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The Influence Of Psychosocial Factors On Opioid Decision-Making For Cancer-Related Pain Among Breast Cancer Survivors: A Mixed Method Study, Melody Nichole Chavez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most frequently reported malignancy among women in the United States. Cancer-related pain is highly prevalent occurrence and is often the most fearful side effect following curative intent treatment. Opioid pain management is considered a standard of care and can be of great benefit to treat moderate to severe pain. However, undertreatment of pain remains a significant issue affecting the patient’s physical function, psychological well-being, and overall quality of life. Barriers to adequate pain management are multifactorial and often attributed to patients’ beliefs and attitudes revolving around opioid pain management. In addition, the opioid epidemic has …

Durability Of Cfrp/Steel Bond In Natural Weather, Mastour Alsulami

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are increasingly being used for infrastructurestrengthening and repair of steel structures. Though there have been several durability studies, exposures used are not representative of outdoor service conditions. Fewer studies have explored the effect of changing outdoor conditions typical in infrastructure use. The goal of the research is addressing this gap by evaluating the performance of commercially available CFRP systems under natural weather characteristic of hot, humid tropical conditions mainly and cold weather secondary in three different locations.

Thirty CFRP/steel joint specimens were prepared in laboratory conditions and exposed to ambient temperature on the Engineering building roofs …

Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations Of Nearshore Langmuir Circulation And The Formation Of Oil-Particle Aggregates, Juan J. Penaloza Gutierrez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Langmuir turbulence in the inner shelf coastal ocean is characterized by Langmuir circulation (LC) or cells that can span the full depth of unstratified water columns. A Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation strategy resolving full-depth LC coupled with an oil-particle aggregate (OPA) formation model is introduced. The RANS methodology is employed in two different cases. The first case corresponds to a shallow shelf zone of uniform depth, focusing on vertical mixing and transport of OPAs. The second case pertains to a surf-shelf transition zone with variable depth, comprising vertical and horizontal mixing of OPAs. In the latter case, a wave model …

Lgbtq+ Inclusivity In The Implicit And Explicit Social Studies Curriculum: A Descriptive Exploratory Study In Teacher Self-Efficacy, K. B.F. Francis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive exploratory study describes teacher self-efficacy in providing LGBTQ+ support in the implicit and explicit social studies curriculum in the wake of numerous anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in education in Florida. Four high school social studies teachers from three different Florida public school districts were interviewed to answer three main questions. All participating teachers expressed broad knowledge of their subject matter but could not identify LGBTQ+ inclusivity in their state and district-mandated curriculum. All participants had a great sense of self-efficacy in supporting their LGBTQ+ students but low self-efficacy in educating their colleagues about these issues. All participating teachers expressed a …

The Contextualization Of Socioscientific Issues In An Age Of Accountability, Karrie A. Wikman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overarching aim of this research was to ultimately support global resiliency through science education, preparing citizens to laudably negotiate the contentious socio-cultural science- and technology-based issues of modern times. Correspondingly, this mixed methods study aimed to move a large, diverse school district toward school environments conducive to contextualized socioscientific issues (SSI)-based learning. Of interest to teachers, administrators, and policymakers, the research investigated the effects of subsuming standards-based objectives within the SSI instructional framework on science achievement. Analysis of variance of multilevel assessment and classroom observation protocol data revealed that students experiencing the SSI intervention showed statistically significant gains in …

Refining The Machine Learning Pipeline For Us-Based Public Transit Systems, Jennifer Adorno

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the Population Division of the United Nations, in the United States, almost 90% of the population will live in urban areas by the year 2050. As the population in a given area increases, higher traffic congestion follows due to an increase of vehicles in the road. A possible way to alleviate congestion could be with widespread use of public transit. However, according to the US Census Bureau, the percentage of individuals commuting through public transportation has been decreasing steadily over time, and the American Community Survey reports that during 2019, only around five percent of the US population …

Motivations For Planning: Uncovering The Inhibitors To The Adoption Of Comprehensive Financial Planning For Business Owners, Daniel R. Gilham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Though comprehensive financial planning is well-known terminology, it is not a well-known or adopted concept. Broadly, financial planning is associated with investment management, but this approach is changing. Most research on financial planning is confined to the benefits, or process, behind planning. For business owners, coordinated, comprehensive financial planning should include the founder’s largest, most concentrated financial asset, the business they are running. The underlying motivations and bias that inhibit business owners from engaging in a comprehensive financial planning relationship has not been heavily researched. In this dissertation, I studied business owner inhibitors to the adoption of comprehensive financial planning …

Optimizing The Dynamic Replacement Of Soft Soils With Sand Using A Fem Tools, Walid Salem A Elsiwi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

First a dynamic finite element methodology (FEM) was developed to simulate an entire dynamic replacement (DR) program of clay with sand involving multiple poundings. The main objective of this research was to employ FEM and geotechnical test data such as cone penetration test (CPT) data at the site to predict the maximum achievable sand column (SC) depth and the corresponding optimum levels of attributing parameters such as number and height of pounder drops. Another goal was to predict the pore pressure generated in clay due to pounding. A full-scale ground improvement project was used to guide the analytical process. Comparison …

Elucidation Of Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Novel Multi-Targeted Therapy Strategies For, Qianqian Hu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

EML4-ALK fusion non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents a distinct subset of lung cancers that possesses unique molecular and clinical features, paving the way for targeted therapeutic interventions. Despite the promise of ALK-directed therapies, challenges such as metastasis at the time of diagnosis and treatment resistance persist, necessitating deeper research into the underlying mechanisms and potential solutions. In the context of these challenges, our study embarked on two specific objectives. The first goal, elucidated in Chapter 2, revolved around brain metastasis, an event critically facilitated by cell migration. Here, we assessed the anti-migratory activities of several clinical ALK inhibitors in …

Big Data Analytics For Healthcare Social Media: New Algorithms And Insights, Negar Maleki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last two decades, there has been a rapid evolution in information and communication technology, including the emergence of social media. Social media has a significant impact on various fields such as politics, business, culture, education, careers, innovation, and especially healthcare. This influence is not a new phenomenon since a survey from ten years ago showed that up to 78\% of American adults used the internet to look for health-related information for themselves or someone else. With the shift towards on-demand services in society, healthcare is also affected by this trend. Instead of waiting for weeks or months to …

The Performance Of Subgrid-Scale Models In Large-Eddy Simulation Of Langmuir Circulation In Shallow Water With The Finite Volume Method, Seyed Mohammad Javad Zeidi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wind and wave-driven Langmuir circulation (LC) in the upper ocean mixed layer and in shallow inner shelf regions of the coastal ocean has been extensively studied via field measurements and numerical simulations by the ocean turbulence-physical oceanography community. LC consists of counter rotating vortices or cells induced by the wind and surface gravity waves. As with all turbulence regimes, LC is characterized by a wide range of scales, with the largest and most energetic LC scales serving to promote vertical transport (and thereby mixing). However, numerical studies and field measrements of Langmuir turbulence under the influence of coastal boundaries and …

Human Vs Machine: Hyper-Realistic Avatars And Their Efficacy As A Communication Channel, Jill S. Schiefelbein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hyper-realistic avatars (HRAs), a form of synthetic media, are custom-created digital embodiments of a human, created by capturing and combining that person’s video and vocal likeness. This is the first known study of the efficacy of videos delivered by hyper-realistic avatars as a communication channel in comparison to videos delivered by their human counterparts. An experiment testing how information retention, engagement, and trust vary between viewers of videos delivered by a real human, videos delivered by the HRA representing that same human, and videos delivered by the HRA that discloses to viewers that it is a hyper-realistic avatar is presented. …

Nigerian Students’ Experiences With Class Rank And Its Implications For Academic And Personal Adjustments: A Narrative Inquiry, Tobiloba Ojomu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Class ranking remains a prevalent practice in Nigerian primary and secondary schools, yet research has not explored how Nigerian students perceive and experience this practice. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by delving into four Nigerian primary and secondary school alumni’s experiences and perceptions of the class ranking practice. Through their unique stories, this narrative inquiry study sheds light on the extent to which class ranking has impacted them. The findings of this study revealed that class ranking had a profound influence on the participants, both within and beyond the classroom setting. It shaped their self-perception, …

Restorative Practices Interrupted, Celeste Kellar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The initial critical event precipitating the problem of practice at my school was the repercussions of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018. This shooting and the resulting legislative mandates of Florida Senate Bill 7026, led to my administrative decision to adopt Restorative Practices at my school, a school for students with disabilities. Restorative Practices purport to encourage the development of positive relationships, repair and restore existing relationships thereby decreasing the chance of a repeated offense and improving school climate (Zehr, 2015). Additional rationale for the adoption was to address the disproportionality …

Utilizing Binding-Based Proteomic Profiling And Mass Spectrometry Imaging As Innovative Tools For Lipid Research, Suzeeta Bhandari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mass spectrometry-based omics research involves global identification and quantification of molecules in the biological system, which can form the basis of the multi-omics approach integrating multiple layers of information to provide a comprehensive overview of systems biology. The investigation of fatty acid amides (FAA) is one such research avenue that benefits significantly from the high-throughput, multi-level, and interdisciplinary approach of integrative omics. Currently, FAA research is dominated by lipidomic-based studies that have successfully identified and quantified >100 different FAAs in different model systems. Few studies are credited with exploring the biological function and evolution of FAA-dependent signaling pathways. Previous literature …

Interdependency Between Water And Road Infrastructures: Cases And Impacts, Shihab Uddin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation studies the interdependency between road and water infrastructures and associated interdependency impact on these two critical infrastructure systems. Critical infrastructures and the interdependency among these infrastructures have gained much attention recently because of its growing complexity, importance, and vulnerability to natural and man-made threats. In response, researchers have spent significant effort to study these infrastructures individually as well as when they are interdependent to understand complex interdependency relationship and to figure out ways to make these infrastructures more reliable, robust, and resilient. However, water and road infrastructure systems have not been studied as vastly as other critical infrastructures …

Social Justice Integration In Stem Content With Early Childhood Education Pre-Service Teachers, Elyse D. Ledford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following the social justice education ideal of building from local sources of knowledge the purpose of this multi-case study was to develop describe and explain the ways pre-service teachers examined how pre-service teachers make use of social justice pedagogies in teaching STEM. The study was guided by the following research questions: In what ways do pre-service teachers make us of social justice pedagogies while planning STEM lessons for young children? In what was do pre-service teachers enact social justice pedagogies in STEM instruction for young children? This study explores the experience of three Early Childhood Education pre-service teachers who were …

The Application Of Memes On English Learners' Idiomatics And Motivation, Fatima Azzahraa Raafat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students nowadays live in a visually rich world where they continually generate meaning and knowledge through images (Romero & Bobkina, 2017). To satisfy two technology-savvy generations, the Millennial and Generation Z, field practitioners had to generate multimodal environments that include written text, visual images, and design elements from various viewpoints. An effective pedagogy of idiomatics can support second language acquisition (SLA) and idiomatic competence development, that is, idiomatic language and figurative language study (Liontas, 2021, p. 3, 32). Idiomatics should be incorporated into educational programs for SL learners as early in their education as possible (Liontas, 2008). For my study, …

Fostering A Sense Of Online Community: Faculty Reflections Through Narratives, Brittany D. Anthony

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study will explore how MSW faculty describe a community in online courses and what strategies they use in fostering a sense of community within courses from an online Master of Social Work program at the University of South Florida. There is an imperative need to ensure online courses provide a sense of community to support students for success. During the timespan of an online course, strategic pedagogical approaches to fostering a community are essential to enriching the overall learning experience for students. Many studies tend to focus on the challenges faced when building an online community. Still, the …

Advanced Multiscale Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Amorphous Polymers, Sahar Zenoozi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polymers are in a wide range of material forms with various resources, including natural to synthetic processes. Polymers consist of covalently bonded monomers to each other. The chain length of polymers varies from a few monomers to thousands of monomers. This wide range of chain length enables polymers with attractive capabilities of chemical and physical properties. Thus, polymers are highly attractive in different scientific and industrial applications such as drug delivery, optical coatings, catalysts, semiconductors and organic photovoltaics. This work has combined updated accurate methods for accurate initial conformations, and modified force field parameters to produce a generalized method for …

Trace Metal Cycling During Phytoplankton Growth In The Southern Ocean, North Pacific, And Tampa Bay, Shannon Michelle Burns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The trace metals iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd) are essential to primary production in the oceans. They act as micronutrients, used in intracellular enzymes for macronutrient acquisition, light harvesting, and mediation of reactive oxygen species. In some cases, they can also substitute for each other when a primary trace metal micronutrient is depleted. Characterizing the interplay amongst trace metals, macronutrients, and phytoplankton growth is vital for understanding the biogeochemical underpinnings of primary production, and for modelers who develop biological pump frameworks for global carbon cycling.

In Chapter two, I investigated …

Investigating Mobility In The Northern Balkans During The Fifth Millenium Bc Through Strontium Analysis Of Human Tooth Enamel, Aurélien Tafani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates how individual mobility among ancient populations in Romania during the Eneolithic, between 5000 and 4000 BC, may be related to the spread of the material culture known as Kodjadermen-Gumelniţa-Karonovo VI (KGK VI) that extended over most of southern Romania and Bulgaria. This work seeks to combine results on individual mobility with other lines of archaeological evidence to provide a better understanding of the social context and kinship relationships that were in place when these events took place.

Strontium isotopic analyses were performed on 130 individuals from two sites located in the southern Romania: 49 from Sultana and …

Crossing Schools, Language, And Migration Borders: The Experiences Of Latinx And Caribbean Emergent Multilingual Mothers In K-12 Public Schools, Michelle Angelo-Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anti-immigrant sentiment and "English-only" ideologies have a significant impact on educational policies, practices, and processes. This includes parental engagement, the quality of education and life opportunities offered to immigrant children, and families’ well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine how Latinx and Caribbean mothers in Florida with various immigration statuses (i.e., undocumented, asylum seekers, refugees, international students, and mixed-status) and often with limited financial resources attempt to steward their children through the U.S. educational system. The research question was: How did emergent multilingual immigrant mothers experience the K-12 education system in Florida? The sub-question was: How did schools …

Using Social Network Analysis To Measure And Visualize Student Clustering Within Middle And High Schools, Geoffrey David West

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dominant philosophy of American public schools has been to group students together based on similar characteristics. Known as tracking, high achieving students would take courses on the “college track” while others would take “career track” courses. It was not long until advocates noticed that this process unfairly advantaged affluent and White student over poor and minoritized groups. A new process called “ability grouping” took over where tracking left off, but to the same effect. It is difficult to measure the degree students are grouped together by a certain characteristic, and while a few research papers aim to do so, …

Novel Systems Engineering Framework Analysis Of Photovoltaic Models And Equations, Peter R. Michael

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Photovoltaic PV equations and models for silicon based systems from a Systems Engineering framework. Background information includes an introduction, a summary of the state of PV use, a brief history of photovoltaics, and the detailed derivation of equations that enable the finding of the PV parameters contained in the PV models.The novel inquiry, leveraging systems engineering frameworks, includes three areas useful in analyzing PV equations and models. The first is a statistical verification of common simplifications of PV equations at the primary conditions of short circuit, open circuit, and maximum power. Additional analysis shows other simplifications that …

Deciphering Trends And Tactics: Data-Driven Techniques For Forecasting Information Spread And Detecting Coordinated Campaigns In Social Media, Kin Wai Ng Lugo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this dissertation is to develop models that predict and investigate the spread of information in social media over time. In this context, we consider topics of discussions as the information that spreads. Thus, we are interested in forecasting the number of messages per day in a future interval of time. We take a data-driven approach, in which we compare our results with real datasets from a multitude of socio-political contexts and from multiple social media platforms, specifically, Twitter and YouTube.

We identified a number of challenges related to forecasting social media time series per topic. First, …

Coupling Chemical And Genomic Data Of Marine Sediment-Associated Bacteria For Metabolite Profiling, Stephanie P. Suarez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine sediment-associated bacteria house many new and exciting novel secondary metabolites. These metabolites can be tested for bioactivity against various types of cancer and fungal, bacterial, and viral infections. In this thesis, we investigated the combination of biosynthetic gene cluster information with mass spectra to perform a chemical profiling of sediment- associated bacteria. Furthermore, we utilized a scoring technique to provide an identification and confidence score to each annotated compound. The sediment was collected from east Arthur Harbor, Palmer Station, Antarctica, at depths of 20 ft and 60 ft. After plating on agar, 52 unique bacterial strains were isolated, with …

Examining Paleoshorelines In The Eastern Gulf Of Mexico: Insights On Sea Level History And Potential Areas Of Interest For Habitat Management, Catalina Rubiano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An inventory of multibeam bathymetry containing relict drowned and lithified paleoshorelines has been compiled and analyzed in the first ever shelf-wide investigation of paleo sea level indicators on the west Florida shelf (WFS). On the largest scale, the WFS is a wide and gently sloping terrain that is characterized by a carbonate-rich sediment regime. This framework coupled with the region’s tectonic stability provided a setting in which sea level changes since ~ 20 ka have been recorded to a remarkable degree of resolution in the form of paleoshorelines which formed at sea level and were subsequently drowned and preserved in …

Integrated Periphyton Biofilters In Marine Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, Adam N. Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine aquaculture is a growing industry that has the potential to reduce eutrophication, overfishing, and loss of biodiversity. Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are a type of aquaculture system that decreases discharge, raises biological control, and conserves water; however, RAS are challenged due to high energy cost, low biodiversity, water quality control, and waste nutrients. Periphyton biofilters are a new technology that allows for feed production, water quality control, microbial diversity, and resource recovery in marine aquaculture systems. The overarching question that this dissertation investigates is, how can periphyton biofilters be integrated into RAS to address the challenges of modern sustainable …

Procedures For Assessment Of The Marine Carbon System And Evaluation Of Access And Ocean Acidification Literacy In The Deaf Community, Loraine Martell-Bonet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One major goal of this dissertation addresses the need for improved laboratory procedures to measure chemical changes in seawater caused by the uptake of atmospheric CO2, especially in coastal environments. Due to the proximity of anthropogenic stressors in the coastal zone, the biogeochemical complexity of the CO2 system is more dynamic than the open ocean. My principal research objectives were addressed by developing methods for (1) improving the accuracy of pH measurements over a wide range of salinities and (2) investigating the acid-base properties of natural organics in the coastal ocean.

The accuracy of pH electrode calibrations is affected when …