Digital Commons Network^™

Examining School Capacity For Inclusion Using A Multi-Dimensional Framework: A Case Study, Amy Lenee-Monnier Toson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2002) and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), the inclusion of students with disabilities (SWDs) in general education classrooms has become more prevalent within our public schools (DuFour & Eaker, 1998; Mcleskey et al., 2010). Current research on inclusion focuses on student outcomes and procedural changes and not the contexts and capabilities of education leaders who are implementing it. Empirical research that examines how schools have built the capacity for sustaining these models, especially through the perspectives of those who implement it, is limited …

Asymmetric Nitrene Transfer Reactions With Azides Via Co(Ii)-Based Metalloradical Catalysis (Mrc), Jingran Tao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asymmetric nitrene transfer reactions via metalloradical catalysis (MRC) with

azides has attracted research interest because of its fundamental and practical importance.

The resulting nitrogen-containing units are recurrent motifs in biologically important

molecules and can serve as versatile precursors in organic synthesis.

The [Co(D2-Por*)] have emerged as a new class of catalysts for asymmetric

aziridination and C-H amination. These metalloradical catalysts have been shown to be

highly effective for the asymmetric intermolecular aziridination of a broad scope of

substrates with different classes of azides with excellent to good enantioselectivity. The

intramolecular C-H amination utilizing various azides can allow for the construction …

Affective Components Perceived To Be Important In Today's Global Society From A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Helena H. Wallenberg-Lerner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Global competencies, with differences in terminology by various researchers, had been frequently investigated, primarily from an American-biased perspective. Little or no defining research existed that identified requisite, universally agreed upon global competencies, or identified what affective components were perceived to be important cross culturally.

This research study answered the following questions:

1. What affective components are perceived to be important from a cross-cultural perspective?

2. Are there differences in these perceptions of affective components from a cross-cultural perspective?

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which individuals in different GeoCultural regions view and identify affective components …

From Zaire To The Drc: A Case Study Of State Failure, Adam Zachariah Trautman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The issue of state failure within the international system has been a perplexing phenomenon in our increasingly mobile and modern society. The question of why some states succeed in developing into strong states within the international environment and why some fail is a question often overlooked. The focus of this thesis will be on three key factors that contribute towards state failure. The research will show how these three key factors: outdated state infrastructure, lack of economic development, and external intervention contribute to the occurrence of this phenomenon. Analyzing these key factors will highlight how state failure occurs within a …

Interdisciplinary Collaboration For Youth Mental Health: A National Study, Audra St. John Walsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration between school- and community-based mental health professionals has the potential to result in early identification of and intervention for youth with mental health problems; however, the limited research in this area suggests that collaboration does not often occur between these professionals (Walsh, 2011). The purpose of this investigation was to collect survey data from a national sample of school psychologists in order to examine the collaborative practices of school psychologists and community-based mental health professionals on behalf of youth with mental health problems. Survey data from 327 members of 11 professional state organizations of school psychology were collected and …

Assessing Hurricane Preparedness Among Residential Staff At Louisiana State University: A Case Study On Hurricane Isaac, Ashley Marie Weatherall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studying hurricane preparedness among the Resident Assistants (RAs) and Residence Life Coordinators (RLCs) at Louisiana State University (LSU) is imperative to assure that the university housing staff is fully equipped when faced with an oncoming threat. This study seeks to fill a gap in research by investigating the influences of preparedness on student housing employees. A survey was developed and the measures were found to be coherent and internally reliable through the use of factor analysis. Based on theory and previous literature, a linear regression model was developed that quantified the relationship between the independent variable of preparedness and general …

Eco-Epidemiology Of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, Patrick Vander Kelen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is an alphavirus with high pathogenicity in both humans and horses. Florida continues to have the highest occurrence of human cases in the USA, with four fatalities recorded in 2010. Unlike other states, Florida supports year-round EEEV transmission. This research uses Geographic Information Science (GIS) to examine spatial patterns of documented sentinel seroconversions and horse cases in order to understand the relationships between habitat and transmission intensity of EEEV in Florida. Sentinel sites were categorized as enzootic, periodically enzootic, and negative based on the amount of chicken seroconversions to EEEV. Sentinel sites were analyzed …

An Analysis Of How Female Business Owners Construct And Communicate Identity, Allison Dawn Weidhaas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals often get asked: So what do you do? This question can be challenging for those in less traditional work settings, such as stay-at-home-moms and the self-employed. To help women better understand the range of possible responses, this study explores how women in Public Relations respond to identity questions that involve both their work and personal lives. I begin by situating the study within relevant literature on entrepreneurship, female business owners, the history of women in the workplace, work/life issues, Public Relations, the use of language to construct work identity, and structuration theory. I conducted one-on-one qualitative interviews as my …

Boolean Partition Algebras, Joseph Anthony Van Name

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Boolean partition algebra is a pair $(B,F)$ where $B$ is a Boolean

algebra and $F$ is a filter on the semilattice of partitions of $B$ where $\bigcup F=B\setminus\{0\}$. In this dissertation, we shall investigate the algebraic theory of Boolean partition algebras and their connection with uniform spaces. In particular, we shall show that the category of complete non-Archimedean uniform spaces

is equivalent to a subcategory of the category of Boolean partition algebras, and notions such as supercompleteness

of non-Archimedean uniform spaces can be formulated in terms of Boolean partition algebras.

The Effect Of Visual Search And Audio-Visual Entrainment On Episodic Memory, Holly Anne Westfall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research suggests that larger context effects are observed when participants are required to search a scene in order to find the to-be-remembered stimuli. Similarly, animal research on brain oscillations has shown theta wave activation when animals are searching their environment. These theta wave oscillations are positively correlated with learning. However, theta activation can also occur in response to sensory stimulation, for example, auditory stimulation with binaural beats or visual stimulation with a checkerboard pattern reversal. The results of several studies suggest that while a visual search task seems to reliably improve free recall performance, the effects of passive sensory …

Intermediate-Level Chinese Language Learners' Social Communication In Chinese On Facebook: A Mixed Methods Study, Shenggao Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With Facebook widely embraced by college students, exploring its educational uses has piqued both educators' and researchers' interest (Mills, 2011; Reinhardt & Zander, 2011; Thorne, 2011). Drawing on a functional perspective of language use, this study explored what kind of language functions intermediate-level Chinese language learners performed when they conducted social communication in Chinese on Facebook and whether conducting weekly social communication in Chinese on Facebook impacted their writing ability. A mixed methods design was adopted. A qualitative approach addressed discourse functions of student communication on Facebook. The qualitative data were mainly collected from nine students' Facebook posts during one …

Phenotypic And Genotypic Analysis Of In Vitro Selected Miltefosine Resistant Leishmania Donovani, Brian A. Vesely

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is a devastating neglected parasitic disease caused by infection with Leishmania donovani. It life cycle has two stages with promastigote (insect stage) and amastigote (animal stage) morphologies. Miltefosine is currently the only commercially available oral drug available to treat leishmaniasis and recent evidence suggests clinical resistance has emerged. Due to the importance of this drug and the scarcity of new drugs in the pipeline, work has been done on understanding the mechanism(s) of miltefosine, yet the mechanism of action for resistance is still not known.

In previous studies investigators generated miltefosine resistance on the insect vector stage …

Becoming A Teacher In Multiple Voices: An Exploration Of Teacher Identity Formation Among Teachers Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mary E. Wilt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the formation of teacher identity among four teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and my own by examining our perspectives, influences, and experiences at different points in our careers and determining the similarities and differences that exist in our professional and educational experiences. This study focused on how teacher identity is defined within the field of education, the current literature on teacher identity formation, and the importance of understanding the formation of teacher identity among teachers of children with autism, as well as how my own teacher identity has been …

Flexible Urban Water Distribution Systems, Seneshaw Amare Tsegaye

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With increasing global change pressures such as urbanization and climate change, cities of the future will experience difficulties in efficiently managing scarcer and less reliable water resources. However, projections of future global change pressures are plagued with uncertainties. This increases the difficulty in developing urban water systems that are adaptable to future uncertainty.

A major component of an urban water system is the distribution system, which constitutes approximately 80-85% of the total cost of the water supply system (Swamee and Sharma, 2008). Traditionally, water distribution systems (WDS) are designed using deterministic assumptions of main model input variables such as water …

Reaction Formation And Homophobia: An Erp Examination, Krista Grace Yakub

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Homophobia in men may be, in part, due to reaction formation rooted in unacceptable same-sex attraction. Previous studies have not confirmed a covert same-sex attraction in homophobic men, which is necessary for a reaction formation theory of homophobia. This study sought to reveal possible covert same-sex attraction in homophobic men. In this study, heterosexual and homosexual male erotic images were presented in a passive S1/S2 stimulus prediction design to 48 self-identified heterosexual participants, grouped by homophobia. Three event-related potential responses related to valenced emotional processing were examined: the medial frontal negativity (MFN), the late positive potential (LPP), and the positive …

The Sopranos Experience, Eli Benjamin Weidinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis explores what I call the "Sopranos Experience," which draws upon both the historical conventions of the gangster genre as well as the aesthetics and economics of pay-cable television to complicate The Sopranos' (HBO, 1999-2007) psychological relationship with the 21st-century, neoliberal American audience. The Sopranos Experience explicates how wavering identifications and dis-identifications that develop for the spectator through the series' form and content draw the responsibility of an audience away from moral ultimatums that attempt to finalize their experience with the genre, and towards a more personal ethical entanglement with the characters and their socioeconomic anxieties and desires. The …

"Of That Transfigured World" : Realism And Fantasy In Victorian Literature, Benjamin Jude Wright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Of That Transfigured World" identifies a generally unremarked upon mode of nineteenth-century literature that intermingles realism and fantasy in order to address epistemological problems. I contend that works of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Walter Pater, and Oscar Wilde maintain a realist core overlaid by fantastic elements that come from the language used to characterize the core narrative or from metatexts or paratexts (such as stories that characters tell). The fantastic in this way becomes a mode of interpretation in texts concerned with the problems of representation and the ability of literature to produce knowledge. Paradoxically, each of these …

Comparative Political Corruption In The United States: The Florida Perspective, Andrew Jonathon Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Political corruption is a cancer - a malignant phenomenon that affects every political system and every person in the world. Corruption undermines the very fabric of society and the faith of people in their government. It makes goods more expensive, stymies development in developing nations, and it makes both the United States and the world a more dangerous place. Because of its negative effects and universality, corruption should be studied. Its study leads to greater understanding, the discovery of effective approaches to prevention, and restored faith in political systems. Its study also illuminates and breaks down barriers to effective government …

Predicting Academic Outcomes For Third Grade Students: Examining The Reading Achievement Of Diverse Students Using The Diagnostic Lens Of The Dynamic Indicators Of Basic Early Literacy Skills, Zhivago Trevino Adderley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the billions of dollars spent in the last forty years, America's efforts toward closing the achievement gaps among diverse learners and their receptive counterparts have not been realized. Limitations noted in previous research discussed the need to examine the unique contributions of diverse learner variables as a way of determining their specific academic needs. The purpose of this study was to examine the intra- and inter-group growth trajectories of two diverse student groups (English Language Learners and Students with Specific Learning Disabilities) on reading achievement. The study employed a longitudinal, quasi-experimental research design utilizing archival data from 26,947 students' …

Modeling And Design Of Photocatalytic Reactors For Air Purification, Yangyang Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Photocatalysis is a promising technique for the remediation of indoor air pollution. Photocatalysis utilizes semiconductor photocatalysts (such as TiO₂ or ZnO) and appropriate light to produce strong oxidizing agents (OH*) that are able to break down organic compounds and inactivate bacteria and viruses. The overall goal of the research is to develop an efficient photocatalytic reactor based on mass transfer for indoor air purification. This study has focused on the enhancement of the effectiveness of the photocatalytic process by the introduction of artificial roughness on the reactor catalyst surface. The major effect of artificial roughness elements on the catalytic …

Epigenetic Modifiers To Augment The Immunogenicity Of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Jason A. Dubovsky

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cells employ a litany of immunosuppressive and immunevasive strategies to avoid detection and elimination by the various arms of the innate and adaptive immune system. Many hematologic and solid tumors progressively develop a specialized microenvironment which promotes tissue restructuring inflammation while masking the immune signature of the tumor cells themselves. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a malignancy of mature B lymphocytes must constantly balance on the precipice of immune recognition. A mature antigen presenting cell themselves, CLL clonal growth is dependent on the very interactions which, if effective, could potentially lead to their demise. To circumvent this, CLL clones set up …

Knowledge And Practice Of Reproductive Health Among Mothers And Their Impact On Fetal Birth Outcomes: A Case Of Eritrea, Winta Negusse Araya

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maternal mortality is a huge concern globally leading to more than a quarter of a million deaths every year. Similarly, an estimated 4 million neonates die every year worldwide, contributing to the majority of deaths of under-5 children. The majority of these deaths take place in under-developed countries, and specifically, in the sub-Saharan Africa region. It is evidenced that maternal ill-health and death contribute to the majority of child deaths. Reducing the death of children under 5 years by two thirds and also improving maternal health/reducing maternal death by three quarters between the years 1990 and 2015 are two of …

Environmental Implications Of Pavements: A Life Cycle View, Bin Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmental aspect of pavement, unlike its economic counterpart, is seldom considered in the theoretical study and field practices. As a highly energy and material intensive infrastructure, pavement has great potential to contribute to the environment protection, which, in root, depends on the in-depth understanding of the environmental impacts, holistically and specifically. A life cycle assessment (LCA) model is used to fulfill the goal.

This research firstly carried out extensive literature review of LCA studies on pavement to identify the major research gaps, including: incompleteness of the methodology, controversy of the functional unit, and unawareness of feedstock energy of asphalt, etc. …

Motivational Interviewing To Promote Physical Activity In Breast Cancer Survivors, Yasmin Asvat Patel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Despite documented health benefits, most breast cancer survivors (BCS) do not meet physical activity (PA) guidelines. Hence, evaluating diverse intervention approaches to promote PA in BCS is imperative. Motivational Interviewing (MI) offers a non-prescriptive, client-centered approach to PA promotion that has not been adequately evaluated in BCS. In this randomized-controlled trial, 66 Stage 0-IIIa BCS within three years post-treatment, insufficiently active and contemplating increasing PA were randomly assigned to a MI intervention or an active control condition. The MI intervention implemented motivational and behavior change strategies consistent with MI principles. The active control condition provided education and prescriptive recommendations …

A Critical Ethnography Of Globalization In Lesotho, Africa: Syndemic Water Insecurity And The Micro-Politics Of Participation, Cassandra Lin Workman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In spite of decades-long development programs, Lesotho faces an ongoing problem of water insecurity with far- reaching individual and social impacts. The purpose of this research was to understand how women in Lesotho are impacted by the synergistic epidemics, or syndemics, of water insecurity and HIV/AIDS and how they respond to these forces. Little has been done to address how water insecurity, defined in terms of both sufficient amount and quality of water, catalyzes the syndemic impact on the people of Lesotho. Access to safe and reliable sources of water is crucial for all individuals, particularly those who have been …

An Investigation Of Ocb Demands And Workplace Behaviors, Jeremy Allen Bauer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The current study investigated the relationship between demands for organizational citizenship behaviors and future displays of organizational citizenship and counterproductive work behaviors. Such demands are conceptualized as workplace conditions that make it difficult for employees to complete their job (i.e., organizational constraints), performance failures of coworkers such as incomplete or incorrectly done tasks (i.e., coworker failure) and direct or indirect request from the supervisors to commit more organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e., supervisor pressure). Additionally, the effect of negative affectivity, hostile attribution bias, attributions of blame, and target specific scales of workplace behaviors were investigated. The design of the current …

Statistical Topics Applied To Pressure And Temperature Readings In The Gulf Of Mexico, Malena Kathleen Allison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of statistical research in weather allows for the application of old and new methods, some of which may describe relationships between certain variables better such as temperatures and pressure. The objective of this study was to apply a variety of traditional and novel statistical methods to analyze data from the National Data Buoy Center, which records among other variables barometric pressure, atmospheric temperature, water temperature and dew point temperature. The analysis included attempts to better describe and model the data as well as to make estimations for certain variables. The following statistical methods were utilized: linear regression, non-response …

A Model Of Positive Sequential Dependencies In Judgments Of Frequency, Jeffrey Scott Annis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Positive sequential dependencies occur when the response on the current trial n is positively correlated with the response on trial n-1. This was recently observed in a Judgment of Frequency (JOF) task (Malmberg and Annis, 2011). A model of positive sequential dependencies was developed in the REM framework (Shiffrin & Steyvers, 1997) by assuming that features that represent the current test item in a retrieval cue carry over from the previous retrieval cue. To assess the model, we sought a set of data that allows us to distinguish between frequency similarity and item similarity. Therefore, we chose to use a …

Exploring Potential Risk Factors Of Fetal Origins Of Diabetes: Maternal Stressors During Pregnancy And Birth Outcomes Among Women In A Hospital In The Municipality Of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Juan Pablo Arroyo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Puerto Rico has the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes, low birth-weight, and the second highest prevalence of preterm-birth in all the U.S. and its non-incorporated territories. These conditions are related. Birth-weight at both ends of the spectrum and preterm-birth are associated with an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and immune-inflammatory dysregulations. Maternal psychosocial stressors during pregnancy have also been recognized as potential risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and have been consistently associated with preterm-birth and low birth-weight across populations. Current evidence points toward epigenetic fetal metabolic-programming as the mechanism that underlies the increased risk for the …

Curriculum Gatekeeping In Global Education: Global Educators' Perspectives, Robert Wayne Bailey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teaching social studies from a global perspective has been resisted by many since its inception (Kirkwood, 2009). Critics have labeled the theory anti-American and unpatriotic (Schlafly, 1986; Burack, 2001). Others are concerned with its shifting perspectives and apparent lack of core facts (Finn, 1988). Over time, some critics have changed their stance on global teaching and now endorse the idea (Ravitch, 2010). This qualitative case study sought to identify the barriers seven self-proclaimed global educators faced while teaching global themes and to identify the effective gatekeeping strategies for circumventing such obstacles. The goal was to provide a rich, compelling account …