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Cholera Transmission Dynamic Model With Environmental Impacts Of Plankton Reservoirs, Sweety Sarker Jan 2022

Cholera Transmission Dynamic Model With Environmental Impacts Of Plankton Reservoirs, Sweety Sarker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Cholera is an acute disease that is a global threat to the world and can kill people within a few hours if left untreated. In the last 200 years, seven pandemics occurred, and, in some countries, it remains endemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global initiative to prevent cholera by 2030. Cholera dynamics are contributed by several environmental factors such as salinity level of water, water temperature, presence of plankton especially zooplankton such as cladocerans, rotifers, copepods, etc. Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) bacterium is the main reason behind the cholera disease and the growth of V. cholerae depends …

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Numerical Study Of Flow Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Inside Microchannels With Heat Transfer, Uday Manda Jan 2022

Numerical Study Of Flow Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Inside Microchannels With Heat Transfer, Uday Manda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Heat transfer inside microscale geometries is a complex and a challenging phenomenon. As supercritical fluids display large variations in their properties in the vicinity of the critical point, their usage could be more beneficial than traditional coolants. This numerical study, in two parts, primarily focuses on the physics that drives the enhanced heat transfer characteristics of carbon dioxide (CO2) near its critical state and in its supercritical state. In the first part of the study, the flow of supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) over a heated surface inside a microchannel of hydraulic diameter 0.3 mm was studied using three-dimensional computational fluid …

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Sensitivity Of Combustion Liner Contour To Sand Ingestion Clogging, Nelson Padilla Jan 2022

Sensitivity Of Combustion Liner Contour To Sand Ingestion Clogging, Nelson Padilla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This currently presented work is an evaluation of the characteristics of different cooling hole geometries to particulate ingestion clogging. Experimentation was conducted using a premixed bluff body flame combustor facility to generate high temperature combustor flow conditions. Sand ingestion along the cooling path of the combustion liner was reproduced using an air-assisted seeder providing consistent sand ingestion. Mass flow rate of cooling air was controlled using a sonic orifice downstream of a pressure regulator so that the mass flow rate of the air and sand mixture is independent of the clogging state. Pressure data upstream of a small section of …

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Design And Mechanical Characterization Of Functionally Graded Sandwich Beams Fabricated Via Additive Manufacturing, Timothy Grondin Jan 2022

Design And Mechanical Characterization Of Functionally Graded Sandwich Beams Fabricated Via Additive Manufacturing, Timothy Grondin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Lightweight aerospace structures have been sought after since humans took flight in 1903, making major strides in NASA's pursuit of the moon with the development of sandwich panel composites. Sandwich structures typically consist of two stiff phases (i.e., face sheets) separated by a lightweight phase (i.e., core), which are stacked together through adhesive layers. Such a structural arrangement provides a high stiffness-to-weight ratio and is often used in applications where weight saving is critical. Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs), refer to multifunctional materials, which contain a spatial variation of composition and/or microstructure for the specific purpose of altering thermal and structural …

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Plasmonic Sensor Based Detection Of Dopamine, Sang Lee Jan 2022

Plasmonic Sensor Based Detection Of Dopamine, Sang Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With a rapidly ageing population, neurological diseases are becoming increasingly relevant in the design of public health policies and strategies in western societies. In the last decades, biochemical research has consistently shown the critical role that neurotransmitters and their associated metabolites play as biomarkers in tracking and diagnosis of different brain disorders and cancers. In particular, dopamine, an organic electrochemical neurotransmitter, has been shown to be paramount for the proper functioning of the neural system. Dopamine's dysfunction, has been shown to underlie the pathogenesis in several neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, depression, chronic schizophrenia and psychosis. Unfortunately, currently available …

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Analytical Study Of Deep Learning Methods For Road Condition Assessment, Elham Eslami Jan 2022

Analytical Study Of Deep Learning Methods For Road Condition Assessment, Elham Eslami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Automated pavement distress recognition is a key step in smart infrastructure assessment. Advances in deep learning and computer vision have improved the automated recognition of pavement distresses in road surface images. This task, however, remains challenging due to the high variations in road objects and pavement types, variety of lighting condition, low contrast, and background noises in pavement images. In this dissertation, we propose novel deep learning algorithms for image-based road condition assessment to tackle current challenges in detection, classification and segmentation of pavement images. Motivated by the need for classifying a wide range of objects in road monitoring, this …

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Polymer Derived Ceramic For Lithium-Ion Storage, And Electrospun Polyelectrolyte Fiber For Heavy Metal Ions Removal, Zeyang Zhang Jan 2022

Polymer Derived Ceramic For Lithium-Ion Storage, And Electrospun Polyelectrolyte Fiber For Heavy Metal Ions Removal, Zeyang Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation includes two major projects. The first project investigated the great potential of polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) as lithium-ion battery anode materials with good cycling stability and large capacity. SiCNO ceramic nanoparticles were produced by pyrolysis of polysilazane nanoparticles synthesized via an oil-in-oil emulsion crosslinking. The SiCNO nanoparticles had an average particle size of around 9 nm and contained graphitic carbon, Si3N4, and SiO2 domains. The electrochemical behavior of SiCNO nanoparticles anode was investigated to evaluate the Li-ion storage performance and understand its mechanism of Li-ion storage. The lithiation of SiCNO was observed at ~0.385 V versus Li/Li+. The anode …

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Characterization Of A Malachite Green Dna Aptamer And Development Of Malachite Green Dna Aptamer Sensor, Martin O'Steen Jan 2022

Characterization Of A Malachite Green Dna Aptamer And Development Of Malachite Green Dna Aptamer Sensor, Martin O'Steen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Hydrogels have been extensively studied for use in applications such as tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, wound dressing, actuators, valves, and sensors in Micromechanical Systems (MEMS), among others. Thermo-responsive hydrogels in particular pose various advantages such as their capability to respond to an external stimulus and reverse the response when the stimulus is removed and the ability to imbibe a significant amount of solvent and increase their volume by over 1000%. Extensive research has been conducted to tune and improve hydrogel's rate and degree of swelling and mechanical properties. Previous work showed that when synthetic clay (Laponite) is cross-linked with …

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An Econometric Analysis Of Domestic Aviation In The Us, Sudipta Dey Tirtha Jan 2022

An Econometric Analysis Of Domestic Aviation In The Us, Sudipta Dey Tirtha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this dissertation, we examine two dimensions of domestic aviation - demand and delay - that directly influence economic impact of the sector. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of airline demand employing airline data compiled by Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The demand analysis is conducted in three steps. First, we propose a novel modeling approach for modeling airline demand evolution over time. Specifically, we develop a joint panel group generalized ordered probit (GGOP) model system for modeling air passenger arrivals and departures in a discretized framework that subsumes the traditional linear regression approach. Further, we consider the influence of observed …

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On Liquid Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines Characterization And Performance, Vidhan Malik Jan 2022

On Liquid Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines Characterization And Performance, Vidhan Malik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The current research investigates a next-generation method of combustion called detonations for propulsive applications which has support from the Combustion Services Branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) of the Rocket Propulsion Division. The overall initiative seeks to explore the viability of detonation-based systems to augment or replace current rocket propulsion methods in the coming five years. The present work progresses this vision by providing proof of a liquid RP-2 based Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) as well as the fundamentals associated with the physics involved to further the understanding of the phenomenon and its potential uses. Phase one …

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Decentralized Digital Fabrication Of Flexible Micro/Nano Devices Using A Laserjet Printer, Arshya Bamshad Jan 2022

Decentralized Digital Fabrication Of Flexible Micro/Nano Devices Using A Laserjet Printer, Arshya Bamshad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The fabrication of traditional micro/nano devices requires access to cleanrooms, complex and expensive tools, and highly-skilled labor. A facile and digital do-it-yourself (DIY) technique for the fabrication of low-cost devices on flexible substrates (paper, cloth, and plastic films) is presented in this work. A set of office-grade equipment (i.e., laserjet printer, thermal laminator, computer-aided paper cutter), and commercially available supplies (i.e., baking wax paper, furniture restoration metal-leaf) are utilized. The presented technology enables community-embedded production by removing a high technological barrier. The validity of the proposed technology was proved by designing three levels of experiments, i.e., patterns, devices, and systems. …

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A Unified Tool For Adaptive Collocation Techniques Applied To Solving Optimal Control Problems, Bethany Kelly Jan 2022

A Unified Tool For Adaptive Collocation Techniques Applied To Solving Optimal Control Problems, Bethany Kelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this work, a user-friendly MATLAB tool is introduced to solve nonlinear optimal control problems by applying collocation techniques using Coupled Radial Basis Functions (CRBFs). CRBFs are a new class of Radial Basis Functions combined with a conical spline r^5, which provides the advantage of insensitivity to the shape parameter while maintaining accuracy and robustness. To solve optimal control problems, software tools are often employed to implement numerical methods and apply advanced techniques to solving differential equations. Although several commercial software tools exist for solving optimal control problems, such as ICLOCS2, GPOPS, and DIDO, there are no options available that …

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The Breakup Of Rp-2 Liquid Fuel Droplets In A Detonation Field, Daniel Dyson Jan 2022

The Breakup Of Rp-2 Liquid Fuel Droplets In A Detonation Field, Daniel Dyson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Experimentally obtained droplet breakup patterns are presented for RP-2 liquid fuel droplets in the environment behind a detonation wave. To the best of our knowledge, this data is the first of its kind to examine the fundamental interactions between detonation waves and an individual fuel droplet. The experiments presented here are expected to support the ongoing effort of creating accurate models of droplet breakup in a variety of environments, which in turn will lead to enhanced predictions of rotating detonation engine performance, improved safety considerations for facilities operating in hazardous conditions, and new knowledge in energetics, hypersonics, and explosion dynamics …

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Broadband Investigation Of The Pyrolysis Of Propane Using A Mir Optical Parametric Oscillator, Robert Greene Jan 2022

Broadband Investigation Of The Pyrolysis Of Propane Using A Mir Optical Parametric Oscillator, Robert Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The chemistry of propane continues to play a pivotal role in today's power production technologies. As reliance on natural gas expands as greener cleaner fuels are sought throughout the world, especially as countries are attempting to transition away from traditional coal and crude-oil fired plants towards solar, wind, and hydro-electric sources. Natural gas, often seen as a bridge fuel between these two competing ends, has been in the recent past and for the foreseeable future will continue to play an important role in the energy sector. Among the components of natural gas, propane plays a key role in the chemistry …

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Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages Jan 2022

Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Un-Portalable! is an animated multimedia short film about two friends who become fused together after using a faulty teleporter. They attempt to conceal their deformity while simultaneously navigating a social situation with one of their friends. The main focus in the film is the concept that boundaries tend to become clearer as they begin to break. This conceptual focus merges into the visual theory of the film in which highly expressive character design and hybrid media utilization are driven by relational and narrative design choices. This film serves as a condensed pilot and proof of concept for a larger prospective …

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The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie Jan 2022

The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Cycles is a 3D animated short film about a father who struggles to keep up with his daughter as she races through life. Whereas most coming-of-age films focus solely on the journey of the adolescent, Cycles subverts the expectations of the genre by exploring the impact growing up has on both the parent and child in tandem. As a film, Cycles relies on the careful and deliberate use of tropes, informed character and environment design, and established cinematic devices to support the story's theme of accepting change. Though my personal experience inspired this film, it evolved into a contemporary and …

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Distracted Driving And Pedestrians' Effects On Headway At Signalized Intersections, Bassel Elgamal Jan 2022

Distracted Driving And Pedestrians' Effects On Headway At Signalized Intersections, Bassel Elgamal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Distracted driving and pedestrians pose one of the most difficult challenges to ensuring a safe and efficient transportation system. Modern communications have delivered greater convenience. However, this has come at the cost of attention spans. Safety has been thoroughly explored in terms of distracted driving and pedestrians. However, impacts on traffic operations have received minimal research attention. Few studies provided a theoretical mechanism on how intersection operations can be affected but failed to quantify the real-life impacts on traffic operations. Furthermore, new Florida laws prohibit cellphone usage while driving but is allowed when the vehicle is stationary, which may result …

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Evaluating Novel Combinations Of Polyamine Targeting Therapeutics In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Sai Preethi Nakkina Jan 2022

Evaluating Novel Combinations Of Polyamine Targeting Therapeutics In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Sai Preethi Nakkina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Pancreatic cancer overall has a poor five-year survival rate of less than 8%. Well-tolerated regimens and immune cell infiltration to promote anti-cancer treatments are major challenges. Studies described herein leveraged testing different combinations/doses of polyamine targeting inhibitors to further understand the impact of targeting key polyamine pathway mediators in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Placebo controls were compared to groups treated with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO, a polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase), different polyamine transport inhibitors, and compound combinations in strategies for polyamine blockage therapy (PBT). Informatic analyses showed that the dysregulation of key polyamine pathway mediators are associated with poor patient …

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Creating A Reverberating Beat: Digital Curation Of The Women Writers Of The Beat Generation, Elena Maria Rogalle Jan 2022

Creating A Reverberating Beat: Digital Curation Of The Women Writers Of The Beat Generation, Elena Maria Rogalle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The focus of my study is the creation of a special topics American literature or Women's Studies course about the women writers of the Beat Generation; this course provides students with a variety of explorations of women's writing during and after Post World War II America. This period saw many changes in terms of women's roles as they challenged the mid-20th century societal constructs. My research examines the women Beat writers by centering on their distinct women's discourse and how their voices challenged the patriarchally-driven canon of Beat Generation writers. To accomplish this task, my research focuses on expanding the …

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Digital Humanities & Community College Libraries: Opportunities And Challenges, Mia Tignor Jan 2022

Digital Humanities & Community College Libraries: Opportunities And Challenges, Mia Tignor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Digital humanities study applies technological tools to the study of humanities topics and allows for the exploration of new questions in ways that were not possible using traditional research models. Librarians have been active participants of the field since its inception, as they explore new ways to critically engage with information organization and information literacy instruction, and most research that focuses on the intersection between these fields takes place within research universities . In contrast, there is very little research examining digital humanities work at the community college, which primarily offers associate degrees, vocational certificates, and other workforce based training. …

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Analysis And Characterization Of Smokeless Powders And Smokeless Powder Residues, Emily Lennert Jan 2022

Analysis And Characterization Of Smokeless Powders And Smokeless Powder Residues, Emily Lennert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The ability to associate a smokeless powder, smokeless powder residue, or organic gunshot residue (OGSR) to one another may be helpful in determining the origin of a suspected sample and aid in linking a suspect to a crime scene. In this study, smokeless powders were extracted and analyzed via gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and direct analysis in real time – high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS). Subsequently, group definition was performed using hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis followed by internally validated classification models. Then, smokeless powder residues were generated in-lab and extracted. Resulting residue data from each …

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Fabrication Of Piezoelectric Field Effect Transistors For Acoustic Signal Detection, Luke Minks Jan 2022

Fabrication Of Piezoelectric Field Effect Transistors For Acoustic Signal Detection, Luke Minks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this study, a standard bulk FET design is fabricated with a piezoelectric gate, allowing a microwave-frequency voltage signal to be transmitted from a transducer to the transistor via acoustic conduction through the substrate. Using a single polycrystalline aluminum nitride film as the piezoelectric material, microwave-frequency piezoelectric transducers were fabricated in parallel with piezoelectric FETs. These device pairs function by generating high frequency acoustic waves in the substrate via application of AC voltage to the transducers; the transistors then recover these signals by detecting these waves in their gates via the piezoelectric film, reproducing an attenuated version of the original …

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Igniting Interest?: Female Perceptions Of Communication Effectiveness In Public Safety Recruitment Campaigns, Ashley Papagni Jan 2022

Igniting Interest?: Female Perceptions Of Communication Effectiveness In Public Safety Recruitment Campaigns, Ashley Papagni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Despite the potential for positive impacts resulting from a diverse workforce, fire departments across the country have struggled with the recruitment and hiring of minorities for decades, with women accounting for only 4.7% of its workforce (NFPA, 2020). Due in part to the limited diversity, the fire service tends to perpetuate the stereotypes of masculinity. There are three identified issues that are leading to the lack of female applicants in public safety positions, including the lack of diversity and inclusivity in Public Safety Organizations (PSOs), the absence of women in the role as firefighters, and the absence of recruitment strategies …

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High Fidelity Injury Severity Analysis Using Econometric Modeling Approaches, Ahmed Kabli Jan 2022

High Fidelity Injury Severity Analysis Using Econometric Modeling Approaches, Ahmed Kabli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Crash severity models are typically developed using police reported injury severity databases. However, several research studies have identified various challenges associated with police reported data. Therefore, the current dissertation is focusing on developing high resolution crash severity models based on medical professional driver injury severity reported using Abbreviated Injury Scale for eight body regions. The dissertation focused on developing a disaggregate injury severity modeling framework that can enhance the estimation accuracy of independent variable impacts on severity. Within this broad research vision, the dissertation has multiple objectives. First, a joint random parameters multivariate model structure with as many dimensions as …

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Shape Parameter & Nodal Distribution Insensitive Radial Basis Functions For Nonlinear Optimal Control Problems, Ahmed Elsadek Ahmed Elshafee Seleit Jan 2022

Shape Parameter & Nodal Distribution Insensitive Radial Basis Functions For Nonlinear Optimal Control Problems, Ahmed Elsadek Ahmed Elshafee Seleit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Computational optimal control relies mainly on pseudospectral methods. The use of Chebyshev and Legendre polynomials is ubiquitous in the literature. This family of methods has good accuracy characteristics but constraints the nodal distribution to a certain grid that is denser at the boundaries. In this work, a set of novel Coupled Radial Basis Functions (CRBFs) is introduced as an approximation means for the nonlinear optimal control problem. CRBFs are real-valued Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) augmented with a conical spline. They do not require a specific nodal distribution. A plethora of research articles were published on the optimization of the shape …

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Reverse Engineering Of Adversarial Samples By Leveraging Patterns Left By The Attacker, Rahul Ambati Jan 2022

Reverse Engineering Of Adversarial Samples By Leveraging Patterns Left By The Attacker, Rahul Ambati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Intrinsic susceptibility of deep learning to adversarial examples has led to a plethora of attack techniques with a common broad objective of fooling deep models. However, we find slight compositional differences between the algorithms achieving this objective. These differences leave traces that provide important clues for attacker profiling in real-life scenarios. Inspired by this, we introduce a novel problem of 'Reverse Engineering of aDversarial attacks' (RED). Given an adversarial example, the objective of RED is to identify the attack used to generate it. Under this perspective, we can systematically group existing attacks into different families, leading to the sub-problem of …

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Advancing Medical Education By Optimizing The Use Of Formal And Informal Curriculum Resources, Ziana Bagot Jan 2022

Advancing Medical Education By Optimizing The Use Of Formal And Informal Curriculum Resources, Ziana Bagot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Current and aspiring medical school students are inundated by curriculum resources. To optimize the curriculum resources that are offered in medical education, the present work examines both institutionally and commercially developed resources from the lens of various stakeholders through three separate, yet related, studies. The first study, a scoping review, synthesizes and recognizes gaps in scholarship regarding obstacles that underrepresented, pre-medical students encounter in applying to medical school, specifically focusing on the impact of access to commercial test preparation resources. A review of existing literature regarding this population's medical school admission difficulties yielded a majority of non-empirical, deficit-focused articles that …

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Poems, Peter Gordon Jan 2022

Poems, Peter Gordon

The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature

No abstract provided.

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Zora Neale Hurston's Crypto-Religious Plays And Counterculture Heroes: Black Liberation Theology, Possession, And Divine Guidance, Marvin E. Hobson Jan 2022

Zora Neale Hurston's Crypto-Religious Plays And Counterculture Heroes: Black Liberation Theology, Possession, And Divine Guidance, Marvin E. Hobson

The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature

No abstract provided.

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Spillover And Cascading Crises In Public Health And Water Systems: The Orlando Liquid Oxygen Shortage, Ronisha Sheppard, Shawn P. Mcelmurry, Matt W. Seeger Jan 2022

Spillover And Cascading Crises In Public Health And Water Systems: The Orlando Liquid Oxygen Shortage, Ronisha Sheppard, Shawn P. Mcelmurry, Matt W. Seeger

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

In August 2021, COVID cases spiked in Florida with over 24,000 breakthrough cases per day making Florida the state with the highest increase at the time. Florida saw an increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the last two weeks of August and became the 3rd state in the U.S. to exceed 3 million COVID cases. Not only did this impact public health, but it also created an unforeseen impact on the municipal water system. The surge in COVID cases created a surge in demand for treatment, one in which included liquid oxygen, used for respiratory therapy. Without liquid oxygen, ozone …

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