Digital Commons Network^™

The Perceived Utility Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing Marketed For Athletic Ability, Katherine L. Zimmerman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Factors that influence the public’s interest in pursuing genetic testing to determine athletic ability are not yet known. The purpose of this study is to compare interest in genetic testing marketed for athletic ability and susceptibility to sports-related injuries among athletes and the general public. Additionally, this study aims to determine if genetic determinism, knowledge and elements of perceived utility influence their overall intention to use the results of such genetic testing. Participants were recruited through social media platforms to complete an online survey measuring their intention to pursue testing under various circumstances, intention to use the results to change …

Novel Educational Material For Patients With A Variant Of Uncertain Significance (Vus) In A Cancer Risk Gene, Meghan E. Kelley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of individuals being tested for hereditary cancer syndromes has greatly increased in the last several years and many people receive Variants of Uncertain Significance (VUS) as a test result. Although VUS results should not guide medical management, patients and even some healthcare providers continue to use a VUS to alter or receive unnecessary medical care.

We conducted a needs assessment via literature review and analyzed VUS patient interviews from a previous study with the goal of identifying various themes that could help determine content, layout, and messaging to incorporate into online educational materials. The needs assessment found few …

Evaluating Video Modeling To Teach A Block Schedule Trial-Based Functional Analysis, Alyssa N. Zak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Functional analyses (FAs) are considered the gold standard for determining the function of behavior. However, behavior analysts have cited several perceived barriers that hinder the use of FAs, particularly a lack of time, dedicated space, and trained staff to conduct the analysis. Analyses such as the trial-based FA have been adapted from the traditional session-based FA in order to overcome some of these barriers. The block schedule trial-based FA (Gonzalez, 2018) has had one of the highest correspondence rates between the trial-based and the session-based FA to date. Research from past studies suggest that video modeling is an effective way …

Formulation And Characterization Of Raloxifene Nanostructured Lipid Carries For Permeability Enhancement Applications, Anju Sharma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Raloxifene (RLX), a BCS class-II drug is a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM)having estrogenic effect on bone and antiestrogenic effect on endometrium and breast respectively. Low solubility, high permeability, high metabolism and low bioavailability are the characteristics of raloxifene. It is used to prevent and treat in women and those on It is also used to reduce the risk of in those at high risk. Although 60% is absorbed orally, raloxifene shows extremely poor bioavailability (2%) owing to its low solubility and an extensive (>90%) intestinal/hepatic first-pass metabolism. Hence it becomes important to increase the solubility of raloxifene in …

Preference For Social Stimuli: A Comparison Of Stimulus Modes Used In Preference Assessments, Shannon Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social stimuli are some of the most commonly used reinforcers in clinical programming(Graff & Karsten, 2012) and previous research shows that preference for social stimuli can be identified using variations of a paired stimulus preference assessment (PSPA; Fisher et al., 1992). Previous studies evaluating preference for social stimuli have employed video stimuli (Wolfe et al., 2018), pictures of the actual social stimuli (Kelly et al., 2014), and pictures of arbitrary shapes (Morris & Vollmer, 2019). To date, no study has evaluated the correspondence in preference for social stimuli across these three stimulus modes. Therefore, the purposes of this study were …

White Too Long: Christianity Or Nationalism?, Rachel E. Osborne

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tension, racism, and violence being enacted in the name of Christianity have brought new attention to the work of many scholars of religion who have documented and analyzed the relationship between white Christianity and racism in the U.S. In his 2020 book White Too Long, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) director and religious studies scholar Robert P. Jones states unequivocally that “[i]n survey after survey, white Christians stand out in their negative attitudes about racial, ethnic, and religious minorities (especially Muslims), the unequal treatment of African Americans by police and the criminal justice system, their anxieties about the changing face …

Americans’ Familiarity, Interest, And Actions With Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing, Riley L. Carroll

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: In 2013, 36% of the U.S. public was aware of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic tests, but updated studies are needed to identify whether this has changed over time. Objective: The aims are to determine current awareness and utilization of DTC tests and to identify demographic factors that influence testing uptake. Methods: An online panel survey of 543 U.S. adults was conducted using age- and sex-based quotas. Descriptive statistics and binary regression identified factors associated with undergoing DTC testing and linear regression was conducted to identify factors associated with likelihood of using DTC testing for athletic ability to …

Threatened By The Outback: Landscape And Ecology In The Australian New Wave, Richard T. Dyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholarship discussing the Australian outback as a cinematic setting often conceives of this space as sharing a “frontier iconography” with the American west. A significant element of this conception is attributed to the natural features of these setting’s respective landscapes, which are said to share an arid climate, rugged geologic formations, and vast open spaces. In this project I instead strive to challenge the associations frequently conjured between these natural spaces by identifying an ecological stance within the Australian “new wave” outback film that is at odds with the presentation of the landscape in both classical Hollywood westerns and the …

Promoting Hpv Vaccination With Vaccine-Hesitant Parents Using Social Media: A Formative Research Mixed-Method Study, Silvia Sommariva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vaccine hesitancy, the refusal or delay in complying with set immunization schedules, has been proclaimed one of the “ten threats to global health” by the World Health Organization in 2019. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of vaccine promotion and management of vaccine hesitancy. While anti-vaccine arguments have not surprisingly evolved much over the past decades, the speed at which those ideas spread has. Web-based technologies, such as social network sites (SNSs), provide a fertile ground for vaccine-related misinformation to spread. Therefore, SNSs are a primary channel to scale efforts to address vaccine hesitancy, using customized approaches. …

Four Hollywood Film Adaptations Of Little Women: Identifying Female Subjectivity In Characters, Plots, And Authorship, Haiyu Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines the expressions of the limits and possibilities of female subjectivity in the four Hollywood film adaptations of Little Women, filmed in 1933, 1949, 1994, and 2019 respectively, by combining textual and audience analysis with adaptation theory, feminist film theory, and feminist adaptation theory. In exploring the disparate femininity of female characters, the different representations of plots, and the authorship and changes of structure, I argue that the 1933 and 1949 versions present evidently conservative and patriarchal characteristics in the text, but their female subjectivity can be obtained through the complexity of emotion of the female audience …

Evaluation Of A Spanish-Language Educational Tool For Inherited Cancer, Stefania Alastre

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A web-based educational tool designed to cover pre-test genetic counseling elements for multi-gene hereditary cancer panel testing increased knowledge and decisional empowerment among an English-speaking cohort actively seeking information about genetic testing. The purpose of this study was to pilot a Spanish-language version of this tool using a pre- post- survey design to assess for changes in knowledge and informed decision making about genetic testing and obtain additional feedback using semi-structured interviews. Spanish-speaking individuals were recruited online. Although several participants expressed that the tool was informative, interesting, and that they liked it, time stamps for the post-survey suggested that most …

Drug Candidates Targeting Hsp90/Cdc37 For The Treatment Of Neurodegenerative Disease, Ryan Martin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neurodegenerative disease refers to the death of specific populations of neurons that canresult in dementia, loss of voluntary muscle motility, and other abnormalities. Two major neurodegenerative diseases are Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), which are linked to abnormalities in Tau and a-synuclein proteins, respectively. Currently, there is no cure for these diseases. Our group and others have shown that chaperone proteins play a critical role in the processing of Tau and a-synuclein. The inhibition of the Hsp90/Cdc37 chaperone complex is shown to affect the levels of these two proteins. Hence, we hypothesized that a drug molecule, conglobatin (Cb), …

The Little Things That Count: Mapping Diversity Of West Florida’S Shelf, Nicole L. Seiden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biodiversity is essential to the ecosystem functions responsible for generating the multi-billion-dollar industries that the US relies on for food, storm mitigation, tourism and recreation, but is facing increasing natural and anthropogenic threats. High-resolution diversity data covering large spatial areas would enhance current ecology knowledge and better address conservation concerns in the Gulf of Mexico. However, acquiring and handling data of this nature is resource intensive and has not yet been established. In this study, high spatial resolution data was collected from gastropod living and death assemblages collected over 10 years from the West Florida Shelf (WFS). A multivariate regression …

Assessing The Validity Of The Automatic Reinforcement Screening Assessment, Taylin Rhey Byerly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stereotypy is commonly observed in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). (Bodfish et al., 2000; Koegel & Covert, 1972) and vocal stereotypy has been found to impede skill acquisition and be socially stigmatizing (Gibbs et al., 2018; Liu-Gitz, & Banda, 2010;). Although vocal stereotypy is often maintained by automatic reinforcement (Ahearn et al., 2007), until recent years it was common practice to conduct a functional analysis consisting of multiple test conditions and at least one control condition (e.g., Iwata et al., 1982/1994) to identify its function. However, research suggests that a screening assessment (Querim et al., 2013) may be an …

Using A Peer-Mediated Bullying Safety Skills Intervention For Children With Disabilities, Jennifer Leigh Trapani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As bullying continues to be a growing problem in schools, research is needed to further evaluate the effectiveness of current bullying prevention and intervention programs for children with disabilities. The peer-mediated intervention (PMI) is an evidence-based practice that has been successful in teaching social skills to children with disabilities. PMI literature can be extended by exploring and evaluating its effectiveness in teaching bullying safety skills to children with disabilities. The current study examined the use of PMI to teach children with disabilities bullying safety skills with four students (2 peers and 2 learners) in grades kindergarten and third grade. Typically …

Quantifying The Gametogenic Cycle And Reproductive Efforts In The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) In Florida Estuaries, Nicole Patrice Maloney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oyster populations from six estuaries in Florida were sampled monthly from January to December of 2018 for reproduction and health analysis. Sites were located in Apalachicola Bay, Caloosahatchee River estuary, Lake Worth lagoon, Loxahatchee River estuary, St. Lucie estuary, and Tampa Bay. Oysters monitored for analysis in South Florida (Loxahatchee River estuary, St. Lucie estuary, and Caloosahatchee River estuary) were chosen as they are a part of a monitoring component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. These estuaries are highly influenced by freshwater input from Lake Okeechobee and other river basins. Like the South Florida sites Apalachicola Bay is also …

The Rise Of The "Gatecrashers": The Growing Impact Of Athletes Breaking News On Mainstream Media Through Social Media, Michael Nabors

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study provided a detailed examination into how gatekeeping theory is losing its traditional impact due to the increased opportunities social media has afforded the modern athlete. For the purposes of this research, those athletes who communicate through social media were able to circumvent traditional mainstream media (MSM) to broadcast their own messaging and as a result, the exclusivity of their respective content is frequently relevant to contemporary news organizations. The research explored how the MSM uses the content it airs from these athletes. An important distinction and goal of this study was to determine whether this messaging used by …

This Is It: Latina/X Representation On One Day At A Time, Camille Ruiz Mangual

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the tensions between contemporary Latina/x representations and problematic tropes in the sitcom, One Day at a Time (2017-2020) [ODAAT]. ODAAT centers of Elena, Penelope, and Lydia, three generations of a Latina/x family. Many entertainment reviewers and fans praised the series for its progressive and nuanced portrayals of Latina/x characters. However, I argue that while ODAAT depicts Latina/x characters that transcend some United States mainstream media tropes about Latinas/xs, the series also relies on conventional markers of Latina/x identity as tools with which to communicate progressive messages around identity. I expand upon scholarship in Latina/o media …

¿De Dónde Eres?: Negotiating Identity As Third Culture Kids, Sophia Margulies

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sparked by David C. Pollock's (1988) concept of "third culture kids" (children of government officials and military personnel), this thesis uses autoethnography to examine "white-passing" Latinx identity and gender passing as it relates to individuals who identify as transgender to understand what it means to "pass" within these communication contexts. I situate the study at the intersections of queer, trans, and Latinx theories. Ultimately, I argue that the communicative and identity practices inherent to the liminal spaces in which third culture kids perform create the conditions for performances as transnational subjects. What the contexts of place and home are like, …

Glutathione-S-Transferase Mu 1 (Gstm1) Gene Augmentation Attenuated Oxidative Stress Induced Changes In Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells (Rpe), Riddhi Sandeep Vichare

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Loss of Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) cells and photoreceptors leads to Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly worldwide. Oxidative stress-mediated damage is one of the factors that impair the survival of RPE and photoreceptors in dry-AMD. We sought to determine the role of human Glutathione S-Transferase Mu-1 (GSTM1) in protecting RPE cells from oxidative stress-induced changes.

Method: We cloned human GSTM1 cDNA with P2A tag into a lenti-plasmid vector and later made a lentivector to express GSTM1. After that, we infected human retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE-19), screened stable ARPE-19 cells …

Cultivating Courage: Medical Dramas And Portrayals Of Patient Self-Advocacy, Alyssa H. Harrell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the influence of medical dramas on perceptions of patient self- advocacy. With a purposeful sample of college students, the study explored perceptions of information seeking preferences of a medical drama patient. With a quasi-experimental design using an online questionnaire containing both qualitative and quantitative measures, the study was able to compare four unique variables to perceptions of the information seeking preferences of a medical drama patient. The study analyzed the influence that (1) medical drama exposure, (2) patient advocacy rating, (3) perceived realism of medical dramas, and (4) previous experience healthcare each had on college students’ perceptions …

Effect Of Temperature On Growth And Gene Expression In The Marine Diatom, Thalassiosira Pseudonana, John M. Foster

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diatoms are unicellular, eukaryotic, photosynthetic algae responsible for the production of 20% of our atmospheric oxygen. Diatoms contribute to several important biogeochemical functions. Diatoms contribute to the carbon cycle, sequestering carbon and forming oxygen as a product of photosynthesis. Moreover, by converting abiotic forms of energy such as sunlight into organic compounds (i.e., sugars, starches and lipids), primary producers including diatoms, plants, and phytoplankton feed organisms at higher trophic levels. Consequently, changes in temperature, light intensity, nutrients, salinity and other stress factors that affect primary producers can generate a potentially catastrophic ripple effect at higher trophic levels In this study …

Eating And Body Image Disorders In The Time Of Covid19: An Anthropological Inquiry Into The Pandemic’S Effects On The Bodies, Theresa A. Stoddard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lifestyle changes are impacting the experiences of self-identifying women and females with body image disorders (BIDs) and/or eating disorders (EDs), focusing on the mental, physical, and emotional health of participants. Using surveys, person-centered semi-structured interviews, and autoethnography, I collected qualitative and quantitative data regarding the challenges, triumphs, hopes, and fears of participants regarding their EDs/BIDs during the pandemic and situated their experiences within their sociocultural context. Drawing on anthropological and psychological theory, I examine the data through the lenses of Scheper-Hughes’s and Lock’s “The Three Bodies” (the body politic, body …

The Influence Of Hate Speech On Tiktok On Chinese College Students, Tengyue Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research is whether Chinese college students' attitudes to hate speech and hate speech censorship systems will be affected by the hate speech in TikTok. Meanwhile, the research could explore the third-person effect of hate speech on TikTok on Chinese college students. An online survey was designed for this research. 658 participants who are college students in China completed the online survey. The results showed that Chinese college students believed hate speech on TikTok would affect themselves, while others will affect less by hate speech. The results also stated that the attitude toward the censorship system affects …

The Effect Of Cement And Blast Furnace Slag Characteristics On Expansion Of Heat-Cured Mortar Specimens, Jair G. Burgos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Delayed ettringite formation (DEF) is a durability issue that typically occurs in concrete exposed to high temperatures at an early age such as precast elements and massive concrete structural elements. There are many advantages to precast concrete such as its quality control, better safety control, and reusable forms, which make them cheaper than casting on site [1]. Heat curing of precast concrete is conducted to obtain high early-strength. However, in doing so, durability issues can arise in the form of internal sulfate attack also known as DEF, if the internal temperature of concrete exceeds 70°C. Past this threshold, ettringite decomposes …

Novel Co2 Transporters From Autotrophic Bacteria From Extreme Environments, Sarah E. Schmid

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autotrophic organisms are responsible for introducing carbon into food webs. These organisms take up dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and use it as their major carbon source, converting it to biomass using a variety of carbon fixing pathways (e.g., the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle). In nature, DIC concentrations can be low or temporally heterogeneous, so autotrophic organisms adapt with CO2 concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) to facilitate the acquisition and fixation of this dissolved gas. CCMs consist of membrane-spanning DIC transporters, which elevate intracellular DIC concentrations, which in turn are harvested by carboxysomes, proteinaceous microcompartments that contain the carboxylase Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase (RubisCO) and carbonic anhydrase. …

Social Cues In Animated Pedagogical Agents For Second Language Learners: The Application Of The Embodiment Principle In Video Design, Sahar M. Alyahya

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the involvement of the Social Agency Theory within a multimedia learning environment to improve English language proficiency. The primary aim of this study is to find the effects of designing language learning instructional videos following the embodiment principle on language learners’ motivation, cognitive load and performance in production of the target language. According to Social Agency Theory, when multimedia learning includes social cues like an on-screen agent with humanlike features (e.g., hand gestures, body movements, eye contact, and facial expressions), the quality of learning will be increased. To examine the effect of the embodiment principle, the study …

The Relationship Between New Graduate Registered Nurse Knowledge, Experiences, Attitudes, And Age Bias Toward The Older Adult, Michelle Fox

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There had been a lack of research on the relationship between a new graduate Registered Nurses’ knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and age bias toward older adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there was a relationship between new graduate Registered Nurses’ knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and age bias toward older adults.

The researcher used correlational, non-experimental, quantitative design for this study. The instruments used in this study were the Facts on Aging Quiz, the Kogan Attitude Toward Old People scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the demographic data and correlation coefficients were used to …

The Differential Effects Of Navigational Aids On Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Virginia Morash-Macneil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the differential effects of a GPS based navigational app displayed on a smartwatch and a paper map on the ability of individuals with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities (ID) to independently navigate unfamiliar walking routes. A single case alternating treatment design was used to compare the effectiveness of these navigation supports on independent pedestrian navigation. Five adults ranging in age from 26 to 45 with mild to moderate ID participated in the study. Visual analysis and the comparison of means between treatments indicate an increase in performance during the app treatment phase for all participants. Overall, all …

Credibility Of Spokespersons And E-Cigarette Prevention Messages: Elaboration Likelihood Model And The Moderating Role Of Perceived Risk, Emmanuel Maduneme

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

E-cigarettes also referred to as vapes or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) were developed as a safer alternative to tobacco smoking, but the prevalent usage among young adults has led to deleterious mental and physical health challenges. Communications interventions against e-cigarette use have employed a variety of message strategies, but one that has not received a lot of attention is the credibility of a spokesperson and the impacts it could have. Grounded in the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the current study aimed to examine the impacts of spokesperson credibility in e-cigarette prevention messages, and the moderating role of perceived risk.

The …