Digital Commons Network^™

Amy Zeh High-Impact: Hope Helps, Yvon Mbenza, Anant Ajvalia, Armando Ramirez, Alan Claiman

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

The purpose of our project was to volunteer with HOPE Helps, a nonprofit organization that provides community support through its thrift store, food pantry, and outreach events. Our group, Project Pegasus, worked onsite to help sort donations, organize items, and assist in the operation of the thrift store. We coordinated efforts with the volunteer manager and staff, who guided us and made sure we understood expectations and procedures. One of the most meaningful activities involved working alongside staff and other volunteers as coworkers to see how teamwork and common purpose create effective service. A key thing we learned was about …

What Kind Of World Do I Want To Live In?, Gabriel T. Silva

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

Marine Conservation and Restoration is one of the most influential courses through community engagement and class discussion on conservation and restoration strategies. I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Walters’ CEE (Coastal & Estuarine Ecology) Lab to plant mangroves and census oysters for restoration projects and to contribute to microplastics research based out of the Indian River Lagoon. Through this course, I gained experience that can be utilized in active research and active restoration through hands-on work both in the field and in the laboratory which will strengthen my academic CV and personal skill development. Engagement with the local …

Improving Pcos Through Movement: A Study On Hiit, Strength Training And Women’S Health, Angela Avdella, Eryka Salta

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

This integrative learning project examined how different forms of physical activity—specifically High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Strength Training (ST)—impact hormonal and physical health in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a common hormonal disorder affecting 6–15% of women and is associated with insulin resistance, elevated testosterone levels, increased body fat, and long-term risks such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Because lifestyle interventions are key to PCOS management, this interventional study enumerated exercise as a strategy to improve health outcomes.

The study used was a 12-week intervention design in which participants completed either HIIT or strength training …

Lagoon Lessons: Where Science Meets Service Learning, Cori Mcwilliams, Christopher Poulios

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

When we were kids, we were always told to leave someplace better than you found it - maybe it was your room, campsite, or local park. Now, we have taken this lesson as a call to action to restore the Indian River Lagoon. Over the semester, we created and hosted an Oyster City Safari program for elementary schoolers as a part of UCF’s STEM Day, educating 50 students about oyster reefs and their importance for conservation. We also supported faculty and graduate students in their active research projects, and worked hands-on with local restoration leaders in their ongoing conservation work. …

Health-Link Society, Reagan M. Lenihan

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

No abstract provided.

The World Is My Oyster: Restoring Nature, Inspiring Minds, Antonia N. Ferguson

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

Through Service Learning: Marine Conservation and Restoration, I was a co-leader for UCF STEM Day under the theme “Oyster City Safari.” Our team designed interactive games and crafts to teach two groups of 25 elementary students about oyster reef restoration. Students acted as oysters and reef animals, transforming fragmented reefs into whole ones to demonstrate how restored reefs support biodiversity. They also played a species-matching game and created oyster shell necklaces and crowns. These activities encouraged them to see the value of oyster reefs and inspired future stewardship of the environment. I also contributed to seagrass restoration by assisting Coastal …

Divng Deep: Inspiring Young Scientists Through Ocean Exploration, Chloe Lowman, Mia Sims

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

What started as a simple lesson plan grew into an unforgettable journey of inspiring young minds to explore the mysteries of the deep sea. The goal of our service-learning project was to spark curiosity and make a meaningful impact on our community by inspiring the next generation of young scientists. We designed and taught an interactive marine science lesson for fourth graders at Rainbow Elementary School, diving deep into the fascinating world of the ocean’s darkest zones. Through hands-on games, creative crafts, and lively discussions, students explored how extraordinary adaptations help deep-sea creatures survive where sunlight never reaches. We wanted …

Exploring Leadership Through The Avenues Of Homelessness And Hunger In Our Community., Kaitlyn R. Aust Ms., Matthew L. Bensey Mr., Moriah C. Boring Ms.

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

While at Second Harvest, we volunteered at the Mercy Kitchen and the donation sorting warehouse. At the Mercy kitchen we organized boxes of snacks to be sent to after school programs, and we prepared and packaged meals that were going to be sent to schools and families. We also helped around the facility by cleaning the kitchen and washing the dishes. At the donation sorting, we collected large boxes of donated food items, and we sorted them into categories. These items were then sent to the kitchen or straight to families and kids.

We learned valuable servant leadership skills from …

Market Signals And Price Setting: Unveiling Barometric Price Leader In The Hotel Sector, Sung W. Lee, Donna Quadri-Felitti, Ami Sharma, Seoki Lee

Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

This paper introduces the concept of barometric price leadership to the hotel sector, where a leading hotel sets prices that reflect demand and supply trends, guiding other hotels in the market to set their prices. While the significance of competitor-based pricing has been rec- ognized, the strategic influence of such price leaders on rivals' pricing has not been thor- oughly examined. This conceptual study delves into the existing literature to discuss the underpinnings and implications of such leadership, illustrating how prices portray vital mar- ket information. The study argues for the recognition and strategic importance of barometric price leaders in …

The Role Of Switching Costs In The Triangle Of Complaint Behavior, Satisfaction, And Switching Behavior In The Hotel Context, Talal Abuhulaibah, Lisa Slevitch

Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

The influence of switching costs could play an important role that prevents dissatisfied cus- tomers from switching to another service provider, particularly in the highly competitive hotel market. Drawing on Hirschman’s model of customers’ reactions to service failures (1970), this study investigated the moderating effect of switching costs on the inter-relationships between complaint behavior, customer satisfaction, and switching behavior for hotel guests. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed via Amazon Mechanical Turk and yielded a total of 1,135 responses from travelers who stayed in US hotels and experienced service failures. The results of this study revealed that switching costs did influence …

Advisor And Counselor Perceptions Within A Southeastern State’S Private Institutions: A Qualitative Exploratory Case Study, Thomas A. Range

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

U.S. Black American college students identifying as first generation and experiencing lower socioeconomic status have lagged behind White college students from more affluent families in retention, graduation, and postgraduation metrics. These differences are particularly acute for students attending private, predominantly White institutions. However, there is a gap in knowledge about how student services personnel—whose roles directly impact students’ perseverance toward graduation and their postgraduation plans—are perceived. Many external barriers (e.g., inadequate student support; racial discrimination; counselor, advisor, administrator, and college leadership biases) have continued to hinder success of Black American collegians in private institutions. To focus this study, two guiding …

Qualities Of Instructors Adult Second Language Learners Identify As Being Most Effective In Supporting Their Language Skills In Intensive English Programs, Nick Myrca Gauthier

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This qualitative research discusses the importance of the pedagogical and social qualities of instructors in the academic achievement of adult second language (L2) learners enrolled in intensive English programs (IEP). Its primary goal is to comprehend the role of social traits such as empathy, patience, approachability, supportiveness, and respectfulness and of pedagogical traits such as building trust, motivation, and minimizing language learning anxiety when instructing adult L2 learners. Within the framework of this study, a semistructured interview format was used to gather the lived experiences of seven participants who were either enrolled or had been enrolled in a university’s intensive …

Captivating Chemistry: Luminous Lava Lamps, Linsey Vo, Brinlie Bergman, Kylie Daum, Shayan Noor, Akshay Aramjisingh

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

Our group participated in STEM Day, an engaging biannual event that brings together K–12 students to explore the wonders of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through hands-on experiences. When planning our presentation, we aimed to create an activity that was both visually exciting and easy for students of all ages to understand. We chose to demonstrate the concepts of polarity and density through a fun and interactive experiment in which students created their own lava lamps. This activity allowed the students to observe scientific principles in action while encouraging curiosity and enthusiasm for STEM learning.

Saving The Arctic: Learning Through Animals And Art, Sara A. Wieschhorster, Andrea J. Goldfarb, Linda Walters Dr

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

The Arctic is one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth, and protecting it is vital for our planet’s future. For our service‑learning project, we partnered with Ms. Snow and Wedgefield Elementary to engage her first‑grade classroom in learning about Arctic animals and their adaptations. We introduced a variety of species, highlighting unique adaptations, and reinforced this knowledge through a craft activity where students created walrus masks to take home. Beyond animal adaptations, we discussed habitat fragmentation and encouraged students to take action against environmental threats by planting trees, recycling, and staying informed. Our goal was to spark environmental awareness …

Iactor: Integrating Flow Theory And Habit Principles To Combat Decision Fatigue In Audition Management, Colby L. Bell

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

For many actors, the audition process can feel like a never-ending series of decisions—what to prepare, what to wear, what to bring, and how to keep track of it all. Each choice, though seemingly small, accumulates into a form of cognitive overload that can lead to burnout and disengagement. My fascination lies not only with how actors navigate this process but how we might reframe it. This thesis explores the question: How can I design a digital space that reduces decision fatigue and restores agency to actors preparing for auditions? Drawing from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow Theory, James Clear’s Atomic Habits …

The Unindexed Marginalia Of Historical American Cookery Books Digital Public History Project: Domestic Technical Communication Labor Contributions, Alessandra Zinicola Lopez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation includes a traditional written portion, and a non-traditional digital humanities public history online digital archive project created through Omeka which showcases examples of hand-written recipes found within commercial cookbooks, called marginalia. The understanding of modern technical communication is affected by the perceived history of the field and currently, that history is biased toward non-domestic pursuits. The project explores what collecting, digitizing, and archiving examples of historical hand-written marginalia found within commercially printed American receipt books indicate about the presence, participatory nature, value, and contributions of domestic technical communications and their user-authors in the 19th century. The examples collected …

Improving Smart Home Access Control Mechanisms To Account For Community-Based Sharing Beyond The Home, Leena Alghamdi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The rapid proliferation of smart home devices has reshaped daily living, offering convenience and enhanced security. However, extending access to these devices beyond household boundaries introduces significant challenges, including balancing privacy, security, and usability. Through three studies, this dissertation investigates these challenges and proposes solutions to improve access control mechanisms for sharing smart home devices with external individuals. First, we conducted 26 co-design interviews with 50 smart home device owners to understand their perspectives on co-monitoring in emergencies with trusted external contacts. Participants emphasized benefits such as enhanced safety, reduced material loss, and peace of mind through swift responses and …

Grid-Forming Inverters: Comprehensive Review, Design, And Implementation Of Advanced Control Methods, Yousef H. Abudyak

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The growing integration of renewable energy (RE) resources into power systems requires urgent measures by system operators to address stability challenges caused by the intermittency of such resources. GridForming (GFM) inverters have emerged as a promising solution to mitigate such grid instabilities. Their ability to establish and regulate voltage and frequency under various load and grid conditions makes them a potential alternative to Grid-Following (GFL) inverters, which are highly susceptible to loss of synchronism in grid conditions with low Short Circuit Ratios (SCRs). Numerous GFM control methods have been proposed in the literature, each addressing specific research gaps, however, several …

Application Of Industry 5.0 Attributes For Successful Implementation: Framework Of Manufacturing Excellence In Aerospace And Defense Industries, Rena Lewis

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

As a novel concept, Industry 5.0 is making its rounds around the academic community and various industries. Despite its introduction over five years ago, definitions and perceptions are still under deliberation. Applications, methods of implementation and values are still in the conceptual phase. This study introduces a framework inclusive of human-centricity, sustainability and resilience, the pillars associated with Industry 5.0. It aims to differentiate the revolution from its predecessor, Industry 4.0, as it dives into the technologies associated with Industry 4.0 including but not limited to the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous robots, and artificial intelligence. As those technologies evolve …

Patient Transfer Robot (Patro) For Mobility Independence Of Patients In Need Of Assistance, Eric W. Frankle

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis is about the design, assembly, and testing of a prototype Patient Transfer Robot, or PATRO. The purpose of this device is to create and validate a mobile wheeled robot to motorize and automate the patient transfer process for use in home and hospital environments. This device aims to reduce the load and risk of injuries for caregivers during patient transfer process and to increase the autonomy and independence of the patient. While the idea of an automated patient transfer device is not a novel concept, PATRO aims to improve on existing designs by improving the safety, size factor, …

Towards High-Performance, Low-Overhead Integrity Authentication For Secure-Memory In Embedded And Heterogeneous Computing Platforms, Rakin Muhammad Shadab

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The use of secure-memory has been crucial for embedded and heterogeneous computing systems, especially in the light of emerging memory adversaries. The state-of-the-art hardware platforms targeting different sectors such as Internet-of-Things (IoT) and cloud computing require strong protection against memory exploits through different side-channel attacks. Such a tamper-resistant memory system comprises different security techniques such as encryption and integrity protection. Generally, the integrity protection against the adversarial attacks in secure-memory platforms relies on integrity trees such as the Bonsai Merkle Tree (BMT). However, the highly-recursive authentication and update algorithms associated with such tree structures are challenging to implement in heterogeneous …

Smart Work Zone Connectivity For Traffic Safety Applications, Mariam Nour

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Work zones play a vital role in the maintenance and upgrading of roads and highways; however, they also pose substantial risks to both drivers and workers. Utilizing technology, such as Smart Work Zones (SWZs), Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs), and data dissemination algorithms, is crucial in improving safety in work zones by providing decision-makers with timely and accurate information. Ensuring safety in these environments is essential for reducing accidents and fatalities and enhancing drivers' sense of security, and protecting the well-being of workers operating in hazardous conditions. In this dissertation, we proposed a methodology based on three complementary approaches to enhance …

Novel Symmetrical Components-Based Methods For Protection Of Systems With High-Level Penetration Of Ibrs, Kwasi Opoku

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The global electric power system is undergoing a transition which has resulted in the proliferation of inverter-based resources (IBRs), mainly renewable energy resources and battery energy storage. These offer the advantage of decarbonization targets in electricity generation while potentially improving resilience and overall efficiency of the electric grid. Furthermore, this has led to the development of inverter-interfaced microgrids at the sub-transmission, and especially, distribution levels.

An effective protection system is a prerequisite for any power system operation. However, the departure of modern power systems, in this regard, from conventional sources and topologies presents new challenges to effective protection from power …

Framework For A Successful Startup Using Lean Startup Methodology Within Ecosystem, Mohamed Elsalamy

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Entrepreneurs want to change the world by converting their business visions to reality. Their dreams are to provide and invent a solution for the society they created to fill a specific market gap that has an opportunity to profit, scale, and grow fast. Startup businesses are booming very progressive due to the boom in technology. However, what is the definition of a startup? What is this business, and what are its business and revenue models? What are the parameters for success and failure? Different thoughts and concepts for a startup are being designated by business professionals and through the media. …

Examination Of Users’ Privacy Issues In Live Streaming Information Disclosure, Yanlai Wu

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Live streaming has gained global popularity, raising significant privacy concerns due to its performance-driven, real-time, on-camera, and public nature. Increasing reports highlight privacy violations in live streaming, including streamers facing harassment from malicious viewers and bystanders being inadvertently exposed to audiences. Despite these challenges, research on privacy in live streaming remains limited. This dissertation addresses this gap by examining users' privacy concerns and strategies in information disclosure and exploring design solutions to enhance privacy management on live streaming platforms.

To achieve these objectives, I conducted three qualitative studies: two interview studies (Study 1: Chapter 4 and Study 2: Chapter 5) …

A Deep Learning Framework For Last-Mile Delivery Enhancement Using Social Media, Valeria Laynes Fiascunari

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Over the past decade, people have been spending more time online. Almost anything can be done from a laptop or cellphone. This is one of the reasons why e-commerce has been in a constant boom, as it is easier to buy something online and have it delivered to the front door than to go to the store. As more people engage in this activity, e-commerce platforms' challenges are more complicated and need to be addressed faster. However, these challenges escape the company's scope when external factors influence the objective of optimized deliveries, for example, traffic issues or bad weather during …

The Impact Of Visualization Styles On Movement Imitation Accuracy In Virtual Reality, Gabriela R. Shamblin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Virtual reality (VR) has become a powerful tool for motor learning and skill acquisition, offering immersive environments for users to practice and refine movements. This thesis investigates how different visualization styles in VR affect movement imitation accuracy, specifically focusing on hand movements. While prior research has explored precise alignment and visualization individually, few studies have examined their combined impact. This study addresses that gap by evaluating the effectiveness of various visualization methods in relation to offset, animation, and manual type.

We developed an application to ensure all participants experienced each visualization factor as 12 combinations in varied sequences. The user …

Beam-Clip: Multimodal Alignment For Mmwave Beam Pattern Learning, Andrew P. El Kommos

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis presents a novel approach to beam prediction in wireless communication systems using a multimodal masked CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training). We introduce a two-phase training methodology that first aligns representations across multiple sensor modalities—GPS, Radar, LiDAR, and RGB images—through masked contrastive learning, followed by task-specific fine-tuning for channel power reconstruction. Our approach adapts CLIP’s pre-training strategy to the domain of wireless signal modeling, enabling the model to learn rich, transferable features that capture the spatial and contextual dependencies of the beam distribution. Notably, the pre-training stage provides a substantial boost to overall performance, significantly improving the model's ability to …

Improving Vulnerable Road Users' Safety Through Computer Vision-Based Crossing Direction Prediction And Multimodal Large Language Model-Based Accident Scene Description, Younggun Kim

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs), such as pedestrians and cyclists, are among the most at-risk participants in traffic, making their safety a key priority for intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Accurate perception and understanding of VRU behavior are essential for proactive accident prevention and the design of human-centric mobility systems. Computer vision has become a core component of ITS, enhancing VRU safety. This thesis introduces a human behavior-aware transformer-based framework for VRU intention prediction and presents VRU-Accident, a large-scale benchmark enabling systematic assessment of multimodal large language models (MLLMs) in understanding accident scenarios involving VRUs.

First, the proposed framework leverages multi-modal cues, …

Cross-Layer Optimization In C-V2x Towards Level-5 Vehicular Automation, Mahdi Zaman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) necessitate highly reliable, scalable, and responsive Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication systems. Despite recent advancements, Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) in its state-of-the-art form exhibits limitations in managing resource allocation and communication robustness, particularly in dense vehicular scenarios. Additionally, C-V2X standards have been tailored to particularly support periodic broadcasts; whereas true vehicular autonomy demands service-focused communication which differs in transmission behavior compared to periodic safety messages. This document addresses critical bottlenecks within C-V2X by developing cross-layer optimizations across physical, MAC, and application layers. This thesis proposes enhancements on C-V2X resource scheduling protocol with proposing novel adaptive and selective power control …