well as before enlistment/commission and after service), ranging from those unique to the military community to those common within civilian families. Although how military families deal with these challenges/stressors and how to better support these families has been a salient research area, there is still room for expansion of knowledge. This study argues for expanding who is included in the definition of a “military family” to include a service member’s parents/parental figures and siblings, as well as enlarging the period of interest in military …

Music And Linguistic Semantic Anomalies: An Erp Study Of Integration And Expectancy On Predictive Processing Of Harmonic Music During A Self-Paced Reading Task, Jason Schmidt Avendaño

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Music, like language, is widely known to communicate emotional meaning. Yet, much debate is still on whether musical information uses shared neural resources similar to language. Past experiments using only Reaction Time (RT) measures have found that when syntactic complexities in language coincide with harmonic music violations, enhanced processing difficulties suggest shared neurocognitive resources. However, researchers failed to find similar interactions in semantic word conditions. This experiment examined event-related potentials (ERPs) to index word recognition processes related to semantic expectancy generation (N400) and integration (LPC & FP) in musicians and nonmusicians. Unlike RT measures, ERP components allow us to understand …

Using Brain Break® In The Classroom To Increase On-Task Behavior And Decrease Disruptive Behaviors Of Students, Michaela C. Elza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Off-task and disruptive behavior are one of the greatest causes to loss of instructional time in the classroom. Teachers spend time addressing student challenging behaviors which consequently cuts time from their academic instruction. Antecedent exercise programs, such as Brain Breaks®, provide teachers with short physical activity videos that provide students a movement break between long periods of academics without the need for expensive equipment. This study evaluated the effects of Brain Breaks® videos to increase students’ on-task and decrease disruptive behaviors in the classroom. Three participants were included in this study, Jordan a 6-year-old male, Andrew an 8-year-old male, and …

Advancing Adversarial Audio: Human-In-The-Loop Black-Box Attacks, Rui Duan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adversarial audio attacks pose significant security challenges to real-world audio applications. Attackers may manipulate speech to impersonate a speaker, gaining access to smart devices like Amazon Echo. In audio applications, there are two key areas: music and speech. In music, most attackers create a small noise-like perturbation on the original signal to evade copyright detection. However, this method degrades music's perceived quality for human listeners. In the speech, creating an adversarial example often requires many queries to the target model, a process too cumbersome for practical use in real-world scenarios, like interacting with smart devices numerous times.

In this dissertation, …

Teacher-Implemented Accumulated And Distributed Schedules In The Classroom Setting, Jessica S. Benevides

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotional behavior disorders (EBDs) are becoming increasingly more common in schools (Forness et al., 2012). Challenging behavior can negatively impact a teacher’s implementation of classroom management strategies which can be detrimental to student outcomes (Garwood et al., 2017; Gilmour et al., 2022) and increase the risk for teacher burnout (Fernet et al., 2012). Evidence-based strategies such as differential reinforcement have been shown to be effective at reducing challenging behavior (Boniecki & Moore, 2003; Petscher et al., 2009). Moreover, accumulated and distributed reinforcer arrangements using tokens have been shown to both reduce challenging behavior and increase task engagement (Chen et al., …

Trajectories Of Well-Being: Results From The Americans’ Changing Lives Study, Cassondra M. Lyman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is considerable interest in elucidating the dynamics of well-being over long periods of time, including how well-being dynamics are influenced by depression. The Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) study has followed the health and well-being of a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States for 25 years (N1986 = 3,617; N1989 = 2,867; N1994 = 2,562; N2002 = 1,787, N2012 = 1,427). Leveraging data from the ACL study, the present investigation employed growth mixture models to identify unobserved subpopulations (i.e., latent classes) typified by change in well-being over time. Three predominant trajectories for well-being were identified: relative stability …

The Relationship Between Rejection Sensitivity And Higher Order Cognitive Functions, Rachel Gaynor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rejection sensitivity indexes individual differences in the expectation of, reaction to, and interpretation of possible rejection. Research on mechanisms underlying these individual differences have identified a reduction in top-down emotion regulatory processes in those exhibiting heightened rejection sensitivity. Most of these studies utilize rejection-specific affective stimuli. This study examined the relationship between rejection sensitivity score, calculated from the 18-question RSQ, and the recruitment of higher level inhibition resources, as indexed by the conflict N2, on three novel Flanker tasks. In order to further examine previously identified patterns in affective inhibition across differing levels of rejection sensitivity, and to determine whether …

A Cca Analysis Of How Media Cover Military Policies Regarding Trans Service Members And Veterans: Implications For Policy, Healthcare, And Wellbeing, Jonathan T. Baker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The military is the leading employer of transgender and gender diverse (trans) people in the United States, and trans people are twice as likely to serve in the U.S. Military compared to the national average. This dissertation analyzes newspaper coverage of transgender service members and veterans between the end of President Obama’s administration and the early months of President Biden’s administration. Guided by the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA) this dissertation focused on cross-paradigmatic questions regarding the role of voice (e.g., quoting or paraphrasing various sources) in this coverage. Specifically, I assessed (a) which groups of people are being cited most often, …

Enhancing Novice Teachers’ Social Justice Practices Through Critical Professional Learning: A Critical Participatory Action Research Study, Brianna C. Connors

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a crucial need for social justice-oriented educators in today's classrooms given the growing population of America's multicultural student population. Social justice-oriented teacher preparation programs (TPPs) have contributed significantly to shaping the pedagogies of teacher candidates, better equipping them to serve all students. The transition period following teacher candidates' engagement in the TPPs, however, presents political, contextual, and personal challenges for novice teachers (NTs) dedicated to teaching for social justice. This research presents findings from a critical participatory action research (CPAR) study delving into the experiences of NTs engaged in critical professional learning (CPL). The purpose of this research …

An Evaluation Of Reinforcement Thinning Using Deposit Contracts To Increase Physical Activity, Madeline N. Mccullen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle, researchers have used behavioral interventions such as contingency management and deposit contracts to increase physical activity. Although these interventions have been effective, researchers have described the lack of maintenance assessments of the target behavior. One way to address the maintenance of behavior, such as physical activity, is with reinforcement thinning. The current study evaluated the effects of self-tailored deposit contracts and reinforcement thinning on daily step count with sedentary adults using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Researchers and participants designed a self-tailored deposit contract by identifying a step …

Investigating The Impact Of Inverter-Based Resources On Power Grid Dynamics, Ratik Mittal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the stability challenges posed by integrating Inverter-Based Resources (IBR) into power grids, particularly focusing on two major scenarios: IBRs connected to weak grid interconnections and their performance in series-compensated networks. With the increasing dependency on renewable energy sources, ensuring the stability of these grids is crucial. A multilayered investigative approach is employed, utilizing Electromagnetic Transient Simulations that model grid systems interfaced with IBRs. These simulations are pivotal as they emulate real-world stability issues and provide a foundational understanding of grid interactions. In this dissertation two major types of IBR control are modeled and analyzed: Grid Following Control …

Exploring The Enlightenment Function Of Thought Experiments: Unveiling An Underdeveloped Dimension Absent In Typologies, Dominique Greene-Sanders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thought experiments (TEs) are imaginative tools used across various fields to explore theoretical and practical issues. This dissertation focuses on the application of TEs in ethics, specifically emphasizing the underdeveloped enlightenment function. The traditional use of TEs in ethics often aims to clarify, support, or refute specific claims through an argumentative structure. However, this work argues that TEs also play a key role in enhancing ethical competence by acknowledging the complexities of ethical dilemmas and fostering moral skills like critical thinking, moral reasoning, and ethical awareness through non-argumentative and non-theory-centric means.

The dissertation begins by explaining the nature and historical …

The Dialectics Of Faith: Kierkegaard, Irony, And Conversion, Douglas Zimmerman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Kierkegaard, the 19th-century Danish philosopher, offers a profound perspective on conversion. According to him, conversion isn't a mere external change, but a deeply personal and internal transformation. It's about moving from a state of despair to faith. Kierkegaard believed that true conversion involves a passionate leap of faith, where an individual confronts their own subjectivity and makes a conscious, often paradoxical, choice to align themselves with their authentic values and spiritual beliefs. In his view, conversion is a constant process, requiring introspection, struggle, and a commitment to live authentically in the face of life's uncertainties. In order to communicate this …

The Effects Of Scenic Pictures And Progressive Time Delay On Intraverbal Responding, Breanna White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of tact prompts to establish single responses to questions about intraverbal categories. Scenic pictures, a visual depiction of multiple exemplars belonging to a stimulus class, may increase the likelihood that individuals will emit multiple responses when answering categorical questions, and promote response variability. The purpose of this study was to extend Glodowski and Rodriguez (2019) by evaluating the effectiveness of a larger array of visual stimuli and progressive time delay on varied intraverbal responding with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 8 and 17 within a private school for individuals with …

Sars-Cov-2 Neurotropism: Understanding Effects At The Blood-Brain Barrier And Hematogenous Neuroinvasiveness, Taylor E. Martinez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19, has provisional counts of over 110 million documented cases and 1.218 million deaths (as of February 2024) in the United States since January 2020. SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne respiratory virus that primarily infects the lungs via the ACE2 receptor but has well-documented secondary target organs including the kidneys, the gastrointestinal tract, the heart, and the skin. SARS-CoV-2 also infects the brain, but the hematogenous route of viral entry to brain is still not fully characterized. Understanding how SARS-CoV-2 traverses the blood-brain barrier (BBB) as well as how it …

The Polyaneuploid Cancer Cell State And Therapeutic Resistance: Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics In Structured Populations, Anuraag Bukkuri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I develop and apply eco-evolutionary modeling techniques to understand how the polyaneuploid cancer cell (PACC) state, entered when aneuploid cells exit the cell cycle after S phase and undergo a whole genome duplication, contributes to therapeutic resistance. Since resistance remains one of the primary causes of treatment failure in cancer patients, it is critical to understand how such demographic state transitions allow for acclimatization of cancer cells to therapeutic stressors and how they interact with evolutionary processes to promote irreversible resistance.

In Chapters Two and Three, I lay the foundation for this work. In Chapter Two, I …