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Generic Expectations In First Year Writing: Teaching Metadiscoursal Reflection And Revision Strategies For Increased Generic Uptake Of Academic Writing, Kaelah Rose Scheff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how student uptake of academic genres in First Year Writing (FYW) are challenged by the concept of writing expectations. Previous research on uptake has focused on uptake between genres with little attention to the role of writing expectations on the event of uptake or how to translate these expectations to students pedagogically. Identifying pedagogical uptake strategies for students to use across academic genres provides instructors with insight into student challenges in FYW and strategies for students to understand their own writing on a metacognitive level by assessing writing expectations. My thesis investigates uptake of academic writing in …

Saudi Teachers’ Perceptions Of Rough-And-Tumble Play In Early Learning, Rana Alghamdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored teachers’ perceptions of rough-and- tumble (R&T) play in early childhood education in Saudi Arabia. The literature on rough-and-tumble play in Saudi Arabia is limited in scope, and more research is needed to explore teachers’ perceptions on this type of play for early learners. The pertinent literature reveals that R&T play, which includes running, jumping, fighting, wrestling, chasing, pulling, pushing, and climbing, among other rough playful activities, can positively impact learning and development across psychosocial, emotional, and cognitive domains. Teachers’ understanding of R & T play is key, and the attitudes of Saudi early childhood teachers who are …

Pain Recognition Performance On A Single Board Computer, Iyonna L. Tynes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotion recognition is a quickly growing field of study due to the increased interest in building systems which can classify and respond to emotions. Recent medical crises, such as the opioid overdose epidemic in the United States and the global COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of emotion recognition applications is areas like Telehealth services. Considering this, this thesis focuses specifically on pain recognition. The problem of pain recognition is approached from both a hardware and software perspective, as we propose a real-time pain recognition system, from facial images, that is deployed on an NVIDIA Jetson Nano single-board computer. We …

Investigating The Recent History Of A Changing Planet With Innovative Isotopic Techniques And New Geologic Archives, Ryan A. Venturelli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Globally averaged Earth surface temperatures indicate a 0.8°C warming since 1880. Though this warming is a result of anthropogenic influence that has exceeded natural forcings, a thorough understanding of Earth's climate system requires a knowledge of changes in global temperatures beyond the instrumental record. To achieve this, we must supplement the temporally limited observational record with proxy records of environmental conditions in the geologic past. Though the foundational questions underlying interrogations of the geologic past are seemingly simple (What happened? When?), the accuracy of their answers depend upon accessibility and availability of geologic materials as well as the capabilities of …

An Investigation Of Cross-Links On Crystallization And Degradation In A Novel, Photocross-Linkable Poly (Lactic Acid) System, Nicholas Baksh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polymeric molecular structure consists of repeating units bonded together. Mechanicalproperties can be altered without affecting chemical makeup by altering the number of these units. Small molecules can be introduced and/or polymers can be modified to form bonds between molecular chains. Cross-linking, as this is called, also introduces mechanical variation with minimal effects on chemical composition. Lastly, polymer chains reorient themselves in response to intermolecular forces. This temperature dependent response is known as crystallization. Although chemistry is unaltered, mechanical properties can depend highly on the percent of the sample that is crystallized.

Cross-linking is known to enhance the mechanical properties of …

How Enduring Is Global Precedence?, Jong Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a set of visual processing advantages for holistic or global information over detailed or local information; these advantages are known as global precedence (Navon, 1977). Currently, there are inconsistent results about whether selective attention can reduce global precedence. Our studies look into Lamb et al. (1998)’s claim about selective attention’s inability to reduce global precedence. We reassess Lamb and colleagues’ claim by examining whether consecutively repeated tasks strengthen selective attention and reduce interference or facilitation from irrelevant information. Our studies utilized a series of trials, or runs, to present multiple consecutively repeated tasks. Before each run, participants were …

Negative Performance Feedback And The Self-Regulatory Benefits Of Mindfulness, Jeremiah Slutsky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Past research on negative performance feedback (NPF) has found that self-regulation is key to buffering against negative well-being and performance outcomes. Using feedback intervention theory and mindful self-regulation theory as framework, this study investigated the regulatory effects of mindfulness following the delivery of NPF. Specifically, the relationships between NPF and changes in self-esteem, negative affect, and task performance were examined, as well as the moderating effects of mindfulness on these relationships. The sample consisted of 164 undergraduate students who participated in the virtual experiment in exchange for course credit. Results from the study found that there was no time by …

Simulations Of H2 Sorption In Metal-Organic Frameworks, Shanelle Suepaul

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metal-organic frameworks are a diverse group of crystalline materials consisting of metal ionscoordinated to organic ligands. Their characteristic high porosity, large surface area along with tunable pore structures and chemical functionalities make them an exceptional candidate for H2 storage applications. Computational studies of H2 sorption in metal-organic frameworks aid in producing molecular-level insights which can facilitate the design of structures with improved performance. In this work, various MOFs were investigated using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations.

Addressed first are two MOFs with rht topologies which consist of two chemically distinct Cu2+ ions coordinated to triisophthalate ligands. Through electronic structure calculations …

Forensic Accounting Education, Practice, And Career Path In Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Alzahrane

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The various high-profile cases of financial fraud that threatened to or led to the downfall of high ranking companies have reinforced the need to equip accounting professionals with the skills necessary to detect and investigate fraud. This study aims to evaluate forensic accountants' effectiveness in Saudi Arabia in meeting the needs of the judicial system and their clients. The study also seeks to explore forensic accounting in depth through the opinions, thoughts, concerns, conceptualizations, and experiences of Saudi judges who are routinely involved in forensic accounting cases. These cases often require expert testimony (i.e., cases involving, but not limited to, …

Analysis Of The Self-Directed Learning Readiness Of New Graduate Registered Nurses, Denise Hain

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self-directed learning readiness is the level of ability and willingness to manage one’s own learning. Research has been conducted on the self-directed learning readiness of both student nurses and professional nurses. However, research has not expanded to focus on the self-directed learning readiness of new graduate Registered Nurses entering the workforce. The purpose of this study was to identify the self-directed learning readiness of new graduate Registered Nurses entering the workforce in a hospital setting. The study examined their self-directed learning readiness profile; the differences in scores based on nursing degree, nursing program, and age; and the differences in scores …

Cognition In Health And Disease: Two Mouse Model Studies, Heather Lynn Mahoney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive and circadian dysfunction are common aspects of neuropsychiatric disease that are often overlooked in disease models and treatment strategies. In this work, we first evaluated the potential for cognitive enhancement in healthy adult mice by targeting a kinase involved in regulation of the molecular circadian clock. We then developed and characterized a model of neuropsychiatric disease that could present a target for rescuing circadian and cognitive deficits using this treatment.

Time-of-day effects have been noted in a wide variety of cognitive behavioral tests, and perturbation of circadian rhythms impairs hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. We first asked whether casein kinase …

Phenomenological Study On Lived Experiences Of Assigned Expatriates, John Alan Hennings

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The academic community has researched expatriate work for over five decades, but the problems identified in the 1960s persist. This study focuses on the assigned expatriate, defined as an individual on overseas assignment for his or her employer. It uses qualitative semi-structured interviews and a phenomenological approach to answer questions research has largely ignored: What are the distinctive characteristics of life and work as an assigned expatriate? How do assigned expatriates perceive their expatriate experience? The scope includes selection, preparation, life and work abroad, and repatriation, investigating the experiences of expatriates on assignments for the U.S. military, civil government, and …

Reading And Programming Spintronic Devices For Biomimetic Applications And Fault-Tolerant Memory Design, Kawsher Ahmed Roxy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the triumph of conventional computing architectures till today, there emerges a lotof computing problems that are solved poorly by them. The reason behind this are twofold: i) the computing algorithm is incompetent in solving those problems, and ii) non-ideal effects of the traditional device technologies outperform the benets of using them. Hence, extensive research eorts have been put to devise novel algorithms as well as new devices. Among them spintronic devices demonstrate better performance in traditional architectures as well as offers way better solution to a lot of new problems when bundled with unconventional computing algorithms. Apart from being …

Micro-Architectural Countermeasures For Control Flow And Misspeculation Based Software Attacks, Love Kumar Sah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Embedded system applications in diverse sectors such as transportation, healthcare, homeautomation, etc., have been gathering, processing, and transporting data using embedded computers connected to vast networks. As the usage of these embedded devices in daily life is increasing exponentially, security of these devices is a growing concern amongst the users. An alarming rise in recent cyber-attacks has deepened such concern. In the recent past, software-based attacks are more sophisticated and larger in scale than previously known. An embedded processor depends on a compiler to use the architecture efficiently. The compiler generates object code to efficiently utilize the micro-architecture for storage …

Counseling Clients With Traumatic Brain Injury: Exploring Counselors’ Perceived Knowledge, Comfort, And Self-Awareness, Michelle Bradham-Cousar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnoses continues to rise each year. Counseling is a critical factor in TBI treatment, and although numerous studies have investigated TBI outcomes, a paucity of researchers have studied professional counselors’ knowledge, comfort, and self-awareness when working with TBI clients. Due to the diversity of counselor caseloads, it is likely that counselors will serve clients with a dual diagnosis that includes TBI. These dual diagnoses include depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, psychosis, or another neurocognitive disorder. The purpose of this study was to explore counselors’ knowledge, comfort, and self-awareness when working with individuals with …

Countermeasures Against Various Network Attacks Using Machine Learning Methods, Yi Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the rapid development of a computer network, our lives are already inseparable from it. Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is in use everywhere; more and more devices are connected to the Internet, and many companies and individuals tend to store their data and information online. Furthermore, it is now very convenient to communicate with each other through email and text messages. However, widespread networks also provide more attack surfaces for attackers. There are a variety of network attacks aimed at information theft. To better defend against those network attacks, one needs to have a broad knowledge of existing attacks. In this …

Self-Perceived Competence Of Senior-Level Student Affairs Professionals, Anh-Kay Pizano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-perceived competence levels of senior-level student affairs professionals. Additionally, the study aimed to learn about the experiences that contributed to the participants’ competence levels. A qualitative study, consisting of semi-structured interviews, was conducted to address the research questions. Common themes emerged from the interviews. When asked to rate themselves based on their competency level, the majority of the participants rated themselves advanced. The participants recounted numerous experiences that led to how they rated their levels of competence. Years of experience in the student affairs profession was most often noted. Other experiences …

System Support Of Concurrent Database Query Processing On A Gpu, Hao Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The unrivaled computing capabilities of modern GPUs meet the demand of processing massive amounts of data seen in many application domains. While traditional HPC systems support applications as standalone entities that occupy the entire GPU, we propose a GPU-based DBMS (G-DBMS) that can run multiple tasks concurrently. To that end, system-level management mechanisms like resource allocation and buffer manager are needed to build such a concurrent database query processing system and fully unleash the GPUs’ computing power. However, CUDA does not provide enough OS-level functionalities to support it. Thus our research is focusing on implementing the optimization of resource allocation …

Predictors Of Economic Outlook In Stability Operations, Juan Carlos Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The participation of the United States military in stability efforts has increased dramatically since 2001. The core of current U. S. stabilization policies and measures derives from the US military's lessons in countering insurgencies since the late 20th century through the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and countries experiencing radical Islamic insurgencies. Counterinsurgency operations focus on gaining support from the relevant population through security, governance, and economic efforts. This research seeks to improve the understanding of the relationship between perceptions of security and governance on populations' economic outlook during stability operations. Applying the “Winning Hearts and Minds” approach to the …

Development Of Next-Generation, Fast, Accurate, Transferable, And Polarizable Force-Fields For Heterogenous Material Simulations, Adam E. Hogan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Theoretical modeling is extremely useful in guiding to experiment; however quantitatively accurate modeling of energy-relevant small molecule sorption at the heterogeneous interfaces present in metal-organic materials (MOMs) is currently challenging. MOMs are an emerging class of materials consisting of inorganic clusters and organic linkers that offer great potential in the areas of gas storage, gas separation, and catalysis due to the possibility of large surface areas, complex heterogeneous surfaces, and rational designability. Efficient chemical separations involving these materials could reduce the US’s total energy consumption by approximately 10 to 15%. In this dissertation, the parameterization of small molecules and metal …

I'M Going Digital: Potentials For Online Communities Through Internet Remix, Justin N. Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the late 90s and early 2000s, computers and internet usage became more widespread. This widespread usage led to a proliferation of “digital objects” (digital versions of audio, video, image, text, etc.) dispersed through the internet. The instant and near-infinite reproducibility of digital objects combined with their ease of manipulation by computer users has led to their widespread recognition and use as tools of communication online. As a consequence, technology has allowed those traditionally thought of as consumers to become cultural producers by repurposing digital media objects. Because of this, internet remix of digital objects is one of the best …

Plio-Pleistocene Antarctic Ice-Ocean Interactions In The Ross Sea, Catherine Prunella

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Warm, intermediate-depth Southern Ocean waters are implicated in recent Antarctic ice mass loss. Direct observations of Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) retreat are temporally limited, necessitating paleoceanographic records of ocean-ice interactions during past warm climate intervals. Deepsea and ice-proximal sediments record orbitally-paced glacial-interglacial fluctuations in AIS volume during the Plio-Pleistocene (last 5 million years; Ma), but the total contribution of the AIS and the role of ocean heat in these fluctuations remain unresolved. To address the response of Antarctica’s ice sheets to changing ocean temperatures during the Plio-Pleistocene, International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 374 recovered sediments from the Ross Sea …

Corporate Brand Impact On Sales / Revenue Per Share, Brad A. Puckey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify the linkage between the corporate brand and sales / revenue per share growth. Utilizing a unique database, the CoreBrand® Index, this study is a quantitative analysis of the interaction between the corporate brand and financial data. A relationship between corporate brand and financial data has been suspected by practitioners; however, it has never been proven. For the first time, quantitative analysis is conducted in this dissertation using this unique dataset.

This study is intended to help those responsible for managing corporate brands to better understand their impacts and benefits. The more that …

Who Rises To The Top: An Investigation Of The Essential Skills Necessary For Partners Of Non-Big 4 Public Accounting Firms, Amanda K. Thompson-Abbott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The public accounting industry will face several challenges in the upcoming years. One challenge is an aging workforce that will be retiring in large numbers. This shift will result in a shortage of partner-ready candidates. The second challenge involves rapid technological disruption that is predicted to change the skill sets needed for success. Both issues underscore the need to recruit and retain talent in the public accounting profession. Academic research has focused primarily on Big 4 firms, so this paper focused on non-Big 4 firms. This study used exploratory research to examine two questions: “What skills does it take to …

Mapping Narrative Transactions: A Method/Framework For Exploring Multimodal Documents As Social Semiotic Sites For Ethnographic Study, Anne W. Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work grew from my attempts to find a method for studying a body of editorial cartoons—multi-modal documents producing cross-modal responses—that were created and published in an earlier time period, in order to answer questions about the culture in which the cartoons were produced and read. Initially my questions included wondering about the topics cartoonists addressed, the narratives cartoonists created to address the topics, how the narratives were framed, and in what ways the narratives might have been seen as attempts to shape the larger cultural discourse around the topics. However, given the number of possible combinations of information streams …

An Analysis Of The Antecedents And Consequences Of Robotic Process Automation In Accounting Functions., Aharon Yoki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Robotic Process Automation (“RPA”) is a recently emergent technology that has exploded in popularity as firms seek to capitalize upon the marketing promise of cost reduction and improved efficiency. Yet, with this expansion of RPA, very little is known about the firms’ initial drivers, perceptions during implementation, and how outcomes align with initial expectations. RPA could displace and dramatically change the workforce, but it is unclear how employees will respond to the continuing spread of RPA. This study seeks to fill that important gap in the scholarly literature with an exploratory mixed-methods study. The first chapter is an extensive literature …

Reproduction And Parasite-Mediated Selection, Meredith A. Krause

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual reproduction generates genetic diversity that can help hosts respond to selection by parasites, and in this thesis, I test three predictions on how reproduction impacts predictions by the parasite theory of sex and the Red Queen hypothesis. In Chapter one, using a meta-analysis, I found that asexuals (lower genetic diversity) have more parasites than sexuals (higher genetic diversity), but this difference can be heavily mediated by the mode and origin of asexuality. Further, hybridization but not polyploidy can blunt predicted differences in parasite loads among sexual and asexual hosts. In Chapter two, I flip the perspective of Red Queen …

Posttranslational Modification And Protein Disorder Regulate Protein-Protein Interactions And Dna Binding Specificity Of P53, Robin Levy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

p53 is an intrinsically disordered transcription factor that suppresses tumor development by arresting the cell cycle and promoting DNA repair. p53 deletions or mutations can lead to cancer due to the inability of cells to respond to stress. The protein levels and post-translational modification state of p53 changes in response to cellular stress like DNA damage. Previous studies have shown that p53 can undergo coupled folding and binding with the E3 ubiquitin ligase, Mdm2, and the histone deacetylase, p300. In normal cells, p53 is kept at a low level by Mdm2, which marks it with ubiquitin, targeting p53 for proteasome …

Spontaneous Raman Scattering Enhancement With Microcavities And Multipass Resonators For Trace Gas Detection, Juan Sebastian Gomez Velez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The continual increase in production and use of chemicals in an ever-growing field of applications naturally brings forth the necessity to accurately and efficiently measure molecular composition. Spontaneous Raman scattering is a reliable technique which can optically identify molecules based on their intrinsic rotational-vibrational energy structure. The Raman emission from a substance can be spectrally analyzed to detect molecular species simultaneously and with isotopic sensitivity using a single laser source. However, even though the process is non-invasive and effective, the rate at which the emission occurs is notoriously low due to a weak scattering cross-section. Therefore, research into the development …

Maternal Social Status, Offspring 2d:4d Ratio And Postnatal Growth, In Macaca Mulatta (Rhesus Macaques), Juan Pablo Arroyo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early life exposure to stressors can disrupt growth and development, resulting in long-term compromised function and increased risk for disease throughout the lifecourse. Maternal exposure to psychosocial stressors (i.e., stressors derived from social status, social inequalities, and social interactions) during pregnancy has been associated with reduced fetal growth, adverse birth outcomes, and increased morbidity for the offspring later in life. Maternal hormonal responses to stress, such as fluctuations in glucocorticoids (e.g., cortisol) and androgens (e.g., testosterone), can result in increased developmental instability, interfere with offspring growth in-utero, and may alter developmental processes of sexual dimorphism. Second digit to fourth digit …