Digital Commons Network^™

Development And Validation Of An Isothermal Amplification Assay For Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, Mikayla D. Maddison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a neurotrophic alphavirus for which there is no effective treatment or vaccine for humans. Periodic outbreaks in the Eastern United States represent an ongoing public health problem; Florida serves as the reservoir for EEEV for the rest of the country. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the current gold standard for molecular diagnostic testing of the presence of EEEV in vectors. However, RT-PCR is technically complex and can be difficult for mosquito control districts to utilize. In order to provide a simple, cost-effective alternative for mosquito surveillance and control, a novel one step reverse …

Social Studies Through The Visual Arts: A Case Study Of A Professional Development Program On Teachers' Curricular And Instructional Decision-Making, Cristina M. Viera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ongoing educational reforms and the accountability movement in public education can pose significant challenges for teachers as they strive to meet a critical, social-justice vision for the social studies. Teachers’ continued professional growth and learning are viewed as the main factors towards achieving this goal; however, quite often the long-term impact of professional development goes unexplored. This qualitative case study explores the impact of an arts-based professional development program called InsideART on social studies teachers’ decisions for curriculum development and instruction. Semi-structured interviews, curricular and instructional artifacts, and researcher’s reflective journaling illuminated the impact of InsideART on social studies teacher-participants’ …

Explicating The Process Of Communicative Disenfranchisement For Women With Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions (Copcs), Elizabeth A. Hintz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation builds upon the extant literature in fields such as medicine, psychology, sociology, women and gender studies, and communication studies to theoretically explicate and develop a measure of the process of communicative disenfranchisement (CD). This dissertation refers to CD in two capacities: (a) as the phenomenon of CD (i.e., a communication construct and process unfolding over time), and (b) as a theoretical framework (i.e., that builds on CIFC tenets and elucidates the phenomenon of CD) which is abbreviated TCD (i.e., theory of communicative disenfranchisement). TCD enables scholars to assess how talk may disempower and empower again individuals and communities …

Influencing Motivation For Alcohol Through Social Bonding, Bryan Benitez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human survival depends upon the ability to cooperate by forming affiliative social bonds. Social bonding should therefore be a powerful motivating force in practically all human decision making. Past research demonstrates that social bonding and motivation for alcohol consumption share similar psychological and neurobiological pathways. In this study, we attempted to reduce alcohol motivation by enhancing perceptions of social bonding prior to and during the hours and days when alcohol consumption was most likely. In a predominantly female college student sample, we found mixed support for our hypotheses that a novel social bonding manipulation delivered through mobile technology would satiate …

Women Entrepreneurs In China: Dialectical Discourses, Situated Activities, And The (Re)Production Of Gender And Entrepreneurship, Zhenyu Tian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the number of women entrepreneurs on the rise globally, the business world and the identity of the entrepreneur remain to be normed masculine and male gender stereotyped. This male gender stereotyping situates women who practice entrepreneurship in disadvantages, limiting their access to resources on which they depend to make meaning of their activities and identities. This imbalanced masculine gender order also manifests in China’s economy. Women entrepreneurs in China face complex contradictions and challenges when navigating an arena that privileges men and masculinity. However, not much is known about the micro-dynamics of Chinese women’s entrepreneurial experiences in light of …

Pollen-Vegetation Relationships In Upper Tampa Bay, Jaime E. Zolik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological and environmental studies reveal prehistoric human-environmental interactions and resolve baseline conditions for estuaries. Paleoecological proxies, such as pollen, aid archeologists in investigating past vegetation dynamics and human impacts. An issue with collecting this information today is that most present-day estuaries in Tampa Bay have been succeeded by mangrove communities and do not represent baseline vegetation dynamics. This is believed to be the consequences of widespread mosquito ditching. As a result of this, the once complex mangrove, salt marsh, juncus marsh, salt prairie, and coastal upland mosaics were converted to monodominant mangrove forests. Upper Tampa Bay (UTB) park contains some …

Dynamic Loading Directed Neural Stem Cell Differentiation, Abdullah Revaha Akdemir

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are among the biggest challenges for medical and engineering fields in the modern era. Many people experience various accidents every year that cause major irreversible trauma in the spinal cord. Damaged neural cells caused by SCI cannot be regenerated, and patients have to live with pain, spasms, or loss of movement. Stem cell differentiation can be a potential solution to generate enough neurol cells in vitro to apply at the defective region. In this research, the impact of dynamic mechanical stimulation on the differentiation of PC-12 cell lines towards neurol cells was studied. Models to apply …

Clean Water For All: Examining Safe Drinking Water Act Violations Of Water Systems And Community Characteristics, Junghwan Bae

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drinking water systems in the United States confront several challenges such as aging infrastructure, polluted source water, and fragmented systems. The burdens, however, are not equally distributed across the nation. Disadvantaged communities such as communities of color are disproportionately affected by drinking water-related problems.

This study focuses on drinking water quality violations and slow enforcement actions of Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) during 2016 to 2018. The EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) was used to obtain violation records and characteristics of community water systems. The data set in this study contains 21,845 community water systems. Based on the …

Architectural Complexity Of Oyster Reefs: Evaluating The Relationship Between Interstitial Spaces And Macroinvertebrates, Elizabeth A. Salewski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how organisms utilize and interact with habitat features may improve predictions of habitat preferences and species interactions, and may assist in the development of conservation and management strategies. The architecture of a habitat provides a complex array of structural features that influences interactions between the abiotic and biotic factors, and impact the biodiversity and species abundance through altering recruitment patterns and the survival of associated fauna. Characterizing potential refugia however has been challenging with minimal attempts to measure interstitial space size and abundance in reef systems. Here, I present novel methodology utilizing 3D technology to characterize interstitial spaces within …

A Barker Type Approach For Measuring And Interpreting Vle Of Polymer Mixed Solvent Systems, Vaishali Jain

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The environment around us has a great impact on human health. A polluted environment can adversely impact human health and cause diseases like cancer, skin diseases, breathing problems and many more and hence altering the quality of life. Hence it is very important to develop sensors that can efficiently detect these harmful substances from environment. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are carbon-based chemical substances that are volatile even at ambient temperature and pressure conditions which enter the atmosphere through industrial processes, building materials, etc.

Acoustic wave devices can detect very low concentrations (ppm, ppb) of organic compounds in the environment. A …

Hyperoxia-Induced Cardiac Pathophysiology In Guinea Pig Hearts, Zain Ul Abidin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hyperoxia, is regularly introduced to critically ill patients in ICU. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown the negative effects of this treatment on patients in critical care, including increased rates of lung and cardiac injury and thereby high in-hospital mortality. Large part of the literature related to hyperoxia was majorly focused on lung injury, with no or minimal investigations on cardiac injury. Our lab is the first to investigate the effect of hyperoxia on cardiac pathophysiology in mice and showed that mice exposed to hyperoxia for 3 days demonstrated brady-arrhythmia, cardiac hypertrophy, QTc prolongation along with other electrical remodeling and functional …

Identifying Skeletal Puberty Stages In A Modern Sample From The United States, Jordan T. Wright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Investigating the onset and progression of puberty can provide insight and evidence for social changes regarding the transition to adulthood. There are also many social factors that can lead to variation in the timing of the onset and progression of puberty. Methods created by Mary Lewis and Fiona Shapland for assessing changes in skeletal development associated with pubertal timing were applied to computerized tomography scans (n=400) from the New Mexico Decedent Image Database and recorded in an attempt to identify adolescent growth trends in a modern skeletal sample from the United States. This is a novel study using the methods …

Pregnancy And Fertility Amongst Women With The Mthfr C677t Polymorphism: An Anthropological Review, Caroline A. Maclean

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Effects of the MTHFR C677T allele on reproduction include multiple complications. The frequency of births with neural tube defects, Down Syndrome, or recurrent pregnancy loss of CC, CT, and TT mothers was measured using data collected from existing literature. Total participants n=2605 (n=1111 cases, n=1494 controls). Results show that folic acid supplementation did not prevent the incidence of NTD pregnancy in CT women. Furthermore, CT women are more fecund overall, producing more pregnancies than CC and TT women. While CT case women did have higher incidences of RPL, NTD pregnancy and DS pregnancy, this is due to the overall greater …

Sharing Their Stories: A Qualitative Investigation Of Adolescents’ Inpatient Experiences During Psychiatric Hospitalization, Jessica L. Rice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Psychiatric hospitalization is an intensive treatment intervention, reserved for youth with severe mental illnesses, considered in imminent danger of harm to themselves and/or others. Although the prevalence of youth that are psychiatrically hospitalized continues to rise, there remains a gap in the available research about adolescents’ appraisals of their inpatient treatment, as most studies draw conclusions from surveys, administered after patients are discharged. Not only does this limit insights about treatment changes that could be beneficial in reducing psychiatric hospital recidivism, but it also inhibits youth from sharing their subjective experiences. As such, the current study sought to develop a …

Listening To Women: Using A Mixed-Methods Approach To Understanding Women’S Desires And Experience During Childbirth, Nicole Loraine Falk Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is based on evolutionary medicine and applied anthropological research where the narratives and biology of modern women are used to inform evolutionary theory, specifically obligate midwifery, and modern birth practices. Improvements to the US maternity care systems are needed as rates of maternal mortality and morbidity are continually higher than rates in other technologically advanced nations. Additionally, women birthing under the technocratic model of care, as is predominant in the US, report trauma and post-traumatic stress disorders due to their birthing experience, and more women are experiencing postpartum depression. Thus, I seek to use an evolutionary medicine perspective …

Insights Into The Role Of Metal Composition, Preparation Method, Catalyst Pretreatment For Application In The Development Of Catalytic Reforming Materials For Intensified Conversion Of Biogas Sourced Methane, Yetunde Oluwatosin Sokefun

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The combustion of fossil fuel sources, crude oil, natural gas, and coal to meet the world’s energy demand has contributed to the increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases to the environment. These negative contributions and their resulting impact on environmental conditions and several reports of their peak production and eventual depletion have influenced the need for cleaner and alternative energy production using renewable energy sources.

From the available renewable energy sources ranging from wind, solar, hydrothermal, geothermal, and biomass, biomass is an attractive option because it is largely ubiquitous and a waste commodity that can be converted …

A Macro Analysis Of Illegal Hunting And Fishing Across Texas Counties: Using An Economic Structural Approach, Leo J. Genco Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this disseration is to examine the distribution of illegal hunting and fishing violations across Texas counties in respect to the economic structure. Illegal hunting plays a part in the extraction of resources that are overly withdrawn, and criminologists have ignored this form of deviancy that has large ramifications for the environment. To view this criminal phenomenon, the study uses the Treadmill of Production theory to determine economic structural factors and whether those factors explain the distribution of illegal hunting and fishing. Using regression analyses and SatScan, the findings suggested that while there are significant factors related to …

The Communicative Constitution Of Environment: Land, Weather, Climate, Leanna K. Smithberger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My project examines the communicative constitution of environment: how we mediate environment in discursive practice, and arrange chaotic and complex timeplaces into organized relationships of agents and objects which act and are acted upon. Climate scholars across disciplines are calling for a paradigm shift in how we understand, study, inhabit, and relate to Earth’s varied environments. In this dissertation, I demonstrate how communication practices do the work of constituting the environment as we know it, and therefore conclude with the hopeful suggestion that these same practices can be used to do the work of a paradigm shift — that is, …

Momentum For Learning: Defining A Pedagogy Of Movement For Improved Learning And Cognition, Gretchen L. Stewart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study reports the findings of a mixed-methods investigation into learning and cognition that has been theoretically and methodologically positioned as embodied. Embodied learning places pedagogical value on the biophysiologically dependent nature of learning on the development of the central nervous system. Rooted in empirical evidence of structural and functional brain change through movement, the purpose of this study was to investigate the primary teaching and learning features of a neurodevelopmental approach to schooling. The research question was, how do interdisciplinary experts operationalize movement as fundamental pedagogy in a brain relevant school model? Methods included qualitative interviews, a consensus building …

Of Body And Mind: Bioarchaeological Analysis Of Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Century Anatomization And Institutionalization In Siena, Italy, Jacqueline M. Berger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Institutional bioarchaeology is a growing sub-field within bioarchaeology, particularly social bioarchaeology as informed by the biocultural approach. However, the majority of studies in this vein have primarily addressed English-speaking contexts, to include analyses of institutional assemblages preserved archaeologically, and anatomical collections. The present study examines of the Siena Craniological Collection (SCC) - located in Siena, Italy. The collection was assembled between 1862-1931, and originally contained remains of 1,122 patients from both the general and mental hospitals in operation in Siena during this period (Brasili-Gualandi & Gualdi-Russo, 1989a). In addition to demographic analysis of the Siena Craniological Collection as a whole, …

Parent Engagement In An Online Behavioral Parent Training Program: A Case Study, Natalie A. Hofmann Leedy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral parent training (BPT) is considered a frontline intervention for challenging behaviors in early childhood. Research on outcomes in behavioral parent training include an emphasis on participant engagement, defined as attendance, cognitive readiness, and task completion (Chacko et al., 2016; Gearing et al., 2014; Nock & Ferriter, 2005). Barriers to treatment attendance and engagement include logistical barriers, perceptions that treatment is burdensome or irrelevant, poor therapeutic alliance, and inaccurate or poor expectations for treatment (Kazdin, Holland, & Crowley, 1997; Nock & Kazdin, 2001). This case study examined parent engagement and barriers to treatment in a BPT program called Developing Our …

Peminist Performance In/As Filipina Feminist Praxis: Collaging Stand-Up Comedy And The Narrative Points In Between, Christina-Marie A. Magalona

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project documents the interdependent effort between performers, authors, and texts, through re/theorizing the role of the personal narrator in autoperformance as both an individual, and a part of a political collective. Through a scripted and staged performance, studied as the data, I critically engage with representations of first-generation women of color via comediennes (Ali Wong and Cristela Alonzo) and their personal narratives, and dialogically consider moments of dis/identification as a Filipina American.

Rooted in performance in/and communication studies, the overarching method employed is conspicuous aesthetic performance, via a scripted and staged narrative performance. I join performance and other methods …

Reframing The Gothic: Race, Gender, & Disability In Multiethnic Literature, Ashely B. Tisdale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is about the exploitation and disposability of disabled bodies. I am interested in understanding how some bodies are vulnerable to systems of exploitation by virtue of their race, gender, and disabilities. Chapter one interrogates Alejandro Morales’s The Rag Doll Plagues, where ill and disabled female characters are disposed of during the protagonists’ journey toward national progress. Hanya Yanagihara’s The People in The Trees is the subject of chapter two. In this novel, ill, elderly characters of color are experimented on as their sovereign island is mined by pharmaceutical corporations. Chapter three discusses how James Hannaham’s Delicious Foods portrays …

Epigenetic Potential In An Introduced Passerine, Haley E. Hanson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Epigenetic modifications play a critical role in numerous processes throughout the lifetime of an organism by influencing gene regulation. Responsive to both endogenous cues and external stimuli, epigenetic modifications are key mechanisms underlying phenotypic plasticity. Epigenetic potential, or the capacity for phenotypic plasticity mediated by epigenetic modifications, can be encoded within the genome via genetic variation underlying aspects of epigenetic modifications. For example, one type of epigenetic modification, DNA methylation, predominately occurs at CpG motifs in vertebrates. The number of CpG sites within the genome then represents the capacity for DNA methylation to occur and is one form of epigenetic …

Mechanisms And Mitigation: Effects Of Light Pollution On West Nile Virus Dynamics, Meredith E. Kernbach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Light pollution, or the presence of unnatural light at night, is a pervasive and growing problem across the globe. While often pictured in urban centers, light pollution is far reaching and can affect seemingly safe and minimally developed environments. For example, agricultural communities with artificial lighting near facilities can generate such light pollution in rural areas. Further, streetlights and illuminated billboards along roads and highways can generate light pollution far from cities. Given how pervasive this anthropogenic stressor is, it is surprising that not much is known about how artificial light at night, or ALAN, affects humans or wildlife, especially …

Screening Of Pregnant Women With Opioid Use Disorder: Identifying Factors Impacting Implementation Of Screening Recommendations Using The Theoretical Domains Framework, Tara R. Foti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Prenatal opioid exposure is a growing problem in the United States with high and increasing rates of opioid use and opioid use disorder during pregnancy. Almost 23% of pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid programs filled an opioid prescription during pregnancy in 2007, marking a 21.1% increase since 2000. Maternal opioid use during pregnancy is associated with a variety of poor maternal, pregnancy and infant outcomes, including overdose, pregnancy-associated death, prematurity, low birth weight and Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome. To optimize prenatal care and pregnancy-associated outcomes, the Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health, in collaboration with The American College of …

Techno-Economic Analysis Of Polyethylene Terephthalate Bio-Upcycling, Benard Nyawanga

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plastics have been used in almost every household appliance and various industrial applications for more than one hundred years. Plastic is among the most used materials in manufacturing worldwide. Plastic is cheap, light, durable, flexible, non-toxic, etc., and these properties make it suitable to use in manufacturing many types of appliances and materials. There has been an excessive reliance on plastic, leading to mass production. Despite being overly produced, there has been very little effort to recycle plastic, leading to massive accumulation of this environment. Plastic wastes are found in large patches in the world's oceans, waterways, and land. In …

Sleep Diagnoses And Low Back Pain In U.S. Military Veterans, Kenneth A. Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Low back pain (LBP) is a common problem that is the primary contributor to years lived with disability worldwide. In the U.S. LBP is disproportionately experienced by military veterans. In recent years interest has grown in the impact of sleep and sleep-related diagnoses on musculoskeletal pain complaints (including LBP) and despite growth in the scientific literature investigating this, gaps in our understanding of how sleep diagnoses impact LBP remain. To that end, this dissertation uses administrative electronic health record data from veterans seeking care through the Veterans Health Administration in three manuscripts to address the following specific aims: (1) investigate …

Making Change In The Nickel City: Food Banking And Food Insecurity In Buffalo, Ny During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sarah E. Bradley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In March 2020, the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began to spread across the United States. The pandemic disrupted the food system in an unprecedented fashion, exacerbating existing inequalities and contributing to increased rates of food insecurity and charitable food use. This research project considers the food system of Buffalo, New York and seeks to capture the way in which both food insecure households and the food pantries that serve them adapted to the pandemic. Using data from 75 client surveys, 52 qualitative semi-structured interviews with food pantry staff and clients, and 15 participatory GIS mapping interviews, this mixed-methods project describes …

Impacts Of Experiential Learning On The Affective Domain: Gaining Insight Into How To Broaden Participation In The Geosciences, Meghan Lindsey Cook

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Experiential learning exercises, such as field trips, are a common pedagogical practice in geoscience curriculums. Their purpose is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge gained in a classroom or lab setting into a field setting, but can be considered a barrier for entry into the geosciences for those with disabilities, caregiver/employment responsibilities, or financial constraints. Educators have begun turned to other modalities, such as virtual field experiences (VFEs), to create a more inclusive environment in the geosciences. However, the validity of VFEs as a replacement for, or augmentation to traditional field trips has yet to be established. The cognitive domain …