Digital Commons Network^™

Two Essays On Stock Repurchases-The Post Repurchase Announcement Drift: An Anomaly In Disguise? And Intra Industry Effects Of Ipos On Stock Repurchase Decisions, Thanh Thiet Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We reexamine the stock price drifts following open-market stock repurchase announcements by differentiating actual repurchases from repurchase announcements and by controlling for the repurchasing firms' earnings improvement in the announcement year relative to the prior year. Our results show that only firms that actually repurchase their shares exhibit a positive post-announcement drift. More importantly, we find that these repurchasing firms have the same post-announcement drift as their matching firms that have similar size and earnings performance but do not repurchase. Further analysis indicates that the post-repurchase announcement drift is not a distinct anomaly but the well-documented post-earnings announcement drift in …

Unearthing Augusta: Landscapes Of Royalization On Roatan Island, Honduras, Lorena Diane Mihok

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1742, the settlement of Augusta was established as an outpost of English royalization on Roatán Island, Honduras. This military camp housed a mix of English soldiers, English colonists, and local indigenous Miskitu peoples. While the settlement was occupied for only a brief span of seven years, the material record of the community provides insight into Miskitu-English interactions during the royalization process. Royalization encompassed strategies deployed by the English Crown to bring about loyalty to the state. In this dissertation, I discuss the concept of royalization from an agent-centered perspective to consider the intentions behind the occupants' usage of objects …

Hypogene Speleogenesis In The Cerna River Basin, Sw Romania: A Sedimentological, Mineralogical, And Stable Isotopic Approach, Cristina Montana Puscas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ever since it was identified as a speleogenetic process in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico, USA, hypogene speleogenesis has become the focus of numerous research projects aimed at discerning between classical epigene caves and sulfuric acid or thermal caves. The first distinguishing characteristics that were recognized for hypogene caves were passage and cave morphology. The following step was the identification of rare minerals, specific for processes associated to hypogene speleogenesis. One other important step was the recognition of the importance of stable isotopes - mainly of S - in tracing the source of S and the chemical processes affecting …

Unusual Patterns Of Seismicity During Eruptive And Non-Eruptive Periods At The Persistently Restless Telica Volcano, Nicaragua, Melanie Rodgers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Telica Volcano, Nicaragua, is a persistently restless volcano with high rates of seismicity that can vary from less than ten events to over a thousand events per day. Low-frequency (LF) events dominate the seismic catalogue and seismicity rates at Telica show little clear correlation with periods of eruption. As such, traditional methods of forecasting of volcanic activity based on increases in seismicity and recognition of LF activity are not applicable. A single seismic station has been operating at Telica since 1993, and in 2010 we installed a broadband seismic and continuous GPS network (TESAND network) at Telica. In this study …

Social Determinants Of Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Perinatal Morbidity: Social Origins Of Perinatal Health Study, Abraham A. Salinas-Miranda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: The social causation of preterm birth remains elusive, without an adequate explanatory framework. Thus, this study proposed and evaluated a conceptual model of the social determinants of perinatal health for the understanding of perinatal health disparities.

METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted with pregnant women between 20 and 35 weeks gestation who were participating in two Healthy Start programs in Central Florida, from July 2011-August 2013. Perinatal health was operationalized based on gestational age, birth weight, and healthy start infant risk screen score. The predictors were: early life adversity, social position, maternal health-related quality of life, maternal stress, …

Relative Survival Of Gags Mycteroperca Microlepis Released Within A Recreational Hook-And-Line Fishery: Application Of The Cox Regression Model To Control For Heterogeneity In A Large-Scale Mark-Recapture Study, Beverly J. Sauls

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to measure injuries and impairments directly observed from gags Mycteroperca microlepis caught and released within a large-scale recreational fishery, develop methods that may be used to rapidly assess the condition of reef fish discards, and estimate the total portion of discards in the fishery that suffer latent mortality. Fishery observers were placed on for-hire charter and headboat vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico from June 2009 through December 2012 to directly observe reef fishes as they were caught by recreational anglers fishing with hook-and-line gear. Fish that were not retained by anglers were …

A New Item Response Theory Model For Estimating Person Ability And Item Parameters For Multidimensional Rank Order Responses, Jacob Seybert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The assessment of noncognitive constructs poses a number of challenges that set it apart from traditional cognitive ability measurement. Of particular concern is the influence of response biases and response styles that can influence the accuracy of scale scores. One strategy to address these concerns is to use alternative item presentation formats (such as multidimensional forced choice (MFC) pairs, triads, and tetrads) that may provide resistance to such biases. A variety of strategies for constructing and scoring these forced choice measured have been proposed, though they often require large sample sizes, are limited in the way that statements can vary …

Fate Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers During Wastewater Treatment Process Producing Reclaimed Water, Kristy Siegel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), flame retardants, have been applied to consumer goods, such as furniture, electrical devices, textiles, and appliances for decades. Due to their physico-chemical properties, PBDEs are semi-volatile and easily leach off the consumer good during aging, stress, or normal wear and tear of the good. Once airborne, they pose an environmental health threat because they can adsorb onto dust particles, soil, or other particulates that can be inhaled, ingested, or come into contact with the dermal layer. Additionally, PBDEs have a molecular structure similar to other persistent organic pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and …

Towards Rans Parameterization Of Vertical Mixing By Langmuir Turbulence In Shallow Coastal Shelves, Nityanand Sinha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Langmuir turbulence in the upper ocean is generated by the interaction between the wind-driven shear current and the Stokes drift velocity induced by surface gravity waves. In homogenous (neutrally stratified) shallow water, the largest scales of Langmuir turbulence are characterized by full-depth Langmuir circulation (LC). LC consists of parallel counter-rotating vortices aligned roughly in the direction of the wind. In shallow coastal shelves, LC has been observed engulfing the entire water column, interacting with the boundary layer and serving as an important mechanism for sediment re-suspension.

In this research, large-eddy simulations (LES) of Langmuir turbulence with full-depth LC in a …

The Relationship Of Undergraduate First-Time-In-College Students' Expectations Of Interactions With Faculty And Four-Year College Degree Completion, Craig N. Story

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Faculty are the academic heart of colleges and universities. They guide learning and facilitate student academic and social integration in the campus community. As described by Tinto, student integration is an important component to success in college. Out-of-class and in-class faculty-student interaction supports student integration and may lead to improved college completion. Students enter college with expectations for what they are about to experience, including expectations for faculty interaction. Smart adapted Holland's vocational choice theory to study college disciplines and found that faculty in six broad categories of disciplines displayed specific environmental and personality traits and interacted differently with students. …

Development Of A Confirmatory Pcr Assay To Detect Onchocerca Volvulus In Pools Of Vector Black Flies, Alex Jeanne Talsma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, has historically represented one of the significant neglected tropical diseases on the planet in terms of socio-economic impact. The discovery that ivermectin was a safe and effective treatment for onchocerciasis, together with the decision of the manufacturer to donate the drug for the treatment of this disease became the basis for several large international programs to control and eventually eliminate the infection. These programs have managed to virtually eliminate transmission of the parasite causing Onchocerca volvulus from many foci in Africa and the Americas. Verifying that transmission has been halted requires sensitive and specific assays to …

One Dimensional Stochastic Coating Growth Kinetics Of Peg 3400 Onto Ammonium Nitrate In A Fluidized Bed, Brandon Smeltzer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fluidized beds represent a cost effective, scalable technology invaluable to the chemical processing community as part of the global scheme of particle design. However, despite wide spread use and multiple approaches (empirical and mechanistic) to modeling a fluidized bed coating process, operations must be done at different scales due to changes within the balance of phenomenological forces (e.g. gravity, buoyancy, drag, surface tension, viscosity, kinetic energy).

Ammonium nitrate is synthetic compound that has multiple applications such as fertilizer, rocket fuel, and self-cooling applications. Ammonium nitrate has five temperature dependent crystal structures that are accompanied by a change in density. The …

Adolescent Literacy Practices And Positive Youth Development Through Fink's Taxonomy Of Significant Learning, Paula Taylor-Greathouse

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was not to disprove the effects of the current, common remedial literacy course design and the literacy practices within that help adolescent RLLs pass statewide assessment tests, but to describe the potential long-term impact of an innovative comprehensive approach to literacy (CAL) framed through an integrated course design model. In this study I sought to determine if the 2012 CAL design with a particular demographic of student produced "significant" or lasting learning as defined by Fink (2003). In other words, did the 2012 CAL design promote sustained or increased practices of literacy and PYD over …

Complete Genome Sequences And Phylogeny Of West Nile Virus Isolates From Southeastern United States, 2003-2012, Crystal Wedin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study of the evolution and phylogeny of West Nile virus (WNV) has been an important area of research since the introduction of WNV in 1999. However, genome sequencing of isolates from the Southeastern part of the United States has been somewhat limited. To determine how WNV has evolved at a more localized level, ten isolates from Florida and Georgia from 2003-2012 were completely sequenced using Illumina's next-generation technology. In addition, a phylogenetic comparison of both the complete genome and select partial genomes was completed to ensure consistency among the results. This study further demonstrated the dominance of the North …

Chlorophyll Fluorescence And Thermal Stress In Archaias Angulatus (Class Foraminifera), Heidi M. Toomey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Benthic foraminifers that host algal symbionts are similar to corals in that they rely on their algal endosymbionts for their energy needs, calcify prolifically, and are sensitive to changes in environmental conditions. They are abundant in the benthos of coastal coral-reef areas and are found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions. Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) chlorophyll fluorometry and chlorophyll a extraction techniques were used to quantify and compare the photosynthetic responses of the benthic foraminiferal, Archaias angulatus and their isolated endosymbionts, Chlamydomonas hedleyi, to short-term changes in temperature. Maximum quantum efficiency (F_v/F_m) and rapid …

Predation, Competition, And Nutrient Levels Affect The Survival Of Escherichia Coli, Enterococci And Enteric Pathogens In Aquatic Habitats, Pauline Wanjugi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) such as Escherichia coli and enterococci are used to assess microbiological water quality in recreational waters worldwide. FIB are used with the assumption that their presence correlates with that of fecal-associated pathogens in recreational waters. In aquatic habitats, several factors can interfere with the predictive relationship between FIB and pathogens including extended survival of FIB in secondary habitats such as sediment, vegetation and sand. Furthermore, many biotic (e.g. predation from bacterivorous protozoa and competition from indigenous bacteria) and abiotic factors (e.g. temperature, salinity, ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation, and nutrient availability) can influence the fate of FIB …

Facebook Users' Feedback Of Restaurants: Does It Affect Other Users?, Lauren Rose Webber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the popularity of social media and an increase in the engagement of social care, traditional word-of-mouth communications has been replaced by electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). Facebook, the most popular website in the United States, is home to nearly 18 million brand or business pages and may be accessed by social media-users aiming to engage in social care, which is customer service via social media. Extending existing research, this study employed in-depth interviews to determine whether or not social media-users are affected by the feedback of other users on restaurants' Facebook pages. The results of this study suggest that Facebook …

Influence Of Maternal Thyroid Dysfunction On Infant Growth And Development, Ronee Elisha Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thyroid dysfunction is one of the most common endocrine disorders in women of childbearing age and the obstetric consequences of abnormal thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy have been established. Less understood is the implication of the presence of maternal thyroid autoantibodies on infant outcomes among women who are euthyroid during pregnancy. The objective of this study was two-fold: 1) to examine the influence of antenatal thyroperioxidase (TPO) status on fetal/infant brain and body growth measurements at delivery and 2) to explore the relationship of antenatal TPO status and maternal postpartum thyroid dysfunction (PPTD) on early infant growth and neurocognitive development. …

Stable Isotopes And Trace Elements In Tooth Enamel Bioapatite: Effects Of Diagenesis And Pretreatment On Primary Paleoecological Information, Jessica Norman Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The geochemical analysis of bioapatite in vertebrate skeletal tissues is an important tool used to obtain ecological information from fossil animals. An important consideration when conducting stable isotope and trace element analyses is obtaining biogenic information that has been unaffected by diagenetic processes.

A two-step pretreatment procedure is commonly used remove diagenetically altered material by removing organic material, via an oxidation reaction with H2O2 or NaOCl, and secondary carbonate, via dissolution in dilute acetic acid, from bioapatite. While much work has been done to determine the efficacy of the pretreatment process, little research has been conducted to determine the potential …

The Dynamics Of Alcohol Consumption In The Russian Federation: Implications Of Using Price Related Policies To Control Alcohol Use, Arseniy Pavlovich Yashkin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation models the dynamics of alcohol use in the Russian Federation with an emphasis on identifying policy implications most likely to be effective at controlling alcohol use. Utilizing data from The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, models of alcohol consumption are estimated using both myopic and rational specifications via ordinary least squares, fixed effects two stage least squares and, the focus of this study, two-step system generalized method of moments. Alcohol consumption is studied both as a composite good and as a distinct beverage category (wine, beer, and hard liquor). Furthermore, equations stratified by gender and rural status are included …

Improving Implementation Of A Regional In-Line Chlorinator In Rural Panama Through Development Of A Regionally Appropriate Field Guide, Benjamin A. Yoakum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to safe drinking water has a direct effect on improving human health and their quality of life. One country still struggling with providing access to safe drinking water to all of its population is Panama. Panama's largest indigenous group, the Ngöbe people, is disproportionately affected by lack of access to safe drinking water. One way Panama's Ministry of Health (MINSA) is attempting to increase access to safe drinking water to the Ngöbe people is by disinfecting the water already captured by rural gravity fed water systems constructed within in the Ngöbe-Bugle reservation. This is accomplished using an in-line chlorinator …

Media And Usf Students' Perception Of Terrorism, Mamdoh Suleiman Al-Ameri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the influence of mass media on students' perceptions of terrorism by applying the situational theory of publics (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). Behavior is the consequence of perception of reality. But perception of reality is not always consistent with the reality itself. Because of the important role of the media in shaping perceptions, terrorist organizations rely on it to spread fear and advance their political goals beyond the people directly affected by their attacks. The media not only spreads the news of an attack, it contributes significantly to formulating and disseminating the message of terrorist organizations. This study …

A Comparative Study: How Educational And Healthcare Preparedness Affected Marketization Of The Chinese And Indian Economies, Cindy Arjoon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this archival study, I explore reasons why India's economic takeoff into marketization in 1991 failed to meet the same success as China in 1979 when it made the same transition. I analyze the impact of education and healthcare on development and how investments in both sectors can yield significant returns privately and socially. The research in this paper seeks to answer the following question: Why was the Indian economy unable to meet the same success as China when developing a global, open market economy?

In order to answer this question, I begin by proving a solid relationship between education, …

Environmental Effects On The Biomechanics And Motor Physiology Of Elastically Powered Movements In Chameleons, Christopher Van Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmental temperature exhibits profound effects on the activity and ecology of ectotherms through its impact on muscle contractile physiology. While the performance of locomotor behaviors powered by muscle contraction directly decreases by at least 33% over a 10°C drop in body temperature, chameleons are known to feed, presumably with high performance, at body temperatures where sympatric lizard species remain inactive. I propose that ballistic movements that are powered by the recoil of preloaded elastic and collagenous tissues are less thermally dependent than movements that rely on direct muscular power. Despite the reduced thermal sensitivity of the elastic-recoil powered movement, I …

Topological Degree And Variational Inequality Theories For Pseudomonotone Perturbations Of Maximal Monotone Operators, Teffera Mekonnen Asfaw

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Let X be a real reflexive locally uniformly convex

Banach space with locally uniformly convex dual space X^*

. Let G be a

bounded open subset of X. Let T:X⊃ D(T)⇒ 2X^*

be maximal

monotone and S: X ⇒ 2X^*

be bounded

pseudomonotone and such that 0 notin cl((T+S)(D(T)∩partG)). Chapter 1 gives general introduction and mathematical prerequisites. In

Chapter 2 we develop a homotopy invariance and uniqueness results for the degree theory constructed by Zhang and Chen for multivalued (S₊) perturbations of

maximal monotone operators. Chapter 3 is devoted to the construction of a new …

A Comparative Perspective Of Black College Males On The Achievement Gap: Implications For School Counselors, Detra Bethell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The dominant discourse regarding Black males in America is that they are less academically successful than European American males and Black females. Similarly, Black males in the Bahamas are described as less successful than Black Bahamian females. School Counselors are in a unique position to alter the trajectory of success for Black males if they are knowledgeable of factors contributing to Black male academic success; have an awareness of the potential impact their unique roles can have; and develop and execute comprehensive, culturally responsive school counseling programs. While there is little research on the Achievement Gap in the Bahamas, much …

Synthesis And Investigations Of Type I And Ii Clathrates Of Group 14, Michael Blosser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clathrates are a class of new materials that have an open-framework structure that allows guest atoms or molecules to be enclosed inside of their polyhedral framework. Varying the number, weight, and size of the guest species in a particular framework allows one to alter the physical properties of the clathrate. This relationship enables one to further the fundamental understanding of the physics and chemistry of the clathrate structure and use this knowledge to "tune" certain properties. This "tunability" of inorganic clathrates is of great interest as it allows one to optimize their physical properties; making them promising candidates for a …

Magnetism In Complex Oxides Probed By Magnetocaloric Effect And Transverse Susceptibility, Nicholas Steven Bingham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic oxides exhibit rich complexity in their fundamental physical properties determined by the intricate interplay between structural, electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom. The common themes that are often present in these systems are the phase coexistence, strong magnetostructural coupling, and possible spin frustration induced by lattice geometry. While a complete understanding of the ground state magnetic properties and cooperative phenomena in this class of compounds is key to manipulating their functionality for applications, it remains among the most challenging problems facing condensed-matter physics today. To address these outstanding issues, it is essential to employ experimental methods that allow for …

Effect Of Cement Chemistry And Properties On Activation Energy, Andre J. Bien-Aime

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this work is to examine the effect of cement chemistry and physical properties on activation energy. Research efforts indicated that time dependent concrete properties such as strength, heat evolution, and thermal cracking are predictable through the concept of activation energy. Equivalent age concept, which uses the activation energy is key to such predictions. Furthermore, research has shown that Portland cement concrete properties are affected by particles size distribution, Blaine fineness, mineralogy and chemical composition. In this study, four Portland cements were used to evaluate different methods of activation energy determination based on strength and heat of hydration …

Factors Prospective Students Consider When Selecting An Mba Program, Lorie Plyler Briggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper adds to existing literature regarding MBA selection processes and helps identify and better understand the needs that motivate consumers to pursue an MBA degree. Through a series of qualitative, one-on-one interviews with 17 brand-new MBA students or prospective students, this research found that while many people have "always wanted" to earn the advanced degree, most have toyed with the idea of a graduate business degree for many years. The most frequent reasons that people cite regarding their decision to seriously consider an MBA at a large southern university centers around four desires. These are, not surprisingly, the desire …