USFSP Digital Archive
Not a member yet
132282 research outputs found
Sort by
Russia-Iran Military Cooperation: The Dynamic Is Changing Dramatically Because of Drones in the Ukraine War
No full textRussia\u27s struggles in Ukraine, marked by military setbacks, pushed Moscow to seek a cost- effective arms supplier. Iran readily stepped in. Supplying Russia with UAVs, particularly Kamikaze drones, marked a significant shift in Russo-Persian military ties. Historically, this was an asymmetric partnership. Russia, one of the few to offer Iran arms and political support, held the upper hand. Conversely, Iran, with minimal bargaining power, relied heavily on Russia as other major powers were either indifferent or hostile to it. However, this imbalance was more due to urgent need than mere power disparity. For two centuries, challenges ranging from internal revolts, British pressures, to the war with Iraq and international sanctions compelled Iran to lean on Russian military aid. The West and Israel\u27s persistent threats only deepened Iran\u27s reliance on Russia. Now, the dynamic has shifted. Russia\u27s dire need for arms introduces a new mutual dependence in Russo-Persian military relations.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/gnsi_publications/1000/thumbnail.jp
UIS Commission on Volcanic Caves Newsletter, No. 81, August 2023
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.usf.edu/uis_volcanic_caves/1093/thumbnail.jp
Social Network, Political Climate, Income Inequality, and Americans Uptake of Monovalent COVID-19 Booster
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented impact on Americans for over three years. To control the damage, a booster shot becomes increasingly necessary because the efficacy of the initial vaccine is waning and new variants of the virus are emerging. This study aims to understand factors at both individual and state levels that influence one’s decision to take the monovalent booster. We merged data from a national survey administered in the Spring of 2022 with state-level indicators of the political climate, income inequality, and public health conditions. Multilevel logistic regression is adopted for statistical estimation. Findings show contrasting effects of the social network. More vaccinated people in one’s network promote booster uptake, while more family members and close friends who contracted the virus in one’s network inhibit booster uptake. In addition, residents of states with more votes for the Democratic candidate in the 2020 general election are more likely to take the booster. Meanwhile, residents from states with high income inequality are less likely to become boosted. This study identified multilevel determinants of the individual decision to receive the monovalent COVID-19 booster. The results imply the need to leverage the social network, weaken partisanship salience, and reduce income inequality to encourage booster uptake
An Evaluation of Measurement Invariance of DSM-5 Borderline Personality Disorder Criteria Across Heterosexual, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults
No full textThere is a robust, yet poorly understood relationship between non-heterosexual orientation and borderline personality disorder (BPD), with lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals evidencing greater BPD symptoms compared to heterosexual individuals. Recent evidence suggests possible bias in BPD diagnostic criteria leading to greater endorsement among sexual minority individuals, which hinders researchers’ ability to make valid group comparisons. The present study utilized an epidemiological sample of 35,995 men and women to evaluate the extent of differential item functioning (DIF) among BPD criteria across sexual orientation groups using a multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) approach. All criteria except affective instability and emptiness indicated DIF for at least one sexual minority focal group, although those each demonstrated DIF in sensitivity analyses. DIF was largely nonuniform and although no clear pattern emerged across all models, DIF was most consistently indicated for suicidality, efforts to avoid abandonment, and impulsivity. Contrary to predictions, DIF was mostly nonuniform with greater item discrimination for focal groups compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Consistent with predictions, all DIF was explained by perceived minority stressors. Finally, all estimated effect sizes were small, suggesting that DIF was not practically meaningful and unlikely to impact the validity of group comparisons for BPD symptoms across heterosexual and non-heterosexual men and women
Archaeogaming and the Re-Use of Digital Archaeological Materials: Generating Serious Games for the Villas of Roman Sicily
No full textWith 10 million copies sold and 500 million dollars of revenue, the 11th installment of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018), showed how a videogame based on ancient Greek history and archaeology can make a splash in popular culture and that the distant past can become an extinguishable source of infinite engaging gaming narratives. As pedagogic and research counterparts to videogames of this kind, serious games and archaeogames focusing on Greek and Roman civilizations move from different premises, though aspiring to the same level of success. Serious games, created for a primary purpose other than sole entertainment, have found their way into classrooms and museums to educate students in a variety of disciplines mostly relying on digital storytelling strategies. Archaeogaming, on the other hand, encompasses, among other things, the creation of video games by archaeologists, who create 3D representations of the ancient material culture subject of their study, initially for the purpose of testing hypotheses in simulated environment and later to popularize archaeology and cultural heritage studies, finding a more ‘serious’ use in higher education.
This dissertation deals with defining best practices in archaeogaming design and production focusing on two practical examples of re-use of digital archaeological data for the generation of game assets for teaching and public outreach. Both case studies explore the context of Late Roman Sicily on which I conducted most of the experimental work in the preparatory years of this research. The first case study will be the narrative game prototype for the Villa del Casale (Piazza Armerina) in Enna, Sicily, entitled In Ersilia’s Footsteps, featuring Ersilia Caetani-Lovatelli (1840-1925), the first female archaeologist in Italian history. The game, developed in collaboration with the University of Arkansas’ Tesseract and directed by Dr. David Fredrick and Dr. Rhodora Vennarucci, narrative follows her in the exploration of the Late Roman Imperial countryside residence and UNESCO World Heritage site. The game revolves around the use of 3D digitized assets, created employing digital photogrammetry and 3D laser-scanning to capture the archaeological site, that significantly contributed to increase the realism of the game environment influencing the game creation process towards telling stories of real historic characters in real historic places. The second game, Building by the River, is an a building and experimental archaeogame, aimed at both contextualized elements from the archaeological site as well as the ability aid researchers in understanding the relationship between space and flow in the Late Roman villa of Caddeddi on the Tellaro river (Noto). More specifically, it seeks to explore how the Villa di Caddeddi may have looked and how the rooms functioned during its time as an operating rural villa in the late 4th Century CE. Giving players the ability to pick from a list of 3D digitized assets of actual archaeological materials found both on site and in similar Sicilian Roman villas, the game seeks to engage with playful building and experimentation as seen in other popular digital game titles, like Sims 4, Subnautica, and Minecraft. The on-going work at adding assets to use in the game as well as learn more about the nature and history of the Villa di Caddeddi is discussed in terms of the second-life of digital data, archaeological interpretation, and investigation of spatial use by ancient Romans in their elite rural homes. These assets, in both In Ersilia’s Footsteps and Building by the River, represent at the same time an example in best practices in reusing 3D data, since, once used to achieve research goals, they are repurposed and in combination with an original narrative and a user-friendly interface and mechanics they become the core of an engaging and exciting exploration game.
Ultimately, the experimental work, the new data gathered and the production of two original media research tools have proven to be a strategic decision to advance the digital scholarship agenda on Roman archaeology of Sicily and to trace a path for incorporating archaeogaming as a methodological approach into a research framework. The ability to re-use scientific data for the purpose of public outreach, education, and research allows for archaeologists to address pseudoscience and dangerous representations of the field. As such, the need to provide assets for games can be served through the second life of 3D digital archaeological materials
“I’m Still Suffering”: Mental Health Care Among Central African Refugee Populations in the Tampa Bay Area
No full textAn estimated 500 Central African refugee families have been resettled in the Tampa Bay Area since 2002 (RPC, 2022). The cycles of trauma that they have endured place them in vulnerable positions regarding their mental health. Struggling to exist within underfunded social programs that are rigid in their expectations and with the current system of reactive care vs preventative care, the refugees in Tampa are put in a difficult situation of navigating their own health and wellbeing in lieu of having the full support of the United States government and their community. I will discuss how these refugees experience and negotiate mental health care during resettlement – including an evaluation of the programs that currently “exist”. Furthermore, I will discuss a case study that represents a stark example of how the current refugee resettlement structure within Tampa can allow for critical situations to become deadly. This critical situation was a result of neglect and evolved from a few simple issues that could have easily been resolved, and into a true crisis which resulted in numerous arrests, a teenager idolizing and attempting suicide, and domestic abuse. Utilizing focus groups, fictionalized vignettes, and participant observation, culturally appropriate mental health care methods will be discussed for future resettlement needs
Investigation of Challenging Transformations in Gold Catalysis
No full textThis dissertation mainly contains three parts: 1) Divergent gold catalysis for alkyne trifunctionalization, encompassing three distinct modes to achieve the simultaneous formation of C-N, C-O, and C-C bonds in a single step 2) the study and development of a new method to synthesize azaborine derivatives; and 3) the construction of benzotriazole boranes (BTAB) as stable four-coordinate N-B heterocycles through gold-catalyzed alkyne hydroboration.
In the first part, alkyne trifunctionalization via divergent gold catalysis will be introduced. This novel approach involves a sequence of reactions that combine gold π-activation, vinyl gold nucleophilic addition, and gold (III) reductive elimination. By utilizing this methodology, we demonstrate a new strategy for employing vinyl-AuIII as highly effective nucleophiles in bond construction. In this process, aryl diazonium salts are identified as efficient electrophiles and oxidants. Notably, this work represents the pioneering example of a transformation that successfully integrates all three gold reaction modes within a single step.
In the second part, a new method for the synthesis of substituted cyclic amine-borane compounds via gold-catalyzed hydroboration will be discussed. One of the limitations of our previous work in synthesizing azaborine is the oxidation step. We’ve developed a method to introduce different functional groups in the C4 position of the cyclic amine-borane. This foundational research paves the way for further investigations and provides us with the opportunity to achieve the azaborine form of the cyclic N-B complex using gold-catalyzed alkyne hydroboration.
In the third part, gold-catalyzed alkyne hydroboration for synthesizing stable four-coordinate N-B heterocycles will be presented. Develop a new method to synthesize polymeric (BH2CN)n by combining benzotriazole borane (BTAB) to stabilize borane, allowing for synthesizing a new class of N-B heterocycles BTABs. These BTABs exhibit a solid and tunable Fl emission up to 561 nm, making them promise new molecular probes for chemical research.
In summary, we have explored two types of alkyne functionalization via gold catalysis. The first instance of alkyne trifunctionalization employing three distinct gold reaction modes, has been successfully accomplished. We have successfully achieved gold-catalyzed alkyne hydroboration to synthesize stable four-coordinate cyclic amine-borane compounds. Furthermore, we have conducted additional studies on the functionalization of these compounds
Exploration of Shared Passenger Urban Air Mobility – Integrated Network Design, Operation Scheduling and System Configuration
No full textUrban air mobility (UAM) is an emerging concept proposed in recent years that uses electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOLs). UAM is expected to offer an alternative way of transporting passengers and goods in urban areas with significantly improved mobility by making use of low-altitude airspace. Considering the high capital investment of eVTOLs and relative high fee of using UAM passenger service, a viable UAM format is shared passenger service. Such a service is usually station-based, i.e., with vertiport located in popular sites where potential passengers can access. To understand the viability of such use cases, the vertiport owners and shared UAM service providers would like to know the possible optimal locations of siting the vertiports and how much traffic the service could attract. For stakeholders from public sector, they would like to know the impacts of the shared UAM service, e.g., change of system-wide generalized travel cost, benefit distribution of the service.
This study aims to answer these questions. It first examines the network design of a shared UAM service and diverted demand from existing ground transportation, with a particular focus on the use of integer programming and a solution algorithm to determine the optimal locations of vertiports, user allocation to vertiports, and vertiport access- and egress-mode choices while considering the interactions between vertiport locations and travels’ mode choice decisions. A case study based on simulated disaggregate travel demand data of the Tampa Bay area in Florida, USA was conducted to demonstrate the operability and effectiveness of the proposed model.
The outcomes of the case study reveal that although the percentage of trips that switched from ground mode to multimodal UAM was small, users choosing the UAM service benefited from significant time saving. In addition, sensitivity analysis is conducted to measure the impact of different parameters on the diverted demand of UAM service and system performance. The parameters tested include the number of vertiports, intermodal connection effectiveness (transfer time between ground and air modes), and different pricing strategies. The combined effects of the number of vertiports and pricing strategies are also analyzed.
Then, we develop an agent-based simulation tool to simulate the operations of a shared UAM service system. The three agents simulated are vertiport, eVTOL, and passenger. The operating rules of eVTOLs and the interactions between different agents are pre-established, but can be adjusted according to the interests of stakeholders. The inputs of the simulation tool include vertiport network, eVTOL features, passenger arrival process to vertiports. and demand OD matrix. The simulation tool can be used to evaluate the performance of the system, e.g., the passenger load factor of eVTOLs, travel time and waiting time of passengers, vertiport utilization etc. The simulation tool can also identify potential bottlenecks of the system where lacks of eVTOls, take-off-and-landing pads, or charging pads.
Shared UAM services operate from stations (i.e., vertiports), involve pooling, and require charging to ensure uninterrupted operations. It is more complicated than existing sharing mobilities, such as bike sharing, e-scooter sharing, one-way car sharing. Also, rebalancing eVTOLs could be more costly than rebalancing bikes/e-scooters, or cars. Thus, the last part of the dissertation is to improve the simulation tool to explore how to configure the UAM network (i.e., aircraft fleet size and vertiport capacity) or to change the level of service requirement to serve more passenger demand. Scenario analysis is performed to understand the impacts of different parameters to the performance of the system.
In summary, the dissertation research explores the future shared UAM service from vertiport network design, demand estimation, as well as system configuration by adopting mathematical modeling and simulation approaches. The findings from this study offer in-depth planning, operational and managerial insights for governmental decision-makers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and service providers of UAM operations
Beyond Statistical Significance: A Holistic View of What Makes a Research Finding Important
No full textStudents often believe that statistical significance is the only determinant of whether a quantitative result is “important.” In this paper, I review traditional null hypothesis statistical testing to identify what questions inferential statistics can and cannot answer, including statistical significance, effect size and direction, causality, generalizability, and changeability of the independent variable. I illustrate these issues with examples from an empirical study of the association between how much time teenagers spent playing video games and time spent reading. I describe how study design and context determine each of those aspects of “importance,” and close by summarizing how to provide a holistic view of importance when writing about a quantitative analysis. I also include exercises to guide students through applying these concepts to articles in newspapers and scholarly journals
Florida Burrowing Owl
No full textSepia photograph of a Florida Burrowing Owl standing on the ground. Date is approximate.https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fos_images/1424/thumbnail.jp