Electronic Thesis or Dissertation

Sea turtle nest success, defined as the number of eggs in a nest that successfully hatch and emerge, is closely linked to environmental conditions. Interacting biotic and abiotic factors influence hatching and hatchling emergence success. To date, combinations of multiple factors interacting together, which result in highly successful sea turtle nests are not well understood. Using 25-years of historic nest data and local expert experience, I identified five historically successful loggerhead (Caretta caretta) nesting beaches (hotspots) along the Florida (USA) Atlantic coast and measured nest environments along with nest success. Principal component analysis was used to reduce 12 environmental variables so that the relative contributions of sand characteristics, nest temperature, sand moisture, and nest location were considered. The nest environments differed among nesting beaches and were broadly segregated into two distinct climates: subtropical (hot and humid) and warm-temperate (warm and dry). I found that nests at subtropical sites, compared with the warm-temperate sites, were characterized by environmental gradients in contrasting ways. Nest locations were predominantly mid-beach in subtropical sites but clustered at higher elevations and closer to the base of the dune at warm-temperate climate sites. Collectively, highly successful nest hotspots represent a mosaic of abiotic factors providing conditions that promote successful hatching and emergence. This new perspective on consistently successful loggerhead nesting beach traits demonstrate that the key traits of sea turtle nesting habitat vary with prevailing climate type and should be managed accordingly.

This thesis examined the road impact fee realities of 11 of Palm Beach County’s public and private sector land development stakeholders. To learn more about how the county’s road impact fee ordinance works in practice, in 2021, 11 stakeholders were interviewed about their experiences with the county’s road impact fee program. Transportation impact fee programs may help relieve development-driven traffic externalities and cost burdens, so long as suitable methodologies are applied (Burge & Ihlanfeldt, 2013; Stahl, 2021). In 2021, Palm Beach County’s road impact fee ordinance required all county development applicants to pay a specified road impact fee dollar amount, regardless of the proposed project’s location and traffic impact, with exceptions (Moore, 2021b; Salour, 2021). Key arguments for and against the county’s road impact fees touch on differences between travel needs, land use patterns, and transit potential in the county’s urban and rural/suburban communities (Clemente, 2021; Hernandez, 2021; Salour, 2021).

Quantifying and understanding coral community dynamics, including recruitment, is critical for developing effective ecosystem management strategies, particularly in areas that have experienced significant coral losses such as Southeast Florida’s Kristin Jacobs Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Area. While several federal, state, and regional efforts effectively track annual changes in juvenile and adult coral colonies, few coral reef monitoring programs are designed to track new coral recruitment. This study’s aims were to assess potential differences in community composition of adult and recruit stony corals in southeast Florida using phototransects, and to test the efficacy of eDNA approaches for monitoring coral recruitment. Replicate phototransects demonstrated significant differences in recruit density and community composition across sites. This photogrammetry approach was more applicable than eDNA and indicates that site specific management and restoration strategies in a regional context may be warranted for the study area.

Quality nursing care has significant impact on patient outcomes. There are many factors that can affect quality nursing care like staffing shortages when the caring demands are high, which can affect patient care. Even though there are existing healthcare policies, evidence-based practices and incentives for healthcare settings who perform and meet the healthcare benchmarks, the United States healthcare performance is poor. The researcher aimed to conduct a study to understand the relationship between patients experience of nurse caring and patients’ readiness to transition from the hospital to home or other care settings. In addition, the predictors among the patients’ characteristics of patients’ readiness to transition from the hospital to home or other care settings were examined too. The research study was grounded in the Quality Caring Model (Duffy, 2018). Descriptive correlational research design was used in the study to examine the relationship between patients experience of nurse caring and patients’ readiness to transition from the hospital to home or other care settings. The study was conducted on one medical-surgical unit in an urban medical center in South Florida during a global pandemic. There were 103 participants who answered the demographic data survey, Caring Assessment Tool-V (CAT-V) and Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale-Adult Form (RHDS-Adult Form). Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted using SPSS version 28. Based on data analysis, there was a significant relationship between patients experience of nurse caring and patients’ readiness to transition from the hospital to home or other care settings (p=<.05). Therefore, patients with positive experiences of nurse caring will be more likely to transition from the hospital to home or other care settings. In addition, among the patient characteristics, the marital status could predict patients’ readiness (knowledge, coping ability and expected support subscales) to transition from the hospital to home or other care settings. Therefore, paying attention to the value of support systems of the patients will determine the readiness of the patients to go home or to be discharged to other care settings (p=<.05). The limitations of the study were low generalizability, inability to recruit 135 participants and selection bias (threat to internal validity).

Despite decades of conservation efforts, population recovery remains elusive for the loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting in Florida, the largest aggregation globally. Limited studies exist regarding reproductive strategies and in-water habitat use of loggerheads in southeastern Florida. I used satellite telemetry to track the movements of 17 nesting loggerheads on Juno and Jupiter Beaches during the 2020 and 2021 nesting seasons. The majority of females displayed high nest-site fidelity. Inter-nesting intervals ranged from 10–19 days and were negatively correlated with water temperatures. Core inter-nesting areas ranged from 3.7–805.8 km2 and were located a mean 1.6 km from land. Mean clutch frequency was 5.9 nests/female, the highest reported for any loggerhead population worldwide. These findings suggest the number of females in the southeastern Florida population may be over-estimated due to an underestimated clutch frequency. Protective measures should target high-use coastal areas to maximize conservation benefits.

In archaeology, size distributions of lithic debitage can convey information about reduction stage and possibly other aspects of reduction trajectories and activities. Previous investigations have used inadequately robust methods to identify and characterize fractal power law size distributions in experimental and archaeological debitage assemblages. In this study, weights and maximum dimensions of individual, experimentally reproduced “preferential” Levallois debitage specimens were recorded by core and preparation-exploitation stage. Rigorous statistical methods were used to assess distribution conformities to power law (fractal), lognormal and exponential models. Results show that Levallois debitage size distributions are complex and do not fit any simple model closely; however, MLE derived power law parameters coarsely but effectively describe most data, while exponential distributions characterize the extreme right tails. Moreover, distributions tend to form a “characteristic shape” when graphed, which persists across cores and stages. These findings may aid in identifying and evaluating Levallois materials in the archaeological record.

This thesis The Representation and Evolution of Abusive Relationships: Harley Quinn and the Joker takes a psychoanalytic, gender, and media studies approach to comics such as Mad Love, The Batman Adventures, Suicide Squad and the film Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad (2016) Drawing on the work of Lenore Walker, Scott McCloud and other various scholars, this thesis will explore the distinctions in how the comics and film confront, disguise, or conceal the abuse. An analysis of the increasingly romanticized representation of abuse in the comics and film, where audience support for the couple and merchandizing were core concerns, reflect increasing audience participation in responding to and making demands upon narratives of toxic relationships and intimate partner violence.

Excelencia in Education (2016) reported that 21% of traditional age college male students were Latino males, second only to White males. The report further noted that Latino males are ranked the lowest in degree attainment – of whom only 20% have earned an associate’s degree or higher (Excelencia in Education, 2016). As an insufficient number of Latino males are graduating with post-secondary degrees, more research must be conducted to explore their educational journey from the community college to the university and how to best support them through their transition. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to explore the stories of Latino male students as they transfer from a community college to a university. To capture the essence of Latino male students’ stories through the community college transfer experience to university, the research questions focused on what motivated and influenced their journey through the community college to a university. The research questions that guided this study were: What motivated and influenced Latino males’ decisions to enroll in a community college? What motivated and influenced Latino males’ decisions to transfer from a community college to a university? How do Latino male transfer students describe their transition from community college to a university? In this qualitative narrative research study, 10 participants participated in in-depth, semi-structured virtual interviews and completed two journal prompts. To assist in triangulation and validity, participants reviewed the data for accuracy, and thick rich descriptions were used to provide breadth and depth to their narratives. Once the data were collected, it was organized through the qualitative research data management software MAXQDA and analyzed using in vivo, descriptive, and pattern coding. The conceptual frameworks that informed this narrative study were the hero’s journey by Joseph Campbell (2008) and transition theory by Nancy K. Schlossberg (2011).

Hostis is an epistolary memoir navigating the web sexual violence weaves and examines it as a communal problem of those caught in the threads who become victim to the vibrations of that violence.

body as / is a collection of poetry exploring the body, mental health, spirituality, environment, and family.