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Understanding The Doctoral Student Supervisory Experience: A Qualitative Examination Of Counselor Education Doctoral Student's Perception Of Their Supervision Training, Jinah Jimenez Rordam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the supervision process that takes place between the counselor education doctoral student and the doctoral student’s faculty supervisor from the perception of the doctoral student supervisor. The goal of this study is to identify salient constructs that impact the effectiveness of the supervisory experience. A qualitative design was used to collect and analyze data. Six doctoral student supervisors were interviewed and the data analyzed. Themes of the supervisory experience that impact the supervision process and outcome were identified. They were: Supervisor Competency, Supervisor Individual Characteristics, and Supervisory Relationship. Recommendations …

The Impact Of Criminal Justice Interventions And Social Policies On Family Violence: Theory And Evidence, Sianne Diana Vijay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2014, the Child Protective Services received 3.6 million referrals alleging child abuse and neglect, of which, 702,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect and an estimated 1,580 children died due to maltreatment. In addition to this appalling toll, the welfare effects of child victimization are substantial. Evidence suggests that compared to demographically similar adults who were non-victims, adults with documented histories of maltreatment are more likely to engage in criminal behavior; have adverse mental and physical health problems such as depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder; and have lower levels of education and earnings. These essays contribute toward …

Quantitative Proteomic Investigation Of Disease Models Of Type 2 Diabetes, Mark Gabriel Athanason

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

PANcreatic DERived factor (PANDER, FAM3B) is a member of a superfamily of FAM3 proteins that are uniquely structured and strongly expressed from the endocrine pancreas and co-secreted with insulin. Unique animal models available to our lab have indicated that PANDER can induce a selective hepatic insulin resistant (SHIR) phenotype whereby insulin signaling is blunted yet lipogenesis is increased. The complexity of the biological networks involved with this process warranted the logical approach of employing quantitative mass spectrometry based proteomic analysis using stable isotope labeling of amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) to identify the global proteome differences between the PANDER …

Attitudes Toward Adult Education Among Adult Learners Without A High School Diploma Or Ged, Andrea Rose Bennett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore attitudes toward adult education among adult learners without a high school diploma or the General Educational Development (GED). In this study, adult learners without a high school diploma or GED completed the Attitudes Toward Adult Education Scale (AACES) and selected respondents volunteered to participate in a face-to-face interview in conjunction with the mixed methods section of the study. For this study, I used a 5-point Likert scale to measure the responses on the 22-item AACES survey.

Three hundred and fifty respondents participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and a three-way ANOVA revealed …

The Effects Of Synthetic And Dietary Therapeutics On Learning, Memory, Motor Coordination, And Seizure In An Angelman Syndrome Mouse Model, Stephanie Lynn Ciarlone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic and neurological disorder presenting with severe developmental delay, ataxia, epilepsy, and lack of speech. AS is associated with a neuron-specific loss of function of the maternal UBE3A allele, a gene encoding an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Currently, no cure exists for this disorder; however, recent research using an AS mouse model suggests that pharmacological intervention is plausible, and can alleviate some of the detrimental phenotypes reported in AS patients.

Although there is no curative treatment for AS, seizure medication and behavioral therapies are most commonly prescribed in order to minimize symptoms. However, these options …

Levels Of Distress Among Women Veterans Attending A Women’S Health Specialty Clinic In The Va Healthcare System, Debbie T. Devine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, between 21.9 and 23 million veterans have served in the United States armed forces. Of those, 2 million are women, and of those, only 6.5% use the Veterans Health Administration system. These females often suffer from physical and mental health disorders, and overall impaired quality of life (QOL), rendering their healthcare needs complex. Seeking, and providing care in this specialty area may become overwhelming not only for the women seeking the care, but also for healthcare systems that are unfamiliar with the specific needs of this population.

A retrospective medical records review was completed of 51 female veterans between …

Towards Computational Human Behavior Modeling For Just-In-Time Adaptive Interventions, Tylar Murray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The advent of powerful wearable devices and smartphones has enabled a new generation of “in-the-wild” user studies, adaptive behavioral intervention strategies, and context measurement. Though numerous proof-of-concept studies continue to push the limitations of what a behavioral scientist can do with these technologies, there remains a major methodological roadblock separating behavioral theory and application. Avatar-user interaction theory, for example, is not well defined in its formulation, and thus guidelines for intervention designers depend on heuristic methods and designer intuition. Computational modeling has been slow to move into behavioral science in general, but a growing population of behavioral scientists recognize this …

Violence And Disagreement: From The Commonsense View To Political Kinds Of Violence And Violent Nonviolence, Gregory Richard Mccreery

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that there is an agreed upon commonsense view of violence, but beyond this view, definitions for kinds of violence are essentially contested and non-neutrally, politically ideological, given that the political itself is an essentially contested concept defined in relation to ideologies that oppose one another. The first chapter outlines definitions for a commonsense view of violence produced by Greene and Brennan. This chapter argues that there are incontestable instances of violence that are almost universally agreed upon, such as when an adult intentionally smashes a child’s head against a table, purposefully causing harm. It is also claimed …

The Debt Burden Of Entry-Level Physical Therapists In Florida, Steven Benton Ambler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the education, autonomy, and high demand for physical therapists both nationally and in Florida, recent graduates have seen steadily rising education costs with disproportionate changes in income once they have graduated and entered the workforce. The growing debt burden of physical therapists entering the workforce, coupled with the growth in projected need and stagnant wages, raises concern about where and how entry-level physical therapists will practice and if these choices will be affected by their debt burden. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional survey study was to identify the debt profile of entry-level physical therapists and explore the relationship …

Hydrolytic And Nonhydrolytic Sol-Gel Zirconia-, Titania-, And Niobia-Based Capillary Microextraction Coatings For The Preconcentration And Hplc Analysis Of Catecholamine Neurotransmitters And Phosphorylated Peptides, Abdullah Awadh Alhendal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sample preparation is the most error-prone step in chemical analysis. A great deal of efforts has been made to develop efficient techniques and protocols for sample preparation to accomplish important goals such as miniaturization and implementation of green analytical methodologies. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has successfully eliminated the use of hazardous organic solvents in extraction sampling, sample preparation, preconcentration and sample introduction to the analytical instrument in an effective manner. Ensuring thermal- and solvent-instability of traditional SPME extraction phases represented one of their main drawbacks. This was solved by the introduction of sol-gel SPME phases characterized by enhanced thermal-, solvent-, and …

Climate Change Drives Outbreaks Of Emerging Infectious Disease And Phenological Shifts, Jeremy Cohen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is expected to impact species by altering infectious disease outcomes, modifying community composition, and causing species to shift their phenology, body sizes and range distributions. However, the outcomes of these impacts are often controversial; for example, scientists have debated whether climate change will exacerbate emerging infectious disease and which species are at greatest risk to advance their phenology. There reason for these controversies may be that climate change is impacting diverse processes across a wide range of ecological scales, as the interplay between fine-scale processes and broad-scale dynamics can often cause unpredictable changes to the biosphere. Therefore, it …

Hypercapnic Hyperoxia Increases Free Radical Production And Cellular Excitability In Rat Caudal Solitary Complex Brain Slice Neurons, Geoffrey Edward Ciarlone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The caudal solitary complex (cSC) is a cardiorespiratory integrative center in the dorsal medulla oblongata that plays a vital role in the central CO₂-chemoreceptive network. Neurons in this area respond to hypercapnic acidosis (HA) by a depolarization of the membrane potential and increase in firing rate, however a definitive mechanism for this response remains unknown. Likewise, CO₂-chemoreceptive neurons in the cSC respond to hyperoxia in a similar fashion, but via a free radical mediated mechanism. It remains unknown if the response to increased pO₂ is merely an increase in redox signaling, or if it’s the …

The Non-Identical Anglophone Bildungsroman: From The Categorical To The De-Centering Literary Subject In The Black Atlantic, Jarad Heath Fennell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My goal with this dissertation was to discover more about how the Bildungsroman genre in English or the coming-of-age story became a staple of post-colonial and ethnic minority writing. I grew up reading novels like these and feel a great deal of affection for them, and I wanted to understand how authors writing in these other traditions represented a broader response to colonialist Western culture. My method was to survey philosophical approaches to subjectivity and subject-formation, read a wide variety of texts I understood as engaging with the Bildung tradition, and examining how they represented subject-formation.

While I originally saw …

Family Communication Concerning End-Of-Life Care Preferences, Lindsay Jo Peterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Communication concerning the care one wishes to receive at the end of life (EOL) is central to ensuring that wishes are honored. Many studies have examined doctor-patient or doctor-family EOL communication. However, relatively few studies have focused on the occurrence of EOL care discussions among family members. This is an important topic, as research suggests that advance directives (ADs) are ineffective if patients have not involved surrogate decision-makers, most of whom are family members. This study examined EOL care discussions among family members. It used quantitative and qualitative data from a diverse sample of older adults from West Central Florida …

“Way Down Upon The Suwanee River”: Examining The Inclusion Of Black History In Florida’S Curriculum Standards, William Newell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As education focuses increasingly on standards based assessment, social studies must be examined for its integration of Black History in the United States History curriculum. Using a Critical Race Theory lens, this directed content analysis attempts to examine the Florida Standards for United States History to determine if and how Black History is integrated into United States History courses. The study also makes use of Banks’ (1994) “levels of integration” to explore the degree to which this is accomplished. In addition, lesson plans created and/or endorsed by the state of Florida are analyzed for their inclusion of Black History. Data …

Novel Magnetic Nanostructures For Enhanced Magnetic Hyperthermia Cancer Therapy, Zohreh Nemati Porshokouh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present the results of a systematic study on novel multifunctional nanostructure systems for magnetic hyperthermia applications. All the samples have been synthesized, structurally/magnetically characterized, and tested for magnetic hyperthermia treatment at the Functional Materials Laboratory of the University South Florida. This work includes studies on four different systems: (i) Core/shell Fe/γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles; (ii) Spherical and cubic exchange coupled FeO/Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles; (iii) Fe₃O₄ nano-octopods with different sizes; (iv) High aspect ratio FeCo nanowires and Fe₃O₄ nanorods.

In particular, we demonstrated the enhancement of the heating …

Regulation Of Palmitoylation Enzymes And Substrates By Intrinsically Disordered Regions, Krishna D. Reddy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Protein palmitoylation refers to the process of adding a 16-carbon saturated fatty acid to the cysteine of a substrate protein, and this can in turn affect the substrate’s localization, stability, folding, and several other processes. This process is catalyzed by a family of 23 mammalian protein acyltransferases (PATs), a family of transmembrane enzymes that modify an estimated 10% of the proteome. At this point in time, no structure of a protein in this family has been solved, and therefore there is poor understanding about the regulation of the enzymes and their substrates. Most proteins, including palmitoylation enzymes and substrates, have …

Expansion Of The Performance Capabilities Of The Usf Inhalation Challenge Chamber, Laura Riley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the capability and performance of the University of South Florida’s (USF) Human Exposure Chamber (HEC) using aerosols in the thoracic range. The goals of this research were two-fold: to obtain an average particle size of 10 µm (thoracic-size range) inside the chamber during dust production and to test for evenness of dust concentration within the chamber. The USF HEC can be used for studies using gases and/or particulates. The chamber measurements are 4.16 ft x 2.67 ft x 6.75 ft, for a total volume of 75 ft³ or 2.13 m^{3 …}

Continuing The Career: An Oral History Of An Emeritus Professor, Kimberly Read

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives of a professor emeritus regarding his life experiences in the discipline of chemistry and in a career dedicated to research, service and teaching. Another purpose, interwoven within the perspective of this one individual, was to explore the potential influence a professor emeritus can have on his institution, and the impact the institution, its changing culture, and its shifting priorities may have on a member of the professoriate dedicated to this chosen career path. The research guiding questions for this study were: (a) What elements of this professor emeritus’ …

The Role Of Religion In Mitigating Cancer Disparities Among Black Americans, Samar Hennawi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The long history of racism has created cultural barriers that prevent some Black Americans from seeking cancer treatment. Fatalism, physician mistrust, low levels of social support and self-efficacy, are the most cited cultural barriers in the literature. Black Americans’ religious beliefs and church involvement have historically helped them in their struggle against racism. A quantitative and a qualitative comparison studies examine the role of Black cancer survivors’ religious beliefs in their fight against cancer. The quantitative comparison study finds no difference in the cultural attitudes between Black and White cancer survivors. However, the qualitative comparison study between the same two …

The Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: Assessing The Impact Of Informing Jurors Of Verdict Consequences, Erin Elizabeth Cotrone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to public opposition to the insanity defense, the Guilty But Mentally Ill(GBMI) verdict was enacted with the intention of limiting the number of insanity acquittals and alleviating the public’s concerns. Prior research suggests, however, that many jurors are making verdict decisions with limited knowledge of the dispositional consequences of the GBMI and NGRI verdicts. Further, jurors may erroneously assume that the GBMI verdict is a compromise between a NGRI and guilty verdict, which mitigates punishment. In reality, the dispositional consequences of a GBMI verdict are equivalent to or more restrictive than a guilty verdict. The current study examined …

Perspectives Of Women In Orthopaedic Surgery On Leadership Development, Ann C. Joyce

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 50 years, the demographics of medical school graduates in the United States has changed dramatically with the number of women (47%) almost equaling the number of men in 2014 (AAMC, 2014). However, the Association of American Medical Colleges (2014) reports that orthopaedic surgery has the lowest proportion of female residents, instructors, assistants, associate, and full professors of all the sub-specialties and little has changed in the past several decades.

Due to the healthcare reform and the changing needs of our society, it is importance to recruit, retain, and promote women into leadership positions. The purpose of this …

Virtual Reality Serious Games For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design Considerations, Lal Bozgeyikli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Virtual reality has been a popular training tool for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in recent years. Although virtual reality was proven to be a promising tool for individuals with ASD by many previous studies, effects of virtual reality properties on user experience is still an unexplored area. More comparison studies and reliable data are needed to identify the benefits of different VR methods and properties, and leverage the future VR systems. In this dissertation, we explored effects of virtual reality properties on user experience of high functioning individuals with ASD with four different serious game experiments. The first …

An Ecosystem-Based Approach To Reef Fish Management In The Gulf Of Mexico, Michelle D. Masi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fisheries managers have the potential to significantly improve reef fish management in the Gulf of Mexico through the use of ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management. Ecosystem-based approaches are needed to address the effects of fishing on trophodynamic interactions, to better account for ecosystem-scale processes in model projections, and to recognize the short and long-term biomass tradeoffs associated with making regulatory choices. My research was concentrated around three objectives: (1) characterizing the trophodynamic interactions between Gulf of Mexico fishes, in order to construct an invaluable tool (a Gulf of Mexico Atlantis model) to be used in ecological hypothesis testing and policy …

Efficiency Of An Unbalanced Design In Collecting Time To Event Data With Interval Censoring, Peiyao Cheng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In longitudinal studies, the exact timing of an event often cannot be observed, and is usually detected at a subsequent visit, which is called interval censoring. Spacing of the visits is important when designing study with interval censored data. In a typical longitudinal study, the spacing of visits is usually the same across all subjects (balanced design). In this dissertation, I propose an unbalanced design: subjects at baseline are divided into a high risk group and a low risk group based on a risk factor, and the subjects in the high risk group are followed more frequently than those in …

A Mixed Methods Inquiry Of Caregivers Of Veterans With Sustained Serious "Invisible" Injuries In Iraq And/Or Afghanistan, Bina Ranjit Patel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, there are approximately 1.1 million caregivers who are caring for veterans who have served in the military following September 11 (9/11), 2001 (Ramchand et al., 2014). In this study, a mixed methods analysis of post 9/11 caregivers enrolled in the North Florida South Georgia Caregiver Support Program was completed with a convenience sample of 172 participants for quantitative analysis which included 16 participants for the phenomenological query. Correlations, t-tests, and ANOVAs were used to determine the associations among race, gender, age, caregiver type, diagnosis, tier level, and the presence of children in the home with caregiver burden as measured …

Intraocular Pressure Sensing And Control For Glaucoma Research, Simon Antonio Bello

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Animal models of ocular hypertension are important for glaucoma research but come with experimental costs. Available methods of intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation are not always successful, the amplitude and time course of IOP changes are unpredictable and irreversible, and IOP measurement by tonometry is laborious. This dissertation focuses on the development and implementation of two novel systems for monitoring and controlling IOP without these limitations. The first device consists of a cannula implanted in the anterior chamber of the eye, a pressure sensor that continually measures IOP, and a bidirectional pump driven by control circuitry that can infuse or withdraw …

Hormone Replacement Therapy (Hrt) Modulates Peripheral And Central Auditory System Processing With Aging, Tanika Williamson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After the findings were reported for the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study in the past decade, there has been a significant decline in the overall use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) among women. However, there are still millions of middle-aged, menopausal women in the U.S. who are currently undergoing hormone therapy. Their reasons for continuing treatment include relief of severe menopausal symptoms, aid in the management of osteoporosis and reduction in the risk of colon cancer (Ness et al., 2005). The purpose of the following investigation was to evaluate the impact of HRT on the central and peripheral auditory systems …

Molybdenum Disulfide-Conducting Polymer Composite Structures For Electrochemical Biosensor Applications, Hongxiang Jia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lactic acid is widely existing in human bodies, animals and microorganisms. Recently, using biosensor to detect the concentration of lactic acid and diagnose disease have attracted great research and development interests. Nanocomposites is one of the best material used for biosensor because their wonderful conductivity, optical and electrochemical properties. In the study, MoS₂ and polypyrrole (PPY) are used for the composite material electrode. To determine whether lactate oxidase (LOD) was helpful for the biosensor’s detective properties, both PPY-MoS₂ film with LOD and PPY-MoS₂ film without LOD are being tested. The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman …

A Review Of Reclaimed Water For Irrigation Use In An Urban Watershed, Anamarie Elizabeth Rivera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well established that converting wastewater, a point-source of pollution, into reclaimed water makes management of nutrients more difficult. Not all service lines measure the volume of reclaimed water used by a customer, and frequently there are no restrictions on the amount of reclaimed water that is used. Nutrients applied in excess have the potential to runoff or leach through soils and contaminate surface and groundwater resources. This research attempted to determine if corresponding surface water quality monitoring sites in reclaimed service areas reflect elevated total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) concentrations.

The Joe’s Creek Watershed in Pinellas …