Digital Commons Network^™

Research On The Prevalence Of Bullying And Related Interventions: A Literature Review, Ashley Caliri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This literature review will first describe the definition of bullying and the prevalence of bullying across populations. Populations include individuals with intellectual disabilities, individuals who are typically developing as well as children, and adults. Several interventions have been implemented to help remedy bullying occurrences, decrease the negative outcomes of bullying, and prevent the initiation of bullying. Therefore, this review will also discuss interventions that have been implemented to decrease bullying with a focus on BST and IST as these specific interventions have shown some of the most promising outcomes. Additionally, a discussion will highlight the need for continued research using …

Evaluating The Effects Of Reinforcement Delay On Acquisition During Discrete Trial Training: A Literature Review, Theresa Barhold

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This review of literature analyzes the use of immediate and delayed reinforcement within discrete trial training (DTT). Criteria for inclusion in this review consisted of articles published in English, human participants, single subject design, targeting skill acquisition in a DTT format, and inclusion of at least one delay to reinforcement condition. Four articles, with a total of 18 participants and 23 datasets, were identified in this review. Data on participants’ characteristics and procedural modifications (i.e., target response, type of prompt, delivery of praise, use of an error correction procedure, type of reinforcer, and delay to reinforcement) were extracted. Results indicate …

Biogas Upgrading Via Solid Resin-Based Amine Sorbents, Olusola Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biogas is a valuable renewable energy generated from anaerobic digestion of biodegradable organic matter. It is applicable as fuel in vehicles, for the generation of electricity, industrial heating, or as raw material to produce chemicals, liquid fuels, syngas, and compressed natural gas (CNG). Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are the major components in biogas, with a trace amount of contaminants, including hydrogen sulfide (H2S), water vapor (H2O), nitrogen (N2), ammonia (NH3), oxygen (O2), carbon monoxide (CO), halides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), siloxanes, and hydrocarbons.

The source of biogas, which is anaerobic digestion of different organic matter or landfill decomposition, …

Bio-Electrochemical Denitrification Systems And Applications For Nitrogen Removal In On-Site Wastewater Treatment, Kamal Ziad Taha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Denitrification experiments using biological cathodes (biocathodes) were conducted in three separate experiments. The first experiment was to observe whether the rate of denitrification in biocathodes could be increased with added ammonium at mass (mg/L) ratios of 0.100 (2.5/25), 0.05 (1.25/25), 0.0250 (0.625/25), and 0.0125 (0.3125/25) (parts ammonium to nitrate (NH4+-N/ NO3--N). The purpose of the ammonium present was to provide the microorganisms a starting nitrogen source for assimilation to biomass which, in theory, would encourage the removal of nitrate through dissimilatory denitrification. As mixed cultures were used, ratios tested were based on simplifying future operation of scaled-up biocathodes applied to …

Intensive Longitudinal Data Analyses And Sample Size Considerations In Intervention Studies With Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling, Zhiyao Yi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) has been proposed to analyze intensive longitudinal data (ILD). This dissertation provided a tutorial for the DSEM model specification practices in the context of intervention designs. Specifically, I illustrated using equations, verbal descriptions, and figures three two-level DSEM models based on three common intervention designs, including a single-arm trial with repeated measurements before and during intervention, randomized control trial (RCT) with repeated measurements during intervention, and RCT with repeated measurements before and during intervention. Mplus syntax and results from the analysis were also provided for each model along with the interpretations and inferences of parameter …

Biological And Proteomic Characterization Of Cornus Officinalis On Human 1.1b4 Pancreatic Β Cells: Exploring Use For T1d Interventional Application, Arielle E. Tawfik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease resulting in the loss of pancreatic β cells and subsequent loss of insulin production. Exogenous insulin coupled with continuous glucose monitoring is the only treatment for T1D. Therefore, novel interventional therapies are needed that can inhibit the autoimmune destruction and increase β cell proliferation and function. Based on initial in vitro studies, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) extract, Cornus officinalis, may be able to serve in this function. CO has been used for 2 millennia for its glucose regulating potential and has shown efficacy in animal models but rarely studied in the context …

Before The Storm: Water And Energy Utilities, Human Vulnerability And Disaster Risk, Cori D. Bender

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly communities are impacted by slow-onset and sudden hazards. With reports of disasters affecting millions of people and with severe impacts on lives and livelihoods, there is a focus on creating cities that make human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Within this focus are the mandates that safe drinking water, energy and wastewater sanitation are the right of all people living on the planet. This research addresses water and energy insecurity, highlights the gaps in community level perceptions of water and energy, and global-local dynamics that impact disaster vulnerability through a political-ecology lens.

This work examines how disaster resilience …

Eppm And Its Effectiveness In Advertisements Of Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Young Adults, Anh T. Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer around the world and in the United States, yet it could be highly preventable by following the recommended guidelines of getting screened by the age of 50 and above. The focus of this study was on the Extended Parallel Process Model and sought to understand the efficacy and threat components in the fear appeal messages in the context of colorectal cancer screenings. Specifically, the study examined how young adults react when being exposed to those messages and whether they intended to discuss with their parents about it. The study also …

Examining Role Breadth, Efficacy, And Attitudes Toward Trauma-Informed Care In Elementary School Educators, Mikayla J. Drymond

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children growing up below the poverty line are at heightened risk for developing complex symptoms of trauma caused by repeated exposures to a variety of traumatic events. The detrimental effects of repeated traumatic exposures on developing children living in low-income environments are now considered a public health concern (APA Presidential Task Force on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma in Children and Adolescents, 2008; Crosby, Howell, & Thomas, 2018). Increased awareness of the negative effects of trauma early in life and the need for combative care has accelerated the movement for educators to become trauma-informed, which can be demonstrated through altered …

A Policy Analysis Of Performance-Based Funding In The State University System Of Florida, Monika Alesnik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Performance-based funding in the State University System of Florida is the principle legislative based funding method for the states 12 public universities. The system and the policy is governed by the Florida Board of Governors. However, Florida’s legislative branch has ultimate authority in regards to the policy. There is a gap of knowledge on the critical factors which led to the development, implementation and adoption of this policy. Data were collected using primary and secondary document analysis as well as through interviews with individuals in the following groups: elected officials, higher education leaders, staff, financial or policy influencers and other …

Managing Off-Grid Power Use For Solar Fueled Residences With Smart Appliances, Prices-To-Devices And Iot, Donnelle L. January

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electricity availability has a profound impact in day to day life. Activities such as lighting homes, charging cellphones, and running appliances all depend on electricity use. Around 1 billion people around the world do not have access to electricity, and the majority of these people hail from developing countries in remote areas. Moreover, many of these remote areas lack utility grid access due to the infeasible cost of extending the grid to remote communities. To combat this, various projects on microgrids have been implemented in order to distribute power to these off-grid areas. Nanogrids are defined as “a single domain …

An Analytical Approach To Information And Communication Technologies, Sahir Hismiogullari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The twentieth century was a century of scientific and technological development. Especially the fact of information and communication technologies, beyond being a technological leap, has led to different levels of development and changes / transformations. Therefore, developments, possibilities, changes and problems emerging in the Internet and other digital contexts have attracted the attention of communication scientists, sociologists, historians and philosophers, and have become a field of research that leads to interdisciplinary studies. Along with the mass media developed for the last two centuries (from the spread of newspapers to the invention of the internet), every social development or transformation is …

Biogeochemical Cycling Of Nutrients And Carbon In Subtropical Wetlands, Lauren N. Griffiths

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As human development intensifies, ecosystems around the word are being exponentially destroyed and degraded. Wetlands have the capacity to mitigate some of the possible problems by retaining nutrients and carbon, keeping them from harming downstream ecosystems or being released into the atmosphere. This project focuses on the processes that make wetlands successful by studying two unique ecosystems: 1) a created urban stormwater treatment wetland and 2) mangrove wetlands in Florida and Puerto Rico that were affected by hurricanes in 2017.

The first phase of this study investigates the role of sedimentation and vegetative and algal uptake of nutrients to retain …

Between Soledad And Attica Brothers: The Raiford Protests And Prison Activism In Florida, Alexander Obermueller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In February of 1971 prisoners staged a weeklong protest at Florida’s largest prison near the rural town of Raiford. Prior to the Raiford sit-in and hunger strike, George Jackson had only recently published his prison letters and six months after the Raiford uprising a similar protest would rock Attica Correctional Facility and bring prisoners’ rights into national news. This thesis situates Raiford prisoners’ protests in the context of an emerging prisoners’ rights movement. Prisoners made use of various protest forms, retracted their labor, and engaged in litigation to fundamentally challenge prison and achieve some improvements to their lives behind bars. …

Features Of Borderline Personality And Related Psychopathologies As A Contemporaneously And Temporally Connected Network, Haya Fatimah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In contrast with the latent variable models, network psychometricians have proposed that symptoms co-occur not because of an underlying common cause but because of direct dynamic associations among symptoms. This empirical study aims to elucidate how features of with borderline personality disorder, depression, and anxiety interact with one another and form a network. Specifically, I aimed to identify a potential causal structure among the features of BPD, depression, and anxiety while identifying the most influential features. Participants were 37 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 26 recruited from University of South Florida SONA pool. Following baseline assessment, participants …

Using Observations From The Uaw-Ford Ergonomic Assessment Tool To Predict Distal Upper Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders, Zachariah T. Brandes-Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Distal upper extremity (DUE) musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affect thousands of workers annually. Job tasks can have a significant amount of MSD risk depending on the presence of certain risk factors The UAW-Ford Ergonomic Surveillance Tool (EST) is a method specifically designed for the UAW and Ford Motor Company to assess MSD risk in its facilities. The purpose of this report is to evaluate which risk factors in the UAW-Ford EST predict the risk of developing DUE MSDs. Data collected by a previous study on four UAW-Ford automotive manufacturing plants were analyzed. Target jobs were selected based on associated First Time …

Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Organochlorine Pesticides, And Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Snapper (Family Lutjanidae) From Cuba And The Wider Gulf Of Mexico, Brigid E. Carr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Snapper species assemblage is economically and environmentally important to all three countries bordering the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were investigated in seven snapper species located in the GoM, with a specific focus on the those caught along the northwestern coast of Cuba. Hepatic samples were processed using QuEChERs extraction methodology and analyzed using gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Nearly all fish included in this study contained detectable amounts of all three groups of these contaminants, regardless of location, and across all regions of the Gulf, indicating …

How Can I Help My Anxious Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder? Understanding Parental Perspectives And Treatment Preferences, Sandra L. Cepeda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the high prevalence of co-occurring anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), little is known about parental preferences for treatment in addressing these anxiety concerns. Understanding parents’ preferences for treatment is an important factor to consider for ensuring quality care, as it can guide clinical decisions with regard to implementation of care, strategies for optimizing engagement and treatment adherence, and is associated with treatment outcome. To date, limited studies have examined parental preferences in treatment for childhood anxiety or ASD; but no study has investigated preferences for treatment in children with comorbid symptoms. Thus, the present study sought …

Use Of Music To Improve Running Performance, Jeremy Buttice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Running is an exercise that requires minimal equipment and gear therefore, running is easily accessible for many people. Research has shown performance benefits when music is used while running such as increased cadence (steps per minute), increased speed, and decrease in perceived exertion. Since music is easily accessible during a run (e.g., smartphone or smartwatch), one can utilize the technology in these smart devices to track specific aspects of their run. Accelerometers, GPS, heart rate sensors, gyroscopes, and barometers can be utilized to track speed, distance, physical exertion, steps, and cadence. Software developers can take advantage of these features in …

Development Of A Benthic Foraminifera Based Marine Biotic Index (Foram-Ambi) For The Gulf Of Mexico: A Decision Support Tool, Bryan O'Malley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is an economically important region (e.g. oil and gas, fisheries) and with the expansion of oil drilling, harmful algal bloom events, oil blowouts, dead zones, anthropogenic eutrophication and contaminant loading, it is important that the ecological quality statuses (EcoQS) of different localities in the Gulf are closely monitored. The EcoQS, as implemented by the European Water Framework Directive, is an effective tool for monitoring ecological health and developing reference conditions. One such index used to define EcoQS is the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), which pairs species abundance with environmental stressors. Benthic foraminifera are ideal …

Water Quality And Sustainability Assessment Of Rural Water Systems In The Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Panama, Corbyn Cools

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last four decades significant progress has been made on providing people access to improved drinking water. The Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) estimates that 6.7 billion people have access to at least basic drinking water services. In spite of this great achievement 785 million people still lack even basic services and eighty percent of which live in rural areas. To further complicate matters, those with access to services experience interruptions or non-functionality for handpumps and piped system long before the intended design life of the system. In the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé province in Panama there is very little information on …

Enhancing Intergenerational Conversation Using Visual Cues: Effects Of A Historical Timeline, Allyson Lindsay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Interacting with individuals with expressive aphasia can be particularly challenging not only because of the language impairments, but also because of the frequent age difference between the clients with aphasia and student clinicians. Although students learn a variety of strategies to support language impairments, there remains a need to bridge the age gap in historical knowledge to enhance conversation. The current study explored the use of a timeline as written and pictorial cue to support conversations between individuals with aphasia and students. This study consisted of Two Experiments. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to identify the differences in knowledge …

Exploration Of Drive For Leanness In Relation To Drives For Thinness And Muscularity, As Well As Their Concurrent Associations With Health-Related Outcomes, Brittany Lang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drive for leanness, the motivation to build lean muscle,as well as obtain low enough body fat content for this muscle to be seen, is a nascent drive construct compared to the more established drives for thinness and muscularity. What little research has been done on drive for leanness has suggested that drive for leanness is more sex neutral, as well as potentially more adaptive,than the other drive variables. However, there is debate regarding the factor structure of drive for leanness, or more specifically,whether drive for leanness is its own unique construct or if it is better described as an amalgamation …

A South Florida Ethnography Of Mobile Home Park Residents Organizing Against Neoliberal Crony Capitalist Displacement, Juan Guillermo Ruiz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The cyclical inflations of real estate values right before the 2008 housing crisis in the United States enticed mobile home park landowners, especially in California and Florida, to sell their land in the search for spectacular profits displacing many low-income residents. This thesis uses an engaged anthropological ethnographic approach to explore the struggle in organizing against neoliberal crony capitalist displacement in the South Florida metropolitan area. The study focuses on Davie, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, where at the time of fieldwork a third of residents lived in mobile homes. In 2007, the Davie town council attempted to soften the …

Development Of An Organic Processor Assembly (Opa) For Sustainable Resource Recovery To Enable Long-Duration, Deep-Space Human Exploration (Loddshe), Talon James Bullard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Long-Duration, Deep-Space Human Exploration (LoDDSHE) missions demand robust and reliable technologies to ensure crew health, safety, and mission success. In situ food production will become essential for these missions for crew nutrition, morale, and in the event of delays or failures. At a current estimated cost $10,000/lb, mass and volume limitations will restrict necessary resources. For an anticipated thirty-month mission to Mars, these costs will increase due to more frequent resupply shipments and lengthened transit times, creating additional financial and logistical challenges (Pickett et al., 2019). Increased resource and waste recovery to achieve nearly closed-loop systems will mitigate many of …

Evaluating Small-Scale Simulation For Teaching Abduction Prevention Skills, Jessica E. Ritzmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 1,600 attempted kidnappings occurred within 2018 (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2019). In a 2016 report by Wolak, Finkelhor, and Sedlak, of the 105 stereotypical kidnappings that occurred in 2011, many resulted in sexual assault, the children are never found, or death. These dangerous circumstances warrant a method of teaching safety skills to children to avoid abduction. Research has shown that small-scale simulation is effective for teaching firearm safety to 3- to 5-year-olds children (Maxfield, Miltenberger, & Novotny, 2019). This research has not been applied to abduction prevention safety. The current study aimed to address this research …

İyo Luché!: Uncovering And Interrupting Silencing In An Indigenous And Afro-Descendant Community, Eileen Cecelia Deluca

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this applied project is to uncover and interrupt the silencing of memories through the production of public narratives, specifically, the documentation of heritage of members of an indigenous and Afro-descendant community in Waspán, Nicaragua. The project is informed by interviews with seven women ex-combatants in the Contra War (1980-1990). Oral histories, transcribed interviews, and field notes are the source for the content of a book of heritage stories that I produced as one output about the former combatants utilizing their own words. In this thesis, I argue that the values of the “conquering” group of Nicaragua (i.e. …

Using Observations From The Uaw-Ford Ergonomic Assessment Tool To Predict Low Back Musculoskeletal Disorders, Colins Nwafor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Musculoskeletal disorders of the low back are common injuries found in many work environments. Some of the risk factors that workers experience include the weight of object being lifted during a task, frequency, duration, posture, distance the object is lifted, how well the worker can grasp the object, and the degree to which the worker may have to twist and turn their body during a lift. There are many tools that have been developed that are used to assess risk of a worker developing low back pain. The purpose of this study is to determine if the UAW-Ford Ergonomic Surveillance …

Hyaluronic Acid Coated Targeted Lipid Micellar Nanoparticle As A Delivery Vehicle For Lapatinib And Ketoconazole In Egfr Mutated Lung Cancer, Nadia Tasnim Ahmed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer was accountable for over 142,000 deaths in the USA in 2019. Common mutations related to lung cancer mainly occur in TP53, EGFR, and KRAS genes. Lapatinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor which acts reversibly on both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Overexpression of EGFR leads to increased production and signaling of proteins that cause upregulation of cellular proliferation, cholesterol synthesis and resistance to apoptosis. Ketoconazole is an imidazole antifungal agent which works principally by inhibiting the enzyme cytochrome P450 14α-demethylase (CYP51A1) …

Developing Design Elements For A Parkinson’S Disease Informative Website: A Social Marketing Approach, Emilie R. Madsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease with no known cause or cure. No two cases are identical, meaning that every individual will present different symptoms and will have a different progression of the disease. Me Over PD is an initiative created to aid newly diagnosed PD patients and care partners in navigating the complexities surrounding the disease and live a more informed life with PD. Considering Me Over PD, the present research works to understand the experiences of PD patients and care partners upon diagnosis and after, and gauge what elements and information would be most beneficial to these individuals …