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Pages
- Title
- Analysis and Simulation for Homogeneous and Heterogeneous SIR Models.
- Creator
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Wilda, Joseph, Shuai, Zhisheng, Brennan, Joseph, Nevai, A, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In mathematical epidemiology, disease transmission is commonly assumed to behave in accordance with the law of mass action; however, other disease incidence terms also exist in the literature. A homogeneous Susceptible-Infectious-Removed (SIR) model with a generalized incidence term is presented along with analytic and numerical results concerning effects of the generalization on the global disease dynamics. The spatial heterogeneity of the metapopulation with nonrandom directed movement...
Show moreIn mathematical epidemiology, disease transmission is commonly assumed to behave in accordance with the law of mass action; however, other disease incidence terms also exist in the literature. A homogeneous Susceptible-Infectious-Removed (SIR) model with a generalized incidence term is presented along with analytic and numerical results concerning effects of the generalization on the global disease dynamics. The spatial heterogeneity of the metapopulation with nonrandom directed movement between populations is incorporated into a heterogeneous SIR model with nonlinear incidence. The analysis of the combined effects of the spatial heterogeneity and nonlinear incidence on the disease dynamics of our model is presented along with supporting simulations. New global stability results are established for the heterogeneous model utilizing a graph-theoretic approach and Lyapunov functions. Numerical simulations confirm nonlinear incidence gives raise to rich dynamics such as synchronization and phase-lock oscillations.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005906, ucf:50872
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005906
- Title
- Quality by Design Procedure for Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: An Integrated Flowsheet Model Approach.
- Creator
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Vezina, Ashley, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Rabelo, Luis, Karwowski, Waldemar, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Pharmaceutical manufacturing is crucial to global healthcare and requires a higher, more consistent level of quality than any other industry. Yet, the traditional pharmaceutical batch manufacturing has remained largely unchanged in the last fifty years due to high R(&)D costs, shorter patent durations, and regulatory uncertainty. This has led regulatory bodies to promote modernization of manufacturing process to continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing (CPM) by introducing new methodologies...
Show morePharmaceutical manufacturing is crucial to global healthcare and requires a higher, more consistent level of quality than any other industry. Yet, the traditional pharmaceutical batch manufacturing has remained largely unchanged in the last fifty years due to high R(&)D costs, shorter patent durations, and regulatory uncertainty. This has led regulatory bodies to promote modernization of manufacturing process to continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing (CPM) by introducing new methodologies including quality by design, design space, and process analytical technology (PAT). This represents a shift away from the traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing way of thinking towards a risk based approach that promotes increased product and process knowledge through a data-rich environment. While both literature and regulatory bodies acknowledge the need for modernization, manufacturers have been slow to modernize due to uncertainty and lack of confidence in the applications of these methodologies. This paper aims to describe the current applications of QbD principles in literature and the current regulatory environment to identify gaps in literature through leveraging regulatory guidelines and CPM literature. To aid in closing the gap between QbD theory and QbD application, a QbD algorithm for CPM using an integrated flowsheet models is also developed and analyzed. This will help to increase manufacturing confidence in CPM by providing answers to questions about the CPM business case, applications of QbD tools, process validation and sensitivity, and process and equipment characteristics. An integrated flowsheet model will aid in the decision-making process and process optimization, breaking away from ex silico methods extensively covered in literature.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006923, ucf:51683
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006923
- Title
- Global Data Association for Multiple Pedestrian Tracking.
- Creator
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Dehghan, Afshin, Shah, Mubarak, Qi, GuoJun, Bagci, Ulas, Zhang, Shaojie, Zheng, Qipeng, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Multi-object tracking is one of the fundamental problems in computer vision. Almost all multi-object tracking systems consist of two main components; detection and data association. In the detection step, object hypotheses are generated in each frame of a sequence. Later, detections that belong to the same target are linked together to form final trajectories. The latter step is called data association. There are several challenges that render this problem difficult, such as occlusion,...
Show moreMulti-object tracking is one of the fundamental problems in computer vision. Almost all multi-object tracking systems consist of two main components; detection and data association. In the detection step, object hypotheses are generated in each frame of a sequence. Later, detections that belong to the same target are linked together to form final trajectories. The latter step is called data association. There are several challenges that render this problem difficult, such as occlusion, background clutter and pose changes. This dissertation aims to address these challenges by tackling the data association component of tracking and contributes three novel methods for solving data association. Firstly, this dissertation will present a new framework for multi-target tracking that uses a novel data association technique using the Generalized Maximum Clique Problem (GMCP) formulation. The majority of current methods, such as bipartite matching, incorporate a limited temporal locality of the sequence into the data association problem. This makes these methods inherently prone to ID-switches and difficulties caused by long-term occlusions, a cluttered background and crowded scenes. On the other hand, our approach incorporates both motion and appearance in a global manner. Unlike limited temporal locality methods which incorporate a few frames into the data association problem, this method incorporates the whole temporal span and solves the data association problem for one object at a time. Generalized Minimum Clique Graph (GMCP) is used to solve the optimization problem of our data association method. The proposed method is supported by superior results on several benchmark sequences. GMCP leads us to a more accurate approach to multi-object tracking by considering all the pairwise relationships in a batch of frames; however, it has some limitations. Firstly, it finds target trajectories one-by-one, missing joint optimization. Secondly, for optimization we use a greedy solver, based on local neighborhood search, making our optimization prone to local minimas. Finally GMCP tracker is slow, which is a burden when dealing with time-sensitive applications. In order to address these problems, we propose a new graph theoretic problem, called Generalized Maximum Multi Clique Problem (GMMCP). GMMCP tracker has all the advantages of the GMCP tracker while addressing its limitations. A solution is presented to GMMCP where no simplification is assumed in problem formulation or problem optimization. GMMCP is NP hard but it can be formulated through a Binary-Integer Program where the solution to small- and medium-sized tracking problems can be found efficiently. To improve speed, Aggregated Dummy Nodes are used for modeling occlusions and miss detections. This also reduces the size of the input graph without using any heuristics. We show that using the speed-up method, our tracker lends itself to a real-time implementation, increasing its potential usefulness in many applications. In test against several tracking datasets, we show that the proposed method outperforms competitive methods. Thus far we have assumed that the number of people do not exceed a few dozens. However, this is not always the case. In many scenarios such as, marathon, political rallies or religious rites, the number of people in a frame may reach few hundreds or even few thousands. Tracking in high-density crowd sequences is a challenging problem due to several reasons. Human detection methods often fail to localize objects correctly in extremely crowded scenes. This limits the use of data association based tracking methods. Additionally, it is hard to extend existing multi-target tracking to track targets in highly-crowded scenes, because the large number of targets increases the computational complexity. Furthermore, the small apparent target size makes it challenging to extract features to discriminate targets from their surroundings. Finally, we present a tracker that addresses the above-mentioned problems. We formulate online crowd tracking as a Binary Quadratic Programing, where both detection and data association problems are solved together. Our formulation employs target's individual information in the form of appearance and motion as well as contextual cues in the form of neighborhood motion, spatial proximity and grouping constraints. Due to large number of targets, state-of-the-art commercial quadratic programing solvers fail to efficiently find the solution to the proposed optimization. In order to overcome the computational complexity of available solvers, we propose to use the most recent version of Modified Frank-Wolfe algorithms with SWAP steps. The proposed tracker can track hundreds of targets efficiently and improves state-of-the-art results by significant margin on high density crowd sequences.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006095, ucf:51201
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006095
- Title
- Integrating Differential Global Positioning Systems and Geographic Information Systems for Analysis and Mapping of Skeletal Dispersals.
- Creator
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Walter, Brittany, Schultz, John, Dupras, Tosha, Walker, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Scene mapping is an integral part of processing a forensic scene with scattered human remains. By utilizing the appropriate mapping technique, investigators can accurately document the location of human remains and maintain a precise geospatial record of this evidence at a scene. Global positioning system (GPS) units have been used for years to survey the spatial distribution of large-scale archaeological sites. However, differential global positioning (DGPS) unit now provide decreased...
Show moreScene mapping is an integral part of processing a forensic scene with scattered human remains. By utilizing the appropriate mapping technique, investigators can accurately document the location of human remains and maintain a precise geospatial record of this evidence at a scene. Global positioning system (GPS) units have been used for years to survey the spatial distribution of large-scale archaeological sites. However, differential global positioning (DGPS) unit now provide decreased positional error suitable for small-scale surveys, such as forensic scenes. Because of the lack of knowledge concerning this utility in mapping a scene, controlled research is necessary to determine the practicality of using DGPS in mapping scattered human remains in different environments. The purpose of this research is to quantify the accuracy of a DGPS unit for mapping skeletal dispersals and to determine the applicability of this utility in mapping dispersed remains. First, the accuracy of the DGPS unit was determined using known survey markers in different environments. Secondly, several simulated scenes were constructed and mapped in open, tree-covered, and structure-obstructed environments using the DGPS. Factors considered included the extent of the dispersal, data collection time, and the use of offsets. Data were differentially postprocessed and compared in a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate the most efficient recordation methods. Results of this study show that the DGPS is a viable option for mapping human remains in open areas. Furthermore, guidelines for accurate scene mapping using a DGPS unit will be provided, along with a discussion concerning the integration of DGPS into GIS for scene analysis and presentation.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004632, ucf:49919
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004632
- Title
- A GLOBAL STRATEGIC FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF THE LUXURY RETAIL INDUSTRY.
- Creator
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LaVan, Lauren, Curcio, Richard, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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A global strategic financial analysis of the luxury retail industry was conducted. The research entailed comprehensive analyses and forecasts of the global economy, the luxury retail industry and four of the most prominent, multi-national luxury goods firms in the world. These companies included: Coach, Michael Kors, Tiffany & Co., and LVMH Moet Hennessy, whom market among the world's finest personal luxury goods from handbags, clothing and accessories to diamonds, jewelry, watches,...
Show moreA global strategic financial analysis of the luxury retail industry was conducted. The research entailed comprehensive analyses and forecasts of the global economy, the luxury retail industry and four of the most prominent, multi-national luxury goods firms in the world. These companies included: Coach, Michael Kors, Tiffany & Co., and LVMH Moet Hennessy, whom market among the world's finest personal luxury goods from handbags, clothing and accessories to diamonds, jewelry, watches, fragrances, cosmetics and wines. The macroeconomic analysis focused on factors pertinent to the luxury goods industry such as: (1) the lasting effects of the global financial crisis, our gradual emergence from the Great Recession and the impact these conditions have had on consumer spending and confidence; (2) the generational shift of consumers from the retiring baby boomers to the technologically savvy Generation Z and their unique demands for products as well as experiences; and (3) the growth and demand from emerging economies, especially China which is the globe's top luxury nationality accounting for 25% of all luxury purchases worldwide. Comprehensive financial ratio analyses, SWOT assessments, technical trends and forecasts of revenues, earnings and share prices for the four companies, resulted in recommendations to investors and advice to top management of the four firms. Luxury retail is a fascinating, recession resilient industry and it is expected to reach €1 trillion within the next 5 years. However, regardless of how successful firms in this industry have been in the past, to survive and continue to succeed, it is imperative that they remain flexible and adaptable in this ever-changing world.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFH0004348, ucf:45005
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004348
- Title
- IRANIAN FEMINISM: A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF ITS IMPACT AND FUTURE.
- Creator
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Eskamani, Anna, Sadri, Houman, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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For the casual observer, the term "Iranian feminist" is often considered to be an oxymoron. However, what seems to be an ironic juxtaposition actually holds a great length of truth: for over a century now, Iranian women have been marching, screaming, and fighting for equal gender rights - all the while embracing feminist ideals. In fact, "feminity" is a political symbol that has been influencing Iranian politics for over 150 years. From the very beginning of modern Iranian history, women have...
Show moreFor the casual observer, the term "Iranian feminist" is often considered to be an oxymoron. However, what seems to be an ironic juxtaposition actually holds a great length of truth: for over a century now, Iranian women have been marching, screaming, and fighting for equal gender rights - all the while embracing feminist ideals. In fact, "feminity" is a political symbol that has been influencing Iranian politics for over 150 years. From the very beginning of modern Iranian history, women have always played a pivotal role within Iranian history, constantly connecting the personal to the political. This research aims to explore this phenomenon as an independent movement and as one comparable to American feminism. Three main topics are explored: theocratic restrictions, culture, and globalization. There are three methods of research that I have utilized as resources for this study: previous studies, statistical data, and interviews. The purpose of this study is to understand why and how feminism is increasing within the anti-feminist regime of the IRI. This study holds both theoretical and political significance and is designed to predict the future status of Iranian feminism through examining the conditions of the past and present.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFH0003701, ucf:44737
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003701
- Title
- VIRTUAL HOOD: EXPLORING THE HIP-HOP CULTURE EXPERIENCE IN A BRITISH ONLINE COMMUNITY.
- Creator
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Cherjovsky, Natalia, Grajeda, Anthony, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In this fast-paced, globalized world, certain online sites represent a hybrid personal-public sphere–where like-minded people commune regardless of physical distance, time difference, or lack of synchronicity. Sites that feature chat rooms and forums can offer a deep-rooted sense of community and facilitate the forging of relationships and cultivation of ideologies. This dissertation investigates whether this trend is relevant to web sites concerning hip-hop. This...
Show moreIn this fast-paced, globalized world, certain online sites represent a hybrid personal-public sphere–where like-minded people commune regardless of physical distance, time difference, or lack of synchronicity. Sites that feature chat rooms and forums can offer a deep-rooted sense of community and facilitate the forging of relationships and cultivation of ideologies. This dissertation investigates whether this trend is relevant to web sites concerning hip-hop. This genre is arguably one of the most pervasive and influential global cultural forms, yet it is markedly different from most other forms of globalized culture because it emerged within and is still embedded in a distinct subculture. The notion that the Internet could become a bastion for hip-hop fans is quite paradoxical: hip hop is a cultural form so deeply rooted in the sense of place and so invested in its relationship to spatiality that it could potentially pose a particular challenge to the notion of virtual communities. This research examines the virtual hip-hop experience in the UK in order to assess whether this music and the culture that surrounds it have been adopted in their original American form or whether they have been adapted to make them more relevant to their new locale. In particular, the study probes how the ideology, values, behaviors and attitudes that bestride American hip-hop are represented, consumed, and reproduced on the mediated world of web sites.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003029, ucf:52843
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003029
- Title
- The Sustainability of Overconsumption? A Discursive Analysis of Walmart's Sustainability Campaign.
- Creator
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Adams, Kathleen, Jacques, Peter, Kiel, Dwight, Knuckey, Jonathan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study inquires as to whether Walmart's sustainability campaign represents a sincere and holistic change throughout the company's global supply chain or if it is simply a public relations campaign which caters to the growing target market of (")next-generation(") consumers and justifies further expansion into (")emerging markets("). A critical analysis of Walmart's sustainability discourse is presented, using transcribed texts of various corporate and publicity-geared publications....
Show moreThis study inquires as to whether Walmart's sustainability campaign represents a sincere and holistic change throughout the company's global supply chain or if it is simply a public relations campaign which caters to the growing target market of (")next-generation(") consumers and justifies further expansion into (")emerging markets("). A critical analysis of Walmart's sustainability discourse is presented, using transcribed texts of various corporate and publicity-geared publications. Frequently utilized terms and themes are identified throughout the big-box retailer's sustainability campaign which convey a distinctly Neoliberal ethos(-)a political economy which lies at the heart of current practices of institutional unsustainability(-)and emphasize the role of the atomized individual(-)who may purchase protection from environmental risks via green products. Other themes, which are commonly associated with sustainability research, are glaringly absent: subsidiarity; human rights; steady-state economics; economic inequity; the precautionary principle. This research aims to shed light on the prospects for the sustainability of green overconsumption, which Walmart is leading the way in promoting, and for the continuation of the modern economistic zeitgeist into the twenty-first century.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004346, ucf:49416
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004346
- Title
- REAL-TIME REALISTIC RENDERING AND HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE DISPLAY AND COMPRESSION.
- Creator
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Xu, Ruifeng, Pattanaik, Sumanta, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation focuses on the many issues that arise from the visual rendering problem. Of primary consideration is light transport simulation, which is known to be computationally expensive. Monte Carlo methods represent a simple and general class of algorithms often used for light transport computation. Unfortunately, the images resulting from Monte Carlo approaches generally suffer from visually unacceptable noise artifacts. The result of any light transport simulation is, by its very...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the many issues that arise from the visual rendering problem. Of primary consideration is light transport simulation, which is known to be computationally expensive. Monte Carlo methods represent a simple and general class of algorithms often used for light transport computation. Unfortunately, the images resulting from Monte Carlo approaches generally suffer from visually unacceptable noise artifacts. The result of any light transport simulation is, by its very nature, an image of high dynamic range (HDR). This leads to the issues of the display of such images on conventional low dynamic range devices and the development of data compression algorithms to store and recover the corresponding large amounts of detail found in HDR images. This dissertation presents our contributions relevant to these issues. Our contributions to high dynamic range image processing include tone mapping and data compression algorithms. This research proposes and shows the efficacy of a novel level set based tone mapping method that preserves visual details in the display of high dynamic range images on low dynamic range display devices. The level set method is used to extract the high frequency information from HDR images. The details are then added to the range compressed low frequency information to reconstruct a visually accurate low dynamic range version of the image. Additional challenges associated with high dynamic range images include the requirements to reduce excessively large amounts of storage and transmission time. To alleviate these problems, this research presents two methods for efficient high dynamic range image data compression. One is based on the classical JPEG compression. It first converts the raw image into RGBE representation, and then sends the color base and common exponent to classical discrete cosine transform based compression and lossless compression, respectively. The other is based on the wavelet transformation. It first transforms the raw image data into the logarithmic domain, then quantizes the logarithmic data into the integer domain, and finally applies the wavelet based JPEG2000 encoder for entropy compression and bit stream truncation to meet the desired bit rate requirement. We believe that these and similar such contributions will make a wide application of high dynamic range images possible. The contributions to light transport simulation include Monte Carlo noise reduction, dynamic object rendering and complex scene rendering. Monte Carlo noise is an inescapable artifact in synthetic images rendered using stochastic algorithm. This dissertation proposes two noise reduction algorithms to obtain high quality synthetic images. The first one models the distribution of noise in the wavelet domain using a Laplacian function, and then suppresses the noise using a Bayesian method. The other extends the bilateral filtering method to reduce all types of Monte Carlo noise in a unified way. All our methods reduce Monte Carlo noise effectively. Rendering of dynamic objects adds more dimension to the expensive light transport simulation issue. This dissertation presents a pre-computation based method. It pre-computes the surface radiance for each basis lighting and animation key frame, and then renders the objects by synthesizing the pre-computed data in real-time. Realistic rendering of complex scenes is computationally expensive. This research proposes a novel 3D space subdivision method, which leads to a new rendering framework. The light is first distributed to each local region to form local light fields, which are then used to illuminate the local scenes. The method allows us to render complex scenes at interactive frame rates. Rendering has important applications in mixed reality. Consistent lighting and shadows between real scenes and virtual scenes are important features of visual integration. The dissertation proposes to render the virtual objects by irradiance rendering using live captured environmental lighting. This research also introduces a virtual shadow generation method that computes shadows cast by virtual objects to the real background. We finally conclude the dissertation by discussing a number of future directions for rendering research, and presenting our proposed approaches.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000730, ucf:46615
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000730
- Title
- A Triangulation Based Coverage Path Planning For a Mobile Robot With Circular Sensing Range.
- Creator
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An, Vatana, Qu, Zhihua, Haralambous, Michael, Mikhael, Wasfy, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In this dissertation, two coverage path planning (CPP) approaches for a nonholonomic mobile robot are proposed. The first approach is the Local Coverage Path Planning (LCPP) approach which is designed for all sensing ranges. The second approach is the Global Coverage Path Planning (GCPP) approach which is designed for sufficient sensing range that can observe all points of interests in the target region (TR). The LCPP approach constructs CP after finding observer points for all local regions...
Show moreIn this dissertation, two coverage path planning (CPP) approaches for a nonholonomic mobile robot are proposed. The first approach is the Local Coverage Path Planning (LCPP) approach which is designed for all sensing ranges. The second approach is the Global Coverage Path Planning (GCPP) approach which is designed for sufficient sensing range that can observe all points of interests in the target region (TR). The LCPP approach constructs CP after finding observer points for all local regions in the TR. The GCPP approach computes observer points after CP construction. Beginning with the sample TR, the LCPP approach requires 8 algorithms to find a smooth CP and sufficient number of observers for complete coverage. The Global Coverage Path Planning approach requires 17 algorithms to find the smooth CP with sufficient number of observers for completed coverage. The worst case running time for both approaches are quadratic which is consider to be very fast as compared to previous works reported in the literature. The main technical contributions of both approaches are to provide a holistic solution that segments any TR, uses triangulation to determine the line of sights and observation points, and then compute the smooth and collision-free CP. Both approaches provide localization, speed control, curvature control, CP length control, and smooth CP control. The first approach has applications in automate vacuum cleaning, search and rescue mission, spray painting, and etc. The second approach is best used in military and space applications as it requires infinite sensing range which only resource rich organizations can afford. At the very least, the second approach provides simulation opportunity and upper bound cost estimate for CPP. Both approaches will lead to a search strategy that provides the shortest CP with the minimum number of observer and with the shortest running time for any sensing range.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006853, ucf:51745
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006853
- Title
- computational study of traveling wave solutions and global stability of predator-prey models.
- Creator
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Zhu, Yi, Qi, Yuanwei, Rollins, David, Shuai, Zhisheng, Zhai, Lei, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In this thesis, we study two types of reaction-diffusion systems which have direct applications in understanding wide range of phenomena in chemical reaction, biological pattern formation and theoretical ecology.The first part of this thesis is on propagating traveling waves in a class of reaction-diffusion systems which model isothermal autocatalytic chemical reactions as well as microbial growth and competition in a flow reactor. In the context of isothermal autocatalytic systems, two...
Show moreIn this thesis, we study two types of reaction-diffusion systems which have direct applications in understanding wide range of phenomena in chemical reaction, biological pattern formation and theoretical ecology.The first part of this thesis is on propagating traveling waves in a class of reaction-diffusion systems which model isothermal autocatalytic chemical reactions as well as microbial growth and competition in a flow reactor. In the context of isothermal autocatalytic systems, two different cases will bestudied. The first is autocatalytic chemical reaction of order $m$ without decay. The second is chemical reaction of order $m$ with a decay of order $l$, where $m$ and $l$ are positive integers and $m(>)l\ge1$. A typical system is $A + 2B \rightarrow3B$ and $B\rightarrow C$ involving three chemical species, a reactant A and an auto-catalyst B and C an inert chemical species.We use numerical computation to give more accurate estimates on minimum speed of traveling waves for autocatalytic reaction without decay, providing useful insight in the study of stability of traveling waves. For autocatalytic reaction of order $m = 2$ with linear decay $l = 1$, which hasa particular important role in biological pattern formation, it is shown numerically that there exist multiple traveling waves with 1, 2 and 3 peaks with certain choices of parameters.The second part of this thesis is on the global stability of diffusive predator-prey system of Leslie Type and Holling-Tanner Type in a bounded domain $\Omega\subset R^N$ with no-flux boundary condition. By using a new approach, we establish much improved global asymptotic stability of a unique positiveequilibrium solution. We also show the result can be extended to more general type of systems with heterogeneous environment and/or other kind of kinetic terms.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006519, ucf:51359
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006519
- Title
- A formative evaluation of a technology-mediated alternative to traditional study abroad.
- Creator
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Howard, Wendy, Gunter, Glenda, Ramirez, Bernardo, Vitale, Thomas, Moskal, Patsy, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if a proposed technology-mediated intervention is a viable alternative to traditional study abroad for those who are unable to travel. While technology cannot reproduce the same experience of traveling abroad, the primary objective of this study was to determine if there is value in using Web conferencing technology to provide students with access to the same opportunity to interact with international experts in the field as their...
Show morePurpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if a proposed technology-mediated intervention is a viable alternative to traditional study abroad for those who are unable to travel. While technology cannot reproduce the same experience of traveling abroad, the primary objective of this study was to determine if there is value in using Web conferencing technology to provide students with access to the same opportunity to interact with international experts in the field as their counterparts who were able to travel. This formative evaluation is the first in a series of iterative studies aimed at developing a viable, sustainable, technology-based solution through design-based research (Reeves, 2006).Methodology/Design: Two guiding questions drove the focus of this formative evaluation: Did the program accomplish what was intended and was it implemented effectively? These generated a set of evaluation questions using the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Quality Framework, which were used to evaluate the quality of a joint study abroad program in Brazil with students and instructors from the University of Central Florida and the University of Scranton. While studying global health management in Brazil, the group in the field broadcasted their site visits live to online participants back in the United States. Web conferencing tools allowed the online attendees to see and hear the group in Brazil and interact in real time through the audio or text chat. Evaluation data was compiled from multiple sources including an anonymous student survey, instructor interviews, session recordings, financial budgets, and online facilitator observations in order to triangulate and evaluate the effectiveness of this Web-based intervention.Findings: Web conferencing technology appears to be a viable alternative that is not necessarily as immersive as traveling abroad, but it does provide its own set of benefits to higher education students. This formative evaluation revealed clear areas for improvement, including technical and procedural elements, but instructors and online participants did find value in the experience. Was it perfect? No. Was it successful? Yes. Was it encouraging? Definitely. Exploration of the evaluation questions under each of the five pillars of the OLC Quality Framework revealed both success factors and areas for improvement in each of the following categories: learning effectiveness, scale (commitment (&) cost), access, faculty satisfaction, and student satisfaction.Implications: Overall, this was a successful proof of concept that justifies future improvements and subsequent further evaluation in an iterative design-based research program. In addition to repeating this study with the joint global health management course in Brazil, this intervention could also be implemented and evaluated in other contexts, disciplines, and countries around the world. This formative evaluation produced a set of recommendations for the next study based on the success factors as well as the areas for improvement identified in this initial implementation in addition to a list of suggestions for future research.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005808, ucf:50041
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005808
- Title
- STORY LINES: MOVING THROUGH THE MULTIPLE IMAGINED COMMUNITIES OF AN ASIAN-/AMERICAN-/FEMINIST BODY.
- Creator
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Choudhury, Athia, Park, Shelley, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
We all have stories to share, to build, to pass around, to inherit, and to create. This story - the one I piece together now - is about a Thai-/Bengali-/Muslim-/American-/Feminist looking for home, looking to manage the tension and conflict of wanting to belong to her family and to her feminist community. This thesis focuses on the seemingly conflicting obligations to kinship on the one hand and to feminist practice on the other, a conflict where being a good scholar or activist is directly...
Show moreWe all have stories to share, to build, to pass around, to inherit, and to create. This story - the one I piece together now - is about a Thai-/Bengali-/Muslim-/American-/Feminist looking for home, looking to manage the tension and conflict of wanting to belong to her family and to her feminist community. This thesis focuses on the seemingly conflicting obligations to kinship on the one hand and to feminist practice on the other, a conflict where being a good scholar or activist is directly in opposition to being a good Asian daughter. In order to understand how and why these communities appear at odds with one another, I examine how the material spaces and psychological realities inhabited by specific hyphenated, fragmented subjects are represented (and misrepresented) in both popular culture and practical politics, arguing against images of the hybrid body that bracket its lived tensions. I argue that fantasies of home as an unconditional site of belonging and comfort distract us from the multiple communities to which hyphenated subjects must move between. Hyphenated Asian-/American bodies often find ourselves torn between nativism and assimilationism - having to neutralize, forsake, or discard parts of our identities. Thus, I reduce complicated, difficult ideas of being to the size of a thimble, to a question of loyalty between my Asian-/American history and my American-/feminist future, between my familial background and the issues that have become foregrounded for me during college, between the home from which I originate and the new home to which I wish to belong. To move with fluidity, I must - in collaboration with others - invent new stories of identity and belonging.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFH0004200, ucf:44974
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004200
- Title
- Intercultural Communication in the Global Age: Lessons Learned from French Technical Communicators.
- Creator
-
Tallman, Nicole, Flammia, Madelyn, Bowdon, Melody, Jones, Daniel, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This thesis explores the cultural considerations American technical communicators must address when working with French colleagues and when creating technical documentation for French audiences. A review of the literature on intercultural communication theory was conducted, along with a review of the limited research on technical communication in France and the needs of French audiences. A qualitative online survey of French technical communicators was also conducted. Through this survey,...
Show moreThis thesis explores the cultural considerations American technical communicators must address when working with French colleagues and when creating technical documentation for French audiences. A review of the literature on intercultural communication theory was conducted, along with a review of the limited research on technical communication in France and the needs of French audiences. A qualitative online survey of French technical communicators was also conducted. Through this survey, French technical communicators reported on their intercultural beliefs, experiences, and practices, and information, language, and cultural needs.Survey responses were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Two main themes were developed as a result of this analysis: the importance of adapting content to French audiences, and the cultural differences between French and American information needs and communication styles. Survey findings were combined with theoretical and practical literature to offer American technical communicators guidance for successful intercultural interactions. This thesis concludes with suggestions for future practice and research in intercultural technical communication.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004944, ucf:49604
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004944
- Title
- INVESTING IN AN INTERCONNECTED WORKFORCE:GLOBAL EDUCATION REFORM.
- Creator
-
Klug, Amelia, Bryer, Thomas, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Regardless of culture, socio-economic background, and quality of life, all students deserve the highest quality of education. But the reality is, many education systems around the world do not offer it. Investing in structural reforms in education has the potential to boost economic growth in countries around the world. By learning from different education systems strengths and weaknesses, policy decisions can be made that ensure students are given the opportunity for higher educational...
Show moreRegardless of culture, socio-economic background, and quality of life, all students deserve the highest quality of education. But the reality is, many education systems around the world do not offer it. Investing in structural reforms in education has the potential to boost economic growth in countries around the world. By learning from different education systems strengths and weaknesses, policy decisions can be made that ensure students are given the opportunity for higher educational outcomes. This study analyzes high, middle, and low quality education systems around the world and the infrastructures that lead to educational success or failure. Fifteen education systems are chosen for this study which includes Shanghai-China, Singapore, Japan, Finland, Canada, Portugal, United States, Luxembourg, Spain, Hungary, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Qatar, and Peru. Each system is analyzed in terms of its teacher quality, curriculum, school system structure, and educational equity. From this study, it appears that there is a high-correlation between four indicators and top-educational success. These four indicators include having a highly selective model for hiring teachers, recruiting teachers from a top-pool of graduates, having a high-level of prestige held for teachers in society, and insuring students of low socio-economic status are given equal educational opportunities for success. Recommendations for a new teacher training and selection model are discussed based on the top four indicators. These recommendations could cause educational gains for both the United States and other systems around the world.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004691, ucf:45247
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004691
- Title
- EFFECTIVE SCHOOL CHARACTERISTICS AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT CORRELATES AS PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS IN AMERICAN STYLE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS.
- Creator
-
Doran, James, Allen, Kay, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between effective school characteristics and norm referenced standardized test scores in American-style international schools. In contrast to schools in traditional effective schools research, international schools typically have middle to high SES families, and display average to above average achievement. Eleven effective school characteristics were identified and correlated with standardized test scores for grades 4, 6, and 8...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between effective school characteristics and norm referenced standardized test scores in American-style international schools. In contrast to schools in traditional effective schools research, international schools typically have middle to high SES families, and display average to above average achievement. Eleven effective school characteristics were identified and correlated with standardized test scores for grades 4, 6, and 8 and high school SAT scores. Data was gathered from an online teacher questionnaire designed for this study. All eleven characteristics were present in high performing international schools while frequent analysis of student progress, high academic expectations and positive school environment were more prominent. Positive school environment, high academic expectations, strong instructional leadership and cultural diversity were chosen as important characteristics of an effective international school. Learning time is maximized was the only characteristic that was significantly correlated with achievement and only in grades 4, 6 and 8. There was no statistically significant relationship found between norm referenced test scores and the aggregate effective school characteristics score.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000245, ucf:46244
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000245
- Title
- BRAVE NEW WORLD RELOADED: ADVOCATING FOR BASIC CONSTITUTIONAL SEARCH PROTECTIONS TO APPLY TO CELL PHONES FROM EAVESDROPPING AND TRACKING BY THE GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE ENTITIES.
- Creator
-
Berrios-Ayala, Mark, Milon, Abby, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Imagine a world where someone's personal information is constantly compromised, where federal government entities AKA Big Brother always knows what anyone is Googling, who an individual is texting, and their emoticons on Twitter. Government entities have been doing this for years; they never cared if they were breaking the law or their moral compass of human dignity. Every day the Federal government blatantly siphons data with programs from the original ECHELON to the new series like PRISM...
Show moreImagine a world where someone's personal information is constantly compromised, where federal government entities AKA Big Brother always knows what anyone is Googling, who an individual is texting, and their emoticons on Twitter. Government entities have been doing this for years; they never cared if they were breaking the law or their moral compass of human dignity. Every day the Federal government blatantly siphons data with programs from the original ECHELON to the new series like PRISM and Xkeyscore so they can keep their tabs on issues that are none of their business; namely, the personal lives of millions. Our allies are taking note; some are learning our bad habits, from Government Communications Headquarters' (GCHQ) mass shadowing sharing plan to America's Russian inspiration, SORM. Some countries are following the United States' poster child pose of a Brave New World like order of global events. Others like Germany are showing their resolve in their disdain for the rise of tyranny. Soon, these new found surveillance troubles will test the resolve of the American Constitution and its nation's strong love and tradition of liberty. Courts are currently at work to resolve how current concepts of liberty and privacy apply to the current conditions facing the privacy of society. It remains to be determined how liberty will be affected as well; liberty for the United States of America, for the European Union, the Russian Federation and for the people of the World in regards to the extent of privacy in today's blurred privacy expectations.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004537, ucf:45187
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004537
