Digital Commons Network^™

Seasonality In Competence To Transmit West Nile Virus For A Widespread Reservoir, Kyle L. Koller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

All organisms face a central conflict; a limited supply of resources must beoptimally allocated to competing biological functions. Utilizing robust immune defenses can be energetically costly;, thus, immune function is often diminished when other processes, such as reproduction, molt, or migration demand energy. As wild animals residing in temporally dynamic environments face seasonal patterns in resource availability, infectious disease risk, and environmental suitability, many species have evolved endogenous biological rhythms so that the performance of reproduction, molt, or migration and the associated trade-off with immune function be completed when doing so best promotes fitness. In turn, this demand to optimize …

The Importance Of Lithologic Variability And Stratigraphic Architecture In The Development Of Eogenetic Karst Systems, Nicholas J. Soto-Kerans

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Integrative characterizations of karst systems on low-lying eogenetic carbonate platforms are rare and often limited to areas of direct observation where caves can be entered and explored. Because hydraulic properties of eogenetic limestones have been implicitly assumed to be homogeneous, classical models of carbonate island karst development stressed the importance of geochemical interfaces in controlling cave and vug development. These studies have explained the largest cavern systems as results of either 1) mixing dissolution at platform margins or 2) microbially-mediated dissolution processes at water tables.

New data from core descriptions and wireline logs obtained in 18 boreholes drilled in the …

Modeling The Ambient Conditions Of A Manufacturing Environment Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd), Yang Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As manufacturing equipment evolve to higher speed and require high precision operations, the impact of environmental changes on machine accuracy becomes critical. Due to thermal expansion, the structure of the machine can change when ambient temperature varies. When the airflow in the laboratory changes, this also alters the operator's thermal comfort. Either the change in machine structure or operator comfort can ultimately affect machine accuracy. The manufacturing industry is currently using heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to regulate the temperature of the working environment. However, since conventional HVAC systems determine whether to activate the HVAC system by collecting the …

Expansion-Contraction: Spatial And Temporal Variability In Connectivity In A Stream-Wetland Flow Network, Savannah Fransbergen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The seasonal expansion and contraction in a stream-wetland flow network is often difficult to characterize due to a lack of accurate mapping products, but proper characterization is important for the management of these resources. A new approach to mapping hydrography, resulting in a Regional Hydrography Dataset (RHD), may offer additional insights not provided by the national standard, the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). The RHD can be customized to provide seasonal or monthly hydrograph, whereas the NHD is static. We conducted field validation (241 sites) and geospatial analyses to assess the accuracy of these products in the northern Tampa Bay Area. …

Effects Of Nitrate On Arsenic Mobilization During Aquifer Storage And Recovery, Hania Hawasli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aquifer storage and recovery technology is used to sustain water resources and to prevent saltwater intrusion. The injected water can come from various resources, including treated wastewater. In pilot ASR studies in the Tampa Bay region, researchers found high As concentrations in the recovered water from the oxidation of the arsenopyrite that is embedded in the aquifers. The presence of dissolved O2 in the injected water is a major factor in the arsenopyrite oxidation during ASR, however the effects of NO3- on the arsenopyrite has not been studied yet. This is an important knowledge gap because injected water may contain …

An Assessment Of Nutrient Improvement In Surface Water Due To The Conversion Of Onsite Sewage Treatment And Disposal Systems To Sewerage, Jenelle A. Mohammed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida represents approximately 12% of all onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS) in the United States. Properly designed, constructed and maintained OSTDS are effective eco- friendly alternatives for the treatment of domestic wastewater from households not serviced by public sewer systems. However, conventional OSTDS are not designed to effectively remove nitrogen. If installed and improperly used, they may contribute other pollutants. OSTDS have also been linked to degraded water quality in some regions. However, it has been difficult to quantify OSTDS impacts on water quality because of various confounding factors such as point and non-point sources of nutrient input. …

Multi-Object Localization In Robotic Hand, Tsing Tsow

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We have developed a machine learning approach to localized objects inside a robotic hand using only images from 2D cameras. Specifically, we used deep learning method (You Only Look Once, YOLO) and Iterative closest Point (ICP) to estimate the 3D coordinates of the objects in a robotic hand. This method will also output the number of objects inside the robotic hand in addition to the coordinates of the objects. We have demonstrated the performance with simulation and obtained typical accuracy within a few pixels (couple mm) and counting accuracy of about 76%. We have also applied it to real images, …

Slow Slip Events And The Earthquake Cycle, Nicholas K. Voss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Slow Slip Events (SSEs) represent a new type of strain release along faults, which have onlybeen recognized as a global phenomena with the growth of precision space-borne geodetic techniques. These events represent an important part of the strain budget on faults, sometimes bounding the area of co-seismic release and perhaps limiting the amount of seismic energy release. SSEs have also been suggested to proceed large megathrust earthquakes including the great 2011 Tohoku and 2015 Iquique earthquakes. I document a series of SSE along the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. These events take place both before and after the 2012 M7.6 …

Residential Curbside Recycle Context Analysis, Ntchanang Mpafe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Curbside recycling as a preferred mode of residential and municipal sustainability goals seems to have an overwhelming acceptance and adoption in the US. About 69.8 million out of 97.3 million (72%) single-family households in the United States have access to curbside recycling services (State of Curbside Recycling Report, 2020). Collectively, the programs divert about nine million tons of recyclables from landfill disposal each year (Cottom, 2019).

For a design that started in the 1980s in the US, its rapid universal adoption seems to have precluded a concerted effort in examining the coproduced nature (Households: service receptors and Municipalities: service providers) …

Texturing In Bi2Te3 Alloy Thermoelectric Materials: An Applied Physics Investigation, Oluwagbemiga P. Ojo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thermoelectric devices provide the means for direct conversion between heat and electricity. The device conversion efficiency, or performance, is directly related to the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, of the working materials. Bismuth telluride alloys are the materials currently in use in most thermoelectric devices for near room temperature solid-state refrigeration and power conversion applications. The vast majority of publications in the literature on thermoelectricity report on investigations towards developing new materials with enhanced thermoelectric properties, however Bi₂Te₃ alloys have been used in thermoelectric devices for decades.

In this thesis, an investigation of crystallographic texturing on large …

Teachers' Perspectives Of Implementing Restorative Justice, Antonio G. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of restorative justice in the school system is an emerging philosophy for handling student discipline that seeks alternative methods for solving problematic behavior than traditional or retributive approaches that are detrimental to the education and well-being of students. Student discipline is a controversial topic in education circles, resulting in many school districts looking to implement restorative practice program initiatives. Responses that are restorative, largely decrease the chances of recidivism. Zero-tolerance policies that were originally enforced to keep schools safe, have proven to not have the desired effect as intended, most arguably making schools less safe. There is a …

Informing Complexity: The Business Case For Managing Digital Twins Of Complex Process Facilities As A Valuable Asset, William Randell Mcnair

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Digital Twins of complex facilities, specifically 3D models created during their design, is a potentially valuable information asset. This three- article dissertation explores the business case for firms in the petrochemical process industry to manage throughout the facility lifecycle. A maturity model is provided to illustrate the stages of digital twin evolution and serves as a tool to help communicate each of the five levels of digital twin maturity achievable in various use cases. An industry analysis reviews existing literature and proposes a model to assess informing or insight value of digital twins from three perspectives. Next, an empirical …

Automated Identification Of Stages In Gonotrophic Cycle Of Mosquitoes Using Computer Vision Techniques, Sherzod Kariev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, we design Computer Vision techniques to determine stages in the Gonotrophic cycle of mosquitoes. The dataset for our problem came from 125 adult female mosquitoes - each of which belonged to one of three species - Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus, and Anopheles stephensi. The mosquitoes were raised in a lab and passed through all fourGonotrophic stages (Un-fed, Fully-fed, Semi-gravid, and Gravid). At each stage, their images were captured on a plain background via a Xiaomi smartphone, resulting in a dataset of 1784 images. The images were then augmented using standard techniques to generate a larger dataset of …

Synthesis Of A Multimodal Ecological Model For Scalable, High-Resolution Arboviral Risk Prediction In Florida, Sean P. Beeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) represent the two greatest endemic arboviral risks to the state of Florida. Currently, no approved human vaccine exists for the prevention of either virus. In the absence of a vaccine, effective disease surveillance is paramount for public health. In Florida, WNV and EEEV sentinel chicken surveillance is conducted by mosquito control programs operated at the county, municipality, or special taxing district level. This program was implemented in 1978 following human outbreaks of St. Louis Encephalitis virus (SLEV) that occurred between 1959 and 1977, with initial sentinel coops placed in proximity …

Assessing Morphological Response And Vulnerability Of Barrier Islands To Extreme Storms In Northwest Florida, Jacob Adam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Barrier islands shield the mainland coast from the effects of extreme storms such as increased wave energy and storm surge. During these events, however, barrier morphology can be altered by erosive forces. Thus, compromising the protection offered and leading to increased impact on the mainland. The St. Joseph Peninsula, located in the Northwest of the Gulf of Mexico, is one such barrier at threat from storm-induced erosion. Presented here is an assessment of morphology change induced by two major storms to impact the peninsula, Hurricanes Dennis 2005 and Michael 2018. These changes characterize the erosive/depositional patterns that can be expected …

Computer Simulation For Continuous Centrifugation Of High-Density Cell Cultures, Hironori Tomizawa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perfusion bioreactors are used for cell production for cell therapies. The system uses cell separation devices such as centrifuge to facilitate cell growth by separating cells and spent media and allows constant media replacement. However, current cell separation technologies can increase shear stress, are generally not continuous processes, and are not as efficient as desired. These limit the amount of media replaced per unit time. Therefore, there is a need for a new system or a method that operates continuously to minimize cell damage, yield high cell concentration, and exchange media effectively. A set of research questions was formulated: (1) …

Using Hyper-Dimensional Spanning Trees To Improve Structure Preservation During Dimensionality Reduction, Curtis Thomas Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding relations in hyper-dimensional data is a prevalent problem, which is often approached by using dimensionality reduction. The structure preserved from the original data is often dependent on the type of dimension reduction algorithm used, and it can produce results that vary substantially from one another. Visualizing hyper-dimensional data helps to understand the data, but it presents a problem, as our visualizations rely upon two or three-dimensional displays. Current dimension reduction methods, used to reduce hyper-dimensional data to low-dimensional data, often produce results that fail to preserve the structure as the complexity of the data increases. This reduction in dimension …

Constructing Frameworks For Task-Optimized Visualizations, Ghulam Jilani Abdul Rahim Quadri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Visualization is crucial in today’s data-driven world to augment and enhance human understanding and decision-making. Effective visualizations must support accuracy in visual task performance and expressive data communication. Effective visualization design depends on the visual channels used, chart types, or visual tasks. However, design choices and visual judgment are co-related, and effectiveness is not one-dimensional, leading to a significant need to understand the intersection of these factors to create optimized visualizations. Hence, constructing frameworks that consider both design decisions and the task being performed enables optimizing visualization design to maximize efficacy. This dissertation describes experiments, techniques, and user studies to …

Dynamical System And Parameter Identification For Power Systems, Abdullah Abdulrahman Alassaf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The complexity of dynamical analysis has been growing to suffice the understanding and modeling of dynamical systems. Besides its nonlinearity and high-dimensionality, the dynamics of power systems contain uncertainty that complicates its analysis. Recently, dynamical modeling has been categorized into three types: white-box, black-box, and gray-box. White-box modeling has the accessibility of all system components. Black-box modeling has the observability of the system measurements without knowing the actual system. Gray-box modeling has the observability of the system measurements with the reachability to some of the system components. The scope of this dissertation focuses on black-box and gray-box models to achieve …

Comparison Of Parameter Estimation Approaches For Multi-Unidimensional Pairwise Preference Tests, Naidan Tu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multidimensional forced choice (MFC) testing has been proposed as a way of reducing response biases in noncognitive measurement. Although early item response theory (IRT) research focused on illustrating that trait scores with normative properties could be obtained using various MFC models and formats, more recent attention has been devoted to exploring the processes involved in test construction and how that influences MFC scores. This research compared two approaches for estimating Multi-Unidimensional Pairwise Preference model (MUPP; Stark et al., 2005) parameters based on the Generalized Graded Unfolding Model (GGUM; Roberts et al., 2000). More specifically, we compared the efficacy of statement …

Impacts Of Model Misspecification On Individual-Level Differential Item Functioning Detection In Multilevel Data Using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model, Yue Yin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) has become more and more popular in detecting differential item functioning (DIF) items in multilevel contexts due to its flexibility and efficiency. This dissertation aims to investigate and compare four different HGLM DIF detection models under various DIF conditions with multilevel data. Three studies were conducted in this dissertation. The first two studies were simulation studies and the third one was an empirical study. Simulation Study One compared the performance of two-level HGLM and three-level HGLM with the individual-level covariate (HGLM-IL) on detecting individual-level DIF items with two-level and three-level data structures. Simulation Study Two …

Employees Breaking Bad With Technology: An Exploratory Analysis Of Human Factors That Drive Cyberspace Insider Threats, Marcus L. Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As implementation of computer systems has continued to grow in business contexts, employee-driven cyberspace infractions have also grown in number. Employee cyberspace behaviors have continued to have detrimental effects on company computer systems. Actions that violate company cybersecurity policies can be either malicious or unmalicious. Solutions, by and large, have been electronic and centered on hardware and software. Those proposing solutions have begun to shift their focus to human risk vulnerabilities.

This study was novel in that its focus was identification of individual, cultural, and technological risk factors that drive cyberspace insider threat activities. Identifying factors that reduce insider threat …

Managing Health Locus Of Control In Patient-Provider Relationships, James Wallace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patient locus of control is a strong determinant of health outcomes, yet health care professionals do not typically address it in care plans. In fact, management of most medical conditions is hindered because the treating physician has little information about the patient’s locus of control. This research addresses the question “How can locus of control be used to enable health care practitioners to improve medical outcomes?”

Research Methodology. Using an engaged scholarship approach incorporating the Elaborated Action Design Research methodology, the research drives the guided, emergent design of a novel protocol and two separate artifacts for management of health locus …

From River To Sea: Improving Carbon System Measurement Methods For Use In Rivers, Estuaries, And Oceans, Ellie Hudson-Heck

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last 30 years, spectrophotometric methodologies have been developed, with increasing rigor, to accurately measure all four carbon system parameters: total alkalinity (A_T), total carbon (C_T), partial pressure of CO₂ (pCO₂), and pH. Spectrophotometric measurements of carbon system parameters rely on quantitative characterizations of the response of sulfonephthalein indicator dyes (e.g., meta-cresol purple (mCP), thymol blue (TB), and bromocresol purple (BCP)) to changing solution pH, as well the response of indicator physical-chemical characteristics to key environmental variables (salinity (S_P), temperature (T), and pressure). Until recently, the physical-chemical properties …

Asking The Experts: Perception Of The Relative Importance Of Antecedents Of Optimal Financial Behavior, Chad M. Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although there is ample research on financial behavior, the inclusion of financial planners in the sample frames of such research is rare. This study used certified financial planners (CFPs) as the sole sample population to identify antecedents of optimal financial behavior and their relative importance. Data from a nationally representative sample of 167 CFPs indicated that (a) financial literacy lost relative importance as CFP tenure increased, (b) romantic partnership closely rivaled financial literacy in importance, (c) financial literacy was more weakly correlated with romantic partnership than with the other antecedents investigated, and (d) romantic partnership was universally accepted as a …

Social Constructivism In Chemistry Peer Leaders And Organic Chemistry Students, Aaron M. Clark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social constructivist learning is a goal in many STEM programs. The goal of this dissertation is to shed light on what that pedagogy looks like in the context of organic chemistry courses and by peer leaders whose job is to implement this pedagogy with general chemistry and organic chemistry students. Learning is complex; the social constructivist ideas presented in this dissertation, however, are a straightforward means for promoting learning. Qualitative and quantitative methods used to explore social constructivist learning are outlined.

Three investigations were conducted: First, approaches to learning by students completing the first semester of a yearlong organic chemistry …

Human-Centered Cybersecurity Research — Anthropological Findings From Two Longitudinal Studies, Anwesh Tuladhar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity is a pressing issue. Researchers have proposed numerous security solutions over the years in order to combat security issues but it is still common to find known, well understood security issues in production environments. In this thesis, I seek to find the underlying reasons to why existing security solutions and best practices are not consistently applied and how to improve the utilization of secure best practices. To this end, I adopt the anthropological research method of long term participant observation and embed myself in real-world settings in order to understand the existence of security issues and the perception of …

Synthesis Of Small Molecules For The Treatment Of Infectious Diseases, Elena Bray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drug discovery’s impact on modern healthcare cannot be measured. In the past year, the world has watched scientists all around the globe work together to help protect the public from the novel coronavirus pandemic. Although sometimes slow and costly, drug discovery is important for advancing modern society. Drug discovery is at the core of treating diseases and in particular, infectious diseases. In the first chapter an overview of drug discovery will be discussed in a brief manner.

The second chapter will introduce infectious diseases. In modern society, the development of small molecule treatments for treating bacteria, viruses, and fungi has …

The Is Social Continuance Model: Using Conversational Agents To Support Co-Creation, Naif Alawi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the rise of Agentic IS Artifact and the increasing integration of this technology within organizations, our understanding of the impact of this technology on individuals remains limited. Although IS use literature provides important guidance for organization to increase employees’ willingness to work with new technology implementations, the utilitarian view of prior IS use limits its application in light of the new evolving social interaction between humans and Agentic IS Artifacts. To that end, we contribute to the IS use literature by implementing a social view to understand the impact of Agentic IS Artifacts on an individual’s perception and behavior. …

Riemann-Hilbert Problems For Nonlocal Reverse-Time Nonlinear Second-Order And Fourth-Order Akns Systems Of Multiple Components And Exact Soliton Solutions, Alle Adjiri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We first investigate the solvability of an integrable nonlinear nonlocal reverse-time six-component fourth-order AKNS system generated from a reduced coupled AKNS hierarchy under a reverse-time reduction. Riemann-Hilbert problems will be formulated by using the associated matrix spectral problems, and exact soliton solutions will be derived from the reflectionless case corresponding to an identity jump matrix. Secondly, we present the inverse scattering transform for solving a class of eight-component AKNS integrable equations obtained by a specific reduction associated with a block matrix spectral problem. The inverse scattering transform based on Riemann-Hilbert problems is presented along with a jump matrix taken to …