Digital Commons Network^™

Differences In Knowledge Acquisition, Perceived Engagement And Self-Efficacy In Latino Promotores Delivering The Heart Disease Prevention Program Su Corazόn, Su Vida, Samuel Matos-Bastidas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Su Corazόn, Su Vida (Your Heart, Your Life) is a community-based, small-group health intervention designed to empower Latinos to enhance cardiovascular disease awareness and initiate enduring lifestyle changes to improve health outcomes and quality of life. Originally developed to be delivered in weekly sessions in Spanish or English language, it addresses several heart disease risk factors including unhealthy eating habits, poor physical activity, high cholesterol, overweight, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and tobacco smoking, among others. Instructors use diverse learning and support strategies such as group discussion, role modeling, problem-solving, health action planning, and self-monitoring. Participants help each other to stay on …

Allosteric Control Of Proteins: New Methods And Mechanisms, Nalvi Duro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Allostery describes the phenomenon where perturbations in one region of a protein affect protein behavior in another non-overlapping region. Considerable efforts made over decades to understand the molecular basis of allostery, yet an overarching theory that can predict signaling pathways and contributions from chemical components is still lacking. In fact, molecular details in even the most well-studied of model systems, PDZ domains and GPCRs, remain unclear. In this dissertation I use molecular simulation methods to understand the role of allostery in the regulated entry of paramyxovirus into host cells, and also develop a new method to determine time-dependent signaling pathways …

Complexities Of Data, Tasks And Workflows In Health It Management, Gaurav Jetley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on three key aspects in health IT management: (1) Complexities in the collection of health data in electronic health record (EHR) systems and the use of EHR data in research, (2) Complexities of collaboration between physicians and AI for improving healthcare delivery, and (3) Complexities of workflows and collaborations between healthcare organization (HCO) staff during the delivery of care. The first dissertation essay (Chapter 1) examines the key data quality issues that arise in recorded health information in EHR systems, provides quality thresholds that the data needs to meet for mitigating errors and increasing reproducibility of downstream …

The Effects Of Product Recalls On Competitors’ Market Value And Recalling Firm’S Reputation, Dong Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have paid intensive attention to product recalls over the past two decades. Prior studies show that product recalls negatively affect the recalling firm’s sales, consumer-based brand equity, and firm value. However, less attention has been paid to the spillover effect of product recalls on the market value of the recalling firm’s competitors in the same industry, and the long-term effect of product recalls on firm reputation. The objective of this dissertation is to fill up these research gaps through two essays.

In Essay 1, I investigate factors affecting the spillover effect of a product recall on the firm value …

Winning “Americans” For Jesus?: Second-Generation, Racial Ideology, And The Future Of The Brazilian Evangelical Church In The U.S., Rodrigo Otavio Serrao Santana De Jesus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Beginning in the mid-1980s, a significant number of Brazilians began to leave their country due to economic stagnation, affecting the population and the middle class in particular. This event became known as the “Brazilian Diaspora” and was characterized by a type of labor diaspora that made scholars identify Brazilian immigrants as economic refugees. In the United States, churches have been one of the most important institutions to receive and socialize Brazilians. Considering that a new generation of U.S. born Brazilian Americans emerged, this dissertation provides one of the first studies to investigate the dynamics of a second-generation Brazilian church. In …

Developing Agent-Based Models To Study Financial Markets, Saurav Chakraborty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents research that employs agent-based modelling to provide a framework to support simulation as a complement to traditional economic models for policy evaluation. It consists of three studies. The first study employs cluster analysis to capture the different types of banks and the associated business models that define their decision-making. The results from study one will help us get an understanding of how different banks behave and provide an insight into their lending practices. Hence, it would be very helpful in evaluating and analyzing the impact of future policies. Study two develops a fine-grained interbank lending model based …

The Role Professional Development Schools Play In Building Personal And Collective Teacher Efficacy, Janine L. Hall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions of members of three triads currently working in a professional development school (PDS). to determine in what ways the context of the PDS influenced personal or collective efficacy. The triads consisted of a collaborating teacher, pre-service teacher, and university supervisor and were all located in one professional development school. Data were collected from two face-to-face individual interviews with each triad member and one focus group meeting with all triad members. Findings revealed that the growth of efficacy was influenced by the focus the PDS placed on student learning and …

The Threat Of Virality: Digital Outrage Combats The Spread Of Opposing Ideas, Curtis Puryear

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The prevailing stage for conversations about politics and morality has shifted from private and face-to-face to public and digital. Moreover, the digital landscape itself changed considerably in the past decade. The era of static webpages has been replaced by dynamic social networks where ideas and reactions to events spread rapidly. With every comment we, or a political adversary makes, numbers quantifying social approval tick up or down. Instead of holding digitized versions of one-on-one conversations, we argue in front of audiences who throw digital “points” at and accelerate the spread of the winning side’s ideas. I argue this subjectively raises …

Making Meaning Of A Whole School Transformation Model: A Policy Ethnography Of A Schools Of Hope Legislation Implementation, Adam Charles Rea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cheryl High School (CHS) is a geographically large county in Florida that received funding through the state of Florida's "Schools of Hope” grant. The grant’s parameters called on Carter County Schools (CCS) to partner with an external consultant and a research university to help improve teacher and school administrative capacity. The district chose Scientific Pedagogy Services (SPS) and to continue their existing relationship with Tampa Bay State University (TBS). The consultant’s mission was to improve school performance through a unique form of professional development. TBS was charged with developing an on-site program that funded staff efforts to obtain advanced degrees …

Game Theory Approaches For Transportation Problems, Mahdi Takalloo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation considers three separate game theory problems in transportation. In the first problem, a combinatorial auction market has been proposed for fractional ownership of autonomous vehicles. The proposed combinatorial auction has two unique features. First, the items are continuous time slots defined by bidders and second, the spatial information of bidders has been incorporated so that sharing becomes a viable plan. A conflict-based formulation of the winner determination problem has been proposed, for which an effective solution approach based on a heuristic and a maximal-clique based relaxation has been presented. The second part of the dissertation examines a pessimistic …

Functional Object-Oriented Network: A Knowledge Representation For Service Robotics, David Andrés Paulius Ramos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we discuss our work behind the development of the functional object-oriented network (abbreviated as FOON), a graphical knowledge representation for robotic manipulation and understanding of its own actions and (potentially) the intentions of humans in the household. Based on the theory of affordance, this representation captures manipulations and their effects on actions through the coupling of object and motion nodes as fundamental learning units known as functional units. The activities currently represented in FOON are cooking related, but this representation can be extended to other activities that involve manipulation of objects which result in observable changes of …

Toxic Colonialism And Green Victimization Of Native Americans: An Examination Of The Genocidal Impacts Of Uranium Mining, Averi R. Fegadel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While the field of criminology has delved into environmental justice issues in Black communities through the exploration of urban exposure to toxins, it has failed to expand this research orientation to examine issues affecting peoples in different locations, which in the U.S. draws attention to the green victimization of Native Americans. In short, existing criminological research has largely ignored the social, economic, and environmental injustices experienced by Native Americans. This study addresses this research gap by exploring environmental justice issues as they relate to the ways toxic colonialism affects Native Americans. Specifically, this study confronts historic and current struggles endured …

Nostalgia And (In)Authentic Community: A Bataillean Answer To The Heidegger Controversy, Patrick Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heidegger’s relationship with Nazism has been debated since the 1930s. In the late 1930s, Georges Bataille wrote an incomplete text that would have added to these debates, “Critique of Heidegger: Critique of a philosophy of fascism.” I draw on this fragment and Bataille’s writings from this era in order to develop a fuller critique of Heidegger and his relationship to fascism. This expanded critique completes the promise of Bataille’s original fragment, offering a full Bataillean criticism of Heidegger and displaying the connections between his philosophy and Bataille’s understanding of fascism. This critique hinges on Heidegger’s concept of authenticity and community, …

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposure, Hepatic Accumulation, And Associated Health Impacts In Gulf Of Mexico Tilefish (Lopholatilus Chamaeleonticeps), Susan M. Snyder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, systematic demersal longline surveys were conducted throughout the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) continental shelf to evaluate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, hepatic accumulation, and health indices in demersal fishes. Tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) were chosen as a target species due to high vulnerability to environmental disturbance, commercial importance, Gulf-wide distribution, and documented high exposure to PAHs post-Deepwater Horizon. Over 200 Tilefish were sampled in the north central GoM at repeat stations from 2012 to 2017, and from the northwest GoM, southwest GoM, Bay of Campeche, and Yucatán Shelf over years 2015 and 2016. Tilefish …

Governmentality, Biopower, And Sexual Citizenship: A Feminist Examination Of Sexual And Reproductive Healthcare Experiences Of 18-24 Year-Olds In The U.S. Southeast, Melina K. Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual and reproductive healthcare in the U.S. is a contentious and often stigmatized topic. Conservative politics and Christian religious ideology guide laws and policies that inform narratives of sexual citizenship that promote white, heterosexual, procreative, cis-gendered relationships as the ideal. For young people, exposure to sexuality education greatly influences their self-identity as sexual citizens and guides how they form intimate relationships. While sexual and reproductive healthcare has been included marginally in the discipline of anthropology, almost no research has focused on young people’s sexual and reproductive healthcare within the U.S.

This dissertation examines the viewpoints and experiences of 18-24 year-old …

Fields Brook Superfund Site: Race, Class, And Environmental Justice In A Blasted Landscape, Richard C. Bargielski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1980, the United States Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). This federal law provided the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the legal tools necessary to pursue polluters who had improperly stored or disposed hazardous wastes. Since its passage, more than a thousand sites have been added to the National Priorities List (NPL), but only a fraction have been cleaned up. Proponents of neoliberalism argue that aggressive environmental policies such as CERCLA harm workers by making it impossible for businesses to operate profitably. This coincides with a drop of nearly 50% in the U.S. …

Large Thecosome Pteropods Of The Northern Gulf Of Mexico: Species Abundance, Spatial And Vertical Distribution With A Temporal Comparison Of Shell Thickness, Sarah M. Shedler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Large thecosome pteropods have a significant role in the pelagic ecosystem of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). This research analyzed species abundances, vertical and horizontal distributions, and trends in shell thickness between 2011 and 2015. Pteropod samples were collected following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill by two midwater sampling programs: the Offshore Nekton Sampling and Analysis Program (ONSAP, 2011) and the Deep Pelagic Nekton Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico (DEEPEND, 2015). All samples were collected using a 10-m2 Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOC10) midwater trawl, with 3-mm mesh size. This gear sampled five discrete …

The Geopolitics Of Juan Perón: A New Order For An Imperfect World, Robert D. Koch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1973, Juan Domingo Perón (1895-1974) proposed a new world order to the Non-Aligned Movement, shortly before returning to the Argentine presidency after eighteen years in exile. He was Argentina’s most important modern figure but divisive. The military toppled Perón in 1955, and then outlawed him and Peronism. They considered his nationalism and authoritarian methods fascist nightmares, and United States officials passed similar judgments despite his victories in democratic elections. Today, his ideas continue to influence Argentina, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Vatican, yet, his authoritarianism and origins in a dictatorship taint his legacy. Influential media and scholars use him …

Academic Digital Badges: Industry, Employment, And Prospects, Terry M. Mcgovern

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Digital badges are becoming more prevalent in the credentialing sector yet there is limited understanding of how the industry is developing or how digital badges influence the hiring process. This study employed an exploratory case method to make known the development of the badging industry. This dynamic new educational technology has a wide range of stakeholders working at establishing standards to ensure consistent and effective application across the badging ecosphere. To understand academic badging further, the researcher conducted a type of field experiment called a résumé audit study. In the late Spring of 2019, the investigator applied to 1,848 unique …

The Gentle Artist: Empowering Warrior-Scholars Through The Physical Feminism Of Jiu-Jitsu, E. Emily Mahoney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an autoethnography about the socialization of people in various cultural contexts, in particular, women in the embodied role of the academic researcher. Being a researcher and enduring an experience of sexual assault right in the middle of my first research interview left me in a state of shock and survival. One out of every six American women will survive attempted or completed rape during her lifetime, with college-aged women being three to four times at increased risk compared to all women, yet the odds that this would take place during a project which had major implications for …

Addressing The Student Loan Crisis: Nudging Borrowers To Lower Their Repayment Costs, Genevieve O. Dobson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Purpose of Research is to determine why student loan borrowers are making poor decisions regarding their repayment plan selection and how we could use the theory of nudge to get them to make better choices. This study evaluates three main biases found in decision making to determine which one is most likely to be utilized in making decisions. It also investigates ways a tool can be created to allow borrowers to make better choices.

I use the Elaborated Action Design Research Methodology to diagnose, design and implement an effective tool. In my study, I create an artifact that allows …

To Mid-Cell And Beyond: Characterizing The Roles Of Gpsb And Ypsa In Cell Division Regulation In Gram-Positive Bacteria, Robert S. Brzozowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The bacterial cell division protein FtsZ is a tubulin homolog that forms a ring-like structure at the site of cell division in most bacterial species. There it acts as a scaffold, aiding in the recruitment of other divisome proteins to the site of cell division. Furthermore, studies focusing on the role of FtsZ treadmilling and septal peptidoglycan synthesis implicates that FtsZ plays a direct role in the ultimate closure of the division septum. Thus, many studies in the field of bacterial cell division have focused on FtsZ in terms of its spatial and temporal regulation as well as its ability …

Investigation Of Machine Learning Algorithms For Intrusion Detection System In Cybersecurity, Mohmmed Alrowaily

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation in usage and complexity of modern communication and network systems, a large number of trustworthy online Services and systems have been deployed. Even so, cybersecurity threats are still growing. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS) play a vital role in ensuring the security of communication networks, and it is taken into account as the subsequent security gate after the firewall. The IDS informs the system or network administrator in order to take specific actions to evade the suspicious activities. Three significant contributions are made during the course of this research to illustrate the feasibility of these IDS approaches. In …

Growth And Characterization Of Spatially Ordered Nanostructures Of Functional Materials, Domingo J. Mateo Feliciano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thin films and nanostructures of functional materials like lead zirconium titanite oxide (PZT) and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) offer multitude of applications in ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics and piezotronics. While the properties of thin films of ZnO and PZT are well understood, methods for the fabrication of vertically-aligned and spatially ordered nanocolumns of these materials are not common. To achieve a spatially ordered arrangement of either PZT or ZnO, a Silica Nanosphere (SNS) Monolayer Template has been constructed to serve as nucleation site for the growth of a specific number of nanocolumns. The SNS monolayer template is constructed by Langmuir-Blodgett dip coating, using …

Women In Water: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Women's Lived Experience As Water And Wastewater Professionals, Pamela Murawski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis was to explore the lived experiences of women water and wastewater professionals in California. A qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews provided detail and a rich understanding of women’s occupational choices, pursuits, and roles as told from their own perspectives. The results revealed that while working in water promoted a sense of pride, accomplishment, and empowerment, women continued to fight for equal access and full participation in lucrative water treatment careers. Key issues the women indicated were lack of knowledge of the industry, the necessity of mentorship, access to technical information, and the male-centered …

Voices Of Success: Exploring Black Male Students’ Perspectives On Their Academic Success, Carmen Goldsmith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher education enables individuals to be prepared to make an impact in the global society through enhanced skills and the ability to understand their community and the world in which they reside. According to EVERFI (2019), studies showed that diversity in education, specifically on college campuses, improve a student’s intellectual engagement, motivation, citizenship, and cultural engagement, while enhancing their critical thinking, problem-solving, and writing skills. It is advantageous for students to work with people from other races, ethnicities, and varying socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. These differences prepare students to succeed in a diverse world and broaden their understanding and awareness …

Identification Of Snps Associated With Multiple Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Eight Clinical Variants Of Enterococcus Faecium., Krishna S. Karia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of multi drug resistant (MDR) bacteria has been well documented these last decade, suggesting that resistance to antibiotics is most commonly associated to single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) mutation. To this aim, several molecular methods have been performed to elucidate SNPs in the increasing number of resistant microorganisms. Early detection of MDR bacteria has become of prime necessity in order to combat the disease and ensure public health. Therefore, this research was conducted to screen for SNP mutations correlated to drug resistance in some nosocomial MDR bacteria strains donated from Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) hospital. Blood, stool, urine, and …

Race, Gender And Power: Afro-Peruvian Women’S Experiences As Congress Representatives, Sharun Gonzales Matute

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous accounts about the presence of women of African descent on Latin American legislatures outline Peru as an exceptional case. In 2013, Peru had three Afro-Peruvian women in its national congress, all of them former volleyball players. Compared to other countries where Black women were almost inexistent in legislatures, Peru was in a better position. Simultaneously, Afro-Peruvian women’s organizations and leaders denounce their marginalization from political spaces. This work seeks to explore the experiences of Afro-Peruvian congresswomen elected between the years 2000 and 2016 and their relation to political power. Intersectionality serves as a theoretical framework for this research because …

Implementing The Class Pass Intervention Within Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions And Support, Nicole Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disruptive behavior is a challenge to classroom management for many teachers. Behavior such as calling out, getting out of seat, and off-task during instructions interfere with instructional time and have negative impacts on student learning. The Class Pass Intervention (CPI) is an antecedent-based intervention that has proven effective in decreasing disruptive behavior and increasing academic engagement for students of various ages and skill levels. This study aimed to expand the literature on CPI as a Tier 2 intervention within Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports by targeting three elementary age students with or at-risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, who …

Use Of High-Probability Instructional Sequences During Pre-Academic Activities For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Danielle Russo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The antecedent-based strategy, known as the high-probability (high-p) instructional sequence has been one effective way to facilitate teachers to prevent noncompliant behavior and increase acquisition of functional and adaptive behaviors for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the outcomes of using the high-p instructional sequence as an intervention in school settings remain inconsistent. In this study, we examined the use of the high-p instructional sequence intervention during pre-academic and academic activities for three young children with ASD. Specifically, the study focused on examining the overall effects of the high-p instructional sequence on initiation and compliance to low-probability (low-p) instructions, …