Digital Commons Network^™

Simulating Flood Control In Progress Village, Florida Using Storm Water Management Model (Swmm), Azize Minaz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Flooding is a natural event caused by heavy rains, melting snow, high tides, and anthropogenic impacts such as channel clogging, improper land use, and deforestation. In this study, the strategies for controlling flooding seek to establish flood prevention systems by implementing grey infrastructure and green infrastructure practices. The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the study area, Progress Village Neighborhood in Delaney Creek Watershed, regarding flood risk and flood mitigation techniques. The analysis was performed using EPA SWMM 5.1 and Arcmap 10.7.1. The study used design storms,10-years 24 hours and 25-years 24 hours, to analyze flood risk in …

Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia Coli And EnterococcusSpp. In Sand And Water At Tampa Bay Beaches, Jennifer K. Sabater

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As antibiotic resistance in the environment continues to rise there is an increased concern that infections may become harder to treat as bacteria acquire genes for multidrug resistance. Recreational beach waters in the Tampa Bay area are routinely monitored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the presence of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) such as Escherichia coli and enterococci. Exceedances of beach action values (BAV) 235 CFU/100 mL (E. coli) and 70 CFU/100 mL (enterococci) indicate the presence of fecal contamination which is associated with an increased risk of disease for beachgoers. Antibiotic-resistant E. coli and Enterococcus spp. have …

“Sometimes I Do This Thing”: Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge And Beliefs About Reading Instruction, Sherridon Leigh Sweeney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has established preservice literacy teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning are often misguided and/or overly-simplistic, yet limited work has examined in what ways their in-the-moment teaching decisions align or misalign with what they believe. This qualitative study used deductive analysis methods to: (1) Identify three preservice teachers’ knowledge/beliefs about reading, reading instruction, and learning, as evidenced by their planning, reflecting, and in-the-moment teaching decisions, and (2) investigate if/how participants’ knowledge/beliefs manifested across multiple teaching experiences. Findings indicate that while participants made attempts to act on professional ideas they explored/practiced with the support of a university-based mentor, they taught …

Mound-Summit Practices At Cockroach Key (8hi2) Through The Lens Of Practice Theory, Chandler O. Burchfield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cockroach Key (100-1000 CE) has one of the tallest platform mounds (Mound A) in Tampa Bay and all of prehistoric Florida; however, little is known about what the surface was used for. This research uses a forward-looking approach (following the ideas of Pauketat and Kassabaum) of interpreting mound-summit practices to avoid pre-Mississippian platform mound misconceptions of surfaces serving primarily as elite residences. Recent GPR investigations on the mound-summit revealed a circular pattern of anomalies hypothesized as a structure. These results are tested by the sampling of artifacts from a small diameter auger (18 auger samples) and elemental distributions based on …

Afro-Latinx And Afro-Latin Americans In The United States: Examining Ethnic And Racial Experiences In Higher Education, Glenda Maria Vaillant Cruz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Education research in the United States has vastly excluded Afro-Latinx and Afro-Latin American college students from the canon. Afro-Latinx and Afro-Latin American college students are presented with unique challenges and opportunities for identity exploration and development at the university level. As Schwartz, Kurtines, and Montgomery argue, higher education institutions extend emerging adulthood or the period in which individuals explore identities and develop a sense of self (Shwartz, Kurtines, and Montgomery 2005). Education research in the United States has historically centered around US-based racial formation, suggesting that Blackness and Latinness are mutually exclusive, what researchers Christopher Busey and Carolyn Silva refer …

Assessing Environmental Sensitivity In San Diego County, California, For Bird Species Of Special Concern, Eda Okan Kilic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is widely recognized that desertification constitutes one of the biggest environmental problems on Earth. Desertification negatively impacts the future of humans and other living things all over the globe. Therefore, the assessment of desertification is essential to both monitor and combat desertification. A number of models are routinely applied to assess desertification. The MEDALUS model is one of the most popular approaches, identifying desertification risk based on an environmentally sensitive area index (ESAI) that integrates climate, vegetation, soils, groundwater, and socio-economic factors to obtain an overall rating. The goal of this study was to measure the potential impacts of …

The Use Of Acceptance And Commitment Training To Improve Teacher Interactions With Students, Taylor Raaymakers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers in classrooms with students who engage in challenging behavior often experience high levels of stress and may leave the profession. Few research studies have evaluated interventions to decrease teacher stress. Therefore, this study assessed the use of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTr) with teachers for decreasing stress and increasing positive interactions with students. The ACTr intervention consisted of both a one-time training and subsequent activities throughout the intervention phase of the study. Two self-report measures were administered during baseline and post follow-up observations. These self-report measures provided information on the levels of psychological distress the teachers were experiencing and …

Exploration Of Energy Efficient Computing For Data-Intensive Applications, Md Adnan Zaman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The recent surge of data-intensive applications has stretched the performance and energy limit of today’s traditional computing system. The massive amount of data generated by data-intensive applications is not processed at the same speed due to bandwidth mismatch between the faster processing unit and slower memory. Memory access and communication bandwidth can be identified as the primary bottlenecks. Consequently, these two bottlenecks make up most of the total energy consumption. In light of this, we explore energy-efficient computing for data-intensive applications. We examine different aspects of two computing systems, such as in-memory computing and AI-enabled edge computing, more popularly known …

The Effect Of Racial And Ethnic Identity Salience On Online Political Expression And Political Participation In The United States, Jonathon Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How close an individual identifies with their race or ethnicity can affect how individuals behave as political actors. Racial identity can affect how individuals express their political beliefs on social media sites or participate in political activities. However, does political expression on social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, affect levels of political participation? The purpose of the project is to examine the relationship between racial and ethnic identity, online political expression, and political participation among the three largest racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Specifically, this project aims to answer whether online political expression mediates the relationship between …

A Technique-Based Approach To Structure-From-Motion: Applications To Human-Coastal Environments, Robert Van Alphen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Photogrammetry is a method by which physical information can be extracted from thecorrespondence of 2-dimensional images. In the geosciences, Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry is a technique that has seen considerable interest in the past decade of research. Here I present three case studies of various scope and methodologies which can inform the use of SfM in the geosciences. First, I discuss the theoretical and algorithmic basis of SfM photogrammetry and its uses thus far in the geosciences. Chapters two through four show specific studies which highlight several approaches to SfM and the data which can be produced. Chapter five then concludes …

Outcomes Of A Periodic Exposure Assessment Of Workers At A University Campus, Logan M. Armagast

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Standards promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)are applicable to most businesses in the private sector, however, state and local government entities are not under OSHA’s jurisdiction. Universities that receive public funding fall under the category of state and local government entities and, unless an OSHA-approved State plan explicitly states otherwise, they are not required to demonstrate compliance with OSHA standards and are not subject to OSHA inspections. Without being constrained by federal regulation, those responsible for ensuring the health and safety of employees at publicly funded universities have some leeway in their methods for evaluating the conditions …

"Are We Done?": The Minimization Of Covid-19 And The Individualization Of Health In The United States, Cassidy R. Boe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the death toll from Covid-19 in the United States exceeds 1 million in just over two years, more variants continue to emerge, threatening more waves of Covid-19 and ultimately, more deaths. Despite this, mask use continues to decline, and one third of Americans say that the pandemic is over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been central in publicly disseminating biomedical knowledge using Twitter. The CDC’s Twitter account (@CDCgov) shares information related to the spread of Covid-19, including mitigation measures such as mask recommendations and vaccine information. I have conducted a narrative analysis of the replies …

Health And Friendships Of Lgbtqia+ College Students, Komal Asim Qidwai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and Others (LGBTQIA+) college students continue to face discrimination in seeking healthcare, having to navigate lack of access, heteronormative practices and protocols, and biased attitudes, even when accessing university health services. Moreover, LGBTQIA+ college students are unlikely to be able to rely on traditional sources of support such as family, and have a need to create a sense of home, by making friends. In this thesis, I explore friendships as an avenue through which these students seek health information and knowledge. I argue that health and friendship intersect in the lives of LGBTQIA+ …

Etiology Of Sterile Intra-Amniotic Inflammation: An Exploratory Study, Zoe M. Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Preterm birth is the event of spontaneous birth prior to 37 weeks of gestation. In the United States, 1 in 10 babies are born prematurely. Low gestational age has been linked with increased morbidity and mortality. Preterm birth is multifactorial, where a myriad of contributors have been identified to include inflammation, chorioamnionitis, and inflammatory conditions to include hypertension and diabetes. To further explore the role inflammation plays in low gestational age, a literature review was done using PubMed. Two classes of inflammation quickly emerged: Pathogen born intra-amniotic inflammation and Sterile intra-amniotic inflammation. The latter form of inflammation has no identifiable …

Chronological Accumulation Of Microplastics In The Gulf Of Mexico And Their Acute Effects On Coral Bleaching, Martina M. Plafcan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microplastics have accumulated in the environment since plastic production began. They have spread to all areas of the globe from marine trenches to mountains and they can be harmful to organisms. However, research on microplastics has only recently begun so it is unclear how they have changed over time in many regions of the ocean and how current oceanic concentrations might affect marine life. Additionally, organisms such as corals are under stress and have been declining due to climate change, so it is not yet known if microplastics exacerbate these threats. My thesis addressed these gaps in the literature by …

Addressing Intersectional Stigma: Lgbtq+ Individuals Living With A Mental Illness, Jennifer T. Tran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The stigma process (i.e., stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination) has profound and lasting effects on individuals within marginalized identities. Research has indicated that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ+) individuals’ experiences of stigma have contributed to the development of mental illness. Therefore, LGBTQ+ individuals living with mental illness experience a unique and challenging type of stigma, intersectional stigma, due to identification within multiple marginalized communities. Populations most vulnerable to stigma include individuals who identify with more than one stigmatized identity, such as LGBTQ+ individuals living with mental illness. Therefore, there is a need to explore strategies to address intersectional …

“That’S What We Call ‘Aesthetics’”: The Social Construction Of Tap Water Mistrust In An Underbounded Community, Abby Vidmar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent research on water insecurity in the United States has revealed that underbounded communities — urban disadvantaged unincorporated neighborhoods characterized by high-poverty and high residential density lying just outside the border of an incorporated municipality — often lack consistent access to clean and safe water. In these settings, poor water quality and inadequate infrastructure shape residents’ risk perceptions often leading to tap water mistrust. However, little is known about the broader social, political, and economic drivers of water quality in these settings and how such drivers inform the social construction of risk across different stakeholder groups. Using an underbounded African-American/Hispanic …

Evaluating Behavioral Skills Training To Teach Identification Of Choking Hazards To Substitute Caregivers, Madison L. Molve

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Choking is a leading cause of mortality in children (Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, 2010). Over half of choking injuries occur due to food, and the remaining injuries involve common household objects (Chapin et al., 2013). Although studies have been conducted assessing the use of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) to teach hazard identification in substitute caregivers (Abarca, 2021), no studies have evaluated utilizing BST to identify choking hazards specifically. Thus, this study evaluated the efficacy of using BST to teach edible and non-edible choking hazard identification to substitute caregivers following guidelines from the Home Accident Prevention Inventory Revised …

Outcomes Of A Telehealth Adaptation Of A Trauma-Based Parent Training Program, Holland Hayford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 25% of children will experience a traumatic event by the age of four. If trauma symptoms remain untreated, these traumatic experiences during early childhood can negatively impact a child’s executive functioning skills, mental health, social interactions, and relational attachments to other individuals. Due to the harmful impact of untreated trauma symptoms on children’s wellbeing and development, several evidence-based interventions have been developed. One such intervention is Smart Start: Parenting Tools for Children with Developmental Delay, Social-Emotional Concerns, and Trauma (version 5), which targets children’s disruptive behaviors and trauma symptoms, caregivers’ parenting stress, and the caregiver-child relationship. This study utilized …

Assessing Required Hospitality Competencies Among Students, Industry Professionals, And Faculty, Angad Singh Dang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the competencies important for success in the hospitality industry, based on the perceptions of hospitality faculty, professionals, and students. To identify the competencies, the research employed the following steps: initial survey development, input from a focus group panel of experts, review by validation panel of experts on revised survey, pilot study of process for final survey and data collection using the revised questionnaire. The study targeted hospitality students who were enrolled in a 4-year undergraduate degree program, faculty who taught in a 4-year hospitality under-graduate or graduate program, and hospitality professionals who …

Mixed Method Analysis Of Undergraduate Student Interpretation Of Different Phylogenetic Trees, Faith Frings

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phylogenetic trees are common tools used to visualize evolutionary concepts such as historical patterns of ancestry, divergence of species, and descent of species. However, students have misconceptions when reading these abstract diagrams. The purpose of this study was to compare student performance and evolutionary thinking when using two styles of phylogenetic trees: cladograms and phylograms. The study also assessed the validity of a hierarchal theoretical framework evaluating student phylogenetic tree interpretation. Introductory biology students from two research universities were assigned to two groups, one solely given assessments with phylograms, and one solely given assessments with cladograms. One-on-one student interviews were …

Effects Of Slurry Type On Drilled Shaft Strength, Cesar Quesada Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this research is to identify how the strength of drilled shafts is affected by the use of various types of drill slurry. When concrete is placed in drilled shafts it flows out radially and a laitance interface forms creating a crease on the backside of the reinforcement cage due to the laitance trapped in concrete flowing around the rebar. This can cause concrete to not fully encapsulate the steel making the shafts prone to corrosion and the strength of the cover concrete is locally reduced. Over the past 9 years 58, 42-inch diameter shafts have been …

Investigating A Potential Sting Modulator, Jaret J. Crews

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The work contained in this thesis introduces a protein known as STING, an acronym for STimulator of INnterferon Genes, an immunosurveillance ER-membrane bound adapter protein critical to regulating the innate immune response in humans. The first chapter provides an overview of the STING pathway, outlines STING’s potential as a therapeutic target of interest, and delineates the primary challenges researchers encounter when designing small molecules to modulate the activity of STING. Current efforts in developing STING modulators have focused on devising agonists to up-regulate the STING pathway as a possible therapeutic for human cancers based on the chemical scaffold of STING’s …

Ethnic-Racial Minoritized Adolescents’ Perceptions Of Cyberhate, School Connectedness, Ethnic-Racial Identity, And Life Satisfaction, Alexis Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to cyberhate has become an increasing trend across social media, with approximately 64% of adolescents reporting that they have seen hate speech (Common Sense, 2018). While social media is used to connect with others via likes, posts, and shares, it also allows for hateful content to spread quickly. Cyberhate is the intentional aggression or threat towards an individual or group based on their societal group association, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion (Wachs et al., 2020). Ethnic-racial minoritized adolescents who experience cyberhate as racial discrimination may be at increased risk of maladaptive psychosocial adjustment (Sellers et …

Healthcare Profession Students Of Color Participating In International Service-Learning, Ellyn Katherine Couillard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative exploratory case study investigated the healthcare profession students’ of color experience and the perceived impact of completing international service-learning (ISL). Before this study, most of the research about healthcare profession students in ISL reported had mainly White participants or reported data and findings in the aggregate. To complete this research, I performed two semi-structured interviews with each of the five participants incorporating photo-elicitation techniques. Then I performed constant comparative methods and communicated with a peer debriefer about my findings. Five participants were selected using max maximum variation based on racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, programs of study, and …

Do Auditors Respond To Changes In Clients’ Analyst Coverage? Evidence From A Natural Experiment, Mohammad Alkhamees

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has established that analysts serve as an important monitor of managementand improve the quality of firms’ financial reporting. In this study, I utilize the natural experiment resulting from the mergers and closures of brokerage houses, to examine whether this exogenous change in firms’ information environment impacts the audit process. Specifically, I examine whether reductions in analyst coverage have an effect on auditor effort proxied by audit fees and audit report lag, as well as financial reporting quality, measured by future restatements. I find that client firms pay significantly higher audit fees following an exogenous reduction in analyst coverage …

Self-Perceptions Of Major Choice And Employability Skill Development In Sophomore Business Students, Melissa A. Kulp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Today’s college students expect that an outcome of a college education is to be prepared to secure a well-paying job within their field of study after graduation. Within career services offices, career preparation is typically focused on upperclassmen looking for internships and jobs, leaving sophomore students to make major and career decisions on their own. The purpose of the study is to understand what on-campus experiences sophomore business students had to aid them in their major and career path choices, how they define and interpret three employability skills, and which experiences helped them develop these three employability skills needed to …

Analysis Of Prescription Drug Brand Mentions In Music: Prevalence And Consumer Perceptions, Lisa A. Blake

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Music is not only a lucrative mass reach media (Stassen, 2021) but also a deeply personal tool for self-expression (Hallam, 2019). Music listeners are exposed to a slew of branded messages within music promoting a variety of product types such as apparel, automotive, and alcohol (Craig, Flynn & Holody, 2017). Promotion in music has been proven to be an effective vehicle for building brand awareness when listeners are interested in the music (Delattre & Colovic, 2009, Hoyer & Brown, 1990; Macdonald & Sharp, 2000; Thoma & Williams, 2013). Brands promoted within music enjoy some of the benefits of promotional tactics …

Transitioning From Face-To-Face To Telehealth Speech And Language Services Due To The Covid-19 Pandemic: Perceptions Of Persons With Aphasia And Their Ehelpers, Emma Logan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the perceptions of the aphasia community, as well as their caregivers, that are provided speech and language services and how their services were affected due to transitions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The recency and novelty of the pandemic warrants research of many areas related to health care, including that of speech language pathology.

An online survey was completed by nine persons with aphasia and three eHelpers. Participants were recruited through a university clinic and by informational fliers through social media. Participants with aphasia qualified by having experiences with speech and …

Inaugural Addresses, Framing Theory, And The Impact On American Perceptions Of The Presidency, Kalin Meagan Velez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses the inaugural addresses given by both Donald Trump and Joseph Biden as the source texts by which to examine the sentiment portrayed by particular framed messages. Framing theory stands as the central framework in which this study was conducted. The objective was to identify how political speeches like that of the presidential inaugural address frame messages to citizens and inform the audience on what their presidency may look like. This study utilizes a quantitative analysis using LIWC software followed by a qualitative discourse analysis. A thorough examination of the history of inaugural addresses, preceding presidencies, and each …