Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Developing A Model To Predict Prevalence Of Compulsive Behavior In Individuals With Ocd, Lindsay D. Fields

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The most common method of diagnosing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, which measures the severity of symptoms without regard to compulsions. However, this scale is limited to only considering the quantifiable time and energy lost to compulsions. Conversely, current systems of brain imaging arrest mobility and thus make it virtually impossible to observe compulsions at all, focusing instead on neurological responses to external stimuli. There is little research which merges both approaches, to consider the neuro-physiological effects of obsessions as well as the physical response through compulsions. As such, this research is focused on developing a model …

Understanding Agricultural-Land Conservation From The Perspective Of Landowners In Franklin County, Massachusetts, Rocio Lalanda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What motivates agricultural-land owners to use conservation easements? As these legal tools have become a popular strategy for private land conservation in the U.S., a growing body of literature is examining how and why landowners conserve their properties through conservation easements. This research project expands upon environmental, geographical and rural land development literature through a qualitative fieldwork study of 34 private, conservation landowners associated with the Franklin Land Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization in western Massachusetts. The study identifies a broad range of environmental, social, spiritual and financial motivations for agricultural-land owners to conserve their properties, and indicates that for …

Similarity Based Large Scale Malware Analysis: Techniques And Implications, Yuping Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malware analysis and detection continues to be one of the central battlefields for cybersecurity industry. For the desktop malware domain, we observed multiple significant ransomware attacks in the past several years, e.g., it was estimated that in 2017 the WannaCry ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 computers across 150 countries with hundreds of millions damages. Similarly, we witnessed the increased impacts of Android malware on global individuals due to the popular smartphone and IoT devices worldwide. In this dissertation, we describe similarity comparison based novel techniques that can be applied to achieve large scale desktop and Android malware analysis, and …

Emerging Non-Volatile Memory Technologies For Computing And Security, Rekha Govindaraj

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With CMOS technology scaling reaching its limitations rigorous research of alternate and competent technologies is paramount to push the boundaries of computing. Spintronic and resistive memories have proven to be effective alternatives in terms of area, power and performance to CMOS because of their non-volatility, ability for logic computing and easy integration with CMOS. However, deeper investigations to understand their physical phenomenon and improve their properties such as writability, stability, reliability, endurance, uniformity with minimal device-device variations is necessary for deployment as memories in commercial applications. Application of these technologies beyond memory and logic are investigated in this thesis i.e. …

A Hybrid Dynamic Modeling Of Time-To-Event Processes And Applications, Emmanuel A. Appiah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the survival and reliability data analysis, parametric and nonparametric methods are used to estimate the hazard/risk rate and survival functions. A parametric approach is based on the assumption that the underlying survival distribution belongs to some specific family of closed form distributions (normal, Weibull, exponential, etc.). On the other hand, a nonparametric approach is centered around the best-fitting member of a class of survival distribution functions. Moreover, the Kaplan-Meier and Nelson-Aalen type nonparametric approach do not assume either distribution class or closed-form distributions. Historically, well-known time-to-event processes are death of living specie in populations and failure of component in …

Statistical Analysis And Modeling Of Cyber Security And Health Sciences, Nawa Raj Pokhrel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Being in the era of information technology, importance and applicability of analytical statistical model an interdisciplinary setting in the modern statistics have increased significantly. Conceptually understanding the vulnerabilities in statistical perspective helps to develop the set of modern statistical models and bridges the gap between cybersecurity and abstract statistical /mathematical knowledge. In this dissertation, our primary goal is to develop series of the strong statistical model in software vulnerability in conjunction with Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) framework. In nutshell, the overall research lies at the intersection of statistical modeling, cybersecurity, and data mining. Furthermore, we generalize the model of …

A Behavioral Analysis Of Households Using Reclaimed Water In Irrigation: Case Of Pinellas County, Florida, Natalie Kuraya-Ziyadeh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to tend to the world’s dwindling freshwater supplies, sustainable alternative methods need to be integrated in order to keep up with the world’s increasing demand. Reclaimed water (RW) is one of the sustainable methods adopted by some Floridian cities such as Tampa, Tallahassee, and St. Pete that provide an alternative water source for non-potable uses. However, despite this alleviating effect RW has on freshwater supplies, it is crucial to recognize the potential harm it poses on neighboring waterbodies due to the residual contaminants it still contains, including Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P). As such, studying residents’ knowledge and …

Orthogonal Polynomials With Respect To The Measure Supported Over The Whole Complex Plane, Meng Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In chapter 1, we present some background knowledge about random matrices, Coulomb gas, orthogonal polynomials, asymptotics of planar orthogonal polynomials and the Riemann-Hilbert problem. In chapter 2, we consider the monic orthogonal polynomials, $\{P_{n,N}(z)\}_{n=0,1,\cdots},$ that satisfy the orthogonality condition,

\begin{equation}\nonumber \int_\mathbb{C}P_{n,N}(z)\overline{P_{m,N}(z)}e^{-N Q(z)}dA(z)=h_{n,N}\delta_{nm} \quad(n,m=0,1,2,\cdots), \end{equation}

where $h_{n,N}$ is a (positive) norming constant and the external potential is given by

$$Q(z)=|z|^2+ \frac{2c}{N}\log \frac{1}{|z-a|},\quad c>-1,\quad a>0.$$

The orthogonal polynomial is related to the interacting Coulomb particles with charge $+1$ for each, in the presence of an extra particle with charge $+c$ at $a.$ For $N$ large and a fixed ``c'' this …

Non-Equilibrium Phase Transitions In Interacting Diffusions, Wael Al-Sawai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The theory of thermodynamic phase transitions has played a central role both in theoretical physics and in dynamical systems for several decades. One of its fundamental results is the classification of various physical models into equivalence classes with respect to the scaling behavior of solutions near the critical manifold. From that point of view, systems characterized by the same set of critical exponents are equivalent, regardless of how different the original physical models might be. For non-equilibrium phase transitions, the current theoretical framework is much less developed. In particular, an equivalent classification criterion is not available, thus requiring a specific …

Studies Aimed At The Synthesis Of Anti-Infective Agents, Ankush Kanwar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious diseases continue to be a major concern worldwide. They are the second leading cause of death after heart disease. Factors such as an increasing global population, travel, urbanization, global climate change and evolution of pathogens have made infectious diseases more common. Infectious diseases, particularly neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) result in many deaths worldwide. Malaria and leishmaniasis are two common (NTDs) which affect low income countries around the globe. Low cost drugs with novel mechanism of action are required to tackle the growing resistances of parasites against current drugs used in the developing world, where most of the cases occur. …

Spatial Dynamics And Productivity Of A Gulf Of Mexico Commercial Reef Fish Fishery Following Large Scale Disturbance And Management Change, Marcy Lynn Cockrell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Mexico commercial reef fish fishery has experienced significant management changes and disturbance in recent years, including transitioning two major fisheries from a traditional open access system into a limited entry individual fishing quota (IFQ) system in 2007 and 2010. Also in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH) released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf (~206 million U.S. gallons), and is still the largest U.S. environmental disaster to date. Emergency fishing closures initiated shortly after the oil spill began were successful in keeping tainted seafood from reaching markets. However, effects of DWH closures …

The Association Of Size Variation In The Dental Arch To Third Molar Agenesis For A Modern Population, Devin N. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The frequency with which individuals do not develop their third molars, or wisdom teeth, is increasing worldwide. This current topic of human evolution is relevant to the research of anthropologists, geneticists, dentists, and other researchers involved in the study of human dentition. Many explanations have been offered to account for the prevalence of molar agenesis including, evolutionary, environmental, and genetic theories. The purpose of this research project is to determine the frequency of third molar agenesis and investigate the relationship between third molar agenesis and maxillomandibular jaw dimensions in a sample of orthodontic patients. This research tests the hypotheses that: …

Evaluation Of Academic And Social Engagement In A Technology-Based Collaborative Approach To Inclusive Geoscience Field Learning, Anita Marie Stone Marshall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Field learning is an important aspect of geoscience education to teach or reinforce concepts and skills, and the highly social experience of field work can improve learning outcomes, create networks to support future academic success, and promote a sense of belonging in the geosciences. However, field learning presents significant barriers to participation for students with physical disabilities. The introduction of digital data collection and communication devices into traditional field work settings has created new opportunities to expand access to field learning experiences such as remote collaboration; a method of undertaking field work through collaborative teamwork and the use of digital …

From Florida To Antarctica: Dereplication Strategies And Chemical Investigations Of Marine Organisms, Matthew A. Knestrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the fight against disease and illness, nature has provided mankind some of our best therapeutics in the form of secondary metabolites. The plant, fungi and animal phyla inhabiting the Earth produce diverse and unique chemistry that can be used in our fight against disease. In the growing threat of drug resistance and pathogen evolution, the field of natural products chemistry strives to explore new biological and chemical diversity sources, and develop innovative methodology to identify and isolate new chemistry faster than ever.

The dissertation herein presented is one such effort to find new, bioactive chemistry from the marine environments. …

Azamacrocyclic-Based Frameworks: Syntheses And Characterizations, Chavis Andrew Stackhouse

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has risen greatly in recent decades Owing to their unequaled potential tunability and structural diversity. MOFs may be described as crystalline structures composed of metal cations or clusters of cations, commonly referred to as secondary building units (SBUs), and custom-designed organic ligands. The variety of structural motifs, ligands, and SBUs that may be incorporated promote the attainment of essentially countless potential MOFs and application in numerous areas of interest, such as gas adsorption, catalysis, gas separation, and sensing. Further functionalization of MOF materials by means of post-synthetic modification(PSM)33–37 of metal clusters or organic ligands, constructing …

Identification Of Individuals From Ears In Real World Conditions, Earnest Eugene Hansley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A number of researchers have shown that ear recognition is a viable alternative to more common biometrics such as fingerprint, face and iris because the ear is relatively stable over time, the ear is non-invasive to capture, the ear is expressionless, and both the ear’s geometry and shape have significant variation among individuals. Researchers have used different approaches to enhance ear recognition. Some researchers have improved upon existing algorithms, some have developed algorithms from scratch to assist with recognizing individuals by ears, and some researchers have taken algorithms tried and tested for another purpose, i.e., face recognition, and applied them …

Characterization Of Nylon-12 In A Novel Additive Manufacturing Technology, And The Rheological And Spectroscopic Analysis Of Peg-Starch Matrix Interactions, Garrett Michael Craft

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this work differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy [FT-IR] and polarized light microscopy will be employed to characterize polymeric systems. The first chapter broadly covers polymer synthesis and important characterization methods.

In the second chapter, a polyamide (PA12) will be sintered via a novel additive manufacturing (AM) technology developed here at USF termed LAPS (Large Area Projection Sintering). LAPS uses extended sintering timespans to ensure complete melting and densification of the polymer powder over the entire two-dimensional area of the part’s footprint. Further, it allows for the printed layer to crystallize and shrink in its entirety …

Characterization Of Computed Tomography Radiomic Features Using Texture Phantoms, Muhammad Shafiq Ul Hassan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Radiomics treats images as quantitative data and promises to improve cancer prediction in radiology and therapy response assessment in radiation oncology. However, there are a number of fundamental problems that need to be solved in order to potentially apply radiomic features in clinic. The first basic step in computed tomography (CT) radiomic analysis is the acquisition of images using selectable image acquisition and reconstruction parameters. Radiomic features have shown large variability due to variation of these parameters. Therefore, it is important to develop methods to address these variability issues in radiomic features due to each CT parameter. To this end, …

Elastin-Like Polypeptide Fusion Tag As A Protein-Dependent Solubility Enhancer Of Cysteine-Knot Growth Factors, Tamina L. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Elastin-like peptide (ELP) fusions promote therapeutic delivery and efficacy. Recombinant proteins, like neurotrophins, lack bioavailability, have short in vivo half-lives, and require high manufacturing costs. Fusing recombinant proteins with genetically encodable ELPs will increase bioavailability, enhance in vivo solubilization, as well as provide a cost-effective method for purification without the need for chromatography. During expression of neurotrophin-ELP (N-ELP) fusions, dense water-insoluble aggregates known as inclusion bodies (IBs) are formed. Inclusion bodies are partially and misfolded proteins that usually require denaturants like Urea for solubilization. Strong denaturants arrest ELPs stimuli-responsive property and increase unwanted aggregation, making purification difficult, yet possible. The …

Coarse-Grained Modeling Studies Of Polymeric And Granular Systems, Hong Trung Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This Dissertation is devoted to computational study of the solidification, dynamics and mechanics of model semiflexible polymers with variable chain flexibility as well as a computational investigation of the clogging phenomena observed in granular materials.

Chain stiffness is an intrinsic factor that governs single-chain flexibility. It plays a critical role in the physics of polymeric materials. In this work, we employ a coarse-grained polymer model in which chain stiffness can be tuned by a single parameter (bending stiffness kb) that yields chain shape ranging from coil-like to rod-like in the flexible and very stiff limit respectively. In chapter 2, we …

Synthesis Of Novel Agents For The Treatment Of Infectious And Neurodegenerative Diseases, Benjamin Joe Eduful

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Infectious and neurodegenerative diseases continue to be a major concern worldwide. In spite of the great advances in drug therapy for treating various infectious and neurodegenerative diseases, there is still an urgent need for new and improved drugs due to increasing drug resistance among pathogens, emergence of new pathogens, ease of transmission of infections, ineffective available treatments, toxicity associated with current standard of care, aging populations and the lack of better alternative treatment options.

The first part of this manuscript (chapters 1 - 5) describes the synthesis of novel agents active against Leishmania donovani. According to the World Health Organization …

Computational Discovery Of Energetic Polynitrogen Compounds At High Pressure, Brad A. Steele

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High-nitrogen-content energetic compounds containing multiple N-N bonds are an attractive alternative towards developing new generation of environmentally friendly, and more powerful energetic materials. High-N content translates into much higher heat of formation resulting in much larger energy output, detonation pressure and velocity upon conversion to large amounts of non-toxic, strongly bonded N2 gas. This thesis describes recent advances in the computational discovery of group-I alkali and hydrogen polynitrogen materials at high pressures using powerful first-principles evolutionary crystal structure prediction methods. This is highlighted by the discovery of a new family of materials that consist of long-sought after all-nitrogen N􀀀 5 …

Flow And Transport In Low-Gradient Rivers And Estuaries, Hunter Lee Clasen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For this dissertation I studied flow and transport in low gradient Florida streams. Chapter 2 is a statewide analysis of long-term variations in stream discharge. The results from Chapter 2 suggest that changes in mean annual stream discharge are controlled by the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO). During the warm phase, mean annual discharge decreases in central Florida and increases in north Florida. The opposite is true during the cool phase, with mean annual discharge increasing in central Florida and decreasing in north Florida. This pattern is observed for both components of stream discharge, base flow and runoff.

The following two …

Climate Change: Aristotelian Virtue Theory, The Aidōs Response And Proper Primility, John W. Voelpel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is the first anthropogenic alteration of a global Earth system. It is globally catastrophic in terms of food production, sea level rise, fresh water availability, temperature elevation, ocean acidification, species disturbance and destruction to name just a few crisis concerns. In addition, while those changes are occurring now, they are amplifying over decadal periods and will last for centuries and possibly millennia. While there are a number of pollutants involved, carbon dioxide (CO2) which results from the combustion of any fossil fuel is the primary pollutant. It has not been considered a pollutant until recently because of its …

A Fall Prevention System For The Elderly And Visually Impaired, Yueng Santiago De La Hoz Isaza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization claims that there are more than 285 million blind and visually impaired people in the world. In the US, 25 million Americans suffer from total or partial vision loss. As a result of their impairment, they struggle with mobility problems, especially the risk of falling. According to the National Council On Aging, falls are among the primary causes for fatal injury and they are the most common cause of non-fatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults. Visibility, an organization that helps visually impaired people, reports that people with visual impairments are twice as likely to fall …

In Situ Extrinsic Doping Of Cdte Thin Films For Photovoltaic Applications, Imran Suhrid Khan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Cadmium Telluride thin film solar cell is one of the leading photovoltaic technologies. Efficiency improvements in the past decade made it a very attractive and practical source of renewable energy. Considering the theoretical limit, there is still room for improvement, especially the cell’s open circuit voltage (VOC). To improve VOC, the p-type carrier concentration and minority carrier lifetime of the CdTe absorber needs to be improved. Both these parameters are directly related to the point defect distribution of the semiconductor, which is a function of deposition stoichiometry, dopant incorporation and post-deposition treatments.

CdTe films were deposited by the Elemental …

Dynamic Energy-Aware Database Storage And Operations, Peyman Behzadnia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Energy consumption has become a first-class optimization goal in design and implementation of data-intensive computing systems. This is particularly true in the design of database management systems (DBMS), which is one of the most important servers in software stack of modern data centers. Data storage system is one of the essential components of database and has been under many research efforts aiming at reducing its energy consumption. In previous work, dynamic power management (DPM) techniques that make real-time decisions to transition the disks to low-power modes are normally used to save energy in storage systems. In this research, we tackle …

Signal Detection Of Adverse Drug Reaction Using The Adverse Event Reporting System: Literature Review And Novel Methods, Minh H. Pham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the objectives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is to protect the public health through post-marketing drug safety surveillance, also known as Pharmacovigilance. An inexpensive and efficient method to inspect post-marketing drug safety is to use data mining algorithms on electronic health records to discover associations between drugs and adverse events.

The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, we review the methods and algorithms proposed in the literature for identifying association drug interactions to an adverse event and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Second, we attempt to adapt some novel methods that have been used in …

Application Of Modern Foraminiferal Assemblages To Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction: Case Studies From Coastal And Shelf Environments, Christian Haller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of paleoenvironmental studies is to reconstruct characteristics of the past environment from fossil assemblages preserved in sedimentary strata. Thus, studies of modern surface assemblages, quantitatively correlated to the environmental parameters, are required before reliable interpretations can be made. For this dissertation, two different techniques were applied in two case studies: a reconstruction making use of a benthic foraminiferal transfer function from the intertidal marshes in the eastern Mississippi Sound, Alabama/Mississippi, and a qualitative reconstruction of ocean current activity on the Western Australian shelf.

Modern salt-marsh foraminifera were collected from Grand Bay, Pascagoula, Fowl River, and Dauphin Island across …

Remote Sensing And Spatial Metrics For Quantifying Seagrass Landscape Changes: A Study On The 2011 Indian River Lagoon Florida Seagrass Die-Off Event, René Dieter Baumstark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Florida’s seagrasses are ecologically important marine environments which have suffered major degradation caused by increasing anthropogenic pressures. A 2011 seagrass die-off event caused by an algal bloom in the Florida Indian River Lagoon (IRL) was particularly severe with a majority of seagrass lost in areas such as the Banana River. An understanding of how this coastal marine environment changed is an important step toward better managing resources for conservation. Modern tools and methods provide new opportunities to study these changes at the landscape scale, a scale that informs on the larger more comprehensive state of a system. Classified satellite imagery …