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Distribution And Morphology Of Spinal Afferent Innervation Of The Gastric Muscular And Submucosal Layers Of Rats: Anterograde Tracing, Andrew M. Kwiat

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Chronic pain afflicts over 25 million Americans, with approximately 2 million developing opioid addiction due to insufficient treatment options. Visceral chronic pain, particularly abdominal pain, poses a significant clinical challenge, yet its underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly defined. This thesis presents a comprehensive anatomical analysis of spinal afferent innervation in the muscularis externa and submucosal layers of the rat stomach—two tissue compartments implicated in visceral sensation and pain. Using anterograde tracing, dextran-biotin was injected into thoracic dorsal root ganglia (T7–T11) of male Sprague Dawley rats (3–5 months) to label spinal afferent axons in the stomach. Flat-mount preparations of muscular and …

Metasurface-Refractive Hybrid Lens Design, Ko-Han Shih

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Refractive optics are widely used in imaging systems while optical aberrations can limit their imaging performance and the typical solution to correct is cascading additional refractive optics with varying materials and shapes. Still, this scheme can result in bulky and costly lenses. Metasurfaces (MSs), with their compactness and ability to locally manipulate wavefronts, offer additional degrees of freedom in aberration correction. Integrating MSs with refractive optics creates MS-refractive hybrid lenses, enabling advanced optical performance while maintaining a compact design. Various methods have been proposed for designing aberration-correcting MSs in hybrid lenses, which often rely on predefined target phase profiles or …

Advancements In Slow-Wave Thin Film Lithium Niobate For Opto-Electronic Communications, Joseph W. Haefner

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The views expressed in this dissertation are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

The explosive growth of human connectedness over the previous decades has, and will continue to strain the communication infrastructure under-girding modern economies, and society. The continuous expansion of data-centers, advanced artificial intelligence models, and remote data storage will require novel high bandwidth solutions for both long haul and local inter-connects. Current solutions seek to expand link bandwidth through the use of complex high baud rate constellations, in …

Breaking Barriers: Women's Struggle For The Vote In Jacksonville, Brett M. Nystrom

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

During the first half of the twentieth century, women in Jacksonville brought women’s suffrage to the forefront of the city’s discourse through increased engagement in the public sphere. By forming women’s organizations such as the Woman’s Club of Jacksonville, the Florida Equal Franchise League, and the Duval County League of Women Voters, White women addressed concerns regarding women’s voting rights. However, these White women’s organizations and Jacksonville’s White, male-dominated authority excluded African American women from participating in the public sphere. Therefore, African American women in Jacksonville established the City Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, which served as a platform for …

The Marginalization Of The Malgre Nous In French Society From Its Roots To The 1960s, Marie Oury

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines how young Alsatians found themselves on the margins of postwar France. The illegal annexation of their region by Germany in 1940 led them into a bitter paradox: within months, they had to support their enemy's war effort. The National Socialist (Nazi) regime's coercion reached its height between 1942 and 1945, when 130,000 young men and women from Alsace and Moselle were conscripted into the German army against their will. After the war, this generation bore the weight of that history, struggling to reintegrate into France, a nation that sought to avoid grappling with the complex experiences of …

Evaluating Robustness Of Methods For Comparing Two Means Using Paired Data With Few Incomplete Pairs, Thien Pham

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Practitioners often resort to the paired t test to test equality of two means when data is complete. When small amounts of data are missing, is this method still as robust? Are there alternative methods which can perform the job better on the missing data? In this thesis, we measured the robustness of the paired t-test, two sample t-test, corrected z-test, modified corrected z-test, weighted t-test, pooled t-test, optimal pooled t-test, unequal variance test, correlation focused t-test, multiple imputation method, mixed model method, modified maximum likelihood estimate method, and Uddin’s modified maximum likelihood estimate method. This is simulated in an …

Humanity In The Calamity: Hurricane Andrew, The Cold War, And The Demilitarization Of Fema, 1993 – 2002., Luis R. Rios Iii

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Humanity in the Calamity maps out the erroneous land practices that damned the American population to build in the state of Florida in a manner that does not fit the fluid landscape of the environment. Throughout history, as Americans built up Florida on the threatened coastline, the doctrines of disaster polities and emergency management were birthed under the influence of Civil Defense, induced by the militaristic agendas of the Cold War. The influence of Cold War-Era Civil Defense clouded the field of emergency management and FEMA, limiting the response to natural disasters making disasters more violent and deadly.

These issues …

Sketching Towards Character: An Actor's Process Of Reclaiming The Mind-Body Connection, Lauren E. Schulke

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The human body is capable of incredible things. It completes vital functions autonomically, can instinctively protect us from harm, helps us sense, process, and respond to the world we inhabit, and can even heal itself when necessary. But what happens when an actor, who is dependent on their body to express their artistry, has lost awareness of their material? With the help of this thesis and the crafting of a personal methodology, I have developed a process that works towards healing this fracture and encourages the initial crafting of character through embodiment.

This thesis details the evolution of a personal …

Reframing Recovery: Comparing Music Interventions And Traditional Rehabilitation Methods For Cognitive Function In Traumatic Brain Injury Patients, Laura Velez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions annually, often resulting in long-term cognitive deficits that hinder independence and quality of life. While traditional rehabilitation methods address many physical and functional limitations, cognitive impairments—such as deficits in attention, memory, and executive function—often persist. Emerging evidence highlights music-based interventions as a promising complement to standard therapies, yet comparative research remains limited. This integrative literature review examined the effects of music interventions versus traditional rehabilitation methods on cognitive function in adults with TBI. Using a systematic search of databases including MEDLINE, CINAHL Ultimate, APA PsycInfo, and Music Index, eight peer-reviewed studies were selected for …

Consequences Of Artificial Intelligence In Health Insurance: Lawsuits, Policy, And Ethics, Alyssa N. Roberts

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In recent years, the healthcare system has been burdened by a multitude of obstacles that hinder the ability to provide effective, affordable, and timely care. Among these, one of the most significant challenges is the role that health insurance plays in shaping the quality of care. Health insurance companies are designed to decrease financial strain on patients, but they have introduced inefficiencies through delayed coverage approvals, increased denials, and administrative costs. Artificial intelligence (AI) has started to play an integral role in resolving these issues for the health insurance industry. Through its quick automated claim processing, fraud screening, and reduced …

Inhibition Of Activin A Signaling Slows The Progression Of Barrett's Esophagus Induced Esophageal Adenocarcinoma, Lily A. Giardino

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In 2020, approximately 1.03 billion cases of Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) were reported worldwide, representing a significant global health burden. Chronic GERD is a potent initiator of Barrett’s Esophagus (BE), a precancerous condition in which the squamous epithelium is converted into columnar-like epithelium in the distal esophagus in response to reflux injury. Barrett’s Esophagus is the only known precursor to Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (EAC), a disease with a five-year survival rate of 21%. First line treatments focus on acid suppression and endoscopic mucosal resection but did not result in a decrease of EAC incidence highlighting the importance of new therapeutics. Previous …

Considerations For Application Of The Titleist Performance Institute Screen, Andrew Skibski

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The golf swing is a complex movement requiring a combination of power, flexibility, stability, balance, and coordination to strike the ball at a high velocity with precision. The Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) screen is a series of functional tests used to identify individuals’ physical limitations that may influence their ability to perform the golf swing effectively. TPI guidelines recommend performing the TPI screen without a warm-up to improve consistency, but reliability of the TPI screen has not been previously published. Additionally, factors such as a warm-up or playing a round of golf may influence the body’s physical capabilities and could …

Understanding Pre-Service Teachers’ Engagement, Application And Perception Of Instructor Feedback In An Online Teacher Education Course: An Action Research Study, Iram Khan

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Teachers should prioritize continuous professional development through shared experiences and reflective teaching to remain competitive in the global education system and become better teachers to assist language learners in achieving their goals (Vadivel et al., 2021). Professional development courses are crucial for enhancing teaching skills; however, there is a concern that such initiatives seem ineffective in promoting change in teaching practices (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Gore et al., 2017). Implementing effective instructional approaches in teacher education courses, such as feedback and reflection, is crucial for aspiring teachers to enhance their knowledge and professional growth (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017; Pharis et …

Multilevel Network Governance For United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: The Role Of European Subnational Entities In Urban Resilience, Hasan Isgandar

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation investigates the role of subnational actors in European Union (EU) multilevel governance networks focused on reducing urban poverty and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Focusing on the SDG #1 (No Poverty), SDG #11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG #17 (Partnerships for the Goals) it examines the participation and impact of subnational actors in two case studies: Naples, Italy and Krakow, Poland. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), the research investigates the configuration and performance of the networks created within the framework of the URBinclusion projects, which are part of the URBACT and Urban Innovative Actions …

Teacher Retention And The Disabilities-To-Prison Pipeline, Angela P. Mccloud-Bond

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

There is an overrepresentation of individuals with disabilities in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Similar to the commonly known School-to-Prison Pipeline, Christoper Mallet has coined the term the Disabilities-to-Prison Pipeline to refer to this growing problem. Research has not yet determined how individual variables at the school or district levels lead to the expansion of the Disabilities-to-Prison Pipeline. Mallot (2021) presented three possible hypotheses to explain the expansion of this phenomenon: the differential treatment hypothesis, the school failure hypothesis, and the susceptibility hypothesis. There is a significant gap in the literature that focuses specifically on the differential treatment of …

Black Teachers, Labor Consciousness, And The Making Of The Modern Civil Rights Movement In Florida, Marissa M. Bellenger

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Histories of Black teachers have often portrayed them as passive actors in the labor and civil rights movements of the twentieth century. While recent scholarship has highlighted the agency of Black educators, few studies have examined how their professional networks facilitated both labor activism and civil rights strategies. This thesis examines how Black educators in Florida leveraged the Florida State Teachers Association (FSTA) to challenge the racialized economic, political, and social structures of the South by organizing equal pay campaigns with the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From the late 1930s to the …

Drag In Theme Parks: An Application Of Queer Theory And Intergroup Contact Theory, Corey D. Clancy

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The intent of this paper is to evaluate whether the artistic expression of Drag can be understood and appreciated by its critics when employed at Theme Parks. This will be accomplished through the lenses and applications of Queer Theory and Intergroup Contact Theory by researching what the art of Drag is, defining its different expressions, interviewing members of the Drag community, and creating clear guidelines and “Criteria for Drag in Theme Parks.”

With such passionate feelings on Drag in culture today, this research will aim to take subjectivity out of the matter and focus objectively on the impacts that Drag …

Visual Experience Enhancement In Augmented Reality Waveguide Displays, Yuqiang Ding

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

In the dynamic arena of display technology, augmented reality (AR) displays represent a pivotal advancement, seamlessly bridging the digital and physical worlds. This dissertation mainly examines waveguide-based AR display technologies—which enable slim form factors and large eyebox via exit pupil expansion—yet still face persistent challenges: low ambient contrast ratio (ACR), poor color performance and slow simulation design cycles. To address these issues, this dissertation introduces novel liquid crystal photonic devices and system-level optical solutions—together with accelerated simulation methods for design—to enhance user experience and system performance. First, the dissertation examines one of the major efficiency bottlenecks arises from multiple interactions …

The Long Walk And Beyond: Navajo Resilience And The Journey From Displacment To Resurgence, William A. Alvarado

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis, The Long Walk and Beyond: Navajo Resilience and the Journey from Displacement to Resurgence: A Study Exploring the Unique Late Nineteenth-Century Navajo Odyssey During United States Expansion, examines the profound impact of U.S. territorial expansion on the Navajo people during the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Central to this narrative is the tragic experience of the Navajo Long Walk (1864), which led to the forced relocation of thousands of Navajos to Bosque Redondo. The thesis explores the complexities of this relocation, emphasizing the cultural, social, and economic devastation it caused. Despite these challenges, the Navajo people demonstrated remarkable resilience, using …

Transformative Pedagogies Through Iterative Instructional Design, Nikki F. Barnes

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Pedagogical reforms have fallen short, limited to strategies and symptomatic approaches instead of systemic restructuring. Addressing learning environments as reciprocal communities, this dissertation is a critical making project where I developed a model integrating relationship-based practices. I applied Indigenous pedagogies guided by my research question: How does combining Indigenous methods, intersectional feminisms, and digital humanities transform course development and deployment as a communal process of collective learning? Using design justice principles and digital learning affordances, this work seeks to increase learning engagement and outcomes and participant experiences by explicitly embedding community-building along with content. Building with the liberation pedagogies of …

Netflix And The Platformization Of Film And Television Content Discovery, Jacob Boccio

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation investigates the Netflix streaming platform to better understand the platformization of film and television cultural production and content discovery. Building on platform studies and scholarship on platformization, this work contributes to the growing body of literature that critically examines the implications of digital platforms in reshaping cultural and creative industries. Using this framework, the dissertation explores how the evolution of content discovery mechanisms on Netflix affects the cultural production of the film and television industries. Chapter 1 frames Netflix as a platform within the platformization framework. Chapter 2 examines Netflix employees, who serve as gatekeepers by curating and …

Bent Never Broken: A Study Of Multidimensional Perfectionism Through Animation, Sabrina R. Dias

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Bent Never Broken is a 3D animated short film about a martial artist that strives to gain his mother’s love through perfection. The film focuses on maladaptive multidimensional perfectionism and how it affects parent-child relationships. Bent Never Broken utilizes stylized rendering and animation to maintain maturity and appeal. It has a mature storyline with an ending that enforces the idea that perfection does not equate to love, and that it is okay to walk away from maladjusted parent-child relationships.

Just Breathe: Demystifying Breath In Theatre Performance And Pedagogy, Gabriella Headley

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Breathing is an involuntary reflex that happens every day, usually without any extra effort or consideration. Often as actors we are instructed to “just breathe” in a scene, but what does that really mean when breathing is something that is already done subconsciously? Since beginning graduate training, I have realized how imperative breath is in our work as performers, and how it is the cornerstone of everything: the voice, the body, the text, and how it acts as the connecting force between the performers and the audience. How can actors, educators, and directors expand their vocabulary and use breath as …

Perezhivanie In Practice: Exploring Affective Memory And Imagination Through The Stanislavski System, Paige E. Mason

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis explores the enduring significance of The Stanislavski System in modern American actor training, addressing why it remains essential over a century after its creation by Konstantin Stanislavski. While studying the history of how The Stanislavski System was introduced and adapted in America, I identified a fundamental divide that shaped actor training: Lee Strasberg emphasized affective memory to generate emotion, while Stella Adler advocated for imagination to connect with character. Their public dispute has had a lasting impact on American theatre pedagogy, often leaving actors caught between methodologies without a clear understanding of the System’s original intent. At the …

Roleing In & Out Of Character, Dominique E. Marshall

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis explores different methods for an actor to safely get in and out of character. There is a myriad of methodologies for actors to get into their roles, but not much public information on how actors should get out of character. My research navigates how to release a role, or ‘de-roleing,’ along with what actors need in preparation for taking on a role, or ‘pre-roleing.’ The risks of not having an efficient pre-roleing and de-roleing method are emphasized. Using a combination of ideas brought on by Augusto Boal, Susana Bloch, Suzanne Dieckman, and others, I explore methods to de-role …

Precedents For The Experiential Turn In American Art Museums: A Case Study Of Paul Gardner, Chick Austin, Leslie Cheek, And The Museums They Directed, 1932-1968, David Matteson

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation examines the historical precedents for the experiential turn in American art museums by analyzing the directorships of Paul Gardner, Chick Austin, and Leslie Cheek Jr. between 1932 and 1968. Drawing on archival research and museum studies scholarship, this study reevaluates how these directors innovated museum practice through theatricality, mass media, and audience engagement—long before contemporary museological discourse framed such strategies as revolutionary. Gardner’s use of radio broadcasts at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Austin’s integration of circus spectacle at the Ringling Museum, and Cheek’s scenographic exhibition designs at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts illustrate how mid-century museum leaders actively …

“Let The Little Lady Have It!”: Carrie And Ella Rossetter And The Role Of Corporate Women In Early Twentieth Century Business History, Angela R. Mchugh

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines the entrepreneurial journeys of Carrie and Ella Rossetter, two pioneering women who navigated the male-dominated business landscape of early 20th century Florida. Their experiences challenge the prevailing narrative that women were largely excluded from corporate roles prior to World War II. The Rossetter sisters, through their respective ventures in the oil and insurance industries, illustrate the complexities faced by women entrepreneurs during this era, including societal expectations, gender norms, and limited access to capital. Despite operating within a framework that favored traditional feminine roles, Carrie and Ella found ways to assert their business acumen and establish successful …

Requisites For A Dream: An Evaluation Into The National Urban League’S Adjustment Efforts For Southern Migrants, 1911-1930, Adaeze Nwigwe

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The American Dream is loosely defined as a universalist rhetoric that promises any American the opportunity to succeed in life. However, for African Americans this has not always been guaranteed. Historiography around the mantra uncovers a gap in consideration for Black Americans’ unique marginalization in American society despite their long history within the nation. This paradox inspired a myriad of proposed solutions towards racial disparities, with the early twentieth century favoring ideas of racial uplift as a panacea for prejudice. This thesis examines the use of racial uplift as a solution by the National Urban League during the first half …

Screen Time On Stage: The Effect Of Internet And The Smartphone On The Actor, Nathan A. Olmeda

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines the potential link between an actor’s cell phone use and their work in the rehearsal process. Using Paula Thomson and S. Victoria Jaque’s Creativity and the Performing Artist and Nichola Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, I analyze the neural networks of the brain that are engaged in acting and their functions to develop a greater understanding of their association to behaviors and emotional responses that may impact the actor in the rehearsal/performance space. Furthermore, I investigate the emergence of smartphone use within the cultural zeitgeist and its effect on the …

Development Of Human Neuronal Microphysiological Models And Subsequent Integration Into Multi-Organ Platforms For Evaluation Of Therapeutic Efficacy And Off-Target Toxicity, Aakash Patel

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Microphysiological systems are a rapidly growing field of research for modeling of physiological processes and disease in an in vitro environment. The translatability and cost effectiveness of these platforms make them a valuable tool for drug discovery, allowing investigation of both efficacy and off-target toxicity either as a replacement or supplement to traditional animal models. Neurological disorders in particular are often difficult to emulate in an animal model, making the development of these models a highly useful area of research for both elucidation of brain function, as well as neurological disorders. Taking these models and integrating them into a multi-organ …