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Adapting Safemedicate (Medication Dosage Calculation Skills Software) For Use In Brazil, Samia Valeria Ozorio Dutra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Medication related errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. In Brazil, most errors are related to prescribing, preparing, and administering medications. One way to deal with this barrier to safe care is through assessment and education of medication calculation dosage skills. Considering the Brazilian reality, this dissertation is a context and language adaptation of an evidence-based intervention called safeMedicate, a program that reinforces learning synthesis in crucial elements of medication dosage problem solving and provides the foundation for development in remaining levels of the hierarchy of learning. A guideline for medication calculation skills development or improvement based on …

Hydraulic Performance And Vulnerability On Sanitary Sewer Overflow In Southern Pinellas County, Fl, Uchechi O. Akabogu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rain-induced sanitary sewer overflow due to high infiltration is a significant challenge for many utilities, including Pinellas County utilities. The main aim of this study is to develop a hydraulic model to analyze the performance of the existing sanitary sewer system, especially during intense rainfall events.

To calculate the flow inputs for the model, a times series analysis was performed to separate the inflow and infiltration from the actual sewer flow. Using the Stevens-Schutzbach method, daily Base Infiltration (BI) was calculated and was subtracted from the total observed flow to give the Dry Weather Flow (DWF). Adjusting the DWF by …

Relationship Between Vocal Fatigue And Physical/Psychological Factors In Prospective Vocal Professionals, Camille C. Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: To date, research has primarily focused on the subjective and objective measurement of vocal fatigue in professional voice users such as teachers and singers. However, these studies have not examined the effects of psychosocial factors (e.g., lack of sleep, emotional distress) leading to vocal fatigue in depth. Much like the professional voice users, students seeking to be professional voice users may face several psychosocial difficulties, may also experience similar vocal demands, and may develop vocal fatigue.

Goal: The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between psychosocial factors and vocal fatigue in students majoring in Communication Sciences …

Testing And Packaging For Mems Acoustic Emission Sensors, Ting-Hung Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to improve the structure and dimension of the MEMS acoustic emission sensor. Acoustic emission sensor (AE sensor) based on the piezoelectric transducer is a well-developed technology in non-destructive testing that is widely used to determine permanent damage such as cracks and corrosions in buildings and structures. The AE sensor can be used to monitor cracks in structures and to check leakage in pressurized systems. The location of cracks in a structure or system leakage causes a high-frequency surface vibration while releasing ultrasonic energy. The frequency of this energy is typically between 30 kHz to …

Evaluating Effects Of Deposit Contracting On Oral Contraceptive Adherence, Sandy Au Yeung

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a high prevalence of nonuse and imperfect use of oral contraceptives (OCs) that can result in multiple consequences, one of which is unintended pregnancy. Deposit contracting may be promising for increasing OC adherence, however, there is little research testing deposit contracting on oral contraceptive adherence. In addition, studies have concluded that young women with elevated stress symptoms are at risk of contraceptive nonuse. Purposes of this thesis were to evaluate effects of deposit contracting on OC use for women, and the relation of stress to timely pill consumption. In addition, reliability was measured between the different measurements used …

Identifying The Personal And Perceived Organizational Characteristics Associated With Job Satisfaction Among Juvenile Probation Staff, Julie M. Krupa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Satisfied employees are essential to an organization, as they are the primary means for meeting organizational needs. Employees who are more satisfied at work are less likely to leave their job or think about leaving their job, less likely to feel burnt out or stressed, and perform better at work. Job satisfaction is particularly important among criminal justice agencies, specifically probation agencies which largely rely on personnel for the supervision and rehabilitation of offenders. Yet the correlates of job satisfaction among juvenile probation staff are largely unknown. Theory suggests that organizational characteristics are influential predictors of job satisfaction across occupational …

"I'Ve Never Had That": An Exploration Of How Children Construct Belonging And Inclusion Within A Foodscape, Olivia M. Fleming

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

American consumer culture is often depicted as competitive and based on the acquisition of capital and status through goods or experiences. To date, researchers commonly exclude children from this conversation and therefore fail to wholly assess the impact consumer culture has on one’s choices or behavior. This study adds to a growing body of literature exploring the experiences and agency of children within the broader consumer culture by examining how marginalized children from a lower socioeconomic background use food as a resource for belonging among peers. Observation and interview data collected during designated lunch and snack times at a summer …

Relationship Between Extracurricular Activity Involvement And Student Success Among High School Students In Accelerated Academic Curricula, Camille E. Hanks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades, a growing body of research has linked extracurricular activity participation with positive outcomes among high school students. Extracurricular activities often provide a rich environmental context for positive youth development, given that they provide opportunities for identity formation, the creation of interpersonal connections, and the development of social, emotional, academic, and/or career-related skills. However, there are no studies to date examining the relationship between extracurricular activity involvement and student outcomes among students enrolled in rigorous high school curricula (e.g., Advanced Placement [AP] and International Baccalaureate [IB]). The purpose of the current study was to extend the …

Quantitative Proteomics To Support Translational Cancer Research, Melissa Hoffman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Altered signaling pathways, which are mediated by post-translational modifications and changes in protein expression levels, are key regulators of cancer initiation, progression, and therapeutic escape. Many aspects of cancer progression, including early carcinogenesis and immediate response to drug treatment, are beyond the scope of genetic profiling and non-invasive monitoring techniques. Global protein profiling of cancer cell line models, tumor tissues, and biofluids (e.g. serum or urine) using mass spectrometry-based proteomics produces novel biological insights, which support improved patient outcomes. Recent technological advances resulting in next-generation mass spectrometry instrumentation and improved bioinformatics workflows have led to unprecedented measurement reproducibility as well …

Ripple Effects Of The Belo Monte Dam: A Syndemic Approach To Addressing Health Impacts For The Downstream Community Of Gurupá, Cynthia A. Pace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the public health impacts of a large dam project on a downstream community using the framework of Syndemic Theory. The particular focus is the Belo Monte Dam, located in the Brazilian Amazon, and its impact on the community of Gurupá, Pará. At the present time the Belo Monte Dam, which is nearing completion, stands out in scale as being the world’s third largest dam complex. Gurupá is a community well known (and well-studied) in the social science literature as Amazon Town. The aims of this study are to assess the pre-existing public health of Gurupá, as well …

“I Want To Be Who I Am”: Stories Of Rejecting Binary Gender, Ana Balius

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, in academic literature—sociological and otherwise—surrounding the daily lives of LGBT+ people, people who reject binary gender are very marginally represented. In this study, I specifically seek to understand the way my participants articulate their sense of their gender identities through the stories they tell of their experiences. This study attempts to answer the following questions: What are the stories of gender identity construction for people who reject binary gender? How do they understand the ways they are held accountable to binary gender in the day-to-day? How do they perceive and make meaning of gender in their lives? Through ten …

Behavior Change For Children Participating In Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: A Growth Curve Analysis, Kayla Larosa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disruptive behavior disorders including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Conduct Disorder (CD), and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), are listed among the most common reasons youth are referred for mental health services (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention [CDC], 2016b; Kazdin, Mazurick, Siegel, & 1994). Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is one intervention that has been found to reduce clinically significant levels of disruptive behavior. The purpose of the current study was to determine the form of change, typical change trajectory, and individual variation in change for disruptive behavior across the two phases of PCIT; the Child-Directed Interaction (CDI) and Parent-Directed Interaction (PDI) phases. …

Looking Beyond Patient Satisfaction: Experiences Of Spanish-Speaking Patients Seeking Non-Urgent Care In An Emergency Department, Seiichi Villalona

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory mixed-methods study examines the experiences of Spanish-speaking patients seeking non-urgent care in an emergency department setting. Emphasis is placed on understanding variables that influence patient satisfaction among this particular special patient population. This study draws from the explanatory models of illness and perspectives of clinically applied anthropology in contributing to the limited body of scholarly work that utilizes ethnographic approaches in clinical spaces to investigate how patients experience seeking emergency care services. Health-related deservingness, social determinants of health, and health literacy are used as complementary frameworks in understanding the unique experiences of these patients. The combination of methodological …

Essays In Applied Microeconomics, John Hartman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter, I investigate reputational effects of the disclosure of negative information in a market affected by adverse selection. A series of recent discoveries has increased consumer concern over the presence of counterfeits in the market for fine and rare wine. For the thousands of bottles sold at auction each year, house reputation is used as a quality assurance mechanism to signal product authenticity. Using sales data from 2005-2015 for the ten largest auction houses, I study consumer reaction following two recent disclosures of an auction house having offered or sold counterfeit wine. My identification strategy to examine …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Effect Of The Starting Right, Now Program On Unaccompanied Homeless Adolescents' Well-Being, Emily E. Esposito

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To date, few multicomponent interventions focused on meeting the complex needs of unaccompanied homeless youth (UHY) have been developed. One intervention, called Starting Right, Now (SRN), provides unaccompanied homeless adolescents with a broad range of home-, school-, and community-based services and supports to meet the unique needs of each individual. Previous qualitative research has supported the effectiveness of SRN on student outcomes; there has not yet been an examination of the program using quantitative methods. Thus, the current study investigated the impact of Starting Right, Now on students’ well-being through the examination of longitudinal data collected over a 12-month period. …

A Study Of Ghanaian Kindergarten Teachers' Use Of Bilingual And Translanguaging Practices, Joyce Esi Bronteng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The importance of mother tongue-based bilingual medium of instruction in bilingual and multilingual classrooms has been evidenced in ample studies in different parts of the world including Ghana. However, studies on how bilingualism is carried out with respect to classroom displays in bilingual education is very scant and even none, as far as I know, in Ghana. Also, there is emerging research on teachers’ translanguaging practices in other parts of the world including South Africa but research on instructional use of translanguaging is yet to be conducted in Ghana. Therefore, this study examined kindergarten teachers’ bilingual practices with regard to …

Synthesis, Oxidation, And Distribution Of Polyphenols In Strawberry Fruit During Cold Storage, Katrina E. Kelly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plants inherently produce polyphenols (i.e., antioxidants) as a response to reduce oxidative stress caused by abusive environmental pre- and postharvest conditions. These antioxidants, as well as vitamin C, are present in considerable levels in strawberries; however, excessive oxidative stress brought on by improper postharvest handling conditions can reduce the levels of antioxidants in the fruit and shorten the shelf-life of strawberries. Nevertheless, it may be possible to utilize strawberry’s naturally occurring polyphenols to reduce postharvest stress and extend their shelf life. The polyphenolic profile has been previously investigated in several strawberry cultivars, however no studies have determined the unique polyphenolic …

Caregiver Perception And The Role Of Seasonality In Under-Five Childhood Diarrhea Incidence In Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia, Brian S. Wells

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diarrheal disease has long been known to be a burden to children worldwide. Although child mortality rates as a result of diarrhea have decreased over the past two decades, overall diarrhea incidence has remained relatively stable. In Cambodia, diarrhea was the third most prevalent outpatient diagnosis for children under five in 2012, with a reported incidence rate of 12 per 100 children, up from 7 per 100 children in 2008 (Ministry of Planning Cambodia, 2012). Cambodia is an agricultural country with 80% of the population living in rural areas (National Institute of Statistics Ministry of Planning, 2013). Many are also …

Regulatory Methodology And Unmitigated Wetland Loss In Southwest Florida, Kathleen B. Castor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research used Geographical Information System (GIS) data to estimate the acreage of wetland loss due to small-scale activities (taking into account exempt, permitted, and unauthorized activities) in the Southwest District of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) between 2006 and 2011 and compared that net loss with the unmitigated wetland net loss that DEP documented during that time for authorized activities and violations that were discovered. The comparison allowed an estimation of the extent of undocumented small-scale unmitigated wetland loss that occurred during those six years. DEP records show that 88% of non-compliance cases remain unresolved, and the net …

A Machine Learning Framework To Classify Mosquito Species From Smart-Phone Images, Mona Minakshi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mosquito borne diseases have been a constant scourge across the globe resulting in numerous diseases with debilitating consequences, and also death. To derive trends on population of mosquitoes in an area, trained personnel lay traps, and after collecting trapped specimens, they spend hours under a microscope to inspect each specimen for identifying the actual species and logging it. This is vital, because multiple species of mosquitoes can reside in any area, and the vectors that some of them carry are not the same ones carried by others. The species identification process is naturally laborious, and imposes severe cognitive burden, since …

Evaluating Beach Water Quality And Dengue Fever Risk Factors By Satellite Remote Sensing And Artificial Neural Networks, Abdiel Elias Laureano-Rosario

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climatic variations, together with large-scale environmental forces and human development affect the quality of coastal recreational waters, creating potential risks to human health. These environmental forces, including increased temperature and precipitation, often promote specific vector-borne diseases in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Human activities affect water quality through discharges from urban areas, including nutrient and other pollutants derived from wastewater systems. Both water quality of recreational beaches and vector-borne diseases can be better managed by understanding their relationship with local environmental forces.

I evaluated how changes in vector-borne diseases and poor recreational water quality were related to specific environmental …

Dynamic Modeling Of An Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, Komal Rathore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Advanced wastewater treatment plants have complex biological kinetics, time variant influent rates and long processing times. The modeling and operation control of wastewater treatment plant gets complicated due to these characteristics. However, a robust operational system for a wastewater treatment plant is necessary to increase the efficiency of the plant, reduce energy cost and achieve environmental discharge limits. These discharge limits are set by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants to limit the amount of nutrients being discharged into the aquatic systems.

This document summarizes the research to develop a supervisory operational …

Development And Validation Of The Exercise Appearance Motivations Scale, Leah S. Boepple

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exercise rooted in changing one’s appearance is associated with increased disordered eating and body image pathology. There are a limited number of scales assessing appearance-based exercise, and those that do are methodologically flawed. The aim of the current work was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of appearance-based exercise (Exercise Appearance Motivations Scale (EAMS)). Female undergraduate students (N = 650) completed an online survey designed to assess the EAMS’ psychometric properties. Factor analysis and hierarchical regressions were used for measure development and validation. Five factors of the EAMS were identified through factor analysis: muscularity, appearance, societal pressures, shape/weight, and avoidance/shame. …

Developing A Model To Predict Prevalence Of Compulsive Behavior In Individuals With Ocd, Lindsay D. Fields

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The most common method of diagnosing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, which measures the severity of symptoms without regard to compulsions. However, this scale is limited to only considering the quantifiable time and energy lost to compulsions. Conversely, current systems of brain imaging arrest mobility and thus make it virtually impossible to observe compulsions at all, focusing instead on neurological responses to external stimuli. There is little research which merges both approaches, to consider the neuro-physiological effects of obsessions as well as the physical response through compulsions. As such, this research is focused on developing a model …

Framework Integrating Climate Model, Hydrology, And Water Footprint To Measure The Impact Of Climate Change On Water Scarcity In Lesotho, Africa, John W. Pryor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water scarcity is a problem that will be exacerbated by climate change. Being able to model the effect of climate change on water scarcity is important to effectively plan the use of future water resources. This research integrated the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), climate model, and water footprint analysis to measure the impact of climate change on future water scarcity. This was achieved through two objectives. The first objective was to create a modeling framework that links the output from climate model to SWAT and combined streamflow outputs from SWAT with water footprint analysis to measure how climate …

Design, Construction, And Characterization Of The University Of South Florida Wind Tunnel, Jason S. Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of the aerosol research completed at the University of South Florida has revolved around evaluating industrial hygiene equipment and instrumentation in environmental chambers. Data collected during these studies has provided valuable baseline data on equipment and instrument performance under calm air conditions. A newly constructed wind tunnel now allows researchers to evaluate industrial hygiene instruments under moving air conditions. Because the wind tunnel is capable of producing wind velocities that a worker could encounter in the occupational setting, researchers may gain insight into instrument performance under simulated field conditions. Because aerosols can be introduced into the new wind tunnel …

Microbial Associations Of Four Species Of Algal Symbiont-Bearing Foraminifera From The Florida Reef Tract, Usa, Makenna May Martin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine microbiome research is a rapidly expanding field of study, as scientists investigate the functions of microbial associations in eukaryotic organisms. Foraminifera are among the most abundant shelled organisms in the oceans, yet little is known of their associated microbiomes. This study investigated microbes associated with four species of Foraminifera that host three kinds of algal endosymbionts. The Order Miliolida, Family Soritidae, was represented by three species: Archaias angulatus and Cyclorbiculina compressa, which both host chlorophyte symbionts, and Sorites orbiculus, which hosts dinoflagellate symbionts. The fourth species, Amphistegina gibbosa, belongs to the Order Rotaliida and hosts diatom endosymbionts. Bacterial DNA …

An Experimental Examination Of Automatic Interpretation Biases In Major Depression, Alexandra H. Cowden Hindash

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive theories of depression have long posited automatic interpretation biases (AIB) as a central contributor to depressed mood. The current study was first to examine AIB in a clinically defined depressed sample. While assessing AIB using a semantic association paradigm, pupillary reactivity was simultaneously recorded to build insight into the AIB process. A total of 53 individuals (25 depressed and 28 healthy control) completed the Word Sentence Association Paradigm for Depression (WSAP-D) while pupillary reactivity was recorded. Results revealed the depressed group was significantly more likely to endorse negative AIB and less likely to endorse benign AIB compared to healthy …

Contributors To And Correlates Of Loneliness In Lung Cancer Patients, Kelly A. Hyland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background

Loneliness, or the perceived discrepancy between the quantity and quality of ones’ actual social relationships and desired level of connectedness, is a potentially important psychosocial factor in lung cancer patients. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship of loneliness to depressive symptoms, quality of life, and social-cognitive variables and to explore the role of loneliness in mediating relationships between social-cognitive variables and depressive symptoms and quality of life. Finally, the study examined whether loneliness predicted change over time in depressive symptoms and quality of life.

Methods

Lung cancer patients were recruited from the Moffitt Cancer …

Off-Target Based Drug Repurposing Using Systems Pharmacology, Brent M. Kuenzi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to identify novel drug repurposing opportunities in cancer by utilizing the off-target profiles of clinically relevant kinase inhibitors. This was based on the observation that the global target profiles of compounds are largely ignored and that many compounds have activity that cannot be explained by their cognate target alone. Additionally, by utilizing clinically relevant compounds, any results would hold a high potential for eventual clinical implementation. We utilized a systems pharmacology approach utilizing cell viability-based drug screening to identify compounds with beneficial off-target activity and then using chemical and phosphoproteomics in order to elucidate …