Digital Commons Network^™

Public Health Simulation Infused Program (Pship) Toolkit, Desiree A. Díaz, Mindi Anderson, Francisco Guido-Sanz, Peggy Hill, Samantha Stephenson, Heather Peralta, Syretta Spears, Geraldine Luzincourt

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Project Narrative

PURPOSE AND NEED

Purpose: Priorities set forth by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) are addressed in the proposed simulation program in an effort to meet curricular needs and foster care to the medically underserved in Florida, further exposing students to public healthcare needs. Interprofessional (nursing and social work) and intraprofessional (undergraduate nurse and Nurse Practitioner [NP]) instruction is essential in the simulation-based education (SBE) program, promoting important content on identifying risk factors and health assessment of the medically underserved community (MUC) (Education Priority 2, §831). Coordination of medical care is a vicarious learning opportunity for all …

Using Mini-Datasets To Build Quantitative Research Skills, Julio Montanez

Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository

This resource provides a gentle introduction to undergraduate students on the intricacies of creating quantitative datasets.

The Scoop, Vol. 12 Issue 2, May 2025, Health Sciences Library

Volume 12

Latest news and updates from the Health Sciences Library in our monthly newsletter for May 2025. Please see page 2 for a text-only version of this issue!

Win-Win Field Placement: Creating Research Innovations In Online Msw Programs, Christina Kuchman, Hsiu-Fen Lin

Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository

This win-win field placement project proposes an innovative research education for the online Master of Social Work (MSW) programs. Students usually have challenges in fulfilling the competency requirement on research and feel disconnected between research, practice, and policy (Betts et al., 2024). Through this innovation, we can unleash the potential of the student, the agency, and the university. More importantly, we believe that this approach can be applied to other majors that require a field education and a research methods course as part of their curriculum, such as education, public health, criminal justice, and environmental science.

Introduction To Prompt Engineering, Mary Rubin, Rachel Vacek

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This presentation explores the fundamentals of effective prompt engineering, which involves well-crafted instructions for AI models to generate meaningful responses. Effective prompts can be written using frameworks like CLEAR and TRACI. The CLEAR Framework focuses on conciseness, logical structure, explicitness, adaptability, and reflection, while TRACI emphasizes task, role, audience, creation, and intent.

Additionally, the presentation addresses ethical considerations and best practices in prompt engineering, including academic integrity, attribution and transparency, and the importance of evaluation and assessment. By mastering these techniques, users can optimize their interactions with AI models, ensuring accuracy, relevancy, and minimizing bias.

Evidence Synthesis And Graduate Researchers: Benefits And Barriers, Corinne Bishop, Sarah Norris, Jason D. Phillips

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Detailed Description:

With the increased interest in evidence synthesis research in social sciences and fields outside of the health sciences, more librarians are actively involved in consulting and collaborating with researchers, with some also participating as co-authors on projects (Chapman, 2021; Kogut, Ramirez, & Foster, 2022). Based on individual requests, librarians may conduct comprehensives searches, document and report searches to ensure reproducibility, and/or assist with question refinement, protocol development, citation management tools, and evidence synthesis software.

To support evidence synthesis researchers, libraries are identifying support models and deciding on the scope of assistance they can provide. Within this process, …

Injury Prevention Research In Athletes, Maura Tangney

UN SDG Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship: Renewable Assignments

No abstract provided.

The Scoop, Vol. 12 Issue 1, April 2025, Health Sciences Library

Volume 12

Latest news and updates from the Health Sciences Library in our monthly newsletter for April 2025. Please see page 2 for a text-only version of this issue!

Gender-Targeted Substance Use Interventions For Young Cisgender Women And Transgender Women – A Scoping Review (Preliminary Results), Stephanie A. Nairn, Jason D. Phillips, Thomas Jones, Carolina Rodriguez, Debbie Schmill

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Abstract Polysubstance use among young people has recently become the focus of popular media, public health interventions, and research due to alarming increases in polysubstance use-related morbidity and mortality in younger age groups in North America. Research also suggests that gender is an important factor to consider when trying to understand polysubstance use and to develop effective interventions for substance use in young people.

Cisgender and transgender women's experience of polysubstance use is contextualized by intersecting structural, social, and individual-level factors. For example, young cisgender women are more likely to be the victims of rape, incest, childhood sexual and emotional …

The Scoop, Vol. 11 Issue 12, March 2025, Health Sciences Library

Volume 11

Latest news and updates from the Health Sciences Library in our monthly newsletter for March 2025. Please see page 2 for a text-only version of this issue!

A Report On Health Care Access By The United States Citizens., Kelvin Njuki, Emil Agbemade

Data Science and Data Mining

Access to health care is a critical factor in ensuring public health. This study analyzes data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for the years 2015–2018 to examine the relationship between health care coverage, affordability, and costs among U.S. families. Re-sults indicate that families with at least one member covered by health insurance were more likely to afford medical care and incur lower health care costs. Despite a high proportion of families with health care coverage during this period, the number of insured family members declined over the years. These findings underscore the importance of health care coverage in …

Modeling The Relationship Between Calories And Activity Metrics: A Regression Analysis With Variable Selection, Felix Yeboah

Data Science and Data Mining

Physical activity monitors have become integral to daily routines, with wearable devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit offering continuous data on users’ physical activity. This study compares the measurement accuracy of these devices by examining how they record parameters relevant to fitness and health. Employing multiple linear regression, we modeled the relationship between calories expended and a set of explanatory variables, including heart rate, steps, distance, age, activity level, weight, and device type. Evaluation of all possible variable combinations identified heart rate, steps, distance, weight, and watch type as the most effective predictors of calorie expenditure. Although the …

Optimized Hiv/Aids Resource Allocation In Ohio: A Linear Programming Approach, Godfred Ahenkroa Kesse

Data Science and Data Mining

This study employs a linear and integer programming approach to optimize HIV resource allocation in Ohio, aiming to minimize new infections and enhance the impact of limited resources. With the advances in HIV prevention and treatment, Ohio faces challenges in addressing disparities in access to healthcare, particularly among high-risk populations. The proposed model integrates data on infection rates, transmission patterns, demographic factors, and cost-effectiveness to provide a decision-support framework for policymakers. Using epidemiological data and equity constraints, the model prioritizes high-risk regions and populations while ensuring fair resource distribution. Results indicate that increased funding allocations significantly enhance the potential to …

At What Cost? The Personal Stakes Of Intellectual Freedom, Jason D. Phillips, Jordan Ruud

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This chapter explores the emotional, professional, and political costs faced by librarians advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusion and intellectual freedom within libraries. Through personal narrative and critical reflection, the authors introduce the concept of "queer battle fatigue"—a framework for understanding the cumulative psychological toll on LGBTQ+ individuals who are consistently placed in advocacy roles within predominantly cisheteronormative institutions. A case study of a drag storytime event at a university library illustrates the social backlash, institutional pressures, and moral injury experienced by organizers, demonstrating how well-intentioned programming can become flashpoints for political controversy. The authors highlight the intensifying hostility toward LGBTQ+ representation …

The Scoop, Vol. 11 Issue 11, February 2025, Health Sciences Library

Volume 11

Latest news and updates from the Health Sciences Library in our monthly newsletter for February 2025. Please see page 2 for a text-only version of this issue!

Ai-Integrated Cross-Disciplinary Liberal Arts Colloquium, Diana S. Perdue, Niloofar Gholamrezaei, Jennifer Krusinger, Shannon Hogan

Teaching Repository of AI-Infused Learning

What began organically as an AI-focused collaboration between faculty in different disciplines along with researchers in the college’s Center for Instructional Innovation, has evolved into college-wide pedagogical workshops and the development of a studio model that affects courses, programs, and paradigms for faculty scholarship.

Lessons from these collaborations inform understandings of how key features of liberal arts education can be supported through intentional AI-integration within a Cross-Disciplinary Liberal Arts Colloquium. More specifically, this colloquium offers recommendations on adapting a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and reflective studio model to in-person, online, and hybrid educational environments facilitated through a Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) …

Uncovering Acoustic Biomarkers To Classify Parkinson Disease Through Machine Learning, Felix Yeboah

Data Science and Data Mining

The early detection of diseases profoundly influences treatment efficacy, and accurate classification methodologies are essential for effective disease identification. In this project, we examined fve different classifers—Logistic Regression, Gaussian Naive Bayes, K Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Support Vector Machines—and evaluated their performance in detecting Parkinson’s disease (PD) based on voice features. The study aims to identify the best classifier for detecting PD. XGBoost performed the best, with an accuracy of 91% on the full dataset. After variable selection, KNN had the best performance with an accuracy of 91%. These findings suggest that Machine learning algorithms(classifiers) can …

Advanced Machine Learning Techniques For Cardiovascular Disease Risk Prediction, Godfred Ahenkroa Kesse

Data Science and Data Mining

of mortality, necessitating advanced predictive models to aid early detection and prevention. This study explores the application of machine learning techniques, including Lo- gistic Regression, K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Random Forest, and XGBoost, to predict CVD risk using a dataset of 69,997 observations encompassing demographic, clinical, and lifestyle factors. Data preprocessing involved one-hot encoding of cat- egorical variables and scaling to ensure compatibility with all models. Model performance was evaluated using metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and AUC-ROC. Among the models, XGBoost demonstrated the highest accuracy at 74%, leveraging its gradient-boosting framework to effectively handle feature interactions and imbalanced …

Predicting Blood Glucose Levels: A Linear Regression Approach For Non-Invasive Monitoring, Godfred Ahenkroa Kesse

Data Science and Data Mining

Accurate monitoring of blood glucose levels is vital for the management of diabetes, a chronic condition affecting millions worldwide. This study explores a linear regression approach to estimate glucose levels non-invasively using a dataset enriched with demographic, physiological, and sensor-based variables. Following rigorous data preparation, including normalization and encoding, a Box-Cox transformation was applied to address violations of regression assumptions, stabilizing variance and improving model validity. Stepwise selection and hypothesis testing were employed to refne the model, retaining signifcant predictors such as AGE, GENDER, HEARTRATE, and DIABETIC, while excluding variables like NIR Reading and LAST EATEN for their minimal contribution. …

Classification And Evaluation Of Machine Learning Algorithms On The Mnist Dataset, Felix Yeboah

Data Science and Data Mining

This paper discusses the use of machine learning algorithms in classifying the MNIST handwritten dataset. The MNIST dataset consists of 28x28 grayscale handwritten images with 10 classes from 0 to 9. The dataset was normalized by scaling the pixel values to a range between 0 and 1 by dividing each pixel value by 255. We compare and evaluate the K-nearest Neighbor and Naive Bayes algorithm based on performance metrics such as accuracy, error rate, f1-score, and precision. The K-nearest Neighbor algorithm achieved better performance in all the evaluation criteria.

Case Report: Adult Patient With Acquired Apraxia Of Speech Secondary To A Stroke In Broca's Area, Richard Zraick

UCF Created OER Artifacts

This open educational resource (OER) is a case report about an adult patient with acquired apraxia of speech secondary to stroke in Broca's area. This case report was originally developed for SPA 6236: Motor Speech Disorders, School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Central Florida, by Richard Zraick, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, F-ASHA. The content was based on output from ChatGPT and generated with the prompt: “Create a fictional case report for an adult patient with acquired apraxia of speech secondary to cerebrovascular accident in Broca’s area.” Others are free to reuse this OER to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon …

Little Learners, Big Impact: Inspiring Ocean Awareness In Young Minds, Carly Chard, Kate Frawley, Eduardo Sanchez

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

Marine pollution is one of the most urgent environmental crises of our time, threatening the health of our oceans, the survival of marine life, and the well-being of human societies that rely on them. Our educational presentation introduced 3rd-grade students to the issue of marine pollution through creative, hands-on learning. Students built recycled fish crafts using everyday materials, played an interactive cleanup game that demonstrated the importance of removing trash and rescuing marine animals tangled in fishing lines, and helped design a classroom mural to serve as a lasting reminder of their efforts. This service-learning project not only helped us …

Generations United: Empowering Seniors Through Service, Joseph C. Neddo, Samantha A. Renda, Eli J. Richard, Adam M. Lease, Athan L. Huskey, Connor J. Buttitta

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

As part of my service-learning experience, I partnered with Legacy Pointe at UCF, a senior living community dedicated to lifelong enrichment. Alongside my team, I helped design and implement resident-centered programs that focused on healthcare transitions, wellness, and emotional support. We hosted Healthcare Talks to educate residents on moving between independent living, assisted living, memory support, and skilled nursing. We also organized Flu Shot Clinics in collaboration with CFP Comprehensive Primary Care to promote preventative care, and facilitated mental wellness activities like memory games and a resident-led outdoor golf tournament.

Working with Legacy Pointe staff, Dr. Burrows’ practice, and faculty …

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 …

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 …

Association Between Excess Body Weight And Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Incidence, Taylor Parks

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Ulcerative Colitis Care: Combining A Fasting Mimicking Diet With Induction Therapy, Umed Norkulov, Arianna Rivera, Fawaz Qazi

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

This project analyzed a clinical trial investigating the effectiveness of adding a Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD) to advanced induction therapy for patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) The study (NCT0405410) was a Phase 3, randomized controlled trial involving 32 active participants. The intervention group (n=14) received advanced therapy plus the FMD, while the control group (n=18) received therapy alone. The primary objective was to determine if the FMD could improve remission rates and biomarkers. The trial found a statistically significant (P=0.05) benefit for the combined treatment group. The intervention group achieved a 57% clinical response rate compared to 38% in the control …

The Complete Picture: Bird Behavior On Fragmented Vs. Intact Oyster Reefs, Sophia L. Mcgarrity, Natalia Knapp-Seale, Gwyn Kirby, Enno Turner, Laura Ramsey

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

The presence and health of Florida’s coastal birds rely heavily on the integrity of oyster reefs, which house their crawling and swimming prey items. During this project, we observed bird behaviors across oyster reefs in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) via camera trap footage. The IRL is an important coastal ecosystem that preserves numerous bird species. A previous study in the IRL suggested that live oyster reefs have birds exhibiting more foraging behaviors than on dead reefs, suggesting a need to maintain connected reefs. Our work supports the research of Ph.D. candidate Tara Blanchard, whose work will inform decision-making for …

From Weight To Risk: Understanding Obesity’S Role In Diabetes Mortality, Orina V. Thomas

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

The goal of the study was to look into the potential relationship between obesity and diabetes-related mortality in the state of Florida. Diabetes is a significant chronic illness that has a wide range of effects throughout the state and is linked to major complications and early mortality. Understanding this association is crucial for guiding public health initiatives because obesity is one of the most significant and avoidable risk factors for type 2 diabetes.

To examine this association, I conducted an ecological correlation study using 2022 data from all 67 Florida counties. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) was used …

Home-Based Exercise Programs For Recovery After Tavr, Nikko Marvin A. Zamora, Bailey Mclain, Devrim Yalcindag, Aisha Khurshid, Michael Ortiz, Cheryl Cavaliere

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

The project titled “Home-Based Exercise Program for Recovery After TAVR” focuses on improving recovery outcomes in patients with heart valve disease, specifically those who have undergone Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). The purpose of the project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based exercise program, with and without Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CBI), compared to an educational control program. The study aimed to enhance patients’ physical functionality, quality of life, and recovery time after TAVR—an important consideration for older adults who may not be eligible for open-heart surgery.

Key activities included interpreting a clinical trial. To be able to look …