Digital Commons Network^™

The Power Of Non-Compliant Logos: A New Materialist Approach To Comic Studies, Stephanie N. Phillips

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand how an image becomes a meaning-making actant. By tracing the lifecycle of an image starting with its production, I analyze how the image changes and transforms as it circulates and enters into new and sometimes unexpected relationships. Specifically, I look at the NC logo, an image found in the popular comic book Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine de Landro. The NC logo, which stands for “non-compliant,” is a fictitious symbol used on prisoner uniforms in the science-fiction comic series, and marks women who have failed to conform to societal guidelines set by …

Laser-Induced Modifications In Two-Dimensional Materials, Tariq Afaneh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted a growing interest in the lastdecade from the fundamental point of view as well as their potential applications in functional devices. Due to their high surface-to-volume ratio, the physical properties of 2D materials are very sensitive to the environmental factor such as surrounding media and illumination conditions (e.g. light-mater interaction). In the first part of this dissertation I will present recent advances in developing laser-assisted methods to tune the physical properties of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). We demonstrate laser-assisted chemical modification ultrathin TMDs, locally replacing selenium by sulfur atoms. The photo-conversion process …

Bidirectional Influences Of Decisions And Outcomes On Organizational Identity And Sustainable Viability In Small, Private, Nonprofit, Mission-Focused Higher Education Institutions, Brian J. Gilliam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As educational leaders in small, private, nonprofit, mission-focused higher education institutions confront challenges, their decisions influence organizational identity, culture, and viability. Decision-making is informed in a complex environment of internal and external influences. The purpose of this research is engaged scholarship to inform practitioners of decision-making in mission-focused institutions with better understanding of why and how adaptation is occurring, and provide a conceptual framework for decision-making and further study of organizational leadership in this important sector of higher education.

Four-year private, nonprofit, degree-granting institutions represent 34% of all accredited institutions in the United States and serve over 5 million students. …

Controlling Properties Of Light: Metamaterials Design And Methodology, Darrick Hay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electromagnetic metamaterials are materials that have designed electromagnetic properties. In general metamaterials are subwavelength and can be treated as homogeneous media with an effective permittivity and permeability. Early metamaterial designs were developed to exhibit electromagnetic responses not typically found in naturally occuring materials, but this is not a strict requirement. Metamaterials have shown promise for applications throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. The goal of this work is to present a coherent methodology for metamaterials design, fabrication and application while also describing all of the relevant physics of the designed metamaterials.

Chapter 1 is comprised of an introduction into the field of …

Feasting On Words: What University Students Learn When They Study Food Writing And Food Media, Janet K. Keeler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of food in college curriculum is unique in its ability to create lasting impact because of the keen interest millennial and Generation Z students have in what they eat and drink. Studying media with food at its core is an underutilized mechanism to show how food intersects with the lives of all people thus encouraging students to look beyond their own experiences to consider the wider society. A program evaluation of 10 semesters of food writing and food media courses at a Florida public university reveals the ways in which students make deeper connections to culture and current …

Digital Identity: A Human-Centered Risk Awareness Study, Toufic N. Chebib

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity threats and compromises have been at the epicenter of media attention; their risk and effect on people’s digital identity is something not to be taken lightly. Though cyber threats have affected a great number of people in all age groups, this study focuses on 55 to 75-year-olds, as this age group is close to retirement or already retired. Therefore, a notable compromise impacting their digital identity can have a major impact on their life.

To help guide this study, the following research question was formulated, “What are the risk perceptions of individuals, between the ages of 55 and 75 …

Sustainable Non-Noble Metal Based Catalysts For High Performance Oxygen Electrocatalysis, Swetha Ramani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current energy crisis has dramatically shifted the focus of technological advancements towards clean and renewable forms of energy. Continued dependence and utilization of fossil fuels has created global awareness on harmful greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. A need for sustainable technology has gained a lot of significance in the recent years. This has led to the development of devices and technologies that rely on environmentally friendly electrochemical conversion and storage of energy. One such advancement that generates electrical energy from chemical reactions is known as fuel cell technology. While fuel cells have demonstrated potential in replacing the conventional technologies …

Origins Of Amyloid Oligomers And Novel Approaches For Their Detection, Jeremy Barton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease, type II diabetes, and other amyloid diseases are known to be associated with the formation of amyloid aggregates. It has been thoroughly researched whether amyloid fibrils or oligomers are the main culprit for these diseases, and recent evidence has connected oligomers as the most disease relevant aggregate species. However, many difficulties have arose in confirming this hypothesis. Techniques for oligomer detection are often limited in their sensitivity, and in many cases are unable to distinguish oligomers from rigid fibrils. Additionally, the role oligomer splay in fibril assembly is still unclear, and has led to the belief that different …

Three Blended Librarians' Narratives On Developing Professional Identities, Adonis Amparo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A blended librarian holds two separate and distinct responsibilities in the academic institution. One relates to instructional technology, the other relates to the information professional. In this narrative inquiry, I explore the constructed identity of three blended librarians and offer insight to inform current and future blended librarians, instructional technologists and designers, and their academic institutions. Each librarian was hired between 2012 and 2013. Each participant was the first blended librarian at each of their universities. I explored themes of transformation, inclusiveness, and connectedness. I used Mezirow’s transformational learning theory with support from secondary theories, universal instructional design and TPACK …

Edge Computing For Deep Learning-Based Distributed Real-Time Object Detection On Iot Constrained Platforms At Low Frame Rate, Lakshmikavya Kalyanam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the era of IoT (Internet of Things) and edge computing, there is a rising need for real-time applications in the domain of computer vision. The increase in hardware computing capabilities gave rise to applications of neural networks in various fields. Implementing IoT with neural networks in domains such as image and video recognition has shown promising performance when deployed in complex environments. There is an emerging demand for applications that require data computation in real-time with low latency. In an effort to address these issues, while keeping in mind the computing capabilities of IoT devices, we seek to develop …

One News Event, Three Media Frames, Le Xin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As a protest movement that has attracted international attention, the 2019 Hong Kong protest has become the focus of media and public attention due to political issues involving China mainland and Hong Kong. The reporting process and framing of news media for news events is actually a process of selecting and reorganizing related events. The media of different countries also reported the 2019 Hong Kong Protest like this process. However, the reporting frameworks in different media organizations are also completely different because of the differences in the nature, positioning, and political factors of those media. Based on the framing theory, …

Assessing Many-Body Van Der Waals Contributions In Model Sorption Environments, Matthew K. Mostrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The energy used in the separation and purification of small volatile atoms and compounds represents a sizablefraction of the world’s energy consumption as a whole 1 Noble gases in particular represent a unique challenge as their separation currently relies on distillation methods that work by virtue of small differences in the density of their pure phases. Highly porous Metal-Organic Materials (MOMs) offer a cheaper, more efficient alternative to cryogenic distillation, and studying their properties using various simulation methods has become an important and active area of research. The family of Potentials with “High Accuracy, Speed and Transferability” (PHAST) have been …

Applying The Situational Theory Of Publics To Children's Sex Education In China, Baoyi Zeng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In China, "sex" is a sensitive, even taboo topic. In this special cultural background, the lack of sex education for children is worthy of attention. This study aims to extend the Situational Theory of Public (STP) to the field of sex education for children. The results of an online questionnaire survey among 424 Chinese parents show that a high degree of problem recognition and high level of participation in child sex education will lead Chinese parents to actively search for relevant information on this issue. Being able to identify children's sex education problems, having a low barrier to solving the …

Honokiol Loaded Mpeg-Pcl Micelles For The Treatment Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Amna Shahid

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Age related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a multi-factorial age-related retinal hypoxic disorder resulting in irreversible loss of vision is the foremost cause of blindness in United States. Current treatment strategies used to treat disease involve multiple intraocular injections of Anti – VEGF agents into the vitreous of eye. In addition to the issues of drug localization and targeted delivery, the need to frequently inject drug into the eye raise patient compliance issues. These challenges call for sustained drug delivery system. In this study, a sustained drug delivery system was prepared by loading an anti- HIF agent, honokiol into MPEG-PCL polymer. These …

New Mechanisms That Regulate Dna Double-Strand Break-Induced Gene Silencing And Genome Integrity, Dante Francis Deascanis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Proliferating cells are constantly threatened by genotoxic stressors that can potentially lead to genomic instability. Breaks in the DNA, namely double-strand breaks, are detrimental sources of damage that must be repaired to maintain genomic integrity and prevent potential tumorigenesis. Here we discuss a gene silencing mechanism flanking damaged chromatin. Gene silencing and transcriptional repression at damaged DNA are necessary to prevent potential genomic aberrations from occurring through conflicts with the DNA repair machinery. BMI1, a core polycomb protein in the polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) has been known to play a role in gene silencing at damaged chromatin. However, the …

The West Knows Best: East Germans Left Behind After Unification, Arwen A. Puteri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The East-German euphoria of unification in 1989 and the subsequent transition from a communist to a market economy that had promised West German standards and prosperity in East Germany vanished rapidly. A hastily negotiated unification treaty and emerging West German dominance – in numbers and economic power – resulted in vast unemployment, bankruptcies, and the large-scale collapse of the East German economy. In addition, East-German culture, accomplishments, and experiences were not respected and valued in a unified country that was focused on Western values, languages, and ways of life. With nothing to offer, East Germans became hopeless and resentful and …

Humanistic Climate Philosophy: Erich Fromm Revisited, Nicholas Dovellos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Given the current juncture in history, humanity is faced with the herculean task of adapting to a tumultuous present and a gimmer future. Should climate projections be accurate, there is little time to waste. This work makes the claim that we are not only in a political gridlock but also in an academic one. Researching climate philosophy from its inception, the concluding view is that no major progress, outside of a standardized descriptive analysis, has been achieved. Thus, the work evaluates an array of climate philosophers e.g. Stephen Gardiner, James Garvey, Peter Singer, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, etc., with specific emphasis on …

Regulation Of The Heat Shock Response And Hsf-1 Nuclear Stress Bodies In C. Elegans, Andrew Deonarine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Heat Shock Response (HSR) is a highly conserved stress responsive molecular pathway that functions to promote appropriate protein folding in the cell. The HSR accomplishes this primarily through the use of molecular chaperones that serve to bind to misfolded or unfolded proteins to assist in stabilizing and folding proteins back to their native functional state. The master regulator of this pathway is a transcription factor known as Heat Shock Factor 1 (HSF1). HSF1 regulates molecular chaperone expression in the cell’s basal state, but can also be stress induced by diverse biotic and abiotic signals including thermal shock, oxidative stress, …

Warfare In Christianity And Islam: Unveiling Secular Justifications And Motivations Behind So-Called Religious Violence, Onur Korkmaz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The phenomenology of religion has received the most attention in social science because it has shaped society on social, political, and economic levels throughout history. Religion can be an organization that brings people together and develops a sense of identification, while also acting as a divisive structure for those of other faiths or nonbelievers. And so, we have witnessed the rise of both religious tendencies and violent acts for the last two decades, occasionally intertwined. Various belief systems have increasingly become a factor that politicians, intellectuals, and the mainstream media associate with violence-based modern warfare. However, scholars and analysts who …

Transfat Representation, Jessica "Fyn" Asay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study defines and analyzes representation of transfats, those who are both transgender and fat, through the examination of two popular media texts, Jabba the Hutt from The Return of the Jedi and Pat from the Saturday Night Live tv program in the 1990’s. I analyze these two texts using a queer feminist media studies lens to reveal the media construction of a transfat representation that is rooted in racism, transnormativity, and fatphobia and that positions the transfat body as non-normative and grotesque through the use of abject horror and fear. My analysis reveals how racism, transnormativity, and fatphobia shape …

Leading The Way: A Critical Narrative About The Creation Of An Online Professional Development Program, Otis Wilder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leading the Way is a narrative examination of how I (the author) built a professional development training program for the hospitality industry in cooperation with my university and numerous hospitality industry leaders from our community. The program was developed over the course of a year by a large team of people working together to create the Hospitality Leadership Program (HLP). My role in the creation of the HLP was that of instructional designer and curriculum developer. The purpose of the narrative is to provide a critical view of the interactions between the fields of instructional design and curriculum development during …

'Golden Spike': Examining Atlanta United Fc Communications During The Launch Of The Team, Maria Tsyruleva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atlanta United FC is a unique example of a U.S. soccer club that had set a record in the number of season tickets sold even before the team played its first game in Major League Soccer (MLS). This research constitutes a thematic analysis of the press releases created by Atlanta United during the period between the launch of the club in April 2014 through its first official game in MLS in March 2017, examining what communication strategies Atlanta United adopted as well as what brand attributes the team communicated to its audience, and how the organization did that.

The study …

Modelo Filosófico-Literario De La Retrospectiva Contemporánea, Bermaries A. Vélez Maldonado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Este trabajo define el concepto de retrospectiva contemporánea como “mecanismo de análisis textual que simplifica la manera en que una obra clásica se logra tornar contemporánea”. Desde teóricos como Immanuel Kant hasta otros como Fernando Ángel Moreno permiten aquí una explicación de cómo se logra dislocar la obra clásica La vida es sueño para colocarla en el mundo de la interpretación contemporánea, y entonces así, verla como una obra escrita en el presente, bajo las preocupaciones y perspectivas de escritores en la actualidad.

Identifying Effective Systems And Processes To Promote Ethical Workplace Cultures In The Applied Behavior Analysis (Aba) Therapy Industry, Manuel Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to identify methods and practices which encourages and enables ethics in organizations providing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapeutic services to individuals with development disabilities. The professional and organizations they represent must protect the consumer, the employees and the integrity of the practice as part of their ethical responsibilities. The specific focus of this research is the behavior analyst and the ABA industry. The behavior analyst is a practitioner who studies and applies behavior analysis, working with various populations such as individuals with development disabilities, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. The subject …

Role Of Ceramide-1 Phosphate In Regulation Of Sphingolipid And Eicosanoid Metabolism In Lung Epithelial Cells, Brittany A. Dudley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ceramide 1-Phosphate (C1P) is a sphingolipid metabolite which plays a large role in inflammation, cell survival and proliferation¹. C1P is known to have both pro- and anti-apoptotic roles in lung cancer cells, governed by ceramide kinase (CERK), upstream of precursor ceramide (Cer)². Previous work reveals C1P serves as the liaison between sphingolipid and eicosanoid synthesis, by decreasing the dissociation rate of group IVA cytosolic PLA₂ (cPLA_2α) from the Golgi membrane, C1P directly activates this phospholipase for downstream eicosanoid synthesis and subsequent inflammatory response³. CERK has been discovered to modulate eicosanoid synthesis, …

Covalent Organic Frameworks As An Organic Scaffold For Heterogeneous Catalysis Including C-H Activation, Harsh Vardhan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Linking small organic molecules into an extended solid usually afford disordered amorphous polymers. The instigation of order into such a material is of profound interest to induce inherent fine control of the overall structure. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are new class of porous crystalline material prepared by connecting organic building blocks via strong covalent bonds. The judicious choice of organic monomers can give rise to highly ordered and predictable frameworks with high crystallinity, surface area, and thermal/chemical stability. The role of connecting linkages such as B─O, C─C, C─N extends the principle of fundamental molecular covalent chemistry to the formation of …

Constructing A Neoliberal Youth Culture In Postcolonial Bangladeshi Advertising, Md Khorshed Alam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation examines the role of advertising in producing cultural narratives within the contemporary neoliberal economy and the historical context of Bangladesh. More specifically, based on thematic analysis of data collected from 73 in-depth interviews with Bangladeshi advertising practitioners, this study aims to understand the discursive production of youth culture in the country. The dialectical tensions between the global and local, universal, and particular inform this study. Using a postcolonial and cultural studies approach, this study investigates how Bangladeshi advertisers reconfigure, replace, or reinforce the notion of youth culture in Bangladesh. This study is significant because it: a) introduces a …

Understanding The Complex Ethical Landscape Of Artificial Intelligence Adoptions, Chrissann R. Ruehle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) has existed since the 1950’s, it has experienced a series of expansions and declines over the years. Currently, AI is on an upward trajectory and has prompted the fourth industrial revolution as many scientists have noted. Some firms have rapidly embraced this technology and experienced growth while others have been slow to adopt. Naturally, this expansion often has societal impacts. The aim of this study is to explore ethical considerations that arise during the adoption of this technology. This research addressed three questions: 1. How do market and regulatory forces reportedly shape Artificial Intelligence adoptions? 2. …

The Impact Of Myeloid-Mediated Co-Stimulation And Immunosuppression On The Anti-Tumor Efficacy Of Adoptive T Cell Therapy, Pasquale Patrick Innamarato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) in combination with lymphodepleting chemotherapy is an effective strategy to induce the eradication of tumors, providing long-term regression in cancer patients. However, only a minority of patients that receive ACT with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) exhibit durable benefit. Thus, there is an urgent need to define strategies that potentiate anti-tumor activity conducted by adoptively transferred T cells. In these studies, we aimed to identify novel strategies to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of ACT. Accordingly, we describe the disparate roles of myeloid cells in the context of ACT characterized by the augmentation of TIL proliferation in …

Super Bowl Ads And The Donald Trump Culture War, Jessica Barron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There have been studies that have looked at how television commercials represent or portray minorities such as gender or race. Very few have tried to look at how commercials compare to the culture, specifically in regards to a presidential term and the culture they promote. This present study examines Super Bowl commercials during the culture war led by the Donald Trump administration and looks to discover if these advertisements are becoming more diverse in comparison to the previous presidency. Using content analysis, the researcher analyzed and compared 50 commercials from three different time periods 2009-2010, 2013-2014, and 2017-2018. The categories …