Digital Commons Network^™

Immunogenicity Of A Plasmodium Vivax Circumsporozoite Protein Vaccine, Eric Cruz Murphy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malaria is a disease of global public health importance. Improving treatment methods focus on novel antimalarial drugs to combat parasite resistance and the development of vaccines with effective adjuvants. The current vaccine RTS,S/AS01 is moderately effective only against Plasmodium falciparum. There is no vaccine for Plasmodium vivax to date. The development and implementation of a vaccine against P. vivax would inhibit sporozoite infection of hepatocytes, block development into the blood stage and confer future immune protection. The circumsporozoite protein (CSP) is the most abundant on the surface of sporozoites and protein variants VK210 and VK247 are leading vaccine candidates for …

Optimal Selection Of Good Polynomials And Constructions Of Locally Recoverable Codes Via Galois Theory, Austin Dukes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To keep up with the ever-growing demand for reliable and efficient availability of data,locally recoverable codes (LRCs) have been the focus of much study due to their applications in cloud and distributed storage systems. A fundamental construction of LRCs was given in [36] based on polynomials which relied on the existence of r-good polynomials. In the same paper some constructions of good polynomials were given, but these constructions did not cover every configuration of parameters. Naturally this led to research into constructing good polynomials for what was not addressed in [36], but new ponderings were also posed, such as the …

A Comparison Of Video Feedback And Video Self-Evaluation To Improve Tap Skills, Ellie Warmund

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the research on behavioral interventions in sports, researchers have evaluated various feedback-based interventions to enhance performance of skills. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of video feedback (VF) to improve performance across a variety of sports. Video self-evaluation (VSE), though less studied, is another feedback-based intervention that has been proven to improve sports skills. By using a multiple baseline across participants with an embedded alternating treatments design, this study compared VF to VSE to improve the performance of tap skills. We evaluated three skills for each dancer; one skill received VF, one received VSE, and one did not receive an …

Learning And Using Positive Psychology As An Intervention For Clients: Examining Changes In Mental Health Clinician’S Complete Mental Health, Frances Coolman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, mental health was viewed as the absence of illness or disorders, but over time it has increasingly become viewed as also holding the presence of positive factors (Keyes, 2003; Ryff & Singer, 1998; Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). The switch from only focusing on negative factors to incorporating positive factors as well brought more traction to the growing field of positive psychology, defined as “the scientific study of positive experiences and positive individual traits, and the institutions that facilitate their development” (Duckworth, Steen, & Seligman, 2005, p. 630). Inclusion of both positive indicators of wellness combined with negative indicators of …

Disruptions In The Experiences Of First-Time Military Family Members, Ana C. Vidal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Military service members and their families encounter many obstacles throughout their time in the military (as well as before enlistment/commission and after service), ranging from those unique to the military community to those common within civilian families. Although how military families deal with these challenges/stressors and how to better support these families has been a salient research area, there is still room for expansion of knowledge. This study argues for expanding who is included in the definition of a “military family” to include a service member’s parents/parental figures and siblings, as well as enlarging the period of interest in military …

An Analysis Of (Hu)Manid Using The Usf Donated Skeletal Collection: Estimating Sex And Ancestry For Edentulous Individuals, Natalie S. Wise

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Human Mandible Identification program, (hu)MANid©, enables anthropologists to estimate the sex and ancestry of unidentified skeletal remains from metric and morphoscopic variables from the mandible. The program is suitable for a variety of anthropological contexts, including forensic casework and bioarchaeological or paleoanthropological analyses. The purpose of this research project is to test the accuracy and applicability of the (hu)MANid program on edentulous mandibles. While the authors of (hu)MANid warn against data collection for edentulous mandibles, there are many circumstances in applied forensic casework where the unidentified person is edentulous. Edentulous individuals experience alveolar resorption, which is the loss of …

Painting A New Perspective On Ordovician Echinoderm Diversity Patterns, Ohav Barak Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Ordovician Period was a time of great biotic and environmental change, encompassing two important biotic events: the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) and the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME). The GOBE occurred during the Middle Ordovician and was a period of rapid diversity increase for marine invertebrate groups, as lower-level taxonomic groups like families and genera came into the forefront. The Ordovician ends with the LOME, an extinction event that is thought to have occurred in two phases: an initial glaciation followed by a subsequent warming. Approximately 85% of marine species went extinct during the LOME, making it the …

Cues And Identity: Assessing Substance Use Cues, Life Experience, And Context, Katelynn Carlsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project employs Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) methods alongside semi-structured interviews to examine substance use cues, or “triggers”, in the everyday context. This includes repeated assessment of participants’ behaviors and thoughts over time. EMA allows researchers to sample phenomena the moment they occur within the context. These methods are most used in psychology and clinical science. Current research on substance use relies on lab-based assessments to understand cues and their relationship to consumption (Carter and Tiffany 1999, Conklin and Tiffany 2003, Witteman et al. 2015). This analysis uses data collected by the Cues in the Everyday (CITED) Team. The CITED …

“Even The Birds Got More Out Of Her Than I Did”: Wrecking And Constructive Memory In Key West, Florida, Sarah L. Whiting

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the creative nature of memory at work in coastal city of Key West, Florida. Using the commemoration of the wreckers as a medium, I argue that the memory of wreckers is based on fictional maritime literature from the nineteenth century. The basis of the collective memory of wreckers in Key West from maritime fiction affects the way that the residents define themselves. Through embracing the fictional wrecker past that the monument to the wreckers represents, the residents of Key West embody their Conch identity. Thus, collective memory in this city works as a creative vehicle and shows …

Aligning Clinical Productivity Of Cancer Care Providers: A Simulation-Based Approach, Maile Sinclair-Baxter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The growing number of cancer patients over the years has presented many challenges and opportunities for improvement in the healthcare system. These challenges and opportunities have demonstrated the need for a tool that can enhance the clinical productivity of healthcare providers, ultimately impacting patients’ overall experience. We studied the clinical Full Time Equivalency (cFTE) for providers at a cancer research center. cFTE is the percentage of time allocated for clinical work. In this cancer research center, the clinical work of each provider is supposed to match a targeted cFTE. The cancer research center’s concern was that the provider’s clinical productivity …

Using Brain Break® In The Classroom To Increase On-Task Behavior And Decrease Disruptive Behaviors Of Students, Michaela C. Elza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Off-task and disruptive behavior are one of the greatest causes to loss of instructional time in the classroom. Teachers spend time addressing student challenging behaviors which consequently cuts time from their academic instruction. Antecedent exercise programs, such as Brain Breaks®, provide teachers with short physical activity videos that provide students a movement break between long periods of academics without the need for expensive equipment. This study evaluated the effects of Brain Breaks® videos to increase students’ on-task and decrease disruptive behaviors in the classroom. Three participants were included in this study, Jordan a 6-year-old male, Andrew an 8-year-old male, and …

Maturing Out Of Crime: A Test Of The Integrated Maturation Theory Of Desistance, Kelly E. Kortright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation partially tested a newer integrated theory, the Integrated Maturation Theory (IMT) of desistance. IMT argues that as maturation increases across five maturation domains (social role, civic, identity, psychosocial, and neurocognitive) the likelihood of offending decreases. Using a sample of serious justice-involved juveniles spanning ages 14-24 from the Pathways to Desistance Study, the individual and simultaneous maturation domain development of the social role, civic, identity, and psychosocial maturation domains, were explored for heterogeneity. Using a group-based trajectory modeling approach, including multi-trajectory modeling, this study advanced the understanding of maturation development by identifying sub-groups following declining trajectories of maturation and …

Evaluating The Use Of Behavioral Skills Training And Tactile Prompts To Increase Positive Staff Interactions In Residential Care, Kaleigh R. Cernosek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Youth in residential care are often victims of maltreatment and are more likely to be revictimized. Residential facilities tend to be restrictive and punitive based, often implementing restraints as an intervention. Previous research has shown that a positive living climate is essential for increasing quality of life and meeting treatment goals. Building rapport between staff and youth can help promote a positive living climate and positively impact youth behavior. Behavior-specific praise (BSP) has been evaluated in school settings to increase student engagement and compliance. However, there has been limited research on the effects of increasing BSP in residential facilities. Therefore, …

Advancing Adversarial Audio: Human-In-The-Loop Black-Box Attacks, Rui Duan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adversarial audio attacks pose significant security challenges to real-world audio applications. Attackers may manipulate speech to impersonate a speaker, gaining access to smart devices like Amazon Echo. In audio applications, there are two key areas: music and speech. In music, most attackers create a small noise-like perturbation on the original signal to evade copyright detection. However, this method degrades music's perceived quality for human listeners. In the speech, creating an adversarial example often requires many queries to the target model, a process too cumbersome for practical use in real-world scenarios, like interacting with smart devices numerous times.

In this dissertation, …

Teacher-Implemented Accumulated And Distributed Schedules In The Classroom Setting, Jessica S. Benevides

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotional behavior disorders (EBDs) are becoming increasingly more common in schools (Forness et al., 2012). Challenging behavior can negatively impact a teacher’s implementation of classroom management strategies which can be detrimental to student outcomes (Garwood et al., 2017; Gilmour et al., 2022) and increase the risk for teacher burnout (Fernet et al., 2012). Evidence-based strategies such as differential reinforcement have been shown to be effective at reducing challenging behavior (Boniecki & Moore, 2003; Petscher et al., 2009). Moreover, accumulated and distributed reinforcer arrangements using tokens have been shown to both reduce challenging behavior and increase task engagement (Chen et al., …

From Guns To Intimate Partner Violence: The Impact Of Power And Control, Meaghan E. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gun violence and intimate partner violence are pervasive public health concerns across the globe. Notably, previous literature has shown a positive relationship between gun ownership and intimate partner violence (IPV), even when a gun is not used during acts of IPV. Despite this established link, few studies to date have explored psychological mechanisms, especially feelings of and desire for power, that could explain this relationship among young men. Given that college students remain one of the most at-risk groups for both victimization and perpetration of IPV, examining the relationship between actual or intended gun ownership and IPV could close vital …

Trajectories Of Well-Being: Results From The Americans’ Changing Lives Study, Cassondra M. Lyman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is considerable interest in elucidating the dynamics of well-being over long periods of time, including how well-being dynamics are influenced by depression. The Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) study has followed the health and well-being of a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States for 25 years (N1986 = 3,617; N1989 = 2,867; N1994 = 2,562; N2002 = 1,787, N2012 = 1,427). Leveraging data from the ACL study, the present investigation employed growth mixture models to identify unobserved subpopulations (i.e., latent classes) typified by change in well-being over time. Three predominant trajectories for well-being were identified: relative stability …

An Assessment Of A Haptic-Based Ergonomic Intervention At An Aerospace Manufacturing Facility, Chase Mcdonald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of a haptic-based intervention designed to reduce hand motions and, consequently, the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among operators in a manufacturing facility. The intervention involved using ergonomic gloves equipped with haptic feedback, intended to encourage proper hand motion and reduce unnecessary movements.

Over a six-month period, data was collected from operators wearing the haptic gloves, focusing on two key metrics: Duty Cycle and Motion Rate. These metrics were chosen to normalize the data, accounting for the variability in duration for each individual operator who wore the device. …

Improving Academic Engagement And Task Completion Using Antecedent Physical Exercise In An Elementary School Classroom, Grace N. Maxwell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effectiveness of antecedent physical activity interventions in enhancing academic engagement and task completion among first-grade students displaying off-task behaviors. The research involved three student participants from a first grade general education classroom. An ABAB reversal design was used to assess the impact of the intervention. The intervention, implemented by the classroom teacher, consisted of short, structured physical activities conducted before targeted academic periods. Results revealed significant improvements in both academic engagement and task completion following the implementation of the physical activity interventions. The findings suggest that incorporating brief physical activities into daily classroom routines can lead …

Specification, Enforcement, And Measurement Of Integrity Policies, Kevin Dennis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The first step to improving an organization's security posture is to define the organization's security goals. At a technical level, these goals are expressed as security policies. Security policies are predicates over programs, that return true or false if the program adheres to the policy. Defining these policies correctly is thus essential to ensuring the overarching security goals are met, but it is often quite difficult to translate human-oriented goals into their technical policy counterparts. In addition, these policies must be specified so that they are enforceable while minimizing false positives and false negatives. Integrity policies, which specify how data …

Unveiling Ferroelectric And Multifunctional Insights In Hybrid Formate Perovskites, Abduljelili Popoola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Formate perovskites, denoted as AB(HCOO)3, represent a diverse group of hybrid organic-inorganic compounds, renowned for their numerous phase transitions and a wide array of properties. These properties encompass (anti)ferroelectricity, ferroelasticity, (anti)ferromagnetism, and multiferroism. Despite extensive research on these materials, a comprehensive examination of their properties across a substantial number of formate perovskites remains scarce. This scarcity stems from structural complexity of these materials, potential systematic errors arising from different measurement techniques or incomplete data. For instance, data for critical parameters like piezoelectricity, dielectricity, and elasticity tensors have been lacking.

In this study, we address these challenges by employing first-principles density …

Enhancing Novice Teachers’ Social Justice Practices Through Critical Professional Learning: A Critical Participatory Action Research Study, Brianna C. Connors

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a crucial need for social justice-oriented educators in today's classrooms given the growing population of America's multicultural student population. Social justice-oriented teacher preparation programs (TPPs) have contributed significantly to shaping the pedagogies of teacher candidates, better equipping them to serve all students. The transition period following teacher candidates' engagement in the TPPs, however, presents political, contextual, and personal challenges for novice teachers (NTs) dedicated to teaching for social justice. This research presents findings from a critical participatory action research (CPAR) study delving into the experiences of NTs engaged in critical professional learning (CPL). The purpose of this research …

An Evaluation Of Reinforcement Thinning Using Deposit Contracts To Increase Physical Activity, Madeline N. Mccullen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle, researchers have used behavioral interventions such as contingency management and deposit contracts to increase physical activity. Although these interventions have been effective, researchers have described the lack of maintenance assessments of the target behavior. One way to address the maintenance of behavior, such as physical activity, is with reinforcement thinning. The current study evaluated the effects of self-tailored deposit contracts and reinforcement thinning on daily step count with sedentary adults using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design. Researchers and participants designed a self-tailored deposit contract by identifying a step …

Investigating The Impact Of Inverter-Based Resources On Power Grid Dynamics, Ratik Mittal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the stability challenges posed by integrating Inverter-Based Resources (IBR) into power grids, particularly focusing on two major scenarios: IBRs connected to weak grid interconnections and their performance in series-compensated networks. With the increasing dependency on renewable energy sources, ensuring the stability of these grids is crucial. A multilayered investigative approach is employed, utilizing Electromagnetic Transient Simulations that model grid systems interfaced with IBRs. These simulations are pivotal as they emulate real-world stability issues and provide a foundational understanding of grid interactions. In this dissertation two major types of IBR control are modeled and analyzed: Grid Following Control …

Investigation Of Self-Assembly Of Hen Egg White Lysozyme Fibrils, Nabila Bushra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amyloid proteins are a large group of proteins that tend to aggregate and form insoluble fibrils with a characteristic cross-β sheet structure. Intriguingly, this process of “amyloid formation” has been simultaneously linked to devastating human diseases called amyloidoses, ranging from Alzheimer’s Disease, cardiac amyloidoses to type II diabetes, as well as functional biological responses such as hormone storage and sperm quality control. Amyloid fibrils have also attracted significant attention for their unique mechanical, chemical, and optical characteristics, establishing them as promising tough biomaterials. The urgent need to find treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, and the demand for safe and renewable biomaterials …

Exploring The Enlightenment Function Of Thought Experiments: Unveiling An Underdeveloped Dimension Absent In Typologies, Dominique Greene-Sanders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thought experiments (TEs) are imaginative tools used across various fields to explore theoretical and practical issues. This dissertation focuses on the application of TEs in ethics, specifically emphasizing the underdeveloped enlightenment function. The traditional use of TEs in ethics often aims to clarify, support, or refute specific claims through an argumentative structure. However, this work argues that TEs also play a key role in enhancing ethical competence by acknowledging the complexities of ethical dilemmas and fostering moral skills like critical thinking, moral reasoning, and ethical awareness through non-argumentative and non-theory-centric means.

The dissertation begins by explaining the nature and historical …

The Effects Of Scenic Pictures And Progressive Time Delay On Intraverbal Responding, Breanna White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of tact prompts to establish single responses to questions about intraverbal categories. Scenic pictures, a visual depiction of multiple exemplars belonging to a stimulus class, may increase the likelihood that individuals will emit multiple responses when answering categorical questions, and promote response variability. The purpose of this study was to extend Glodowski and Rodriguez (2019) by evaluating the effectiveness of a larger array of visual stimuli and progressive time delay on varied intraverbal responding with individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 8 and 17 within a private school for individuals with …

Empirically Defining Healthy And Maladaptive Exercise: A Nomological Network Approach, Cody B. Staples

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exercise is generally considered to be healthy and adaptive; however, for some individuals, engagement in exercise is maladaptive and can damage both physical and mental health. Currently, research regarding healthy and maladaptive exercise is siloed, and factors that may result in exercise being maladaptive are unclear. This gap in the research is fueled by the incomplete definitions of what constitutes “healthy” as compared to “maladaptive” exercise behavior. To address this gap, the current study aimed to develop empirical definitions of healthy and maladaptive exercise using a nomological network approach. Theoretically and empirically supported facets of exercise (e.g., frequency, motivation) were …

Evaluation Of Reduced Graphene Oxide For Advanced Thermal Management In Microwave Electronics Packaging, Utkarsh Misra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The continuous push towards making electronic devices smaller and denser, largely driven by the demand for higher power capabilities, has led to a critical need for innovative and comprehensive methods for managing the heat these devices generate. Traditional cooling solutions for electronics often rely on methods such as copper-based layers or channels to distribute and dispel heat. However, these conventional methods and materials are becoming increasingly insufficient, especially for Radio Frequency (RF) and millimeter-wave electronics. These components are becoming ever more compact while requiring more power, thus presenting unique challenges for thermal management in their packaging.

In this thesis we …

Personality Pathology As A Self-Regulating Dynamical System, Haya Fatimah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With mounting evidence that personality is both stable and variable, personality scientists have called for comprehensive approaches that integrate stability and dynamics. Dynamical systems theory offers concepts and tools to systematically integrate the stable and dynamic components of personality while identifying the relationship between these components. This study extends the dynamical systems approach to personality pathology and investigates how pathological personality states vary in a patterned manner in relation to their equilibria or attractors, as opposed to random noise. Furthermore, I test if these patterned dynamics may describe important individual differences and predict behavioral outcomes. Using daily data pertaining to …