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Contextualizing The Aspe Standards Of Best Practice: Reflecting On The Past, Present, And Future Of Sp Methodology, Amelia M. Wallace, Cory Krebsbach, Janice Radway, Lou Clark

EVMS School of Health Professions Faculty Publications

As we celebrate the publication of the Association of SP Educators Standards of Best Practice (ASPE SOBP) for Physical Exam Teaching Associates (PETAs) and corresponding literature review, we, elected leaders of ASPE, offer reflections on SP methodology history, current practices, and future opportunities. Our aim is to contextualize this addition to what is now the third SOBP publication [1, 2] that guides the global simulation community on best practices of simulated participant (SP) methodology.

Thank you to the ASPE members and SP Educators who made time to share their expertise as authors on these new standards- in addition to their …

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

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

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

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

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

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

Emotional Support Friends: Creating Social Impact Through Art And Polite Humor, Kenyari Gil Rosario

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

This thesis aims to provide new imagery to the conversation of mental health and neurodivergence. It does this through forms of soft sculpture, digital paintings, marker drawings, and community murals. Inspired by the practices of Keith Haring, iconographic characters are used to portray common struggles and coping habits of mental conditions in an endearing light. With the goal of social impact, this project is affiliated with the non-profit organization Providing Autism Links and Support (P.A.L.S). This partnership has given the community an opportunity to share their compassion through art and donations and uses art as a means of social impact …

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

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

NOVA was …

Physical Activity And Health Outcomes In Children With Dyslexia During Summer Versus School Months, Tina J. Glatz

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Children in the United States continue to experience rising rates of overweight and obesity. Children with learning disabilities are twice as likely to have obesity than typically developing peers, partly due to difficulties with motor skills and behavior regulation. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare differences in health outcomes and physical activity (PA) during summer versus school months in children with dyslexia, using a within- subject study design.

At three timepoints (May, August, December 2025), children’s height, weight, and fitness were measured via a portable stadiometer, dual-frequency foot-to-foot bioelectric impedance device, and Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance …

Sotl Reconsidered: On The Call To "Meet Today's Urgent Academic And Social Mandates", Jennifer Friberg-Fort, Nancy L. Chick

Faculty Publications - Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

SoTL Reconsidered emerged at the convergence of the current sociopolitical moment in the United States and a tradition that has framed SoTL as a field concerned not only with teaching and learning, but also with higher education’s role in public life.

For more information, visit https://sotlreconsidered.org/.

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

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

Centered A Story Of Family And Compassion In The Face Of Parkinson's Disease, Savannah Hill

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Centered is a three-dimensional (3D) animated short film that explores the topic of parental illness and how families must respond with compassion and adaptability when loved ones face mental or physical challenges. The story is inspired by the director’s own experience with her father’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease when she was in high school. The main characters, a father and daughter, must navigate the father’s changing needs after his diagnosis by prioritizing their connection and adapting to his new physical challenges. In the film, they do this through the creation of pottery. The imperfect, handmade design style of the film …

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

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

Cultivating Workplace Happiness In Technology Workers, Cherie A. Herrin

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

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

Evaluating The Impact Of Cognitive Distraction On Spaceflight-Relevant Task Performance Using Surface Electromyography And Motion Capture, Allyson K. Mitchell

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive distraction poses a risk to astronaut performance during complex, multitasking operations in spaceflight environments. This study examined the effects of cognitive load on neuromuscular coordination and task execution using surface electromyography (sEMG) and motion capture. Thirteen participants performed spaceflight-relevant tasks under undistracted and distracted conditions, with distraction induced through verbal questioning. EMG signals from eight upper-extremity muscles were processed using envelope filtering, peak normalization, and time normalization to enable inter-subject comparison, and group-level mean activation with standard deviation was analyzed. While overall muscle activation was similar between conditions, phase-dependent differences were observed, with undistracted trials showing higher activation during …

Multi-Objective Optimization Strategy For Component Sizing In Solar-Hydrogen Microgrids Using An Advanced Hybrid Genetic Algorithm, Dylan Jones

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the development of a genetic algorithm (GA) optimization framework for the design and component sizing of hybrid solar-hydrogen microgrids. The framework addresses a critical gap in research and existing commercial tools by unifying performance maximization and cost minimization objectives across both grid-tied and islanded configurations. Integrating solar photovoltaics, electrolyzers, hydrogen storage, fuel cells, and batteries, the GA employs adaptive weighting and dynamic boundary constraints to balance technical feasibility with economic efficiency. To ensure real-world viability, the algorithm relies on a novel Daylight Sun Factor (DSF) for localized solar assessment and was rigorously validated against multi-year, high-fidelity irradiance …

Mechanical Behavior Of Additively Manufactured Ti-6al-4v Eli Parts: Effects Of Laser Parameter Selection, Samuel Lopez

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) of TI-6AL‑4V Extra‑Low Interstitial (ELI) enables complex geometries for fatigue‑critical medical device applications, yet fatigue performance remains sensitive to process‑induced defects. This work investigates the effect of laser process parameter selection on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and fatigue behavior of TI- 6AL‑4V ELI fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (L‑PBF) using a Renishaw RenAM system. The influence of laser parameters was isolated by holding powder chemistry, build orientation, scan strategy, sub‑transus annealing, and post‑processing constant between a non‑optimized baseline and an optimized parameter set selected based on tensile performance.

Optical microscopy showed the optimized condition exhibited improved …

Performance Of Numerical Methods Applied To The Black–Scholes Model, Scott Cameron Williams

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We compare five numerical approaches for approximating solutions to the Black–Scholes partial differential equation for pricing European call options: FTCS, BTCS, Crank– Nicolson, Monte Carlo simulation, and a physics–informed neural network (PINN). These methods span finite difference techniques, probabilistic simulation, and machine learning. Performance is evaluated based on computational efficiency and accuracy relative to the analytical Black–Scholes solution.

Among the methods, Crank–Nicolson and the PINN demonstrated the strongest overall performance. Crank–Nicolson achieved the highest accuracy but exhibited increased runtime as the number of underlying stock price grid points grew. In contrast, the PINN produced slightly less accurate results but with …

Effects Of Pressure-Based Virtual Reality Training On Mental Toughness In Athletes, Rylee J. Aspinwall

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Athletes often underperform in high-pressure situations due to challenges in emotional regulation rather than deficits in physical skill. Mental toughness, broadly defined as the ability to maintain performance under stress, is a key determinant of athletic success but remains difficult to train using traditional methods. Virtual reality (VR) offers a controlled and immersive environment for simulating competitive pressure; however, its application for training mental toughness remains limited. The present study examined the effects of pressure-based VR training on psychological and physiological responses in collegiate baseball and softball athletes. Participants completed up to eight VR training sessions under either high-pressure or …

Don't Crash Out: The Effects Of Personality And Social Support On Subjective Stress Responses And Heart Rate Variability, Nicholas Kilpatrick

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between personality traits, physiological stress responses, and subjective stress during a social-evaluative stress task, as well as the potential mediating role of heart rate variability (HRV) and moderating role of imagined social support. Participants completed a laboratory-based modified Trier Social Stress Task while HRV was continuously recorded, and self-reported stress was assessed across task phases. Results indicated that neuroticism and protective self-monitoring were associated with higher levels of subjective stress, while acquisitive self-monitoring was associated with greater reductions in stress following the task. Neuroticism was also associated with greater increases in HRV during the …

A Comparative Evaluation Of Data Imbalance Handling Techniques In Machine Learning Models For One-Year Mortality Prediction In Liver Cirrhosis, Sumiya Hasan Trisha

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Liver cirrhosis is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, making one-year mortality prediction a clinically relevant problem. Using a liver cirrhosis dataset as the motivating application, this thesis evaluates five machine learning classifiers—Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost—under five class-imbalance handling strategies: Baseline learning, Random Oversampling, SMOTE-NC, ADASYN, and Cost-Sensitive Learning. Hyperparameter tuning was conducted using randomized search, and predictive performance was assessed over 200 iterations of Monte Carlo Cross-Validation using Accuracy, Precision, Recall, Fl-score, and ROC-AUC.

The results suggest that imbalance-handling strategies can materially affect predictive performance, particularly recall. Because the outcome of interest is death within …

Variance Shrinkage In Dunnett-Type Multiple Comparisons With Missing Data, Md Habibullah

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dunnett’s procedure is widely used for comparing multiple treatments with a control, but its application becomes challenging in the presence of missing data and multiple com- parisons. An improved Dunnett-type procedure addresses this by using multiple imputation under Rubin’s framework and constructing unified confidence intervals based on a multi- variate t distribution, allowing valid simultaneous inference while controlling the family-wise error rate (FWER). This work further extends the method by incorporating shrinkage-based variance estimation. Specifically, individual group variances are shrunk toward a common value to improve stability. This approach is particularly effective when group variances are similar or moderately different, …

Ridit-Based Adaptive Allocation In Two-Stage Clinical Trials With Binary Outcomes, Dewan Fahim

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores better ways to assign patients to treatments in clinical trials with binary outcomes, such as success or failure. Adaptive methods are used to learn from early results and adjust treatment assignments during the trial, helping more patients receive better performing treatments while maintaining reliable conclusions. We focus on trials comparing multiple treatments using a two-stage design. In the first stage, several treatments are tested to identify the most promising one; in the second stage, that treatment is compared with a control. Unlike traditional equal assignment, we use adaptive allocation in the second stage to make better use …

A Comparative Study Of Classification Methods For Healthcare Analytics, Xueting Zhao

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a comparative study of logistic regression, Linear Discriminant Analy- sis (LDA), and Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) for binary classification in healthcare analytics, integrating theoretical derivation, simulation, and real-data application. A facto- rial simulation study crosses the covariance structure (equal vs. unequal), predictor correla- tion (ρ ∈ {0, 0.5, 0.9}), dimensionality (p ∈ {2, 5, 10}) and sample size (n ∈ {50, 100, 200}) across 54 scenarios with 1,000 Monte Carlo replicates each. Three main findings emerge. Logistic regression and LDA are nearly interchangeable when the assumption of equal-covariance holds. QDA achieves substantially better discrimi- nation when class-specific …

Parental Distress, Coercive Control With Food, And Child Self-Regulation, Kattie Nguyen

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self-regulation is the management of one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to adapt to a situation (Smith-Donald et al., 2007). During infancy and toddlerhood, parents foster self-regulation through co-regulation (e.g., sensitivity, responsiveness), helping children manage their emotions, behaviors, and thoughts (Butler & Randall, 2013). Parents who experience distress (e.g., depression, stress, anxiety) are more likely to use less responsive and harsher, controlling practices like coercive control. Coercive control with food is a practice where parents use food as threats or bribes to control their child’s emotions and behaviors (Vaughn et al., 2016). The present study examined the associations between parental distress, …

Social Support, Trauma And Neurophysiological Stress, Devon S. Glicken

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic life experiences and the prolonged effects of stress can negatively impact an individual’s mental and physical health. Hyperreactivity to acute stressors can often be seen in individuals with anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations, conditions commonly observed with endocrine dysfunction. How do traumatic experiences, particularly experiences related to military affiliation, influence stress responses and feelings of burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness? This study predicted (1) that military-affiliated individuals (and those with PTSD symptomology and high perceived life stress) will have heightened neurophysiological responses to minor levels of acute stress compared to individuals without military-affiliations (and those without PTSD symptomology or high …

Two-Stage Response-Adaptive Randomization Designs For Multi-Arm Trials With Normal Outcome, Tanjin Tamanna Happy

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on improving how clinical trials compare new treatments with a standard treatment, when the response is quantitative (normally distributed). In a common two-stage design, several new treatments are first evaluated, and the best-performing one is selected if it appears better than the standard. In the second stage, this selected treatment is compared again with the standard using additional data to confirm its effectiveness. This approach is known to be efficient in terms of accuracy and sample size savings. We extend this design by introducing an adaptive method for assigning patients to treatments in the second stage. Instead …

The Effect Of Coercive Control With Digital Devices On Emotion Regulation In Preschool-Age Children: An Experimental Approach, Gina Burroughs

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The experiment was an investigation on the differences in child emotion regulation between two groups during a disappointing gift task. Fifteen four-to-five-year-olds were randomly assigned to either receive coercive control with a digital tablet or an emotion-coping intervention. All children received a disappointing gift a second time as emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reframing, self-soothing, comfort-seeking) were recorded. A χ² test revealed a nonsignificant difference between frequency of post-manipulation emotion regulation strategies. Three cognitive-reframing subtypes were coded and an independent-samples t-test revealed between-group differences approaching significance, suggesting that adults can teach cognitive reframing to this age range. Additional analysis revealed …

Experimental Validation Of Optical Wireless Communication And Power Transfer For Uav Applications, Fnu Dhruv

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have revolutionized emergency response, disaster assessment, and search-and-rescue operations. However, their operational efficacy is fundamentally constrained by limited battery endurance and the susceptibility of traditional radio-frequency communication to disruption in adverse weather. To address these limitations, this thesis proposes and experimentally validates a novel architecture integrating Free-Space Optical (FSO) communication with Simultaneous Lightweight Information and Power Transfer (SLIPT). This system utilizes a split-beam configuration to concurrently enable high-bandwidth data transmission and optical energy harvesting to replenish the UAV's battery pack. The research was conducted in three progressive phases. Initially, system feasibility was established through rigorous optical …

Widowed And Wounded? Exploring The Health Impacts Of Adverse Childhood Experiences In Later Life Widowhood, Sierra Wickline

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Losing a spouse is considered one of the most stressful life events that disproportionately affect older individuals. Exposure to traumatic events at an early age can change the body’s response to subsequent stressors across the lifespan. These physical changes often impact people’s health. Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study, the current study aimed to investigate the link between: adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and three indicators of health: inflammation (i.e., c-reactive protein [CRP], reflecting immune functioning), as well as self-reported depressive symptoms and physical health, among people who have lost a spouse. Participants included 97 widowed individuals aged 68 …

A Stability Analysis Of The Phase-Lock Equations, Brian M. Sunguza

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ginzburg and Landau have provided a set of equations that relate superconductivity to magnetic fields. Through a transformation process, Zhan has derived what are now called the phase-lock equations. A stability analysis of the spatially-independent phase-lock equations is the purpose of this presentation. This simplification is significant since it allowed for the analytical determination of equilibria, their stability, and the influence of a periodic forcing function. Through the use of an original code, numerical simulations are shown to corroborate the analytical results described above.

This analysis includes novel Lyapunov functions that allowed for the analytical determination of the instability region. …

The Effects Of Weathering On The Very High Cycle Fatigue Behavior Of Aluminum 6061-T6, Rama Albatesh

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aluminum 6061-T6 is commonly used in structural and transportation applications due to its strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and ease of manufacturing. In many practical situations, components made from this alloy experience cyclic loading while exposed to environmental conditions such as humidity, temperature changes, and ultraviolet radiation. These factors can affect surface integrity and fatigue performance, especially in the very high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime.

This study aims to explore how accelerated weathering impacts the ultrasonic fatigue behavior of Aluminum 6061-T6. First, assess the material through tensile testing to determine its mechanical properties. Then conducted microstructural analysis using optical microscopy, scanning electron …