Digital Commons Network^™

Editors’ Letter – Repositioning Jhfm For Impact And Global Relevance, Murat Kizildag, Mats Carlbäck, Jessica Vieira De Souza

Journal of Hospitality Financial Management

No abstract provided.

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

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

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Fall 2025

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

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

Journeys Across Worlds, Carolina Guzman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Journeys across Worlds is a collection of five short stories that transport readers into otherworldly landscapes. Each narrator embarks on a transformative journey, encountering adventure, wonder, and self-discovery. In “Through Borrowed Eyes,” a blind sorceress wields a powerful curse to see through the eyes of others, only to realize the cost of her magic may be too great. “A Gaze Across Dreams” follows a lonely Dreamweaver who, after an eternity of being unseen, is suddenly perceived by a lucid dreamer. The collection concludes with “Where the Skies Are Blue,” a tale of two sisters navigating a post-apocalyptic world, where the …

Sliding Through The Cracks: An Evaluation Of The Fba System And An Exploration Of Traditional Trombone Training Practices, Simon Jones

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

My experience as a low brass player trained in an FBA (Florida Bandmasters Association) program was well rounded. I attended a school with a rich history of continued excellence, taking part in various honor bands and preparing standard trombone repertoire for the Solo and Ensemble evaluations. Despite all of this, fundamental aspects of my trombone playing were lacking when I arrived at college, remaining unrectified until I started my master’s degree at UCF. I was a committed trombone player, regularly practicing multiple hours every day during my formative years. In retrospect, I realize that my performances suffered in fundamental areas. …

Study Of The Superconducting And Normal States Properties Of Topological Nodal-Line Semimetals, Premadasage K. K. Kumarasinghe

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Topologically protected quantum computation is getting great interest due to its potential use in creating fault-tolerant quantum computers. Using quasiparticle excitations known as non-Abelian anyons, which obey non-Abelian braiding statistics, is the way to perform topological quantum computation. A topological superconductor has protected gapless states on its boundaries while maintaining a superconducting gap in the bulk, and predicted to host Majorana fermions which are non-Abelian anyons. Although several theoretical models propose systems with non-Abelian anyons, p_x + ip_y wave superconductors in which vortices exhibit non-Abelian braiding statistics is one of the most realistic physical systems. Realizing physical systems …

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

Multidimensional Approaches In Bug Detection For Parallel Programming And Text-To-Code Semantic Parsing, May Alsofyani

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation applies deep learning and large language models to two domains: parallel programming fault detection and text-to-code translation, aiming to enhance software reliability and natural language-driven code generation. Due to their unpredictable nature, concurrency bugs-particularly data race bugs— present significant challenges in fault detection for parallel programming. We investigate deep learning and LLM-based approaches for detecting data race bugs in OpenMP programs. Our proposed methods include a transformer encoder and GPT-4 through prompt engineering and fine-tuning. Experimental results demonstrate that the transformer encoder achieves competitive accuracy compared to LLMs, highlighting its effectiveness in understanding complex OpenMP directives. Expanding this …

Weakly-Supervised Scaling For Open-Vocabulary Action Detection, Zhen Hao Sia

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In this work, we focus on scaling open-vocabulary action detection. Existing approaches for action detection are predominantly limited to closed-set scenarios and rely on complex, parameter-heavy architectures. Extending these models to the open-vocabulary setting poses two key challenges: (1) the lack of large-scale datasets with many action classes for robust training, and (2) parameter-heavy adaptations to a pretrained vision-language contrastive model to convert it for detection, risking overfitting the additional non-pretrained parameters to base action classes.

Firstly, we introduce an encoder-only multimodal model for video action detection, reducing the reliance on parameter-heavy additions for video action detection. Secondly, we introduce …

In Depth Analytics Of Vehicle-Vehicle And Vehicle-Pedestrian Conflicts Across Various Conditions, Qianqian Jin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study explores key traffic safety challenges by analyzing threshold discrepancies in rear-end conflicts under different weather conditions, conflict likelihood and severity at interconnected intersections, and interaction patterns between right-turning vehicles and pedestrians at signalized intersections. First, using CitySim trajectory data, the study examines the impact of weather conditions on surrogate safety measure (SSMs) thresholds for Modified Time to Collision (MTTC), Deceleration Rate to Avoid a Crash (DRAC), and Single-step Probabilistic Driving Risk Field (S-PDRF). Results indicate that MTTC and DRAC thresholds vary significantly under clear (2.3s v.s 3.0 m/s²) and rainy (4s v.s. 2.4 m/s²) conditions, whereas S-PDRF remains …

Advancing Temporal Safety Performance Functions: A Comprehensive Evaluation Of Express Lanes, Ramps, And Ramp Metering Effects On Freeway Safety, Abdulrahman Khalid Faden

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Freeway safety remains a critical concern, especially in high-risk areas such as ramps, merges, and managed lane segments, where complex traffic interactions significantly elevate crash risks. This dissertation advances crash frequency prediction by developing short-term Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) that address the limitations of traditional long-term SPFs models and real-time safety analysis. By leveraging high-resolution microscopic traffic detector data from multiple states, the dissertation introduces innovative methodologies and delivers actionable insights into freeway safety dynamics. The dissertation pioneers the application of Multivariate Poisson-Lognormal (MVPLN) models to identify interdependencies between crashes at ramp and merge segments. To address challenges like data …

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

Statistical Analysis Of Interstitial Impacts On Shock-Driven Fuel Droplet Atomization, Miguel L. Moran

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Understanding the deformation and aerobreakup of liquid droplets is critical for designing fuel injectors for pressure gain combustion systems. Previous literature has observed the morphology and timescales of individual liquid droplets exposed to the convective flow fields behind moving shocks propagating between Mach 1 and Mach 10. However, the liquid droplets produced by an injection system are not isolated and have many close neighbor droplets of similar diameter. Understanding interactions between these droplets is necessary to reconcile existing theory with droplet behavior observed in liquid jets and droplet clouds. The present study uses a simple injector to create vertically oriented …

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

Quality 5.0 Management System Design: A Human-Centric And System Of Systems Approach, Johnson O. Olaitan Sr.

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation presents the Integrated Human-Techno Quality 5.0 System Management Framework (IHT-Q5.0MSF) as a solution to the fragmented and inflexible structures of Quality 4.0. The framework fosters synergy between human insight and technologies such as AI, IoT, and cloud-native systems, addressing adaptability, ethical governance, and sustainability within Industry 5.0. Using a mixed-methods approach, including the Delphi Method, system modeling, and empirical validation, the study identifies enablers, barriers, and strategic priorities for implementation. The results highlight the effectiveness of modular design, human-AI collaboration, and transparent deployment. IHT-Q5.0MSF offers a validated, scalable, and ethically guided system poised to advance quality management in …

Emission Spectroscopy Measurements And Post-Processing Methods For Nitromethane And Aluminum In A Post Detonation Enviroment, Hamil Patel

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The doping of conventional liquid fuels has been a topic of interest in the research community due to the potential for increased energy density and improved performance in oxygen-deficient environments. One of these proposed fuels is nitromethane doped with micron-sized aluminum powder. This work is focused on early spectroscopic measurements of each of these constituent fuel parts in a post-detonation environment that aims to mimic the real-world temperatures and pressures seen in explosives that are not typically replicated in experimental facilities. Spectroscopy was chosen as the primary diagnostic technique for these experiments because it can non-invasively probe the relatively harsh …

Advancing Responsible Ai: Disparity Mitigation Strategies For Human-Centered Ai Systems, Aida Tayebi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In recent years, the widespread adoption of machine learning (ML) has driven the expansion of automated decision-making across various real-world applications. While ML models improve efficiency and predictive accuracy in domains such as healthcare, finance, and criminal justice, biases inherited from training data can potentially lead to unintended disparities. Growing awareness of these biases has raised concerns within the human-centered AI and responsible AI communities, highlighting the importance of promoting fairness in AI systems. Aiming for equitable outcomes in automated decisions is not only a technical goal but also an ethical consideration, as models influenced by biases may inadvertently reinforce …

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

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

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

Synthesis, Stability, And Lumiinesent Properties Of Nayf₄:Yb³⁺, Er³⁺ Upconversion Rare-Earth Nanoparticles, Moshira Ibrahim

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), particularly those based on Sodium Ytterium Floride ( NaYF₄) doped with Lanthanide ions, have emerged as promising multifunctional materials owing to their exceptional capacity to convert near-infrared (NIR) light into visible or ultraviolet light through multiphoton excitation processes. Their remarkable resistance to photobleaching, minimal toxicity, and customizable emission characteristics render them ideal candidates for applications in both environmental monitoring and biomedical fields. This thesis investigates the synthesis, structural characterization, and functional performance of NaYF₄:Yb³⁺,Er³⁺ upconversion nanoparticles s, with a focus on its applicability in fog. In response to the limitations of conventional fog detection technologies under low-visibility …

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

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

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

Modeling Frameworks To Understand And Predict Land Use Type And Land Value Patterns In Florida, Lauren Hoover

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Florida’s population has been rapidly growing, with a 14.6% growth in population from 2010 to 2020. This growth in population has led to an associated increase in demand for housing and commercial establishments, which have resulted in changes in land use patterns across the state. For this dissertation, we focus on methods to qualitatively and quantitatively examine how land use patterns are likely to evolve under the expected scenario of population growth in Florida while explicitly allowing for interactions between demographics, transportation and land use patterns. In our first objective we build a simulation framework to predict land use evolution …

Examining The Feasibility And Influencing Factors Of Large Language Models In Source Code Security Analysis, Jie Lin

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Large Language Models (LLMs) have recently emerged as promising tools for analyzing source code; however, their capabilities for automated vulnerability detection and localization remain underexplored, particularly given the widespread reliance on closed-source models which introduce significant privacy, security, and transparency risks. This dissertation rigorously examines the feasibility and key influencing factors determining the efficacy of open-source LLMs in source code security analysis. Initially, we investigate the impact of tokenized input length on vulnerability detection accuracy and explicitness across Java vulnerability datasets using ten distinct LLM architectures, identifying robust performance in specific models while others demonstrate considerable accuracy deterioration. Subsequently, we …

Algorithms And Benchmarking For Parallel Identity-By-Descent Segment Detection, Kecong Tang

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

As genomic biobank initiatives continue to grow, the availability of large-scale genotype datasets, encompassing hundreds of thousands to millions of individuals, has transformed genetic research and biomedical discovery. However, the sheer volume of this data presents major computational barriers. Efficient and scalable methods are urgently needed to process and extract meaningful signals from biobank-scale data using modern multi-core architectures. One central task in this domain is the detection of identity-by-descent (IBD) segments, which underpins a range of applications including genealogical inference, disease mapping, phasing, and population structure analysis.

This dissertation addresses these challenges by presenting a sequence of contributions that …

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

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

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

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

Printability And Phase Transformation Of Selected Alloys Additively Manufactured By Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Thinh Huynh

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The integration of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) to produce critical engineering components, aimed at achieving reduced weight and enhanced efficiency, has sparked significant interest in the field of additive manufacturing (AM). LPBF is highly desirable due to its rapid production capabilities, minimized material waste, and its ability to facilitate intricate engineering designs. The ongoing challenges associated with processing metals free of cracks while attaining high relative density remain central to advancing AM technology. This has led to a continued interest in alloy development for LPBF given the limited selection of alloys currently available. This study seeks to evaluate the …

Removal Of Long- And Short-Chain Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances From Surface Water Using Green Sorption Media–Nanofiltration Hybrid Processes, Md Touhidul Islam

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of persistent environmental contaminants that pose significant risks to human health and aquatic ecosystems. This dissertation addresses the removal of both long- and short-chain PFAS from surface water through an integrated approach that combines green sorption media (GSM) with nanofiltration (NF). The research comprises laboratory-scale and field-scale studies designed to evaluate the effectiveness of novel recycled-material-based GSM formulations—namely, CPS and ZIPGEM—as pretreatment options to mitigate membrane fouling and enhance PFAS removal during NF. The study also investigates the adsorption mechanisms under varying water chemistry conditions, including pH, ammonia, and divalent cation concentrations. …

An Exploration And Evaluation Of Biologically Informed Variational Autoencoders For Scrna-Seq Data Analysis, Marjorie R. Principato

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Deep learning has been widely applied to the analysis of high-dimensional biological omics data, especially single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Incorporating biological information into the architecture of variational autoencoders (VAEs) has been shown to enhance model interpretability, allowing the model’s behavior to reflect the underlying mechanisms of the biological system used for its architecture. In recent years, several studies have employed these biologically informed VAEs to model large-scale single-cell transcriptomics data, with models correctly differentiating between cell states and identifying active pathways. However, systematic benchmarking and comparison of different biologically informed VAE architectures remain limited.

In this study, I evaluated and …