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From Niche To Norm: Plant-Based Labelling Strategies To Shift Social Norms To Support Plant-Based Food Choices, Houkje Adema, Marleen C. Onwezen, Ellen J. Van Loo, Liam Dwyer, Ellen Van Kleef

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Plant-based labels aim to promote plant-based choices by highlighting which products are plant-based. However, these labels are often applied selectively, leaving many more plant-based products unlabelled. We argue that this may unintentionally communicate that plant-based options are more ‘niche’ rather than the ‘norm’, and thereby hinder normalisation of plant-based consumption. Across two incentive-compatible experiments with representative Dutch samples in a simulated online supermarket, we examined how labelling interventions influence perceived availability of plant-based options, descriptive and injunctive social norms for choosing plant-based, and plant-based choices. In Study 1 (N = 1474), we manipulated the number of plant-based products labelled as …

The Development And Validation Of A Portable Monitoring System For Real-World Prosthetic And Orthotic Performance Assessment, Emily Wyatt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Laboratory-based motion capture systems are widely used for gait analysis but are limited by high cost, infrastructure requirements, and restricted external validity. Inertial measurement units (IMUs) offer a portable and low-cost alternative for assessing gait in both controlled and real-world environments; however, their accuracy and clinical utility require validation. The purpose of this thesis was to develop and evaluate a portable monitoring system using IMUs to quantify spatiotemporal gait parameters and gait asymmetry in both laboratory and community settings, with a focus on prosthetic and orthotic users.

Phase 1 of this study evaluated the agreement between IMU-derived gait metrics and …

Interview No. 1838, Victor J. Perches

Combined Interviews

Victor J. Perches recounts his childhood in South El Paso, along with his attendance at Douglass Elementary, Guillen Middle School, and Bowie High School in the 1970s and 1980s. According to Victor, Douglas Elementary was a very safe and supportive place. The teachers provided support for students who had difficulty succeeding due to economic problems in the neighborhood . He recalls there were meals, activities, and other events available to students who lived in Salazar Housing Project, making them less likely to join gangs due to being occupied. Perches talked candidly about the social situation in his area, poverty, gang …

Child Protection Workers’ Perceptions Of Burnout And Work Dissatisfaction, Ashley-Camille Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Child protection workers work in a stressful and demanding occupation, subject to high staff turnover and inexperienced staff. This situation has created problems for child protection workers in doing their jobs effectively—for example, handling their daily tasks and caseload—leading to potential burnout and work dissatisfaction. Existing literature has explained how burnout begins to develop as a response to chronic exposure to job-related stressors, to a point of emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment. Researchers have found that work-related conditions have contributed to the development of burnout, especially when attempting to define how one could be overworked and how much labor …

Peruvian Pinniped Teeth Trace Element Data-Tracking Ecosystem Variabilites Through Trace Element Record Found In Peruvian Pinniped Dentin, Dimitrios Giarikos, Amy Hirons, Ally E. Sheehan, Radleigh Santos

SECLER Data

The South American sea lion (Otaria byronia; SASL) and the Peruvian fur seal (Arctocephalus australis; PFS) are apex predators within the Humboldt Current ecosystem, where population dynamics respond to both natural variability and anthropogenic pressures, including El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events and coastal mining. This study quantified 18 trace elements (TEs) in canine dentin from both species collected at Punta San Juan, Peru using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to evaluate long-term environmental exposure. Because dentin is deposited incrementally, it preserves a chronological chemical archive reflecting ontogenetic shifts in diet and habitat use. Overall, TE concentrations were broadly similar …

From Protocol To Action: Critical Perspectives On Earthquake Preparedness In Mexico, Sandra Vaiciulyte, David A. Novelo-Casanova, Thalia Anagnos, Gerardo Suárez

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Purpose – This study explores perceptions and reactions to earthquake preparedness education, earthquake early warning (EEW) systems and earthquake drill protocols in Mexico, as well as potential strategies to make these earthquake preparedness tools more effective and meaningful. Design/methodology/approach – Eleven Focus Groups were conducted with 109 students from diverse academic and social backgrounds of the two largest public universities in Mexico. The findings were validated on a broader participant group using questionnaires, focused solely on the drill, administered to two populations at two distinct institutions following the 2025 National Earthquake Drill in Mexico City. Findings – Focus group findings …

Activation-Guided Layer Selection For Lora, Aditya Dawadikar, Pooja Shyamsundar, Rashmi Vishwanath Bhat, Navrati Saxena

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) has become a widely adopted parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) technique for large language models (LLMs). LoRA’s benefits stem from its light weight and modular adapters. Standard LoRA applies adapters uniformly across all Transformer layers, implicitly assuming that each layer contributes equally to task adaptation. However, LLMs are found to have internal substructures that contribute in a disproportionate manner. In this work, we provide a theoretical analysis of how LoRA weight updates are influenced by a layer’s activation magnitude. We propose Act-LoRA, a simple activation-guided layer selection strategy for selective Low-Rank Adaptation. We evaluate this strategy for both encoder-only …

Calling Rural Parents: Impact Of Information And Communication Technology On Parental Involvement, Rachel M.H. Robertson

College of Education

Rural, Title I schools in West Alabama faced socioeconomic and geographic barriers that limited equitable access to education. A key factor affecting student achievement in these contexts was parental involvement, which research has shown was lower in rural areas. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between communication and parental involvement in these two schools. Guided by Epstein’s framework of overlapping spheres of influence, Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s parental involvement model, and Rogers and Wright’s (2008) research on the role of communication in cultivating effective school-to-home partnerships, the researcher investigated the relationship between information and communication technologies …

Exploring Rural Educator's Perceptions Of Educational Accountability Measures In Alabama, Steven Sims Ii

College of Education

This qualitative study will examine rural stakeholders' perceptions of the educational accountability measures implemented by the state of Alabama, including Alabama’s adoption of mandatory retention laws, specifically the Alabama Numeracy and Literacy Act, accountability tests such as the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP), the ACT, and the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS), as well as how these initiatives impact the process of identifying and labeling schools as failing. This research explores stakeholders' perceptions of the efficacy of these policies. Through semi-structured interviews with 21 educators (20 teachers and one principal) from rural Black Belt schools, the study aims to …

Database-Driven Revelations In Epilepsy: Patient Reporting Accuracy And The Circadian Timing Of Seizures, Ithay Biton

Theses and Dissertations

For over thirty years, patients have been visiting the Arkansas Epilepsy Program for diagnosis and treatment for seizures and seizure-like episodes. As part of their clinical evaluation, patients often undergo ambulatory EEG (electroencephalogram) monitoring. This routine process produces valuable data for treating the patient. In this study, over 2000 ambulatory EEG reports from 1998 to 2016 were reviewed. A large database of seizures was created from the reports, with information on 407 patients, 1611 EEG-confirmed seizures, and 1726 patient-reported seizures (IRB Protocol #17-093). The database was used to address two important issues in epilepsy. The first topic of the study …

Hardwiring Best Practice: Leveraging Teamwork And Technology For Clinical Transformation, Jenifer Ash, Cheryl Ficara, Anna-Rae Montano, Laura Bailey, Laura Dzurec

Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE)

In the absence of appropriate tools, efficient teamwork, and clinician skills, cardiac monitoring has no therapeutic value (New South Wales Agency for Clinical Innovation, 2022). This initially shocking notion speaks to vital aspects of cardiac monitoring—underlying clinical necessity, early recognition and intervention in response to clinical changes, and alarm mitigation to avoid alarm fatigue. As healthcare context and technology become increasingly complex, reliance on the skill of individual clinicians is inadequate and unreliable for maximizing patient safety and well-being and for achieving optimal outcomes (McLaney et al., 2022). This presentation describes how one hospital group leveraged teamwork excellence and cutting-edge …

Melanoma Of Unknown Primary Presenting As A Renal Mass: A Case Report, Shelby Baxter, Zachary Aguilar, Gabrielle Yankelevich, Laura Spruill, Matvey Tsivian

Student Publications

Melanoma of unknown primary (MUP) is a rare presentation of melanoma most commonly found in the lymph nodes, subcutaneous tissue, and visceral organs. Renal involvement has rarely been demonstrated in the literature. We reported a 66-year-old male with an incidental finding of a small (1.7cm) right renal mass who underwent partial nephrectomy with pathology consistent with metastatic melanoma. After thorough evaluation, no primary melanotic lesion was identified, therefore characterizing his disease as MUP. The patient subsequently was treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab and is continuing on maintenance therapy with nivolumab. This case is one of three known cases of MUP …

On Message Encryption And Enhanced Security Using Protein Structure Information, Daniel Graham

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This is a lecture packet focused on several well-established encryption procedures. Included is a discussion of security enhancements brought about by incorporating protein structure information into the procedures.

Transcription Factors Daf-16/Foxo And Hlh-30/Tfeb Form A Regulatory Axis To Control Tubular Lsysosomes Formation In C. Elegans, Cristian Ricaurte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The development of therapies that can be applied in human health care to promote longer and healthier lives is one of the main goals of aging research. However, many of the interventions currently available have serious adverse effects that limit their translational potential. Thus, new strategies are urgently needed to promote healthy aging in humans. Here, we reveal a functional interaction between the insulin signaling pathway and mTOR pathway that promotes healthy aging in C. elegans via lysosomal tubulation. Their respective transcription factors, DAF-16/FOXO and HLH-30/TFEB cooperate, to drive the formation of tubular lysosomes (TLs) under various contexts, which contributes …

The Grizzly, March 12, 2026, Renee Washart, Alex Zelaya, Nico Yanzaguano, Claudia Tracy, Andrew Mihniak, Sophia Kumar, Hadley Whitman, Erin Ewing

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

We Didn't Start the Fire (in New Hall) • Disability Day of Mourning at Ursinus College • Alumni Graduate Student Panel: Health Sciences • All-Recovery: What Does it Mean to Get Sober in College? • New Spades Club Shares, Teaches, and Tournaments! • Snow Days: Are They Only Fun for Students? • Bears Basketball Finishes Up Successful Season • Women's Lacrosse Winning Big to Start the Season

The Role Of Teacher-Student Identity-Matching In Multi-Informant Universal Screening For Social, Academic, And Emotional Behavior Risk Among Middle School Students, Melissa L. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multi-informant universal screening tools leverage insights from multiple perspectives to paint a comprehensive picture of student risk across a variety of domains. However, many barriers exist to the appropriate and effective implementation of multi-informant universal screening within the school. When such screening tools are utilized without intentional consideration of students’ unique backgrounds and lived experiences, harmful outcomes may disproportionally impact marginalized and minoritized students. To address this, context-sensitive, identity-conscious approaches may improve the accuracy and equity of identifying students in need of support. This study investigated the role of identity concordance (i.e., alignment of teacher and student gender and race/ethnicity) …

Genetic Testing Motivations Among Men With A History Of Prostate Cancer: A Judgment-Based Analysis, Maximilian Junge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Identifying individuals at increased hereditary cancer risk through genetic testing can improve early detection, inform treatment decisions, and enhance outcomes for patients and their families. While prior research has largely focused on women, less is known about factors that motivate men with prostate cancer to pursue genetic testing. This study examined components of visual messaging that may influence motivation to undergo genetic testing among men with a self-reported history of prostate cancer. Participants completed a survey in which they viewed eight visual messages that systematically varied across three components: image type (family-focused vs. individualized treatment-focused), written content (familial risk-focused vs. …

Amplicon Sequencing Reveals Shifts In Microbial Community Composition In Response To Nutrient-Dense Piney Point Emergency Discharges, Christa A. Baranowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to a leak in the lining of a phosphogypsum pond at the former Piney Point phosphate-processing facility in Tampa Bay (Florida, U.S.A.), experienced a large influx of nutrient-dense waters in the early summer of 2021. As an emergency response effort, water samples were collected by researchers at the University of South Florida, College of Marine Science (USF CMS), covering the lower and middle regions of Tampa Bay (TB), over the span of three months (April – June). Illumina amplicon sequencing was performed on DNA from water samples, targeting bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomal rRNA genes, and processed into Amplicon Sequence …