Digital Commons Network^™

Mobile Health Technology To Enhance Healthcare Service Delivery In Developing Nations (Saudi Arabia), Nawaf Khan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Saudi Arabia is among the countries that have very high prevalence rates of diabetes and hypertension, with prevalence rates of almost 18% and 25%, respectively. The majority of patients with diabetes and hypertension fail to manage their diseases and to show up for their follow up appointments. Mhealth technology is among the interventions that have been recently adopted to overcome these issues and improve the quality of healthcare services. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile phone application named diabetes and hypertension application (DHA Tracking) to promote adherence for patients with diabetes and hypertension in Mecca, Saudi …

Thermodynamic Theory Of Heavily Multimoded Nonlinear Optical Systems, Fan Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The quest for ever higher information capacities has brought about a renaissance in multimode optical waveguide systems. This resurgence of interest has recently initiated a flurry of activities in nonlinear multimode fiber optics. The sheer complexity emerging from the presence of a multitude of nonlinearly interacting modes has led not only to new opportunities in observing a host of novel optical effects that are otherwise impossible in single-mode settings, but also to new theoretical challenges in understanding their collective dynamics. In this dissertation, we present a consistent thermodynamical framework capable of describing in a universal fashion the exceedingly intricate behavior …

Climatic And Topologic Controls On The Complexity Of River Networks, Sevil Ranjbar Moshfeghi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The emergence and evolution of channel networks are controlled by the competition between the hillslopes and fluvial processes on the landscape. Investigating the geomorphic and topologic properties of these networks is important for developing predictive models describing the network dynamics under changing environment as well as for quantifying the roles of processes in creating distinct patterns of channel networks. In this dissertation, the response of landscapes to changing climatic forcing via numerical-modeling and field observations was investigated. A new framework was proposed to evaluate the complexity of catchments using two different representations of channel networks. The structural complexity was studied …

Socioeconomic, Political, And Regulatory Determinants Of State Sanctioning Patterns For Clinical Social Workers, Nickolas Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The regulation of social work licensure and the associated rules governing social work practice fall under the purview of the states. Each state has implemented different policies and requirements governing social work licensure. Like many other helping professions, social workers are largely governed by a state board that has the authority to impose sanctions for violation of the established laws and rules. These sanctions are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Some research has been conducted on sanctioning trends of state boards; however, it is limited in that …

An Analysis Of Central Florida Principals' Professional Perceptions Relative To Safe-School Officers In One Large Urban School District, Christina Steppi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Public school districts in Florida are required by law to cooperate with local law enforcement agencies to establish and assign one or more safe-school officers at each public school. Public school principals assume a significant role in the implementation of state policy measures and are responsible for providing safe school climates for students and staff (Coburn, 2005; Gawlik, 2015). However, principals' perceptions inform their individual interpretation of state policy measures, influencing the implementation process (Reid, 2017). This study utilized a cross-sectional survey to measure principals' perceptions of safe-school officers and their effect on facilitating safe school climates for students in …

A Descriptive Study Of The Relationship Between Stress, Person-Environment Fit, And Turnover Intention Of Wait Staff In Central Florida Independent And Regional Chain Restaurants, Sejal Madhubhai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This descriptive study examined turnover intention for wait staff working at independent and regional chain restaurants in central Florida. The purpose of this dissertation in practice was to understand the role that stress, Person-Environment Fit, and demographics play in turnover intention. A self-report questionnaire was distributed to wait staff in central Florida via social media websites. The self-report questionnaire consisted of the Perceived Person-Environment Fit Scale (PPEFS), the General Workplace Stress Scale (GWSS), and the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6). A total of 265 responses were collected from participants and the responses were analyzed using a stepwise regression and two multilinear …

Leveraging Augmented Reality For Real-Time Operational Performance Management, Joshua Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Augmented Reality (AR) projects a virtual overlay onto real space so that the user can see a superimposed image over the real-world background. Although AR has advanced recently and a breadth of applications can be found in practice, they are focused on simple tasks with few examples of more complex work tasks. One area that could benefit from advancing AR technology is operations management, specifically operational performance measurement (OPM); however, a brief review of the literature reveals that this potential application area has not yet been explored. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to investigate the application of AR …

Infrastructure For Performance Monitoring And Analysis Of Systems And Applications, Ramin Izadpanah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The growth of High Performance Computer (HPC) systems increases the complexity with respect to understanding resource utilization, system management, and performance issues. HPC performance monitoring tools need to collect information at both the application and system levels to yield a complete performance picture. Existing approaches limit the abilities of the users to do meaningful analysis on actionable timescale. Efficient infrastructures are required to support largescale systems performance data analysis for both run-time troubleshooting and post-run processing modes. In this dissertation, we present methods to fill these gaps in the infrastructure for HPC performance monitoring and analysis. First, we enhance the …

A Computational Biomechanical Model-Based Optimization Of Fulcrum Support In Orthosis Enabled Closed Reduction Of Developmental Dysplasia Of The Hip, Christopher Rose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Hip abduction orthosis devices (HAOD) are used to reduce the hip joint of infants affected by developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). HAOD have been successful for mild cases of DDH and ineffective for severe cases. Efforts in understanding the biomechanics of lower limbs have been made to improve the success rate of current treatment methods, especially for Grade IV dislocations (G4). The aim of this dissertation is twofold: first, it proposes the use of a varying fulcrum point (FP) located below the leg to improve DDH treatment; and secondly, it defines the optimal FP (OP) location for a broad …

Exploring The Cultural Identity And School Efficacy Of Students Through The Lens Of Digital Storytelling, Rachael Mack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Digital storytelling is a modern storytelling method that uses videos, images, and audio to share knowledge, wisdom, values, and personal stories from the point of view of the creator in a 2-8-minute first person narrative. This study explored the cultural identity and school efficacy of students through the lens of digital storytelling. This mixed-methods study consisted of both qualitative and quantitative measures. A survey was conducted using the In-Group Identification Scale, the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity, and the School Efficacy Scale as the quantitative measures, and qualitative data was generated from the transcription and analysis of the digital storytelling …

Algorithms And Applications Of Novel Capsule Networks, Rodney Lalonde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Convolutional neural networks, despite their profound impact in countless domains, suffer from significant shortcomings. Linearly-combined scalar feature representations and max pooling operations lead to spatial ambiguities and a lack of robustness to pose variations. Capsule networks can potentially alleviate these issues by storing and routing the pose information of extracted features through their architectures, seeking agreement between the lower-level predictions of higher-level poses at each layer. In this dissertation, we make several key contributions to advance the algorithms of capsule networks in segmentation and classification applications. We create the first ever capsule-based segmentation network in the literature, SegCaps, by introducing …

Novel Fibers And Components For Space Division Multiplexing Technologies, Juan Carlos Alvarado Zacarias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Passive devices and amplifiers for space division multiplexing are key components for future deployment of this technology and for the development of new applications exploring the spatial diversity of light. Some important devices include photonic lantern (PL) mode multiplexers supporting several modes, fan-in/fan-out (FIFO) devices for multicore fibers (MCFs), and multimode amplifiers capable of amplifying several modes with low differential modal gain penalty. All these components are required to overcome the capacity limit of single mode fiber (SMF) communication systems, driven by the growing data capacity demand. In this dissertation I propose and develop different passive components and amplifiers for …

Sexual Assault Acknowledgment And Psychological Symptoms: The Indirect Effect Of Social Reactions To Disclosures, Emily Bernstein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Sexual assault is a prevalent problem for women. As a result of sexual assault, women experience a host of negative psychological consequences such as posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. While some survivors label their sexual assault experience as such (i.e., are acknowledged survivors), other survivors do not and use other terms (e.g., a miscommunication). The effect of acknowledgement of sexual assault on post-assault outcomes has yielded mixed findings: some find that unacknowledged survivors report better psychological functioning, while others find that acknowledged survivors have better outcomes. This study sought to better understand acknowledgment status and psychological outcomes by examining the …

Lego My Ego: The Puzzling Role Of Self-Esteem And Goal Orientation On Appraisals Of Unsolicited Help, Emily Broksch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The threat-to-self-esteem model suggests an individual's interpretation of an offer of help is influenced by factors of the aid that have implicit consequences to the helpee's self-esteem (Fisher, Nadler, & Whitcher-Alagna, 1982). Basic needs theory states that the fulfillment of autonomy and competency needs are two components necessary for an individual to achieve optimal well-being, and thus self-image (i.e., self-esteem; Ryan & Deci, 2000). As such, this study used a LEGO building task and manipulated challenges to autonomy and competency in order to determine the extent to which an individual finds an unsolicited offer of help as threatening or supportive …

Safety Evaluation Of Innovative Intersection Designs: Diverging Diamond Interchanges And Displaced Left-Turn Intersections, Ahmed Abdelrahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Diverging diamond interchanges (DDIs) and Displaced left-turn intersections (DLTs) are designed to enhance the operational performance of conventional intersections that are congested due to heavy left-turn traffic volumes. Since drivers are not familiar with these types of intersections, there is a need to evaluate their safety performance to validate their effect, and to estimate reliable and representative Crash Modification Factors (CMFs). The safety evaluation was conducted based on three common safety assessment methods, which are before-and-after study with comparison group, Empirical Bayes before-and-after method, and cross-sectional analysis. Furthermore, since DLTs showed poor safety performance, the study also investigated the operational …

How Young Adult Literature Better Informs Canonical Literature In The 9th Grade English Language Arts Classroom, Amber Bernozzi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this qualitative critical discourse analysis study was to determine if there was a benefit to using a young adult adaptation of a canonical piece to increase student comprehension in the 9th grade English-Language Arts classroom. The use of young adult literature in the secondary classroom is a prevalent topic that continues to circulate amongst educators and researchers. This research study addresses how canonical literature is far removed from the current set of twenty-first century students and its disconnect in the classroom. This study sought to discover student thoughts and perceptions on a specific set of text pairings …

Gelsolin-Mediated Actin Filament Severing In Crowded Environments, James Heidings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Actin is an essential cytoskeletal protein that plays key roles in several cellular functions such as phagocytosis and cell motility with the help of actin binding proteins (ABPs). Gelsolin is a calcium regulated ABP that severs and caps actin filaments. Gelsolin helps control actin filament assembly dynamics that are required for cell survival. Cleavage products of gelsolin lead to Familial Amyloidosis, Finnish type, and conformational changes to gelsolin are implicated in disease progression. The majority of in vitro studies of gelsolin and actin have been performed in dilute buffer conditions which do not simulate the molecular interactions occurring in the …

Sex, Gender, Sexual Assault, And Rape On The Red Pill: A Thematic And Linguistic Analysis, Walker Talton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The digital space has offered fertile new territory to connect with like-minded individuals and discuss anything and everything. This has resulted in the creation of the Manosphere, a collection of men concerned about the state of men and masculinity and how society views and treats men. One of the places online this community has found a home is the popular website Reddit, which offers the ability to create individual pages in which communities can form around and discuss and share information on almost any topic they desire. This study aimed to investigate the ways in which one community on Reddit, …

Effects Of Nurses' Workload On Creativity And Innovation: Examining The Role Of Trait Mindfulness As A Moderator, Kinjal Chheda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The workload is one of the dominant stressful factors among the nursing occupation that results in negative consequences at the individual, team, and organizational levels. On the other hand, creativity and innovation can help nurses and organizations to provide better patient care and maintain a competitive edge in a fast dynamic environment. However, this becomes challenging when nurses are exposed to a frequent increase in workload. Within this study, I first examine the form of the relationships between 1) workload (stressor) and creativity (outcome 1); and 2) workload and innovation (outcome 2) to comprehend the optimal conditions to achieve positive …

Dynamic Modeling And Simulation Of A Power Plant Steam Condenser On The Siemens Sppa-T3000 Platform, Mohammad Odeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With rapidly increasing computational power, modeling and simulation of complex systems is gradually becoming the norm for evaluating and predicting performance. This research focuses on modeling and simulating thermodynamic behavior of condensers within Combined Cycle Power Plants. This is particularly useful for power generation companies as this allows a wide range of operating conditions to be simulated and characterized without risking damage or the need to shut down the power plant, all of which results in losing revenue in the process. Moreover, being able to observe the thermodynamic evolution of the system provides useful insight into efficiency and response to …

Monolithic Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Scanning Micromirror: Design And Simulation, Abimanyu Veerappan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this thesis, a novel scanning micromirror is introduced in which a thin layer of lithium niobate (few micrometer thick) is utilized as both as the structural material and the actuating piezoelectric medium. In this novel monolithic design, the conventional composite torsional hinges are avoided. The finite element simulations performed and reported in here indicate that the proposed design offers a superior performance in terms of higher scan angle and linear angle control compared to the existing solutions for the same dimensions. The simulation results predict an optical scan angle of 125.6° at a resonant frequency of 550 Hz using …

Filthy Dreamers Film Screening (2020) Bookmark, Megan M. Haught

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

As We Enter 2020, Let’S Be The Change Our Children Need, Katherine Philp

UCF Forum

Today’s teens and young adults are doing everything we’ve encouraged them to do; so why are we uneasy with their passion, drive and anger on issues?

The Improvement Of Shewhart-Stable Time Series Processes By Applying Jensen-Shannon Complexity Measures To Characterize Emergent Structure, Blaine Lorimer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Despite the nearly universal imperative to continuously improve processes, Shewhart-stable time series are often ignored for improvement because of various generalized assumptions and "rules", many of which are actually very context dependent. The process control literature presents widely divergent views, including the extreme position that stable processes are completely random and therefore any further compensation ("tampering") can only increase process variability. The traditional reductionist approach to process improvement characterizes underlying factors using statistical variance measures, which has been very effective for unstable processes. However, this approach, especially when it involves Shewhart control charts, is generally much less effective for directing …

The Effects Of A Plant-Based Diet On Inflammation Of Patients With Cardiac Disease, Rachel L. Butcher

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Cardiac disease is the primary cause of death in the United States of America (CDC, 2017). Despite ongoing efforts and investments to improve cardiac health in the United States, most of the population will suffer from cardiovascular diseases. There is a multitude of research supporting that diet can contribute to cardiac disease, but it is less known that diet can greatly contribute to regulation and reversal of cardiovascular disease processes (Huang et al., 2012; Satija et al., 2017; Kim et al., 2019). Existing research supports the efficacy of plant-based diets to manage and reverse certain cardiac diseases (Tuso et al., …

Hospital Footwear As A Vector For Organism Transmission, David J. Frederick

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In the United States healthcare system, nearly one in 31 patients contract a nosocomial infection. Footwear worn in these hospital settings are a factor that should be considered when determining contributing agents and methods for organism transmission. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the current research on hospital footwear as a vector for organism transmission. Eight studies were included in this review to examine the impact of wearable interventions on footwear-related contamination in the hospital setting and organism transfer as it relates to footwear and hospital environments. The link between the organism load and diversity on hospital worn …

Millennial Attitudes Toward Telehealth: An Integrative Literature Review, Hannah Gwyneth Y. Tabora

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Purpose: The primary purpose of this research was to explore individuals born in the millennial generation’s likelihood of using telehealth and virtual office visits as a replacement for face to face provider interactions. The secondary purpose was to examine the feasibility and access of treatable conditions and ailments in a virtual environment.

Methods: A literature review exploring millennials and telehealth was performed using various databases with search terms combined to include: ‘millennials*’, ‘telehealth*’, ‘telemed*’, ‘finance*’, ‘primary care*’, ‘healthcare*’, ‘health knowledge*’, ‘literacy*’, ‘education*’, ‘misinformation*’. The data was conformed into tables that synthesized the relationship between the millennial generation and their access …

Trophic Enteral Feeds In Mechanically Ventilated Adult Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome/Acute Lung Injury And Associated Clinical Outcomes, Kiersten Ann Tidwell

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Enteral nutrition (EN) is often delayed in critically ill patients despite strong evidence to support that early enteral nutrition feeding is beneficial in this population. Adverse outcomes in critically ill patients in which nutrition is delayed include a longer length of stay and time on the ventilator, and a higher incidence of pneumonia and hospital mortality. The purpose of this literature review was to evaluate the current evidence regarding trophic enteral feeds in mechanically ventilated adult patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)/acute lung injury (ALI) and associated clinical outcomes. A retrospective literature review was performed to identify articles published …

Undergraduate Nursing Students' Depth Of Reflection And Perceptions Of Self-Debriefing Following Virtual Simulation: A Multi-Method Descriptive Study, Valorie Mackenna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Virtual simulation is a method of simulation-based education in which students participate in a clinical experience within a computer program and away from a clinical environment or classroom. This innovation makes simulation more accessible for learning, but also more challenging when it comes to providing a debriefing activity directly afterward by a facilitator. The purpose of debriefing is to afford learners the opportunity to reflect on the experience with a goal toward improvement. From the best practice standards, two recommendations stipulate that a debriefing session should occur soon after a simulation and should promote reflection. Self-debriefing is uniquely capable of …

Geographic Access To Community Mental Healthcare And Adherence To Treatment Among Patients With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Marie Smith-East

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Disparities in access to mental health care for individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders continue to exist in the United States despite the creation of mental health policies seeking to improve access to care. As an integral element of healthcare system delivery, access is influenced by spatial (location) and non-spatial (sociodemographic) factors. Highlighting both spatial and non-spatial dimensions of access to mental healthcare, this study employed an innovative approach encompassing the geography of access and the integration of location analyses to bridge the gap between psychosocial dynamics and mental health services for improving cost-effective continuity of care. The aims were as …