Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Mscs In The Il23/17 Pathway And Their Response To Mechanical Stress, Norma Aileen Dominguez Jimenez

Honors Theses

Mechanical stress plays a central role in shaping cellular behavior within skeletal tissues. At the enthesis, where tendons and ligaments attach to bone, repeated mechanical loading is strongly associated with inflammation and the development of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Although mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to contribute to tissue structure and repair at these sites, their potential role in inflammatory signaling, particularly within the I 23/IL 17 pathway, remains unclear. In this thesis I investigated whether MSCs are capable of expressing cytokines involved in this pathway and how mechanical stress and differentiation influence this expression. Using the mouse derived C3H/10T1/2 …

Ultra-Processed Or Ultra-Addictive? A Demand-Based Redefinition Of Ultra-Processed Foods, Braden Jondro

Honors Theses

Ultra-processed foods now comprise the majority of the U.S. food supply and have been directly associated with 32 chronic diseases including obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Current classification systems such as NOVA provide a useful framework for identifying food processing, but rely on broad and subjective categorizations that may not capture the mechanisms most closely associated with promoting persistent overconsumption. In particular, existing classification systems remain limited in their ability to evaluate addiction-like behaviors associated with highly processed foods, including persistent purchasing patterns, reinforcement effects, and substitution responses. This paper introduces the Ultra-Processed Food Intensity (UPFI) index, an objective, …

Enumerating Matrices Of A Given Order Over Finite Fields, Thor Richard Gabrielsen

Honors Theses

This thesis derives a generating function that describes the matrices of a given multiplicative order over finite fields of a given order assuming that the order of a field is not a divisor of the desired order of the matrix. This is done by using the power series known as the cycle index derived from the rational canonical form. This index can be factored, and using the fact that the minimal polynomial divides some polynomial of the form x^k − 1 we can show that the minimal polynomial is squarefree. This sufficiently restricts the form of the rational canonical form …

Brewing Resilience: Cooperatives, Micro-Mills, And The Quest For Survival In Costa Rica's Changing Coffee Landscape, Leila N. Iredell

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how different organizational models in Costa Rica's coffee sector shape producers’ ability to capture value, build resilience, and sustain rural livelihoods in a rapidly changing global market. In comparing traditional cooperatives and new micro-mills, I examine specifically how control over the value chain, access to markets, and social infrastructure differ across models and what these differences mean for the farmers who depend on them. This project analyzes how the collapse of international price agreements and decades of market volatility drove producers toward new strategies, from independent processing and direct trade to coffee tourism. Costa Rica stands as …

Between Commodity And Culture: Tea Advertising As A Site Of Imperial Ideology And Anti-Colonial Resistance In India, Sydney Pascal

Honors Theses

Between the late nineteenth century and Indian independence in 1947, tea advertising became a key site through which imperial authority and Indian nationalism were negotiated. Drawing on advertisements, trade journals, and visual marketing campaigns produced from the 1880s through the 1950s, this honors thesis argues that tea advertising was a cultural and political mechanism through which the British Empire attempted to normalize imperial consumption and legitimize colonial authority. British campaigns framed tea as modern and routine while obscuring the exploitative labor systems and landscape transformations that sustained plantation production in Assam. As nationalist movements expanded in the early twentieth century, …

Occupations Around The World: What Other Cultures Have Taught Me, Elliot Hammond

OTD 721: Cultural Responsiveness & Occupation

This zine is meant to highlight the wisdom that other cultures, people, and experiences have brought into my life. Culture and place deeply shape who we are; stepping into other cultures often challenges us in new and profound ways as people. It tests our beliefs and begs us to question our ways of living.

My advice is this: get out of your world; step into someone else's. Ask good questions, remain humble in your understanding, and be open to learning.

The Stories That Shape Us, Brenna Strand

OTD 721: Cultural Responsiveness & Occupation

Reading has always been a meaningful occupation in my life. Some of my earliest memories involve my family gathering around stories, reading a chapter of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson before bed, or sharing stories around a campfire. These rituals shaped my sense of connection, imagination, and belonging. However, when I entered school and began struggling to read independently, I felt a growing disconnect from the culture and routines that had once grounded me. That experience made me aware of how deeply reading influences identity, confidence, and participation in everyday life.

This zine explores reading through an occupational therapy lens, …

Looking Out, Looking In: Air Travel, Culture, & Occupational Justice, Ashley Compton

OTD 721: Cultural Responsiveness & Occupation

As I continue becoming an occupational therapist, I've found myself caring more deeply about accessibility, inclusion, and the different ways people experience participation in meaningful occupations. This zine gave me the opportunity to think about travel as a meaningful occupation that can be shaped by culture, identity, privilege, accessibility, and opportunity.

Travel, particularly air travel, has shaped so much of who I am, and creating this zine helped me think more deeply about what it means to participate in the world. My hope is that it encourages others to think about who may be left out and how we can …

Legal Turbulence: Addressing Unresolved Questions In Civil Aviation Through Judicial Adjudication, Arthur Shirichena

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

The increasing complexity of international civil aviation has outpaced the mechanisms currently available for the peaceful resolution of disputes. While aviation has long been governed by treaties such as the Chicago Convention of 1944 and managed through institutions like the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), many emerging issues remain unresolved by these frameworks. Questions concerning the interaction between aviation and competition law, the legality of air blockades and no-fly zones, and the definitional ambiguities surrounding dual-use technologies such as weaponized aircraft or unmanned aerial systems have created pressing normative and jurisdictional challenges. This Paper argues that the establishment or empowerment …

Leveraging Ai, Iot, And Predictive Analytics For Crisis Management And Urban Resilience In Dubai, Suhail Bin Kalli

Theses

The thesis will discuss how smart technologies could be incorporated in the crisis management structures of Dubai to make the city more resilient. As Dubai grows more urbanized, it experiences increased problems with managing its crisis especially in the high population density places, traffic congestion, utility disruption, and extreme weather. This paper discusses how artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and predictive analytics can be used to ameliorate the response to emergencies, manage the allocation of resources, and enhance the coordination between different agencies. The crisis management systems at Dubai are still ineffective despite the level of technologies …

The Effects Of Inadequate Training On Knowledge Management Systems: Retention Crisis Of Captains In The United States Army, Lexis R. Grudzinski

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the relationship between the United States Army’s communication strategy in knowledge management for officers and the desires of captains to continue serving beyond their service obligation. Amidst the current retention crisis (Winkie, 2023) at the captain rank, blame often falls on factors outside of the Army’s control. This research, however, seeks to investigate a factor within the Army’s control and offer workable solutions.

For this research, we will use the common definition of knowledge management (KM): the process of creating, capturing, and organizing knowledge within an organization in a way that improves efficiency. KM includes both explicit …

Literacy Intervention At The Middle Level: A Mixed-Methods Examination Of The Implementation Of Thinking Maps, Ashley Chantal Choice

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the implementation of Thinking Maps® as a literacy instructional intervention for students in grades four and five. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study investigated the effect of Thinking Maps® on student achievement, changes in students’ literacy-related work products, and teachers’ perceptions of the strategy. The study was conducted at a rural Title I elementary school in the southeastern United States and included nine teachers and 150 students across English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies during an eight-week intervention period. Quantitative data included unit pretest and posttest scores from standards-aligned assessments and teacher perception …

Why Stay? A Qualitative Case Study Of Parents Who Choose Local Public Schools Over Alternative Options, Michael Antonio Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Public schools face challenges that directly impact the quality of education and educational programming. Declining student enrollment trends affect school funding and resource allocation for school improvement. This qualitative case study identified key factors influencing parents' perceptions of school quality and explored how these perceptions shaped school choice decision-making. Guided by Rational Choice Theory, the study examined how individuals make enrollment decisions by weighing perceived costs, benefits, constraints, and available resources to achieve desired educational outcomes. Semi-structured interviews, an open-ended survey, and archival school performance data were used to explore the perspectives of parents with children enrolled in public high …

The Nfl’S Collision With Antitrust Law: A Strategy For Defending The National Football League’S Joint Agreements With Streaming Providers, Jack Mays

Chapman Law Review

The next frontier of sports broadcasting is here. Media consumption has shifted dramatically in recent years. Streaming services have become the preferred medium for television shows and movies, and sports broadcasts have expanded beyond traditional cable to streaming services. Given this reconfiguration of public behavior, the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA)—a 1961 exemption to antitrust law—should be construed to allow the National Football League (NFL) to collectively negotiate with streaming providers like Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and Netflix.

The SBA exempts joint agreements between professional sports leagues and broadcasters from antitrust scrutiny when those agreements involve the “sponsored telecasting” of games. …

Part 1: Experiences - In Shakers At The Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles In Nineteenth-Century America, Douglas L. Winiarski

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Two months after the “painful opperation” in which an angel cut the bloody “secret interests” from her heart, Eunice Bathrick became an instrument. It was the answer to her most fervent prayers.

William Taylor Muse Law Library Annual Report 2025-2026, William Taylor Muse Law Library

Muse Law Library Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Reactionary Radicals, Radical Reactionaries: A Review Of Against The Machine: On The Unmaking Of Humanity, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

Paul Kingsnorth, in his book Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity, asserts that the ecological destruction, consumerism, and social atomization that have come to define contemporary life are the product of a malevolent force he calls the Machine. This review finds that his proposed solution to these crises, namely a return to "traditional" forms of family and community, insufficiently addresses the material and structural conditions underlying the capitalist mode of production. Kingsnorth’s dismissal of Marxism is then interrogated by juxtaposing his critique of the Machine with Marx’s analysis of estranged labor. Finally, this review concludes that the …

Ceo's Influence On Top Management Team's Employee Engagement: A Qualitative Study, Wafa Damlaj, Matthew Hurtienne, Laura Hurtienne

Human Resource Development Student Publications and Presentations

This study explores how chief executives officers (CEOs) influence top management team (TMT) members' employee engagement. Using a constructivist phenomenological approach, the research examines ways CEOs shape TMT's employee engagement. Fifteen TMT professionals participated in semi-structured interviews, and the data were analyzed through a three-step coding process: open coding to identify key concepts, axial coding to refine categories by examining relationships, and thematic coding to organize the data into central themes. Findings revealed that CEOs influence TMT's employee engagement by addressing needs at three levels: individual, team, and organizational. Each level of needs aligns with specific CEO leadership styles and …

Mastering Enterprise Networks (3rd Ed), Mathew J. Heath Van Horn

OER Main

Mastering Enterprise Networks, is a comprehensive guide to building, defending, and attacking enterprise networks. It covers a wide range of topics, from network fundamentals to advanced security concepts. The book is well-organized and easy to follow, making it a valuable resource for both beginners and experienced network professionals.

One of the strengths of this book is its focus on hands-on learning. The book includes 50 chapters of labs that allow readers to practice the concepts they have learned. These labs are a great way to reinforce your understanding of enterprise networks while developing practical skills.

This book covers security from …

Uncertainty-Aware Estimation, Planning, And Control For Tracking Multiple Drifting Patches In Flow Fields, Daniel O. Akanji, Krishnanand N. Kaipa, Cong Wei

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

In this study, we present a replay-based framework for uncertainty-aware persistent tracking of multiple advected surface patches using an autonomous marine vehicle operating in spatiotemporal-varying currents. The method combines three components: local flow estimation, covariance-aware patch-boundary propagation with intermittent boundary fusion, and mission-level scheduling over multiple patches. Each patch is represented by a polygonal boundary, whose vertices are propagated through the estimated flow field while carrying per-vertex covariance, thereby quantifying uncertainty growth during advection. A flow-aware gain-scheduled linear quadratic regulator (LQR) was designed to shape the desired surge speed to take advantage of favorable currents. When the vehicle services a …

Code-Net++: An Attention-Guided Deep Learning Framework With Grad-Cam-Based Explainability For Covid-19 Detection Using Chest X-Ray Images, Fareesa Amina, Dr Krishnanaik Vankdoth

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Chest radiograph imaging has emerged as a practical and scalable diagnostic modality for respiratory diseases, including COVID-19. However, accurate discrimination of COVID-19 manifestations from other pulmonary abnormalities remains challenging because of low contrast, imaging noise, and overlapping radiographic patterns. This work presents CODE-NET++, an enhanced attention-guided deep learning framework with Grad-CAM-based explainability for reliable COVID-19 detection using chest X-ray images. The proposed framework integrates adaptive trilateral filtering for image enhancement, Reverse Edge Attention Network (RE-Net) for lesion-aware segmentation, and an Enhanced LinkNet architecture with dilated convolutions for multiscale feature extraction and classification. Grad-CAM-based explainable artificial intelligence visualization is incorporated to …

A Hybrid Object Detection And Temporal Attention Framework For Intelligent Video Surveillance, Sudheer Reddy Bandi, Eswari Vanaparthi, Yakshini Edapalli, Roshan Kavuri

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The rapid growth of urban areas has greatly heightened the need for smart video surveillance systems that can automatically process extensive amounts of CCTV footage. Traditional surveillance methods largely depend on human monitoring, which is not only inefficient but also susceptible to human mistakes, especially in intricate and crowded environments. To tackle these issues, this paper introduces a combined object detection and temporal attention for intelligent video surveillance that concurrently analyzes spatial and temporal data from video streams. The proposed system analyzes real-time CCTV footage utilising a multi-pathway frame extraction technique that includes slow, fast, and full-frame sampling to capture …

University Of Central Florida Graduate Catalog, 2025-2026, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Teacher Leadership On K-12 Teachers, School Communities, And Students, Jordan Birkeland

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In K-12 education today, teachers are frequently being called upon to lead. Not only are they receiving increasingly more responsibilities, but they are relied upon more to support students and fellow staff in a variety of ways. Therefore, it is important to understand if the development and utilization of teacher leadership is a necessary method to provide schools with a way to support educators and other stakeholders. This literature review explores how teacher leadership is defined and practiced relative to the prevailing leadership models used in K-12 education, and identifies the impacts of teacher leadership on grades K-12 teachers, school …

Objective Assessment In Experiential Learning Contexts, Lily M. Brutger

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Experiential learning is widely recognized as a powerful approach to education; however, empirical evidence demonstrating its effectiveness remains limited. This gap in the literature is due less to the value of experiential learning itself than to the challenges of assessing learning within experiential contexts. Drawing on the foundational experiential learning theories of Kolb (1984) and Joplin (1981), as well as contemporary research on assessment validity and practice, this paper examines the relationship between assessment and experiential learning. It argues that purposeful, objective assessment is essential for maximizing student learning and supporting the credibility of experiential education. The paper synthesizes current …

Ai-Supported Socratic Questioning And Instructional Scaffolding: Effects On Student Comprehension, Reshma John

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This literature review examines how the intentional use of artificial intelligence (AI) designed for Socratic questioning and instructional scaffolding affects students' comprehension of course content. The literature suggests that AI is most likely to support comprehension when it prompts students to explain their reasoning, respond to guided questions, reflect on their understanding, and receive support adapted to their needs. In contrast, systems that primarily provide direct answers may encourage overreliance and mask gaps in students' understanding. Overall, the educational value of AI depends less on its availability and more on how it is designed and implemented.

Teaching Primary Sources To Increase Engagement And Build Literacy, Lindsey L. Beaulieu

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reviews the use of primary sources in education. This literature review analyzes 30 articles regarding educators’ use of primary sources. There are four major themes within the articles: literacy with primary sources, engagement with primary sources, comprehension with primary sources, and examples of primary source units or lessons. While specific teaching topics vary, the overall consensus is that primary sources can help students’ skills with literacy, engagement, and comprehension. A main topic among the research is the educators’ understanding of scaffolding, pre-teaching, choosing primary sources, and re-using the primary sources, to be able to teach students effectively.

An Engine, Not A Vessel: Place, Politics, And Health In The United States, Philip B. Rocco

Political Science Faculty Research and Publications

Social scientists often treat places as containers for social and economic phenomena that shape health outcomes. Yet this analytic practice conceals more than it reveals. Local governments in the United States should be understood as engines of both health promotion and stratification. As the contributions to this symposium suggest, governments not only occupy a formal place in the U.S. public health system, their decisions on everything from housing to transportation infrastructure can also have profound impacts on health outcomes. Local political economies likewise renegotiate the parameters of acceptable health interventions, public understandings of health disparities, and the status of population …

Art & Luxury: Perceiving Value: How Generation Z Interprets Cultural And Social Meaning In Luxury And Art Collaborations, Michele Saad

MA in Luxury Business Dissertations

Luxury and art collaborations have evolved from rare creative experiments into a familiar part of brand storytelling, yet most research still focuses on what brands want to communicate rather than how audiences perceive these projects. This study explores how Generation Z (GZ) interprets the cultural and social value of such collaborations.

A qualitative approach was adopted, using semi-structured interviews supported by visual prompts with 16 participants aged 19 to 29. The analysis is structured around six recurring themes: artistic expression and aesthetics, social engagement and philanthropy, sustainability and environmental awareness, experiential and immersive encounters, commercial and hype-driven partnerships, and architectural …

Scanning Electron Microscopy As A Potential Tool For Distinguishing Charcoal From Dark, Oxidized, Biomass, João Vitor Dos Santos, Aleksandar I. Goranov, Lais Gomes Fregolente, Joao Marcos De Lima-Faria, Diego Stefani Teodoro Martinez, Patrick G. Hatcher

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Condensed aromatic carbon (ConAC) is widely used as a proxy for organic materials derived from biomass burning. However, recent evidence shows that ConAC can be also formed through nonpyrogenic oxidative processes. This study presents a proof-of-concept investigation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to distinguish charcoal from dark, ConAC-rich materials produced by ambient oxidation of biomass. Pine wood exposed to long-term iron-mediated oxidation was compared with unaltered wood and a controlled laboratory-generated charcoal reference. Conventional geochemical analytical methods, including benzenepoly(carboxylic acid) (BPCA) analysis, Fourier transform–ion cyclotron resonance–mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and elemental analysis, confirmed substantial …