Digital Commons Network^™

Gourmet Food Trucks: An Ethnographic Examination Of Orlando's Food Truck Scene, Zachary Hawk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gourmet food trucks have emerged as increasingly popular dining alternatives for consumers in today’s urban landscape. Existing literature, as well as my own ethnographic research within Orlando, Florida’s mobile food vending scene, reveals that food truck owner/operators utilize various strategies to establish a viable niche for themselves in this diversified and burgeoning market. Among other things, these strategies include online social networking, creating and maintaining a recognizable brand identity, collaborating with local retailers and bar owners, and incorporating organic and locally produced ingredients in their dishes whenever possible. As in other parts of the country, there appears to be a …

Hospitality Management: A Guide To Key Reference Works, Tim Bottorff

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose
– This paper aims to provide an overview of the field of hospitality management and a guide to the major books, databases, web sites, and other resources that comprise a quality hospitality management reference collection.

Design/methodology/approach
– Following a short introduction and overview, key sources and annotations are presented in categories that will help reference and collection librarians to better understand and serve hospitality management students. The sources were identified through the author's experience, library research guides and web sites, bibliographies, and other standard sources.

Findings
– Hospitality management is growing and maturing as an academic discipline, aided by …

Preliminary Validation Of Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (Hhxrf) Spectrometry: Distinguishing Osseous And Dental Tissue From Non-Bone Material Of Similar Chemical Composition, Heather Zimmerman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forensic anthropologists normally examine bone from a variety of medicolegal contexts. The skeletal remains may in some cases be highly fragmented or taphonomically modified, making it difficult to sort bone from non-bone material. In these cases, the forensic anthropologist may rely on microscopic or destructive chemical analyses to sort the material. However, these techniques are costly and time-intensive, prompting the use of nondestructive analytical methods in distinguishing bone and teeth from non-bone materials in a limited number of cases. The proposed analytical techniques are limited in that they rely on an examination of the major elements in the material, and …

We Will Remember Turtle Mound: Uncovering The Past And Saving The Future Of Florida’S First People, Suzie Caffery, Diahn Escue

CEELAB Children's Books

This book is geared toward fourth graders. It tells the story of the Timucuan people and Turtle Mound, one of the largest coastal shell middens on the east coast. After describing the past, it tells about recent losses of artifacts due to climate change and “living shoreline” efforts to preserve and protect the midden into the future. Tons of fish bones, oyster shells, pieces of broken pottery, and other discarded materials were piled into large mounds, frequently called shell middens, many hundreds of years ago. On the east coast of Central Florida, along the shorelines of Mosquito Lagoon, many mounds …

Same Fight, Different Player: An Insight Into Culture, Information Sharing, And Team Performance, Cecily Mccoy-Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations among culture, information sharing, and performance among culturally-homogeneous NATO Officer teams. Forty-eight teams participated from five countries, namely, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and USA. Teams of four participants were randomly assigned to a role and the task was an interdependent computer-based mission using an adapted version of Neverwinter Nights™ (Bioware, 2003), where they had to communicate among teammates and with non-human players to find weapons caches and other mission objectives. Not one individual had all of the information needed to perform the tasks; thus, they needed to share information with …

Teaching The Civil Rights Movement: A Phenomenological Study Of Central Florida Teachers, Barbara Houser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching the civil rights movement can be challenging. Many history textbooks contain the national story of Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, the march to Selma, Alabama, and not much more. Classrooms across the United States follow this path of nationalizing the civil rights movement. This interpretation is only a small part of the civil rights crusade that existed throughout the United States, including in the state of Florida. Teaching only the national story, especially when the local exists, can ignore the human, ordinary element of this movement. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived experience …

The Devil Made Her Do It: Understanding Suicide, Demonic Discourse, And The Social Construction Of 'Health' In Yucatan, Mexico, Beatriz M. Reyes-Foster

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In the state of Yucatan, Mexico, the suicide rate more than doubles the Mexican national average. This article uses ethnographic data to argue that 1) local understandings of suicide in Yucatán reflect a logic of health among Yucatec Maya people hinging on the belief that spiritual, bodily, and spatial balance must be maintained in order to prevent “illness,” understood as bodily and spiritual suffering; and 2) that Yucatec Maya users of Mexico’s public health system readily adapt the biomedical model to existing paradigms that comingle spiritual, mental, and bodily health due in great part to the inherent contradictions in both …

The Afro-American Slave Music Project: Building A Case For Digital History, Laura Cepero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This public history thesis project experimented with the application of new technology in creating an educational resource aimed at twenty-first century public audiences. The project presents the history, musicology, and historiography of Afro-American slave music in the United States. In doing so, the project utilizes two digital media tools: VuVox, to create interactive collages; and VisualEyes, to create digital visualizations. The purpose of this thesis is to assess how the project balances the goals of digital history, public history, and academic history. During the production of the Afro-American Slave Music Project, a number of the promises of digital history were …

Sparse Ridge Fusion For Linear Regression, Nozad Mahmood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For a linear regression, the traditional technique deals with a case where the number of observations n more than the number of predictor variables p (n > p). In the case n < p, the classical method fails to estimate the coefficients. A solution of the problem is the case of correlated predictors is provided in this thesis. A new regularization and variable selection is proposed under the name of Sparse Ridge Fusion (SRF). In the case of highly correlated predictor, the simulated examples and a real data show that the SRF always outperforms the lasso, eleastic net, and the S-Lasso, and the results show that the SRF selects more predictor variables than the sample size n while the maximum selected variables by lasso is n size.

Investigating Patterns Of Interpersonal Violence Using Frequency Distributions Of Cranial Vault Trauma, Armando Anzellini

HIM 1990-2015

Violence has been found ubiquitously across human societies and throughout time. An act of violence can be defined as purposeful harm brought upon one individual as a direct or indirect result of the actions of another. The purpose of this research is to develop a quantitative approach to examining lethality using frequency distributions for location of trauma on the cranium in order to model patterns of interpersonal violence. This is accomplished through the study of a skeletal sample, from the prehispanic Chachapoya (existing around A.D. 800 – 1535), discovered at the site of Kuelap in the northern Peruvian Andes. Metric …

Ethnicity In Ancient Amazonia: Reconstructing Past Identities From Archaeology, Linguistics, And Ethnohistory, John H. Walker

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

No abstract provided.

Backpacking In The Digital Age: Ethnographic Perspectives From Latin America, Russell Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis ethnographically examines the changing nature of backpacking for Westerners in Latin America amid a proliferation of mobile computing and social networking. While anthropological and sociocultural research on tourism is extensive, the social scientific literature on backpacking has, thus far, been largely unconcerned with Western Hemisphere countries and the effects of digital technology on this mode of travel. Recent findings suggest, however, that backpacking has currently moved beyond its niche roots as a subculture of independent traveling into a full-fledged tourist industry. My thesis investigates the Latin American backpacking scene to better understand if this is a global trend. …

Reevaluating The Late Classic Lu-Bat Glyphic Phrase: The Artist And The Underworld, Patrick Carroll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of hieroglyphic texts is vital to the interpretation of the ancient Maya and how their worldview contributed to their daily lives. Hieroglyphic decipherment has been an arduous undertaking and a wide variety of the Late Classic Maya writing styles has also been documented. When specific hieroglyphic phrases are not fully understood it has been necessary to utilize other sources of information to help increase the understanding of these texts. The “lubat” glyphic phrase has been utilized in multiple mediums throughout the Late Classic period and is described as an artist’s signature. This artist signature is directly related to …

Ancient Maya Stone Polishers And Issues With The Terminology For The Artifacts Polished With These Tools, Rachael Landry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient Maya adorned themselves with ornamental objects. This study investigates a type of polishing tool used by the ancient Maya to manufacture certain types of ornaments. Five stone polishing tools used by the ancient Maya are presented and analyzed. Relevant artifact forms are examined to establish which types of artifacts were being polished with these tools. An extensive discussion of the archaeological record and artistic representations of miniature earflares and buttons, which were polished with many of these stone polishing tools, is also included because the terminology used to refer to these objects has varied throughout the academic literature …

The Inclusion Of Women's History In The Secondary Social Studies Classroom, Cicely Scheiner-Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author examined the motivation for why, and methods of how, some secondary social studies teachers incorporate women’s voices into the traditional history framework. A multi-layered qualitative methodology was employed for this study using survey, case study, and phenomenological approaches, including interviews and classroom observations of participants. The researcher discovered the percentage of teachers who claim to incorporate women’s history/perspectives into their lessons; how teachers incorporate women’s history/perspectives into their lessons; and, the factors that contribute to teachers including women’s history/perspectives into their classes.

An Anthropological Case Study On The Impact Of The "No Zero" Homework Policy On Teacher Culture In Two Central Florida Middle Schools, Mary Bolger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are Federal educational policies that have evoked criticism from teachers and administrators. Both policies extended the federal government’s reach into local education by tying federal funds to a school’s student growth and teacher effectiveness. With an increasing emphasis on economic mechanisms such as choice and competition, teachers’ effectiveness is now determined by standardized and quantifiable measurements. These policies have created a data driven and high stakes accountability culture within each school. Teachers are finding themselves in a new balancing act of recording quantifiable yearly progress for all students while trying to …

Neurophenomenological Methods: Experiences Of Earth And Space In Simulation, Patricia Morrow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study explores the nature and structure of spiritual and aesthetic experiences through the interdisciplinary application of neurophenomenology (NP). This approach merges aspects of psychology, neurophysiology, and phenomenology into a unified methodology. The study is nested within a larger project, Space, Science, and Spirituality, and as such, it carries a common goal to use simulation to evoke spiritual and aesthetic responses similar to those expressed by astronauts and cosmonauts. Careful analysis of previous work in NP provided methodological “lessons learned”, which guided the experimental design, execution, and analysis of the present study. The data collected provides support for experience …

Study On Spanish For Native Speakers Curriculum And Academic Achievement In Florida, Paola Maino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using data on all Hispanic high school students in Central and Southern Florida, this study examines Cummins’ Linguistic Interdependence concept by studying how the availability and English Language Learners (ELL) student participation in Spanish for Native Speakers (SNS) programs in Florida high schools is associated with Hispanic academic achievement. The availability of SNS programs was studied using data provided by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) on all high schools in Florida for 2009-2010. The study used individual level data on all Hispanic ELL students in Central and Southeast counties who attended 12th grade during each year from 2006/2007 through …

The Service Learning Experience: How Storytelling Evolves In People With Alzheimer's And Dementia And Why This Is Important To The Creative Writing Student And The Community, Alice Spicer

HIM 1990-2015

All meaningful communication is a form of storytelling, according to Walter Fisher, who introduced the narrative paradigm to communication theory, and storytelling is universal across cultures and time as the manner in which people comprehend life. Storytelling is also a creative form of art. This interdisciplinary, multimedia work will explore the creative use of non-traditional storytelling to gather information about how creativity evolves in people with Alzheimer's and dementia and why this is important to both academia and the community. Currently, there is a lot of research available about the debilitating affects of memory loss, but there is very little …

Authenticity In Tourism In Small Island Destinations: The Residents’ Perspective, Robertico Croes, Seung Hyun Lee, Eric D. Olson

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study explored the meaning of authenticity in the context of a small island destination from the residents' perspective, departing from the main stream literature which predominantly focuses on the demand side of the equation. Photo-elicitation was used to investigate the conception of authenticity. The finding from the focus group is that the notions of authenticity are unique, vast, and individualistic and that an encompassing definition of authenticity is difficult to concur. While the focus group provided clarity in terms of authenticity being embedded in the cultural lifestyle, an empirical study was conducted to further understand what cultural resources could …

Twentieth Century Maya Worldview, Mackenzie See

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maya Folktales offer insight into how twentieth century Maya worldview is a hybrid of indigenous Maya and European beliefs. Analysis was conducted on twenty-eight Maya folktales from the highlands of Guatemala found in folklore anthologies. Stories like The Spirits of the Dead in folklore anthologies can reveal new perspectives on how the Maya feel about rituals spaces, the fabric that separates the land of the dead from the land of the living, and the importance of showing respect to the dead in one’s community. Other stories, show the connection the Maya feel with their heritage and the connection they feel …

Which Way To The Jook Joint?: Historical Archaeology Of A Polk County, Florida Turpentine Camp, Deborah Ziel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The extraction and distillation of pine sap for the naval stores industry reached its apex of production in the early decades of the twentieth century. Post-emancipation, the industry employed African American labor in the long leaf pine forests of the southeastern United States under a system of debt peonage that replaced the master-slave dynamic with a similar circumscriptive construct. Laborers rented company housing and were paid in scrip, a monetary system that limited their purchase of the basic goods of subsistence to the company commissary at inflated prices, resulting in an endless cycle of debt. Despite the oppressive circumstances of …

Changes In Neolithic Subsistence Patterns On Flores, Indonesia Inferred By Stable Carbon, Nitrogen, And Oxygen Isotope Analyses Of Sus From Liang Bua, Jordon Munizzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite an abundance of archaeological material recovered from sites in Island Southeast Asia, the timing and route by which cultigens first arrived in Wallacea remains unclear. Many of the staple crops now grown on these islands were domesticated in mainland Asia, and were deliberately introduced by humans at an unknown point during the Holocene, through several possible routes. In this study, the δ 13C, δ15N and δ18O values of subfossil bones and teeth attributed to Sus celebensis and Sus scrofa are analyzed. These materials, which span the last 5160 years at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia are used to determine if …

No Amotines El Gallinero: Domestic Worker Agency And Identity In Lima, Peru And The Daily Struggle, Janice Stiglich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For centuries, indigenous women have been forced to labor in slave-like conditions as domestic workers in Lima, Peru. With neoliberal practices on the rise, Peru’s domestic labor informal economic sector struggles with sociopolitical representation. The downtrodden women of the household work economy exemplify the national perception of desconfianza, or distrust, as it trickles down from the wealthier individuals to those living in poverty. Although the nature of domestic work is a product of hegemonic colonial relations and, recently, violent social movements in the late 20th century, increasing attempts for government transparency and nongovernmental involvement, have created a slowly recovering broken …

Evaluation Of A Field Histology Technique And Its Use In Histological Analyses Of Mummified Tissues From Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, Jennifer Branson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Use of paleohistology to identify histological structures in mummified tissues can allow insight into pathological conditions such as parasites, cirrhosis and lung scarring. However, increasing concerns in archaeological sciences include restrictions on removal of human remains from their site of origin for scientific study. In the case of mummified remains, the use of a field paleohistology kit may be deemed useful for ‘point-of-care’ pathological assessment of preserved tissues. This study evaluates field paleohistology protocols for mummified soft tissue based on techniques used modern medical field missions. The application of this technique alleviates the need for export or removal of remains …

Fetal-Pelvic Disproportion And Pelvic Asymmetry As A Potential Cause For High Maternal Mortality In Archaeological Populations, Sarah Stansfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Females of childbearing age are overrepresented in the population of the Kellis 2 cemetery (100-450 AD) in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt (Wheeler 2009). The demographic overrepresentation found here may be the result of complications related to childbirth. Clinical literature demonstrates that fetal size is rarely an explanation for failed labor (Cunningham et al. 2001) and the fetuses buried in the Kellis 2 Cemetery at the Dakhleh Oasis were not larger than average (Tocheri et al. 2005), directing the focus to dimensions of the maternal pelvis for evidence of obstetrical issues, such as abnormally compressed pelvises. To formulate a test for …

Currency In Transition: An Ethnographic Inquiry Of Bitcoin Adherents, Justin Fletcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Internet and other telecommunications systems have reshaped the means by which markets are accessed, generated, and transformed. Recent innovations in computer science have led to the development of a virtually bound, decentralized, encrypted currency system known as bitcoin. Unlike conventional currency systems, the Bitcoin protocol is cryptologically defined with a virtual structure that allows it to simultaneously operate as currency, commodity, and market shaping socio-political force. Its decentralized design permits it to function as a free-market response to fiat currencies vulnerable to inflation, regulation, and manipulation. Given the cultural significance anthropologists and other social scientists have assigned to various …

Interpreting Diet And Nutritional Stress In Napoleon's Grand Army Using Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Analysis, Sammantha Holder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A mass grave containing the remains of at least 3269 Napoleonic soldiers from 1812 was discovered in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2001. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses were performed on collagen from 78 femoral samples to explore dietary variation within the sample. Starvation and nutritional distress were also evaluated through the examination of nitrogen enrichment in bone collagen. Clinical studies have demonstrated that enriched nitrogen isotope values can indicate periods of nutritional stress and starvation; however, this is the first study to examine its use as a diagnostic indicator of starvation in a historical population using bone tissue. According to …

Gender Differences And Fast Food Preferences Among U.S. College Students, Donald Persaud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this research is to examine the relationship of corporate fast food and health within the context of gender. It tests the hypothesis that Western perceptions of masculinity and femininity inform a differentiated pattern of food preference, which will correlate with health as measured by Body Mass Index (BMI). The targeted sample population for the study is the undergraduate community of the University of Central Florida, and fast food is a chosen dietary medium because it is an increasingly ubiquitous source of caloric energy in the American foodscape, representative of the mass production model applied to cuisine in …

The Latina/O Student's Experience In Social Studies: A Phenomenological Study Of Eighth Grade Students, Christopher Busey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research investigation was to explore the experiences of eighth-grade Latina/o students in a large, urban school in the Southeastern United States. Overall, the study uncovered the essence of the Latino/a student experience in social studies and furthermore revealed that social studies is not meeting the needs of Latino students. Using phenomenology as a method of research, two interviews were conducted with twelve research participants who were selected through purposive sampling. In addition to the interviews, students wrote narratives and drew images as a form of data triangulation. The goal was to give students various methods for …