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A Comparative Study On Coastal Zone Changes And Anthropogenic Impacts Between Tampa Bay, Usa, And Xiangshan Harbor, China, During The Last 30 Years, Qiandong Guo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, the U.S. and China are the two largest national economic entities in the world. However, it is noticeable that the two countries have considerably different strategies for economic development, environmental protection and land supply in coastal zones. In order to understand the coastline dynamics, land use land cover (LULC) changes and land management policies in the U.S. and China, a case study of the Tampa Bay (TB) watershed, Florida, U.S., and Xiangshan Harbor (XH), Zhejiang Province, China was conducted. The two areas possess similar humid subtropical climate and dense population, but experienced different anthropogenic impacts. TB sat at a …

Channel Camouflage And Manipulation Techniques In Wireless Networks, Song Fang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The security of wireless networks and systems is becoming increasingly important as wireless devices are more and more ubiquitous nowadays. The wireless channel exhibits the spatial uncorrelation property, which is that the characteristics of a wireless channel become uncorrelated every half carrier wavelength over distance. This property has prompted an emerging research area that utilizes wireless channel characteristics to achieve location distinction, to detect location changes or facilitate authentication of wireless users, and to establish shared secret key between legitimate communicators. This dissertation includes two work toward the security improvement of existing wireless networks and systems. With the discovered channel …

Environmental Controls On The Geochemistry Of Globorotalia Truncatulinoides In The Gulf Of Mexico: Implications For Paleoceanographic Reconstructions, Caitlin Elizabeth Reynolds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern observations of planktic foraminifera from sediment trap studies help to constrain the regional ecology of paleoceanographically valuable species. Results from a weekly-resolved sediment trap time series (2008–2014) in the northern Gulf of Mexico demonstrate that 92% of Globorotalia truncatulinoides flux occurs in winter (January, February, and March), and that encrusted and non-encrusted individuals represent calcification in distinct depth habitats. We use individual foraminiferal analysis (IFA) of G. truncatulinoides tests to investigate differences in the elemental (Mg/Ca) and isotopic composition (18O and 13C) of the encrusted and non-encrusted ontogenetic forms of G. truncatulinoides, and to estimate their calcification depth in …

Determining Level Of Cognitive Impairment Via Computing Fractals Using A Computer, Kodhanda Karthik Siriyala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mild Cognitive Impairment is a condition that affects an individual's thinking and decision making capabilities. Specifically, it is one where an individual's capabilities of memorizing, thinking and decision making are less efficient when compared to others. In order to diagnose this condition, a conventional method is to provide the subject with a small challenge they should be completed using pen and paper. This thesis focuses on how this method can be converted to a computer based test. A data visualization tool named Processing has been used to develop a system that runs a game-like test, which is completed by individuals …

Surface And Interface Effects Of Magnetoimpedance Materials At High Frequency, Tatiana M. Eggers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amorphous and nanocrystalline transition metal magnetic alloys (TMMAs) have been the subjects of fundamental and applied study due to their unique structure. The lack of long-range order in these materials sets the stage for their soft magnetic properties to be tuned for a variety of technological applications, such as sensitive magnetic field sensors, high frequency transformers, and stress sensors. Fundamental investigation of the magnetic and structural properties of these materials is also motivated by their unique amorphous or nanocrystalline-embedded amorphous matrix morphology, which has consequences on both the magnetism seen from both the atomic and macro-scale. The surfaces of these …

Borromean: Preserving Binary Node Attribute Distributions In Large Graph Generations, Clayton A. Gandy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Real graph datasets are important for many science domains, from understanding epidemics to modeling traffic congestion. To facilitate access to realistic graph datasets, researchers proposed various graph generators typically aimed at representing particular graph properties. While many such graph generators exist, there are few techniques for generating graphs where the nodes have binary attributes. Moreover, generating such graphs in which the distribution of the node attributes preserves real-world characteristics is still an open challenge. This thesis introduces Borromean, a graph generating algorithm that creates synthetic graphs with binary node attributes in which the attributes obey an attribute-specific joint degree distribution. …

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 …

Sustainable Production Of Bio-Based Succinic Acid From Plant Biomass, Enlin Lo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Succinic acid is a compound used for manufacturing lacquers, resins, and other coating chemicals. It is also used in the food and beverage industry as a flavor additive. It is predominantly manufactured from petrochemicals, but it can also be produced more sustainably by fermentation of sugars from renewable feedstocks (biomass). Bio-based succinic acid has excellent potential for becoming a platform chemical (building block) for commodity and high-value chemicals.

In this study, we focused on the production of bio-based succinic acid from the fiber of sweet sorghum (SS), which has a high fermentable sugar content and can be cultivated in a …

A Key Based Obfuscation And Anonymization Of Behavior Vhdl Models, Balausha Varshini Kandikonda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual Property (IP) based Integrated Circuit (IC) design is an established approach for the design of a complex System-on-Chip (SoC). Porting the preparatory designs to third-party without enough security margin exposes an attacker to perform reverse engineering (RE) on the designs and hence counterfeiting, IP theft etc., are common now-a-days. Design obfuscation can reduce RE attempt by an attacker. In this work, we propose a key based obfuscation and anonymization method for a behavioral IP. Given a behavioral VHDL description, the assignment and conditional statements are modified by incorporating random boolean operations with unique random key bits. The obfuscated VHDL …

Ecophysiology Of Oxygen Supply In Cephalopods, Matthew A. Birk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cephalopods are an important component of many marine ecosystems and support large fisheries. Their active lifestyles and complex behaviors are thought to be driven in large part by competition with fishes. Although cephalopods appear to compete successfully with fishes, a number of their important physiological traits are arguably inferior, such as an inefficient mode of locomotion via jet propulsion and a phylogenetically limited means of blood-borne gas transport. In active shallow-water cephalopods, these traits result in an interesting combination of very high oxygen demand and limited oxygen supply. The ability to maintain active lifestyles despite these metabolic constraints makes cephalopods …

Design And Testing Of A Passive Prosthetic Ankle Foot Optimized To Mimic An Able-Bodied Gait, Millicent Schlafly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently there are nearly 2 million people living with limb loss in the United States [1]. Many of these individuals are either transtibial (below knee) or transfemoral (above knee) amputees and require an ankle-foot prosthesis for basic mobility. While there are an abundance of options available for individuals who require an ankle-foot prosthesis, these options fail to mimic an intact ankle when it comes to key evaluation criteria such as range of motion, push-off force, and roll over shape. The roll over shape is created by plotting the center of pressure during a step in a shank-based coordinate system. To …

Behavioral, Affective, And Cognitive Engagement Of High School Music Students: Relation To Academic Achievement And Ensemble Performance Ratings, Joel E. Pagán

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine the relation between student engagement, academic achievement, and music ensemble performance ratings. The study was guided by two research questions: how do students’ varying degrees of student engagement relate to their academic achievement and their ensemble’s performance rating, and to what extent do behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement predict ensemble performance ratings? Participants were 259 high school band students who completed the Classroom Engagement Inventory in Music. They were also asked to report their GPA, and the researcher recorded their ensemble’s performance rating. Results suggested that higher levels of student engagement were …

Underground Stormwater Treatment Performance In Urban Coastal Catchments: Case Study Of Baffle Boxes In The City Of Tampa, Awet Eyob Tsegay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In coastal urban regions, underground stormwater treatment units are suitable infrastructure options because they take less space where premium land is expensive. Even then, they should be accessible and ideally small enough to fit into existing stormwater networks. Since 2003, the City of Tampa and Florida’s Department of Transportation (FDOT) have installed 47 baffle boxes into the city’s stormwater pipe networks. Baffle boxes are underground stormwater treatment structures designed to capture sediments and floating debris. Since their deployment, many challenges regarding their practical sediment capturing performance was raised by the city.

The objective of this research was to evaluate the …

Collaboration Among Mathematicians And Mathematics Educators: Working Together To Educate Preservice Teachers, Amanda R. Mohn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration among higher education professors who are responsible for the education of preservice teachers is one potential solution to the problem of poor teacher preparation. Specifically, collaboration among mathematics educators and mathematicians can enhance preservice teacher preparation because it provides opportunities for preservice teachers to develop pedagogical content knowledge. However, collaborative efforts are challenging, and collaborators often face obstacles and tensions arise among the collaborative group members. Learning about ways the collaborators approach their collaborative efforts, the issues and tensions that arise, the hindering and supporting factors that affect the collaboration, and the potential outcomes of collaborative efforts provides information …

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 …

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 …

Development Of 3-D Printed Hybrid Packaging For Gaas-Mems Oscillators Based On Piezoelectrically-Transduced Zno-On-Soi Micromechanical Resonators, Di Lan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research focused on CMOS-MEMS integrated oscillator has been done using various foundry compatible integration techniques. In order to compensate the integration compatibility, MEMS resonators built on standard CMOS foundry process could not take full advantage of highest achievable quality factor on chip. System-in-package (SiP) and system-on-chip (SoC) is becoming the next generation of electronic packaging due to the need of multi-functional devices and multi-sensor systems, thus wafer level hybrid integration becomes the key to enable the full assembly of dissimilar devices. In this way, every active circuit and passive component can be individually optimized, so do the MEMS resonators …

Precise, General, And Efficient Data-Flow Analysis For Security Vetting Of Android Apps, Fengguo Wei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a new approach to static analysis for security vetting of Android apps, and a general framework called Argus-SAF. Argus-SAF determines points-to information for all objects in an Android app component in a flow and context-sensitive (user-configurable) way and performs data-flow and data dependence analysis for the component. Argus-SAF also tracks inter-component communication activities. It can stitch the component-level information into the app- level information to perform intra-app or inter-app analysis. Moreover, Argus-SAF is NDK/JNI- aware and can efficiently track precise data-flow across language boundary. This dissertation shows that, (a) the aforementioned type of comprehensive app analysis is …

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. …

Survey Research In Postsecondary Chemistry Education: Measurements Of Faculty Members’ Instructional Practice And Students’ Affect, Rebecca E. Gibbons

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collection of data through survey-type measurements and analysis contributes rich, meaningful information to the chemical education research enterprise. This dissertation reports two strands of research that each contribute a “snapshot” of the state of chemical education on two different levels. The first uses survey research methods, collecting data from faculty members to learn about postsecondary chemistry education across the United States. The second uses survey instruments of student achievement emotions within the organic chemistry classroom, collecting longitudinal data to learn about the relationships of emotions with achievement over time. Both areas are of interest because chemical education research produces evidence-based …

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 …

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 …

Understanding Agricultural-Land Conservation From The Perspective Of Landowners In Franklin County, Massachusetts, Rocio Lalanda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What motivates agricultural-land owners to use conservation easements? As these legal tools have become a popular strategy for private land conservation in the U.S., a growing body of literature is examining how and why landowners conserve their properties through conservation easements. This research project expands upon environmental, geographical and rural land development literature through a qualitative fieldwork study of 34 private, conservation landowners associated with the Franklin Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization in western Massachusetts. The study identifies a broad range of environmental, social, spiritual and financial motivations for agricultural-land owners to conserve their properties, and indicates that for …

Similarity Based Large Scale Malware Analysis: Techniques And Implications, Yuping Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malware analysis and detection continues to be one of the central battlefields for cybersecurity industry. For the desktop malware domain, we observed multiple significant ransomware attacks in the past several years, e.g., it was estimated that in 2017 the WannaCry ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 computers across 150 countries with hundreds of millions damages. Similarly, we witnessed the increased impacts of Android malware on global individuals due to the popular smartphone and IoT devices worldwide. In this dissertation, we describe similarity comparison based novel techniques that can be applied to achieve large scale desktop and Android malware analysis, and …

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 …

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 …

Emerging Non-Volatile Memory Technologies For Computing And Security, Rekha Govindaraj

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With CMOS technology scaling reaching its limitations rigorous research of alternate and competent technologies is paramount to push the boundaries of computing. Spintronic and resistive memories have proven to be effective alternatives in terms of area, power and performance to CMOS because of their non-volatility, ability for logic computing and easy integration with CMOS. However, deeper investigations to understand their physical phenomenon and improve their properties such as writability, stability, reliability, endurance, uniformity with minimal device-device variations is necessary for deployment as memories in commercial applications. Application of these technologies beyond memory and logic are investigated in this thesis i.e. …