Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Countries' Leaders' Responses On Covid-19 Deaths, Kate Rumisek

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented health crisis with consequences felt worldwide. While every country was impacted, each leader had a different response resulting in different consequences per nation. This paper evaluates the responses of three countries' leaders to the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to COVID-19-related deaths. The countries analyzed are New Zealand, Brazil, and the United States. New Zealand's Prime Minister's response was characterized as proactive and strict. Under the leadership of Bolsonaro, Brazil ignored the magnitude of the pandemic, leading to a lack of a cohesive national plan. The United States, led by President Trump, responded with a …

Parental Divorce Effects On Young Adults Romantic Relationships In College, Hanna Mcadam

Honors Undergraduate Theses

With divorce rates at an all-time high, many young adults have gone through a parental divorce. Divorce has many negative effects on children like their development, the parent-child relationship, and overall health (mental and physical). There have been a variety of studies conducted about the effects of parental divorce on individuals, but a lack of research has been done on young adults' relationships in college. The purpose of this study is to explore more how parental divorce affects young adults in college romantic relationships, by investigating students raised in divorced families' relationship satisfaction and life satisfaction. This will be based …

Bilingual Switch Cost Effect On Language Processing, Ancuta Rader

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Recent reports suggest that over half of the world's population regularly uses two or more languages (or dialects) in their daily lives. The U.S. Census Bureau reports 21.6% of the population communicates in a language other than English within their homes. Thus, it is essential to methodically investigate how language processing and learning vary between monolingual and bilingual individuals. To date, research on the effects of bilingualism on language processing has been inconsistent or conflicting. The present study was designed to empirically examine if bilingual speakers differ in language processing and comprehension compared to their monolingual counterparts. It was hypothesized …

Chemical Analysis For Phytochemical Residues On Ceramics From Cape Canaveral Archaeological Sites, Jacob Woodard

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study aims to contribute to the field of paleoethnobotany in Florida archaeology by presenting a novel approach to chemical residue analysis using UV-vis spectroscopy. The project's main goals are to develop a spectroscopic method for analyzing ceramics to identify phytochemical residues and present the findings of chemical analysis applied to ceramics from the Cape Canaveral archaeological mitigation project (CCAMP). The study focuses on two sites, the Penny site (8BR158) and Burns site (8BR85) in Florida's Indian River region.

While organic residue analysis (ORA) has been applied to various materials and regions, limited research ORA on has been conducted within …

Components Of Athletic Identity In Participating Ncaa Athletes: Academic, Demographic, Sport, And Psychological Considerations, Alana C. Torres

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study presents a systematic literature review of research evaluating components of athletic identity in participating NCAA Division I, II, and III athletes. Publications were gathered from six databases: APA PsycINFO, APA PsycARTICLES, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, ERIC, MEDLINE, and SPORTDiscus. 26 records met the criteria for inclusion. Four themes were analyzed in the research: academic factors, demographic factors, sport-specific factors, and psychological factors. Study limitations and recommendations for future research are assessed, such as challenges associated with self-report instruments and benefits of employing a longitudinal research design. Recommendations for practitioners and staff are also discussed.

Aerobic And Anaerobic Exercises In Relation To Anxiety And Depression, Ethan D. Mote

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The use of exercise is crucial as a means of treatment for various psychological disorders. However, as more research is being done, there seems to be a lack of consensus as to which type of exercise is most effective, aerobic or anaerobic. 232 students participated in this study via Qualtrics, and were asked to participate in the study by answering 9 questionnaires: the Demographics Questionnaire, GAD7, Beck Depression Inventory, PCL5, QOLS, Exercise History and Attitudes Questionnaire, Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Healthy Eating Assessment, and the RYFF Psychological Well-being Scales. The results found that a combination of aerobic, anaerobic, and …

Post, Share, Like: The Role Of Facebook In The Russo-Ukrainian War, Hannah Michelle Snyder

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Facebook is being used by both Russia and Ukraine as a tool of war, for very different purposes. This demonstrates that the platform no longer serves the sole function of connecting communities together. Existing literature has recognized that social media is being used in the current Russo-Ukrainian war but has yet to conduct comparative and contrastive analyses of Russian and Ukrainian social media strategies and effects. Conducting these analyses will illustrate not only what strategies are being used, but how they can be simultaneously advantageous and disadvantageous for belligerents. By focusing on one platform, Facebook, one can not only learn …

Biological Versus Social Factors Of Juvenile Sex Offenders: A Meta-Analysis, Katherine M. Phillips

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Juvenile sex offending is not a new phenomenon but is one of limited research, with only a slight increase in research in the past decade. This meta-analysis used 5 articles to determine which holds a greater influence on juvenile sex offenders, biological or social factors. Biological factors were divided into impulsiveness, psychosis/mental health diagnosis (excluding paraphilic disorders), and sexual deviance/paraphilia. Social factors were divided into antisocial behavior, prior criminal activity, prior exposure to sexual activities/pornography, and history of being sexually abused. This meta-analysis found that biological factors have a slightly greater effect on Juvenile sex offenders, but it was not …

Tort Reform In Florida: The Impact Of Hb837, Kara E. Burns

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Legislative policies play a pivotal role in shaping the socio-political landscape of a nation, addressing critical issues, and reflecting the values and priorities of its citizens. This case study examines the implementation of Florida's House Bill 837 (HB837), a significant piece of legislation that has generated substantial interest and debate. The study aims to shed light on the practical implications of this policy within the context of its introduction, passage, and subsequent results. The research of this case study explores the historical and political backdrop against which HB837 was enacted. It examines the motivations behind the bill, the debates that …

The Influence Of Genetics, Insulin Resistance, Oxidative Stress, And Energy Deficit On Migraine, Victoria Dm Maldonado Llinas

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The pathomechanism of migraine attacks is not understood well, however, is currently believed to be a brain disorder. Migraine is a multifactorial disorder that needs to be investigated in multiple research areas to shed light into its mechanism and find ways to treat it effectively. Migraine episodes come from one or many things at the same time, and such vary from person to person. However, sufficient evidence in recent studies show there is a strong relationship between genetics with patients having specific genes that may be responsible for the disease or a genetic sequence passed down through generations in families, …

Attention, Working Memory, And Adaptive Functioning In Emerging Young Adults With Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Parth Nakirikanti

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Schizotypy, a complex construct linked to schizophrenia-related traits, encompasses positive, negative, and disorganized symptoms. This study offers a review of the concept of schizotypy, including its historical evolution, tracing it from Bleuler's early mention in 1911 to Meehl's continuum model. Embracing a dimensional perspective, this research underscores the interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding schizotypy. Deficits in sustained attention and working memory within schizotypy remain underexplored, with prior studies yielding inconsistent results. Adaptive functioning deficits in individuals with schizotypy are also inadequately understood. Examining a college student population, this investigation utilized scores on the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire …

An Advocacy Resource Guide To Address The Growing Reality Of Youth Homelessness: Identifying Interventions For Education, Healthcare, And Housing In Central Florida, Venerina M. Costanza

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Today, there are children sleeping under bridges with no food to eat and nowhere to go. Without our help someone's daughter will continue to cry herself to sleep as she sleeps in the woods with only a blanket, someone's son will feed himself with trash from a dumpster, someone's granddaughter sleeping under a bridge will be raped and someone's grandson will commit suicide because he lost all hope. These children need our help. (Enough is Enough, 2022). Although there are some government agencies and organizations that try to identify what can be done to help the homeless youth population, minimal …

The Study Of Crisis Narratives Over Time: Mayfield, Ky In The Aftermath Of The 2021 Tornadoes, Rebecca Freihaut

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This study was a year-long longitudinal qualitative research project using the case study of Mayfield, KY after the catastrophic tornado event that impacted their community on December 10, 2021. Oral histories were collected from 18 participants who lived in or were closely connected to Mayfield at the six month and 1.5 year marks after the disaster. Later, after the oral histories were archived and made available to the public, the transcripts were used to extract the crisis narratives from the oral histories and the data was thematically analyzed using the existing theory and theoretical framework of Narratives of Crisis: Telling …

Revisiting The Vigilance Taxonomy: Are Findings Consistent In A Remote Environment?, Grace E. Waldfogle

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Previous research has highlighted key taxonomic factors that have been found to influence human performance on vigilance tasks. However, previous literature has focused on research conducted in laboratory settings but has not examined vigilance tasks in remote environments. The present dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by examining human performance on a remote vigilance task, as well as workload and stress associated with the task. Qualitative data were collected to further understand the environment and distractions that participants experienced. Across three experiments, 372 participants were asked to complete a vigilance task and answer surveys pertaining to stress, workload, and …

A Spatiotemporal Examination Of Crime Site Selection For Commercial Burglary And Street Robbery, Devin Cowan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The overall goal of this dissertation is to examine how the built and natural environment influences how potential criminals identify crime sites to offend within. Guided by the theoretical principles of crime site selection and crime pattern theory, this study specifically focuses on the crimes of street robbery and commercial burglary in three unique study locations—Atlanta, GA, Fayetteville, NC, and Rochester, NY. The data for this study were collected from multiple publicly available data repositories. Of these repositories, criminal incident data for the dependent variables were gathered from the National Policing Institute's Police Data Initiative. Data for the independent variables, …

Social Equity Through Vaccinations During Covid-19: A Study Of Equitable Utilization Of Resources During Emergencies And Crises, Rebecca Entress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Governments provide resources that enable people and neighborhoods to return to normalcy after emergencies, which enhances community resilience. Past research found that such resources are not always equitably utilized by communities, where oftentimes communities with high social vulnerability receive fewer resources. COVID-19 was one of the largest and most widespread public health emergencies. In response to the emergency, the United States (U.S.) government sponsored the creation and administration of COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines reduce the probability of severe illness and death, making them an important resource for community resilience. This study uses an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design to …

Stress Appraisals Of Organizational Change: The Role Of Adaptability And Communication, Wheeler Nakahara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This two-part study used a field study and experimental vignette design to investigate predictors (extent of change, adaptability, and communication) of threat, hindrance, and challenge appraisals of change. The field study also examined employee well-being, job attitudes, and behaviors as outcomes of these appraisals. Drawing from stress appraisal theory, the primary goal of the study was to add to our knowledge of how personal characteristics and contextual factors relate to positive and negative appraisals of change and how those appraisals manifest in employee related outcomes. I hypothesized that adaptability and high-quality communication would function as resources that promote positive appraisals, …

Interorganizational Networks And Coordination In Emergency Management: Policy And Practice In Response To Disasters, Ratna Okhai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As a quintessential role of government, emergency and crisis management requires coordination between levels of government and private and nonprofit sector organizations. Hurricane Irma in 2017 was used as the context in examining interorganizational network effectiveness. Effective and efficient policy implementation and service delivery can be key indicators of collaborative networks; however, it was equally important to understand what factors determine the effectiveness of those collaborative networks. Using network theory and network governance as the theoretical foundations, this study measured and compared the designed versus implemented networks during disaster response. The guiding research for this study was: What factors facilitate …

Neural Dynamics Of Categorical Representations Used For Visual Search, Ashley Phelps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Decades of visual attention research have predominantly used pictorial search paradigms that cue participants with the exact perceptual details of the target. However, in everyday life, people often search for categories rather than specific items (i.e., any pen rather than a specific pen). To study visual attention in a more realistic context, researchers can use categorical search paradigms that cue participants with text indicating the target category. In these instances, one must rely on long-term memory to retrieve categorical features of the target. Both experiments in this study were a reanalysis of experiments previously designed and collected by Schmidt and …

Justice For George Floyd: The Tipping Point?, Christopher C. Odom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Through the lens of the justice for Gorge Floyd protests, my dissertation offers a critique, consultation, creation, and contribution to the visual imagery emerging from the digital activism of social movements. Built upon a foundation of counterpublics, critical race counterstory, counternarratives, the Black public sphere, rhetorical-cultural narrative, rhetorical-cultural memory, visual social semiotics, hashtag activism, and media framing and schemas, I engage in a rhetorical-semiotic-technocultural analysis of the justice for George Floyd protests, as a social movement. I position myself as a visual specialist artist, activist, academic, and advisor for social movements engaged in social justice and social change. I argue …

Diamond's Hidden Gems - Research Consultations, Diamond R. Williams

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

Contributions To Professional School Counselors Entering And Remaining In The Profession: A Grounded Theory, Kathryn Babb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

As the mental health needs of children and adolescents have reached a crisis level, the need for trained mental health professionals in the field is as important as ever. However, many states are currently experiencing a shortage of educators, including school counselors. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the factors that contribute to school counselors selecting their career, as well as understanding what elements lead to the retention of professional school counselors. As there are no existing theories related to understanding the career choice of professional school counselors, nor pertaining to the supports leading to the retention …

Local-Level Maternal And Infant Health: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of The Relationship Between Social Determinants Of Health, Maternal And Infant Health Outcomes, And Public Health Programs In Florida, Jacquelyn Reiss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Current data highlight significant disparities in infant and maternal health (IMH) outcomes both when comparing outcomes to other countries and between groups within the U.S. Previous studies indicate that disparities in health outcomes are caused by health inequities. Health inequities are a result of marginalized groups historically being denied resources and exposed to increased risk directly impacting health. These resources and risks are considered social determinants of health (SDoH), such as income, housing, transportation, and access to care. Although SDoH influence individuals across multiple levels of society, communities are sites where individuals directly access protective resources and are potentially exposed …

A Puerto Rican Diasporic Study In Central Florida, Chelsea Vélez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study seeks to explicate the intercultural experiences of Puerto Ricans within the diaspora of Central Florida. Specifically, the navigation of communication behaviors among intergroup and outgroup behaviors as Puerto Rican individuals acculturate into the area. This study utilizes communication accommodation theory as its basis to understand integration into a host culture and the impacts on socio-cultural communication behaviors. Findings show the importance of studying diasporic communities as they develop such as that of the Puerto Rican community in Central Florida because it situates the reality of an individual and groups sense of identity in a new cultural context. This …

Defining Sober Harms And Factors That Influence Them: Blame It On The Alcohol?, Jessica Flori

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Reductions in alcohol use have often led to smaller reductions in harms than expected, and this may result from inadequate measurement of alcohol-related consequences. Harms questionnaires typically include consequences that can occur in the absence of alcohol use leading to an over attribution of certain harms to drinking (e.g., an individual might endorse engaging in risky behavior while drinking and while sober). The purpose of this study was to examine limitations of harms assessment by collecting data on frequency of harms while drinking and while sober, and to identify potential determinants of harms unrelated to alcohol use. College student participants …

Diamond's Hidden Gems - Ucf Rosen Library, Diamond R. Williams

Libraries' Documents

No abstract provided.

Body-Image Distress In Breast Cancer Survivors And Their Evaluation Of Medical Tattooing Following Surgery, Miranda Proctor

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

A review of the literature reveals a high incidence of body-image distress among breast cancer survivors who have undergone surgery, which is a natural response to the significant changes in their appearance. Reconstructive surgery, utilizing implants or flaps, may be employed to restore breast size and shape. Medical tattooing can simulate the nipple-areola complex and decorative appliques can conceal scars and skin color variations. Both reconstructive surgery and medical tattoos are associated with patient-reported satisfaction, yet further research is necessary to understand their combined impact on body-image distress. To investigate this, a survey was distributed among national breast cancer support …

Locating The Attentional Template Using Theta-Gamma Coupling, Michael Miuccio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A significant amount of research has investigated the underlying neural mechanisms that enable the direction of attention throughout a search array. The biased competition model (Desimone & Duncan, 1995) proposes that an attentional template (the neural instantiation of the search target) is created when the target representation in visual working memory (VWM) is communicated to frontal regions which then bias early visual areas to attend to target features. Despite this, much of the current work focuses solely on the target representation in VWM, which is only one small part of the attentional template according to biased competition. Thus, I used …

Two Essays On Esg, Natalya Bikmetova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

My dissertation studies the potential for the increased importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) information for corporations and investors in the U.S. market. In my first essay, I examine the effect of coverage by ESG rating agencies on firm ESG performance and disclosure policy. To control for the selection in coverage, I construct a sample of firms with existing ESG ratings from some agencies and study the marginal effect of an additional coverage on a firm relative to firms that did not receive the additional coverage. I find that when firm ESG coverage intensifies, its ESG ratings improve, its …

Two Essays On The Airbnb Market, Debanjana Dey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation analyses the Airbnb market in Orange County, FL to provide insight on the performances of short-term vacation rentals listed on the platform. In the first essay we examine the factors affecting the demand and supply of this real estate sector before and after the Covid-19 pandemic, using occupancy, pricing and revenue models. The results identify the aspects of the Airbnb peer-to-peer sharing model that do and those that do not recover quickly after local covid restrictions are lifted. In particular, host experience, professional management, and proximity to major tourist attractions are some of the key factors that generate …