Digital Commons Network^™

High-Solids Anaerobic Digestion Of The Organic Fraction Of Municipal Solid Waste State Of The Art, Outlook In Florida, And Enhancing Methane Yields From Lignocellulosic Wastes, Gregory Richard Hinds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biotechnology that employs natural microbial metabolism under oxygen-free conditions to stabilize organic waste. AD has been shown to be the most environmentally sustainable technology for treating the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), as it allows for the recovery of energy and nutrients from the waste. AD of OFMSW also saves landfill space and reduces leachate generation and fugitive methane emissions from landfills. High-solids AD (HS-AD) technologies (those designed to process feedstocks with >15% total solids content) have been shown to yield additional benefits when compared with liquid AD (L-AD) for treating OFMSW, including …

Smartphone Based 3d Printed Colorimeter For Biomedical Applications, Karthik Raj Konnaiyan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Here we present a novel Smartphone-based colorimeter and demonstrate its application to the measurements of glucose and protein concentrations in biological samples. The key innovation of our approach was to combine powerful image processing encoded into a mobile phone application with a low cost 3D printed sample holder that allowed to control lighting conditions and significantly improved sensitivity. Different solutions with protein and glucose concentrations ranging from 0 to 2000 mg/dL were prepared and analyzed using our system. The Smartphone-based colorimeter always correctly classified the corresponding reagent strip pads, what confirms that it can be used as a low cost …

First- And Third-Person Effects Of Alcohol Advertising On Chinese College Students, Dong Xue

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol consumption among Chinese college students has become a serious problem. The present research examines the relationships among attitudes towards alcohol advertising, attitudes towards alcohol products, the perceived influences of alcohol advertising on the self, the perceived influences of alcohol advertising on others, and attitudes toward government restrictions on alcohol advertising. Data were collected from 578 Chinese college students via an online survey. The results supported the hypothesized relationships between attitude toward alcohol products and alcohol advertising, as well as the relationship between attitude toward alcohol advertising and perceived influence of alcohol advertising on oneself. Results also supported the looking …

Informing The Design And Deployment Of Health Information Technology To Improve Care Coordination, Diego A. Martinez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, the health care sector is 20 years behind in the use of information technology to improve the process of health care delivery as compared to other sectors. Patients have to deliver their data over and over again to every health professional they see. Most health care facilities act as data repositories with limited capabilities of data analysis or data exchange. A remaining challenge is, how do we encourage the use of IT in the health care sector that will improve care coordination, save lives, make patients more involved in decision-making, and save money for the American …

Dissolved Nutrient Distributions In The Gulf Of Mexico Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Ashley Ann Parks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) in the spring of 2010 introduced 4.4 million of barrels of oil to the ecosystem. Some biodegradation of the oil occurs when microorganisms, particularly bacteria, metabolize the oil as a carbon source. During this process, the microbes also require nutrients for energy. An introduction of oil at this magnitude has the ability to induce large blooms of microbes, which in turn can affect nutrient concentrations. Microbial petroleum degradation decreases nutrient concentrations, whereas the microbial assimilation and decay of organic matter increase nutrient concentrations. This study assessed whether any …

How Overqualification Impacts Job Attitudes And Well-Being: The Unique Roles Of Perceptions And Reality, Marijana L. Arvan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The recent global economic downturn has stimulated a growing interest among scholars in how employees interpret and respond to the circumstance of being overqualified. However, the overqualification literature has been hindered by uncertainty regarding the extent to which employees’ perceptions of being overqualified are based in reality. The present study sought to address this concern by proposing and testing a theoretical model of objective overqualification, perceived overqualification, job satisfaction, and well-being using a cross-sectional sample of full-time employees who had recently graduated from college. Additionally, the present study investigated cognitive ability, achievement striving, and trait negative affectivity as potential moderators …

Reel Or Reality? The Portrayal Of Prostitution In Major Motion Pictures, Raleigh Blasdell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined media portrayals of street-level prostitution. The objectives of this research were twofold. The first was to examine the nature of the film industry’s portrayal of females engaging in street-level prostitution in the United States in the following areas: 1) entry into sex work; 2) the economic need behind the women’s involvement; 3) experiences of childhood victimization; 4) presence and role of pimps; 5) drug/alcohol abuse; 6) victimization; and 7) mental/physical health. The second objective was to determine if this media coverage is analogous to extant research on these aspects of prostitution culture.

The Unified Film Population Identification …

Restricted And Repetitive Behaviors As Strengths, Not Weaknesses: Evaluating The Use Of Social Stories That Embed Restricted Interests On The Social Skills Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Maya Nasr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the use of social stories that integrate a child’s particular restricted and repetitive behaviors results in differential social outcomes compared to the use of social stories that do not integrate restricted and repetitive behaviors. A non-concurrent multiple baseline experimental design across participants was used to examine the effects of two Social Story interventions on the frequency of appropriate social behaviors made by participants in a school setting. Field notes were also completed during each day of data collection in order to document the social context, events, activities, moods …

The Role Of Community Participation In Water Production And Management: Lessons From Sustainable Aid In Africa International Sponsored Water Schemes In Kisumu, Kenya, Erick Oniango Ananga

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Few studies have attempted to determine the tenability of Community Participation (CP) theory is explicating Water Production and Management dynamics in Urban Informal Settlements. Consequently, several gaps exist in knowledge of the value of this important theory for efforts to improve water service delivery in such settlements. The main purpose of this study is to contribute to efforts addressed to filling these gaps. Four water schemes established by Sustainable Aid in Africa International in partnership with different communities in the informal neighborhoods of Kisumu Kenya are used as empirical referent. The study is guided by the following three Research Questions; …

Unpacking The Discipline Gap: Referral Categories And School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports, Christopher Michael Barclay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite decades of efforts to racially integrate schools and the recent accountability movement, U.S. students’ access to equitable education remains elusive. Research demonstrates that discipline procedures disproportionately remove racial minority students from the classroom, creating a “discipline gap.” Racial disparities in discrete disciplinary infraction types (e.g., disruption, aggression) have shown nuanced patterns across groups and school levels. Moreover, the relationship between school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) – a framework for promoting positive behavior and preventing conflict – and the discipline gap is unclear. This investigation explored racial/ethnic disparities per infraction type (e.g. disruption, verbal abuse) and the relationship …

Structure Based Drug Design Targeting Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance And Alzheimer's Disease, Eric Michael Lewandowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Structure based drug design is a rapidly advancing discipline that examines how protein targets structurally interact with small molecules, or known inhibitors, and then uses this information to lead inhibitor optimization efforts. In the case of novel inhibitors, protein structural information is first obtained via X-ray crystallography, NMR studies, or a combination of both approaches. Then, computational molecular docking is often used to screen, in silico, millions of small molecules and calculate the potential interactions they may have with the target protein’s binding pocket, in hopes of identifying novel low affinity inhibitors. By examining the interactions these small, low affinity, …

Characterization And Diurnal Measurement Of Oral Inflammation In Association With Glycemic Control, Periodontal Status, & Glucose Stimulation, Melanie N. Kuehl

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diabetes has afflicted 8.3%, approximately 25.8 million, of the United States population and is the seventh leading cause of death [1]. Type I diabetes (T1D) accounts for 5 to 10% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes in the United States [2]. If present trends continue, the rate of T1D incidence among children under the age of 14 will increase by 3% globally [3]. T1D is an autoimmune disorder in which the β-cells of the pancreatic islets are destroyed, leading to high blood sugar. Hyperglycemia and loss of immunological tolerance to self-antigens are common associations of T1D [4]. Periodontal disease impacts …

Role Of The Slingshot-Cofilin And Ranbp9 Pathways In Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis, Jung A Woo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by two major pathological hallmarks, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The accumulation of amyloid-β protein (Aβ) is an early event associated with synaptic and mitochondrial damage in AD. Therefore, molecular pathways underlying the neurotoxicity and generation of Aβ represent promising therapeutic targets for AD. Recent studies have shown that actin severing protein, Cofilin plays an important role in synaptic remodeling, mitochondrial dysfunction, and AD pathogenesis. However, whether Cofilin is an essential component of AD pathogenesis and how Aβ induced neurotoxicity impinges its signals to Cofilin are unclear.

In my dissertation studies, we …

“Principal Component Analysis And The Cumulative Gait Index: Translational Tools To Assess Gait Impairments In Rats With Olivocerebellar Ataxia”, Chase Lambert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies suggest that modulation of the cholinergic system through the use of nicotinic agonists can improve motor function in humans or animals with motor disorders. Specifically, although there are no approved therapeutics for patients with ataxia, the nicotinic receptor agonist varenicline has demonstrated efficacy to improve coordination and gait in several groups of patients with different subtypes of ataxia. Importantly, the mechanism underlying the varenicline’s mechanism of action to improve motor function remains to be elucidated. Thus, the purpose of these experiments was to first quantify gait impairments in rats with olivocerebellar ataxia utilizing an objective treadmill-based system to …

The Effects Of Parent-Adolescent Communication And Parenting Style On The Physical Activity And Dietary Behaviors Of Latino Adolescents, Dianna Mary Boone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The obesity epidemic among children and adolescents has been growing rapidly over the past 10 years, particularly in Latino children. Multiple researchers have found support for positive associations between parent-child communication and healthy nutrition and exercise behaviors. The present study examined the relations between parent-adolescent communication and parenting style and the dietary and exercise behaviors of Latino adolescents. The study included 79 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 years and their parents (100% are Latino). Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine which parenting style and communication variables are significantly associated with adolescents’ dietary and physical …

Knowledge Discovery And Predictive Modeling From Brain Tumor Mris, Mu Zhou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quantitative cancer imaging is an emerging field that develops computational techniques to acquire a deep understanding of cancer characteristics for cancer diagnosis and clinical decision making. The recent emergence of growing clinical imaging data provides a wealth of opportunity to systematically explore quantitative information to advance cancer diagnosis. Crucial questions arise as to how we can develop specific computational models that are capable of mining meaningful knowledge from a vast quantity of imaging data and how to transform such findings into improved personalized health care?

This dissertation presents a set of computational models in the context of malignant brain tumors— …

The Influence Of Types Of Homework On Opportunity To Learn And Students' Mathematics Achievement: Examples From The University Of Chicago School Mathematics Project, Yiting Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Public views on assigning students mathematics homework have been controversial. Although homework is designed for students to complete during non-school hours (Cooper, 1989), many see homework as excessive pressure on students. Most research placed their focus on the influence of the time spent on homework or the amount of homework on student achievement. Few studies have addressed the impact of types of mathematics homework. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of homework types in influencing opportunity to learn (OTL) on student achievement.

This quantitative study used subsets of a large existing dataset collected by University …

The Durational Effects Of A Free Operant Condition On Automatically Maintained Stereotypic Behavior And Discrete Trial Task Responding, Shikika Sade Young

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of three fixed-duration free operant access conditions on rates of automatically maintained stereotypic behavior and correct task responding during discrete trial training (DTT) with two children diagnosed with autism. Following a functional analysis, confirming automatic function, interviews/observations were conducted to identify behavioral indicators of satiation and an average satiation level. In this endeavor, participants were exposed to a free operant condition to validate satiation of stereotypic responding. Once satiation level was averaged, two durational conditions were computed: Long (75% access) and Short (25% access). A third condition, Deprivation, involved blocking all attempts at the stereotypic …

Bio-Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells Incorporating Reaction Center And Reaction Center Plus Light Harvesting Complexes, Houman Yaghoubi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Harvesting solar energy can potentially be a promising solution to the energy crisis now and in the future. However, material and processing costs continue to be the most important limitations for the commercial devices. A key solution to these problems might lie within the development of bio-hybrid solar cells that seeks to mimic photosynthesis to harvest solar energy and to take advantage of the low material costs, negative carbon footprint, and material abundance. The bio-photoelectrochemical cell technologies exploit biomimetic means of energy conversion by utilizing plant-derived photosystems which can be inexpensive and ultimately the most sustainable alternative. Plants and photosynthetic …

Bayesian Inference On Longitudinal Semi-Continuous Substance Abuse/Dependence Symptoms Data, Dongyuan Xing

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Substance use data such as alcohol drinking often contain a high proportion of zeros. In studies examining the alcohol consumption in college students, for instance, many students may not drink in the studied period, resulting in a number of zeros. Zero-inflated continuous data, also called semi continuous data, typically consist of a mixture of a degenerate distribution at the origin (zero) and a right-skewed, continuous distribution for the positive values. Ignoring the extreme non-normality in semi-continuous data may lead to substantially biased estimates and inference. Longitudinal or repeated measures of semi-continuous data present special challenges in statistical inference because of …

Assessing The Occupational Nosie Exposure Of Bartenders, Adrianna J. Woltman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that each year, approximately 30 million people are occupationally exposed to hazardous noise. While many are aware of the noise exposure associated with industrial occupations, there has been little research conducted on bartenders who often work in environments that have high levels of noise. The majority of current published research on occupational noise exposure of bartenders has only evaluated noise levels on one night of business. Bartenders often work multiple days per week, which vary in the amount of patrons and entertainment provided, this variation in business leads to variation in the amount …

The Experience Of Chronic Pain Management: A Multi-Voiced Narrative Analysis, Loren Wilbers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the late 1990s, the abuse of prescription opioid painkillers has been constructed as a major social problem in the United States, commonly referred to in the media as the “prescription painkiller epidemic.” Stories of addiction, overdose deaths, robberies, and other tragedies related to prescription opioids have been, and continue to be, commonly featured in the media. In response to public outcry regarding the “epidemic,” government and medical institutions have enforced strict regulations on the distribution of opioids, targeting most of these regulations at the treatment of chronic pain in particular. In this dissertation, I examine the experience of chronic …

Rape, Race, And Capital Punishment In North Carolina: A Qualitative Approach To Examining An Enduring Cultural Legacy, Douglas Wholl

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite positive steps toward the suppression of racial discrimination in the United States capital punishment process, the enduring effects of a cultural legacy of Black oppression (e.g., slavery; segregation; lynching) and historic and systemic racial discrimination in the criminal justice system have persisted to the present day. The purpose of the current study is to explore whether this enduring cultural legacy still exists by examining whether juries in rape-involved capital murder trials in North Carolina are more likely to recommend a sentence of death when the defendant is a Black male and the victim is a White female (compared to …

Evaluation Of Soil As A Risk Indicator For Human Leptospirosis In Coastal, Rural Ecuador, Chad Allen Weddell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic spirochete bacteria (family Leptospiraceae, genus Leptospira), is endemic in developing tropical regions of the world. It occurs in epidemics and is endemic in Ecuador where environmental conditions are ideal for maintenance. The role of soil as a long term reservoir has been previously been documented. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technology was used in our study to further explore the role of soil as an environmental reservoir and its potential use as a static risk indicator for disease. Red, Green, Blue (RGB) spectral band data from known leptospire …

Narrating Climate Change At The San Juan National Historic Site At The Community Level, Leslie Paul Walker Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While the National Park Service is charged with interpreting and preserving areas designated as park resources, they must also manage environmental issues such as erosion resulting from climate change. This research sets out to narrate how Palo Seco, Puerto Rico, a neighboring community of the San Juan National Historic Site, perceives similar environmental conditions and motivations for addressing these issues. My research sits at the intersection between the park’s charter and understanding community implications of environmental changes that affect local heritage. Using Authorized Heritage Discourse and environmental justice as theoretical frameworks, I suggest that the National Park Service should include …

Dead/Live Microbial Culture Technique, Michael Veri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

New methodology has been utilized to provoke or increase targeted metabolic pathways in microbes. The low hanging fruit of natural products has been discovered over the last 50 years. To continue finding new metabolites to be used as possible drug candidates, methodology development such as those proposed herein are necessary. This methodology uses extracts from known pathogenic bacteria to elicit production of latent biosynthetic pathways from environmental bacterial isolates that may be active against the original pathogenic strains. A new compound, MAV-1 (1) of the diketopiperazine family (Figure 1) was isolated and identified utilizing these techniques. The structure of MAV-1 …

A Socio-Ecological Model Of Affordable Care Act Acceptance, Pratiksha Vaghela

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Since 1965, there have not been any major revisions of the healthcare laws in the United States, until the recent implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, ACA is not well understood and is often controversial. The purpose of this study is to: (1) evaluate the relationship between the employers’ and the employees’ perceptions regarding the ACA mandates for small businesses, (2) evaluate the relationship between the self-reported and the tested knowledge of individuals regarding the ACA mandates for small businesses, and (3) determine if socio-demographic factors influence individual’s perception of the law. Based on the gathered information, …

A Comparison Of Quality Of Life Between Intense And Non-Intense Treatment For Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia And High-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome, Sara Marie Tinsley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) are hematologic malignancies that occur most frequently in the sixth and seventh decades of life. Both disorders are associated with a poor prognosis, with median survival of one year or less. An overall five-year survival rate for both disorders, regardless of treatment, is less than 10%. A primary goal of treatment is to improve quality of life (QOL) because cure is improbable. The purpose of this longitudinal cohort study was to compare QOL between groups, intensive, non-intensive therapy, and supportive care. The sample consisted of 85 patients with high risk MDS …

A Forward Genetic Screen Identifies Factors Associated With Fever Pathogenesis In Plasmodium Falciparum, Phaedra J. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious diseases that spread from person-to-person and continent-to-continent are a cause for concern for any health entity. One such disease is malaria, a mosquito-borne infection instigated by the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Hundreds of millions of people are affected annually and it is responsible for nearly 1 million deaths. It is the most fatal species causing malaria and proliferates in human red blood cells with a life cycle occurring every 48 hours. At this time, the parasite’s late stage form or schizont bursts from the erythrocyte releasing immune-inducing particles and infective forms (merozoites) into the bloodstream. The merozoites go …

A Community Of Isolation: An Ethnographic Examination Of Mothering In Poverty And Its Impact On Food Security In Pinellas County, Florida, Amanda M. Terry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this dissertation is to document the lived experience of mothering in poverty and the unique challenges the role of mother presents to maintaining food security. Millions of households in the United States are struggling to put food on the table, a problem made worse by the current economic recession and high food prices. Among them, households with children and specifically, single mothers, report the highest prevalence of food insecurity. While Federal food assistance programs are available to help alleviate this issue, the continued problem of hunger is a very real and pervasive concern for millions of American …