"The primary purpose of this study was to determine what trends and patterns were characteristic of the dropout population at Blount Junior High School in Pensacola, Florida, during the three-year period of 1948 to 1951. A second consideration of this study was to discover what factors are apparently most significant in causing dropouts. A minor aspect of this study was a counseling service undertaken as a method of reducing the number of dropouts utilizing, where feasible, the data obtained from the investigation of the dropouts during the three-year period"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1951." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: H. F. Cottingham, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70).

"The purpose of this study was to find out whether there are observable differences between the social characteristics and problems of civilian and military families that use a child guidance clinic. The subjects consist of twenty-six military and twenty-six non-military families using the services of the Escambia County Child Guidance Clinic, Pensacola, Florida"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August 1959." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work." / Advisor: Robert Lansdale, Professor Directing Study. / Includes bibliographical references.

The objective of my research was to compile all known burial data from the Fort Walton culture located in northwest Florida (A.D. 1000 to contact) to determine any patterns in burial practices. A thorough literature review of all published material was conducted to obtain the burial data. I also reviewed burial practices of other contemporaneous late prehistoric cultures in the Southeast, including the Pensacola and Rood cultures. The burial data clearly indicate that Fort Walton burial practices varied greatly; 14 different burial types were identified from all of the sites. A similar pattern is seen among Pensacola, Rood and Mississippian ceremonial centers. However, secondary burials were dominant at mixed Fort Walton/Pensacola and Pensacola sites when compared to classic Fort Walton burial sites. This may have been the result of European contact, which might have changed native burial practices in northwest Florida, as a result of disease and displacement; however, future studies are needed to assess this hypothesis. Caches of pottery and burials capped with pottery appear to be a unique characteristic among Pensacola burial sites. Two major dissimilarities observed at Rood burials were the practice of dyeing teeth and a mass burial with an altar. Of all of the Fort Walton sites, the elite burials from the Lake Jackson site most closely resembles the elite burials discovered at Etowah, Moundville, and Spiro, due to the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) goods and the elaborate tombs.

80% of all lifeguard related rescues along the beaches of northwest Florida are believed to be related to rip currents. A rip current is the strong flow of water, seaward extending from the beach to the breaker line. It has previously been shown that there are rip current hot spots at Pensacola Beach, forced by a ridge and swale topography offshore, but the annual evolution/behavior of these hotspots (i.e. location, size, frequency, and orientation) have not been examined in detail. Remote imagery from Casino Beach was rectified to a planar view in order to examine the rip channel characteristics. These characteristics were analyzed to determine variations and patterns on a daily, monthly, and seasonal basis and in relation to reset storms, wind and wave characteristics, and the beach states of Casino Beach in order to characterize the rip development and variation throughout a year. Beach states and rip configurations were impacted by many frontal storms and one tropical storm, which were classified as a reset storm when reconfigurations of the beach state and rips occurred. Given sufficient time between reset storms, the bar migrated onshore in a manner consistent with the Wright and Short (1984) model, transitioning from LBT, to RBB, and finally to TBR state. The lack of reset storms after March 2010 resulted in a large frequency of observed rip channels (64) between April and May. It is shown that these rip channels are clustered into 7 statistically significant groups based on their location alongshore at the 95 % confidence interval. It is argued that the rip channel clusters are a direct result of the wave forcing caused by the ridge and swale topography. This situation causes the bar to move onshore that without interruption of a reset storm will attach at certain locations creating a transverse bar and rip morphology. The bar appears to attach to the beach at consistent locations throughout the year creating similar rip locations and subsequently the rip clusters. The risk posed to beach users by these rip currents is concentrated in certain locations which are persistent throughout the year.

Project (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-112, 39-42).

Project (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita. "April, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-112)

After Deepwater Horizon oil reached the Florida coast, oil was buried in Pensacola Beach (PB) sands to ~ 70 cm depth, resulting in Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations up to ~ 2 kg per meter of beach. This study followed the decomposition of the buried oil and the factors influencing its degradation. The abundance of bacteria in oiled sand increased by 2 orders of magnitude within one week after oil burial, while diversity decreased by ~ 50%. Half-lives of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons reached 25 and 22 days, respectively. Aerobic microbial oil decomposition, promoted by tidal pumping, and human cleaning activities effectively removed oil from the beach. After one year, concentrations of GC-amenable hydrocarbons at PB were similar to those in the uncontaminated reference beach at St. George Island/FL, and microbial populations that disappeared after the oil contamination had reestablished. Yet, oxihydrocarbons can be found at PB to the present day.

Bottlenose dolphins inhabiting coastlines and estuaries in Florida have been impacted in the past decade by development, algal blooms, catastrophic pollution, and fishery interactions (FI). Dolphins react to disturbance and environmental stressors by modifying their movements and habitat use, which may put them in jeopardy of conflict with humans. FI plays an increasing role in contributing to dolphin mortalities. I investigated dolphin movements, habitat use, residency patterns, and frequency of FI with sport fishing. Tagging studies with short-term data tags and bolt on radio-transmitters were done in several locations in Florida and the east coast providing fine-scale measurements of swimming, daily travels, and foraging activity. Transit speeds agreed with the predicted mean cost of transport as dolphins spent much of their day and night travelling and resting while swimming. Increased foraging was detected by stomach temperature changes revealing dolphins fed at night with a peak starting just after sunset. Dolphin abundance, site fidelity, ranging, stranding mortality, and community structure was characterized at Choctawhatchee and Pensacola Bays in the Florida Panhandle via surveying and photo-identification. Results showed they made frequent inshore movements, maintained site fidelity to specific areas, and comprised several distinct communities. FI was assessed at offshore reefs and coastal fishing piers near Destin, FL and Orange Beach, AL, showing that some dolphins demonstrate affinity to this activity. Harmful interactions with dolphins on reefs and at fishing piers negatively affect their resident communities. Mitigation of FI is suggested by use of avoidance strategies, gear modifications, and improved fish release practices.

The decades after World War II were a time of growth and change for queer people across the country. Many chose to move to major metropolitan centers in order to pursue a life of openness and be part of queer communities. However, those people only account for part of the story of queer history. Other queer people chose to stay in small towns and create their own queer spaces for socializing and community building. The Gulf Coast of Florida is a place where queer people chose to create queer community where they lived through such actions as private house parties and opening bars. The unique place of the Gulf Coast as a tourist destination allowed queer people to build and join communication networks that furthered the growth of a sense of community leading ultimately to the founding of Bay AIDS Services and Information Coalition in 1989.