Digital Commons Network^™

Increasing Auditor Sensitivity To The Risk Of Fraudulent Financial Reporting: Assessing Incentives And Pressures On Top Management, Donald Wengler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ability of auditors to detect fraud, including intentional material misstatements in earnings, remains key to the credibility of audit firms and confidence in capital markets. The PCAOB concludes from its most recent inspections of public company audits that auditors often fail to assess and respond to risks of material misreporting by management. In a behavioral experiment, this study concludes that auditors can increase sensitivity to management motivation to misreport by actively seeking to transform identified risk factors focused on the organization, into factors focused on top managers, and to evaluate whether these manager-focused risk factors represent incentives for personal …

A Critique Of Charitable Consciousness, Chioke Ianson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite a legion of criticisms from frustrated and reflective practitioners of humanitarian aid working in Africa and elsewhere, the fundamental problems surrounding NGO aid work persist; a critical mass of westerners are insufficiently receptive to these voices. I will demonstrate that this lack of receptivity is due to a set of implicit and explicit ideological commitments that comprise what I call ‘Charitable Consciousness.’ In this project I will describe the history of humanitarianism in the west, the Hegelian perspective with which to understand this history, and nature and structure of Charitable Consciousness. I will uncover the consequences of inhabiting this …

The Change In Nutritional Status In Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: A Retrospective Descriptive A Retrospective Descriptive Study, Dina A. Masha'al

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a high prevalence in malnutrition among traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to the hypermetabolism and hypercatabolism which develop post injury. Traumatic brain injury patients are different, even among themselves, in their energy requirements and response to nutritional therapy. This implies that there are other factors that affect the energy intake of these patients and enhance the incidence of malnutrition.

This dissertation study examines the nutritional status of TBI patients upon admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and during their hospital stay to describe baseline status, detect changes in nutritional status over 7 days, and identify the factors …

Human Health Risk Characterization Of Petroleum Coke Calcining Facility Emissions, Davinderjit Singh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Calcined coke is a high quality carbon material produced by calcining green petroleum coke. Calcining is the process of heating green petroleum coke in a kiln to remove excess moisture, extract all remaining hydrocarbons, and modify the crystalline structure of the coke into a denser, electrically conductive product. The final product, calcined coke, is primarily used to make carbon anodes for the aluminum industry and recarburizing agent for industries such as the steel industry. If not appropriately controlled, the calcining process could lead to excess production of particulate emissions from either handling or storing of raw coke, or from the …

The Crisis Of Caring: Compassion Satisfaction And Compassion Fatigue Among Student Conduct And Behavior Intervention Professionals, Cara Rachel Bernstein Chernoff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the self-perception of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout by student conduct administrators working in the United States of America. Additionally, this study looked at the years of experience, job responsibilities, on-call responsibilities and direct student contact hours which may impact an individual’s overall professional quality of life. To accomplish the objectives outlined in the purpose statement, the following research questions were explored:

1. What is the relationship between student conduct professionals’ compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress?

2. What is the relationship between student conduct professionals’ years of experience and …

An Analysis Of Social Justice In Teacher Education Using W. B. Gallie's Framework, Patricia Banta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Essentially contested concepts result in continual disagreement over their meaning and use because important consequences flow from these disputes. Evidence of the contested nature of the concept social justice, in the context of teacher education, is documented in academic literature. Empirical evidence of the contested nature of the term is found in the transcripts of National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)’s 2006 reauthorization hearing. Scholars note the complex nature of social justice and that teacher educators and colleges of education frequently use the term (e.g. Hytten & Bettez, 2011; North, 2008; Zollers, Albert, & Cochran-Smith, 2000). This study …

Perceptions Of College Instructors Toward Accented English Measured By The Auditory Multifactor Implicit Association Test, Eunkyung Na

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the implicit language attitudes of college-level instructors toward accented English and the effect of gender, teaching experience, and home language background on those attitudes. The auditory multifactor Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used to measure the implicit attitudes toward Standard, Chinese, Hispanic, and Korean accented English. For the current study, audio stimuli were embedded into the multifactor IAT, which became available for the first time in 2014. The auditory multifactor IAT generated implicit preference scores of six pairs of accented English: Standard vs. Chinese, Standard vs. Hispanic, Standard vs. Korean, Chinese vs. …

A Quantified Model Of Security Policies, With An Application For Injection-Attack Prevention, Donald James Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation generalizes traditional models of security policies, from specifications of whether programs are secure, to specifications of how secure programs are. This is a generalization from qualitative, black-and-white policies to quantitative, gray policies. Included are generalizations from traditional definitions of safety and liveness policies to definitions of gray-safety and gray-liveness policies. These generalizations preserve key properties of safety and liveness, including that the intersection of safety and liveness is a unique allow-all policy and that every policy can be written as the conjunction of a single safety and a single liveness policy. It is argued that the generalization provides …

The Household Water Management System In The Village Of Falifah, Gambia: A Case Study In Sustainable Local Development, Baboucar Jobe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to safe and clean water is a problem in many countries in the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa. The urgency of the was recognized by the United Nations through its 2008 Millennium Development Goals, which were recently replaced by the new Sustainable Development Goals. Lack or poor access to clean water not only creates conflicts and rifts among the people, but also makes them more susceptible to a wide assortment of water borne diseases.

The purpose of this dissertation is to complete a pilot study of ways of thinking and actions of a small group of people from Falifah, a …

A New Volcanic Event Recurrence Rate Model And Code For Estimating Uncertainty In Recurrence Rate And Volume Flux Through Time With Selected Examples, James Adams Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recurrence rate is often used to describe volcanic activity. There are numerous documented ex- amples of non-constant recurrence rate (e.g. Dohrenwend et al., 1984; Condit and Connor, 1996; Cronin et al., 2001; Bebbington and Cronin, 2011; Bevilacqua, 2015), but current techniques for calculating recurrence rate are unable to fully account for temporal changes in recurrence rate. A local–window recurrence rate model, which allows for non-constant recurrence rate, is used to calculate recurrence rate from an age model consisting of estimated ages of volcanic eruption from a Monte Carlo simulation. The Monte Carlo age assignment algorithm utilizes paleomagnetic and stratigraphic information …

Situated Directives In Italian L2 Service-Learning Encounters, Kristin Cardellio

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Interaction with local speakers of a second language (L2) in a naturalistic setting during study abroad is beneficial to language learning in many respects; particularly in the development of pragmatic competence, or the awareness and ability to use the appropriate language for a specific social context (Kinginger, 2011; Magnan & Back, 2007; Schauer, 2009; Shively, 2011). Service-learning - volunteering in the local community combined with an academic pursuit - during study abroad provides the opportunity for meaningful interaction between language learners and local speakers of the L2 in authentic and collaborative settings (Overfield, 2007). This study examines the interactions of …

Increasing 18f-Fdg Pet/Ct Capabilities In Radiotherapy For Lung And Esophageal Cancer Via Image Feature Analysis, Jasmine Alexandria Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is an imaging modality that has become increasingly beneficial in Radiotherapy by improving treatment planning (1). PET reveals tumor volumes that are not well visualized on computed tomography CT or MRI, recognizes metastatic disease, and assesses radiotherapy treatment (1). It also reveals areas of the tumor that are more radiosensitive allowing for dose painting - a non-homogenous dose treatment across the tumor (1). However, PET is not without limitations. The quantitative unit of PET images, the Standardized Uptake Value (SUV), is affected by many factors such as reconstruction algorithm, patient weight, and tracer uptake time (2). …

Novel Techniques In Chemical Ecology To Examine Life Histories In Fishes, Orian Tzadik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diet and movements in fishes are often logistically challenging to study. Trace element and stable isotope analyses have advanced these fields considerably, but are still constrained by methodological impediments, such as the tendency towards lethal sampling. Studying endangered fishes is particularly challenging as representative samples are difficult to obtain. However, the information gained from such studies is often critical to the recovery of endangered fishes as knowledge of life history attributes has the potential to greatly influence the success of management strategies.

I tested the viability of using fin rays in fishes as a non-lethal approach to study diet and …

Acropora Habitat Evaluation And Restoration Site Selection Using A Species Distribution Modeling Approach, Katherine Wirt Ames

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While populations of nearly all stony coral species along the Florida reef tract have exhibited decline, the most notable decline has occurred in the once-dominant acroporid species (Acropora cervicornis, A. palmata). Both species were listed in 2006 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This listing, combined with their continued decline, has resulted in large-scale restoration efforts throughout Florida and the Western Caribbean. Currently, there is little to no information regarding spatial prioritization of sites for these restoration efforts. The primary objective of this dissertation was to utilize species distribution modeling, informed by existing data from the …

Exploration Of The Pregnancy-Related Health Information Seeking Behavior Of Women Who Gave Birth In The Past Year, Laura Kathleen Merrell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Pregnancy is a significant period of time for individual women. Promoting optimal health behaviors and supporting individuals during critical periods of health (such as pregnancy) is an important aspect of public health research and practice. One way of supporting individuals in promoting positive health behaviors and outcomes is by increasing their health literacy. The ability to find appropriate health information is the first step in the health literacy process. This process of finding information in health contexts is called Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB). Whereas, HISB has been extensively studied in chronic health contexts, little research has been conducted …

Examining The Impact Of Deictic Relational Responding On Advanced Theory Of Mind And Pretense In Children With Autism, Samantha Lee Broderick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perspective taking is a pivotal behavioral repertoire essential for social functioning and is recognized as a hallmark deficit of the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Recent advancements in the Relational Frame Theory have led to the development of a perspective-taking training protocol shown to improve performance on Theory of Mind tasks in typically developing children; however, there has been little research on the generality of these findings in children with ASD. The impact of deictic responding on social interaction is also undetermined. The current study aimed to: a), evaluate the effectiveness of multiple exemplar training of deictic relations on perspective taking abilities …

Media Perceptions On Sexual Assault On College Campuses, Maggie M. Hall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For the period of 1995-2013, females ages 18 to 24 had the highest rate of rape and sexual assault victimizations compared to females in all other age groups (Lynn & Sinozich, 2014). There is an even wider problem when among student victims, 20 percent of rape and sexual assault victimizations were reported to police, compared to 32% reported among nonstudent victims ages 18 to 24 (Lynn & Sinozich, 2014). With staggering statistics on sexual assaults, it is clear that this has become a national issue, which has further developed onto college campuses nationwide. In the last decade, sexual assault has …

Quantifying The Association Between Active Tuberculosis Incidence And Migrant Farm Worker Populations Among Florida Counties, 2009-2013: An Ecological Study, Ryan Nicolas Ortega

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nearly 20 studies conducted in the last 40 years indicate that tuberculosis (TB) represents a major health concern among migrant farm worker (MFW) populations, but their role in the transmission of TB within the broader community is poorly understood. To this end an ecological study was undertaken which examined 67 Florida counties between years 2009 through 2013. Its aims were as follows: (1) to describe the demographic, geographic, and temporal distribution of the incidence of active TB, (2) to examine the effect of agriculturally relevant seasonal periods on the incidence of active TB, and (3) to quantify the strength and …

“You Can Fight Logic…But You Can’T Fight God”: The Duality Of Religious Text And Church As Community For White Lesbians In Appalachian And Rural Places, Jessica Mae Altice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research conducted on lesbians and place focuses on women who live in urban areas or highlights how participants wish to live in urban areas. Knowing that there are lesbians who live in rural and Appalachian areas that do not wish to leave to urban areas, this research examines participants’ experiences living in those places. Participants discuss how religion is a socially circulating meaning system in the places they live and it dictates much of social life. I argue that religion has a two-fold meaning for participants: one, it is a religious text that is used as a …

The Impact Of A Teacher-Preferred Group Contingency With Data-Based Decision Making On Class-Wide Behavior, Fernando M. Herrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to further examine the impact of a teacher-preferred group contingency on class-wide behavior in three general elementary education classrooms when it is used with data-based decision making by classroom teachers. A multiple baseline design across classrooms was used to examine the changes in class-wide disruptive behavior, academic engagement, and academic performance in targeted academic time periods. Data indicated that implementation of the group contingency preferred by the teachers in conjunction with data-based decision making resulted in decreases in disruptive behavior and increases in academic engagement and academic performance across classrooms. In addition, improvement in …

The Effects Of Mission Statement Design On Behavioral Intention, Jonathan David West

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the length and readability of a mission statement contribute to stakeholder behavior regarding the mission statement. The majority of studies in the mission statement literature have not attempted to find an empirical link between mission statement design and employee behavior. This study employed a 2 (length: long v. short) x 2 (readability: low v high) post-test only factorial design to test the relationship between message design and beliefs about the mission statement. Students at a large southeastern university (n=212) were shown the one of four treatments and asked to …

Application Of Spatial And Descriptive Analysis Methods To Determine Relationship Between Hardware Subsidies And The Sanitation Marketplace, Danielle Devuyst

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sanitation marketing is an emerging approach of strengthening the local private sector to implement scalable and sustainable improved sanitation coverage in developing countries, specifically among the poor. It encourages the enhancement of sanitation market supply and demand by developing distribution infrastructure and stimulating consumer interest. Unlike interventions that provide hardware subsidies to initiate sanitation demand, financial support for sanitation marketing is used exclusively for the research and development of the market; this encourages the private sector to become independent and self-sufficient. Qualitative data suggests that while sanitation marketing projects have been successful at implementing replicable and sustainable sanitation coverage, they …

Effects Of Video Modeling On Preference And Reinforcer Value For Toys, Brienna Meuret

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children diagnosed with autism often exhibit a limited range of preferred stimuli. This can lead to problem behavior or a decline in quality of life. Recent work has shown that watching peers approach and interact with stimuli can affect an observer’s preferences with respect to those stimuli. Video modeling is an effective intervention component for many individuals with ASD, and may be extended toward increasing the breadth of preferences in such individuals. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which video modeling can be used to increase the preference and reinforcing value of initially low-preferred toys …

Understanding Identity Through Ceramic Analysis At The Crystal River And Roberts Island Sites, Rachel Elizabeth Thompson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ceramic assemblage from previous excavations at Crystal River (8CI1), a Woodland period mound center on Florida’s west-central coast, exhibits variation in temper and surface treatments indicative of distinct pottery traditions and, perhaps, social groups. I analyzed ceramics from recent, better controlled excavations at Crystal River and the neighboring and partially contemporaneous site of Roberts Island (8CI41), using the theoretical framework of communities of practice to evaluate this claim.

Analysis suggests that while some degree of diversity in paste was maintained through all four phases, there was greater homogeneity of paste, as well as more mixing of paste categories, during …

Critical Heat Stress Evaluation In Two Ebola Ensembles, Christopher T. Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ebola, a type of filovirus that causes hemorrhagic fevers, dominated global headlines in 2014 when the largest Ebola epidemic in history took place in West Africa. Healthcare practitioners were at particular risk of contracting Ebola while taking care of patients with the disease because they were easily exposed to bodily fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, and feces, quite often in the intensive care unit (ICU). While personal protective equipment (PPE) protects the healthcare practitioner by providing an effective barrier against the virus, users were also at risk for heat stress because of the type of protective clothing. In this …

Developing Early Numeracy And Early Literacy Skills In Preschool Children Through A Shared Parent/Child Book Reading Intervention: A Multiple-Baseline Single Case Design Study, Christina Lauren Lindahl

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the effectiveness of a shared storybook reading intervention in increasing children’s early numeracy and early literacy skills through a multiple baseline single case design. Four parent-child dyads were included in the study, and children’s early numeracy and early literacy skills were measured using the eNumeracy Early Math Assessments and the Preschool Early Literacy Indicators, respectively. The study also measured mathematical dialogue to determine if an increase in children’s early numeracy skills is due to the intervention and not other confounding variables. Finally, the study measured intervention integrity, and parent ratings of social validity. Results of the …

Conversion Of Landfill Gas To Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels: Design And Feasibility Study, Ryan Alexander Kent

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper will discuss the conversion of gas produced from biomass into liquid fuel through the combination of naturally occurring processes, which occur in landfills and anaerobic digesters, and a gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility. Landfills and anaerobic digesters produce gases (LFG) that can be converted into syngas via a Tri-reforming process and then synthesized into man-made hydrocarbon mixtures using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Further processing allows for the separation into liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as diesel and gasoline, as well as other middle distillate fuels. Conversion of landfill gas into liquid fuels increases their energy density, ease of storage, and open market potential …

Generalized Phase Retrieval: Isometries In Vector Spaces, Josiah Park

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we generalize the problem of phase retrieval of vector to that of multi-vector. The identification of the multi-vector is done up to some special classes of isometries in the space. We give some upper and lower estimates on the minimal number of multi-linear operators needed for the retrieval. The results are preliminary and far from sharp.

An Assessment Of Elementary School Children’S Diet And Physical Activity Levels, Karen Tamara Serrano Arce

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With prevalence rates of obesity among children and adolescents steadily rising, childhood obesity and overweight has become a public health concern. Publically funded elementary schools are in a unique position to provide children with opportunities regarding the promotion of physical activity and healthy nutritional behaviors. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct exploratory research to investigate the dietary habits of elementary school students enrolled in four Hillsborough County Out-of-School Time (HOST) care programs. Methods: The study utilized a quantitative, non-experimental study design. The instruments that were used in this research included a new questionnaire that was titled “All …

Implementation Of The Bully Prevention In Positive Behavior Support (Bp-Pbs) Program In An Urban Elementary School, Amanda Lee Rudd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to further examine the potential efficacy of the Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Support (BP-PBS) program in addressing bullying in an urban public elementary school with a large and diverse student population, implementing school-wide positive behavior support with relatively low fidelity. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which BP-PBS could decrease target students’ bullying behavior across settings and increase appropriate active response to bullying of students being bullied. Changes in the students’ perceptions and attitudes on school safety were also examined. This study involved a multiple probe design across participants targeting multiple settings …