Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Critical Heat Stress Evaluation Of Two-Layer Clothing Ensembles And The Contributionof A Full-Face Negative Pressure Respirator, Oclla Michele Fletcher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Protective clothing ensembles are worn by workers as a barrier to chemical and physical hazards, but can restrict heat loss and increase worker heat stress. The question of whether a respirator adds to heat stress or strain burden is a continuing concern among occupational health professionals. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in heat stress or strain among the current Toxicological Agent Protective (TAP) ensemble and two ensemble variations used in demilitarization of chemical weapons. Four acclimatized adult males wore five ensembles in a balanced design while walking in a climatic chamber at a …

Comparison Of Visual Vs. Microscopic Methods To Detect Blood Splatter From An Intravascular Catheter With Engineered Sharps Injury Protection (Esip), Aiysha R. Ansari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intravascular devices with engineered sharps injury protection (ESIP) are designed to reduce sharps injuries, but have not been investigated for blood splatter potential. In this laboratory-based experiment, which did not use human subjects, 100 intravenous catheters of the same type with a retraction mechanism, were tested for blood splatter. Once blood was obtained from a simulated brachial vein containing mock venous blood, the devices were placed in a testing chamber and scientific filters labeled A, B & C were used to capture blood splatter after activation. The blood splatter was examined visually and microscopically, and the filters were weighed pre- …

Development Of A Tool For Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment And Preventive Interventions In Ancillary Services Patients, Monica Shutts Messer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The incidence of nosocomial pressure ulcers has continued to increase in U.S. hospitals over the past 15 years despite the implementation of national preventive guidelines and the wide-spread use of validated risk assessment tools. The majority of preventive efforts and tools have been focused primarily on patients who are bed-ridden or immobile for extended periods. What has not been well studied or identified is the potential risk for pressure injury to patients undergoing diagnostic procedures in hospital ancillary units where extrinsic risk factors such as high interface pressures on procedure tables and friction and shear from positioning and transport can …

"You Have To Have Children To Be Happy:" Exploring Beliefs About Reproduction With Burmese Refugee Women In The United States, Kara E. Mcginnis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Burmese refugees are entering the US at record speed. Resettlement agencies focus on immediate needs, and ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs) fill any service gaps through community-driven programs. The Tampa Bay Burmese Council (TBBC) is an ECBO in Tampa, FL dedicated to the Burmese community. This research explores the reproductive beliefs of the women in the community, paying particular attention to any differences that arise due to beliefs specific to their ethnic group. Findings include the importance of menses for women's health, the preference for both male and female children, a lack of knowledge about family planning methods, a tendency to …

Testing A Model Of Bacterial Vaginosis Among Black Women, Jessica Brumley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bacterial Vaginosis is an inbalance of vaginal flora which has been associated with increased risk of numerous gynecological and obstetric morbidities including increased risk of acquisition of HIV from an infected partner and increased risk of preterm delivery. Black race has been consistently identified as a risk factor for BV. Black women also suffer from significant disparities in most of the morbidities also associated with BV when compared to women of other ethnicities and races. Traditional predictors of BV such as douching practices and sexual behaviors do not fully account for the racial disparities in BV prevalence. Researchers have begun …

A Systematic Review Of Interventions To Increase Mental Health Service Use, Jennifer Greene

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Relatively few pre-treatment interventions to increase out-patient mental health (MH) service use have been created and experimentally tested. Therefore, not only is there limited availability of these interventions, it is uncertain whether existing interventions are effective. Moreover, it is unclear which components of the interventions are effective. To address these gaps in knowledge, a systematic review of pre-treatment interventions was conducted, using the Cochrane Review methodology. Three primary outcomes were evaluated: attendance at any type of out-patient MH visit; number of appointments of any type of out-patient MH visit; and/or initiation and adherence to psychotropic medication. PubMed and PsycINFO databases …

Willingness-To-Pay For Maintenance And Improvements To Existing Sanitation Infrastructure: Assessing Community-Led Total Sanitation In Mopti, Mali, Justin Vern Meeks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, much focus has been put on the sustainability of water and sanitation development projects. Experts in this field have found that many of the projects of the past have failed to achieve sustainability because of a lack of demand for water and sanitation interventions at a grassroots level. For years projects looked to create this demand through various subsidy schemes, with the "software" of behavior change and education taking a backseat to the "hardware" of infrastructure provision. Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a fairly new way of looking at the issues of increasing basic sanitation coverage, promoting …

Evaluation Of Transfer Technologies To Preserve Shoulder Function In Sci, Karen Michelle Mann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated a series of independent unassisted and device-assisted transfers from a wheelchair to vehicle mock-up and vice versa while simultaneously capturing kinematic, kinetic and electromyographic (EMG) data of impaired volunteers. The study provides a venue for observation and evaluation of upper extremity (UE) joint stresses, muscular force and functional demands associated with transfers in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) to ultimately prevent UE injury, minimize excessive stress, preserve functionality and limit pain. If people with SCI lose function of their UEs, due to pain and/or degeneration, they must then rely on others for everyday tasks.

Five paraplegic …

Hurricane Preparedness Of Community-Dwelling Dementia Caregivers In South Florida, Janelle J. Christensen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to explore how informal caregivers for people with dementia (PWD), who are community dwelling (i.e., not in nursing homes), prepare and plan for disasters. The research site is a particularly hurricane-prone region of Florida, second only to New Orleans in its vulnerability. An underlying assumption of this research is that caregivers for PWD have to plan and anticipate problems that are unique to their role. The rationale for the study described here is that disaster planning and mitigation save lives (Tengs et al. 1995), but there is little or no literature on disaster planning …

Evaluation Of Urinary Pesticide Biomarkers Among A Sample Of The Population In The United States, Alex Lance Lebeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pesticide use in the United States continues to attract negative public attention. In recent years, this attention has focused on the effects that chronic, low-level pesticides may have, especially on children and various sub-populations. Over the past decade, studies have attempted to correlate negative health effects with detections of pesticide biomarkers in biological media. The current research investigates biomarker of exposure levels in a sample of the United States population. Data from the 2001-2002 NHANES dataset (n=11,039) was evaluated. The detection frequency of urinary biomarkers of exposure and the geometric mean from the NHANES pesticide dataset (n=3,152) were determined. Of …

The Creation Of A Robotics Based Human Upper Body Model For Predictive Simulation Of Prostheses Performance, Derek James Lura

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work focuses on the use of 3D motion capture data to create and optimize a robotic human body model (RHBM) to predict the inverse kinematics of the upper body. The RHBM is a 25 degrees of freedom (DoFs) upper body model with subject specific kinematic parameters. The model was developed to predict the inverse kinematics of the upper body in the simulation of a virtual person, including persons with functional limitations such as a transradial or transhumeral amputation. Motion data were collected from 14 subjects: 10 non-amputees control subjects, 1 person with a transradial amputation, and 3 persons with …

The Relationship Between Death Depression And Death Anxiety Among Cancer Patients In Saudi Arabia, Doaa A. Almostadi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main public health problems in the world. People diagnosed with cancer may become depressed and fearful of dying. This causes them to question treatments and sometimes avoid treatment altogether. Cancer may change the person's life and the lives of others around them. The current study focused on the psychosocial impact of impending death for cancer patients in Saudi Arabia. Currently, the relationship between the death anxiety and death depression in persons with cancer in Saudi Arabia is not yet clear. Added to that, little research has been conducted with Muslim cancer patients and their …

Matrix Metalloproteinase Genes Are Transcriptionally Regulated By E2f Transcription Factors: A Link Between Cell Cycle Control And Metastatic Progression, Jacqueline Lea Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The RbµE2F transcriptional regulatory pathway plays a critical role in the cell cycle. Rb is inactivated through multiple waves of phosphorylation, mediated mainly by cyclin D and cyclin E associated kinases. Once Rb is inactivated, cells can enter Sµphase. Collectively, three Rb family members and ten E2F proteins coordinate every additional stage of the cell cycle, from quiescence to mitosis. However the RbµE2F pathway is frequently altered in cancer. Aside from cell proliferation, the RbµE2F pathway regulates other essential cellular processes including apoptosis, cell differentiation, angiogenesis and DNA damage repair pathways, but its role in invasion and cancer progression is …

The Effects Of Oxygen On The Electrophysiology Of Co2/H+-Chemosensitive And -Insensitive Neurons Of The Solitary Complex Of The Rat, Michael Patrick Matott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study tested the hypothesis that decreasing the control O₂ level from 95% to 40% (5% CO₂ + 55% N₂) maintains viability in caudal solitary complex (cSC) neurons in transverse slices (~300-400ꝳ) prepared from neonatal rat (P2-22) maintained at 32-34°C. The underlying rationale is to reduce exposure to redox and nitrosative stimuli generated during several hours of exposure to 95% O₂ that produces a tissue O₂ tension throughout the slice which is in excess of 203 kPa (2.0 atmospheres absolute,ATA) oxygen. Whole cell recordings of cSC neurons maintained in 40% O₂ exhibited spontaneous …

Making It Real: Faculty Collaboration To Create Video Content, Claudia J. Dold, Gary Dudell

Claudia J. Dold

Interest in integrative health care is a growing area of health practice, combining conventional medical treatments with safe and effective complementary and alternative medicine. These modalities relate to both improving physical and psychological well-being, and enhancing conventional talk therapy. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching and library faculty have created a series of sixteen on-line video interviews that introduce practitioner-relevant experiences to students as supplemental course material. These videos are available through the department web-pages to students in other related disciplines as well, including Social Work, Counselor Education, Psychology, and the Colleges of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine. The video series …

Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, And Practices, Anol Bhattacherjee

Textbooks Collection

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any course on research methods.

The contents and examples are designed for anyone interested in behavioral research (not just information systems people), and so, the book should appeal to most business programs, social sciences, education, public health, and related disciplines.

"People Aren't Mind Readers": A Study Of Sexual Self-Concept, Partner Communication, And Sexual Satisfaction, Heather Blunt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual health is an important component to overall well-being and quality of life. Yet so much of sexual health research is focused solely on the negative consequences of sexuality, such as unintended pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Recently, the need for a positive, health promotion focused framework for research and understanding sexual health has received attention, including from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This transition of public health research and practice from a disease-based framework to a positive, health promotion framework necessitates exploring what factors are associated with positive sexuality and …

Hospice Nurses- Attitudes And Knowledge About Pain Management, Amie Jacqueline Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has been well established that many people will suffer with pain at the end of life, and untreated pain contributes to reduced quality of life. Many barriers contribute to this issue including a lack of knowledge in nurses who care for dying patients. Many nurses in general practice settings do not possess adequate knowledge about basic pain management principles; and the same may be true about hospice nurses despite the assumption that hospice nurses are more adept at pain management. Contributing to this problem may be the attitudes that nurses, including hospice nurses, have regarding pain and its management. …

Evaluation Of Video Modeling And In Situ Training To Teach Gun Safety Skills To Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kelsey Lynn Morgan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, there is no known research on teaching gun safety skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. Research has shown that children typically engage in gunplay behaviors if they find a firearm. These behaviors can lead to unintentional firearm injuries and even death, especially for young children. Previous research has shown the success of video modeling for teaching various skills to individuals with autism. This study examined the effectiveness of video modeling for teaching gun safety skills to three children with autism spectrum disorder, and found that video modeling was effective for one participant, but in situ training was needed to …

Neuron To Microglia Communication; A Study Of Cx3cl1 Signaling Implications In Cognitive Function, Inflammation, And Neurodegeneration, Joshua M. Morganti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As a consequence of aging, the brain is subject to chronic neuroinflammatory conditions. The resident immune cells of the brain, microglia, act similarly to peripheral macrophages to protect the brain from insults, infection, and physical trauma. However, without proper regulation of their respective host defense mechanisms, these actions can become neurotoxic. In the healthy brain neurons have several signaling systems that directly interact with microglia in order to maintain a calming influence upon their actions, one of particular interest is the chemokine CX3CL1. This chemokine is found predominantly on neurons, while its cognate receptor CX3CR1 is found exclusively on microglia. …

Training Deictic Relational Responding In People With Schizophrenia, John O'Neill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend recent findings in the functional contextual literature by 1) establishing complex deictic relational responding skills in 3 persons diagnosed with Schizophrenia and mild-moderate Mental Retardation and 2) assessing generalization through pre and post-instructional measures of Social Anhedonia and Theory of Mind functioning. Results suggest that increasingly complex levels of deictic relational responses were acquired and mastered by all 3 participants and that generalization extended to the Deceptive Container Task (ToM levels 4 & 5) and Hinting Task. Support is provided for the notion that perspective taking skills might be shaped …

The Yellow Flag Of Quarantine: An Analysis Of The Historical And Prospective Impacts Of Socio-Legal Controls Over Contagion, Peter Oliver Okin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Under the ancient threat of morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases, human societies have responded for thousands of years by imposing social containment measures. Even before theorists and laymen recognized the existence of pathogenic organisms, or fully understood the principles of contagion, many societies and individuals did empirically infer that such diseases were transmissible from human to human (as well as sometimes between animals and humans). Having few effective technological measures to prevent or treat contagions, they did devise a variety of socio-behavioral procedures for separating overtly ill persons or suspected disease-carriers from nominally uninfected people. These methods included various …

Effects Of G-Csf On Monocytes And Neurons: In Vitro And In Vivo Studies In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Amanda Renee Pennington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

G-CSF is routinely used to treat neutropenia/leukopenia or to increase hematopoietic stem cell generation in bone marrow donors. G-CSF and its receptor, G-CSFR, are produced by various cell types both in the peripheral circulation and within brain. As a consequence, exogenous administration of G-CSF results in a broad spectrum of effects involving hematopoietic, immune and central nervous systems.

G-CSF administration in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has revealed both cognitive benefits and disease modifying effects: a) decreased Aβ plaque burden, b) increased microgliosis, c) increased neurogenesis and d) improved performance in radial arm water maze (RAWM). In clinical …

Maternal Immune Dysregulation In The Pathogenesis Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Interleukin-6 As A Central Mechanism And Therapeutic Target Of Flavonoids, Ellisa Carla Parker-Athill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Activation of the maternal immune system and resultant maternal cytokine expression due to prenatal infection has been implicated as a significant contributor to the pathology of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Increased maternal interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression, observed clinically and in animal models of prenatal infection, and resultant activation of key signaling pathways, has been shown to be a biological indicator of pathology, and a central component of the pathological mechanism. In animal models of prenatal infection and clinically in pregnancy disorders hallmarked by immunological irregularities and increased IL-6 expression, inhibition of IL-6 has …

Influence Of Stress And Cytokinic Profiles On Cognitive Performance In Older Adults, Kerri S. Rawson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

With aging, changes in the immune system, makes cognitive performance, and the prevalence of stressors can lead to poorer overall functioning. Within the immune system, a balance should exist between cytokines regulating Th1 and Th2 immune responses; however, age-related declines in the endocrine and immune systems can disrupt this equilibrium. Several studies report higher levels of Th1 associated cytokines in inflammatory conditions of the brain, whereas fewer studies remark on Th2 associated cytokines and cognitive functioning. Declining cognitive abilities are a common concern that accompanies advancing age and some research has suggested the prevalence and impact of stressors lead …

An Evaluation Of Reactivity To Observer Presence While Self-Monitoring To Improve Swimming Performance, Sara Wendi Schonwetter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study evaluated the effects of self-monitoring by swimmers to improve their performance at practice and assessed the effects of reactivity to observer presence on their performance. Additionally, it investigated the accuracy of the swimmers' self-reports. Seven public high school swim team members used program boards to self-monitor in order to increase the number of assigned laps completed at practice. Reactivity to observer presence was assessed by having a confederate record the number of laps completed during observer absent conditions. A series of AB replications and an ABAB reversal design were used. The percentage of assigned laps completed increased …

Modulating The Pharmacokinetics Of Bioflavonoids, Adam John Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the largest obstacles in drug development is to overcome solubility and bioavailability problems. Preformulation strategies such as nanoparticle formation are often employed but sometimes create new issues and are limited in their effectiveness and applications. Since the majority of drugs are marketed and sold as solid forms, drug delivery systems are not always desirable. This is where solid-state chemistry becomes important. Traditional solid-state chemistry approaches are often successful but are sometimes too restrictive and cannot be applied to certain compounds. Cocrystals have emerged as an alternative solid-state technique that can be applied to a broad range of compounds. …

Love And Risk: Intimate Relationships Among Female Sex Workers Who Inject Drugs And Their Non-Commercial Partners In Tijuana, Mexico, Jennifer L. Syvertsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the influence of love and other emotions on sexual and drug-related HIV risk among female sex workers who inject drugs and their intimate, non-commercial partners in Tijuana, Mexico. My work on a public health study along the Mexico-U.S. border and independent ethnographic research in Tijuana suggests the importance of emotions in shaping sex workers' relationships and health risks.

Love is a universal human emotional experience embodied within broader cultural, social, and economic contexts. A growing body of cross-cultural research suggests that modern relationships have transformed to emphasize love and emotional intimacy over moral or kinship obligations. Particularly …

A Dual-Factor Model Of Mental Health In High School Students: Group Characteristics And Social Functioning, Amanda Lynn Thalji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A dual-factor model of psychological functioning examines the presence of wellness (i.e., subjective well-being; SWB) and psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) in explaining youth mental health functioning. Using a dual-factor model, previous research has yielded four unique groups of elementary and middle school youth as well as college-age adults with distinct levels of wellness and psychopathology. The present empirical investigation included valid data from 500 adolescents from two high schools (grades 9 to 11). This exploratory study produced four groups of students with unique mental health profiles aligned with previous studies investigating the dual-factor model. Tukey-Kramer comparisons determined …

Using A Goal-Setting And Feedback Procedure To Increase Running Distance, Stephanie Wack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Goal-setting procedures have been employed in many different sports, and have been shown to be a beneficial component for enhancing sports performance. For this study, a changing-criterion within multiple-baseline design was used to evaluate a multi-component intervention for increasing running distance for five healthy adults. The intervention consisted of goal setting with performance feedback. Participants set a short-term goal each week and a long-term goal to achieve upon completion of the study. The study incorporated the use of the Nike^TM + SportKit for automated recording of the distance of each run. Results of the current study demonstrated for all …