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Title: Global domination of factors of a graph.
Creator: Carrington, Julie R., Brigham, Robert C., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; A factoring of a graph G = (V,E) is a collection of spanning subgraphs F1, F2,..., Fk, known as factors into which the edge set E has been partitioned. A dominating set of a graph is a set of nodes such that every node in the graph is either contained in the set or has an edge to some node in the set. Each factor Fi is itself a graph and so has a dominating set. This set is called a local dominating set or LDS. An LDS of...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; A factoring of a graph G = (V,E) is a collection of spanning subgraphs F1, F2,..., Fk, known as factors into which the edge set E has been partitioned. A dominating set of a graph is a set of nodes such that every node in the graph is either contained in the set or has an edge to some node in the set. Each factor Fi is itself a graph and so has a dominating set. This set is called a local dominating set or LDS. An LDS of minimumsize contains (gamma)i nodes. In addition, there is some set of nodes named a global dominating set which dominates all of the factors. If a global dominating set is of a minimum size, it is called a GDS and contains (gamma) nodes. A central question answered by this dissertation is under what circummstances, given a set of integers (gamma)1, (gamma)2, ..., (gamma)k, and (gamma) there is a graph which can be factored into k factors in such a way that a minimum LDS of Fi has size (gamma)i, 1 [less than or equal to] i [less than or equal to] k, and GDS has size (gamma).
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Date Issued: 1992
Identifier: CFR0001860, ucf:52916
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0001860

Title: Edge Contours.
Creator: Williams, Donna J., Shah, Mubarak A., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The accuracy with which a computer vision system is able to identify objects in an image is heavily dependent upon the accuracy of the low level processes that identify which points lie on the edges of an object. In order to remove noise and fine texture from an image, it is usually smoothed before edge detection is performed. This smoothing causes edges to be displaced from their actual location in the image. Knowledge about...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The accuracy with which a computer vision system is able to identify objects in an image is heavily dependent upon the accuracy of the low level processes that identify which points lie on the edges of an object. In order to remove noise and fine texture from an image, it is usually smoothed before edge detection is performed. This smoothing causes edges to be displaced from their actual location in the image. Knowledge about the changes that occur with different degrees of smoothing (scales) and the physical conditions that cause these changes is essential to proper interpretation of the results obtained. In this work the amount of delocalization and the magnitude of the response to the Normalized Gradient of Gaussian operator are analyzed as a function of cr, the standard deviation of the Gaussian. As a result of this analysis it was determined that edge points could be characterized as to slope, contrast, and proximity to other edges. The analysis is also used to define the size that the neighborhood of an edge point must be in order to assure its containing the delocalized edge point at another scale when o is known. Given this theoretical background, an algorithm was developed to obtain sequential lists of edge points. This used multiple scales in order to achieve the superior localization and detection of weak edges possible with smaller scales combined with the noise suppression of the larger scales. The edge contours obtained with this method are significantly better than those achieved with a single scale. A second algorithm was developed to allow sets of edge contour points to be represented as active contours so that interaction with a higher level process is possible. This higher level process could do such things as determine where corners or discontinuities could appear. The algorithm developed here allows hard constraints and represents a significant improvement in speed over previous algorithms allowing hard constraints, being linear rather than cubic.
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Date Issued: 1989
Identifier: CFR0000160, ucf:52912
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0000160

Title: Finding paths in the rotation graph of binary trees.
Creator: Rogers, Rodney O., Dutton, Ronald D., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; A binary tree coding scheme is a bijection mapping a set of binary trees to a set of integer tuples called codewords. One problem considered in the literature is that of listing the codewords for n-node binary trees, such that successive codewords represent trees differing by a single rotation, a standard operation for rebalancing binary search trees. Then, the codeword sequence corresponds to an Hamiltonian path in the...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; A binary tree coding scheme is a bijection mapping a set of binary trees to a set of integer tuples called codewords. One problem considered in the literature is that of listing the codewords for n-node binary trees, such that successive codewords represent trees differing by a single rotation, a standard operation for rebalancing binary search trees. Then, the codeword sequence corresponds to an Hamiltonian path in the rotation graph Rn of binary trees, where each node is labelled with an n-node binary tree, and an edge connects two nodes when their trees differ by a single rotation. A related problem is finding a shortest path between two nodes in Rn, which reduces to the problem of transforming one binary tree into another using a minimum number of rotations. Yet a third problem is determining properties of the rotation graph. Our work addresses these three problems.
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Date Issued: 1996
Identifier: CFR0000193, ucf:52941
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0000193

Title: Writing as a public relations task: how much do public relations practitioners write?.
Creator: Stansberry, Frank R., Taylor, K. Phillip, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The purpose of this study was to investigate how much public relations people write in the course of their work; to determine if the amount and type of writing varies with experience, job type or employer; and to investigate what other tasks besides writing public relations professionals do. The sample was 198 members of the Public Relations Society of America who responded to a nation-wide mailing of 500 people selected from...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The purpose of this study was to investigate how much public relations people write in the course of their work; to determine if the amount and type of writing varies with experience, job type or employer; and to investigate what other tasks besides writing public relations professionals do. The sample was 198 members of the Public Relations Society of America who responded to a nation-wide mailing of 500 people selected from the Society's membership directory. Results showed that public relations practitioners spent 36.5 percent of their time writing. Overall, public relations people spend more time on publicity, media relations, and business administration than on any other function, but counseling management and research--two emerging area--are rating in the top 50 percent. Thus, while this study does not provide any startling new information on the public relations industry, it does provide, for the first time, empirical evidence of what an average or typical public relations practitioner does. That was the primary goal of the study.
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Date Issued: 1989
Identifier: CFR0008148, ucf:52953
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0008148

Title: Inoculation theory: motivation mechanism vs. attack credibility as mediators of resistance to persuasion.
Creator: Cranis, Peter F., Pryor, Albert, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis
Date Issued: 1988
Identifier: CFR0008149, ucf:52947
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0008149

Title: We can't be the women we were before: Mary Livermore and Chicago women in the American Civil War.
Creator: Engle, Nancy Arlene Driscol, Crepeau, Richard C., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; This study examines the impact of the American Civil War on Union women by focusing on Mary Ashton Rice Livermore and her associates in wartime aid societies in Chicago, Illinois. It argues that Livermore's postwar lecture career epitomizes the new confidence that many benevolent women possessed after the Civil War. From contemporary newspaper accounts and letters it demonstrates that the conflagration broadened the scope of...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; This study examines the impact of the American Civil War on Union women by focusing on Mary Ashton Rice Livermore and her associates in wartime aid societies in Chicago, Illinois. It argues that Livermore's postwar lecture career epitomizes the new confidence that many benevolent women possessed after the Civil War. From contemporary newspaper accounts and letters it demonstrates that the conflagration broadened the scope of their activity, allowing many to hone their skills and expand their influence while remaining safely inside society's accepted gender standards. concluding that the war changed moderate white middle-class women's lives, it then illustrates that some modifications proved permanent for many throughout the ensuing decade. This work draws from published sources, including Livermore's autobiography and her account of th war, and manuscript collections containing correspondence, dated between 1850 and 1905, among advocates of women's rights and their acquaintances.
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Date Issued: 1996
Identifier: CFR0010869, ucf:53057
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0010869

Title: Prediction of simulator sickness in a virtual environment.
Creator: Kolasinski, Eugenia M., Gilson, Richard D., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Sickness induced by Virtual Reality (VR) devices poses a genuine threat to the viability of this new technology and its potential products. If the occurrence or severity of sickness could be successfully predicted based on characteristics of an individual, at-risk users could be identified, properly warned, and, perhaps, trained in some way to reduce their risk. A Personal Computer-based VR system was used to address the...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Sickness induced by Virtual Reality (VR) devices poses a genuine threat to the viability of this new technology and its potential products. If the occurrence or severity of sickness could be successfully predicted based on characteristics of an individual, at-risk users could be identified, properly warned, and, perhaps, trained in some way to reduce their risk. A Personal Computer-based VR system was used to address the prediction of simulator sickness. Phase I investigated four characteristics of an individual - age, gender, mental rotation ability, and pre-exposure postural stability - which were hypothesized to be predictive of sickness. Sickness measured as a function of the Total Severity score from the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was successfully modeled on these characteristics using linear regression techniques, leading to three major findings. First, sickness - as measured by the SSQ - did, in fact, occur in association with exposure to VR. for 35% of the participants, this sickness involved lingering effects and/or possible delayed after-effects. Second, sickness was successfully modeled on characteristics of the individual. The developed model indicated a complicated relationship between predicted sickness and gender, age, mental rotation ability, and pre-exposure postural stability. Third, based on the model developed, sickness is not predicted to differ for gender directly but, rather, gender interacts with mental rotation ability in its effects on sickness. Phase II investigated the occurrence of ataxic decrements in postural stability. No such decrements were found to be associated with the 20-minute exposure. Thus, ataxic decrements do not appear to be associated with short exposures to low-end VR. This finding, however, may be limited to VR tasks of the type used in this study. Practical implications and areas for future research are discussed.
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Date Issued: 1996
Identifier: CFR0010868, ucf:53058
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0010868

Title: Shape reconstruction from shading using linear approximation.
Creator: Tsai, Ping Sing, Shah, Mubarak, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Shape from shading (SFS) deals with the recovery of 3D shape from a single monocular image. This problem was formally introduced by Horn in the early 1970s. Since then it has received considerable attention, and several efforts have been made to improve the shape recovery. In this thesis, we present a fast SFS algorithm, which is a purely local method and is highly parallelizable. In our approach, we first use the discrete...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Shape from shading (SFS) deals with the recovery of 3D shape from a single monocular image. This problem was formally introduced by Horn in the early 1970s. Since then it has received considerable attention, and several efforts have been made to improve the shape recovery. In this thesis, we present a fast SFS algorithm, which is a purely local method and is highly parallelizable. In our approach, we first use the discrete approximations for surface gradients, p and q, using finite differences, then linearize the reflectance function in depth, Z ( x , y), instead of p and q. This method is simple and efficient, and yields better results for images with central illumination or low-angle illumination. Furthermore, our method is more general, and can be applied to either Lambertian surfaces or specular surfaces. The algorithm has been tested on several synthetic and real images of both Lambertian and specular surfaces, and good results have been obtained. However, our method assumes that the input image contains only single object with uniform albedo values, which is commonly assumed in most SFS methods. Our algorithm performs poorly on images with nonuniform albedo values and produces incorrect shape for images containing objects with scale ambiguity, because those images violate the basic assumptions made by our SFS method. Therefore, we extended our method for images with nonuniform albedo values. We first estimate the albedo values for each pixel, and segment the scene into regions with uniform albedo values. Then we adjust the intensity value for each pixel by dividing the corresponding albedo value before applying our linear shape from shading method. This way our modified method is able to deal with nonuniform albedo values. When multiple objects differing only in scale are present in a scene, there may be points with the same surface orientation but different depth values. No existing SFS methods can solve this kind of ambiguity directly. We also present a new approach to deal with images containing multiple objects with scale ambiguity. A depth estimate is derived from patches using a minimum downhill approach and re-aligned based on the background information to get the correct depth map. Experimental results are presented for several synthetic and real images. Finally, this thesis also investigates the problem of the discrete approximation under perspective projection. The straightforward finite difference approximation for surface gradients used under orthographic projection is no longer applicable here. because the image position components are in fact functions of the depth. In this thesis, we provide a direct solution for the discrete approximation under perspective projection. The surface gradient is derived mathematically by relating the depth value of the surface point with the depth value of the corresponding image point. We also demonstrate how we can apply the new discrete approximation to a more complicated and realistic reflectance model for SFS problem.
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Date Issued: 1995
Identifier: CFR0000191, ucf:53139
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0000191

Title: Effects of avian breeding colonies on a man-made freshwater marsh in East Central Florida.
Creator: Burney, James L., Stout, I.J., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The effects of nutrient loading from avian breeding colonies into aquatic/marine ecosystems have been well documented. Documented influences include increased productivity of aquatic/marine macrophytes, elevated sediment nutrient concentrations, and increased densities of zooplankton and planktivorus fishes. The primary pathway of nutrient export from the rookery is through excreta from adult birds and their offspring. This...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The effects of nutrient loading from avian breeding colonies into aquatic/marine ecosystems have been well documented. Documented influences include increased productivity of aquatic/marine macrophytes, elevated sediment nutrient concentrations, and increased densities of zooplankton and planktivorus fishes. The primary pathway of nutrient export from the rookery is through excreta from adult birds and their offspring. This study examined the influences of a 400-nesting pair rookery of cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) in 1990 and a 75-nesting pair rookery of cattle egret in 1991 on a man-made freshwater treatment marsh in east central Florida. Because the fundamental intent of the created marsh (study site) was the removal of nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, from advanced treated wastewater prior to discharge into public surface waters, the main objective of this study was to document the effects of the avian breeding colonies on water quality within the system. Secondary objectives of the study were to document influences on phytoplankton density and aquatic faunal community structure, as well as to estimate spatial and temporal limits of rookery influences. The results indicated significant water quality differences between rookery and reference sites during 1990 and 1991. The results also indicated significant differences between phytoplankton productivity and aquatic macroinvertebrate community structure between rookery and reference sites during 1990 and 1991. The effects of nutrient loading from the rookeries were confined to within 150 m and background water quality conditions were regained within one month of rookery abandonment. In effect, the 1990 and 1991 rookery sites were characterized as limited, transient "islands" of increased eutrophication within the marsh.
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Date Issued: 1995
Identifier: CFR0011941, ucf:53110
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011941

Title: Analysis of the operation and plasma dynamics of extreme-ultraviolet and soft x-ray lasers.
Creator: Bender, Howard A., Silfvast, William T., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Extending lasing action into the extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum has been a natural progression in the continuing development of short wavelength radiation sources. However fundamental difficulties with the media used to produce short wavelength lasers has in general hindered the widespread development and use of such lasers in applications. Up to now all EUV and soft x-ray lasers...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Extending lasing action into the extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum has been a natural progression in the continuing development of short wavelength radiation sources. However fundamental difficulties with the media used to produce short wavelength lasers has in general hindered the widespread development and use of such lasers in applications. Up to now all EUV and soft x-ray lasers have operated with plasmas as the gain medium to support lasing. This is a general requirement imposed by 1) the characteristics of short wavelength radiation as it originates from highly energetic atomic transitions and 2) the fundamental aspects of lasing at these wavelengths. Thus the plasma environment has been the defining characteristic in achieving lasing in the EUV and soft x-ray spectral regions. This thesis presents investigations into two types of EUV/Soft x-ray lasers that describe the operation and associated plasma dynamics of these devices. The first is a numerical investigation into a recombination pumped x-ray laser at 13.5 nm operating in a Li plasma. Using a collisional-radiative model of the atomic system, simulations were performed to determine the plasma conditions necessary to produce gain that were observed in reported experiments. The second investigation is the experimental development and operation of a capillary discharge driven laser operating at 46.9 nm in Ar. This device is a new generation of EUV/Soft X-ray laser based on a small scale driver system. The first interferometric probing experiments of this device will be discussed and related to the plasma dynamics of the capillary discharge.
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Date Issued: 1998
Identifier: CFR0011593, ucf:53045
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011593

Title: Experimenting with the finite element method in the calculation of radiosity form factors.
Creator: Chesteen, Donna Marie, Guha, Ratan, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Radiosity has been used to create some of the most photorealistic computer-generated images to date. The problem, however, is that radiosity algorithms are so computationally and memory expensive that few applications can employ them successfully. Form factor calculation is the most costly part of the process. This report describes an algorithm for using the finite element method to reduce the amount of time that is used in...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Radiosity has been used to create some of the most photorealistic computer-generated images to date. The problem, however, is that radiosity algorithms are so computationally and memory expensive that few applications can employ them successfully. Form factor calculation is the most costly part of the process. This report describes an algorithm for using the finite element method to reduce the amount of time that is used in the form factor calculation portion of the radiosity algorithm. This technique for form factor calculation significantly reduces the number of projections done at each iteration by using shape functions to determine the distribution of a form factor across the surface of a patch and thus greatly reduces total run time.
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Date Issued: 1995
Identifier: CFR0011926, ucf:53043
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011926

Title: Re-examining subfamily classifications for the alu family of repeated dna sequences.
Creator: York, William A., Sweet, Haven C., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The primate Alu family of repetitive elements has been widely characterized. This ubiquitous class of retroposons has been found to occupy some 5% of the human genome. This hetergenous group of Short Interspersed Nucleic acid Elements (SINEs) has been theorized to possess an identifiable subfamily structure between and within various taxonomic levels in primates. It has been postulated that humans possess up to 6 Alu sequences...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The primate Alu family of repetitive elements has been widely characterized. This ubiquitous class of retroposons has been found to occupy some 5% of the human genome. This hetergenous group of Short Interspersed Nucleic acid Elements (SINEs) has been theorized to possess an identifiable subfamily structure between and within various taxonomic levels in primates. It has been postulated that humans possess up to 6 Alu sequences and found evidence supporting the amplification/fixation theory in 5 subfamilies. The research presented in this thesis posits that Quentin's method of alignment used in the correspondence analysis is questionable. A reexamination using an alternative, perhaps more tenable, alignment of the Alu sequences may allow for a more lucid and accurate identification of Alu subfamily structure in the human genome.
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Date Issued: 1994
Identifier: CFR0011936, ucf:53117
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011936

Title: Path to chaos : excess, absence and anarchy in Tennyson's Idylls of the King.
Creator: Howerton, Peggie A., Adicks, Richard R., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis
Date Issued: 1993
Identifier: CFR0011933, ucf:53118
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011933

Title: The effect of a pet's presence upon anxiety during a simulated clinical interview.
Creator: Weigand, Kenneth G., Blau, Burt, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Recognizing the importance of evolutionary parallels between humans and other animals, researchers make use of animals to better the understanding of people in various fields of study, such as history, ecology, medicine, psychology, and sociology (Levinson, 1978). Boris Levinson (1962) was an early advocate for the inclusion of pets in psychotherapeutic intervention. His theories have been frequently cited in research that has...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Recognizing the importance of evolutionary parallels between humans and other animals, researchers make use of animals to better the understanding of people in various fields of study, such as history, ecology, medicine, psychology, and sociology (Levinson, 1978). Boris Levinson (1962) was an early advocate for the inclusion of pets in psychotherapeutic intervention. His theories have been frequently cited in research that has attempted to define the possible benefits associated with utilizing pets as an adjunct in the treatment of disturbed populations. The results of studies with varied populations indicate that a pet's presences can lower a person's anxiety level, positively increase self-concept, stimulate social interaction, provide a source of non-threatening acceptance, improve the prognosis for cardiac patients, and encourage goal-oriented behavior. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to explain the mechanisms responsible for the healthy benefits that have been associated with pet facilitated therapy. The goal of this study was to further identify the variables present in person-pet interactions that are desirable in therapeutic precesses. Thirty undergraduate students were recruited to participate in a 30 minutes simulated clinical interview. It was hypothesized that the 15 subjects in the dog-present experimental group would show significantly lower situational anxiety compared to the 15 subjects experiencing a dog-absent interview. It was also hypothesized that there would be temporal decreases in anxiety for the experimental group, and a greater degree of favorableness felt towards pets. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, et al. 1983), The Pet Attitude Scale (Templer, 1981) and behavioral measures were used to test the hypotheses. Results indicated that the dog's presence had no significant effect upon anxiety, and there were no significant changes in pet attitude. Both groups showed a consistent and significant decrease between pre- and post-interview scores measuring State and Trait Anxiety. the results of this study suggest that pet facilitated therapy has limited applicability with a college population that is typically well adjusted and high functioning. It was suggested that the subjects recruited for this study may not have had a need to utilize the dog's presence for anxiety reduction as might a clinical population.
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Date Issued: 1999
Identifier: CFR0011928, ucf:53119
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011928

Title: College students' perceptions of parental sexuality.
Creator: Janisz, Nancy L., Houston, Sandra, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Pocs and Godow (1977) published research results indicating that college students experienced difficulty in considering their parents as sexual beings. The results of the present study were based on responses of 330 college students to a questionnaire authored by the examiner. Results were compared to Pocs and Godow's results, and research data from Kinsey (1948, 1953) and Hunt (1972), which presented the reported frequencies...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Pocs and Godow (1977) published research results indicating that college students experienced difficulty in considering their parents as sexual beings. The results of the present study were based on responses of 330 college students to a questionnaire authored by the examiner. Results were compared to Pocs and Godow's results, and research data from Kinsey (1948, 1953) and Hunt (1972), which presented the reported frequencies of sexual activities of the parent-aged population. The comparisons suggest that although estimates of the subjects in the current study were higher in all areas than in the Pocs and Godow data, today's college students still underestimate their parents' sexual activity as compared to Kinsey and Hunt, with few exceptions. Results found significant correlations of estimations with marital status of parents, amount of and comfort with parent-child sexual discussion, subjects' religious attendance and importance, and negative emotions when considering their parents as sexual beings. Suggestions were made to conduct a future replication this research, and for parents to increase open discussion of sexual issues, to inform their children that sexuality if not just for the young.
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Date Issued: 1991
Identifier: CFR0011929, ucf:53120
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011929

Title: Close to home.
Creator: Gagnon, Donald P., Rushin, Pat, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis
Date Issued: 1994
Identifier: CFR0011938, ucf:53112
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011938

Title: Expression patterns of developmental genes in drosophila melanogaster larval genital discs.
Creator: Freeland, Denise E., Kuhn, David T., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis
Date Issued: 1995
Identifier: CFR0011939, ucf:53113
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011939

Title: An intelligent editor for natural language processing of unrestricted text.
Creator: Glinos, Demetrios George, Gomez, Fernando, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The understanding of natural language by computational methods has been a continuing and elusive problem in artificial intelligence. In recent years there has been a resurgence in natural language processing research. Much of this work has been on empirical or corpus-based methods which use a data-driven approach to train systems on large amounts of real language data. Using corpus-based methods, the performance of part-of...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; The understanding of natural language by computational methods has been a continuing and elusive problem in artificial intelligence. In recent years there has been a resurgence in natural language processing research. Much of this work has been on empirical or corpus-based methods which use a data-driven approach to train systems on large amounts of real language data. Using corpus-based methods, the performance of part-of-speech (POS) taggers, which assign to the individual words of a sentence their appropriate part of speech category (e.g., noun, verb, preposition), now rivals human performance levels, achieving accuracies exceeding 95%. Such taggers have proved useful as preprocessors for such tasks as parsing, speech synthesis, and information retrieval. Parsing remains, however, a difficult problem, even with the benefit of POS tagging. Moveover, as sentence length increases, there is a corresponding combinatorial explosing of alternative possible parses. Consider the following sentence from a New York Times online article: After Salinas was arrested for murder in 1995 and lawyers for the bank had begun monitoring his accounts, his personal banker in New York quietly advised Salinas' wife to move the money elsewhere, apparently without the consent of the legal department. To facilitate the parsing and other tasks, we would like to decompose this sentence into the following three shorter sentences which, taken together, convey the same meaning as the original: 1. Salinas was arrested for murder in 1995. 2. Lawyers for the bank had begun monitoring his accounts. 3. His personal banker in New York quietly advised Salinas' wife to move the money elsewhere, apparently without the consent of the legal department. This study investigates the development of heuristics for decomposing such long sentences into sets of shorter sentences without affecting the meaning of the original sentences. Without parsing or semantic analysis, heuristic rules were developed based on: (1) the output of a POS tagger (Brill's tagger); (2) the punctuation contained in the input sentences; and (3) the words themselves. The heuristic algorithms were implemented in an intelligent editor program which first augmented the POS tags and assigned tags to punctuation, and then tested the rules against a corpus of 25 New York Times online articles containing approximately 1,200 sentences and over 32,000 words, with good results. Recommendations are made for improving the algorithms and for continuing this line of research.
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Date Issued: 1999
Identifier: CFR0008181, ucf:53055
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0008181

Title: Enterface : a novella.
Creator: McLeod, Hubert Calip, Rushin, Pat, Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; A computer screen places each of us in an interface and virtual reality provides a totally simulated environment, a virtual world that we can enter. Enterface is a novella that examines the question first posed by Michael Heim: How far can we enter cyberspace and still remain human? It also explores the power and the limitation of language and the role of stories to shape reality in human life. Its themes are death, technology...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; A computer screen places each of us in an interface and virtual reality provides a totally simulated environment, a virtual world that we can enter. Enterface is a novella that examines the question first posed by Michael Heim: How far can we enter cyberspace and still remain human? It also explores the power and the limitation of language and the role of stories to shape reality in human life. Its themes are death, technology, ethics, and love. It is informed by Wittgensteinian philosophy, Norse mythology, and the "metaphysics of virtual reality." The plot involves Moses Mackinow, a former Air Force officer and entrepreneur, who decides there should be a way to simply live forever. He hits upon the idea that life could be digitized, and a civilization, a world of complete, sentient humans could be created in cyberspace--a world he could enter upon his death and continue to live. A variety of technologies are available to digitize the physical human (x-rays, CTSCNS, Magnetic Resonance Images, graphic images, etc.), but the big problem is how to synthesize his human heart. Moses decides that the stories of his life are the keys to creating the "rag and bone shop" of his eternal heart. Getting the stories "right" is critical to the prospect of digitizing life and is a major focus of the novella action. The novella traces the reduction of Moses as a a human being as he pursues his obsession, compromising one principle after another. Everything in the environment of the novella, reflects this reduction. Everything becomes less than it was, a glimpse of humanity reduced to bits and bytes, floating 1's and 0's. Enterface is a work at war with itself.
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Date Issued: 1999
Identifier: CFR0011964, ucf:53091
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011964

Title: The battle's lost and won: ratification of the nineteenth amendment in Tennessee.
Creator: Beale, Judith, Leckie, Shirley A., Arts and Sciences
Abstract / Description: University of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Tennessee ratified the Nineteenth amendment by a margin of one vote. This study, therefore, examines Tennessee, its politics, and its politicians to see to what extent the usual historical explanations that states' rights and the liquor and railroad industries were the main obstructions to Tennessee's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It concludes that women's increased access to education and employment affected too...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Arts and Sciences Thesis; Tennessee ratified the Nineteenth amendment by a margin of one vote. This study, therefore, examines Tennessee, its politics, and its politicians to see to what extent the usual historical explanations that states' rights and the liquor and railroad industries were the main obstructions to Tennessee's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It concludes that women's increased access to education and employment affected too few women in the state to cause a great demand for the vote. Moreover, corporate opponents and racist fears were less important as impediments to ratification than historians have believed. Legislators voted neither out of fear of federal intervention, nor from party loyalty; they considered each issue on its merits. Whether it was good for the state, their constituents, and their own political careers seem likely reasons for their decisions. Woman suffrage hung in the balance until the last possible minute so that one vote eventually determined the outcome in Tennessee.
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Date Issued: 2000
Identifier: CFR0000175, ucf:52936
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0000175

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