Digital Commons Network^™

Silent Agony: Automated Detection Of Ethnic And Religious Cyberbullying Using Machine Learning, Emil Agbemade

Data Science and Data Mining

The use of electronic mobile devices, social media, and networking websites has increased tremendously in recent years. Despite the advantages of these systems, such as exchanging ideas and information, being sociable, and providing entertainment, users may encounter adverse behaviors like toxicity, bullying, extremism, and cruelty. The prevalence of such behaviors has grown significantly in cyberspace, posing a threat to individuals and communities. To address this issue, there is a high demand for automated cyberbullying detection systems. Machine learning algorithms have been widely used to build such systems by classifying and detecting cyberbullying. In this study, we employed popular machine learning …

Analyzing The Impact Of Health, Economic, And Demographic Factors On Life Expectancy: A Comparative Study Of Developed And Developing Countries, Mahyar Alinejad

Data Science and Data Mining

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of three prominent machine learning regression models—Random Forest, XGBoost, and Support Vector Machine (SVM)—in the context of predictive analysis. Leveraging a carefully curated dataset, we explore the impact of various hyperparameters on model performance through an exhaustive tuning process. The Random Forest and XGBoost models exhibit robust predictive capabilities, with the former revealing notable insights through feature importance visualization. Additionally, SVM, optimized via GridSearchCV, demonstrates competitive performance. Evaluation metrics, including Mean Squared Error and R-squared, facilitate a thorough comparison of model efficacy. Results highlight nuanced strengths and weaknesses, informing practitioners on the suitability of …

Academic Affairs Diversity Taskforce Enewsletter #007, Academic Affairs Diversity Taskforce

Academic Affairs Diversity Taskforce

“Committed to a globalized, competitive and innovative workforce through diversity and inclusiveness” Academic Affairs Diversity Taskforce Newsletter Information on professional development and Diversity & Inclusion related news and events delivered directly to your inbox every semester.

Summer 2023 edition of the UCF Academic Affairs Diversity Taskforce Newsletter introduces LaVerne Parchman (the HRBC leader for Academic Affairs), calls for participation in the taskforce, promotes LinkedIn Learning, and provides reading recommendations.

Utilizing Carbon And Nitrogen Stable Isotopes To Examine Elite Juvenile Diet Of Individuals From Meroitic Sai Island, Sudan, Anelis Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Limited research has assessed the lived experiences of juveniles during the Nubian Meroitic Period (300 BCE - 350 CE). Therefore, the focus of this research is to examine dietary patterns throughout development of elite juveniles from Sai Island, Sudan to identify if dietary variations exist throughout development that may be a result of social differences within the juvenile population. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of tooth dentin from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd molars of 11 adult individuals interred at cemetery 8-B-52.B on Sai Island are utilized to examine diet through the life course. As each tooth corresponds to …

Population Differences In Human Mandibular Growth, Madison Hubbart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Mandibles are one of the most common bones encountered in the human archaeological record. Variation in mandibular morphology is often associated with differences in subsistence strategy as masticatory stresses influence bone growth and development. Bone growth is stimulated by bone modeling, the process by which formation and resorption occur through the uncoupled activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, respectively. There is a limited understanding of bone modeling patterns in humans due to a lack of quantitative data and small sample sizes. The aim of this research was to address the question: is there a shared bone modeling pattern in the mandible …

Perceived Barriers To And Comfort Levels With Hypothetical Intimate Partner Violence Help-Seeking Among Arab Americans, Jana Mostafa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Members of the Arab American community experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) face unique barriers to help-seeking and have different comfort levels with using formal and informal resources. This thesis surveyed Arab-Americans to identify perceived barriers and comfort levels with IPV help-seeking. A culturally informed and centered approach was taken to examine connections between individual level factors, perceived barriers and comfort levels in using resources. To do so, I gathered data via an online survey with 82 Arab American participants. Findings suggest that participants perceived the greatest barriers to seeking help for IPV are related to how others view and understand …

Development Of Regolith Simulants Of Lunar Permanently Shadowed Regions And Jupiter Trojan Asteroids, Karlis Slumba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Every scientific experiment or innovation goes through a phase of testing equipment. This is not only true for experiments in the laboratory, but also very relevant for experiments on other planetary bodies. In order to test tools and robotic equipment that are destined for another planet, moon, asteroid or comet, it is necessary to simulate the regolith environment on that surface. In this thesis we have provided an overview of two methods for regolith simulant development. In one approach we made simulants in different compositions to find the best spectral fit to Jupiter Trojan asteroids. At visible to near-infrared (VNIR) …

And They Saved My Sorry Ass: A Documentary Discovering Self In Contemporary Fan Culture, Chunxiao Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

"And They Saved My Sorry Ass" is a documentary/personal essay film about queer ani- me lovers (including the filmmaker) based both in the US and in China. This film focuses on how these fans express their identities by embodying and re-interpreting anime characters. Experimental methods, such as staged performance, first-person narration and abstract imaging are explored in addition to conventional interviews. This thesis follows the pre-production, production and post-production processes of making this film through 2020 to 2023, also mapping out marketing and distribution plans after finishing the project.

Ocean Vector Wind Measurement Potential From The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Using A Combined Active And Passive Algorithm, Alamgir Hossan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Ocean surface vector wind (OVW) is an essential parameter for understanding the physics and dynamics of the ocean-atmosphere system, thereby improving weather forecasting and climate studies. Satellite scatterometers, synthetic aperture radars, and polarimetric microwave radiometers have provided almost global coverage of ocean surface vector wind for the last four decades. Nonetheless, a consistent and uninterrupted long-time data record with the capability of resolving sub-diurnal variability has remained a critical challenge over the years. The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) is a satellite mission designed to provide space-based precipitation information on a global scale with complete diurnal sampling. This dissertation presents …

Evolutionary History And Adaptation To Salinity In American Alligators, John Konvalina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Stressful environments can commonly be found at the edge of a species range and may be a driver for adaption in suboptimal environments. Furthermore, the edge of a species' range can expand and contract over time, resulting in multiple independent invasions of the same stressful habitat. Elucidating population genetic structure and demographic history can aid in determining the which geologic factors impact range distributions and when climatic changes occurred driving genetic patterns observed in contemporary populations. Moreover, populations at the edge of the species range may adapt to the stressful environments that occur at the range edge and exhibit genetic …

Using An Interactional Ethnographic Perspective To Explore Insider Perspectives When Working With Previously Archived Records, Michelle Sullivan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Studies in social science fields have examined specific issues in (re)using archived records for qualitative research, though few have focused on the use of private archives in ethnographic research, especially when it comes to foregrounding participant perspectives. In this methodological dissertation I draw on two sets of archived records to demonstrate how an ethnographer can make visible insider knowledge and perspectives when conducting qualitative research with archived records. Utilizing an interactional ethnographic perspective, I construct a dataset for analysis, making my logic visible as I use mapping and transcription, domain and taxonomic analysis, and discourse analysis to foreground insider perspectives …

Machine Learning-Based Approaches For Predicting The Critical Temperature Of Superconductor, Pradip Dhakal

Data Science and Data Mining

This paper focuses on utilizing multiple linear regression, lasso regression, and extreme gradient boosting algorithms to predict the critical temperature of the superconductor. The model will be evaluated using the mean square error and adjusted R-squared values, and the best model will be recommended for future work related to this study.

Network Structure And Network Effectiveness In Thailand's Provincial Covid-19 Response Networks, Ruechagorn Trairatananusorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Health and well-being are key focuses for international organizations and governments around the world as one of the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs). The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic since late 2019 has led to not only substantial life losses, but also negative social and economic impacts that are relatively comparable to the "Spanish Flu" pandemic. The insights from public administration literature suggested that emergency and crisis management require collaborative efforts from various stakeholders across sectors and levels. However, the existing literature that studied the COVID-19 pandemic response under network perspective is still scarce in developing countries, especially in …

Homogeneity Test On Error Rates From Ordinal Scores And Application To Forensic Science, Ngoc Ty Nguyen

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve is used to measure the classification accuracy of tests that yield ordinal or continuous scores. Ordinal scores are common in medical imaging studies and, more recently, in black-box studies on forensic identification accuracy (Phillips et al., 2018). To assess the accuracy of radiologists in medical imaging studies or the accuracy of forensic examiners in biometric studies, one needs to estimate the ROC curves from the ordinal scores and account for the covariates related to the radiologists or forensic examiners. In this thesis, we propose a homogeneity test to compare the performance of raters. We …

Who Cares About Virtual Campus Tours? Virtual Tours In The College Choice Model And Perceived Student-Institution Fit, Christopher Thompson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

College recruitment practices have remained stagnant for quite some time. However, due to decreases in state funding and hypercompetitive applicant pools colleges must adapt their recruitment practices to remain competitive. Due to precautions and social distancing guidelines which occurred in 2020 caused by the coronavirus pandemic, college information sessions, college fairs, campus tours and other recruitment events were suspended. As such, admissions administrators were forced to rely on virtual recruitment practices, including virtual campus tours, to recruit applicants. Virtual campus tours allow colleges to expand their applicant pool by engaging with prospective students, who may not possess the required finances …

An Equal Wage For All: Investigating The Gender Wage Gap In Opticianry, Christine E. Pinkney

Honors Undergraduate Theses

To better understand the gender wage gap and how it affects licensed working opticians in Florida, an attitudinal survey was constructed using a Likert scale and an online survey instrument through Qualtrics. A pilot study was used with student opticians to investigate the clarity of the questions. This research aimed to learn about Florida opticians' current attitudes toward the gender wage gap in their field and to investigate if this knowledge had somehow affected their decision to stay in the opticianry field. The data from the pilot study indicates that while opticians are aware of the gender wage gap, they …

The Relative Contribution Of Health-Care Points Of Service To Overall Patient Satisfaction At A University Health Center, Jay M. Parikh

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Throughout the process of receiving healthcare, a patient is affected by several factors and processes. To just name a few, how long a patient must wait at the clinic, how friendly the front desk is, how the nurse treats the patient, how effective the physician is with his or her communication, what the cost of a patient's healthcare is, and how clean the clinic is all affect the patient's experience. When clinics excel in these factors, it promotes a favorable relationship between the patient and the clinic. Patients trust the healthcare provider and desire to continue attending that clinic when …

Authority And Politics: The Relation Between Authority And Political Views Among Those With The Normative Identity Style, Patrick Oefelein

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the theorized identity styles and political positions, views, and opinions. Also investigated were the effects of authority on political views, specifically within the normative identity style. Students at a large southeastern metropolitan university (N = 440) took an anonymous online survey in exchange for course credit. Those with a normative identity style, who look to authority figures for answers, were found to have much higher levels of conservatism and held more conservative positions than did those with an informational style, who seek out their own sources for …

Observing The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Overall Health, Anxiety, And Sleep, Brianna Chicas

Honors Undergraduate Theses

College students' mental health has been researched for some time. In particular, the correlation between physical activity and mental health symptoms has been researched. The study examines the relationship between physical activity and anxiety, sleep, and overall health. College undergraduate students at the University of Central Florida took an online survey that measured all of these variables. A Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess correlations. Positive correlations were found between anxiety and sleep, anxiety and social desirability, sleep and social desirability, and strength training and vigorous physical activity. Negative correlations were found between overall health and physical activity, overall …

Characterization Of Multiphase Complex Coacervate Droplets, Lindsey Rush

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intracellular environment of eukaryotic cells has been found to have membrane-less organelles, which form through liquid-liquid phase separation.^1,2 The membrane-less organelles within the cell can be modeled with multiphase complex coacervates that are formed through the combination of two liquid polyelectrolyte complex coacervates, which are individually made up of a pair of one positively charged polymer and one negatively charged polymer.^3,4 Membrane-less organelles in a eukaryotic cell have been found to aggregate from liquid to solid in neurological disorders and during the aging process⁵, and investigation into the factors affecting aggregation of multiphase complex coacervates …

Examining Academic Challenges And Mental Health Among First-Generation And Non-First-Generation Students, Cecilia Q. Bui

Honors Undergraduate Theses

First-generation students are individuals whose parents have not attended college. These students often face challenges such as academic pressures, lack of social support, and mental health problems. Research has found that first-generation students experience a culture shock when transitioning from high school to college. These factors can impact academic success and affect overall health. This quantitative, cross-sectional study examined the impact of stress on mental health among first-generation and non-first-generation students. The study also examined if social and emotional support had a buffering effect on levels of depression, anxiety, and academic stress among first-generation college students. A survey measuring these …

The Joint Effect Of Mindsets And Consequence Awareness On Task Performance, Melinda F. Ammon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Auditors face strong incentives to execute tasks efficiently and meet deadlines; these conditions are both conducive to – and rewarding of – implemental mindsets. However, an implemental mindset may deprioritize careful analysis and thoughtful decision-making, leading to suboptimal performance and audit quality. Conversely, deliberative mindsets promote critical thinking and open-mindedness – and research suggests auditors in a deliberative mindset perform complex tasks more effectively than auditors in an implemental mindset. Additionally, auditors encounter frequent reminders about the consequences of audit failures. This study examines how these factors (i.e., mindsets and consequence reminders) jointly influence auditors' performance on complex tasks. I …

An Overview Of The Current Alternative Dispute Resolution (Adr) System: Projections For Future Expansion Of Adr Within Florida's Civil Court System, Alysia Rose Patterson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Currently, mediation in Florida is a pre-suit requirement only for condo associations, homeowner disputes, and medical malpractice suits, as discussed in Florida Statute Chapter 720.311, 718.1255, 766.108, as well as those ordered by a judge. The American Bar Association (ABA) also reported that only 23 of the 204 law schools (11%) approved by the ABA require some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) coursework to graduate. Changes need to be made for the ADR program to thrive and reach its full potential within our judicial system. This thesis will highlight that by calling for the government to make mediation a …

Relationship Between Patient Race And Provider Communication, Kristin M. Marino

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Health disparities by race in the United States have been persistent over decades and one possible reason for that could be that physicians are communicating differently with different races. The purpose of this study was to systematically review literature regarding the relationship of patient race/ethnicity with physician-patient communication. The overall project of which this is a part is a mixed methods review, but my part of the study involved only studies using observational data such as audio and video recordings of physician-patient encounters. This study investigated research that compares physician communication with patients across a wide range of ethnic groups, …

Investigating Mental Illness Perception On Social Media And The Propensity To Self-Diagnose, Camille R. Omega

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The perception of mental illness has often been studied in traditional face-to-face settings, but the research on its perception in an online setting has been growing recently. Social media platforms have allowed for important conversations regarding mental health to gain popularity and led to the formation of communities where users can share their personal experiences. It has also given professionals the opportunity to educate others on various mental health topics and answer specific questions their audience may have. From these posts and forums, users who are concerned with their mental health can be given the guidance to achieve proper assistance …

Male Pornography Viewers' Perceptions Of Asian Women, Caitlyn M. Koerner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Objectification and sexual aggression are common themes in pornography. However, there are only a handful of quantitative studies that examine the role of race in pornography that included Asian women, a population that has been fetishized extensively and historically portrayed as hypersexual in mainstream media. There were also no studies on the self-reported attitudes of viewers around this topic. 96 male university students took a survey measuring the frequency and perception of their pornography use, their acceptance of sexual aggression myths, their objectification of Asian women, and their propensity to agree with microaggressions about Asian women. Results indicated that while …

The Effects Of Kangaroo Care On The Stress Levels Of Parents In The Nicu, Niyati Sishodia

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Parents of NICU patients have high stress levels compared to other populations, which negatively impact their mental health. The kangaroo care (KC) method has been used for its numerous benefits for infants, but not as widely studied for its impacts on parental stress. The purpose of this integrative literature review is to examine and synthesize the existing evidence regarding kangaroo care and its impact on the stress levels of NICU parents.

Methods: A literature search was conducted utilizing CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, and APA PsychInfo databases to identify relevant articles. Articles were included if they were published …

Weierstrass Vertices On Finite Graphs, Abrianna L. Gill

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore whether any patterns emerge among families or through graph operations regarding the appearance of Weierstrass vertices on graphs. Currently, patterns have been identified and proven on cycles, complete graphs, complete bipartite graphs, and the house and house-x graphs. A Python program developed as part of this thesis to perform the algorithms used in this analysis confirms these findings. This program also revealed a pattern: if v is a Weierstrass vertex, then the vertex v* added to the graph as a pendant vertex to v is also a Weierstrass vertex. The converse is …

Social Determinants Of Chronic Kidney Disease In The Black American Community: A Systematic Review, Addea Coleman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This systematic review aims to examine the relationship between the social determinants of health that significantly impact the prevalence and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) amongst Black Americans. The Black American population has the highest prevalence of CKD in the United States, while concurrently possessing prominent genetic risk factors for this chronic disease. The social determinants: healthcare quality and access (extended to account for health behaviors), social and community context, and economic stability were specifically assessed in this review. Key terms were utilized to search electronic databases PubMed and Web of Science, which yielded 470 unduplicated articles. Twenty-nine articles …

Evaluation Of Sleep Benefits Following A 16-Week Judo Program For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Neha R. Chittaluru

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by language and communication deficits, and difficulties with social interaction (Twisk, 2001). Research has shown that 80% of youth with ASD experience sleep challenges which can lead to sleep-related health issues, exacerbate problematic behaviors, and increase vulnerability to anxiety and depression (Wachob & Lorenzi, 2015; Williams et al., 2004; Richdale & Schreck, 2009). Sleep plays a central role in adaptive functioning, and insufficient sleep can hinder learning, memory, and neuroplasticity for children with ASD (Cohen et al., 2014). As these unhealthy behavior patterns can lead to more adverse long-term health consequences, it …