Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Inactivation Of Ascaris In Double-Vault Urine-Diverting Composting Latrines In Panama: Methods And Environmental Health Engineering Field Applications, Daragh A. Gibson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals have prioritized improving access to sanitation, but unfortunately about a third of the global population is still without an improved sanitation source and one billion still practice open defecation. Lack of access to adequate and safe sanitation means the proliferation of dangerous pathogens in the environment, especially soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). In the Bocas del Toro Province of Panama (and similar locations in the world), composting latrines have been built in many of the indigenous communities in the area. They are a form of dry or ecological sanitation and are designed to produce an end …

Water And Health In The Nandamojo Watershed Of Costa Rica: Community Perceptions Towards Water, Sanitation, And The Environment, James Mcknight

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the relationships between human health, water, sanitation, and environmental health is a requirement to understanding the challenges that face researchers when it comes to addressing global health relating to water and sanitation. Access to improved water and sanitation is not only a precondition to health, but to all aspects of daily living. Target 7.C of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) addresses worldwide disparities in access to improved water and sanitation by calling for the reduction in "half of the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015". Over 90% of the population of …

Trend Analysis And Modeling Of Health And Environmental Data: Joinpoint And Functional Approach, Ram C. Kafle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study is divided into two parts: the first is on developing the statistical analysis and modeling of mortality (or incidence) trends using Bayesian joinpoint regression and the second is on fitting differential equations from time series data to derive the rate of change of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Joinpoint regression model identifies significant changes in the trends of the incidence, mortality, and survival of a specific disease in a given population. Bayesian approach of joinpoint regression is widely used in modeling statistical data to identify the points in the trend where the significant changes occur. The purpose …

The Soft Mode Driven Dynamics Of Ferroelectric Perovskites At The Nanoscale: An Atomistic Study, Kevin Mccash

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The discovery of ferroelectricity at the nanoscale has incited a lot of interest in perovskite ferroelectrics not only for their potential in device application but also for their potential to expand fundamental understanding of complex phenomena at very small size scales. Unfortunately, not much is known about the dynamics of ferroelectrics at this scale. Many of the widely held theories for ferroelectric materials are based on bulk dynamics which break down when applied to smaller scales. In an effort to increase understanding of nanoscale ferroelectric materials we use atomistic resolution computational simulations to investigate the dynamics of polar perovskites. Within …

Statistical Analysis, Modeling, And Algorithms For Pharmaceutical And Cancer Systems, Bong-Jin Choi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present study is to develop a statistical algorithm and model associ- ated with breast and lung cancer patients. In this study, we developed several statistical softwares, R packages, and models using our new statistical approach.

In the present study, we used the five parameters logistic model for determining the optimal doses of a pharmaceutical drugs, including dynamic initial points, an automatic process for outlier detection and an algorithm that develops a graphic user interface(GUI) program. The developed statistical procedure assists medical scientists by reducing their time in determining the optimal dose of new drugs, and can …

Marine Viral Diversity And Spatiotemporal Variability, Dawn Goldsmith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine viruses are the most numerous biological entities in the ocean, with an estimated abundance of 4 x 10³⁰. They merit study not only because of their sheer abundance, but also because of the role they play in the Earth's biogeochemical cycles. Viral lysis of bacteria redirects the flow of nutrients among marine microbes, which ultimately affects the efficiency of the biological pump. Viral diversity is important because most viruses are host-specific. In preying on a certain type of bacteria, viruses affect the diversity and structure of the bacterial community, leading to changes in carbon and nutrient flows. …

Hail Formation In Florida, Matthew Stanley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Hail poses a substantial threat to life and property in the state of Florida. These losses could be minimized through better understanding of the relationships between atmospheric variables that impact hail formation in Florida. Improving hail forecasting in Florida requires analyzing a number of meteorological parameters and synoptic data related to hail formation.

NOAA archive data was retrieved to create a database that was used to categorize text files of hail days. The text files were entered into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory website to create National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric …

Assessing The Impacts Of Unrestricted Pesticide Use In Small-Scale Agriculture On Water Quality And Associated Human Health And Ecological Implications In An Indigenous Village In Rural Panam[Aacute], Sarah Louise Watson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2014, the global pesticide industry's projected worth is $52 billion and by 2020, the developing world will make up one-third of the world's chemical production and consumption. Pesticides can have unintended negative consequences for human health and the environment, especially in the developing world where regulations are loose or nonexistent. One country with unrestricted use of pesticides is Panam[aacute], especially in Santa Rosa de Cucunatí. In this indigenous village, small-scale farmers and ranchers spray paraquat, glyphosate, picloram, and 2,4-D at higher elevations than the spring water source of a gravity-fed water system, the river, and the village. The objective …

Investigation Of Energy Alignment Models At Polymer Interfaces, Wenfeng Wang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The presented study investigated the Induced Density of Interface States (IDIS) model at different polymer interfaces by using photoemission spectroscopy in combination with electrospray deposition.

In recent years, organic electronics have attracted considerable attention due to their advantages of low-cost and easy-fabrication. The performance of such devices crucially depends on the energy barrier that controls the interface charge transfer. A significant effort has been made to explore the mechanisms that determine the direction and magnitude of charge transfer barriers in these devices. As a result of this effort, the IDIS model was developed to predict the energy alignment at metal/organic …

Skutterudite Derivatives: A Fundamental Investigation With Potential For Thermoelectric Applications, Kaya Wei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thermoelectric devices allow for direct conversion of heat into electricity as well as solid-state refrigeration. The skutterudite family of compounds continues to be of considerable interest both scientifically and technologically due to their unique physical properties, in particular as promising thermoelectric materials. In this thesis, the basic thermoelectric phenomena and some background history on skutterudites will be reviewed. Rhombohedral derivatives of the cubic skutterudite CoSb3, namely Co4-xFexGe6Se6 with x=0, 1, 1.5 (p-type) and rare-earth filled Ce0.13Co4Ge6Se6 and Yb0.14Co4Ge6Se6 (n-type), were synthesized and their synthesis and low temperature transport properties will be discussed.

Reitveld refinement and elemental analysis were used to …

A Synthesis Approach Of Trp-Like Primary Amine Peptoid Side Chains Used In Cyclic Beta-Hairpin - Like Scaffolds, Josanne-Dee Woodroffe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent studies it was reported that the D-amino acid containing peptide HYD1 was used in the treatment of necrotic cell death in multiple myeloma cell lines and showed promising biological activity and in vivo activity. It was meaningful to explore strategies for increasing the therapeutic efficacy of HYD1, a linear peptide. These efforts led to the development of MT1-101 (cyclized peptidomimetics), a lead compound that showed increased in vitro activity and in vivo activity. MTI-101 was found to bind the cell adhesion molecule CD44 and induce programmed necrosis in myeloma cell lines. It was important to improve on the …

Troubled Waters: Georgia, Florida And Alabama's Conflict Over The Waters Of The Acf River Basin, Johnny King Alaziz Wong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since 1989, the co-riparian States of Georgia, Florida and Alabama have been locked in an overt and institutionalized conflict to secure access to the waters of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin. In 1997, in an effort to end this interstate conflict which had earned the reputation as the longest water conflict in U.S. history, public officials at the federal and state scales agreed to suspend all pending litigation against one another and concurrently deployed a dispute resolution mechanism, known as `compact negotiations,' in the hope of equitably allocating the waters of the ACF Basin. Despite proclamations by public officials, exclaiming …

Spatial And Temporal Extent Of A Subsurface Hydrocarbon Intrusion Following The Deepwater Horizon Blowout, Kathleen Watson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil between April 20, 2010 and July 15, 2010. An estimated 36% of the oil formed a neutrally buoyant intrusion, containing both dissolved compounds and oil microdroplets, between 1000 and 1300 m depth. This study used geographic information systems software, and data from water samples that were collected as part of the National Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), to determine that an area of at least 1,600 km² was exposed to DWH oil. Toxic BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and …

Template-Directed Synthesis And Post-Synthetic Modification Of Porphyrin-Encapsulating Metal-Organic Materials, Zhenjie Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Metal-organic materials (MOMs) represent an emerging class of materials comprised of molecular building blocks (MBBs) linked by organic linker ligands. MOMs recently attract great attention because of their ability to exhibit permanent porosity, thereby enabling study of properties in the context of gas storage, gas separation, solid supports for sensors, catalysis and so on. Although MOMs have been studied for over 60 years, the porous nature of MOMs was not systematically and widely explored until the early 1990's. This may be one of the reasons why template-directed synthesis of MOMs remains relatively underexplored, especially when compared to other classes of …

An Assessment Of The Emas Pump And Its Potential For Use In Household Water Systems In Uganda, Jacob Daniel Carpenter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rural improved water supply coverage in Uganda has stagnated around 64% for a number of years and at this point more than 10 million rural people do not have access to an improved drinking water source. It has been recognized that progress toward improved water supply coverage and increased service levels may be gained through Government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) support of private investment in household and shared water supplies, commonly known as Self-supply. Self-supply can be promoted by introducing and building local capacity in appropriate and affordable water supply technologies such as hand-dug wells, manually drilled boreholes, low-cost pumps, …

Algae: Opportunities For Biomass Feedstock Production, Wastewater Treatment And Educational Outreach, Trina Cassandra Halfhide

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Algae are a diverse group of simple organisms that lack roots, stems or leaves and are able to use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and nutrients to produce complex compounds, such as carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. These compounds, especially lipids, are highly sought-after by agricultural, nutraceutical and energy interests. Although there is great potential for algae derived biofuels, there are technical and economic challenges associated with their cultivation. Relevant to this dissertation, the environmental impacts associated with algae cultivation can be reduced by using municipal and agricultural wastewaters as a water and nutrient source. This research was divided into three sections to …

Drinking Water In The Developing World: Sources Of Fecal Contamination In Pitcher Pump Systems And Measurement Alternatives, Meghan Wahlstrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It has been reported that globally we have achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Target 7C, to halve the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water; however, there is a major flaw with this statement. While Target 7C calls for access to `safe' drinking water, what is actually being measured and reported is access to an `improved' water source. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that they must use this proxy measure because the methods for water quality testing are too expensive and logistically complicated, but by doing so, they may be over reporting safe water coverage.

This …

Homochiral Metal-Organic Materials: Design, Synthetic And Enantioseletive Separation, Shi-Yuan Zhang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Owing to the growing demand for enantiopurity in biological and chemical processes, tremendous efforts have been devoted to the synthesis of homochiral metal-organic materials (MOMs) because of their potential applications in chiral separation and asymmetric catalysis. In this dissertation, the synthetic strategies for homochiral MOMs are discussed keeping the focus on their applications. Two distinct approaches have been taken to synthesize chiral structures with different topologies and accessible cavities. The chiral MOMs have been utilized in enantioselective separation of racemates.

Chiral variants of the prototypal metal-organic framework MOF-5, δ-CMOF-5 and [lambda]-CMOF-5, have been synthesized by preparing MOF-5 in the presence …

Study Of The Motility Of Biological Cells By Digital Holographic Microscopy, Xiao Yu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I utilize digital holographic microscopy (DHM) to study the motility of biological cells. As an important feature of DHM, quantitative phase microscopy by digital holography (DH-QPM) is applied to study the cell-substrate interactions and migratory behavior of adhesive cells. The traction force exerted by biological cells is visualized as distortions in flexible substrata. Motile fibroblasts produce wrinkles when attached to a silicone rubber film. For the non-wrinkling elastic substrate polyacrylamide (PAA), surface deformation due to fibroblast adhesion and motility is visualized as tangential and vertical displacement. This surface deformation and the associated cellular traction forces are measured …

Computer Model Inversion And Uncertainty Quantification In The Geosciences, Jeremy White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The subject of this dissertation is use of computer models as data analysis tools in several different geoscience settings, including integrated surface water/groundwater modeling, tephra fallout modeling, geophysical inversion, and hydrothermal groundwater modeling. The dissertation is organized into three chapters, which correspond to three individual publication manuscripts.

In the first chapter, a linear framework is developed to identify and estimate the potential predictive consequences of using a simple computer model as a data analysis tool. The framework is applied to a complex integrated surface-water/groundwater numerical model with thousands of parameters. Several types of predictions are evaluated, including particle travel time …

Mapping The Spatial Movements, Behaviors, And Interactions Of Captive Orangutans Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning And Gis, Zachary Joseph Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Five captive Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) were observed in order to better understand their spatial selection, behavior, and interaction with their environment and each other. A newly introduced adult male's interactions with a female group containing two adults, one adolescent, and one juvenile, was documented. Visual observations were performed to document individual behaviors, along with any interactions with silvery langur monkeys, public crowd levels, temperature, and enrichment props. Methods included 15 observation periods, 0.5-3 hours in length each, during which behaviors were verbally and visually confirmed using a HD video camera. Spatial locations of each individual were recorded every three …

Impedance Extraction By Matlab/Simulink And Labview/Multisim, Jen-Pin Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the techniques of small-signal impedance measurement in three-phase power systems. Stability issue has become critically important since power electronics are highly applied in power distribution and conversion systems. Controlled output systems cause the risk of instability. In order to obtain the impedance model, an impedance extraction in D-Q reference frame algorithm is developed. This paper also applied Interpolated Fast Fourier Transform to increase accuracy of impedance model. Based on the voltage injection, Phase-Locked Loop, Park Transform, D-Q reference frame, and IPFFT. Three-phase system has been realigned on D-Q coordinate and impedance model is extracted in this form. …

An Analysis Of Public Perception And Response To Hurricane Sandy, Lindsay L. Rice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Brigantine, New Jersey on October 29th, 2012. The storm impacted the coastal regions of New Jersey and New York, especially the heavily populated area of New York City. This research, which analyzes secondary data obtained from a telephone survey, investigates the public response of residents before, during and after Hurricane Sandy. The survey consisted of questions regarding what the residents expected concerning the threat of Hurricane Sandy, whether it matched what they experienced, where they got their information and how they made their decision to evacuate or not. The results from the survey were statistically …

Response Of Benthic Foraminifera To Ocean Acidification And Impact On Florida's Carbonate Sediment Production, Paul O. Knorr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are in dynamic equilibrium with the oceans. The absorption of CO2 by seawater causes a decrease in seawater pH and calcite saturation state (SS). This process, termed ocean acidification, exerts deleterious effects on marine calcifiers. Studies of symbiont-bearing large benthic foraminifera (LBF) have reported a generally unfavorable response to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide ([CO2]).

Experiments and analyses were undertaken to examine the effect of increased [CO2] on the growth rate, ultrastructure, stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen, as well as Mg/Ca of the high-Mg miliolid Archaias angulatus and the low-Mg rotalid Amphistegina gibbosa. A …

Combination Of The Computational Methods: Molecular Dynamics, Homology Modeling And Docking To Design Novel Inhibitors And Study Structural Changes In Target Proteins For Current Diseases, Katherine Cristina Parra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, molecular dynamics simulations, molecular docking, and homology modeling methods have been used in combination to design possible inhibitors as well as to study the structural changes and function of target proteins related to diseases that today are in the spotlight of drug discovery. The inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels constitute the first target in this study; they are involved in cardiac problems. On the other hand, tensin, a promising target in cancer research, is the second target studied here.

The first chapter includes a brief update on computational methods and the current proposal of the combination of …

Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Climate Policy In Florida's State And Local Governments (2000 To 2010), Sandra Jo Garren

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the current state of climate policy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends in the state Florida and its local governments. The research is guided by three research questions 1) What has been the policy response from state and local governments to the threat of climate change; 2) What were the GHG emission trends from 2000 to 2010 in Florida and its local governments and what were the drivers of change?; and, 3) what were the issues related to the data and methodologies to quantify GHG emissions at the local government level? Policymakers …

It's About Time: Dynamics Of Inflationary Cosmology As The Source Of The Asymmetry Of Time, Emre Keskin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is about the asymmetry of time. The main source of discontent for physicists and philosophers alike is that even though in every physical theory we developed and/or discovered for explaining how the universe functions, the laws are time reversal invariant; there seems to be a very genuine asymmetry between the past and the future. The aim of this project is to examine several attempts to solve this friction between the laws of physics and the asymmetry and provide a new proposal that makes use of modern cosmology. In the recent history of physics and in contemporary philosophy of …

A Maximum Principle In The Engel Group, James Klinedinst

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we will examine the properties of subelliptic jets in the Engel group of step 3. Step-2 groups, such as the Heisenberg group, do not provide insight into the general abstract calculations. This thesis then, is the first explicit non-trivial computation of the abstract results.

Photocatalysis And Grazing-Ion Beam Surface Modifications Of Planar Tio2 Model Systems, Timothy Luttrell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is related to the understanding of catalytic reactions of metal oxides. For several decades, the surfaces and bulk of materials have been probed to determine additional properties that relate to photocatalytic applications. This investigation furthers these efforts by the (a) modification of a metal oxide surface to isolate known influences of chemical properties and (b) proposing and utilizing a novel methodology for attribution of photocatalytic activity to a discernable influence. For the first effort, by effectively utilizing a known technique for a new application on a metal oxide, such isolations can be made despite unfavorable states. For the …

Atmospheric And Ocean Conditions And Social Aspects Associated With Rip Current Drownings In The United States, Charles Hugh Paxton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of the physical and social aspects of rip currents in ocean areas that will lead to better forecasts, better governmental policies in beach areas, and ultimately to save lives. A rip current is a nearshore circulation in which breaking waves run up onto the beach then retreat rapidly in deeper channels back toward the sea. Rip currents pose a significant threat to beachgoers and can pull even the strongest swimmers out to sea. The primary factors associated with rip current formation on unarmored beaches are variations in the local …