Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

Large-scale seagrass mortality events have been linked to internal hypoxia and exposure to phytotoxins in the sediment, such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Although seagrasses can transport oxygen (O2) to belowground tissues (rhizomes and roots) and into surrounding sediment to prevent H2S intrusion, reoccurring seagrass mortality events from H2S exposure continue. In the present study, I examined the potential of tropical seagrass Thalassia testudinum to transport O2 effectively to belowground tissues and diffuse O2 into Florida Bay sediment around the root rhizosphere or sediment-root interface to constrain H2S diffusion into the roots. My approach was to (1) examine the spatial distribution of O2 in the rhizosphere during the light and dark with 2-D planar optode sensors, (2) examine patterns of root O2 loss (ROL) with O2 dye tracing experiments, and (3) measure O2 and H2S dynamics in internal tissues and rhizospheres. My results indicate that T. testudinum effectively sustains oxidation in belowground tissues to constrain H2S, but minimal evidence of ROL into the rhizosphere.

Dose uniformity in the Planning Target Volume (PTV) can induce a higher-than-expected dose distribution in the nearby critical organs. The goal of this study is to evaluate the influence of the Planning Target volume dose uniformity on the surrounding critical organs (OAR).
Ten cases of anonymized patients’ data were selected for our study including: Breast cancer, Brain cancer, Head and Neck cancer, Lung and Prostate calculations of Conformity indices, Biological Effective Doses (BED), Tumor Control Probability (TCP) and Normal Tissue Complication Probability (NTCP) were used to calculate the dose distribution in PTV as well as the dose delivered to the surrounding critical organs of each PTV. We assume that the tumors PTVs have homogeneous density as well as the surrounding normal tissue.
Conformity indices (CI) for Breast (PTV) are between 1.8 – 1.9, for Brain (PTV) are between 1.6 – 2.0, for Lungs are 1.5 – 1.6, for Prostate are between 0.4 – 0.5, for Head and Neck are 0.3 – 0.4. Dose uniformity in all the PTVs is 1.089 which is a good indication of the quality of treatment delivered to the tumor. TCP is averaging of value of 87.94 and NTCP is 3.4445.

Cognitive flexibility is crucial for efficient goal-directed behavior, especially in rapidly changing environments. While recent studies have consistently shown enhanced theta power and synchronization in the frontoparietal network during flexible task-switching, direct evidence establishing a causal link between theta-rhythm brain oscillation and cognitive flexibility remains limited. In this study, we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to the frontoparietal network at a theta frequency (6 Hz) with a phase difference of either 0° (inphase) or 180° (antiphase) to explore its impact on task-switching performance. The results showed no significant tACS modulation effects on switch costs or neural oscillatory synchronization in the frontoparietal network. However, a consistent negative correlation was observed between frontoparietal theta power in the early time window of cue-target interval and task switching performance, implying the close relationship between proactive control in task switching and frontoparietal theta activities.

Women's participation and roles in contemporary mosques in Western nations differ from that of many Muslim-majority countries. Yet, women’s presence and function are contentious within and outside Muslim communities, and research on the issue is limited. Most extant research on Muslim communities and religious institutions comes from Europe. Moreover, while seeking an opinion or firsthand knowledge of religious opinions in Muslim communities, the male voice takes precedence. This qualitative research investigates Muslim women’s experiences at two mosques in south Florida. I aimed to gain a better understanding of mosques’ impact on women’s religious practices, their adaptation to American society, and their views on male-dominated religious places, including the topic of gender segregation. By using narrative data collected from participant observation and interviews with informants, this study demonstrates that Muslim women at these south Florida mosques engage in their religious and social activities, creating a meaningful space to worship in the mosque while following the dominant patriarchal norms in the religious institution. The findings from this study also highlight the need for a more extensive quantitative analysis of women's demands for inclusion and equality in mosques and Muslim men's (including imams') responses to such requests as well as the significance of generational, age, and national-ethnic differences when it comes to the issue of gender in mosques.

This thesis provides an overview of immersive journalism (IJ), focusing on its theoretical and conceptual framework, objectives, ethical concerns, and evolving landscape. IJ is defined as the production of news in a form in which people can gain first-person experiences of the events or situation described in news stories through the use of immersive technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality. While the initial objective of IJ was to enhance empathy and transport users to distant places, recent scholars note the limitations and challenges of this approach. Therefore, media outlets are shifting from empathy-based journalism to other objectives. The thesis also discusses the ethical concerns that come with such a degree of immersion and reviews principles of traditional journalistic forms such as objectivity and accuracy in the context of IJ. The last section explores the process of creating a 360-degree project and the required skill set and production process. Overall, the thesis provides insights into the evolving landscape of IJ and its potential to reshape journalism.

From a critical feminist perspective, this thesis analyzes the claims currently being made in mainstream Western research and media about the therapeutic potentials of psychedelics. By utilizing autoethnography, an autobiographical methodology that synthesizes personal experience with scholarship, I analyze my own experience with legal psychedelic therapy in the West to reveal the systemic sociocultural barriers that complicate the rhetoric touting psychedelic therapy’s potentials for healing. After introducing the “psychedelic renaissance” and the psychedelic feminist rationale behind this thesis, I share a narrative of my ketamine IV therapy experience as recalled from memory, detailing my need for the therapy and aspects of the therapy experience that are of interest in Western psychedelic research. I then move into an analysis of my experience, utilizing my narrative as a literary text that serves as my object of analysis. I address the social structures that contributed to my need for the therapy; compare my therapy experience to Western psychedelic therapy research and feminist therapy models; and make suggestions for the possible psychedelic futures in Western culture. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of tending to the sociocultural causes of poor mental health in tandem with psychedelic decriminalization and legalization efforts, reminding the reader that although psychedelics do have healing potential, psychedelic medicalization is not the only route to healing in the West.

Infants have an innate desire to form social bonds and jealousy protests are an attempt to regain exclusive maternal attention from a social usurper. The current study examined neurophysiological and bio-hormonal processes related to jealousy responses during the first year and a half of life. Prior to and after the first year of life, infants express jealousy protest behavior when faced with a social threat. Resting-state frontal EEG coherence indicated a developmental shift from bilateral connectivity in younger infants to increased frontal specialization in older infants in relation to jealousy responses. Furthermore, 6- to 9-month-old infants exhibited more frontal neuroconnectivity in the right hemisphere (i.e., an area related to negative emotions) of the brain compared to left when faced with social threat. Lastly, social threat activated HPA reactivity in infants higher in temperamental distress. This study provides further evidence for the emerging links between physiological and socioemotional responses in infancy due to loss of exclusive maternal attention.

Freshwater harmful algal blooms (HABs) are increasing in severity and frequency. These blooms are devastating to the communities surrounding these bodies of water due to their numerous health, economic, and environmental impacts (Hallegraeff et al. 1995; Smith 2003; O’Neil et al. 2012; Bláha et al. 2009; V. H. Smith et al. 1999). In Florida, runoff containing fertilizers, human wastes, or industrial wastes contribute to the eutrophication in these lakes and contribute to these freshwater blooms (Val H. Smith 2003; Heisler et al. 2008; O’Neil et al. 2012). M. aeruginosa, a toxic cyanobacterium, often devastates Lake Okeechobee. M. aeruginosa die off creates anoxic conditions and produces a toxin that causes major environmental loss. This project is aimed to increase knowledge on how organic phosphorus compounds affect the growth of the axenic M. aeruginosa and investigate the postulated interactome (Cook et al. 2020). Through these experiments, it was shown that axenic M. aeruginosa cannot utilize organic phosphorus compounds and therefore shows no growth when grown in this media. This research is critical to furthering our understanding of the mechanisms behind these blooms and to mitigating them.

The purpose of this study was to explore differences in perceived stress, glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and the expression of histone acetylation (HAT) of the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) gene between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White women in their 2nd trimester of pregnancy. Black women are 2–3 times more likely to experience preterm birth (PTB) and maternal mortality than White women (Hoyert, 2022; Martin et al., 2019). Researchers have reported chronic stress associated with factors such as experiencing discrimination, financial hardship, and abuse may induce dysregulation of the stress hormones (Kramer et al., 2013; Shapiro-Mendoza et al., 2016). Likewise, the stress hormones glucocorticoid and CRH dysregulation have been linked to early labor, preeclampsia, and maternal death (Kramer et al., 2013; Shapiro-Mendoza et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2013). Additionally, social status, gender, education, and income are recognized as social determinants of health.
This study used an observational, cross-sectional design to analyze the differences in perceived stress, depression, GR, and HAT of the CRH gene between a group of Black and White pregnant women in their 2nd trimester of pregnancy. This study analyzed perceived stress, depression, and peripheral blood monocytes cells (PMBC) using secondary, deidentified data from pregnant women. The Perceived Stress Scale was used to measure stress, the profile in Mood Depression Scale measured depression, a chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to quantitative Polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis was used to measure GR and HAT of the CRH gene. The data were analyzed using correlation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to examine relationships and the differences between groups.

Eutrophication of urbanized estuaries is a global issue that continues to worsen as coastal development increases. The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) on Florida’s east-central coast is a eutrophic estuary that is experiencing harmful algal blooms of macroalgae and phytoplankton, as well as widespread seagrass losses. This is concerning as seagrasses provide many ecosystem services, including the provision of essential habitat. These alterations in benthic cover can have ecosystem level effects and require further investigation. Thus, drivers and effects of primary producer alterations in the IRL were investigated through analysis of long-term monitoring data, field surveys of faunal densities inhabiting macroalgae and bare bottom habitats, and stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) analyses of primary producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. Long-term monitoring data from the northern IRL (NIRL) and Banana River Lagoon (BR) demonstrated there have been major seagrass losses coupled with increases in occurrence of the rhizophytic green macroalgae Caulerpa prolifera, which is now the dominant benthic cover in many locations. Multivariate analyses of long-term monitoring data spanning 2011-2020 suggested that the carbon to phosphorus ratio (C:P) of macroalgae is an important factor related to annual changes in benthic cover in the NIRL and BR; increased P-availability is correlated with these primary producer shifts. In situ collections of macroinvertebrates and resident fishes showed the current function and importance of macroalgae as habitat in the NIRL and BR, particularly in the relative absence of seagrass.