JBC Commons (New College of Florida)
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Still Life Triptych
No full textA series of three, square still life paintings in blue, yellow, and grey. Left canvas features two sunflowers on a stem and a crescent moon mirror. Center painting features a light blue desk lamp. Right side painting features a large sunflower resting on bottles.https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/pubart/1067/thumbnail.jp
Urban Night Scene
No full textOne of a pair of urban night scenes that depict a complex space with various, entwined architectural features such as windows, archways, and staircases, as well as a large beam of light projecting across the scene. 1. In this painting, the depicted beam of light traverses the scene from the left. 2. In this painting, the depicted beam of light traverses the scene from the right.https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/pubart/1077/thumbnail.jp
I’M ALL THE FISHES IN THE SEA: CREATING AN ANIMAL CARE ETHIC FROM SPINOZA’S ETHICS
No full textAlthough Spinoza encourages us to understand Nature, and our place as parts in it, he felt inclined to say that the lower animals have nothing in common with our nature, and so ‘we have every right against them that they have against us’. Is he ultimately justified in making this claim? I believe that Spinoza\u27s ethic, and the end that ensues from it would actually warrant fair consideration of the lower animals. I demonstrate this through the separation of the eternal essence and the particular essence which each individual is composed of. Insofar as humankind acts according to the universal essence, we are called upon to consider all parts of Nature. Through phenomenological application, I suggest that this consideration will require us to consider empathetic affectivity towards the lower animals, rather than asserting our power over them however we feel
LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE REDUCTION OF IMPLICIT SEXUALITY BIAS
No full textCountless studies have found that many Chrisitan individuals hold bias towards LGBQ individuals. Many more have concluded how detrimental this bias can be towards the physical and mental well being of people who identify under the LGBQ umbrella. Studies have began to find ways to decrease implicit biases, and some have found that loving-kindness meditation can be an effective tool to reduce specifically racial bias. There is little to no research on how loving-kindness meditation can reduce implicit LGBQ bias. The purpose of this study was to fill that gap by examining if loving-kindness meditaion can reduce implicit LGBQ bias in Christians. It was hypothesized that loving-kindness meditation would be able to significantly reduce LGBQ bias in Christians, that participants would score higher on the Inclusion of Others in the Self Scale after a loving-kindness mediation, that the level a participant believes in scripture would affect but pre and post-meditation measures of LGBQ bias, and finally, a participant’s church identify would affect their post-meditation LGBQ bias. Due to a lack of participants, only descriptive statistics were used. Participants’ homosexual bias means slightly decreased after a loving-kindness meditation, however, the average participants scored lower on the IOS scale after completing this meditation. Descriptive statistics showed that those who indicated a higher belief in scripture had greater levels of homosexual bias than those that believed it was a book of fables. It was also shown that participants who selected their church was open and affirming had lower levels of homosexual bias
Health Insights Dashboard
No full textWith the growth of wearable devices and smart devices like Apple Watch, users now have access to their health data. Many different applications can be used to analyze personal health data, however, these tools lack accessibility and can be confusing or difficult to navigate. This thesis explores analyzing personal health data through an interactive web application that allows users to view different kinds of personal health data exported from Apple Health. This application was created with Streamlit, making use of the different components Streamlit has to offer. By also using different libraries such as Folium to create an interactive map that displays the user\u27s workout route they uploaded, Pandas to store data into a dataframe for the application to get information from, and Plotly to display the data gathered from the XML file in the Pandas DataFrame. The application also utilizes OpenAI’s API for users to get real-time responses about their health or further insight into their health data. Despite the application\u27s functionality right now, in the future, the application could be improved for a better user experience and data processing. The goal of this application is to combine various health metrics into a simple, accessible, and comprehensive application where users can get insights and potentially improve their well-being
Credit Analysis and Professional Development: A Capstone Internship with ServisFirst Bank
No full textThis paper details the steps that led to my internship experience at ServisFirst Bank in Sarasota, Florida, from January to May 2025, as part of my senior project for a Bachelor of Arts in Financial Economics at New College of Florida. My role as a Credit Analyst Intern involved evaluating the creditworthiness of clients through detailed financial statement analysis, covenant testing, and credit reporting. The internship enabled significant development in both technical competencies, such as mastering financial ratios and Excel-based analyses, and interpersonal skills involving communication and teamwork. This experience provided clarity on my professional trajectory within the banking and financial advising sectors. The paper further discusses the broader banking industry context through a detailed SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces analysis, highlighting technological integration, customer-centric approaches, and regulatory compliance as crucial success factors. Recommendations to optimize the internship program and advice for future interns are also provided
THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC AND RUSSIA’S WAGNER GROUP: A PRINCIPAL-AGENT ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS OF PROXY USE IN CIVIL CONFLICT
No full textThis thesis presents an in-depth qualitative case study of the use of a foreign proxy, the Russia-based Wagner group, in civil conflict in the Central African Republic. The analysis is set in the principal-agent theory to examine this specific case of how states contract Private Security Companies and Private Military Companies and the dynamics that emerge from these relationships. Those dynamics ultimately shaped Russia’s foreign policy agenda in the Central African Republic and goals for the region as well as the limitations the government of CAR had to accept for this proxy support
THE EFFECT OF GRAPHENE OXIDATION AND WEIGHT PERCENTAGE ON THE BIODEGRADABILITY AND CONDUCTIVITY OF A CELLULOSE-GRAPHENE (OXIDE) BIOCOMPOSITE
No full textThe advent of electronics has been one of the greatest breakthroughs in human history, allowing us to significantly improve our quality of life, long-distance communication, and overall development as a society. Optimization and innovation of such technologies is ever-present today, as we continue to transition from in-person to online services. Despite the ongoing advances, the materials that we use to fabricate these devices are typically of plastic and metallic-origin, which not only persist in the environment, but are also detrimental to its health and that of humans. In fact, due to our increasing dependence on electronics, the industry is rapidly becoming one of the largest producers of waste worldwide. As such, it is imperative to research and develop novel materials from renewable, biological sources that are of comparable, if not, higher performance. The strategy discussed herein utilized a cellulose membrane as a substrate upon which a mixture of corn-derived zein protein, polyaleuritate, and varying weight percentages (15, 30, 40, 60, 80%) of either graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) or graphene oxide (GO) were added. The insulating properties of GO were reflected by all of the GO biocomposites having a resistance upwards of 40 MΩ, whereas the GnP biocomposites displayed an exponential decay in resistance as a function of wt%. The percolation threshold of the latter was determined to vary between 30-40 wt% GnP, as a ~91% decrease in resistance was observed over this region, with average resistance values leveling out to between 14-30 Ω for wt% ≥ 40%. Both the GnP and GO biocomposites displayed significant DO depletion (biodegradability potential) in bay water; however, these values declined at increased weight percentages likely as a result of toxicity. Likewise, the smaller DO depletion of the GO composites in four out of the five tested weight percentages suggests the increased toxicity of GO compared to GnPs. most notably, in addition to the ~91% decrease in electrical resistance over the percolation threshold region, the GnP biocomposites also experienced their greatest decrease in biodegradation (~15%). This tradeoff between electrical and environmental performance should be further investigated in order to close the gap for such sustainable biocomposites to replace the toxic aluminum and copper-based materials used currently
CREATIVE CONNECTIONS: THE LIBERAL ARTS APPROACH TO SUPPORTING VULNERABLE YOUTH AT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS
No full textThis thesis explores my journey throughout my internship with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, where I applied a liberal arts education to real-life mental health advocacy. The intersection between liberal arts and mental health is rooted in community engagement, hands-on experiences, and critical thinking. Through programs like Lean On Me and Youth Move, I was able to support the youth and young adult community through peer support and program development. This is not your traditional research-based approach, instead, it provides a reflective summary of in-depth experiences through storytelling, personal reflection, and analysis
The Economic History of MLB and Player Contracts
No full textHow have player contract innovations and media-driven revenue streams transformed the economic structure and franchise valuations of Major League Baseball from 1876 to the present? This thesis explores the transformation of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) economic landscape from its founding in 1876 to the present, with a focus on the evolution of player contracts and media-driven revenue. It examines how MLB transitioned from a gate-revenue-dependent league to a multi-billion-dollar industry fueled by free agency, salary arbitration, franchise relocations, and national and local television rights. Using historical data, case studies, and financial analysis, the study investigates key inflection points including the elimination of the reserve clause, the rise of broadcast media, and the emergence of mega-contracts and their impact on franchise valuation and labor dynamics. The work also contrasts MLB\u27s financial model with other major sports leagues and identifies how modern player contracts function as strategic financial instruments tied to branding, media exposure, and international market expansion. This analysis reveals how economic innovation and market inequality have shaped MLB’s structure and profitability, and highlights the dual nature of modern contracts as both competitive tools and economic assets