Digital Commons Network^™

“Saved To Citizenship”: The Rhetoric Of Delinquency And Industriousness In The New York Catholic Protectory, 1902-1911, Lucas Joshua Hann

Theses - ALL

In recent years, rhetorical scholars have been increasingly interested in questions of borders and citizenship. Scholars such as J. David Cisneros, Karma Chávez, Lisa Flores, and D. Robert DeChaine have tended to contemporary struggles at the southern U.S. border, while others, such as Jeffrey Bennett and Robert Asen, have articulated theories of citizenship that are tied to notions of belonging. To complement this ongoing work in the field, there is a need for additional historic work that seeks to understand the underpinnings of contemporary debates. In this thesis, I argue that the New York Catholic Protectory, in its mission to …

Evolution Strategies For Learning Sparse Matrix Representations Of Gene Regulatory Networks, Youchuan Wang

Theses - ALL

Currently, a massive amount of temporal gene expression data is available to researchers, which makes it possible to infer Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs). Gene regulatory networks are theoretical models to represent excitatory and inhibitory interactions between genes. GRNs are useful in understanding how genes function, and hence they are also useful in pharmaceutical and other applications in biology and medicine. However, despite the importance of GRNs, the process of inferring GRNs from observational data is very difficult.

This thesis applies evolutionary algorithms to the problem of GRN inference. We propose a novel evolutionary algorithm: hierarchical evolution strategy (HES) to target …

The Life History Of Human Foraging: Cross-Cultural And Individual Variation, John Ziker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters’ increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial …

Space Use And Relative Habitat Selection For Immature Green Turtles Within A Caribbean Marine Protected Area, Lucas P. Griffin, Brian J. Smith, Michael S. Cherkiss, Andrew G. Crowder, Clayton G. Pollock, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Andy J. Danylchuk, Kristen M. Hart

Wildland Resources Student Research

Background

A better understanding of sea turtle spatial ecology is critical for the continued conservation of imperiled sea turtles and their habitats. For resource managers to develop the most effective conservation strategies, it is especially important to examine how turtles use and select for habitats within their developmental foraging grounds. Here, we examine the space use and relative habitat selection of immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) using acoustic telemetry within the marine protected area, Buck Island Reef National Monument (BIRNM), St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands.

Results

Space use by turtles was concentrated on the southern side of …

Shallow-Water Coral Communities Support The Separation Of Marine Ecoregions On The West-Central Florida Gulf Coast, Brian K. Walker, Shelby Eagan, Cory Ames, Sandra Brooke, Sean Keenan, Rene Baumstark

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Florida’s west coast is a 170,000 km² bedrock shelf (west Florida shelf, WFS) comprised of north-south discontinuous carbonate outcroppings extending more than 200 km from the intertidal zone to a depth of 200 m. These outcrops support diverse benthic communities, which contribute to a multi-billion dollar recreational and commercial fishing industry, yet only about 5% of their extent has been studied in detail. Benthic communities shift over a 6.5° geographic range, but the locations of these shifts are not well-defined. Previous studies have suggested a break in biogeographic regions at Tampa Bay, south at Cape Romano, and north at …

Reinvigorating Inquiry-Based Instruction In Science Classrooms In Tanzania: Lessons From South Africa And The United States, Mjege Kinyota

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Inquiry-based instruction (IBI) is widely renowned as one of the best approaches to teaching school science. Nonetheless, while science teachers in Tanzania might involve in teaching activities consistent with inquiry, IBI is not yet recognised as a formal approach to teaching science. Hence, this study investigated the extent to which IBI is promoted in Tanzanian secondary science curriculum documents. Additionally, it proposed suggestions on how to adopt IBI in the context of Tanzania. Using document analysis as a method of inquiry, six syllabi for secondary school science subjects in Tanzania were analysed to assess the extent to which they support …

Survivorship Of The Reintroduced Kihansi Spray Toads Nectophrynoides Asperginis In A Soft Release Experiment At The Kihansi Gorge, Tanzania, Flora John Magige, Nassoro Mohamed

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The Kihansi Spray Toad (KST) Nectophrynoides asperginis is endemic to the unique wetland habitat surrounding the Kihansi Falls, Tanzania, with which it was associated. The species was declared extinct in the wild in 2009 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), following the loss of its unique habitat due to the diversion of the Kihansi River for hydropower production. This study is an initial attempt to determine the survivorship and possible sources of mortality of newborn and adult KSTs placed in cages in their original habitat in the Upper Spray Wetland (USW) and Lower Spray Wetland (LSW) areas. …

A Study Of Ethics In Crowd Work-Based Research, Huichuan Xia

Dissertations - ALL

Crowd work as a form of a social-technical system has become a popular setting for conducting and distributing academic research. Crowd work platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) are widely used by academic researchers. Recent scholarship has highlighted the importance of ethical issues because they could affect the long-term development and application of crowd work in various fields such as the gig economy. However, little study or deliberation has been conducted on the ethical issues associated with academic research in this context. Current sources for ethical research practice, such as the Belmont Report, have not been examined thoroughly on …

From Salt In Solution To Solely Ions: Solvation Of Methyl Viologen In Deep Eutectic Solvents And Ionic Liquids, Jeffrey M. Klein, Henry Squire, William Dean, Burcu E. Gurkan

Faculty Scholarship

Solvation and transport properties of methly viologen dichloride (MVCl2) in 1:2, 1:4, and 1:6 molar mixtures of choline chloride (ChCl) and ethylene glycol (EG), including the deep eutectic solvent (DES) ethaline (1:2 mixture), were studied through the application of the hole theory to measured physical properties, cyclic voltammetry, and Raman spectroscopy. The ChCl:EG mixtures were compared to the ionic liquid (IL) 1-methyl-1-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ([PYR13][TFSI]) and choline bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (ChTFSI) EG mixtures with the same molar ratios in order to understand the impact of the anion and hydrogen bond donor on solvation. Exchanging the chloride anion with TFSI is found to …

A Comprehensive Integrated Anatomical And Molecular Atlas Of Rat Intrinsic Cardiac Nervous System., Sirisha Achanta, Jonathan Gorky, Clara Leung, Alison Moss, Shaina Robbins, Leonard Eisenman, Jin Chen, Susan Tappan, Maci Heal, Navid Farahani, Todd Huffman, Steve England, Zixi Jack Cheng, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, James S Schwaber

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

We have developed and integrated several technologies including whole-organ imaging and software development to support an initial precise 3D neuroanatomical mapping and molecular phenotyping of the intracardiac nervous system (ICN). While qualitative and gross anatomical descriptions of the anatomy of the ICN have each been pursued, we here bring forth a comprehensive atlas of the entire rat ICN at single-cell resolution. Our work precisely integrates anatomical and molecular data in the 3D digitally reconstructed whole heart with resolution at the micron scale. We now display the full extent and the position of neuronal clusters on the base and posterior left …

Predictors Of In-Hospital Mortality Among Under-Five Children With Severe Acute Malnutrition In South-Western Uganda, Timothy Nduhukire, Daniel Atwine, Luwaga Rachel, Joseph Byonanebye

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) affects about 13 million under-five children (U5), with an estimated one million dying every year. In this study we aimed at determining the in hospital mortality and its associated factors among U5s admitted with SAM.

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study of children 6 months to 5 years with SAM admitted at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) between June and August 2015. Care-takers were interviewed to collect socio-demographic and clinical information. Children under-went physical examination and had blood drawn for HIV, serum glucose, malaria, full blood count, culture and serum electrolytes investigation. Children were …

Eppm And Its Effectiveness In Advertisements Of Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Young Adults, Anh T. Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer around the world and in the United States, yet it could be highly preventable by following the recommended guidelines of getting screened by the age of 50 and above. The focus of this study was on the Extended Parallel Process Model and sought to understand the efficacy and threat components in the fear appeal messages in the context of colorectal cancer screenings. Specifically, the study examined how young adults react when being exposed to those messages and whether they intended to discuss with their parents about it. The study also …

Horror’S Aesthetic Exchange: Immersion, Abstraction And Annihilation, Ashley Morgan Steinbach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uncovers a remote entanglement of phenomenological experience and abstract aesthetics in postmodern horror, a space that historically celebrates the former and critically undervalues the latter. Framed as a case study, I mobilize close readings of Alex Garland’s science fiction horror film, Annihilation (2018), to complicate the immersion/abstraction binary that implicitly structures much of contemporary horror scholarship. By recovering horror’s distanced and decentered forms and aesthetics I point to the interdependent faculty of a composite aesthetic collaboration.

These collaborations, which I refer to as aesthetic exchanges, place pressure on the localized emphasis of horror’s situated assaultive and reactive positions. …

Examining Role Breadth, Efficacy, And Attitudes Toward Trauma-Informed Care In Elementary School Educators, Mikayla J. Drymond

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children growing up below the poverty line are at heightened risk for developing complex symptoms of trauma caused by repeated exposures to a variety of traumatic events. The detrimental effects of repeated traumatic exposures on developing children living in low-income environments are now considered a public health concern (APA Presidential Task Force on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma in Children and Adolescents, 2008; Crosby, Howell, & Thomas, 2018). Increased awareness of the negative effects of trauma early in life and the need for combative care has accelerated the movement for educators to become trauma-informed, which can be demonstrated through altered …

Bio-Electrochemical Denitrification Systems And Applications For Nitrogen Removal In On-Site Wastewater Treatment, Kamal Ziad Taha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Denitrification experiments using biological cathodes (biocathodes) were conducted in three separate experiments. The first experiment was to observe whether the rate of denitrification in biocathodes could be increased with added ammonium at mass (mg/L) ratios of 0.100 (2.5/25), 0.05 (1.25/25), 0.0250 (0.625/25), and 0.0125 (0.3125/25) (parts ammonium to nitrate (NH4+-N/ NO3--N). The purpose of the ammonium present was to provide the microorganisms a starting nitrogen source for assimilation to biomass which, in theory, would encourage the removal of nitrate through dissimilatory denitrification. As mixed cultures were used, ratios tested were based on simplifying future operation of scaled-up biocathodes applied to …

Intensive Longitudinal Data Analyses And Sample Size Considerations In Intervention Studies With Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling, Zhiyao Yi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) has been proposed to analyze intensive longitudinal data (ILD). This dissertation provided a tutorial for the DSEM model specification practices in the context of intervention designs. Specifically, I illustrated using equations, verbal descriptions, and figures three two-level DSEM models based on three common intervention designs, including a single-arm trial with repeated measurements before and during intervention, randomized control trial (RCT) with repeated measurements during intervention, and RCT with repeated measurements before and during intervention. Mplus syntax and results from the analysis were also provided for each model along with the interpretations and inferences of parameter …

Biological And Proteomic Characterization Of Cornus Officinalis On Human 1.1b4 Pancreatic Β Cells: Exploring Use For T1d Interventional Application, Arielle E. Tawfik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease resulting in the loss of pancreatic β cells and subsequent loss of insulin production. Exogenous insulin coupled with continuous glucose monitoring is the only treatment for T1D. Therefore, novel interventional therapies are needed that can inhibit the autoimmune destruction and increase β cell proliferation and function. Based on initial in vitro studies, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) extract, Cornus officinalis, may be able to serve in this function. CO has been used for 2 millennia for its glucose regulating potential and has shown efficacy in animal models but rarely studied in the context …

Molecular Investigation Of Tight Junction Proteins Related To The Small Intestines, Santita Etohnya Ebangwese

Theses - ALL

The intestines are an integral part of homeostasis and vital functions that occur throughout the body via the mechanisms of the epithelial barrier. Deficiencies in the intestinal epithelial barrier corresponds with intestinal pathologies and mental disorders. Interestingly, the effectiveness of the barrier function is correlated with a family of transmembrane proteins known as claudin. Alterations of expression of claudin-3 and -23, which are known barrier-forming proteins, occur during the presentation of intestinal pathologies. Investigating how these proteins act using experimental methods presents many difficulties. Therefore, we will be using advances in computational modeling to study the assembly of claudin-3 and …

Spermine Synthase And Myc Cooperate To Maintain Colorectal Cancer Cell Survival By Repressing Bim Expression, Yubin Guo, Qing Ye, Pan Deng, Yanan Cao, Daheng He, Zhaohe Zhou, Chi Wang, Yekaterina Y. Zaytseva, Charles E. Schwartz, Eun Young Lee, B. Mark Evers, Andrew J. Morris, Side Liu, Qing-Bai She

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Dysregulation of polyamine metabolism has been linked to the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the underlying mechanism is incompletely characterized. Here, we report that spermine synthase (SMS), a polyamine biosynthetic enzyme, is overexpressed in CRC. Targeted disruption of SMS in CRC cells results in spermidine accumulation, which inhibits FOXO3a acetylation and allows subsequent translocation to the nucleus to transcriptionally induce expression of the proapoptotic protein Bim. However, this induction is blunted by MYC-driven expression of miR-19a and miR-19b that repress Bim production. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of MYC activity in SMS-depleted CRC cells dramatically induces Bim expression and apoptosis …

The Impact Of Fire On Soil Characteristics In The Maritime Forests On Sapelo Island, Ga, Courtney Nicole Scott

Biology Theses

Human activities have drastically altered natural fire regimes in countless ecosystems by suppressing and/or effectuating fires. In the past, management strategies were formulated to eliminate the occurrence of fire altogether but as we have become more aware of the benefits of fires such as reducing the amount of fuel build-up, recycling of nutrients for healthier plant communities and the promotion of biodiversity, prescribed burns are now considered an integral part of forest management. While many studies have explored the benefits of fires on plant communities, very few studies look at the impacts of fire on soil characteristics. Sapelo Island, which …

An Eeg Study On Loneliness And Recognition Memory, Carmen Jia Wen Chek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Loneliness, the perception of unmet social needs, has been shown to relate to recollection-based recognition deficits, but the relationship between loneliness and recognition memory (i.e., recollection and familiarity) has not been thoroughly examined. The current study hypothesized that more lonely individuals would have lower recognition memory performance, specifically recollection, with smaller ERP parietal old-new effects than less lonely individuals. Forty participants, grouped into less (n = 13) and more (n = 9) lonely groups based on their R-UCLA responses, completed an associative memory task. EEG was used to assess recognition memory effects. Results showed no significant difference in …

Structural Basis For The Hydrolytic Dehalogenation Of The Fungicide Chlorothalonil, Daniel S. Catlin, Xinhang Yang, Brian Bennett, Richard C. Holz, Dali Liu

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Cleavage of aromatic carbon–chlorine bonds is critical for the degradation of toxic industrial compounds. Here, we solved the X-ray crystal structure of chlorothalonil dehalogenase (Chd) from Pseudomonas sp. CTN-3, with 15 of its N-terminal residues truncated (ChdT), using single-wavelength anomalous dispersion refined to 1.96 Å resolution. Chd has low sequence identity (<15%) compared with all other proteins whose structures are currently available, and to the best of our knowledge, we present the first structure of a Zn(II)-dependent aromatic dehalogenase that does not require a coenzyme. ChdT forms a “head-to-tail” homodimer, formed between two α-helices from each monomer, with three Zn(II)-binding sites, two of which occupy the active sites, whereas the third anchors a structural site at the homodimer interface. The catalytic Zn(II) ions are solvent-accessible via a large hydrophobic (8.5 × 17.8 Å) opening to bulk solvent and two hydrophilic branched channels. Each active-site Zn(II) ion resides in a distorted trigonal bipyramid geometry with His117, His257, Asp116, Asn216, and a water/hydroxide as ligands. A conserved His residue, His114, is hydrogen-bonded to the Zn(II)-bound water/hydroxide and likely functions as the general acid-base. We examined substrate binding by docking chlorothalonil (2,4,5,6-tetrachloroisophtalonitrile, TPN) into the hydrophobic channel and observed that the most energetically favorable pose includes a TPN orientation that coordinates to the active-site Zn(II) ions via a CN and that maximizes a π–π interaction with Trp227. On the basis of these results, along with previously reported kinetics data, we propose a refined catalytic mechanism for Chd-mediated TPN dehalogenation.

Crossroads Of Conversion: Intersections Of Bodies, Materials, And Histories In Early Medieval Bohemia, Lauren Hosek

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the skeletal remains and mortuary practices from two cemeteries at the early medieval site of Libice nad Cidlinou in the Czech Republic. The 9th and 10th centuries in Central Europe have been characterized by political consolidation and the rise of Christian institutions. As Christianity gained influence in the region, conversion altered not only religious beliefs: political landscapes, disease ideologies, material culture, and bodies were also transformed. The skeletal remains and mortuary contexts of 260 individuals from the Akropole and Kanín cemeteries at Libice are compared to examine how social status and engagement with Christianity influenced daily life …

The Ecological Importance And Evolutionary Potential Of Phenotypic Plasticity In Novel Environments, Shengpei Wang

Dissertations - ALL

Phenotypic plasticity refers to a genotype’s ability to produce different phenotypes in response to different environments. How organisms respond to environments through phenotypic plasticity can impact the fitness of individuals and thus the demography and even evolution of a population. Having environmentally relevant phenotypic responses could be especially important when a population encounters novel environments, where extinction risks are high such as at the edge of geographic ranges or when there are sudden environmental shifts. Although plasticity has been shown to facilitate the production of novel phenotypes in novel environments, it is less clear whether this leads to increased population …

Existing Empirical Kinetic Models In Biochemical Methane Potential (Bmp) Testing, Their Selection And Numerical Solution, Yehor Pererva, Charles D. Miller, Ronald C. Sims

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) tests are a crucial part of feasibility studies to estimate energy recovery opportunities from organic wastes and wastewater. Despite the large number of publications dedicated to BMP testing and numerous attempts to standardize procedures, there is no “one size fits all” mathematical model to describe biomethane formation kinetic precisely. Importantly, the kinetics models are utilized for treatability estimation and modeling processes for the purpose of scale-up. A numerical computation approach is a widely used method to determine model coefficients, as a replacement for the previously used linearization approach. However, it requires more information for each model …

Protein Annotation Of Breast-Cancer-Related Proteins With Machine-Learning Tools, Arli Aditya Parikesit, David Agustriawan, Rizky Nurdiansyah

Makara Journal of Science

One of the primary contributors to the mortality of women is breast cancer. Several approaches are used to cure it, but recurrence occurs in 79% of the cases because the underlying mechanism of the protein molecules is not carefully ex-amined. The goal of this research was to use machine-learning tools is to elucidate conserved regions and to obtain functional annotations of breast-cancer-related proteins. The sequences of five breast-cancer-related proteins (BRCA2, BCAR1, BCAR3, BCAR4, and BRMS1) and their annotations were retrieved from the UniProt and TCGA databases, respectively. Conserved regions were extracted using CLUSTALX. We constructed a phylogenetic tree using the …

Before The Storm: Water And Energy Utilities, Human Vulnerability And Disaster Risk, Cori D. Bender

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly communities are impacted by slow-onset and sudden hazards. With reports of disasters affecting millions of people and with severe impacts on lives and livelihoods, there is a focus on creating cities that make human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Within this focus are the mandates that safe drinking water, energy and wastewater sanitation are the right of all people living on the planet. This research addresses water and energy insecurity, highlights the gaps in community level perceptions of water and energy, and global-local dynamics that impact disaster vulnerability through a political-ecology lens.

This work examines how disaster resilience …

“Placing Our Breasts On A Hot Kerosene Lantern”: A Critical Study Of Microfinancialization In The Lives Of Women Entrepreneurs In The Informal Economic Sector In Ibadan, Nigeria, Olubukola Olayiwola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses an anthropological perspective to investigate everyday lived experience of women borrowers and entrepreneurs (in the informal economic sector in Ibadan, Nigeria) relating to microfinancialization. Study such as this becomes important given the popular Yoruba metaphor “owo komulelanta” (“Placing our breasts on a hot kerosene lantern”) women borrowers use to express their experience particularly in their attempts to make repayments of MFB loans. Hence, there is a need to pay close attention and listen more carefully to operators of the informal sector and borrowers of MFB loans. This study employs ethnographic mixed methods to generate data in various …

Nuclear Localization Of A Novel Calpain-2 Mediated Junctophilin-2 C-Terminal Cleavage Peptide Promotes Cardiomyocyte Remodeling, Mohit Hulsurkar, Ies Elzenaar, Ralph J Van Oort, Xander H T Wehrens

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Patients with HF exhibit a loss of junctophilin-2 (JPH2), a structural protein critical in forming junctional membrane complexes in which excitation-contraction takes place. Several mechanisms have been proposed to mediate the loss of JPH2, one being cleavage by the calcium-dependent protease calpain. The downstream mechanisms underlying HF progression after JPH2 cleavage are presently poorly understood. In this study, we used Labcas to bioinformatically predict putative calpain cleavage sites on JPH2. We identified a cleavage site that produces a novel C-terminal JPH2 peptide (JPH2-CTP) using several domain-specific antibodies. Western …

Effect Of Mechanical Milling On The Total Phenolic Content And Antioxidant Activity Of Garcinia Mangostana Pericarp, Dwi Wahyu Nugroho, Dyah Ayu Daratika, Muthia Kamila, Lusiana Togatorop, Mohammad Aulia Rifada, Wahyu Bambang Widayatno, Syahrizal Maulana, Damai Ria Setyawati, Etik Mardliyati, Nurul Taufiqu Rochman

Makara Journal of Science

This study aimed to identify the effect of mechanical milling on the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of mangosteen pericarp. Mangosteen pericarp was milled under different milling times (30, 90, 150, and 210 min). The particle morphology before and after milling was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the average particle size was obtained from SEM images and analyzed statistically. The antioxidant activity was measured through the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl method. The total phenolic content for the non-milling sample was 14.52 × 104 µg GAE/g sample, and the highest total phenol content was 17.44 × 104 µg GAE/g sample for …