Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

“Smart Trap”: A Portable Device For Real-Time Mosquito Capturing And Classification Using Image-Based Analysis, Fahim Rahman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Capturing mosquitoes in real-time and taking high-quality images for classification with state-of-the-art methods is not only time-consuming but also expensive. Sometimes even carefully controlled environments and experimental setups fail to capture living mosquitoes. Catching live mosquitoes is necessary to be able to study aspects of their physiology and behavior that cannot be investigated by collections of resting mosquitoes and dead specimens, and to help estimate the local population numbers. My thesis introduces a “Smart Trap”, a small portable device that can attract mosquitoes in real-time, capture them, take high-quality images with dual cameras, and store those images in the cloud. …

Predicting Freshwater Spring Distribution Using Maxent Modeling: A Case Study In Groundwater Management Area 9 (Gma-9), Texas, Zayed Mallick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater springs are one of the most vital groundwater sources and they have been a reliable water source for mining, irrigation, drinking, and farming, particularly in hot and arid regions like Groundwater Management Area-9 (GMA-9), Texas. However, excessive groundwater extraction, climate change, and environmental degradation have created tremendous stress on the sustainability of freshwater springs and as a result, they might not be able to meet the future water demand. This study uses the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model to predict the distribution of springs in GMA-9 and to identify the key topographic and climatic factors influencing their occurrence. This study …

Accretion And Accumulation Of Mangrove Soils In Clam Bay, Naples, Fl: The Impact Of Hydrological Alterations And Sea-Level Rise, Matthew C. Fairchild

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ability of mangrove soils to accrete at a rate that keeps up with the rate of sea-level rise (SLR) is widely debated, especially for soils impacted by variations in influxes of nutrients and alterations in natural flows of water from surrounding urban areas. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of SLR on mangrove soils in Clam Bay (Naples, Florida, USA), which has an extensive system of mangroves that have faced increasing human pressure in recent decades as well as SLR. Cores were collected from two different sites within Clam Bay to identify differences in soil accretion, mass accumulation, …

Efforts To Improve General Chemistry Student Success: Describing Stoichiometry Solution Patterns And Investigating Challenge Perceptions, Dianna Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a need for capable STEM graduates to fill needed STEM career gaps, particularly for people who have been historically under-represented in the STEM field (e.g., women, people of color, people of lower economic status, etc.). A course that have great impact would be General Chemistry which typically acts as a pre-requisite for manty STEM majors and careers. The efforts to be described in this thesis was conducted at a large, public doctoral granting university in the southeastern United States of America. The first effort described in this thesis explores how students solve different types of stoichiometry-based problems along …

Characterizing Lava Flow Morphology And Lava Flow Dynamics: A High-Resolution Lidar And Structure From Motion Study Of The Hell’S Half Acre Lava Flow, Idaho, Rachel T. Bakowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Basaltic lava flow eruptions can impact vast areas, profoundly altering the landscape. Although many past eruptions have gone unobserved by scientists, they often leave behind substantial deposits that preserve key elements of the eruption’s history. By studying lava textures and the overall structure of lava flows, we can reconstruct the specific conditions that occurred during the eruption and contributed to the final morphology of the lava flows. Hell’s Half Acre is a large, well-preserved basaltic lava flow in the Eastern Snake River Plain, containing a variety of significant geological features resulting from its distinctive eruption history. This thesis examines a …

Llms In Network Intrusion Detection – A Comprehensive Analysis, Sudharshan Balaji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) play a critical role in identifying and mitigating malicious activities within computer networks. With the rapid evolution of natural language processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as transformative tools across various domains. LLMs, such as OpenAI’s GPT series and Meta’s LLaMA models,have demonstrated remarkable performance in tasks like language generation, reasoning, and classification. Their ability to understand and process vast amounts of data has enabled groundbreaking advancements in areas like healthcare, finance, and cybersecurity. Recent trends highlight their potential to handle unstructured data, perform complex reasoning, and adapt to a wide range of …

Beyond Climate In Placencia, Belize: Navigating Environmental Change In The Anthropocene, Rory E. Mckenna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Examining opportunities for climate resilience requires an evaluation of lived experiences of environmental change which benefits from transdisciplinary perspectives. This research examines those experiences through the lens of anthropogenic change which allows for a critical focus on local conditions of environmental change specific to Placencia Village, Belize, over time. An anthropology of the anthropocene framing shifts the focus from the results of the global phenomenon responsible for climate change to the implications of local human-caused environmental change on natural systems, human-environment relationships and dynamics, and the future trajectories of these relationships. Through the use of interviews, go-alongs, participatory mapping, transdisciplinary …

A Python Pipeline For Rapid Inversion Of Gravity Data Aimed At Early Career Researchers: Application To The Lost River Fault, Idaho, Bradford C. Mack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gravity data and modeling can be used to create a 3D view of basin and fault geometries, a valuable tool for seismic hazard assessment. Additionally, access to a high-speed, easy-to-use modeling workflow will enable more researchers to supplement their work with a new method and allow students to be exposed to modeling earlier in their academic careers. The primary goals of this work are to create a widely usable 3D gravity and basin model, to create an introduction to modeling teaching module for undergraduate geology students, and to apply the model to the northernmost two segments of the Lost River …

3d Reconstruction And Comparative Anatomical And Kinematic Analyses Of The Foot Of Archaeopteryx, Alexander M. Kirk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on the evolution of dinosaur flight has long been dominated by the wing, often overlooking the foot. The foot of Archaeopteryx, the “icon of evolution”, thus offers a unique opportunity to investigate this critical evolutionary stage. Chapter I of this dissertation integrates advanced 3D reconstruction techniques, combining photogrammetry with X-ray data, to create a high-resolution model of the foot of the Thermopolis specimen of Archaeopteryx for visualization and analysis. Driven by 3D coordinate axes derived from joint surface topology, the analyses in Chapter II reveal terrestrial adaptations -- such as a medially oriented hallux (81°), serially shorter phalanges on …

Statistical Analysis And Modeling Of Colon Cancer, Nessrin Bukhshim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is considered a health issue in the world. Many cancer research studies focus on improving the survival time of patients diagnosed with cancer, and they make an effort to find the methods that help them detect cancer and find effective treatments to increase the patient's survival time. In this study, we aim to understand the behavior of malignant tumor size in four stages. Our investigation seeks to uncover whether any statistically significant difference exists between the malignant tumor sizes of male and female patients at different cancer stages. We also investigate whether any parametric probability distribution function best fits …

Acoustic Energy For Use In Mass Spectrometry, Ashton N. Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Analyzing lipid assemblies, including synthetically produced liposomes and naturally produced extracellular vesicles (EVs), is challenging due to their size, diverse composition, and tendency to aggregate. EVs contain a complex variety of lipids, proteins, and other metabolites. EVs composition can provide us insight into what is happening inside the body and a subcellular level and have potential for noninvasive biomarkers. Liposomes are vesicles that form with a simple phospholipid bilayer membrane and play important roles in drug delivery systems. The use of mass spectrometry (MS) allows for broad analysis of lipids from different classes but their release from the higher order …

Characterizing West Florida Shelf Reef Fish Communities Using A Scientific Echosounder, Edmund A. Hughes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The advancement and application of non-invasive fisheries survey technologies, such as the scientific echosounder, have significantly enhanced our understanding of fish populations and their habitats, more recently in regions where traditional sampling methods are limited, such as complex reef habitats. This research, conducted as part of the Continental Shelf Characterization, Assessment, and Mapping Project (C-SCAMP) on the West Florida Shelf, leverages acoustic and visual technologies to investigate the distribution of fish densities, fish target strength and length relationships, and the relationship between seafloor topography and fish biomass distribution.

The first study compared reef fish densities estimated from near-concurrent acoustic (Simrad …

Relationship-Influenced Cyber Hygiene (Rich) In Community Banks, Monte L. Ward

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a research study that introduces the theoretical model of Relationship-Influenced Cyber Hygiene (RICH) through its investigation of the phenomenon the researcher experienced: how the interpersonal relationship between top management and cybersecurity personnel within smaller community banks influences the cyber hygiene of top management. Due to the value proposition of community banks to their clients and the limited budget of smaller institutions for investment in cybersecurity controls and initiates, community banks need additional strategies to achieve stronger cyber hygiene, especially as it relates the greatest weakness in most cybersecurity infrastructures—the human element. This study identifies and addresses a …

Compositional Characteristics And Relationships Between Oceanic Basement, Sediment, And Volcanic Arc Rocks: Geochemical Evolution Of The South China Sea And Luzon-Taiwan Arc, Antonio J. Luna

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I have characterized the geochemical signatures of the South China Sea (SCS) igneous basement and marine sediments with the intent to examine the results in the context of the understanding the origin and evolution of the SCS oceanic mafic crust, the type of sediments found in the SCS, and finally their impact on the composition of the island arc lavas within the northern Luzon Arc. This dissertation research has three main objectives:

1. Examining the origin, composition, and evolution of the SCS mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB), as well as the preexisting crustal rocks recovered near the continent-ocean transition …

Artificial Reefs As Management Tools, Tiff Raetzel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial reefs are attractive tools for fisheries management and reef conservation, as they can host large fish biomasses, including fisheries-important species, and they may supplement natural recruitment. Prior studies have established that artificial and natural reefs differ in habitat complexity and host both taxonomically and functionally distinct assemblages. These differences may impact how the reef types respond to environmental disturbance because ecosystem stability is dependent upon habitat structure, species composition, and trophic interactions. A question of management importance is whether artificial reefs host a less- or more-sensitive suite of species than natural reefs, and whether the assemblage is conducive to …

Hurricane Evacuation: Navigating Uncertainty During Covid 19 And With Existing Communication Scales, And Considering Public And Expert Perception Of Alternative Scales, Leilani D. Paxton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of current hurricane warning products and communication strategies, exploring factors influencing public perception of risk and decision-making during evacuations. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining survey data, focus group discussions, and interviews with meteorologists and emergency managers. The first paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hurricane risk perception and evacuation decisions. Findings indicate that while COVID-19 concerns played a role in some individuals' decisions, particularly those with pets or concerns about shelter conditions, the majority of participants evacuated for Hurricane Ian. The study highlights the importance of providing clear, consistent, and …

Performance And Trihalomethane Formation Potential Of Alternative Electron Donors For Wastewater Denitrification, Bruno Fulco Mancini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen removal from wastewater is critical to preserve ecosystems, as well as human health and welfare. Excess nutrients in receiving waters can cause many problems to the environment, such as algal blooms, drinking water contamination, and economic losses. Nitrogen removal in wastewater occurs mainly through the oxidation and reduction processes of nitrification and denitrification, which occur in engineered systems at wastewater treatment plants or water reclamation facilities.

The site for this research was the South Cross Bayou (SCB) Water Reclamation Facility, located in Pinellas County, FL, USA. At SCB, nitrogen is removed through a Modified Ludzak-Ettinger (MLE) process with the …

Seasonal And Interannual Abundance, Distribution, And Carbon Production Estimates In The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico Using The Sipper Camera Imaging System, Carlyn Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Larvaceans are filter-feeding gelatinous zooplankton whose contributions to marine biogeochemical processes are poorly constrained. By frequently shedding their particle-rich houses and producing dense fecal pellets, larvaceans contribute large amounts of particulate organic matter to deeper waters and to the sea floor. Despite their importance, little is known about larvacean abundance, distribution, and carbon production in the highly productive northeastern Gulf of Mexico (NEGOM). To address this gap in knowledge, we collected images of larvaceans at discrete depths in the upper 300 m of the water column between August 2010 –2014 using the Shadowed Image Particle Profiling and Evaluation Recorder (SIPPER) …

Stochastic Predictive Modeling Of Social Media Stocks And Reliability Of Hard Disk Drives, Sameer Anand

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, social media has emerged as a highly appealing investment sector due to its substantial returns. Our research focuses on creating a predictive model for the financial performance of social media companies. We gathered data from five companies in the S&P 500: Meta, Etsy, Match, Pinterest, and Alphabet. We developed a non-linear, data-driven stochastic analytical model that employs real data, incorporating six financial indicators and four economic indicators, to forecast the weekly closing prices of these social media companies with an accuracy of 94.7%. Additionally, we ranked the statistically significant indicators and their interactions based on their percentage …

Improving College Students’ Attention Retention With A Brain-Controlled Drone Simulation, Ji Won Bae

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In contemporary society, individuals are continuously exposed to a plethora of stimuli, which can precipitate distractions and impede cognitive performance in tasks such as professional work and academic studies. This investigation proposes an innovative approach aimed at enhancing attentional focus through the utilization of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). BCIs represent advanced methodologies for deciphering neural activity patterns. Specifically,electroencephalography (EEG), a technique for monitoring the brain's electrical signals, serves as the foundation for BCI applications. EEG analyses reveal distinctive wave patterns indicative of states of concentration, vigilance, and cognitive engagement. Consequently, BCIs hold promise for the real-time assessment of users' attentional states. …

Robotic Multi-Object Grasping From A Pile: Techniques And Algorithms For Enhanced Dexterity, Tianze Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As robots become increasingly integrated into real-world applications such as warehousing, fulfillment centers, and manufacturing, the need for efficient and adaptable robotic systems grows. One of the key challenges is enabling robots to grasp multiple objects simultaneously, as this significantly boosts the efficiency of tasks like batch picking, sorting, and object transferring, reducing both time and energy consumption. This dissertation presents a comprehensive multi-object grasping (MOG) pipeline that includes pre-grasp selection, end-pose selection, grasping synergy calculation, and a data-driven model for estimating the number of objects being grasped. Central to this work is the development of the Experience Forest structure, …

Developing Robotic Task Planning Methods For Diverse Real-World Challenges, Md Sadman Sakib

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The deployment of robotic systems across various domains has expanded significantly, with applications ranging from domestic tasks, such as cleaning and cooking, to industrial operations requiring precision and automation. These advancements highlight the critical importance of effective task planning in ensuring that robots can perform tasks safely, efficiently, and autonomously. However, task planning in robotics faces challenges related to generalization, executability, flexibility, and limitations in existing knowledge bases.

This dissertation addresses these challenges through innovative strategies aimed at enhancing robotic task planning and execution. We first focus on adapting to unknown scenarios by utilizing the Functional Object-Oriented Network (FOON) to …

Exploring Factors That Influence Artificial Intelligence Adoption In Banks And Credit Unions, Vijaya S. Tumma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is exploding in the banking sector, fueled by enhanced productivity, improved efficiencies, and personalized services to the consumers. For credit unions, the adoption of AI technologies presents opportunities and challenges. This research explores the factors influencing AI adoption in the banking sector through the lens of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework. This study aims to explore the influence of key aspects of UTAUT model, Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), and Facilitating Conditions (FC) on the intention of AI adoption among credit unions, banks, and their …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Coastal Nekton Metacommunities In The Western Atlantic, Jonathan A. Peake

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The processes of diversification, selection, dispersal, and stochastic drift can combine in many ways to assemble ecological communities. A key focus in ecology is to describe and quantify the relative influences of these processes for different systems and explain the mechanisms by which these processes produce patterns of community structure. To accomplish this goal, ecologists have developed several frameworks that seek to integrate processes that occur locally andregionally. The metacommunity concept treats local communities as pieces of a broader landscape that are connected through dispersal of their constituent organisms. Empirical studies have generally lagged behind the development of metacommunity theory. …

Balancing Context And Clarity Through Visualizations For Better Decision-Making, Bhavana Doppalapudi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this era of a data driven world, the effective communication of data through visualizations is pivotal for converting complex information into accurate insights. Effective visualizations not only enhance users' comprehension of complex data but also induce trust, leading to better decision-making. This dissertation explores methods to improve trust in visualizations by providing additional context and enhancing their clarity, ensuring appropriate data interpretations and better decisions from users.

The work in the dissertation begins by examining the impact of scatterplots combined with statistical metrics such as accuracy on users' trust and decision-making focused on recommender systems. In addition, we show …

Coding Connections: Exploring Relationships Between Computer Science Learning And Mathematics Achievement In Secondary Education, Bradley Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation in practice explores the intersection of computer science education, specifically computational thinking and programming, with mathematics achievement among 15-year-old students in selected English-speaking countries. The research addresses a gap in understanding whether skills developed through computer science can positively influence mathematics performance by assessing the extent to which learning in computer science transfers to mathematics.

To achieve this, a quantitative methodology was employed, incorporating pilot study data from a single school and large-scale survey data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. The analysis assessed the correlation between regular participation in programming activities and mathematics attainment, …

Analyzing And Extending Machine Learning Frameworks On High Risk Domains, Chengbin Hu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning (ML) has become a transformative force in high-risk domains such as genomics and cybersecurity, where accurate predictions and robust defenses are essential. This dissertation advances ML frameworks in these areas by developing methods to enhance predictive power in health applications and assess vulnerabilities in machine learning systems.

In the genomics field, the work addresses challenges in Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) of monogenic disorders by proposing a deep learning model that reconstructs the fetal genome using maternal plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and parental whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data. This model achieves high accuracy in single nucleotide variation (SNV) prediction, surpassing …

Detecting Changes In Cancer-Related Cognitive Functioning Using Mixed-Effects Modeling And Study Design Simulations, Jonathan D. Clapp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to utilize and compare two existing approaches for modeling nonlinear change in cognitive functioning in cancer patients over time and to assess alternative study designs to better capture chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment using simulation data. Using data from the Thinking and Living with Cancer study, trend analysis with orthogonal polynomials (OP) and piecewise (PW) regressions approaches used to analyze cognitive functioning trajectories. Simulated datasets tested the impact of study design parameters including measurement test-retest reliability (.6 or .8), sample size (100, 200, or 300), and the number of data collection time points (4 or 5) …

Telu Activation Function For Fast And Stable Deep Learning, Alfredo Fernandez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We propose the Hyperbolic Tangent Exponential Linear Unit (TeLU), a neural network hidden activation function defined as $TeLU(x)=x \cdot tanh(e^x)$. TeLU’s design is grounded in the core principles of key activation functions, achieving strong convergence by closely approximating the identity function in its active region while effectively mitigating the vanishing gradient problem in its saturating region. Its simple formulation enhances computational efficiency, leading to improvements in scalability and convergence speed. Unlike many modern activation functions, TeLU seamlessly combines the simplicity and effectiveness of ReLU with the smoothness and analytic properties essential for learning stability in deep neural networks. TeLU’s ability …

Exploring Llm Integration And Its Influence On Agent Behavior And Productivity In Insurance Call Centers, Gerardo L. Wibmer Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the theoretical impacts of supportive AI tools, specifically Large Language Models (LLMs), on agent behavior and communication dynamics in call centers. While technological advancements have streamlined operations, limited research addresses the indirect ways these tools influence agent behavior. Using frameworks like context switching—the cognitive shift required when external stimuli prompt attention shifts—and the Hawthorne effect, where perceived observation modifies behavior, we examine how LLMs shape communication patterns. In call centers, this context switching occurs indirectly as agents adapt to AI note-taking features, whereas in industries like Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC), automation tools prompt more immediate changes …