thesis

Chiropractic care is a form of alternative medicine involving the non-invasive treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. I spent 5 months working as an intern at Spine Design Chiropractic in Jupiter, Florida. For my thesis, I observe the current state of chiropractic care, using two case studies. The details I present display the use of chiropractic care in the diagnosis and treatment of two representative cases of patients at the clinic, outlining their different care plans and their outcomes.

In this thesis, I examine three psychological characteristics – psychopathy, autism, and intelligence – and consider how they are related. Psychopathy is a condition that has long captured the public imagination. Articles and blogs are devoted to murderers with psychopathic features. Movies and TV shows have been based on real-life famous psychopaths narrating the horrible crimes they have committed. Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of empathy and guilt, manipulation of other people, and violent antisocial behavior. Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. “Successful psychopaths” are those who have all the traits of a regular psychopath, but instead of using them for violence, they use the traits to succeed in their exploitation. At least some successful psychopaths appear to be characterized by high intelligence. The third psychological characteristic, autism, is a developmental disability that impairs the ability to communicate and interact. Several researchers have explored links between autism, psychopathy, and intelligence. I then examine how these characteristics may be embodied in a case study of Elon Musk.

The microbiome plays a significant role in the strength of the immune system; it aids in the recovery of nutrition, is essential for the prevention of invading pathogens, and helps in the remediation of harmful toxicants. The microbiome is largely unknown, especially in reptiles like the gopher tortoise. Gopher tortoises are threatened in Florida and multiple other states. Therefore, it is important to understand how the bacterial population changes over time outside of the organism. We humanely harvested fresh feces from three gopher tortoises in the Jupiter Abacoa greenway, and left the feces in the field. We re-took samples at the cites every day for a week, then once a week for the next three weeks. DNA was isolated and sent to Zymo laboratories to amplify the 16S rDNA V1-V3 regions. The data analyzed showed a decrease in the quantity of bacteria as well as a decrease in biodiversity after Day 8 of collection. Our findings demonstrate substantial changes in the feces microbiome, which could impact any potential nutritional benefits for other organisms.

Invictus is a narrative virtual reality (VR) game which makes use of 16th century alchemical concepts on becoming spiritually whole. As an alchemist, the player begins their first steps in achieving The Great Work – a state of perfect being; synonymous with creating The Philosopher’s Stone. To begin, players embark into a stage called Nigredo, where the many is transmuted into one through the processes of alchemical Fire – calcination – as a method of purification. Players begin in an alchemical laboratory, learning about and preparing the first stage and process. To experience being transmuted by the power of Fire, players brew the “Philosopher’s Tincture” in their lab and submerge themselves within the concoction. Players next find themselves awaking at the top of a mysterious library tower deep underground. As players solve magical puzzles and traverse down the tower, they learn of the lessons that Fire has taught humanity over the ages. This thesis describes the game and its context in alchemy and technology.

This thesis will explore the transformative impact of the modernist poets Pound, Eliot, and Yeats, on the generative art of translation. While traditional interpreters prior to the early 20th century sought fidelity to the source material, these modernists embraced malleability, adapting works like “The Seafarer”, “Anabasis”, and "King Oedipus" to contemporary sensibilities. Through a deconstructionist lens, this study will compare these pieces to their parent text and earlier translations, revealing a focus on subjectivity, cultural synthesis, and a departure from realism. Such a paradigm shift deviated from all former practices, prompting the publishing industry to commission conceptually and aesthetically engaged material. This analysis will offer valuable insights for today's publishing industry, highlighting the enduring relevance of embracing innovation.

Airbnb has attracted significant attention from municipal governments due to its potential to influence housing affordability. This paper assesses the role of Airbnb concentration on home prices in Fort Lauderdale from October 2021 to December 2022 using a first difference fixed effect model and data scraped from the Airbnb website via InsideAirbnb. The results from the model suggest higher Airbnb concentration leads to higher home prices. For a home priced between the 35th and 65th percentile, an additional one percentage point of Airbnb concentration causes prices to increase by 3.2 percent.

This thesis investigates the relationship between three Amazon badges (Vine Voice, Vine Customer of a Free Product, and Verified Purchase) and the star ratings. The status and incentives associated with badges pose a concern of credibility in online reviews. This thesis examines whether the Vine Voice badge and Vine Review of a Free Product badge are more likely to have higher star ratings, and whether the Verified Purchase badge is more likely to have lower star ratings. Amazon reviews on two different battery products were manually collected and parsed to extract variables relevant to the research question. An ordinal logistic regression model analysis found that the Verified Purchase had a statistically significant negative relationship with star ratings but failed to find any evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the Vine Voice badge or the Vine Review of a Free Product badge and star ratings.

As energy consumption increases, the need for an efficient, cheap-to-make, and low-maintenance power converter is increasingly sought after. Solar energy has the potential to fill all these requirements as it is not only the most abundant source of energy on the planet, but the devices themselves require little to no cost post-installation. Solar cells convert photon particles into flowing current, producing voltage by merely remaining stationary, something that fossil fuel production cannot achieve. The efficiency of these devices has drastically improved over the last 30 years, jumping from less than 10% to nearly 30%, and with some of the practices brought up in this talk, those numbers can be pushed up closer to 40%. In this presentation, we discuss the ever-advancing solar panel technology and view its impact on humanity.

Florida continues to be a major retirement destination. With a large and growing population of retirees, their effect on real estate prices becomes measurable. Using an
ordinary least squares regression analysis, I assess the effect retirees have on home prices in Palm Beach County, Florida. I claim that, in contrast to existing literature, retirees are bidding up the prices on select properties within Palm Beach County. This paper will also determine the amount that retirees increase these properties by.

The purpose of this thesis is to highlight the underrepresentation of South Florida in the field of mycology. Upon reviewing samples and comparing them to their closest genetic match, it is safe to conclude that there are a significant number of samples with either unidentified or unknown species. Of the samples observed and recorded, a surprising 17 of 39 or 43.5% have only been identified as far as the Genus. These findings indicate a necessity for further research beyond the Genus to produce results that are more accurately representative of the fungal diversity in South Florida.