Digital Commons Network^™

Life History Through The Eyes Of A Hogfish: Evidence Of Trophic Growth And Differential Juvenile Habitat Use, Meaghan E. Faletti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding ontogenetic linkages among fish habitats is critical for conservation of fish populations and the ecosystems on which they rely. Natural tags such as stable isotopes are an effective tool commonly used to investigate ecological questions regarding fish movement and habitat use. Here, I analyzed stable isotopes from the sequentially deposited laminae of Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) eye lenses from the eastern Gulf of Mexico (eGOM) to investigate trophic and geographic changes across individual life histories. I documented evidence of entire-life scale trophic growth through increases in δ15N. I also observed depth separation at the juvenile stage, evidenced by variation in …

Interactive Fitness Domains In Competitive Coevolutionary Algorithm, Atm Golam Bari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) have been successfully applied to a wide range of optimization and search problems where no mathematical model of the quality of a candidate solution is available. Interactive Evolutionary Algorithms (IEA) and Competitive Coevolutionary Algorithms (CCoEA) go one step further by being able to tackle problems where the only means to evaluate the quality of a candidate solution is via interactions. In a typical IEA, interactions take place between the solution being evolved and human evaluators. In a CCoEA, interactions take place between solutions themselves, without need for human interaction. This dissertation identifies computer-aided learning as an application …

Isokinetic Sampling Efficiency Differences For Blunt Edge Vs Sharp Edge Sampling Probes, Cory A. Treloar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to determine if sampling efficiency differences are present between a sharp edge probe and a blunt edge probe during isokinetic sampling. To answer this question, isokinetic sampling was performed inside a wind tunnel. Sampling was performed with the sharp edge probe and compared to data previously obtained using the blunt edge probe. Two different particle sizes were used, 0.50 m and 2.00 m, at air velocities of 0.5 m/s, 1.0 m/s and 2.0 m/s in the wind tunnel. Results showed that there is a difference in sampling efficiency between the two probes and a larger difference in …

Morphometry And Density Analysis Of The Fifth Metacarpal, Amrita Unnikumaran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The fifth metacarpal bone fracture is a common type of fracture among the young male population. With the increasing demand for early recovery from such fractures with surgical reduction, the medical manufacturers and clinicians are interested in designing a better intramedullary device for fixation. This study is an attempt to investigate the dimensional parameters of the fifth metacarpal bone and its intramedullary canal, using 3D CT scan images of cadaveric hands. The algorithm used for measurement applies principal component analysis on the subject bone, to control the information loss and normalize the spatial position of the subject. This analysis provides …

On Automation Of Code Transformations For Concept Inventory Misconceptions, Dmytro Vitel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Identifying common misconceptions held by novice programmers is a primary goalof the Computing Education Research agenda. This thesis proposes to formalize such mis-conceptions through program transformations. We first describe the implementation of theEvoParsons system, that allows students to practice programming skills with the help ofso-called Parsons puzzles. This software serves as a tool for gathering data on how studentsinteract with such puzzles. Our first contribution is the system architecture reorganization:development of Web SPA UI, REST service back-end, hypothesis validation infrastructureand student-UI data collection. We then review and compare several code-transformationtools (ANTLR, Rascal MPL and StrategoXT) and show how they might …

Autonomy, Suffering, And The Practice Of Medicine: A Relational Approach, Michael A. Stanfield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I argue that the conventional view of personal autonomy that is operational in contemporary American culture, bioethics and medical practice places undue emphasis on individualism and a limited range of personal qualities and attributes (such as self-sufficiency). Instead, I argue in favor of a relational approach to autonomy which recognizes that each person that exists has certain minimal connections or relations to others, and these connections/relations are identity-forming. Unfortunately, current medical practices have tended to overemphasize individuality and choice (consistent with the conventional view) while minimizing or excluding these relational aspects. As a result, informed consent and …

A Communication-Centric Framework For Post-Silicon System-On-Chip Integration Debug, Yuting Cao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

System-on-Chip (SoC) plays an important role in people’s everyday life. These systems are often deployed in critical applications, bugs discovered after their deployment in field can be extremely expensive, resulting in catastrophic loss of company revenues, compromise of personal and national security, and even human life. Post-silicon debug is a critical component of the validation of modern microprocessors and SoC designs. A major challenge in post-silicon debug is the severely limited observability where only a small number of debug interface signals are available to observe a vast space of internal executions of SoC designs. This dissertation addresses the above issues …

A Gpu-Based Framework For Parallel Spatial Indexing And Query Processing, Zhila Nouri Lewis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Support for efficient spatial data storage and retrieval have become a vital component in almost all spatial database systems. Previous work has shown the importance of using spatial indexing and parallel computing to speed up such tasks. While GPUs have become a mainstream platform for high-throughput data processing in recent years, exploiting the massively parallel processing power of GPUs is non-trivial. Current approaches that parallelize one query at a time have low work efficiency and cannot make good use of GPU resources. On the other hand, many spatial database applications are busy systems in which a large number of queries …

An Analysis Of The Language And The Relationship Of The President Of The Usa Related Twitter Accounts Toward The National Media, Sait Serif Turhan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the language tone of the United State of America’s presidentrelated Twitter accounts and the ways of the interaction with the national media with their tweets. The literature provides how politicians utilize and for what purposes they use Twitter. Framing theory was applied to conceptualize the manner of conveying messages and impressions of politicians toward the national media. Content analysis was utilized to analyze 902 mediarelated tweets to find out the ways of the interactions and language tone and the level of emotions in tweets of US president-related Twitter accounts with the national media during the period …

Restoring International Justice: Exposing The Limitations Of Retributive Justice And Proposing A Restorative Dimension, Nazek Jawad

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation exposes the limitation of international retributive justice in realizing interstate reconciliation and proposes including a restorative dimension into the existing international criminal justice system. I maintain that justice within the international criminal system is conceptualized purely on a punitive notion influenced by the liberal institutionalist understanding of the state and the international system. Hence, the current retributive structure does not engage rival stakeholders, who experience interstate wars, in the process of international justice, as it is centered on upholding international law and punishing states that violate the law. To this end, the current process is not equipped to …

Device For Imaging Cross-Section Of Post-Tensioned Structural Tendons In The Field, David Dukeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increasing use of grouted post-tensioned tendons in structures, there is a critical need for equipment to determine deficient grouting. Inadequate grouting can cause dangerous corrosion of the high-strength post-tensioning steel in the tendons. Evaluation should be non-destructive, and early detection is needed to take timely remedial actions to repair or replace any tendons that are affected before catastrophic failure occurs. In particular, there is need for an imaging method that shows the cross-section of the tendon being tested and flag any deficiencies present relative to the location of the strands in the cross section. The method should be rapid, …

The Relationship Between Continuous Glucose Monitor (Cgm) Derived Metrics And Indices Of Glycemic Control, Ryan Bailey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Both hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) and hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) are common among individuals with type 1 diabetes and are associated with severe medical complications, therefore it is essential that health care providers are able to accurately measure glycemic control. Measures derived from continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) may provide more accurate measurements of glycemia than the commonly used HbA1c blood test.

Methods: Data from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) clinical trial to assess the efficacy of continuous glucose monitoring was used to estimate the ability of CGM composite scores to predict time in range, time in hyperglycemia and …

Distributed Spatiotemporal Control And Dynamic Information Fusion For Multiagent Systems, Dzung Minh Duc Tran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The first objective of this dissertation is to develop novel distributed control architectures allowing spatiotemporal control of multiagent systems as applied to formation control. In addition, its second objective is to introduce distributed estimation frameworks for dynamic information fusion for addressing the heterogeneity in sensor networks.

Changing the spatial and temporal properties of agent teams in a distributed manner and in real-time is an open problem in the control system literature as multiagent systems are often required to complete tasks with ever-increasing complexity in adverse conditions and dynamic environments. Motivated by this standpoint, this dissertation aims to address challenges related …

Design And Delivery Of Synthetic Mrna By A Peptide Nanoparticle, John H. Lockhart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of synthetic mRNA therapeutics is a rapidly expanding arm of gene therapies. The use of mRNA provides multiple benefits over viral or DNA vectors. synthetic mRNA vectors are immediately translated into protein after entering the cytoplasm of cells in contrast to DNA vectors that must first be transcribed to mRNA in the nucleus. This allows synthetic mRNA to produce a therapeutic protein in any cell type, including non-dividing cells. In addition, the non-replicative nature of mRNA means that insertional mutagenesis or generation of escape mutants is not a concern. However, the stimulation of innate immune responses by unmodified …

The Combined Effect Of Heat And Corona Charge On Molecular Delivery To A T-Cell Line In-Vitro, Molly A. Skinner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gene therapy and immunotherapy are new up and coming fields in cancer treatment. In August of 2017, the first gene therapy was FDA approved called CAR-T cell therapy("FDA approval brings first gene therapy to the United States," 2017). This therapy uses the patient’s

own T-cells that are genetically modified to attack the cancerous cells. Currently, it takes 4-6 weeks to genetically modify these T-cells, which can be the difference between life and death for a cancer patient (Cheng, Jun, Jiang, & Xi, 2017). There is evidence that gene electrotransfer can help expedite the genetic modification process by having an easy …

Development And Validation Of Wireless Sensors For Applications To Human Head Angular And Mechanical Motions, Karthick Natesan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this project, we programmed a 9 degree of freedom Razor sensor, which incorporates an accelerometer and gyroscope to measure the head linear and angular motions produced by activities of daily living (ADL). The majority of studies concentrate on linear accelerations, so the purpose of this study is to determine the importance of both linear and angular components of acceleration in everyday activities and find interlinked relation between them. The sensor was validated using another calibrated and validated system. The general size and wireless nature make this sensor very suitable for use with human subjects. After obtaining informed consent, we …

The Financial And Nonfinancial Performance Measures That Drive Utility Abandonments And Transfers In The State Of Florida, Daniel Acheampong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The down trending of investor-owned water and wastewater utilities and the continuous increase in utility abandonments and transfers within the regulatory environment motivated the study of investor-owned utilities, using samples from the state of Florida. The study determined the financial and nonfinancial drivers of utility andandonments and transfers. Using the NRRI and Acheampong et al. improved financial ratios, used in utility viability studies (liquidity ratio, leverage ratio, debt to equity ratio, profit trend ratio, growth and efficiency ratio, efficiency ratio, and the profitability ratio), the study identified sixteen nonfinancial performance measures under four categories (output measure, quality measures, owners’ equity …

2018 China-United States Trade War: Framing Analysis Of Online News Coverage In The United States And China As Portrayed By The New York Times And The People’S Daily, Jiangling Huang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grounded in framing theory, this thesis explores a differential study by content analysis. The 2018 China-United States trade dispute is a major event that was officially launched by the United States and attracted worldwide attention. The ongoing trade disputes have had a huge impact on the economies of the two countries and the world economy, and a large number of news media have reported and commented on the incident. The purpose of the study was to determine the differences between news reports in the two countries depicted in the New York Times and the People’s Daily. The sample comes from …

Exploring The Disconnects Between Cpa Firms And Millennials As It Relates To Tax Preparation, Dustin Micah Grant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Small Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms are facing a demographic market shift as baby boomers leave the workforce and are replaced by millennials. Today, small CPA firms rely on tax services from baby boomers and older clients for the majority of revenue, but millennials now represent the largest percentage of the workforce. This growing disconnect suggests a potential issue for small CPA firms. The following research explores the issues and opinions of millennial-aged tax filers and partners in small CPA firms on compiling and filing individual federal income tax returns in the United States.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both …

Experiences Of Using Intelligent Virtual Assistants By Visually Impaired Students In Online Higher Education, Michele R. Forbes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In today’s world, the attainment of higher education impacts the acquisition of competitive employment and, thus, quality of life. As a group, persons with disabilities continually fall behind others in such academic progress, requiring new efforts to support their earning of advanced credentials. Though highly beneficial for these individuals, obtaining a degree comes with elevated levels of stress. As enrollment of students with disabilities grows in all formats of higher education, those involved must understand the stress endured by these students and how to diminish it. Theories speculate that technology, such as intelligent virtual assistants, may be a viable tool …

Probabilistic Modeling Of Democracy, Corruption, Hemophilia A And Prediabetes Data, A. K. M. Raquibul Bashar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parametric analysis of any real-world data is the most powerful tool to characterize the probabilistic behavior in social, economic, medical, epidemiological, and other areas of study. In the present study, we identify the theoretical Probability Distribution Function(PDF) for Democracy Index Scores (DIS) from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) database and estimate the maximum likelihood estimates of the theoretical PDFS. We also identify the individual PDFs for each of the clusters, Full Democracy, Flawed Democracy, Hybrid Regime, and Authoritarian Regime defined by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

A statistical model is a convenient instrument to predict the future value of any …

From C++ To Conscientiousness: Modeling The Psychosocial Characteristics Influencing Cybersecurity Personnel Performance, Rachel C. Dreibelbis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study drew upon several theoretical frameworks of cybersecurity performance to evaluate distal and proximal individual attributes that may predict cyber performance in a variety of cybersecurity work roles. The proposed models in this study predicted that cognitive ability, personality (conscientiousness and openness to experience), and motivational factors like learning orientation would work through proximal attributes like technical knowledge, communication, and problem solving to influence performance. Hypotheses were tested using 139 employee responses to predictor variables and performance ratings from their supervisors across two industries and several cybersecurity work roles. Correlational analyses and path models supported that several individual …

Human Rights, Emotion, And Critical Realism: Proposing An Emotional Ontology Of International Human Rights, Ben Luongo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a critical realist framework of human rights and argues that emotion plays a foundational role in constituting a human rights ontology. I build this framework as a critical response to other IR human rights theories which have largely been developed in accordance with either empiricist or rationalist paradigms. Both empiricist and rationalist theories fail to articulate a firm ontological foundation which can support their human rights claims.

This ontological concern may not seem too important for human rights scholars interested in more substantive political issues, but it does lead to problems because no human rights theory is …

Mtss Implementation In High Schools: Expert And Stakeholder Perspectives, Julie Daye

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the perspectives of experts and school-level stakeholders on MTSS implementation in high schools. Despite evidence of MTSS implementation effectiveness in elementary and middle school settings, MTSS implementation still lags in high schools. In reviewing the literature on high school MTSS implementation, those who have worked to implement MTSS do not all do so with the same priorities and/or emphases. I collected and examined qualitative data that reflects the perspectives of experts and school-level stakeholders. Specifically, I also reviewed articles or book chapters written by some high school MTSS experts and interviewed them. I interviewed stakeholders working in …

Making A Case For Equity Planning In Transportation Development: Identifying Indicators And Building A Framework For Hillsborough County, Fl, Dayna J. Lazarus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The idea that planners should work toward an equitable society has been part of the profession since the 1960s, largely based on the work of planning theorists like Paul Davidoff, Sherry Arnstein and Norman Krumholz. Transportation planning, however, has been slower than other sectors of the profession, such as housing, to embrace equity planning concepts. That has begun to change as concerns about income inequality, environmental justice and climate change have become more salient. This thesis makes the case that in order to improve social equity outcomes, transportation planners must make social equity an explicit goal and add social equity …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Antecedent And Consequent Interventions To Enhance Sports Performance, Merritt Schenk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sports research in behavior analysis is becoming increasingly popular. As the proliferation of research continues, multiple interventions have been shown to help enhance sports-related performance. However, different intervention components are rarely if ever used alone, which has created a limitation with the current body of research. To begin to address this limitation, this study had three experiments to evaluate some different components of video recording procedures and behavioral skills training (BST) to facilitate performance enhancement. Experiment 1 separated video modeling and video feedback to see which component best improved pitching form in Little League baseball players. Experiment 2 evaluated video …

For The Common Defense: The Evolution Of National Security Strategy-Making Institutions & Impact On American Grand Strategy, Nathan D. Barrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation applies a Neoclassical Realism model to examine how the evolution of United States (U.S.) national security strategy-making institutions has resulted in a path dependent accrual of autonomy and increasing influence over the formulation of American grand strategy. Once U.S. national security strategy-making institutions were created, their existence inexorably led to increasing autonomy, the creation of new strategy-making institutions, and subtle influence in shaping American grand strategy by preferential focus on a militarized foreign policy. Additionally, the more autonomous these strategy-making institutions have become, the further they have strayed from the Constitutional mandate to create a government which provides …

Bystander Intervention, Victimization, And Routine Activities Theory: An Examination Of Feminist Routine Activities Theory In Cyber Space, Jennifer A. Leili

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Routine Activities Theory (RAT) is one of the most widely used theories to explain victimization. It has been applied to a wide range of criminal victimizations, such as property crimes (Miethe, Stafford, & Long, 1987) and urban murder (Messner & Tardiff, 1985). While traditional RAT has been used to explain violence against women, the feminist perspective of RAT developed by Schwartz and Pitts (1995) provides a better explanation by incorporating cultural factors that shape the conditions that give rise to offending. The current study draws on feminist RAT in order to explore three different types of victimization involving women: stalking, …

Novel Strategies On Characterizing Biologically Specific Protein-Protein Interaction Networks, Bi Zhao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The function, behavior, and environmental response of biological systems are essentially determined by the complex interaction and regulation of biomolecules inside the systems. Therefore, it is critical to characterize the inter-molecular interaction and regulation of biomolecules inside these systems. In this direction, many experimental techniques have been developed and these techniques have been used in many different model systems under various conditions. Consequently, a massive amount of data has been generated. These data cover multiple aspects of molecular interaction and regulation, such as protein-protein interaction, microRNA-RNA interaction, gene expression profiles, etc. While carrying rich information, these data may also contain …

Wireless Physical Layer Design For Confidentiality And Authentication, Tao Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As various of wireless techniques have been proposed to achieve fast and efficient data communication, it’s becoming increasingly important to protect wireless communications from being undermined by adversaries. A secure and reliable wireless physical layer design is essential and critical to build a solid foundation for upper layer applications. This dissertation present two works that explore the physical layer features to secure wireless communications towards the data confidentiality and user authentication.

The first work builds a reliable wireless communication system to enforce the location restricted service access control. In particular, the work proposes a novel technique named pinpoint waveforming to …