Digital Commons Network^™

Looking Beyond Traditional Therapy: The Promising Alternative Of Ketamine-Assisted Treatments In Improving The Quality Of Life Of Veterans, Noa Gutmann

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in United States veterans has a long history of treatment with standard care interventions and therapies. Unfortunately, many modern-day veterans experience treatment resistance and comorbid depressive symptoms that have yet to be resolved. This results in suicidal ideation, hospital readmission, and high treatment dropout rates of care plans. Recent evidence has shown a positive impact of ketamine, and esketamine, therapy on PTSD and depressive symptoms severity. Although, the outcomes and generalizability of this emerging therapy, compared to standard care, are not fully elucidated on. The purpose of this literary review was to further examine the current …

Lenses Of Faith And Culture: Christian College Students' Perspectives On Infertility, Mary Samuels

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis investigates the perspectives of Christian college students on infertility, adoption, and assisted reproductive technologies through focus group discussions. Following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, 13 states have established a total abortion ban, and 28 states have established abortion bans based on gestational duration. This study materializes because recently developed state-level abortion laws may impact in vitro fertilization (IVF) access if states expand legal protection of fetal personhood. Previous research has described that while Christian traditions demonstrate cultural pronatalism and opposition to abortion, Christian individuals’ concepts of infertility and views of treatments such …

Cultural Schemas Regarding Resilience And Strength In Blacks: Implications For Well-Being And Academic Success, Aniya G. Ashford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Culturally shaped strength-based coping frameworks among Black college students, particularly the Strong Black Woman Schema and John Henry’s Active Coping, are associated with responses to racism-related stress and academic pressure, yet the ways these internalized expectations interact with emotional regulation, perceived cultural norms, and academic functioning remain unclear. Prior research has primarily examined these constructs in isolation or focused on psychological distress or physical health outcomes, often relying on single-method self-report designs that do not capture how culturally embedded coping processes are reflected in lived experiences; as a result, limited work has integrated identity-based schemas, behavioral coping strategies, and narrative …

Assessing Physiological Arousal During A Standard Versus Inverted Vigilance Task Using Heart Rate Variability, Taha Riaz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Vigilance tasks require sustained attention over long periods of time while monitoring for rare critical signals. Inverted or reverse vigilance/sustained attention response tasks (SART) may impose greater response-control demands. Although prior studies have compared these tasks behaviorally, there are fewer investigations examining whether they differ in physiological arousal as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV).

Method: Undergraduate students from UCF completed a variation of either the X-CPT (standard vigilance task) or the CPT-3 (inverted/SART) task. Electrocardiogram data was recorded continuously. Data from 40 participants were analyzed. HRV was indexed using frequency domain analysis using the low-frequency to high-frequency ratio …

Texels: A Programmable Textile Interface For Replicating Textures, Maya E. Eusebio

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Self-moving fabric interfaces have massive potential for applications in fields ranging from art to haptic feedback to deployable space structures. However, current systems of implementation face the impracticalities of bulkiness, burnout, and energy consumption on top of limiting designs that can only contract uniformly or create one pre-programmed shape. For this technology to bring the change that it promises, we must break the barriers of usability and sustainability to make it a practical choice. This thesis aims to develop a scalable model of fabric that designers, programmers, and anyone else can acquire or create with accessible materials, integrate into design …

The Relationship Between Heteronormativity, Shame- Proneness, Shame-Withdrawal, And Empathy In College- Aged Men, Megan M. Tang

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Due to rising social discourse regarding “the male loneliness epidemic,” this study aims to examine possible predictors of empathy in cisgender, heterosexual, college-aged males. Empathy promotes prosocial behavior and is necessary for healthy interpersonal interactions, which may be limited in male experiences due to adherence to heteronormative values and lower levels of self-disclosure in men. Shame is more likely to occur when men stray from traditional gender roles, and people are more likely to engage in social withdrawal behaviors when experiencing shame. Shame-proneness has also been shown to inhibit empathetic behavior. This study explores two hypotheses, the first of which …

Recurrence And Co-Occurrence Of Enhancer-Promoter Interactions Across Human Samples, Satvik Gunjala

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Experimental mapping of enhancer-promoter interactions (EPIs) is resource-intensive, and current computational prediction methods struggle with intrinsic genomic complexity and reliance on limited training data. To address this bottleneck and provide insights for improved computational methods, this study systematically analyzed chromatin contact datasets to investigate the recurrence and co-occurrence of enhancer-promoter interactions across human samples. Putative interactions were evaluated across two HiChIP datasets comprising 218 total samples and one Hi-C dataset comprising 266 samples to assess recurrence across samples and assess sequencing depth related to unique EPIs. Additionally, a preliminary item-based collaborative filtering recommender model was developed to assess co-occurrence patterns …

Assessing The Effects Of A Novel Breathing Exercise On Respiratory, Postural, And Muscular Performances, Tristan P. Wilson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Breathing exercises are used in both clinical and home settings for a variety of purposes. Their functions range from reducing anxiety and stress to recuperating pulmonary function, depending on the technique and style employed. Existing literature has demonstrated that breathing exercises increase Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and may be able to improve postural stability due to engagement of the diaphragm when regularly practiced.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a novel breathing exercise would be effective in improving respiratory, postural, and muscular function.

Methods: In order to evaluate this claim, a randomized, double-blind, controlled study …

Addressing Barriers To Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome In Low-Income Populations: A Pediatric Nursing Approach To Advocacy And Education, Deborah Fayomi

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is a serious issue that affects infants, especially in low-income communities. This paper examines ways to prevent SBS through education, advocacy, and nurse-led interventions. Fifteen articles published between 2001 and 2025 were reviewed, with a focus on risk factors, prevention programs, and the role of health visitors in the United Kingdom. The research shows that poverty, parental stress, and low social support increase the risk of abusive head trauma. The thesis explores the range of intervention measures that have been successful to prevent SBS. Health visitors play a critical role, providing community-based support, culturally sensitive guidance, …

Performance Analysis Of Sparse Neural Networks In Brain Abnormality Detection, Megan Danh

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Neuroimages have held the capability of revealing to medical professionals patterns for brain abnormalities since their development. However, more recently, these professionals and researchers are looking to use neural networks to identify these brain abnormalities through neuroimages for early detection that would allow more effective treatment. Neuroimage datasets, specifically functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), are extremely large in size. This would result in their processing and training to be computationally expensive, even with smaller neural networks. Fortunately, recent pruning methods have recently emerged, where network weights and neurons are pruned to reduce computational cost without compromising too much accuracy. By …

Bloody Sunday: A Comparative Analysis Of Nonviolent Marches In Selma And Derry, Samantha J. Romero

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis examines two different nonviolent civil rights marches: Selma’s march for voting rights in 1965 in the United States and Derry’s march to end internment without trial in 1972 in Northern Ireland. The two marches yielded drastically different outcomes despite employing the shared tactic of nonviolence. This research addresses the vital role that the political opportunity structure, rather than tactical repertoire alone, plays in determining whether state repression leads to reform or further conflict. Through a controlled comparative analysis, the research positions the march itself as a constant across the two cases. Subsequently, governmental allies, institutional openness, and regime …

Immigration Securitization And Educational Access: The Impact Of U.S. Immigration Policy On International Students, Cossir Carter

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines the securitization of international students within the broader transformation of United States immigration policy from the post-9/11 era to the present administration. Following the September 11 attacks, immigration governance was increasingly reorganized under a national security framework, significantly altering the regulatory environment surrounding student visas. Subsequent policy shifts have intensified monitoring mechanisms and administrative controls that directly shape international students’ access to education and mobility. Given the sensitivity of immigration-related participation in the current political climate, this research employs qualitative policy analysis rather than direct student surveys. Under the Trump administration, this securitization intensified through stricter visa …

A Hispanic Generational View On Mental Health, Daniela Martinez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study aims to investigate the relationship between generation status and acculturation on mental health literacy and stigma, specifically with Binge Eating Disorder in Hispanic populations. The current literature focuses on mental health literacy levels in Hispanic populations in relation to depression and anxiety, but not binge eating disorder. Additionally, there is very little on how generation status and acculturation interact and can affect mental health literacy all together. To study their relationship, a survey and a short narrative piece about a character who is experiencing Binge Eating Disorder while in college were created alongside questions about the behaviors displayed …

Effects Of Hydrogen Enrichment And Premixing On Flame Stability In A High-Pressure Axial-Stage Combustor, Alexandre Fernandes C. Santiago Filho

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The addition of hydrogen to conventional fuels enhances reactivity and can increase the risk of flashback in premixed gas turbine combustors. This study investigates the effects of premixing length and hydrogen concentration on flame stability in a high-pressure axial-stage combustor. Experiments were conducted at the UCF Propulsion and Energy Research Laboratory using a two-stage configuration, where the primary stage provided a high-temperature vitiated crossflow using a hydrogen-piloted, premixed methane–air mixture, and hydrogen-enriched methane–air mixtures were injected through a concentric fuel-tube injector in the axial stage. Premixing length was varied for pure hydrogen flames, and hydrogen concentration was varied at a …

Effect Of Plant-Based Vs. Standard American Diet On Cardiovascular Parameters In College Students, Timothy J. Horanic

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study examines how adherence to different dietary patterns—specifically a plant-based diet compared to the standard American diet—can influence physiological indicators tied to cardiovascular health, including heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP), and heart rate (HR). Among these markers, HRV is considered especially sensitive to autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation and may offer earlier insight into physiological stress or dysfunction than HR or BP alone. Although nutritional habits are widely believed to impact heart health, few investigations have focused on how specific long-term diets affect autonomic and cardiovascular metrics in healthy, college-aged adults. This study aims to investigate if …

Bridging The Gap: Investigating The Impact Of Adequate Prenatal Care On Adverse Maternal Outcomes Among Black And African American Women, Ciaera Ambroise

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The United States continues to face a maternal health crisis marked by persistent racial disparities, with Black women experiencing pregnancy-related mortality rates three times higher than those of White women. Despite national efforts to expand access to prenatal services, inequities in maternal outcomes remain, indicating that the quality of prenatal care may be as critical as its timing and frequency. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether adequate prenatal care, compared to inadequate prenatal care, is associated with reduced adverse maternal outcomes among Black and African American women in the United States. Guided by a PICO question, this …

Evaluation Of The Long-Term Sealability Performance Of Aramid Fiber Nitrile-Based Gaskets, Salome Ramirez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The reliability of sealed, oil-filled containers is critical for maintaining the operation of high-voltage energy systems, in which the sensitive electronics need to be isolated from the cyclic conditions associated with outdoor environments. New materials bring the possibility of extending service lifetimes and maintenance intervals. Aramid fiber nitrile-based gaskets are an attractive alternative to conventional gasket choices due to their long-term stability in various environments and compatibility with porcelain, metals, and plastics. For newly designed porcelain-to-metal fittings, understanding the behavior of the candidate gasket material under realistic loading conditions is essential to ensure long-term seal integrity and equipment safety. Traditional …

Discomfort In Silence: Investigating Workplace Discrimination In Relation To Employee Disclosure Of Menopausal Health Issues, Alysia Furbish

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Menopause is a universal developmental transition for women that often coincides with peak career years, yet it remains underexamined in organizational research and is frequently treated as a private or taboo workplace topic. This lack of visibility shapes whether women feel able to disclose menopause-related challenges, seek accommodations, and access organizational support. Drawing on literature related to pregnancy and motherhood discrimination, menopause stereotypes, and disclosure literature, this study examines how symptom burden, ideal worker norms, and stigma-related identity management contribute to anticipated workplace discrimination and disclosure decisions. Data were collected via an online survey of 106 working women recruited through …

The Effects Of Bicultural Identity On Risk-Taking And Moral Decision-Making In South Asian American College Students, Meera Puthukkudy

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis was to explore how biculturalism in South Asian American college students impacts their behaviors, specifically moral decision-making and risk-taking behaviors. Bicultural individuals must navigate the complexities of their identity by integrating norms, values, and expectations from both their heritage culture and their dominant Western culture, which inherently creates a unique cognitive and psychological framework for evaluating choices. Participants in this study completed a survey online and were asked to complete three measures. First, the extent to which participants feel cultural harmony or conflict between their respective cultural identities was measured using the Bicultural Identity Integration …

To Print A Remake: An Analysis Of Hollywood Remakes And Their Cultural Value, Connor F. Seaton

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In recent years, audiences and movie critics have expressed concern that Hollywood’s growing reliance on remakes, sequels, franchises, and similar adaptations has led to a broader worry that originality is fading from modern cinema and that the industry is instead focused on using adaptations to maximize profits. Although adaptation is often seen as a commercially driven framework for reproducing existing intellectual property in a new media format, this thesis argues that it should be recognized as an autonomous cultural category with its own artistic, historical, and social significance and merit. By analyzing adaptation scholarship and reviewing its complex historical development, …

The Role Of The Amygdala In Huntington Disease-Associated Aggression, Luis Torres

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by a trinucleotide CAG expansion in the huntingtin gene (HTT). HD is characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms that significantly impact patient and caregiver quality of life. Psychiatric symptoms, including depression, anxiety, and irritability, are common manifestations of HD and can emerge years before the onset is clinically diagnosed. Aggression is a common and challenging psychiatric symptom in HD, often misunderstood and associated with caregiver stress, early institutionalization, and reduced quality of life. Despite its clinical impact, aggression in HD lacks effective, targeted treatment options. Similar to HD …

How Religious Priming Affects Morality In Sports, Daniel Prias

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research focuses on filling the hole in existing literature regarding religious priming and how it affects morality in sports. This study examined whether different types of moral priming influenced moral reasoning in undergraduate soccer athletes. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: an external religious prime, an internal religious prime, a secular prime, or a no-prime control group. Moral reasoning was assessed using the Moral Reasoning in Sports Scenarios Questionnaire (MRSSQ), strength of religious faith was measured using the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (SCSRFQ), and personality traits were assessed using the Mini International Personality …

Economic Instrumentality Report Of Work & Occc, Manuel A. Rivera, Stephen Pratt, Frank Badu-Baiden, Margaret Zorrilla

Hospitality+™ Center for Innovation and Training

This report presents a comprehensive overview of the workforce supporting the OCCC, based on a research partnership with the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. The analysis integrates nine interconnected studies examining workforce characteristics, job satisfaction, quality of life, commitment, retention, financial sustainability, and perceptions of meaning in work. Findings are based on 299 valid responses, representing front-line, supervisory, and managerial employees across the Central Florida events and tourism ecosystem.

Perspectives Of Poetry: Peering Into Poetry And Aphasia, Kristian M. Perez

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

People with aphasia often experience significant barriers to communication, emotional expression, and participation in meaningful life activities following stroke or neurological injury. Although poetry and creative expression have been explored in broader therapeutic contexts, limited research has examined how people with aphasia perceive poetry. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of people with aphasia regarding definitions of poetry, level of interest in poetry and the factors influencing said interest. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adults with aphasia recruited through convenience sampling. Participants responded to questions before and after exposure to the poem Trust by Mark …

Ecological And Evolutionary Divergence Of A Shared Sympatric Color Polymorphism In Paracirrhites Hawkfish, Samuel Greaves

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Color polymorphism provides a tractable window into how selection, gene flow, and ecology interact to maintain phenotypic diversity and initiate divergence. I investigate the ecological and genomic basis of sympatric light and melanistic morphs in two reef hawkfishes, Paracirrhites arcatus and P. hemistictus, across Guam and Hawai‘i. This study aims to determine whether the color morphs of these hawkfishes are a stable polymorphism or have begun the process of ecological speciation. For P. arcatus revealed substantially lower density on Guam (0.086 ind/m²) than reported for Hawai‘i (0.292 ind/m²) and a strong skew away from the melanistic morph on Guam …

Club Sport Injury Rates, Injury Characteristics, Functional Movement Screen Relationships, And Impact Of Core Training, Rebecca Carson

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

It is estimated that over 10% of college students take part in club sports at their college or university, yet sport-related injuries are a common consequence of participation. The Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™) is a movement analysis tool that identifies functional deficits and asymmetries and is widely applied in athletic settings to assess injury risk and inform rehabilitation and injury prevention programs. Core strength and stability play a crucial role in functional movement quality and may even reduce risk of injury and improve sport performance. This dissertation aimed to establish club sport injury rates and characteristics for club men’s ice …

Increasing Actuation Authority And Bandwidth For Aeromechanics Testing: A Piezoelectric-Based Approach, Sydney A. Giannuzzi

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Flutter in turbomachinery poses significant risks to aerospace systems, requiring accurate identification of flutter boundaries to ensure operational safety. Traditional binary “flutter / no flutter” testing methods provide limited data without error margins. Aeromechanical Identification Methodology (AIM) offers a safer alternative by mapping aeromechanical damping across operational conditions using non-contact excitation. However, current AIM actuators are constrained to excitation frequencies below 500 Hz, limiting their effectiveness and applicability. To bridge this gap, this research analyzed and validated performance of a novel piezoelectric-based oscillatory flow injection valve (NOVA) designed to deliver high-bandwidth, high-authority actuation for expanded flutter boundary mapping.

NOVA was …

Improvisational Theatre And Theatre Of The Oppressed: Fostering Growth In Myself And Beyond, Leigh S. Green

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis examines how improvisational theatre and Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed function independently and how these practices have shaped me as both an artist and educator. Having grown up with improvisation and continued working professionally in performance and education, I have observed how it creates conditions that support development. Guided by a qualitative practice-as-research methodology, in which my own artistic and pedagogical practice serves as both site and subject of inquiry, this study explores three central questions: How does improvisational theatre contribute to youth development? In what ways can Theatre of the Oppressed deepen or reshape improvisation’s developmental …

Exercise-Induced Muscle Swelling And Impedance Changes Of The Elbow Flexor, Sofea Smith

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Electrical impedance myography (EIM) is a non-invasive method that assesses body fluid distribution using impedance (Z), resistance (R), reactance (Xc), and phase angle (PhA). These values have previously been used to interpret cellular health and fluid shifts. Acute muscle edema known as a “pump,” has been reported during and after resistance training exercise and the extent to which bioelectrical properties of the muscle tissue are affected during this process remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess changes in EIM during exercise-induced muscle swelling via resistance training. Thirty-one resistance-trained adults (male=21, female=10; age=23.4±6.5 years, BMI=26.17±3.04 kg/m2) …

Cultivating Workplace Happiness In Technology Workers, Cherie A. Herrin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Technology workers are central to the innovation and performance of modern organizations and retaining them is a persistent challenge for modern organizations. One important aspect of retention in many contexts is Workplace Happiness, which has been argued to improve worker performance and reduce turnover; however, there is little empirical evidence of the effectiveness of these interventions for technology workers. This dissertation develops a model in which two affective states, Workplace Happiness and Workplace Distress, mediate the relationships between six socio-technical work conditions and two behavioral outcomes: Turnover Intent and Work Execution (i.e., self-rated work performance and quality). A systematic literature …