Digital Commons Network^™

Towards A Holistic And Comparative Analysis Of The Free Content Web: Security, Privacy, And Performance, Abdulrahman Alabduljabbar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Free content websites that provide free books, music, games, movies, etc., have existed on the Internet for many years. While it is a common belief that such websites might be different from premium websites providing the same content types in terms of their security, a rigorous analysis that supports this belief is lacking from the literature. In particular, it is unclear if those websites are as safe as their premium counterparts. In this dissertation, we set out to investigate the similarities and differences between free content and premium websites, including their risk profiles. Moreover, we analyze and quantify through measurements …

The Successful Characteristics That Contribute To Black Male Students Matriculating Into Medical School, Cedric Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In 2019, individuals that identified as Black represented 13.4% of the U.S. population, 12.5% of the undergraduate student enrollment population and 7.1% of the medical school population. Subsequently, this has yielded a 5% Black physician population and workforce consisting of just 2.3% Black male physicians (AAMC, 2018). The disproportionately low Black physician representation contributes to greater healthcare disparity outcomes within the U.S. Black population. This study is centered on the post-positive characteristics of Black male medical students that have successfully overcome barriers to entry and matriculated into medical school. The phenomenological post-positive study was conducted through the lens of Self-Efficacy …

Understanding Outgroup Aversion Effects On Innovation Adoption And Polarization In Network Environments, Bruce G. Miller

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Individuals' decisions to adopt an innovation can be influenced by the group identity of previous adopters or non-adopters in their social network. Previous research in innovation diffusion considered initial innovators and word-of-mouth imitator effects using analytical models. Simulations and agent-based models have been developed to address the heterogeneity of decision makers and the non-linearity of the process. A further refinement modeled adoption based on networks of social relationships between potential decision makers, analogous to the spread of disease on networks. In addition, adoption or non-adoption of some innovations has been characterized as a means of signaling identification with or aversion …

Patterns Of Risk Behaviors And Their Value: A Latent Class Growth Modeling Approach, Anthony Naranjo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The current body of individual risk behavior research has been mainly driven by two streams of literature. Stable risk researchers propose individuals tend to display similar risk behaviors across time and situations due to individuals' underlying propensity to either engage in risk averse or risk seeking behaviors. Changeable risk researchers have sought out to examine variability in risk behaviors due to factors such as personality and contextual characteristics. However, might it be the case that there are subgroups of individuals who may be more prone to display static risk behaviors and other subgroup whose risk behaviors are more amendable? To …

Student Perceptions Of Campus Crime And Victim Services, Tracy Gulliford

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Few would argue that college campus crime is a serious problem across the United States. Debate arises, however, regarding why the problem is so pervasive and how best to address it. This dissertation addresses that gap by exploring the nature and magnitude of the college campus crime problem followed by a rationale for studying student perceptions regarding knowledge about and use of victim services resources offered on the University of Central Florida (UCF) campus. Doing so is particularly important in light of the fact that five years have now passed since UCF launched the "Let's Be Clear" campaign designed to …

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 …

Military & Veteran Student Success, Christopher Clark, Kate Rumisek, Anyelina Izzo, Sidrah Tufail, Vihan Yalamanchili

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2023

Our U-LEAD group collaborated with Mr. Michael Kepner, UCF’s Director of Military and Veteran’s Student Success (MVSS). The mission of the MVSS is to create an enriching and inclusive environment for military-affiliated students to achieve educational and career goals through academic success and community partnerships. In keeping with its mission, MVSS places miniature U.S. flags on campus every year since 2013. The number of flags on display corresponds to the military/veteran students attending UCF in Fall—1,400 flags were planted in 2022. This helps military-affiliated students through best practices, policies, and culture.

Project Nur: Illuminating Lives Through Islamic Society's Community Service In Central Florida, Adam Bawatneh

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2023

This poster presents an in-depth exploration of my service experience at the Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF), where I have been serving as the head chef for the Family Night event. It delves into the challenges and triumphs encountered during my service, particularly in light of the recent conflict in Palestine. The poster also reflects on the personal growth and leadership development I have experienced throughout this journey.

Utilizing Bloodless Medicine To Decrease Infection Rates In Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Literature Review, Samantha Saint Fort

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Aim: To determine if a significant relationship exists between bloodless medicine practices and decreased infection rates in oncology patients following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation by performing a literature review.

Background: It is not uncommon for healthcare professionals to encounter Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) seeking medical treatment in the acute care hospital setting and outpatient clinics alike. However, JW's pose a unique challenge to healthcare providers. Their refusal of blood transfusions makes them a population of interest within the medical community. The refusal of blood transfusions also poses a serious challenge to successful treatment in oncology JW patients, and many hospitals will …

Nursing-Related Interventions To Obstetric Violence: A Literature Review, Annaliece M. Balensiefen

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The aim of this literature search was to explore the prevalence of obstetric violence and identify nursing interventions that could potentially prevent the mistreatment of pregnant women in the United States healthcare system. Background: The topics of obstetric violence and healthcare disparities have been gaining awareness. Other countries have a larger body of research for obstetric violence compared to the U.S. Methods: CINAHL Plus with Full Text and MEDLINE databases were utilized. Global perspectives were considered in conjunction with the U.S. and specifically Florida. Healthcare disparities in obstetric care were identified, based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexuality, disability, …

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome In Survivors Of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (Ards) And Covid-19 Ards: A Descriptive Study, Sara Hassan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) is an umbrella term for the long-term physical, cognitive, and mental health conditions survivors live with long after an ICU discharge. Mental health conditions experienced by survivors include anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Survivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and COVID ARDS who were on a ventilator are particularly at risk of developing long-term mental health conditions.

Study Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the severity of anxiety, depression, and PTSD in adult survivors of these two ARDS conditions (COVID ARDS; ARDS) who were admitted to intensive care units …

Interventions To Alleviate Guilt In Family Caregivers Of Patients Receiving Hospice Or End-Of-Life Care: A Scoping Review, Kyla N. Huelle

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This scoping review contains a literature analysis regarding interventions used by health care workers to alleviate guilt in caregivers of patients during end-of-life care. During end-of-life care, many transitions and decisions are made that add to the burden of caregivers. Family caregivers experience many physical, financial, and emotional stressors during the journey of end-of-life care, and this can result in guilt. Feelings of guilt can lead to poorer health outcomes and coping in family caregivers and should be addressed by health providers. In this scoping review, a literature search was conducted using various key terms like "guilt," "hospice," "end-of-life care," …

Nursing Interventions For Families Of Children With Down Syndrome Evaluating Coping Mechanisms And Community Resources, Ashley M. Brophy

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal disorder, occurring in 1 out of every 700 births in the United States (Skotko et al., 2009). After receiving the initial Down syndrome diagnosis, the majority of mothers reported feeling frightened and anxious, and very few rated the experience as positive. Parents reported feeling that their physicians focused on the negative aspects of Down syndrome and rarely provided enough resources (Skotko, 2005). The purpose of this literature review was to identify current community resources for families of children with Down syndrome and identify the most effective ways for medical professionals to support parents …

Time Until Subsequent Pregnancy After Intrauterine Fetal Demise And Early Infant Death Based On Grieving Strategies, Gertride Delhomme

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the coping strategies of families and childbearing women after intrauterine fetal demise and early infant death. The secondary purpose is to examine the effect of grieving strategies after intrauterine fetal demise compared to early infant death on time until subsequent pregnancy in women of childbearing age. A literature review exploring parental grief and coping strategies to cope with loss and its effect on the subsequent pregnancy was conducted from various online databases. All reviewed articles in the analysis indicated that coping strategies consist of a diverse number of mechanisms during the bereavement …

Nursing Interventions To Decrease Depressive And Anxious Symptoms In Hispanic-American Youth, Vanessa C. Hernandez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Introduction: Hispanic-American youth are less likely to receive mental health services despite being at increased risk for depression and anxiety. Having depression and anxiety at a young age can have detrimental long-term effects such as sexual risk behavior, delinquency, and suicide. Various kinds of nurses interact with this age group which can be a missed opportunity to intervene for the welfare of these youth. Interventions exist for depression and anxiety; however, they are not specific to nurses who care for young Hispanic-American patients. Methods: An integrative literature review was performed to identify nursing interventions for Hispanic American youth with depression …

Overtourism In Dichotomies: Uncovering Dynamic And Non-Dynamic Costs And Benefits In Three Tourism Destinations, Aarash Baktash

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The phenomenon of overtourism, characterized by its multifaceted impacts on destinations, has emerged as a major concern in the tourism industry. This dissertation aims to explore the dynamics of overtourism, emphasizing the dual impacts of main-source tourism markets on destinations in terms of their economic, social, and environmental consequences. Unlike existing literature, which focuses primarily on the negative aspects of overtourism, the present study illustrates the nuanced interaction between tourism markets by highlighting both their potential benefits and disadvantages. This study offers an in-depth analysis of cost and benefit factors based on a priori and a posteriori segmentation methodologies, combined …

Role Of Vitamin D, Folate, And Cobalamin Deficiency In Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis Infection And Inflammation, Joseph Vaccaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Vitamin D, folate, and cobalamin (vitamin B12) are crucial micronutrients in human physiology that are necessary for healthy calcium, phosphorus, and single-carbon metabolism. Recent studies have indicated that these vitamins also affect the inflammatory response in ways unrelated to their well-characterized deficiencies. Accordingly, analysis of their effect on chronic inflammatory diseases like Crohn's disease (CD) is warranted. This investigation examines the effects of vitamin deficiency on macrophages and intestinal epithelial cells upon exposure to Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP,) a pathogen capable of triggering CD, to model the inflammatory response in clinical CD patients. ELISA analysis of CD patient plasma established …

Host Cell Responses Modulate Oncolytic Viral Treatment Of Neuroblastoma Cells, Kritika Kedarinath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive pediatric cancer that is poorly responsive to traditional cancer therapies. Oncolytic viral (OV) vectors such as Zika virus (ZIKV) and Parainfluenza virus type 5 (P/V virus) are promising neuroblastoma therapeutics, but the role of innate immune responses in the effectiveness of OV killing is not well understood. Previous studies showed the neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-AS (expressing low CD24) had low permissivity for ZIKV infection, and this restriction was relieved by ectopic CD24 expression (CD24-high cells). Compared to permissive CD24-high cells, the non-permissive CD24-low cells had elevated basal levels of IRF-1, NF?B and phosphorylated STAT1; these cells …

The Associations Among Racial Discrimination, Perceived Stress And Birth Satisfaction Among Black Women, Amanda De La Serna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this dissertation research was to examine the associations among experiences of racial discrimination, perceived stress and birth satisfaction among Black women, and to examine the mediating effect of perceived stress on the association of experiences of racial discrimination with birth satisfaction among Black women. The first manuscript is an integrative literature review which evaluates prior research of the association of stress with birth satisfaction, with consideration to studies that included Black women in their samples. This review revealed a need for further research evaluating stress and birth satisfaction specific to Black women. The second manuscript examines the …

Analysis Of Multi-Drug Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Using Split Deoxyribozymes, Abryana Fergus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Globally, tuberculosis, a disease caused by the species of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) complex, stands as a leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Even though antituberculous drugs are available, treatment is challenging due to antibiotic resistance associated with point mutations in the bacterial genome. Resistance to the first-line antibiotics – rifampin and isoniazid – results in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) requiring a more complicated treatment regimen. Timely and accurate identification of drug-resistant TB cases can help prescribe the most effective treatment and prevent the spread of infection. This research aims to develop an assay to discern multi-drug resistant forms …

A Developmental Investigation Of Separation And Analysis Of Molecular Mass 302 Da Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography And Chiral Stationary Phase, James Janesko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

High molecular weight – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW-PAH) are often found where air, water, and soil are subject to higher levels of industrial pollutants. These molecules are environmentally concerning due to their carcinogenic, mutagenic, and tumorigenic propensities. Furthermore, the isomers in this family are challenging to separate due to similar retention parameters, spectroscopic fingerprints, and mass spectral patterns. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to expand on the methodology for separation and analysis of the molecular mass 302 Da six-ring isomers using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Retention behaviors of 21 commercially available isomers in synthetic mixture were collected via …

Defining Sober Harms And Factors That Influence Them: Blame It On The Alcohol?, Jessica Flori

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Reductions in alcohol use have often led to smaller reductions in harms than expected, and this may result from inadequate measurement of alcohol-related consequences. Harms questionnaires typically include consequences that can occur in the absence of alcohol use leading to an over attribution of certain harms to drinking (e.g., an individual might endorse engaging in risky behavior while drinking and while sober). The purpose of this study was to examine limitations of harms assessment by collecting data on frequency of harms while drinking and while sober, and to identify potential determinants of harms unrelated to alcohol use. College student participants …

Dormant Propagules In Demographic Studies: A Recurrent Bias And Potential Solutions, Federico Borghesi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

In the face of unprecedented anthropogenic change, we increasingly turn to emergent technologies and extensive data sets for solutions that complement much needed systemic changes in our societies. These technological solutions, however, must be approached with care. We must recognize and address biases in the way data has been accumulated. In demographic studies, dormant life stages, such as seed banks, and other cryptic factors have often been neglected. The potential consequences of these omissions have been extensively described in the literature. In the first chapter, I analyze patterns of seed bank omissions in demographic models, finding unjustified omissions are widespread …

Algorithms And Variations On The Positional Burrows-Wheeler Transform And Their Applications, Ahsan Sanaullah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this dissertation, we develop algorithms and variations on the Positional Burrows-Wheeler Transform (PBWT). The PBWT is a data structure that stores M binary strings of length N while allowing efficient search. We develop the dynamic-PBWT (d-PBWT). The d-PBWT is a variation of the PBWT that allows its relevant algorithms to run with unchanged time complexity, but also allows efficient insertion and deletion of haplotypes. We provide insertion and deletion algorithms on the PBWT with average case O(N) time complexity. We also improve upon the query algorithms for the PBWT. Durbin described a set maximal match query algorithm on the …

Spatial Ensemble Distillation Learning Based Real-Time Crash Prediction And Management Framework, Md Rakibul Islam

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Real-time crash prediction is a complex task, since there is no existing framework to predict crash likelihood, types, and severity together along with a real-time traffic management strategy. Developing such a framework presents various challenges, including not independent and identically distributed data, imbalanced data, large model size, high computational cost, missing data, sensitivity vs. false alarm rate (FAR) trade-offs, estimation of traffic restoration time after crash occurrence, and real-world deployment strategy. A novel spatial ensemble distillation learning modeling technique is proposed to address these challenges. First, large-scale real-time data were used to develop a crash likelihood prediction model. Second, the …

Acausal Modeling Of Wind Turbines With Validation And Control Studies, Kazi Ishtiak Mohsin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This thesis involves the modeling, validation, and control studies of a Control-Oriented, Reconfigurable, and Acausal Floating Turbine Simulator (CRAFTS), that is currently under development. CRAFTS uses Modelica®, an object-oriented, declarative, multi-domain modeling language for physical system modeling in the Dymola environment. The CRAFTS simulator facilitates rapid dynamic simulation of wind turbines with various model variants and enables control co-design.

A major emphasis of this thesis is in the validation of the CRAFTS simulator for a 15-MW land-based wind turbine through several test cases. These test cases were collaboratively developed in conjunction with other participating research entities. CRAFTS has undergone rigorous …

Social Media-Based Crisis Communication: Analysis Of Twitter Data From Local Agencies During Hurricane Irma, Naiyara Noor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As social media platforms have become vital means of communications, it has become imperative for emergency managers and policy makers to understand how people are interacting with different agencies on these platforms for enhancing community response coordination during disasters. Although many public agencies have already adopted social media platforms for crisis communication purposes, empirical evidence on whether and how these agencies are effectively engaged on these platforms is lacking. This research aims to examine crisis communication activities of a variety of agencies on Twitter in response to Hurricane Irma in 2017. In this study, we analyzed 13,353 hurricane-related tweets posted …

Improving Deep Neural Network Training With Knowledge Distillation, Dongdong Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Knowledge distillation, as a popular compression technique, has been widely used to reduce deep neural network (DNN) size for a variety of applications. However, in recent years, some research had found its potential for improving deep neural network performance. This dissertation focuses on further exploring its power to facilitate accurate and reliable DNN training. First, I explored data-efficient method for blackbox knowledge distillation where the specifics of the DNN for distillation is inaccessible. I integrated active learning and mixup to obtain significant distillation performance gain with limited data. This work reveals the competence of knowledge distillation to facilitate large foundation …

Comparing Phosphorus Removal Efficiencies And Mechanisms Via Two Cost-Effective Specialty Adsorbents In A Cascade Upflow Filtration System, Sydney Kilgus-Vesely

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Finding solutions to treat water that contains phosphorus is an important effort due to the harmful impacts it presents to both human health and the environment. Phosphorus is considered a limiting factor in water oftentimes and therefore controls the growth of algal bloom in a water body. The increase of algal populations due to wastewater effluent, stormwater runoff, and agricultural discharge in Florida waters has a direct link to the event of harmful algal blooms such as red tide in coastal regions, eutrophication of waterbodies, and fish kills. Finding low cost, energy efficient, and low maintenance green sorption media (GSM) …

Variational Autoencoder And Sensor Fusion For Robust Myoelectric Controls, Keith A. Currier

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Myoelectric control schemes aim to utilize the surface electromyography (EMG) signals which are the electric potentials directly measured from skeletal muscles to control wearable robots such as exoskeletons and prostheses. The main challenge of myoelectric controls is to increase and preserve the signal quality by minimizing the effect of confounding factors such as muscle fatigue or electrode shift. Current research in myoelectric control schemes are developed to work in ideal laboratory conditions, but there is a persistent need to have these control schemes be more robust and work in real-world environments. Following the manifold hypothesis, complexity in the world can …