Sound health is critical to quality of life (Skevington, 2007). Acquisition of skills in self-determination and independence are integral to quality of life. Two facets that engender self-determination and independence for an individual are healthy food choice and food preparation (Koponen et al., 2019; Yaddaden et al., 2019). However, healthy food choice and food preparation have received scant attention as individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) continue to face health disparities and poor health status. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore single subject experimental studies conducted on healthy food choice and food preparation from 2005 to 2022 in peer-reviewed journals. The methodology utilized a journal hand search, database search, and ancestral search. The results indicate that of the combined search of over 75,000 articles, less than 1% involved healthy food choice and/or food preparation. The results also illuminate the paucity of the research on healthy food choice and reveal that food preparation is gaining more attention in the empirical literature. The limitations of the study and implications for practice and research are also discussed.

Promoting diversity in STEM fields is essential to fostering innovation and addressing global challenges. Despite extensive efforts, the representation of minority groups, including women, in undergraduate computer science and engineering programs remains low, posing significant barriers to equity and inclusivity in STEM education (Nicole & DeBoer, 2020).
This systematic review explores the socio-economic and cultural challenges discouraging minority students from pursuing degrees, specifically computer science and engineering disciplines. A comprehensive literature search was conducted across databases such as IEEE Xplore, Google Scholar, and Scopus using specific search terms. Studies were chosen based on clear inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Data was carefully extracted and analyzed, focusing on primary obstacles such as the scarcity of role models, biases, and educational barriers. To evaluate the quality of the studies included in the review, Covidence’s quality assessment tools were used, ensuring methodological rigor and consistency across the studies.

Businesses are the driving force behind economic systems and are the lifeline of the community as they help in the prosperity and growth of the nation. Hence it is important for the business to succeed in the market. The business’s success provides economic stability and sustainability that helps preserve resources for future generations. The success of a business is not only important to the owners but is also critical to the regional/domestic economic system, or even the global economy. Recent years have witnessed many new emerging businesses with tremendous success, such as Google, Apple, Facebook etc.. Yet, millions of businesses also fail or fade out within a rather short period of time. Finding patterns/factors connected to the business rise and fall remains a long-lasting question that puzzles many economists, entrepreneurs, and government officials. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has lent researchers the powers to use data to model and predict business success. However, due to the data-driven nature of all machine learning methods, existing approaches are rather domain-driven and ad-hoc in their design and validations, particularly in the field of business prediction. The main challenge of business success prediction is twofold: (1) Identifying variables for defining business success; (2) Feature selection and feature engineering based on three main categories Investment, Business, and Market, each of which is focused on modeling a business from a particular perspective, such as sales, management, innovation etc.

In this narrative study, the racial socialization experiences of six Black women college students enrolled at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) will be explored. The purpose of this study is to understand the racial socialization experiences of Black women college students and how these experiences impact how they engage in private and public spaces. The following research questions will guide this study:
1. How are Black women college students racially socialized at PWIs?
2. How do Black women college students enrolled at PWIs engage in private and public spaces?
Gaps in the literature focus on how Black women in college engage in spaces where they are the minority and how these experiences impact their overall matriculation into higher education (Porter et al., 2020). Intersectionality (Collins, 2019; Crenshaw, 1989; Porter et al., 2020) were used to guide this dissertation study of how Black women college students experience racial socialization and engage in spaces at PWIs. This study is a significant contribution to the literature as one of the few studies that seek to understand the complexity of intersecting systems of society that impact the experiences and lives of Black women at PWIs. The findings of this study showed that Black women college students experience racism and microaggressions that impact the way in which they engage private and public spaces at PWIs.

The goal of these studies was to quantify mechanical properties of elasmobranch (sharks and batoids) skin to understand the functional relationships between mechanics and morphology, and how these correspond to differences in swimming and ecology. I relate mechanical behaviors with morphological structures to elucidate the underlying contributions of the skin toward elasmobranch skin mechanics. I mechanically tested skin in uniaxial tension to failure to assess the tensile strain at maximum load (extensibility), ultimate tensile strength, Young’s Modulus of elasticity (stiffness), and toughness among diverse groups of elasmobranchs. Across three chapters, I compare mechanical behaviors of the skin among species of sharks and batoids (separately) among body regions, and between sexes and axes of stress (longitudinal and hoop). Among 20 shark species, I quantified mechanical properties among ecomorphotypes and ontogenetically (across three maturity stages) and found that mechanical behaviors increase ontogenetically and are governed by two different underlying trends (maturity and ecomorphology). I found that shark skin oriented in the hoop direction was stronger and stiffer compared to skin oriented longitudinally, as hoop-oriented skin maintains internal volume and hydrostatic pressure by resisting deformation. Shark skin oriented longitudinally was more extensible, allowing for increased stretchability anteroposterior as a shark’s body undulates along the longitudinal axis. Dermal denticles (placoid scales), tooth-like structures of enameloid and dentine, are rooted in the stratum compactum layer of the dermis, embedded in a collagen fiber network.

Amyloid beta (Aβ), a byproduct of amyloid precursor protein, is constantly cleared from the CNS. Aβ kinetics are visualized using 18F-florbetapir PET imaging, typically analyzed through 2D coregistration with MRI or CT followed by visual evaluation. Aβ was thought to coexist in the white matter of both Alzheimer’s disease (AD; Aβ+) patients and cognitively unimpaired (CU; Aβ-) individuals. However, this coexistence is likely a misperception of 2D imaging. In this study, data science techniques were used to evaluate PET images, transforming Aβ imaging into topographical pixel arrays for 3D reconstruction. Canal-like networks in the brain, skull, and neck were discovered to be part of the non-CNS fluid (NCF) compartment, which quarantines Aβ. In CU/Aβ- subjects, Aβ is transported to peripheral lymphatics. In AD/Aβ+ subjects, Aβ becomes congested in the NCF, diffusing into CNS interstitial fluid, leading to progression and neurodegeneration.

Infants communicate with their caregivers in a variety of ways – even before the onset of verbal language. One of the strategies infants employ is the use of deictic gestures (i.e., index points, showing, giving) to engage in communication about external referents with their partners. Previous associations have been identified that reveal relationships between infant deictic gesturing behaviors and maternal gesturing, however the number of studies that assess maternal interactive qualities simultaneously with these gesturing behaviors is minimal. In the current study, manual data annotation was employed to explore the relationships between infant deictic gesturing frequencies, maternal deictic gesturing frequencies, global maternal behaviors (sensitivity and intrusiveness) and dyadic characteristics. Infants between the ages of 12-months and 24-months (N = 61) and their mothers participated in free-play recorded via online videoconferencing. Frequencies of initiative deictic gestures were calculated. Dyads were classified as having a “pointer” or “non-pointer” infant and mother, respectively. Several significant associations were identified, including a negative association between maternal sensitivity and maternal giving (p = .009) and a positive association between maternal sensitivity and infant index finger pointing (p = .030).

Cryptic species remain poorly studied in octopuses. Following the reinstatement of the cryptic species, Octopus americanus, suggestions that it should supplant two taxa, Octopus vulgaris types I & II, in the western central and southwestern Atlantic Ocean, respectively, had yet been investigated in southeast Florida. To delineate this species, an integrative approach including morphological assessments and phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial (16S & COI) and nuclear (rhodopsin) genes was employed. The utility of swabbing as a minimally invasive alternative DNA sampling method to tissue was also investigated. This taxon displays similar morphological traits to O. americanus. Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic inference placed this taxon in a highly supported monophyletic group with O. americanus. Both sampling methods delineated this taxon, though tissue was more successful. These results indicate that southeast Florida’s O. vulgaris-like species represents O. americanus. Thorough species delineation approaches advance our understanding of biodiversity, evolution, and ecology, and inform management practices.

This study presents two significant investigations in the field of proton therapy, leveraging advanced Monte Carlo simulations to improve our understanding and modeling of proton beam characteristics and secondary particle dynamics. The first investigation centers on the development and validation of a Monte Carlo model tailored for the single-room Varian ProBeam pencil beam scanning system. The study begins with an in-depth simulation analysis to justify the selection of the "g4h-phy_QGSP_FTFP_BERT" physics list configuration for our TOPASSFPTI model, developed using the TOPAS 3.9 tool with a Geant4 base, version 10.07.p03. Comprehensive verification against clinical measurements in a water phantom demonstrated the accuracy of the model. A comparative analysis between the TOPASSFPTI model and a previously published TOPAS model for the Varian ProBeam system at Emory Proton Therapy Center (TOPASEmory) revealed distinct differences in the beam characteristics. Notably, the TOPASSFPTI model exhibited a closer alignment with the specific beam characterization at SFPTI, showing a strong consistency in beam energy spread (σE) and integrated depth dose distributions (IDDs), with a 98-100% agreement under 2%/2 mm γ-index criteria. Differences in lateral spot sizes were observed, with the TOPASSFPTI model showing slightly larger spot sizes compared to TOPASEmory, which aligns more closely with SFPTI’s clinical setup. Additionally, the calibration of absolute dose values indicated significant differences in the number of protons per monitor unit (MU) between the TOPASSFPTI and the clinical treatment planning system (TPS) data, with the TOPASSFPTI model consistently showing higher values.

This thesis investigates geomagnetic survey methodology in support of the development of a geophysical navigation system for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Traditional AUV navigation methods are susceptible to cumulative errors and often rely on external infrastructure, limiting their effectiveness in complex underwater environments. This research leverages geomagnetic field anomalies as an additional navigational reference to these traditional systems, particularly in the absence of Global Positioning System (GPS) and acoustics navigation systems. Geomagnetic surveys were conducted over known shipwreck sites off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to validate the system's ability to detect and map magnetic anomalies. Data from these surveys were processed to develop high-resolution geomagnetic contour maps, which were then analyzed for accuracy, reliability, and modeling in identifying geomagnetic features.