Digital Commons Network^™

Chemical Analysis For Phytochemical Residues On Ceramics From Cape Canaveral Archaeological Sites, Jacob Woodard

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study aims to contribute to the field of paleoethnobotany in Florida archaeology by presenting a novel approach to chemical residue analysis using UV-vis spectroscopy. The project's main goals are to develop a spectroscopic method for analyzing ceramics to identify phytochemical residues and present the findings of chemical analysis applied to ceramics from the Cape Canaveral archaeological mitigation project (CCAMP). The study focuses on two sites, the Penny site (8BR158) and Burns site (8BR85) in Florida's Indian River region.

While organic residue analysis (ORA) has been applied to various materials and regions, limited research ORA on has been conducted within …

Tort Reform In Florida: The Impact Of Hb837, Kara E. Burns

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Legislative policies play a pivotal role in shaping the socio-political landscape of a nation, addressing critical issues, and reflecting the values and priorities of its citizens. This case study examines the implementation of Florida's House Bill 837 (HB837), a significant piece of legislation that has generated substantial interest and debate. The study aims to shed light on the practical implications of this policy within the context of its introduction, passage, and subsequent results. The research of this case study explores the historical and political backdrop against which HB837 was enacted. It examines the motivations behind the bill, the debates that …

Clay As A Control Technique For Karenia Brevis: Water Chemistry Dynamics And Physiological Impacts On Benthic Invertebrates, Victoria Devillier

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Clay-based compounds are globally the most advanced and widely used method of direct suppression of marine harmful algal blooms, and are currently undergoing investigation as an option to control Karenia brevis blooms in Florida. Before clay may be accepted for widespread use, there are multiple concerns and challenges that must be addressed regarding the environmental safety of this method, such as effects on water quality, the fate of toxins, and potential impacts of clay treatment to non-target organisms. To contribute to ongoing assessments of clay as a potential control method for K. brevis blooms, we conducted experiments with a formulation …

Diet Change Over Time In The Ais Community Of Cape Canaveral, Florida, Allyson Shenkman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Diet change over time is assessed for a Malabar II period (900 C.E. to 1565 C.E.) Ais indigenous community in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at the Penny Plot site (8BR158). To this end, 7,760 faunal fragments were examined, with 1,876 identified at the species, genus, or family level. Through identification and analysis of faunal remains, it can be concluded that, while the amounts of overall remains left behind as a whole increased, there were no significant changes in the types of fauna utilized or patterns of consumption. This suggests that the indigenous people who occupied this site managed their resources very …

The Relationship Between Community Health Worker Supply And The Rate Of Preventable Hospitalizations Of Rural Latinos With Diabetes, Danielle O. Mapp

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The ever-increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its associated healthcare costs in the United States has led to our healthcare system's need for cost-effective health resources and chronic disease management. The interventions of Community Health Workers (CHWs) can cost-effectively improve population health and prevent the unnecessary utilization of some medical services especially in rural, low-income, minority populations, where there is often limited access to healthcare. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the number of total CHWs in rural counties and the mean diabetes-related preventable hospitalization rates in Latino patients diagnosed with diabetes in those rural …

Ob/Gyn Women In A #Metoo World: Unraveling Agency, Gender Bias, And Gender Inequity In The Workplace, Corey L. Bazemore

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research explores the visibility of women physicians, specifically in gynecology and obstetrics. It focuses upon their perspectives of gender inequity and sexual harassment within their broader profession and individual daily workplace. This study explores the medical and STEM women’s awareness and understanding of sexual and gender microaggressions within their professions by interviewing six women physicians. I analyze these narratives in relation to the #MeToo movement and how this movement gives visibility to the voices of women across workforces, including medicine, STEM, and other academic areas. This study shows the ongoing need to develop deeper conversations and interventions about women …

The Florida 2004 Minimum Wage Amendment And Variance In County Support, Brittany Wilson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Several interest groups seek to put a $15 per hour minimum wage amendment on the Florida ballot in 2020. Floridians voted successfully to increase the minimum wage back in 2004. While the measure passed by over 50% in every county, there were substantial differences. What explains variance in support for the 2004 Minimum Wage Amendment among Florida counties? Hypotheses were drawn from previous literature and theory and multiple regression models find several statistically significant results. The percentage of Hispanic residents and the percentage of residents with a high school education or less had a positive relationship with support for increasing …

Florida's Rising Tide: Income Inequality Effects By County, Alyson E. Johnson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Income inequality in Florida is higher than in many states and has been getting worse over time. Inequality has been argued as responsible for a wide-ranging array of economic and social problems, including suppression of lower- and middle-income growth, social fragmentation and separatism, urban sprawl, poor health and mental illnesses, violence, and shortened life expectancy. What explains variance in Florida county income inequality as measured by the GINI coefficient? Bivariate and multivariate weighted least square regressions are conducted for the years 2000 and 2016, and for the change between 2000 and 2016. Three variables achieve statistical significance in all three …

Whose Sustainability? An Analysis Of A Community Farming Program's Food Justice And Environmental Sustainability Agenda, Sarah Davenport

Honors Undergraduate Theses

As the 1960s Environmental movement has grown, sustainability and justice discourses have come to the fore of the movement. While environmental justice discourse considers the unequal effects of environmental burdens, the language that frames "sustainability" is often socially and politically neutral. This thesis critically examines sustainability initiatives and practices of an urban farming organization in Florida. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in 2017, I explore the extent to which these initiatives incorporate race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class when working to provide sustainably grown food in diverse communities. I argue that the organization's focus on justice for the environment, rather than for …

Explaining Variance In Crime Rates Among Florida Counties, Philip M. Dispirito

Honors Undergraduate Theses

What explains the variance in crime rates among Florida counties? Bivariate regression found that clearance rate had a statistically significant negative relationship with crime rate, and that the following variables had a statistically significant positive association with crime rate: law enforcement funding, population density, Hispanic population percent, the percent of males in the 18-39 range, and the percent of immigrants. It seems probable that law enforcement funding is actually dependent on crime rate rather than causing increases in crime rate: counties with higher crime rates likely spend more money on law enforcement to combat crime. To deal with significant multicollinearity, …

A Study On The Impact Of Technological Advancement On Community Bank Performance, Andre Ong

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study investigates the impact of technological advancement in community bank lending, more specifically, how online financial product and service offerings affect community banks' performance. Community banks, institutions with assets under $1 billion are praised as relationship banking specialists, are important source of credit to individuals and businesses. Their productive performance is highly beneficial for the economic development of the communities and customers that they serve, yet community banks' competitive power against large banks has become increasingly more challenging. Technological advancements radically shift all production and service based industries, including the banking industry and its institutions' offerings. The increasing use …

Sticks And Stones: An Analysis Of The Impact Doctrine In Florida, Carmen Cuza

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Within the last few decades, public opinion has greatly shaped the justice system to prevent "slippery slopes". This is most evident in the common law doctrine that restricts an alleged victim for recovering damages of emotional distress without notable physical manifestation in the eyes of a layperson—The Impact Doctrine. However, emotional distress is manifested in many psychological illnesses that do not require physical injury that are recognized as legitimate in psychology. This research explores the history of the rule and how it is inconsistent with not only areas of science; but also, other areas of the law.

The purpose of …

Exploring The Therapeutic Roles Of Santeria For Latinx Living In Florida, Amaris J. Santiago

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Mental health services within Latinx communities in the United States has been greatly underutilized. Seekers of mental health support face many barriers including internalized stigmas, misconception of mental health serves and low general knowledge of mental health and wellness. For many Latinx, culturally competent mental healthcare has lacked important elements to how Latinx interpret mental healthcare services. The use of Santería in many in Florida and the United States has supplemented gaps left by formal mental healthcare services. Santería has its own stigmas within Latinx communities were its practiced, forcing many Santeros and seekers to practice in private. Lack of …

"What We Eat Matters": Perspectives On Food And Health In The Mexican Im/Migrant Farmworker Communities In Indian River County, Florida, Hugo Puerto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dramatic increase of type-2 diabetes within the Latino community is of great concern in the U.S., especially among Mexican im/migrant farmworkers. Anthropological scholarship shows that health issues within im/migrant groups in the U.S. are poorly understood from a sociocultural and local perspective. In Indian River County, Florida, farmworker leaders created a community garden in response to health problems in this community. This initiative was launched to educate families about the health and economic benefits of growing their own food. The Indian River County Health Department and the local leaders are working collaboratively to inform the community about the risks …

Lonely Monsters, Patricia Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lonely Monsters is a full-length feature screenplay that explores the ways in which a classic damsel narrative may be reconsidered. It offers ideas on how death and girlhood may find symmetry. The characters within Lonely Monsters deal with loss, identity of the self versus the world's ideas on self-identity, place, gender, and class. Utilizing the elements of a fairy tale, the narrative seeks to complicate the roles of gender in a cautionary tale. Set in the fictional Florida town of Puerto Palmera, an economic divide between the Estates and the Glades makes for a ripe, troublesome environment for a foul …

The Brevard Chronicles: Short Stories, Joshua Dull

HIM 1990-2015

America has a long history of making promises it can't keep, the most accessible buzz word for such promises being, "the American Dream", where everyone will enjoy some level of affluence and assimilate into the proverbial "melting pot" so long as they work hard and follow predetermined rules set by the power structure. In this model American lifestyle, the spiritual essence of humans is buried by the materialistic drive of capitalism, which drives us farther apart and alienates us from our neighbors. Yet in the mid 2000s, in the aftermath of some of the country's worst disasters, this power structure …

Blurred (County) Lines: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Voting Patterns In Florida At The County And Regional Levels From 1950 To 2012, Tyler Q. Yeargain

HIM 1990-2015

Over the last sixty years, voting patterns in the United States have changed dramatically, and this is especially true in the state of Florida. Though there is some literature in the field of political science that outlines the voting and election history of Florida and identifies some trends, this literature is extremely limited and is not comprehensive of the data that is available up to the present day. This study seeks to find Florida’s voting patterns and to explain how they can be understood by both the casual observer and the political scientist. To do so, unique methodology was applied …

The Effect Of The Great Recession On Local Goverment Policy In Florida, Richard Levey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The length and depth of the Great Recession of 2008 provides an opportunity to examine the policy behavior of local governments unlike any window since the 1930's post Depression era. Utilizing Peterson's (1981) City Limits typology as a framework for local government policy allows for an evaluation of whether or not the economic downturn caused local governments to change their relative expenditures between policy categories. The City Limits typology has been widely used in the literature to explain how expenditures define a local government's role in economic development. The typology has had limited use in a pre-post natural experimental research …

Organizational Complexity, Plan Adequacy, And Nursing Home Resiliency: A Contingency Perspective, Cherie Boyce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Some social and organizational behavior scientists measure resiliency through anecdotal qualitative research, i.e. personality analyses and stories of life experience. Empirical evidence remains limited for identifying measurable indicators of resiliency. Therefore, a testable contingency model was needed to clarify resiliency factors pertinent to organizational performance. Two essential resiliency factors were: 1) a written plan and 2) affiliation with a disaster network. This contingency study demonstrated a quantifiable, correlational effect between organizational complexity, disaster plan adequacy and organizational resiliency. The unit of analysis, the skilled nursing facility proved vulnerable, therefore justifying the need for a written emergency management plan and affiliation …

An Analysis Of Race And Gender In Select Choice Programs Within Brevard County Public Schools, Synthia Doaks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research was to compare the student membership population proportions, by race and gender, of Brevard County Public School students with the actual participation in select choice programs offered to Brevard County public high school students. This study was based on an analysis of the scores of 1,152 eighth-grade students who received a score of 4 or 5 on the 2008 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) mathematics and a score of 4 or 5 on the 2008 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and their participation in high school advanced academic courses. The advanced academic choice programs …

Teachers' Utilization Of Field Trips: A Comparative Study, Joshua Kenna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Field trips are visits to an out-of-school setting designed for educational and academic purposes whereby as a result students gain firsthand knowledge and experiences. Historically, it was the potential for student learning that motivated teachers to utilize field trips. However, there is reasonable suspicion among scholars today that teachers are utilizing field trips less since the start of the new millennia; the common reasons being cited among others include a slumping economy, an increase in accountability due to high-stakes testing, and rising fuel costs. Unfortunately, there is no empirical evidence that can confirm or deny this suspicion. Therefore, the purpose …

Minnie And Ivy: Minnie Moore-Willson, Ivy Stranahan, And Seminole Reform In Early Twentieth Century Florida, Sarika Joshi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During an era when the Seminoles were little regarded in Florida, despite mass Indian reform nationwide, Minnie Moore-Willson of Kissimmee and Ivy Stranahan of Fort Lauderdale attempted to bring reform to the state. Living amongst members of the tribe, both women used their familiarity with Seminole life and practices, as well as their political and social connections, to enact change for the tribe. This was done, respectively, through the creation of reservations and attempting to increase educational and vocational opportunities for tribe members. This thesis examines the lives and activism of Minnie Moore-Willson and Ivy Stranahan over the first two …

Moving Beyond Title Ix: An Evaluation Of The Comprehensiveness And Accessibility Of Policies And Procedures For Preventing And Responding To Gender Based Violence, Alyssa Mullins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the gender based violence policies and programs of large, public universities in Florida. Current literature argues that preventing and responding to gender based violence in institutions of higher education requires comprehensive and ecological techniques at the individual, interpersonal, community, and societal level. In recent years, various institutions and agencies have showed increasing administrative commitment to addressing these issues. Futures Without Violence, formerly named Family Violence Prevention Fund, is a private organization that has established a set of guidelines and recommendations to aid IHEs in their response and prevention of gender based violence, intended to exceed federal …

Respresentation Of Hispanic Students In High Incidence Categories In Exceptional Student Education Programs And Educational Environments In K-12 Schools Across The State Of Florida, Douglas Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was first passed in 1975 and requires states to have policies in place to prevent misidentification and overrepresentation, and to monitor disproportionate representation by race/ethnicity and disability category. The fundamental premise of this legislation is to ensure that students with disabilities are afforded a free and appropriate education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Even with the passage of IDEA, the disproportionate representation of minority students continues to be a national issue. The disproportionate placement of minority students in Exceptional Student Education (ESE) began to receive attention prior to IDEA and has …

Estimated Diets, Diet Overlap, And Winter Habitat Associations Of Four Grassland Sparrows In Florida Dry Prairie, Marianne Korosy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

North American grassland birds show long-term population declines that generally exceed the declines of other bird groups. Efforts to conserve grassland birds require knowledge of diet and habitat requirements during both the breeding and nonbreeding periods of annual life cycles. This dissertation investigated sparrow habitat associations within two defined plant communities of the dry prairie ecosystem, the dry-mesic and wet-mesic prairie, for four prescribed fire treatments over two consecutive winters. Grasshopper and Henslow’s sparrows showed higher relative abundance in wet-mesic prairie and Bachman’s Sparrows were more abundant in dry-mesic prairie across all fire treatments. Abundances of Grasshopper and Bachman’s sparrows …

Economic Valuation Of Florida Sea Turtles In Face Of Sea Level Rise, Ahmed Hamed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sea level rise (SLR) is posing a great risk of flooding and inundation to coastal areas in Florida. Some coastal nesting species, including sea turtle species, have experienced diminished habitat from SLR. In an effort to assess the economic and ecosystem service loss to coastal areas with respect to sea turtles Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA) were used. The CVM was used to measure the economic impacts of SLR on sea turtles. Open-ended and dichotomous choice CVM was used to obtain the willingness to pay (WTP) values of Florida residents to implement certain mitigation strategies which …

Turtle Cam: Live Multimedia Interaction For Engaging Potential Visitor Population To Canaveral National Seashore, Brian Alfred Tortorelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project expands the outreach of the Canaveral National Seashore to its visitors, potential visitors, and virtual visitors through its goals in conservancy and preservation of its natural resources. This paper is involved with the current iteration of a series of digital media projects, the Sea Turtle Nest Camera, also known as, Turtle Cam. It details how and why this project was designed to be an ongoing initiative to assist in those goals.

Affirmative Action In Higher Education And The Talented Twenty Program In Florida, Miguel Ubiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Affirmative action in higher education is a necessary component for ethnic minorities to be afforded postsecondary educational access and opportunities to improve their socioeconomic status. The ban of affirmative action in undergraduate admissions, wherever instituted, has decreased the undergraduate enrollment of ethnic minorities. The broad objective of this research is to demonstrate how the elimination of affirmative action has lessened postsecondary educational access for minorities, who presently account for the majority or near-majority population in several states and will soon account for a much larger segment of the national population. This study will use two series of multiple regression models …

The Politics Of Slavery And Secession In Antebellum Florida, 1845-1861, Michael Paul Mcconville

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The political history of antebellum Florida has long been overlooked in southern historiography. Florida was a state for just sixteen years before secession set it apart from the rest of the Union, but Florida’s road to secession was as unique as any of its southern counterparts. From the territorial days in the early nineteenth century, Florida’s political culture centered on the development and protection of slavery throughout the state. The bank wars in the pre-statehood and early statehood periods reflected differing views on how best to support the spread of the plantation economy, and the sectional strife of the 1850s …

Evaluation Of An On-Line Device To Monitor Scale Formation In A Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Membrane Process, Jennifer C. Roque

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A modified two-element membrane pressure vessel assembly has been used to monitor process operational changes in a full-scale reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plant (WTP). This study evaluated the effectiveness of the assembly as an on-line monitoring device intended to detect scale formation conditions when connected to an operating RO process train. This study was implemented to support the requirements of a larger University of Central Florida (UCF) research project ongoing at the city of Sarasota’s Public Works and Utilities (City) water treatment facilities located in Sarasota, Florida. During the time-frame of this study, the City was in the process …