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2016

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Evaluation Of The Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (Ecalc) For High School Students, Alyssa Dietz Jan 2016

Evaluation Of The Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (Ecalc) For High School Students, Alyssa Dietz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prevention efforts targeted at children and adolescents are important because alcohol consumption contributes to the three leading causes of death in this among 12-20 year-olds: unintentional injury, homicide, and suicide. Research on the causes of alcohol misuse traditionally focused on pharmacological and genetic explanations, but models have expanded to include cognitive processes in the development of alcohol use patterns. Alcohol expectancies, or beliefs about the effects of alcohol, are an important influence on drinking behavior. Expectancies exist prior to the initial drinking experience, predict the onset of alcohol consumption, differentiate both children and adults in terms of light- and heavy-drinking …


Investigating The Predictive Power Of Student Characteristics On Success In Studio-Mode, Algebra-Based Introductory Physics Courses, Jarrad Pond Jan 2016

Investigating The Predictive Power Of Student Characteristics On Success In Studio-Mode, Algebra-Based Introductory Physics Courses, Jarrad Pond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As part of a project to explore the differential success of similar implementations of the studio-mode of physics instruction, the objective of this work is to investigate the characteristics of students enrolled in algebra-based, studio-mode introductory physics courses at various universities in order to evaluate what effects these characteristics have on different measures of student success, such as gains in conceptual knowledge, shifts to more favorable attitudes toward physics, and final course grades. In my analysis, I explore the strategic self-regulatory, motivational, and demographic characteristics of students in algebra-based, studio-mode physics courses at three universities: the University of Central Florida …


Superwholock: An Analysis Of Subculture In A Microblogging Setting, Dean Short Jan 2016

Superwholock: An Analysis Of Subculture In A Microblogging Setting, Dean Short

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While subcultural research has always been a common focus of sociological research, most such studies focus on deviant subcultures. This has led to a glut of information on countercultures and criminal subcultures, but relatively little study of less visible subcultures. While there is a great deal of research on the sociology of sport, including sport fandom, there is very little on other fandom subcultures. While this makes sense, as they are niche subcultures, the popularity of formerly niche entertainment is expanding rapidly. Much of this fandom renaissance owes its existence to the Internet, and its ability to bring geographically separate …


Joining The "Big Leagues": Politics, Race, And The Pursuit Of Nba Franchises In Miami And Orlando, 1982-1987, Garrett Hillyer Jan 2016

Joining The "Big Leagues": Politics, Race, And The Pursuit Of Nba Franchises In Miami And Orlando, 1982-1987, Garrett Hillyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the formation of two National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises—the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic—and the efforts of groups representing both cities to procure those franchises between 1982 and 1987. Drawing primarily from discourse found in local newspapers, this thesis serves as a case study of the dual nature of sport to both unite and divide communities. While proponents of the NBA in Miami and Orlando preached the social, cultural, and economic benefits of sport, they ignored the ways in which the pursuit of sport divided local governments and perpetuated historic hostility toward African-American residents in each …


Examining The Role Of Music Streaming Motives, Social Identification, And Technological Engagement In Digital Music Streaming Service Use, Heidi Bolduc Jan 2016

Examining The Role Of Music Streaming Motives, Social Identification, And Technological Engagement In Digital Music Streaming Service Use, Heidi Bolduc

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the Nielsen Music 360 Research Report, 67% of all music consumers in the United States used digital music streaming services to listen, discover, and share music online in 2014 (The Nielsen Company, 2014). As such, communications scholars and music industry professionals are beginning to recognize the importance of understanding the factors that influence digital music listener behavior. Therefore, this study proposes an expanded theory of planned behavior model (TPB) by incorporating music streaming motives, social identification, and technological engagement into the original TPB model framework in an effort to gain a better understanding of people's intentions to use …


Applying The Technology Acceptance Model To Predict And Explain Elementary And Secondary Preservice Teachers' Continuance Behavioral Intentions And Pedagogical Usage Of Twitter To Build Professional Capital: A Structural Equation Modeling Inquiry, Nandita Gurjar Jan 2016

Applying The Technology Acceptance Model To Predict And Explain Elementary And Secondary Preservice Teachers' Continuance Behavioral Intentions And Pedagogical Usage Of Twitter To Build Professional Capital: A Structural Equation Modeling Inquiry, Nandita Gurjar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to predict and explain elementary and secondary preservice teachers' continuance behavioral intentions and pedagogical usage of Twitter, a web based social networking, microblogging platform, to build professional growth and capital. The objective of the research study was to examine preservice teachers' beliefs associated with the specified constructs that formed the latent variables of the hypothesized research model; these latent variables were then measured with their associated indicators or manifest variables, and the relationship between the manifest variables was examined through the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) process. A non-experimental empirical research study was conducted …


Role Of Sleep In Exposure Therapy For Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Oif/Oef Combat Veterans, Franklin Mesa Jan 2016

Role Of Sleep In Exposure Therapy For Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Oif/Oef Combat Veterans, Franklin Mesa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exposure therapy is theorized to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology by promoting habituation/extinction of fear responses to trauma-related cues. Empirical evidence indicates that emotional memory, including habituation/extinction learning, is enhanced by sleep. However, service members with combat-related PTSD often report disturbed sleep. In this study, quality of sleep and indicators of extinction learning were examined in veterans of recent wars who had completed an exposure-based PTSD intervention. Fifty-five participants were categorized into two groups based on self-reported quality of sleep: low sleep disruption severity (LSDS; N = 29) and high sleep disruption severity (HSDS; N = 26). Participants in …


Teach Them To Eat: Complexities Of Community Based Organization And Nutrition Education Initiatives In The Prevention Of Chronic Disease, Allison Matos Jan 2016

Teach Them To Eat: Complexities Of Community Based Organization And Nutrition Education Initiatives In The Prevention Of Chronic Disease, Allison Matos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how participants of an eight-week nutrition education class utilize disseminated information to manage chronic disease, as well as explores the challenges a community based nutrition education resource center faces in the arena of chronic disease prevention. Per the World Health Organization's Global Report on Diabetes, 422 million adults currently live with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, a four-fold increase since the 1980s. Within the U.S., approximately nine percent of the adult population suffers from diabetes, and obesity, a major contributor to the disease, afflicts nearly thirty-five percent. While medical professionals frame the controlling of chronic disease …


Bmp-7 Inhibits P38 And Jnk Pathways And Increases M2 Macrophage Differentiation To Reduce Atherosclerosis In Apolipoprotein E-/- Mice, Heidi Shoulders Jan 2016

Bmp-7 Inhibits P38 And Jnk Pathways And Increases M2 Macrophage Differentiation To Reduce Atherosclerosis In Apolipoprotein E-/- Mice, Heidi Shoulders

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We have previously shown that treating atherosclerosis with bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) affects the presence of macrophage subtypes in vitro, however it remains unknown whether BMP-7 treatment affects development and progression of atherosclerosis in vivo at an early and mid-stage of the disease. We therefore performed a Day 5 (D5) and Day 28 (D28) study to examine BMP-7's potential to affect monocyte differentiation. Atherosclerotic plaque formation was developed using our standard method and ApoE-/- mice were sacrificed at D5 and D28 post-surgery. Treatment animals received intravenous injections of BMP-7 at 200µg/kg of bodyweight. Hematoxylin and Eosin morphological stain shows that …


The Development Of Motuporamine Derivatives And An Investigation Into Their Biological Properties, Kristen Skruber Jan 2016

The Development Of Motuporamine Derivatives And An Investigation Into Their Biological Properties, Kristen Skruber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project investigates the synthesis of a class of compounds derived from a marine-based natural product and probes how iterative changes to its structure affect its derivatives' biological efficacy. The compound class of interest are the motuporamines which were isolated from the sea sponge Xestospongia exigua collected off the coast of Motupore island in Papua, New Guinea. The compounds for this project are predicated upon dihydromotuporamine C (Motu33), the compound that has been shown to be both cytotoxic to MDA-MB231 breast carcinoma cells and has antimetastatic efficacy. The motuporamine scaffold contains a large fifteen-membered saturated macrocycle and an appended polyamine …


Female Student Services Staff Perceptions Of Safety On A State College Campus: An Exploratory Study, Catherine Chimera Jan 2016

Female Student Services Staff Perceptions Of Safety On A State College Campus: An Exploratory Study, Catherine Chimera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the perceptions of female student services staff members' perceptions of safety on a state college campus. Through the lens of social construction theory, six staff members were interviewed about their views of safety both on and off campus. The goal of this study was to better understand how female staff members formed their perceptions of safety on campus, through social, political and cultural processes. The results of this study were that although the informants all were aware of the same threats and dangers on campus, they each had differing views …


The Weight Of Words: Collecting And Visualizing Data From Twitter, Daniel Mcswain Jan 2016

The Weight Of Words: Collecting And Visualizing Data From Twitter, Daniel Mcswain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Weight of Words is a web-based artwork designed to capture snapshots of Twitter discussions concerning the most popular topics of the day. The growth of social media in recent years has led to a sharp increase in thought and opinion sharing among the vocal population on the Internet. Twitter's use of trending topics allows users to be aware, and be a part of fun or silly stories as well as important news headlines and social movements. The Weight of Words is an exploration into using Twitter's always changing landscape of conversation to generate graphic visualizations based on the most …


Nightgaze: A Microbudget Visual Mixtape, Maillim Santiago Jan 2016

Nightgaze: A Microbudget Visual Mixtape, Maillim Santiago

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nightgaze is a feature length visual mixtape created by May Santiago to fulfill the Masters of Fine Arts program at UCF. The mixtape is a study of autobigraphical depression in metaphorical visual tracks. Originally conceived as an experimental narrative, it has evolved into a form of essayistic distance within a narrative framework with experimental deviations. This thesis tracks the project from its original conception, through the pre-production, production, and post-production processes. It also formulates a plan for marketing and distributing the project.


Improved Interpolation In Sph In Cases Of Less Smooth Flow, Oddny Brun Jan 2016

Improved Interpolation In Sph In Cases Of Less Smooth Flow, Oddny Brun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We introduced a method presented in Information Field Theory (IFT) [Abramovich et al., 2007] to improve interpolation in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) in cases of less smooth flow. The method makes use of wavelet theory combined with B-splines for interpolation. The idea is to identify any jumps a function may have and then reconstruct the smoother segments between the jumps. The results of our work demonstrated superior capability when compared to a particular challenging SPH application, to better conserve jumps and more accurately interpolate the smoother segments of the function. The results of our work also demonstrated increased computational efficiency …


Keeping Their Distance: A Comparison Of 2009 And 2013 Domestic Violence Cases In Seminole County That Utilized Gps Technology To Determine Effectiveness Of Program, Rachel Rados Jan 2016

Keeping Their Distance: A Comparison Of 2009 And 2013 Domestic Violence Cases In Seminole County That Utilized Gps Technology To Determine Effectiveness Of Program, Rachel Rados

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the implementation and effectiveness of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office Global Positioning System (GPS) when ordered by the court for "no contact" in Domestic Violence cases, specifically Intimate Partner Violence. The research evaluates violations, which occurred while arrestees were assigned to GPS in 2009 and 2013; the programs first year and the most recent with complete data available. The results found limited factors that could be identified as predicting violations for those who violated the GPS, but the qualitative interviews shed much more light on the value of the program. The qualitative interviews were conducted with various …


The Russian Connection: How Russia Became A Leader In The World's Human Trafficking Market, Anthony De Mauro Jan 2016

The Russian Connection: How Russia Became A Leader In The World's Human Trafficking Market, Anthony De Mauro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis assesses how the history of the USSR and its collapse affected the human trafficking market. By conducting a historical analysis of the Soviet Union, key aspects of Soviet society were determined that allowed for the human trafficking market to establish and operate extremely lucratively; a focus on some of the established factors of human trafficking including corruption, law enforcement, the economy, organized crime, and the dissolution of the Soviet government. While this thesis highlights the historical factors of Russian human trafficking, this thesis does not determine why human trafficking exists beyond the surface exploitation that human trafficking consists …


Optical Parity Time Metasurface Structures, Ahmed El Halawany Jan 2016

Optical Parity Time Metasurface Structures, Ahmed El Halawany

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last few years, optics has witnessed the emergence of two fields namely metasurfaces and parity-time (PT) symmetry. Optical metasurfaces are engineered structures that provide unique responses to electromagnetic waves, absent in natural materials. Optical metasurfaces are known for their reduced dimensionality i.e. subwavelength and consequently lower losses are anticipated. The other paradigm is the PT symmetric materials, also known as photonic synthetic matter. PT symmetry has emerged from quantum mechanics when a new class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonian quantum systems was highlighted to have real eigenvalues, hence eradicating Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian as an essential condition to the existence …


Coupling Of Laser Beams For Filament Propagation, Daniel Kepler Jan 2016

Coupling Of Laser Beams For Filament Propagation, Daniel Kepler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Laser filamentation is a nonlinear process involving high-energy, ultrashort pulses that create narrow, non-diffracting structures over many times the Raleigh length. While many of the characteristics of filaments can vary greatly depending on the physical parameters used to create them, they share several defining features: a high intensity core, a lower intensity cladding of photons that serves as an energy reservoir to the core, and spectral broadening into a supercontinuum. While there have been many studies on the creation and control of multiple filaments from one laser pulse and a few studies on the interaction of two single filaments, many …


Young Children's Fine Motor Ipad Gestures When Performed Alone And In Dyads, Lap Nguyen Jan 2016

Young Children's Fine Motor Ipad Gestures When Performed Alone And In Dyads, Lap Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the release of the first iPad in 2010, over 200 million have been sold worldwide. In the short time since the iPad's release, the devices have become popular in classrooms. The purpose of this study was twofold: 1) to document the fine motor iPad gestures of 2 , 3-, and 4-year-old children who used iPads by themselves and in dyads and 2) to conduct international comparisons regarding such observed fine motor iPad gestures. In this study, I examined seven iPad gestures: (a) tap, (b) drag/slide, (c) free rotate, (d) drag and drop, (e) pinch, (f) spread, and (g) flick. …


Theoretical-Experimental Study Of The Two-Photon Circular Dichroism Of Helicenes And Aromatic Amino Acids In The Uv Region: From The Structure-Property Relationship To The Final Implementation, Yuly Katherine Vesga Prada Jan 2016

Theoretical-Experimental Study Of The Two-Photon Circular Dichroism Of Helicenes And Aromatic Amino Acids In The Uv Region: From The Structure-Property Relationship To The Final Implementation, Yuly Katherine Vesga Prada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two-photon circular dichroism (TPCD) has been recognized for its exceptional spectroscopic ability for the structural and conformational analysis of chiral systems due to its high sensitivity to small peptide structural distortions. In 2008, Hernandez and co-workers demonstrated TPCD experimentally by the development of the Double L-scan technique. Since then, we have been working on a systematic theoretical-experimental study of chiral molecules using TPCD. In this dissertation, I present my contribution to the continuation to the study of the structure-property relationship of TPCD in molecules with axial chirality in solution, as well as the implementation of the TPCD measurements in the …


An Investigation Of The Biomechanical Implications Of Lower Limb Fractures And Leg Length Disparity, Elizabeth Mills Jan 2016

An Investigation Of The Biomechanical Implications Of Lower Limb Fractures And Leg Length Disparity, Elizabeth Mills

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the primary goals of biological anthropology is to develop an accurate understanding of human anatomy, health, disease, and injury in both modern and archaeological populations. Paleopathological analyses are a fruitful means of identifying disease and injury in skeletal assemblages, but the individual long-term biomechanical effects associated with pathological conditions have not yet been adequately explored in the literature. Leg fractures are a common pathological condition in both modern and archaeological populations, the effects of which may alter the biomechanics of gait. A growing body of clinical literature demonstrates that abnormal ambulatory function may have far-reaching effects in the …


Internet Reading And Learning In A Guided Reading Context, Jennifer Van Allen Jan 2016

Internet Reading And Learning In A Guided Reading Context, Jennifer Van Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many employers are calling for high school graduates who are equipped with skills to research, manage, and process information from multiple sources and communicate effectively to others through a variety of sources. Yet, students are not being appropriately prepared with online research and comprehension skills in schools today. A major factor impacting this problem is that teachers do not possess the knowledge and skills to effectively address online research and comprehension skills in the intermediate grades. This dissertation in practice proposes a solution to this problem of practice through the design of an educative curriculum that introduces online research and …


Weighted Low-Rank Approximation Of Matrices:Some Analytical And Numerical Aspects, Aritra Dutta Jan 2016

Weighted Low-Rank Approximation Of Matrices:Some Analytical And Numerical Aspects, Aritra Dutta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses some analytical and numerical aspects of a problem of weighted low-rank approximation of matrices. We propose and solve two different versions of weighted low-rank approximation problems. We demonstrate, in addition, how these formulations can be efficiently used to solve some classic problems in computer vision. We also present the superior performance of our algorithms over the existing state-of-the-art unweighted and weighted low-rank approximation algorithms. Classical principal component analysis (PCA) is constrained to have equal weighting on the elements of the matrix, which might lead to a degraded design in some problems. To address this fundamental flaw in …


Political, Economic, And Health Determinants Of Tuberculosis Incidence, Ashley Rutherford Jan 2016

Political, Economic, And Health Determinants Of Tuberculosis Incidence, Ashley Rutherford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The epidemiologic transition has shifted major causes of mortality from infectious disease to chronic disease; however, infectious diseases are again re-emerging as a major global concern (Diamond, 1997; Karlen, 1995; McNeil, 1976). This research aimed to identify potential areas of infectious disease influence that are not health-related in order to help governments and policymakers establish new policies, correct current policies, or further address these issues in order to effectively prevent and combat infectious disease. This study employed a retrospective, cross-sectional, non-experimental design via structural equation modeling (SEM) and examined tuberculosis incidence rates at the country-level. Secondary data from open-source, international …


Navigating Sociotechnical Power Structures: Dynamics Of Conflict In World Of Warcraft's Player Versus Player Events, Rachael Root Jan 2016

Navigating Sociotechnical Power Structures: Dynamics Of Conflict In World Of Warcraft's Player Versus Player Events, Rachael Root

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a result of technological advancement and exponential increases in global access, cross-disciplinary research has recently turned to digital online video games. Most anthropological research within this area has centered around player self-identification, gender construction, and gaming communities. Yet many interactions occur at nodes of dynamic conflict where agentic players navigate intersections of power, which are unaddressed in the scholarly corpus. By utilizing ethnographic methods in World of Warcraft's player versus player events, I examine resources, relationships, and tools that underpin player actions and understandings. My findings reveal layered and dynamic patterns of sociotechnical conflict. Players' geographical location impacts access …


Study Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Dechlorination By Zero Valent Magnesium With And Without Activated Carbon In Acidified Ethanol-Ethyl Lactate System, Fiona Zullo Jan 2016

Study Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Dechlorination By Zero Valent Magnesium With And Without Activated Carbon In Acidified Ethanol-Ethyl Lactate System, Fiona Zullo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic organic chemicals that ca de detected in the environment worldwide. PCBs were banned in the U.S in 1979 owing to their toxicity and persistence in the environment. Today PCBs are classified as human carcinogens and are among the top ten of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) most toxic chemicals. Many researchers have shown soil to be contaminated with PCBs at concentrations as high as 750 ppm. Given the toxicity of PCBs, there is an urgent need to extract and degrade such chemicals from contaminated soil in a cost effective way. Prior work revealed a …


The Community College Student's Social Construction Of Global Learning In The Florida College System, Jennifer Robertson Jan 2016

The Community College Student's Social Construction Of Global Learning In The Florida College System, Jennifer Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the Florida community college student's understanding of and engagement in global learning through the lens of constructionist theory. Using a grounded theory methodology, seven students in three Florida community colleges were interviewed to hear in their own words how personal and academic experiences have shaped their interest in other countries, cultures, and current international events. The goal of this study was to explore students' perspectives using the principles of social constructionism and constructivism to create a new model of understanding of global learning. The final results of the study found …


Provider Recommendation Of Hpv Vaccination: Bridging The Intention-Behavior Gap, Erica Landis Jan 2016

Provider Recommendation Of Hpv Vaccination: Bridging The Intention-Behavior Gap, Erica Landis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study, guided by preproduction formative research principles, employed in-depth interviews and a brief survey with pediatric healthcare providers (N=15) to investigate the consistency between behavioral intention to strongly recommend the HPV vaccine, and implementation of the actual behavior. Specifically, the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction (IMBP) was used as a framework to examine the impact of skills and environmental constraints on that behavioral intention-behavioral performance relationship. Results suggest providers intend to strongly recommend the HPV vaccine at a high level, but actually recommend the vaccine with a slightly lesser frequency. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts yielded a …


Building A Foundation For Goal-Attainment And Problem-Solving In Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum Through A Classical Lens, Said Jardaneh Jan 2016

Building A Foundation For Goal-Attainment And Problem-Solving In Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum Through A Classical Lens, Said Jardaneh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The core curriculum of interdisciplinary studies undergraduate programs represents interdisciplinarity as a consciously applied process, whether individually or collaboratively, of drawing and integrating insights from various disciplinary perspectives toward complex problem-solving and innovation. At the front-end of these programs students are often introduced to interdisciplinarity through terminology, metaphors, concepts, and context that are intended to familiarize them with the process. This initiation usually precedes what will ultimately entail a limited number of upper-division courses within the several disciplines or areas that will encompass a unique plan of study characterized by its breadth. The philosophy underlying current pedagogy in interdisciplinary studies …


The Impact Of Elementary Mathematics Workshops On Mathematics Knowledge For Parenting (Mkp) And Beliefs About Learning Mathematics, Heidi Eisenreich Jan 2016

The Impact Of Elementary Mathematics Workshops On Mathematics Knowledge For Parenting (Mkp) And Beliefs About Learning Mathematics, Heidi Eisenreich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which parents of first, second, and third grade students who attended a two-day workshop on mathematics strategies differed on average and over time, as compared to parents who did not attend the workshops. The following areas were measured: mathematics content knowledge, beliefs about learning mathematics, ability to identify correct student responses regarding mathematics, ability to identify student errors in solving mathematics problems, methods used to solve problems, and comfort level with manipulatives.