Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Role Of Selenium-Dependent Stickland Reactions In Clostridioides Difficile Bioenergetics, Dominika Dzurny

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Clostridioides difficile is an anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium and one of the leading causes of antibiotic- associated diarrhea. Colonization depends on the metabolism of certain nutrients in the host gut, namely amino acids and carbohydrates. C. difficile ferments amino acids as an integral part of its metabolism via Stickland reactions, utilizing the selenoproteins D-proline reductase (Prd) and glycine reductase (Grd) to generate energy. Specificity of selenocysteine incorporation reflects the intracellular levels of selenophosphate, the activated selenium donor synthesized by selenophosphate synthetase (SelD). SelD is coincidentally a selenoprotein itself, containing a UGA codon at position 17 (Sec-17). The functional and physiological importance …

Emojis As Text Technology: Between Visual Paradigm And Cultural Revolution, Hanan Hafiz

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Emojis, as a broader communication phenomenon, have gained widespread usage, significant adaptation, and considerable academic attention due to their role in providing semiotic cues and online gestures within computer-mediated communication. This study aims to trace their development and evolution using the text technologies framework. This approach examines the systematic use of emojis, with particular emphasis on their extensive evolution by historically contextualizing their usage, trends, and cultural interactions. Anchored in this conceptual approach, the study draws on the taxonomy of text technology developed by Treharne and Willan, analyzing the evolution of emojis through four key dimensions: intentionality, materiality, functionality, and …

Creating An Archive From Colonial Records: Representations Of The Caribbean In British Periodicals, 1750-1930, Natalie B. Herman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The periodization of Caribbean literature is a highly contested topic. Much of this periodization problem relates to the question of what should be included in this category of Caribbean literature, a question that became particularly pertinent during the postcolonial era. Many studies of Caribbean literature have traced its supposed origins to the period of the early to mid-twentieth century when many Caribbean territories were well on their way to postcolonial independence while disregarding works produced during the colonial period as they were considered to favor colonialism. Through examining how Caribbean literature appeared in the pre-1950 period, research conducted for the …

Interactions Of Anti-Viral Ceria Nanoparticles With An Enveloped Rna Virus, Muhammad Hassan Mehmood Kalyar

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

There is growing interest in developing durable and broad-spectrum antiviral nanomaterials for surface disinfection. Silver-modified ceria nanoparticles (AgCNPs) are regenerative materials capable of inactivating a wide range of viruses through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We hypothesized that for enveloped RNA viruses, the lipid bilayer and viral spike glycoproteins are determinants of sensitivity to inactivation of infectivity by AgCNPs. This hypothesis was tested using Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV), a model enveloped negative-sense single strand RNA virus containing a single spike glycoprotein G. Five rounds of serial passage of VSV in the presence of suboptimal AgCNP concentrations led to the …

Exploring The Role Of Fatty Acid Signaling In Macrophages, Ayomide Ogunsanmi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Dietary fatty acids play critical roles in both the gustatory and immune systems. In taste, they serve as the sapid molecules that underlie the ability to taste fat, whereas in the immune system, they serve as messengers that help facilitate the fuel-based reprogramming of macrophages (MΦ) that underlie optimal immune function. It has become clear in recent years that there is a functional interaction between the taste and immune system, and fatty acid signaling pathways serve as one focus of this overlap. Similar to taste receptor cells (TRCs), MΦ express G protein-coupled fatty acid receptors GPR120 and GPR84, and our …

It's Been Here All Along: Increasing Discomfort In Immersive Horror Puzzle Experiences Without Jump Scares, Brittany R. Porthouse

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis seeks to utilize horror themes in a puzzle-based themed experience without the usage of jump scares. By alerting the body’s startle response once a puzzle is completed with a sudden loud noise or visuals, many horror-themed escape rooms utilize the jump scare tactic to heighten their guests’ adrenaline. While this technique is often effective in eliciting a reaction from participants, the effects are temporary– and sometimes hinder participants’ desire to fully interact with the environment. By primarily using the experience’s narrative and environment to illicit a fear response in guests, as opposed to using the consequences of their …

Chromatographic Developments For The Analysis Of Toxic Organic Chemicals In The Environment And Food Samples, Stephanie Devi Nauth

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

As awareness grows about compounds harmful to human health, the need for sensitive detection methods at low concentration levels becomes increasingly critical. Chromatography is a powerful analytical technique that enables the separation of complex mixtures, allowing for the simultaneous analysis of multiple analytes—even at trace levels. This dissertation applies chromatography in two distinct contexts: (1) Investigating the sorption of polycyclic aromatic sulfur heterocycles (PASHs) onto nylon microplastics; and (2) Detecting illegal dyes in various food matrices.

Microplastics have emerged as significant vectors for transporting pollutants into aquatic ecosystems. Due to their hydrophobic nature, many organic pollutants readily sorb onto microplastics …

Advancing Ground-Based Instrumentation With Astrophotonics For Stellar Astrophysics And Time-Domain Spectroscopy, Christina D. Moraitis

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation presents advancements in Astrophotonics with a focus on PolyOculus technology - a novel, scalable approach to astronomical instrumentation designed to enhance observational capabilities in a cost-effective manner. It details the development of the Original PolyOculus Array (OPA), its integrated light-combining device (the photonic lantern), and its dedicated spectrograph, OPASpec. In parallel, the final commissioning of the MIRADAS Near-Infrared spectrograph is described. These instrumental innovations are applied to key astrophysical investigations, including the search for coronal mass ejections on M-dwarfs and time-resolved spectroscopic monitoring of T Coronae Borealis during its pre-eruption phase. By combining cutting-edge instrument design with cross-institutional …

From Microns To Mons: Investigating Airless Body Surface Properties And Processes, Autumn N. Shackelford

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Understanding how airless bodies have evolved in the space environment is essential for interpreting remote sensing data and constraining the weathering processes that alter airless body surfaces over time. This dissertation utilizes coordinated experimental, observational, and analytical techniques to investigate airless body surface properties and processes. Our first study seeks to characterize mechanical breakdown of the lunar regolith caused by ice-regolith interactions within the lunar polar regolith environment. The second and third studies investigate the effects of simulated micrometeorite bombardment via a novel dual pulsed laser experimental setup on iron-poor, carbon-rich Mercury and carbonaceous asteroid analogs. We analyze the spectral, …

Preparing For The Habitable Worlds Observatory: Spectropolarimetric Radiative Transfer Models Of Terrestrial (Exo)Planets, Kenneth E. Goodis Gordon

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The next major step for the exoplanet community lies in the characterization of terrestrial exoplanets, especially when it comes to identifying biosignatures and determining the habitability of these worlds. In response to this, NASA has proposed the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), with the primary goal of searching for and characterizing Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones (HZ) of their stars. However, current characterization strategies that only rely on the unpolarized flux from the planets lose some of the informational content of the observed light and therefore suffer from degeneracies in the calculated planetary parameters. The sensitivity of polarization to the …

Insurance With Investments, Jingxi Liao

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Insurance is that insurer collects premiums from insured and reimburses claims. If the premiums collected are not enough to pay claims, insurance company will go bankrupt. Therefore, insurer may need to consider ruin probability of insurance to avoid bankruptcy. In this article, we assume that insurer invests premiums in both risky and risk-free assets with some allocated restrictions. We will try to find the optimal investment proportion by maximizing expected general utility function of surplus process corresponding to the ruin probability. We will prove that the optimal investment proportion has ”bang bang” characteristic under some conditions.

Moreover, in traditional term …

The Hilbert Series Of Paths, Cycles, And Related Graphs, Tiffany Nielander

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The Hilbert Series of a finitely-generated graded R-module, M, is a series which is often given in the form a rational function in the variable, t. This series encodes a great many invariant properties of the module M. In this dissertation, I study the Hilbert series and related invariants of the graph rings for paths and cycles. By utilizing a result of Kyle Trainor, I am able to examine the Hilbert series and the related invariants of these graph rings recursively through second and higher-order difference equations. This technique allows me to extract information about the …

Phase Retrieval And Fidelity Preserving Quantum Channels, Kai Liu

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis investigates the preservation of fundamental quantum properties under noisy quantum processes. Motivated by the challenges of maintaining coherence and information integrity in realistic quantum systems, we study three distinct structural properties: phase retrievability, orbit injectivity, and fidelity preservation. Each property reflects a unique facet of how quantum information can be robustly encoded, distinguished, or compared in the presence of environmental interactions.

In the first part of the thesis, we analyze phase retrievable quantum channels which allow recovery of a quantum state up to a global phase. We provide structural characterizations using the Kraus representation and the joint spectrum …

Analysis Of Numerical Methods For Spdes, And Applications Of Free Boundary Problems In Financial Mathematics, Corey A. Prachniak

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation studies the key properties of a fully discrete finite element method for a class of stochastic moving boundary problems. Then, free boundary problems and their applications in finance are explored.

The first part of this thesis studies the properties of a proposed fully discrete finite element method scheme with an interpolation operator for stochastic Cahn-Hilliard equations with functional-type noise. These solutions cannot be differentiated in time, so we provide Holder continuity results to aid in the scheme’s error analysis. We further derive the uniform boundedness of higher-order L²-norm moment for use in the analysis. Then nearly …

"Identity (Change) Is Not A Joke, Jim!": The Role Of Change In Responsible Drinking Identity On Behavioral Change In College Alcohol Interventions, Angelina V. Leary

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Identity has long fascinated humans, and recent research has explored its role in behavioral change. Identity change may explain why some behavioral interventions are more effective than others. This dissertation examined this idea within the context of college student alcohol interventions. While numerous interventions exist for college students, only some appear to yield long-term effects. It was hypothesized that the key differentiator in effectiveness is how an intervention reshapes an individual’s responsible drinking identity. Participants (71.93% White, 59.40% Female) from a Southeastern university were randomly assigned to one of four intervention conditions: Deviance Regulation Theory (DRT), Personalized Normative Feedback (BASICS), …

Project Esperanza: A Pilot Study On Isolation, Belonging, And Hope For First-Generation Latinx College Students, Marangelie Velez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study is a two-part manuscript dissertation that explores and assesses culturally grounded strategies to best support first-generation Latinx college students (FGLCS), who often face unique academic and psychosocial challenges. The first manuscript is a conceptual exploration of the intersecting constructs of social isolation, belonging, and hope, and their impact on the well-being and academic success of FGLCS. Thematic analysis revealed the importance of mentorship, culturally relevant content, and opportunities for reflection and community-building. These findings informed the development of a psychoeducational intervention, Project Esperanza. The second manuscript introduces the pilot study designed to reduce social isolation and enhance belonging …

Youth Self-Injurious Thoughts And Behaviors: The Role Of Affect, Interpersonal Stress, And Parenting, Samantha J. Klaver

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) are associated with numerous adverse consequences, including an increased risk of suicide, for youth populations (Castellví et al., 2017; Kiekens et al., 2018). This study developed a more nuanced understanding of the factors associated with SITBs by examining proximal intrapersonal (i.e., daily youth negative affect) and interpersonal (i.e., daily youth interpersonal conflict) factors on youth SITBs utilizing experience sampling methods (ESMs). This study also examined how specific modifiable characteristics (i.e., parent-youth attachment and parental reflective functioning) may moderate these proximal associations. Results from a series of multilevel, mixed-effects negative binomial regression analyses conducted on a …

The Burden Of Blame: Self-Blame After Sexual Victimization And Its Relation To Identity, Cassandra Andrion

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Sexual victimization is a pervasive issue with profound psychological effects. One critical factor influencing post-assault outcomes is self-blame, which can manifest as behavioral (blaming one’s actions) or characterological (blaming one’s core self). Research has shown that self-blame is more strongly associated with sexual assault than with non-interpersonal traumatic events; however, comparisons between sexual assault and other interpersonal traumas remain underexplored. Furthermore, the relationship between specific types of self-blame and different trauma types has not been thoroughly examined. This distinction may be important, as each form of self-blame is linked to different psychological outcomes. Self-blame has been associated with several negative …

Breaking The Karen Curse: A Look At Anti-Mistreatment Signage's Impact On Customer Mistreatment Through Customer Empathy And Entitlement, Amanda Grinley

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation explores the phenomenon of customers mistreating service workers and examines how physical signage about customer behavior can influence the likelihood of such mistreatment occurring in a work environment. The impact of signage was studied broadly at an individual level in Study 1 by comparing the mistreatment service workers experience in workplaces with and without anti-mistreatment signage, and in more depth at an event level from the point of view of the customer in Study 2 using an experimental video vignette design. Results from the two studies indicate that anti-mistreatment signage can significantly reduce the likelihood of customer mistreatment …

It's In My Nature: A Look At The Individual Differences That Influence Perceptions Of Work Stress Recovery With Nature Breaks, Nathaly Rayo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The purpose of this study was to explore how individual differences influence employee

perceptions of nature breaks at work. While nature provides restorative benefits to employees such

as reduced fatigue and feelings of recovery and awe, individual differences may impact the fit

between an employee and nature as a desirable work break location. We adopted a person-centered

approach and conducted a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) using the indicators of nature

connectedness, regulatory focus, uncertainty intolerance, and openness to experience. Results

supported the emergence of four distinct profiles: break under-regulating nature adventurers,

nature-adverse break-takers, nature-loving break self-regulators, and reserved nature-neutral

break-takers. …

Thriving Through Turbulence: Exploring Team Resilience Through An Adversity-Centered Lens, Krisztina Szabo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Although adversity has been a central component of team resilience definitions (Fisher et al., 2022; Raetze et al., 2022), there is little known about how different characteristics of adversity influence team functioning. Drawing from Event System Theory (Morgeson et al., 2015), the dissertation examined the connections between adverse event characteristics (i.e., event novelty, criticality, disruption, duration), team processes (i.e., planning, collective sensemaking, strategy formulation, coordination, monitoring and backup behaviors), and team outcomes (i.e., team performance) in the context of a repeated measures research study. The results indicated that novelty and criticality of adverse events were significantly and positively related to …

The Role Individual Differences And Environmental Factors In Automated Driving Performance, John M. Duany

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of ADHD diagnosis, inclement weather, non-driving-related tasks (NDRT), automation failures, and traffic density on driving performance and takeover performance. This study also examined the relationship between dispositional factors (i.e., trust in automation, cognitive failures, and self-efficacy) and dynamic factors (i.e., mental workload, situation awareness, and situational trust) in relation to automated driving performance. A total of 156 participants were recruited for this study, including drivers with and without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Each participant completed four experimental drives and two baseline drives. Mental workload, heart rate variability (HRV), situational trust, …

Pride Or Prejudice: An Examination Of Queer Content In Florida High Schools, Niamh L. Harrop

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis explores how queer individuals reflect on the presence—or more often, the absence—of queer content in their high school education. Despite increasing visibility of LGBTQ+ people in popular culture and legal reform, formal educational spaces remain largely heteronormative and cisnormative structured from a heterosexual and cisgender standpoint. Through a critical qualitative approach, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with 13 queer participants who attended high school in Florida in the years between the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015 and the passage of Florida’s H.B. 1557 (“Don’t Say Gay” law) in 2022. Using thematic analysis, four key themes were …

Examining Educational Inequalities And Driving Science’S Next Generation Forward: Geobus Program Theory Evaluation, Elise M. Lorenzo

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study presents a theory-driven evaluation of GeoBus, a mobile science lab designed to deliver hands-on, “fun learning experiences” via a solar powered, technology-rich learning environment brought directly to K-12 students in Central Florida Title 1 schools. While STEM education is widely recognized as essential for promoting equity, many schools, particularly in under-resourced communities, continue to face barriers to accessing meaningful and inclusive science learning opportunities. GeoBus was created in response to this need, offering students an informal learning environment with exposure to geospatial technologies and interactive science content.

Drawing on mixed-methods data, including content from the GeoBus website and …

In Vitro And In Vivo Biodegradation And Biocompatibility Assessment Of Magnesium Composites For Bone Implants, Samantha Gmitro, Andres Larraza, Pedram Sotoudehbagha, Andres Alayon Mata, Andrew Romero, John Lovejoy, Mehdi Razavi

Research Data and Datasets

This dataset corresponds to the original data for the manuscript titled In Vitro and In Vivo Biodegradation and Biocompatibility Assessment of Magnesium Composites for Bone Implants.

Agenda 2025-08, Staff Council

Staff Advisory Council Meeting Agendas

A meeting agenda is a list of the topics that will be discussed during a meeting, along with other details. The agenda is usually shared with participants before the meeting so they can prepare. The agenda's purpose is to give participants a clear outline of what should happen in the meeting, who will lead each task, and how long each step should take.

Ucf Pegasus Plan - 5th Grade - Early American Inventions, Del M. Herman, Jaclyne Casella, Kathryn Garner

Pegasus Plans: Social Studies Unit Plans for Florida Teachers

During this unit, students will trace early American inventions' effects on the early United States and the business productivity of that era. Students will complete primary source analyses on the different inventions, take guided notes in a foldable on each invention, and participate in a collaborative project where students will create a PowerPoint on a particular early American invention in order to demonstrate proficiency in this unit.

The Scoop, Vol. 12 Issue 5, August 2025, Health Sciences Library

Volume 12

Latest news and updates from the Health Sciences Library in our monthly newsletter for August 2025. Please see page 2 for a text-only version of this issue!

Hypertension, Diabetes, And Chronic Kidney Disease In Young Adults: Nhanes Data From 2013-2018, Ashly Rodriguez Reyes

Undergraduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Background. Several studies have reported the link between diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and obesity as risk factors for the onset of chronic kidney disease (CKD), ultimately leading to renal replacement therapies such as dialysis and kidney transplantation. Although extensively researched in adults aged 55 years and older, CKD remains under-researched for young adults. Despite its emergence as a healthcare concern, limited data exists on risk factors impacting young adults without major comorbidities.

Objective. This research study aims to understand the potential risk factors unique to this population, seeking to guide prevention strategies and improve prognosis in already diagnosed individuals. Additionally, …

Multiclass Cyberbullying Detection Using Advanced Neural Network Architectures: A Comparative Study Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mahyar Alinejad

Data Science and Data Mining

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital communication landscape has seen an unprecedented rise in cyberbullying incidents. Addressing this critical issue, our study develops and evaluates a novel multiclass cyberbullying detection framework employing several advanced neural network architectures—namely Neural Networks (NN), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Long Short-Term Memory networks (LSTM), and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU). Utilizing a balanced dataset created through Dynamic Query Expansion, this research benchmarks the performance of these models in accurately classifying cyberbullying according to specific victim attributes such as age, ethnicity, gender, and religion. Our results demonstrate that LSTM and GRU models, in particular, exhibit superior performance …