Digital Commons Network^™

Mental Health Perceptions Among Caribbean Adults In The United States, Ambika Ramjawam

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate mental health literacy (MHL) among Caribbean American adults and to assess the extent to which mental health perceptions (MHP) and acculturative stress contribute to variations in MHL. A cross-sectional, quantitative survey design was utilized to examine MHL, MHP, and acculturative stress among a sample of 138 participants. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to assess associations among MHL, MHP, acculturation, and age. Independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were performed to examine demographics across key variables. Findings revealed moderate levels of MHL (M = 4.7, SD = .99) and a weak, positive correlation …

123 Studies Use In The Review, Abdul-Akeem Sadiq

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

University Of Central Florida Libraries 2023-2024 Annual Report, Cynthia S. Dancel

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

The Lack Of Mental Health Support In Caribbean Households, Arnoudly Bossicot

LEAD Scholars Academy Showcase

Growing up in a Caribbean household, mental health, amongst other topics, was something no one dared to speak about. Seeking therapy or talking to a trusted family member is not an option since you will look weak. When mental health issues are left untreated, long-term adverse effects on the emotional, social, physical, and behavioral aspects of life. In some instances, it may result in suicide. This research will explore the different elements that affect a person’s willingness to receive mental health treatment in Caribbean households. Would teenagers and young adults seek mental help if given the right resources and support? …

Addressing Anxiety & Depression Among College Students: A Social Change Method, Flavia Cabrera

LEAD Scholars Academy Showcase

By creating a resource-rich and encouraging environment, this project seeks to address the common problem of anxiety and depression among college students. Creating and executing workshops centered on coping strategies, stress management, and mental health awareness are important tasks. In order to promote candid communication and lessen feelings of loneliness, we are also establishing peer support groups. In addition, we're creating a thorough online resource center with details on crisis hotlines, mental health services, and self-care techniques.

The significant influence of peer support has been one of the most important lessons learned. When students share their experiences with people who …

Racism Against Latinx Communities In The United States: A Personal And Structural Examination, Emilia Carpio

LEAD Scholars Academy Showcase

No abstract provided.

Spanish-Speaking Parents' Comprehension Of School-Based Speech Therapy Documentation, Daria Hernandez

LEAD Scholars Academy Showcase

Navigating speech-language therapy in schools can feel overwhelming for many families, and for Hispanic parents, language barriers and limited health literacy (HL) skills may intensify this challenge. There is a significant gap in research on health literacy strategies used by school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). This issue becomes more critical when examining how Spanish-speaking parents navigate Spanish translations of essential documents like IEPs. This gap emphasizes the urgent need for research in this area, and my project seeks to help address it.

A Unified Thermodynamic Framework For Regime Discovery, Entropy-Aware Optimization, And Emergent Leadership In Flocking Systems, Victor Nkwocha

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis presents a unified framework for modeling, optimizing, and analyzing collective behavior in flocking systems through a thermodynamic and statistical lens. In the first study, we employ entropy-regularized Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) to identify distinct thermodynamic regimes—ordered, transitional, and disordered—based on the energy and entropy profiles of simulated agent-based flocks. The second study introduces the Organic Adaptive Flocking Algorithm (OAFA), a biologically inspired, entropy-aware extension of the Boids model. OAFA dynamically adjusts rule weights based on local entropy signals and is optimized via a multi-objective NSGAII framework to balance cohesion, separation, energy efficiency, and disorder. Results show that entropy …

L'Dor V'Dor, Shoshana L. Greene

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

This project details a service-learning experience at Central Florida Hillel. Serving the community involved on-the-ground leadership and meaningful engagement by supporting signature events like the communal Challah Bake and warm, weekly Shabbos Dinners. This work demonstrated that true service involves leaders directly engaged with volunteers, modeling dedication. The project significantly impacted Hillel’s social infrastructure and accessibility, ensuring a reliable, low-barrier, welcoming space for students seeking cultural connection and companionship. This consistent volunteer effort increased organizational capacity, allowing staff to focus core resources on student mentorship rather than basic logistics. Ultimately, the stability and consistency of these events reinforced the sense …

Leading Change, Saving Lives: The Leadership Behind The National Marrow Donor Program, Madison Rhubart, Isabella De Araujo Mota

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

As part of the LEAD Scholar Academy service-learning project, our group partnered with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through cell therapy and bone marrow donation. The purpose of our project was to support NMDP’s mission of expanding the marrow donor registry and to explore how leadership principles can be applied through meaningful community engagement.

Our volunteer work included assembling and labeling swab kits, assisting with donor registration drives, and educating UCF students about the importance of joining the registry. Through these activities, we not only contributed to lifesaving outreach efforts but also …

Smile, It Makes A Difference, Evan Jarosiewicz

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

No abstract provided.

Bringing Military History To Life, Nathan T. Chamberlain

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2025

The purpose of this project was to be able to learn about public history in a military history setting. The two key activities that I did were; creating an exhibit for a fellow Navy Veteran, and helping with an Oral History event at the museum where we heard from two World War II veterans. The exhibit was especially important to me as it helped me to tell the story of a fellow Navy Veteran. It was also a helpful experience for me to be able to create all of the advertising for the oral history event. These projects helped me …

The Cypress Dome 2025, Issue 36, The Cypress Dome Society

The Cypress Dome

The Cypress Dome Society is the University of Central Florida’s literary organization staffed by undergraduate students. Named after a feature of the landscape on the UCF campus, we are dedicated to fostering the literary arts and promoting a sense of community among writers and artists through events and our annual publication, The Cypress Dome, UCF’s undergraduate literary journal

Damping Modulation Of Dampened Kapton Surfaces, Sebastian Esteban

Honors Undergraduate Theses

When droplets are vibrated or disturbed, they can exhibit a complex sloshing motion, an understudied behavior in drop physics. Droplet sloshing involves a complex combination of transverse and longitudinal motion that changes the droplet's effective weight on the surface the droplet is on. Our current understanding stems from preliminary work focusing on a cantilever beam of fixed thickness and variable viscosity of the liquid being sloshed. This investigation will focus on how variable cantilever thickness and constant viscosity for a liquid being sloshed affects the beam's deflection under consistent vibration. It will also investigate how the natural frequency of a …

Integrated Compliant Structure For A Hand Exoskeleton, Tristan R. Koopman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis presents the design and prototyping of a wearable hand exoskeleton that integrates a flexible structural framework to assist with hand movement while maintaining comfort and anatomical conformity. The goal was to create a device that supports tendon-driven actuation through a compliant structure, combining elements of rigidity and flexibility to match the natural geometry and motion of the human hand. Traditional hand exoskeletons often trade off motion for structure or vice versa. This project aims to bridge that gap with a hybrid compliant design that balances flexibility and support. The design process followed an iterative approach involving rapid prototyping …

High-Performance Computational Kernels For Algorithm-System Co-Design In Machine Learning: Enabling Efficient Gcn Training And Llm Inference Serving., Shakya D. Jayakody Arachchige

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The rapid advancement of machine learning, from Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) to transformer-based Large Language Models (LLMs), continues to expose fundamental limitations in memory efficiency, scalability, and system reliability. GCNs are critical for domains such as biomedical modeling, social networks, and recommendation systems, yet their reliance on sparse general matrix–matrix multiplication (SpGEMM) makes them highly sensitive to GPU memory constraints and irregular access patterns. As graph data scales, out-of-core computation becomes inevitable, but existing systems are hindered by I/O bottlenecks and underutilized GPU resources. Our contribution with AIRES demonstrates how algorithm–system co-design can alleviate these challenges: by introducing block-wise data …

Assessment Of The Safety Culture In Petrochemical Industries In Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study, Ahmed Mohammed Alqarfi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Given the inherently hazardous nature of petrochemical operations, an effective safety culture is critical. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 29 peer-reviewed articles published in open access between 2014 and 2024 were selected to evaluate the status of safety culture dimensions employed in the petrochemical sector. This cross-sectional study assessed safety culture in the Saudi Arabian petrochemical industry and examined the relationships among safety culture dimensions, safety motivation (SM), and safety performance. Safety performance was operationalized as personal error behavior (PEB) and attitudes toward violations (ATV), with SM modeled as a mediating factor. After obtaining IRB approval, a total of 482 employees …

Development Of A Data-Driven Decision Support System For Intelligent Traffic Management At Intersections, B M Tazbiul Hassan Anik

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Intersections are complex traffic environments where frequent vehicle and pedestrian interactions can lead to safety- and mobility-critical (SMC) conditions. Identifying these conditions promptly is crucial, as delays may result in missed interventions, thereby heightening crash risk, and diminishing operational efficiency. This dissertation introduces a data-driven, real-time decision support framework for the identification and mitigation of SMC conditions using High-Resolution Traffic Controller Data (HTCD) collected via Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (ATSPM) system and Connected Vehicle (CV) data from Signal Analytics. First, an end-to-end analytical pipeline was developed to transform HTCD into actionable safety and mobility measures. A Bayesian beta-binomial framework, …

Determining Essential Attributes For Experience And Satisfaction In The Customer 4.0 Era: A Kano Model Approach, Cintia Z. Buffon

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The world is constantly changing, with rapid technological advancements and increased digital connectivity shaping daily activities. In this evolving landscape, customers have transformed into what is known as Customer 4.0—a new generation of consumers who expect high levels of personalization, digital engagement, and greater transparency from organizations. These expectations extend to higher education, where students demand more customized learning experiences, interactive content, and digital accessibility. This research investigates engineering students' preferences regarding educational attributes aligned with Customer 4.0 characteristics using the Kano model. While the Kano model has been widely applied across industries, its use in higher education remains limited. …

Investigating The Impacts Of Peer Support And Online Information Seeking In Chronic Pain Online Health Communities, Aaron Necaise

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Chronic pain is a highly prevalent medical condition that contributes to intense emotional distress and social isolation in patients. With the growth of social media, online health communities (OHCs) have become a popular resource for patients to learn about their pain and establish social connections with peers. Although there is some evidence suggesting that curated online resources can benefit patient well-being, social media interactions have the potential to propagate medical misinformation and negativity. This dissertation expands upon the Social Communication Model of Pain to examine how interactions within social media-based OHCs impact chronic pain and uncover practical insights into OHC …

Contagion Chronicles: A Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Armed Conflict And Infectious Disease, Devyn Escalanti

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation examines the relationship between armed conflict and infectious disease transmission through a novel theoretical framework that integrates ecological disturbance and health systems resilience theories into epidemiological contexts. The framework conceptualizes diseases along a continuum from "pulse" to "press." Pulse diseases, like Ebola, are characterized by sudden onset, high mortality, and short-term outbreaks. Press diseases, like HIV, progress gradually with lower mortality and long-term persistence. Grounded in this pulse–press disease typology and ecological and health systems resilience, the theory suggests that the absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity, and resilience of community health workers in conflict areas can influence disease transmission, …

Authorship Attribution Of Ai-Generated Codes, Soohyeon Choi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The field of code authorship attribution focuses on identifying the author(s) of source code written in a specific programming language. Various methods, including manual crafting, automated crafting, and deep learning-generated features, have been developed for this task. These techniques leverage the unique stylistic patterns inherent in code, such as structure, comments, variable names, and function names, to attribute authorship accurately. This field has practical applications in software forensics, cybersecurity, and code plagiarism detection, enabling investigations into issues like piracy, intellectual property violations, and malware attribution. In educational settings, it helps detect plagiarism in programming assignments. However, traditional methods face challenges …

Computation-Efficient And Scalable Robotic Motion Planning Techniques To Address Dynamic Environmental Constraints, Apan Dastider

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In modern robotics, effectively computing optimal robotic control policies under dynamically varying environmental constraints poses substantial challenges and remains a unique research endeavor. To compute efficient and safe robotic motion planning while achieving collective objectives, robotic agents have to satisfy two criteria. First, the working robotic entity must be capable of handling a non-stationary working environment with dynamic obstacles and system constraints. Second, to ensure the real-time response, the robotic agent has to compute an effective control policy that meets a real-time learning performance. Despite significant advancements in motion planning with the appearance of extensive computing resources and advanced deep …

Assessing Driving Performance And Safety In Managed Lanes: A Human Factors Study On The Effects Of Buffer Separation Treatments With Delineators, Sharfuddin Ahmed

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Buffer separation with delineators is one of the commonly used separation treatments across US highways to distinguish managed lanes (ML) from general purpose lanes (GPLs). As MLs continue to be integrated into US highway system for improving traffic flow and reducing congestion, this separation method has become more popular due to its flexibility and cost efficiency over more robust physical separations. While past studies have explored the effectiveness and safety of buffer separations with delineators compared to other treatments, none have examined how specific changes within the buffer design—like separation width and delineator height—impact driver behavior. It is particularly important …

Evaluating Pedestrian Behavior In Response To Innovative Detection Messages And Wait-Time Indicators At Signalized Intersections: A Virtual Reality Study, Nada K. Ahmed

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Pedestrian safety at signalized intersections remains a growing concern in urban environments, necessitating effective communication between pedestrians and traffic control devices. Traditional approaches often prove inadequate in addressing these challenges. This study utilized virtual reality simulation to examine how innovative detection systems and wait-time indicators affect pedestrian behavior under varying environmental conditions. Ninety participants evenly distributed across three age groups experienced 18 crossing scenarios that differed by detection type, wait indication, crossing time, crossing distance, visibility, traffic density, and time of day. Key behavioral measures including start-up lost time, crossing speed, and total crossing duration were analyzed using linear mixed-effects …

Integration Of System Dynamics And Agent-Based Simulation To Emulate Cyberattacks In An Iot-Based Smart Grid, Francisco Valdez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The electric power grid is a cyber-physical system (CPS) that plays a fundamental role in modern society. With the integration of renewable energy sources and advanced communication technologies, Smart Grids (SGs) can enhance both the profitability and reliability of the electric power system. The communication network that interconnects numerous remotely distributed generators, devices, and controllers plays a vital role in grid control, and current trends favor the widespread adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, this network is inherently vulnerable to cyberattacks. This dissertation presents a hybrid methodology to model and analyze the dynamic behavior of an electrical Smart …

Additively Manufactured Engineered Transparent Ceramics For Laser Gain Media, Ross Osborne

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Transparent ceramics (TCs) offer a key advantage over single crystals as solid-state laser materials, in that their composition can be spatially varied to improve laser performance. In this work, additive manufacturing (AM) techniques were applied to TC fabrication to produce laser gain media with engineered gain and index profiles. We have used direct ink write (DIW) to fabricate laser rods and channel waveguides and introduced ink-spraying, a new technique, to realize multilayer planar waveguides. Modifications to the DIW process, including the use of sacrificial drying layers to promote uniform drying, the optimization of the drying, burnout and calcination steps all …

A Comparative Analysis Of Figurines From The Lower Rio Verde Valley From Oaxaca, Raynaliz C. Velazquez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis investigates 618 ceramic figurines from the Lower Río Verde Valley in Oaxaca, Mexico, to explore how figurine use varied across civic-ceremonial, domestic, and outlying contexts during the Terminal Formative and Late Classic periods. The central hypothesis proposes that figurines from the Río Viejo Acropolis, a civic-ceremonial center, would be larger and exhibit greater labor investment than those from residential and peripheral sites, reflecting more labor-intensive ideologies and ceremonial practices. Through typological, spatial, and material analysis, the study examines attributes such as size, surface treatment, production method, and the presence of musical elements. The dataset includes newly analyzed figurines …

Bim-Based Machine Learning Surrogate Models For Energy And Carbon Prediction To Support Leed Certification Evaluation, Liliane Magnavaca De Paula

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This research developed and validated a Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based Machine Learning (ML) framework for predicting the energy and carbon performance of office buildings during early design stages. The study addresses the need for reproducible data-driven methods supporting sustainable design decisions with reduced simulations time. The proposed approach integrates Revit and Insight with statistical modeling in Weka, creating an automated, transparent, and regionally adaptable workflow for energy and carbon prediction from a BIM-generated data. A reduced-factorial Design of Experiments (DOE) guided the generation of 260 parametric Insight simulations, including base, generalization, and stress-test models distributed across six U.S. climate zones. …

Exploring The Experience Of Heart Disease Among Burmese Immigrants In The United States, Khup S. It

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The ongoing political and military turmoil in Myanmar has resulted in a significant increase in the migration of Burmese individuals to the United States in recent years. This demographic shift has brought attention to the health challenges faced by Burmese immigrants, particularly with regard to heart disease (heart attack). The complexities of the U.S. healthcare system, compounded by legal and social barriers, place immigrants at greater risk for health disparities. This study examines the health challenges of Burmese immigrants in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a specific focus on their perceptions and experiences related to heart disease, as explored through illness narratives. …