Digital Commons Network^™

How Political Violence Helps Explain Organized Crime: A Case Study Of Mexico's "War On Drugs", Alanna Fulk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines research from the disciplines of political science and criminal justice to develop a theory that explains geographic variation in violence related to organized crime. Large-scale organized crime violence exhibits characteristics of both ordinary crime violence and political violence, but these subjects are generally analyzed separately. However, as large-scale organized crime has become more prevalent and violent in recent years, most notably in Latin America, studies, including this one, have attempted to cross disciplinary boundaries in order to better explain trends in organized crime onset, termination and violence. This thesis argues that although the overall goal of organized …

Kindergarten Is Not Child's Play: An Exploration Of Pedagogical Approaches Related To Learning In A Play-Based And A Contemporary Classroom At A Title I Elementary School, Karyn Allee-Herndon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is divided into three separate, related, naturalistic, quasi-experimental research studies, all using data from two kindergarten classes at Gator Elementary, a public Title I elementary school in Sunshine District in Central Florida. Each of these studies tested hypotheses that kindergarten children, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, will show greater gains in receptive vocabulary, executive function, and academic achievement when purposeful play is used as a pedagogical approach than similar children in typical, contemporary kindergarten classrooms. The first study explored the effects of play-based and contemporary pedagogical approaches on students' receptive vocabulary using the PPVT-4, the second explored …

Hurricane Maria: A Qualitative Study Of Recently Displaced Students To The State Of Florida, Esmeralda Cabrera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past ten years Puerto Rico has been experiencing a severe economic crisis that was worsened when Hurricane Maria made landfall on September 20, 2017. Maria hit Puerto Rico as a category 4 storm, devastating the whole island and its 3.4 million residents. Many students were left with minimal educational choices after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Research on Latino/a students shows that they are met with unique experiences and challenges as they pursue higher education. The current study uses qualitative data to investigate what are the unique challenges and needs of displaced students from Puerto Rico? and what …

The Invisible Men: Analyzing The Virtual Subculture Of England's Punters, Ashley Christensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research on prostitution has flourished over the last few decades with a new emphasis on the online sex market. To study the online market, researchers have utilized qualitative methods to investigate escort review websites. Coding for violent rhetoric and perceived intimacy are two conventional techniques that have been utilized using qualitative methods. Other areas investigated include the overall characteristics of sex buyers, price variation, and socialization of buyers. What has lacked in current literature has been the use of quantitative methods to study what factors influence the presence of positive reviews. To expand on limited existing literature utilizing quantitative methods, …

Victimization And Health Experiences For Tgnc Individuals In Women's Prisons, Kristina Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This text examines the health-related experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming persons assigned female at birth within the criminal justice system. It moves through a transgender-centric approach to explore the ways gender nonconformity relates to experiences of violence and healthcare disparities for those interacting with law enforcement and incarcerated in women's prisons. The study utilized statistical analyses of nationally representative data in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey carried out by the National Center for Transgender Equality. Multivariate analyses suggested significant connections between race and education and experiences of harassment and assault within the criminal justice context. There were largely mixed …

I Decide When You Die: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Prior Reporting Of Physical Violence For Intimate Partner Homicides By Heterosexual Spouses In Florida, Donna King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is generally believed that a victim of an intimate partner homicide, who faced ongoing physical violence prior to the killing, would have contacted authorities for assistance or protection some time prior to their death. However, the results of this study show that this notion that a victim of ongoing abuse will, more than likely, request help is a misconception. Through qualitative and quantitative methods analysis, this study reveals the dearth of prior reporting of physical violence to law enforcement or the court when an intimate partner homicide takes place between heterosexual spouses in Florida between 2006 and 2016. Additionally, …

Science Occupational Images And Aspirations Of African American/ Black Elementary Students, Saron Lamothe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the United States, more than a million jobs in science and engineering (S&E) are projected over the next few years; yet, the Nation lacks the workforce to meet these demands. Despite the need for a more diverse, qualified workforce, African Americans/Blacks remain disproportionately underrepresented in science occupations, science degree attainment, and in science postsecondary majors. The lack of science participation is reflective of how minority secondary students view science and science occupations as many consider the pursuit of a science career as unfavorable. Moreover, minority secondary students, who do choose to pursue science occupations, seem to possess inaccurate (or …

Overkill: A First Run Definition, Traccy Martins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Homicide is a major social issue that has been studied by many researchers worldwide. The vast literature available, however, has avoided distinguishing homicide characterized by excessive wounds as a particular category or type of murder. This is what is often referred to as overkill. It has been observed in a variety of incidents, but it has not been systematically defined or examined in the literature in regard to why it occurs. This study aims to define "overkill" based on the number and extent of injuries for LGBT homicides between the years 1969 to 2018 (provided by Dallas Drake, co-founder of …

Defining Effective Teacher Practices Among Students With Emotional Behavioral Disabilities, Zerek Mayes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of special education teachers who worked with students with emotional behavioral disabilities (EBD) across various urban settings and educative environments. Given that the overall percentage of students receiving special education services has increased, the overall percentage of students with EBD served among all school-aged children and youth has remained below 1% (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). The current failings of reform efforts to improve the academic achievement of students with EBD brings the roles, responsibilities and practices of teachers and their preparation into view. This study examined the …

The Life Experiences Of Women With An Intellectual Disability Who Were Sexually Assaulted, Jillian Schreffler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The views of those with an intellectual disability (ID) on sexuality is not a topic many are willing to broach. Many challenges exist for those identified with ID when it comes to sexual education, including a lack of appropriate curricula; a lack of trained school personnel; the inability of school, state, and national stakeholders to agree on policy or curriculum content; and the generalizability of the content. These challenges are heightened by an increase in sexual assault of women with ID. To improve sexual assault prevention skills, the researcher conducted a phenomenological study to identify the current status of sexual …

Electing Or Appointing School District Superintendents In The State Of Florida: A Comparison Of Characteristics And Performance Of Districts Led By Elected Superintendents Versus Districts Led By Appointed Superintendents, Timothy Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Florida and Alabama are the only two states in the United States of America with school districts led by either elected superintendents or appointed superintendents. The other 48 states only have appointed superintendent-led school districts. The current study was conducted to examine the impact of the superintendent governance structure on student learning by analyzing differences in student achievement between Florida school districts led by elected superintendents and Florida school districts led by appointed superintendents. The conceptual framework of the study was the tension between democratic localism and professionalism. Dynamics associated with the conceptual framework are relevant to the current debate. …

System Justification Theory: Synthesizing And Applying Its Theoretical Motivations In Behavioral Accounting Research, Wioleta Olczak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two studies on System Justification Theory, hereafter SJT. SJT (Jost and Banaji 1994) is a psychology theory stating that individuals justify the status quo even if doing so is against their own or their group's interest (Jost et al. 2004). Comprised of twenty propositions, SJT attempts to explain social and psychological factors driving individuals to perceive the social system as legitimate. These factors also drive individuals to support and maintain the social system. The synthesis and application of this psychological theory in behavioral accounting research is limited, but could provide explanatory evidence on individual decision-making in …

Septic Tank Survey: 2018, Megan Olive, Lauren Daniel, Amy Donley

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

Between May 2018 and September 2018, the Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) surveyed residents of Brevard County, Florida to explore their behaviors and attitudes on a variety of septic tank related topics.

Assistant Editors' Interview With Dr. Berkeley Franz And Dr. Dan Skinner, Cathryn Molloy, Erin Trauth

Rhetoric of Health & Medicine

RHM Assistant Editor Cathryn Molloy interviews Dr. Berkeley Franz (Ohio University) and Dr. Dan Skinner (Ohio University) on their article, "From Patients to Populations: Rhetorical Considerations for a Post-Patient Compliance Medicine"

Ucf Forum Announces 2018-19 Roster, Gene Kruckemyer

UCF Forum

The UCF Forum opinion series will begin its seventh year Wednesday with a panel of columnists offering their opinions on topics that are close to home, international issues, and everything in between.

My Baseball Quest Has Taught Me About America, Slowing Down — And Myself, Fernando Rivera

UCF Forum

I am on a quest to visit every Major League Baseball stadium.

Serial Murder Mysteries: Revisiting Definitional Issues, Data Challenges, Archaic Theories, And Myths Using Empirical Evidence, Jolene Vincent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While serial killings have been the focus of much scholarly research, the definition of what it means to be a serial killer has been debated by law enforcement agencies and academics for decades. This overall lack of understanding about serial killers and the murders they commit has contributed to the numerous limitations concerning the general knowledge about this unique form of homicide. Furthermore, serial killers have typically been examined using psychological models, psychiatric approaches, or the external drives/motives of the offenders, while the development of a sociological perspective has received less attention. This current research uses arguably the most complete …

Modeling The Innovation Ecosystem And Development Of A Dynamic Innovation Index, Henriette Schoen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of innovation currently generates a tremendous amount of interest around the world. Innovation is considered an essential part of the solution to creating more jobs and improving the socio-economic conditions of many countries around the globe. Innovation comes about through the existence of many interrelated solutions to socio-economic problems in an extensively interconnected network, which create value for each other. Such a complex creativity and innovation value-creating network is here called an Innovation Ecosystem (IE). The main objective of this dissertation research is to improve the current understanding of the IE by developing a simulation model that uses …

The Parks In The City Of Winter Park 2018: Executive Summary, Megan Olive, Lauren Daniel, Amy Donley

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

Between June 2018 and July 2018, 325 Winter Park residents were surveyed about their opinions of the City of Winter Park’s parks, how they used the parks, their specific neighborhood parks, and any changes they would like to see regarding the parks. Surveys were conducted over the telephone by trained ISBS employees. ISBS received a list of Winter Park residents’ phone numbers from the utility company to allow for the survey to be conducted.

In Life, Tomorrow Is Never Guaranteed, Fernando Rivera

UCF Forum

May 2, 2018, started like many other days with my usual morning routine: eating breakfast, reading the newspaper, getting kids ready for school, listening to WUCF on the way to work

University Of Central Florida Undergraduate Catalog, 2018 - 2019, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

University Of Central Florida Graduate Catalog, 2018 - 2019, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Puerto Ricans Are Resilient, But Island Still Needs Our Help After Hurricane Maria, Fernando Rivera

UCF Forum

I traveled to Puerto Rico in January, about four months after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20. I had much anticipation to see for myself how the island was doing, not only as my role as a disaster researcher, but as a member of the Puerto Rican diaspora and as a concerned son and friend.

Featured Bookshelf: 2018 National Poetry Month, Megan M. Haught

Featured Bookshelf

“If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!”
-Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk

Ends Welcome to National Poetry Month! The Academy of American Poets, inspired by the success of Black History Month and Women’s History Month, created National Poetry Month in 1996. It is the largest literary celebration in the world and UCF Libraries are proud to do their part.

UCF Libraries have …

Part 1: Foundational Theories Of Human Motivation, Joy Johnson, Marthaly Irizarry, Nhu Nguyen, Peter Maloney

Motivation 101: A Guide for Public Servants

The concept of Motivation Theories has been established for hundreds of years. Early theorists who contributed to this area of study mainly focused on the biological derivatives of humans, and sought to assess solely how these factors had an inherent effect on motivation. However, it was not until the 1940’s in which a true study of behavioral perceptions and characteristics served to negate elements of these theoretical premises in the world of social science. Foundational theories have helped to create a base level of knowledge in behavioral studies for theorists and practitioners over multi-disciplinary fields. Their importance is inherent based …

Some Collisions Are Good, Some Are Bad…, Fernando Rivera

UCF Forum

en life events collide, sometimes the results are good and sometimes they’re bad. In this case I couldn’t have been more pleased.

Mexico In 1999: Taking Back The Unam, Jared Muha

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

In 1999, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) reversed course on its tradition of free education and installed a tuition requisite for attendance. In response, students launched a massive strike and eventually overturned the decision. This paper explores the possible role global institutions like the IMF may have played and argues that the strike was part of a broader movement against economic globalization. This paper places the student strike in its proper context and analyzes how students perceived their role in the strike.

The Effect Of Misogynistic Humor On Millenials' Perception Of Women, Natasha Vashist

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Humor is often a controversial genre of entertainment. It is not critically examined due to its intentionally offensive nature. This study examines the impact of sexist humor on millenials' perception of women. Students (n = 1,096) from a four-year university were divided into two groups and both participated in a survey examining attitudes toward women and media-viewing habits. One group was exposed to clips of sexist humor from television shows and the other was not. A series of analyses of variance (ANOVA) conducted on the two groups did not find significant differences between those who had viewed sexist clips and …

Positive Outcomes Of Divorce: A Multi-Method Study On The Effects Of Parental Divorce On Children, Grant W. Mohi

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Previous literature on parental divorce focuses on the negative effects it has on children and young adults in terms of relationships (romantic and familial) and academic standing. The implications of such research are that parental divorce brings harm to families and, consequentially, should be avoided for the sake of the children's wellbeing. What is often missing from this research is a focus on the potential positive outcomes of parental divorce. The current study explores the effects of parental divorce on young adults' ability to form and maintain romantic relationships, exploring the possibility for positive outcomes of parental divorce on young …

The Impact Of Culture On Students' Motivation To Acquire A Second Language, Irina Pidberejna

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

In accordance with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, goals for foreign language learning include communities, communication, comparisons, connections, and cultures. Each teaching goal is interlinked and serves an essential component in language development. However, culture has been largely limited by stereotypical biases, which misrepresent the culture studied, and the native culture's sociological roles and perceptions of that target culture. The experiments and theories of Vygotsky (1934; 1956), and Leontyev (1978) indicate that second language learning can reconstruct self-identity and redevelop behaviors appropriate to the second language's respective culture. Personal investment and openness to a foreign language …