Digital Commons Network^™

Committee Notice Of Withdrawal Of Joint Plan

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Spontaneous Activity In Maturation Of The Calyx Of Held Nerve Terminal And Its Synaptic Target In The Medial Nucleus Of The Trapezoid Body, Daniel Tatsuo Heller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neural circuit formation is a complex process involving synergistic roles between neurons and glial cells regulated by coordinated genetic and molecular cues and activity-dependent mechanisms. The canonical pathway for synapse formation begins with neurogenesis and migration followed by axonal outgrowth and dendritic arborization allowing for the capture and formation of nascent synapses. These initial synaptic contacts are exuberant in nature ensuring proper neural connectivity and undergo a period of pruning of superfluous inputs followed by maturation and strengthening of the remaining contacts. This maturation includes pre- and postsynaptic specialization of the active zone, localization and clustering of ion channels, and …

The Role Of L-Fucose In Dendritic Cell Antigen Presentation And Polarization, Chase J. Burton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the FDA approval of IL-2 in cancer treatment in the 1980s, immunotherapy has emerged as the standard of care for several tumor types (e.g., melanoma, lung, bladder, colorectal). However, approximately 70 percent of cancer patients, independent of prior treatment or staging, administered immunotherapy will not achieve complete responses and will exhibit disease progression. Several factors have been identified to contribute to treatment failure, including the accumulation of intratumoral immunosuppressive cell populations, insufficient tumor-infiltrating anti-tumor immune populations, or the occurrence of immunoediting on tumor cells. Current strategies to circumvent immunosuppression either lack durable response to new immunosuppressive mechanisms the tumor …

Enhancing The Performance Of Interdependent Stormwater Drainage And Roadway Systems Under Future Conditions, Chao Ye

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Flooding can cause extensive and devastating damage to human properties, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure systems, and personal belongings and it has become a threatening challenge during the past decades due to the massive damage brought to communities, infrastructures, and ecosystems. As climate change intensifies, the frequency and severity of flooding issues are expected to increase, exacerbating the existing flooding risks for vulnerable communities. Various approaches of modeling, optimizing, and designing for multiple levels of flooding problems have been adopted to deal with flooding control studies and research to alleviate the flooding risks on multiple levels of communities. This …

“It’S Not Me, It’S You:” A Critical Race Exploration Of University-Community Partnerships (Ucps) With Black Community Leadership, Christopher Ellis Matthew Darby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the growing number of initiatives and efforts by universities to engage with their local communities, university-community partnerships (UCPs) remain complex relationships from their development to implementation—specifically, UCPs between Black communities and predominantly White institutions (PWI). However, research that centers on Black communities and their UCPs is limited. This study delves into the dynamics of UCPs with Black communities, aiming to explore and comprehend the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences from the viewpoints of both university and Black community leaders. Employing a convergent parallel mixed methods research design and utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Community-Based Educational Leadership (CBEL) to inform …

Characterization And Reprogramming Of T-Cell Metabolic Dysfunction In Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia For Improved Adoptive Cell Therapy, Wael B. Gamal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a predominant B-cell malignancy impacting elderly populations in Western societies. Targeted therapies have revolutionized the CLL treatment landscape. Still, patients often require long-term therapy and are subject to drug-induced resistance and severe toxicities, for which CLL is still considered an incurable disease. T-cell-based immunotherapy, particularly chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, has shown remarkable success, leading to various FDA approvals in hematological malignancies. Nonetheless, CAR T-cell therapy success rate is limited in CLL because of the dysfunctional nature of T cells. CLL T cells exhibit skewing toward immunosuppressive and terminally differentiated phenotypes, leading to hindrances …

In The Bodies Of Gods: Bharathanatyam Diaspora Organizing And The Production And Dismantling Of Colonial Logics, Nivethitha Ketheeswaran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bharathanatyam is a dance form dating back to 300 BCE of what is now Tamil Nadu, South India. Bharathanatyam uses hand gestures, facial expressions, and footwork to narrate stories and demonstrate rhythm. This dissertation explores how the global diaspora of bharathanatyam practitioners organize around bharathanatyam informed by colonial logics. In this dissertation I aim to a) define “diaspora organizing” beyond nation-state identity b) apply this definition of diaspora to the global practice of bharathanatyam, and c) explore practitioners sensemaking of their experiences with bharathanatyam. I approach the first goal by defining diaspora in terms of anti-colonial theorizing and describing its …

Remote Monitoring App For Endocrine Therapy Adherence Among Patients With Early-Stage Breast Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Ilana Graetz, Xin Hu, Mehmet Kocak, Rebecca A. Krukowski, Janeane N. Anderson, Teresa M. Waters, Andrea N. Curry, Andrew Robles, Andrew Paladino, Edward Stepanski, Gregory A. Vidal, Lee S. Schwartzberg

Kimmel Cancer Center Papers, Presentations, and Grand Rounds

IMPORTANCE: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) use among women with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer reduces the risk of cancer recurrence, but its adverse symptoms contribute to lower adherence.

OBJECTIVE: To test whether remote monitoring of symptoms and treatment adherence with or without tailored text messages improves outcomes among women with breast cancer who are prescribed AET.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This nonblinded, randomized clinical trial (RCT) following intention-to-treat principles included English-speaking women with early-stage breast cancer prescribed AET at a large cancer center with 14 clinics across 3 states from November 15, 2018, to June 11, 2021. All participants had …

Successfully Initiating An Escalation Of Care In Acute Ward Settings—A Qualitative Observational Study, J. Ede, B. Kent, P. Watkinson, R. Endacott

School of Nursing and Midwifery

Aims: To address knowledge gaps by (i) developing a theoretical understanding of escalation and (ii) identifying escalation success factors. Design: Non-participant observations were used to examine deteriorating patient escalation events. Methods: Escalation event data were collected by a researcher who shadowed clinical staff, between February 16th 2021 and March 17th 2022 from two National Health Service Trusts. Events were analysed using Framework Analysis. Escalation tasks were mapped using a Hierarchical Task Analysis diagram and data presented as percentages, frequency and 95% CI. Results: A total of 38 observation sessions were conducted, totaling 105 h, during which 151 escalation events were …

Ddx181.1 Visual Identity Design Example 1, Sae University College

Exemplars

DDX181 Project 1 work from 24T2. Student exemplar.

Investigations Of Ferroic Materials Using A Synergistic Combination Of Electron Microscopy And Theory, Guodong Ren

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Ferroic materials are important components of modern day electronics. They can be described by an order parameter that gains a non-zero value upon undergoing a symmetry-lowering phase transition. Ferroic materials include ferroelectrics, ferromagnets, ferrotoroidal materials and ferroaxial materials. Their physical properties can be controlled using external stimuli such as temperature, strain or electric field. Their physical properties are highly sensitive to small changes in structure and composition. First-principles calculations based on density-functional theory (DFT) have proven instrumental in describing material properties right from the atomic scale. Concurrently, advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has enabled the simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy …

Open Educational Resources: A Brief Overview, Jackson Harper

Librarian Posters and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Quantifying The Dosimetric Impact Of Proton Range Uncertainties On Rbe-Weighted Dose Distributions In Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy For Bilateral Head And Neck Cancer, Suresh Rana, Noufal Manthala Padannayil, Hina Saeed, Michael Kasper

All Publications

Background: In current clinical practice, intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) head and neck cancer (HNC) plans are generated using a constant relative biological effectiveness (cRBE) of 1.1. The primary goal of this study was to explore the dosimetric impact of proton range uncertainties on RBE-weighted dose (RWD) distributions using a variable RBE (vRBE) model in the context of bilateral HNC IMPT plans.

Methods: The current study included the computed tomography (CT) datasets of ten bilateral HNC patients who had undergone photon therapy. Each patient's plan was generated using three IMPT beams to deliver doses to the CTV_High and CTV_Low for doses …

Nurse Productivity And Related Quality Outcomes Measurements In Behavioral Health, Leslie M. Carlos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In outpatient mental health treatment settings, providers make up the bulk of billing revenue; however, at the inpatient and residential levels, treatment is rooted in 24-hour nursing care. The measurement of nursing’s contribution to patient care has yet to be established, and with the move towards value-based care payment models, private payors are requiring outcome measures for mental health treatment reimbursement related to nursing processes. The purpose of this review was to examine measurement systems that gauge productivity and the consequential quality outcomes associated with the functions of behavioral health nurses. The Donabedian theory was applied to this review because …

Early Childhood Teachers’ Perspectives Of Differentiating Social And Emotional Learning, Anya Kayne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers face challenges in differentiating social emotional learning (SEL) to meet the diverse needs of their students. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore early childhood teachers’ perspectives of strategies and challenges to differentiating SEL curricula to meet students’ diverse needs using the theory of social constructivism. The research questions focused on teachers’ perspectives of strategies they use and challenges they face when differentiating SEL curriculum. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 participants with 3 or more years of teaching experience in kindergarten through third grade in the United States. Interview transcripts were thematically analyzed, resulting in …

Middle School Teachers’ Perceptions Of Implementation Of School Discipline Practices For African American Girls, Jasmine Marie Gladney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Middle school African American girls have yet to be studied comprehensively concerning school discipline practices related to their behavior. It has been assumed that teachers are not doing their jobs and are mistreating African American girls by singling them out; however, teachers’ voices and perceptions of school discipline practices in the classroom have not been examined extensively to understand this issue. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine middle school teachers’ perceptions of implementing school discipline practices related to African American girls in their classrooms, schools, and districts. The conceptual framework was based on Gregory et al.’s …

Electronic Properties Of Group-Iii Nitride Semiconductors And Device Structures Probed By Thz Optical Hall, Nerijus Armakavicius, Philipp Kühne, Alexis Papamichail, Hengfang Zhang, Sean Knight, Axel Persson, Vallery Stanishev, Jr-Tai Chen, Plamen Paskov, Mathias Schubert, Vanya Darakchieva

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Group-III nitrides have transformed solid-state lighting and are strategically positioned to revolutionize high-power and high-frequency electronics. To drive this development forward, a deep understanding of fundamental material properties, such as charge carrier behavior, is essential and can also unveil new and unforeseen applications. This underscores the necessity for novel characterization tools to study group-III nitride materials and devices. The optical Hall effect (OHE) emerges as a contactless method for exploring the transport and electronic properties of semiconductor materials, simultaneously offering insights into their dielectric function. This nondestructive technique employs spectroscopic ellipsometry at long wavelengths in the presence of a magnetic …

Nonlinear Biopsychosocial Resilience: Self-Organization As The Basis For A Common Framework, Adam W. Kiefer, David Pincus

Psychology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Recently, calls have been made for a common framework to understand human resilience through the lens of dynamical systems theory. This chapter provides a comprehensive introduction to the concepts and tools necessary for such an approach. It builds on an existing theoretical framework of biopsychosocial resilience grounded in self-organization theory. This theoretical framework is applied to the formalization of four types of resilience – robustness, resilience, antifragility and grit. Next, important features of stability, structural integrity, and flexibility are discussed as empirically measurable characteristics of a systems-based approach to resilience, which provide a foundation for further applications, including metastability and, …

Records Management As A Risk Mitigation Strategy At Water Utilities Corporation, Botswana., Tolani Blackie, Nathan Mnjama

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Records management is a very important component that can be used to mitigate risks in all organisations. The key objectives of the study were to establish whether Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) has a risk management strategy for records and evaluate the importance, status of records as well as risk management in place. Study participants were purposively sampled in this simple stratified random sampling research design study.

The study revealed that WUC has a risk management strategy called "The Enterprise Risk Management Strategy" that covers aspects of records management. However, the study further revealed that records management policies, disaster preparedness plans, …

This July 4, See A Free Concert By The Uab Summer Band Outside Bartow Arena, Shannon Thomason

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Dietary Saturated Fatty Acids Modulate Host Innate Immunity, Amy Lorraine Seufert

Dissertations and Theses

Nutrition, cellular metabolism, and inflammatory regulation of the immune system are interconnected, and advancing our understanding of this will greatly improve treatment of metabolic and inflammatory disease. Specifically, dietary saturated fats are becoming increasingly appreciated for their ability to modify innate immune cell function in mammals following absorption into the blood and lymphatic circulation systems. The work herein focuses on the capacity for lipids in the diet to modulate innate immune memory. My thesis first broadly outlines fundamental background, including: the evolution of human nutrition, the discovery of innate immune memory, and key topics that reoccur throughout the text surrounding …

Frontline Nursing Staff’S Perceptions Of Intravenous Medication Administration: The First Step Toward Safer Infusion Processes-A Qualitative Study, Masashi Uramatsu, Naoko Kimura, Takako Kojima, Yoshikazu Fujisawa, Tomoko Oto, Paul Barach

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: Intravenous medication errors continue to significantly impact patient safety and outcomes. This study sought to clarify the complexity and risks of the intravenous administration process.

DESIGN: A qualitative focus group interview study.

SETTING: Focused interviews were conducted using process mapping with frontline nurses responsible for medication administration in September 2020.

PARTICIPANTS: Front line experiened nurses from a Japanese tertiary teaching hospital.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was to identify the mental models frontline nurses used during intravenous medication administration, which influence their interactions with patients, and secondarily, to examine the medication process gaps between the …

How Do Preservice Teachers Learn To Teach Integrated Computational Thinking?: Evidence From Planning, Enactment, And Reflection, Rachael Dektor, Samuel Severance, Kip Téllez

Journal of Computer Science Integration

This study examines pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) beliefs and understandings about computational thinking (CT) integration and lesson implementation over time. Utilizing a design-based research approach, 3 PSTs led the co-design of integrated CT lessons with support from researchers and enacted these CT integrated lessons with K-5 students. All PSTs participated in a whole-group CT workshop and engaged in one-on-one lesson design sessions with a researcher. We utilized a grounded theory approach to qualitatively analyze pre-surveys, semi-structured interviews, and video data of three PSTs enacting their lessons. We found that PSTs’ initial beliefs about CT instruction – including the importance of it …

Detection Of Early-Stage Nash Using Non-Invasive Hyperpolarized 13c Metabolic Imaging, Cornelius Von Morze, Tyler Blazey, Ashley Shaw, William M Spees, Kooresh I Shoghi, Michael A Ohliger

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is characterized from its early stages by a profound remodeling of the liver microenvironment, encompassing changes in the composition and activities of multiple cell types and associated gene expression patterns. Hyperpolarized (HP)

A Nordic Perspective On Patient Online Record Access And The European Health Data Space, Maria Hägglund, Anna Kharko, Annika Bärkås, Charlotte Blease, Åsa Cajander, Catherine Desroches, Asbjørn Johansen Fagerlund, Josefin Hagström, Isto Huvila, Iiris Hörhammer, Bridget Kane, Gunnar O. Klein, Eli Kristiansen, Jonas Moll, Irene Muli, Hanife Rexhepi, Sara Riggare, Peeter Ross, Isabella Scandurra, Saija Simola, Hedvig Soone, Bo Wang, Maedeh Ghorbanian Zolbin, Rose Mharie Åhlfeldt, Sari Kujala, Monika Alise Johansen

School of Psychology

The Nordic countries are, together with the United States, forerunners in online record access (ORA), which has now become widespread. The importance of accessible and structured health data has also been highlighted by policy makers internationally. To ensure the full realization of ORA’s potential in the short and long term, there is a pressing need to study ORA from a cross-disciplinary, clinical, humanistic, and social sciences perspective that looks beyond strictly technical aspects. In this viewpoint paper, we explore the policy changes in the European Health Data Space (EHDS) proposal to advance ORA across the European Union, informed by our …

Benefits Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy (Act) For Chronic Pain, Maria Kleinstaeuber, Ashley Yaugher, Emily Roundy, Michael Levin

All Current Publications

Chronic pain is a common experience for people and can be difficult to manage. However, there are many evidence-based and effective psychological treatments for chronic pain to help people improve their lives. One of these is acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT. ACT teaches how to accept pain and live a life full of meaning and quality, with pain. It helps individuals increase their quality of life through mindfulness-based methods, experiential processing, and a focus on values, goals, and actions. ACT has been shown to be effective in reducing pain and improving pain management and personal well-being. Consult the resources …

Communication Between China And The West, Wenshan Jia, Anna Kolotova

Communication Faculty Books and Book Chapters

In the twenty-first century the world is facing issues arising in areas which previously seemed to be stable and peaceful. For almost half a century, since China–USA relations normalised, China and the West have engaged in various activities, contributing not only to life of their citizenry, but also providing the basis for a large variety of research in different areas, including communication studies. Examinations of communication between these two different civilisations fit perfectly into the discipline of intercultural communication which help unravel specific differences and narrow gaps between these civilisations.

Particular attention is given to philosophical aspects which reveal the …

The Significant Associations Between Epigenetic Clocks And Bladder Cancer Risks, Yang Deng, Chia-Wen Tsai, Wen-Shin Chang, Yifan Xu, Maosheng Huang, Jian Gu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bladder cancer is an age-related disease, with over three-quarters of cases occurring in individuals aged 65 years and older. Accelerated biological aging has been linked to elevated cancer risks. Epigenetic clocks serve as excellent predictors of biological age, yet it remains unclear whether they are associated with bladder cancer risk. In this large case-control study, we assessed the associations between four well-established epigenetic clocks-HannumAge, HorvathAge, GrimAge, and PhenoAge-and bladder cancer risk. Utilizing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which were identified in a genome-wide association study (GWAS), linked to these clocks as instruments, we constructed a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) for …

Developing A Fit-For-Purpose Composite Symptom Score As A Symptom Burden Endpoint For Clinical Trials In Patients With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, Charles S Cleeland, Karen N Keating, Brian Cuffel, Cem Elbi, Jonathan M Siegel, Tara Symonds, Amylou C Dueck, Andrew Bottomley, Xin Shelley Wang, Loretta A Williams, Tito R Mendoza

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We developed a composite symptom score (CSS) representing disease-related symptom burden over time in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Longitudinal data were collected from an open-label Phase IIB study in which 239 patients completed the validated MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for MPM (MDASI-MPM). A blinded, independent review committee of external patient-reported outcomes experts advised on MDASI-MPM symptoms to include in the CSS. Through iterative analyses of potential symptom-item combinations, 5 MPM symptoms (pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle weakness, coughing) were selected. The CSS correlated strongly with the full MDASI-MPM symptom set (0.92-0.94) and the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale-Mesothelioma …

Cgmp Compliant One-Step, One-Pot Automated [18f]Fbntp Production For Clinical Imaging Of Mitochondrial Activity, Mai Lin, Cong-Dat Pham, Robert T Ta, H Charles Manning

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background

4-[18F]fluorobenzyl-triphenylphosphonium ([18F]FBnTP) is a lipophilic cation PET tracer. The cellular uptake of [18F]FBnTP is correlated with oxidative phosphorylation by mitochondria, which has been associated with multiple critical diseases. To date, [18F]FBnTP has been successfully applied for imaging myocardial perfusion, assessment of severity of coronary artery stenosis, delineation of the ischemic area after transient coronary occlusion, and detection/quantification of apoptosis in various animal models. Recent preclinical and clinical studies have also expanded the possibilities of using [18F]FBnTP in oncological diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring. However, [18F]FBnTP is typically prepared through a tediously lengthy four-step, three-pot reaction and required multiple synthesizer modules; …