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- Title
- A COMPETITIVE RECONFIGURATION APPROACH TO AUTONOMOUS FAULT HANDLING USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS.
- Creator
-
Zhang, Kening, DeMara, Ronald F, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In this dissertation, a novel self-repair approach based on Consensus Based Evaluation (CBE) for autonomous repair of SRAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) is developed, evaluated, and refined. An initial population of functionally identical (same input-output behavior), yet physically distinct (alternative design or place-and-route realization) FPGA configurations is produced at design time. During run-time, the CBE approach ranks these alternative configurations after evaluating...
Show moreIn this dissertation, a novel self-repair approach based on Consensus Based Evaluation (CBE) for autonomous repair of SRAM-based Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) is developed, evaluated, and refined. An initial population of functionally identical (same input-output behavior), yet physically distinct (alternative design or place-and-route realization) FPGA configurations is produced at design time. During run-time, the CBE approach ranks these alternative configurations after evaluating their discrepancy relative to the consensus formed by the population. Through runtime competition, faults in the logical resources become occluded from the visibility of subsequent FPGA operations. Meanwhile, offspring formed through crossover and mutation of faulty and viable configurations are selected at a controlled re-introduction rate for evaluation and refurbishment. Refurbishments are evolved in-situ, with online real-time input-based performance evaluation, enhancing system availability and sustainability, creating an Organic Embedded System (OES). A fault tolerance model called N Modular Redundancy with Standby (NMRSB) is developed which combines the two popular fault tolerance techniques of NMR and Standby fault tolerance in order to facilitate the CBE approach. This dissertation develops two of instances of the NMRSB system – Triple Modular Redundancy with Standby (TMRSB) and Duplex with Standby (DSB). A hypothetical Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGA model demonstrates their viability for various applications including a 3-bit x 3-bit multiplier, and the MCNC91 benchmark circuits. Experiments conducted on the model iii evaluate the performance of three new genetic operators and demonstrate progress towards a completely self-contained single-chip implementation so that the FPGA can refurbish itself without requiring a PC host to execute the Genetic Algorithm. This dissertation presents results from the simulations of multiple applications with a CBE model implemented in the C++ programming language. Starting with an initial population of 20 and 30 viable configurations for TMRSB and DSB respectively, a single stuck-at fault is introduced in the logic resources. Fault refurbishment experiments are conducted under supervision of CBE using a fitness state evaluation function based on competing outputs, fitness adjustment, and different level threshold. The device remains online throughout the process by which a complete repair is realized with Hamming Distance and Bitweight voting schemes. The results indicate a Hamming Distance TMRSB approach can prevent the most pervasive fault impacts and realize complete refurbishment. Experimental results also show that the Autonomic Layer demonstrates 100% faulty component isolation for both Functional Elements (FEs) and Autonomous Elements (AEs) with randomly injected single and multiple faults. Using logic circuits from the MCNC-91 benchmark set, availability during repair phases averaged 75.05%, 82.21%, and 65.21% for the z4ml, cm85a, and cm138a circuits respectively under stated conditions. In addition to simulation, the proposed OES architecture synthesized from HDL was prototyped on a Xilinx Virtex II Pro FPGA device supporting partial reconfiguration to demonstrate the feasibility for intrinsic regeneration of the selected circuit.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002280, ucf:47849
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002280
- Title
- A Compiler-based Framework for Automatic Extraction of Program Skeletons for Exascale Hardware/Software Co-design.
- Creator
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Rudraiah Dakshinamurthy, Amruth, Dechev, Damian, Heinrich, Mark, Deo, Narsingh, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The design of high-performance computing architectures requires performance analysis of large-scale parallel applications to derive various parameters concerning hardware design and software development. The process of performance analysis and benchmarking an application can be done in several ways with varying degrees of fidelity. One of the most cost-effective ways is to do a coarse-grained study of large-scale parallel applications through the use of program skeletons. The concept of a `...
Show moreThe design of high-performance computing architectures requires performance analysis of large-scale parallel applications to derive various parameters concerning hardware design and software development. The process of performance analysis and benchmarking an application can be done in several ways with varying degrees of fidelity. One of the most cost-effective ways is to do a coarse-grained study of large-scale parallel applications through the use of program skeletons. The concept of a ``program skeleton'' that we discuss in this paper is an abstracted program that is derived from a larger program where source code that is determined to be irrelevant is removed for the purposes of the skeleton. In this work, we develop a semi-automatic approach for extracting program skeletons based on compiler program analysis. We demonstrate correctness of our skeleton extraction process by comparing details from communication traces, as well as show the performance speedup of using skeletons by running simulations in the SST/macro simulator. Extracting such a program skeleton from a large-scale parallel program requires a substantial amount of manual effort and often introduces human errors. We outline a semi-automatic approach for extracting program skeletons from large-scale parallel applications that reduces cost and eliminates errors inherent in manual approaches. Our skeleton generation approach is based on the use of the extensible and open-source ROSE compiler infrastructure that allows us to perform flow and dependency analysis on larger programs in order to determine what code can be removed from the program to generate a skeleton.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004743, ucf:49795
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004743
- Title
- A Complete Approach to Predict Biodistribution of Nanomaterials Within Animal Species from In-vitro Data.
- Creator
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Price, Edward, Gesquiere, Andre, Huo, Qun, Kolpashchikov, Dmitry, Rex, Matthew, Ebert, Steven, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Smart drug-design for antibody and nanomaterial-based therapies allows for optimization of drug efficacy and more efficient early-stage pre-clinical trials. The ideal drug must display maximum efficacy at target tissue sites, but to track and predict distribution to these sites, one must have a mechanistic understanding of the kinetics involved with the individual cells of the tissue itself. This process can be tracked through biological simulations coupled with in-vitro approaches, which...
Show moreSmart drug-design for antibody and nanomaterial-based therapies allows for optimization of drug efficacy and more efficient early-stage pre-clinical trials. The ideal drug must display maximum efficacy at target tissue sites, but to track and predict distribution to these sites, one must have a mechanistic understanding of the kinetics involved with the individual cells of the tissue itself. This process can be tracked through biological simulations coupled with in-vitro approaches, which result in a rapid and efficient in-depth understanding of drug transport within tissue vasculature and cellular environment. As a result, it becomes possible to predict drug biodistribution within live animal tissue cells without the need for animal studies. Herein, we use in-vitro assays to translate transport kinetics to whole-body animal simulations to predict drug distribution from vasculature into individual tissue cells for the first time. Our approach is based on rate constants obtained from an in-vitro assay that accounts for cell-induced degradation, which are translated to a complete animal simulation to predict nanomedicine biodistribution at the single cell level. This approach delivers predictions for therapies of varying size and type for multiple species of animals solely from in-vitro data. Thus, we expect this work to assist in refining, reducing, and replacing animal testing, while at the same time, giving scientists a new perspective during early stages of drug development.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007900, ucf:52747
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007900
- Title
- A Complex Calculus: How Message Format and Processing Route Coordinate to Influence HPV Vaccination Message Persuasiveness Among Young Adults.
- Creator
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Boutemen, Laura, Neuberger, Lindsay, Sellnow, Timothy, Miller, Ann, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection may lead to cancer and genital warts yet can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccine recommended for individuals up to 26 years old. HPV vaccination rates remain low among college aged adults that represent a catch-up population still eligible to receive the HPV vaccine. This present study is a theory-based investigation employing the Heuristic Systematic Model to explore the effect of message format and processing route on attitude and behavioral...
Show moreHuman papillomavirus (HPV) infection may lead to cancer and genital warts yet can be prevented by a safe and effective vaccine recommended for individuals up to 26 years old. HPV vaccination rates remain low among college aged adults that represent a catch-up population still eligible to receive the HPV vaccine. This present study is a theory-based investigation employing the Heuristic Systematic Model to explore the effect of message format and processing route on attitude and behavioral intention in the context of HPV vaccination. Undergraduate students aged 17-26 years old (N = 261) from various majors (e.g., STEM, social sciences, humanities) participated in the study. An online message exposure experiment randomly assigned participants one of three messages in different message formats (i.e., accessible, scientific jargon, scientese) promoting HPV vaccination to examine the persuasive potential of clearly worded messages (i.e., accessible message), appropriately used scientific language (i.e., jargon message) and inappropriately used scientific terminology (i.e., scientese message) and the effect of processing route on attitude and behavioral intention pertaining to HPV vaccination. Additionally, the potential impact of scientific literacy was investigated. The three experimental conditions were compared to the control condition that corresponded to no message exposure. Quantitative data analyses revealed the scientese message was associated with higher intention to receive the HPV vaccine than the simply worded message among systematic processors only. Further, systematic processing was related to more favorable attitude toward the message and greater intention to obtain the vaccine. Findings of the current study can help inform future message development to design targeted persuasive messages aiming to encourage vaccination in an effort to augment HPV vaccination rates among the catch-up population.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0006979, ucf:51658
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006979
- Title
- A Comprehensive Assessment of Vehicle-to-Grid Systems and Their Impact to the Sustainability of Current Energy and Water Nexus.
- Creator
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Zhao, Yang, Tatari, Omer, Oloufa, Amr, Mayo, Talea, Zheng, Qipeng, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This dissertation aims to explore the feasibility of incorporating electric vehicles into the electric power grid and develop a comprehensive assessment framework to predict and evaluate the life cycle environmental, economic and social impact of the integration of Vehicle-to-Grid systems and the transportation-water-energy nexus. Based on the fact that electric vehicles of different classes have been widely adopted by both fleet operators and individual car owners, the following questions...
Show moreThis dissertation aims to explore the feasibility of incorporating electric vehicles into the electric power grid and develop a comprehensive assessment framework to predict and evaluate the life cycle environmental, economic and social impact of the integration of Vehicle-to-Grid systems and the transportation-water-energy nexus. Based on the fact that electric vehicles of different classes have been widely adopted by both fleet operators and individual car owners, the following questions are investigated: 1. Will the life cycle environmental impacts due to vehicle operation be reduced? 2. Will the implementation of Vehicle-to-Grid systems bring environmental and economic benefits? 3. Will there be any form of air emission impact if large amounts of electric vehicles are adopted in a short time? 4. What is the role of the Vehicle-to-Grid system in the transportation-water-energy nexus? To answer these questions: First, the life cycle environmental impacts of medium-duty trucks in commercial delivery fleets are analyzed. Second, the operation mechanism of Vehicle-to-Grid technologies in association with charging and discharging of electric vehicles is researched. Third, the feasible Vehicle-to-Grid system is further studied taking into consideration the spatial and temporal variance as well as other uncertainties within the system. Then, a comparison of greenhouse gas emission mitigation of the Vehicle-to-Grid system and the additional emissions caused by electric vehicle charging through marginal electricity is analyzed. Finally, the impact of the Vehicle-to-Grid system in the transportation-water-energy nexus, and the underlying environmental, economic and social relationships are simulated through system dynamic modeling. The results provide holistic evaluations and spatial and temporal projections of electric vehicles, Vehicle-to-Grid systems, wind power integration, and the transportation-water-energy nexus.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0007300, ucf:52153
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007300
- Title
- A COMPREHENSIVE MULTI-FACETED APPROACH FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY ANALYZING ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES ESSENTIAL FOR COMPANY SUCCESS IN MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES.
- Creator
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Ferreras, Ana, Crumpton-Young, Lesia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Profit, ergonomics, safety, employee morale, quality, efficiency, and productivity are critical components that greatly impact company success within manufacturing organizations. Therefore, it is essential that a valid and reliable systematic approach that encompasses all of these factors be developed for use by top management in today's rapidly changing manufacturing environment. Organizational-level decisions made based upon a single goal or narrow perspective that only considers one of...
Show moreProfit, ergonomics, safety, employee morale, quality, efficiency, and productivity are critical components that greatly impact company success within manufacturing organizations. Therefore, it is essential that a valid and reliable systematic approach that encompasses all of these factors be developed for use by top management in today's rapidly changing manufacturing environment. Organizational-level decisions made based upon a single goal or narrow perspective that only considers one of the aforementioned components, such as profit, while ignoring others, such as employee morale, have proven harmful to the long term viability and success of manufacturing companies. Often organizational leaders are not adequately equipped to consider multiple factors that are pertinent to company success due to the complexity associated with considering a large number of organizational variables and the lack of quantitative tools and techniques to assist in this process. Thus, valid, reliable and readily available tools, methods, and techniques for integrating into decision making multiple components of profit, ergonomics, safety, employee morale, quality, efficiency, and productivity are highly needed in today's complex manufacturing business environment. This research responds to the need to develop quantitative models by creating a company success index. This index was developed using an approach to analyze and evaluate multiple factors at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of an organization that are essential to achieve company success in manufacturing enterprises. The resulting company success index model was validated using information on market share (Specificity = 0%, Sensitivity & Accuracy = 87.5%). Future research related to this topic area should include additional studies to expand upon model validation and verification techniques.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002173, ucf:47504
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002173
- Title
- A Comprehensive Severity Analysis of Large Vehicle Crashes.
- Creator
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Laman, Haluk, Abdel-Aty, Mohamed, Tatari, Mehmet, Ahmed, Mohamed, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The goal of this thesis is to determine the contributing factors affecting severe traffic crashes (severe: incapacitating and fatal - non-severe: no injury, possible injury, and non-incapacitating), and in particular those factors influencing crashes involving large vehicles (heavy trucks, truck tractors, RVs, and buses). Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) crash reports of 2008 have been used. The data included 352 fatalities and 9,838 injuries due to large...
Show moreThe goal of this thesis is to determine the contributing factors affecting severe traffic crashes (severe: incapacitating and fatal - non-severe: no injury, possible injury, and non-incapacitating), and in particular those factors influencing crashes involving large vehicles (heavy trucks, truck tractors, RVs, and buses). Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) crash reports of 2008 have been used. The data included 352 fatalities and 9,838 injuries due to large vehicle crashes.Using the crashes involving large vehicles, a model comparison between binary logit model and a Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) decision tree model is provided. There were 13 significant factors (i.e. crash type with respect to vehicle types, residency of driver, DUI, rural-urban, etc.) found significant in the logistic procedure while 7 factors found (i.e. posted speed limit, intersection, etc.) in the CHAID model. The model comparison results indicate that the logit analysis procedure is better in terms of prediction power.The following analysis is a modeling structure involving three binary logit models. The first model was conducted to estimate the crash severity of crashes that involved only personal vehicles (PV). Second model uses the crashes that involved large vehicles (LV) and passenger vehicles (PV). The final model estimated the severity level of crashes involving only large vehicles (LV). Significant differences with respect to various risk factors including driver, vehicle, environmental, road geometry and traffic characteristics were found to exist between those crash types and models. For example, driving under the influence of Alcohol (DUI) has positive effect on the severity of PV vs. PV and LV vs. PV while it has no effect on LV vs. LV. As a result, 4 of the variables found to be significant were similar in all three models (although often with quite different impact) and there were 11 variables that significantly influenced crash injury severity in PV vs. PV crashes, and 9 variables that significantly influenced crash injury severity in LV vs. PV crashes.Based on the significant variables, maximum posted speed, number of vehicles involved, and intersections are among the factors that have major impact on injury severity. These results could be used to identify potential countermeasures to reduce crash severity in general, and for LVs in particular. For example, restricting the speed limits and enforcing it for large vehicles could be a suggested countermeasure based on this study.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004566, ucf:49216
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004566
- Title
- A Comprehensive Study of the Learning Styles of Student Athletes and Academic Advisors at Three Institutions in the American Athletic Conference and the Tools and Resources Used to Ensure Academic Success of Student Athletes.
- Creator
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Lampitt, Dianna, King, Kathy (Kathleen), Cox, Dr. Thomas, Xu, Lihua, Preston, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Collegiate athletics plays an important role in higher education. As a result of this importance student athletes also play a significant role in higher education. However, due to their athletic responsibilities they face a number of challenges while enrolled in a college or university. An academic advisor for student athletes is responsible for not only helping the student athletes with their academics, they also play an important role in ensuring the eligibility of college student athletes...
Show moreCollegiate athletics plays an important role in higher education. As a result of this importance student athletes also play a significant role in higher education. However, due to their athletic responsibilities they face a number of challenges while enrolled in a college or university. An academic advisor for student athletes is responsible for not only helping the student athletes with their academics, they also play an important role in ensuring the eligibility of college student athletes so they are able to compete. As a result, academic advisors for student athletes use a number of tools and resources that help ensure the academic success of the student athletes. This study examined the use of these tools and resources from three institutions in the American Athletic Conference by 14 participants and how they related to the Graduation Success Rate of each institution. In addition, this study highlighted and examined the learning styles of not only the student athlete but also the academic advisor using Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI). The study was quantitative in nature using survey research to answer five research questions. A Chi-Square analysis revealed there was significance between the number of tools and resources used and the Graduation Success Rate. A second Chi-Square revealed there was no significance between the student athletes learning style and the tools and resources used by academic advisors and learning specialists. The study also identified that of Kolb's four learning styles, the student athletes were mainly Accommodators and Divergers.The results of this study suggest that academic advisors and learning specialists should use more tools and resources when working with student athletes to ensure a higher Graduation Success Rate. This study was one of the first to examine the tools and resources used by academic advisors and learning specialist, as well as, the learning styles of student athletes. Future research should continue to investigate the tools and resources used by academic advisors use and the role of the academic level of the student athlete.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006614, ucf:51299
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006614
- Title
- A Computer Graphics Analysis of a Freeway Merge Control System.
- Creator
-
Risher, Thomas A., Bauer, Christian, Engineering
- Abstract / Description
-
Florida Technological University College of Engineering Thesis; In 1975, C.S. Bauer completed a doctoral dissertation at the University of Florida which treated the Green Band Merging Control System on I-75 in Tampa, Florida. In this work, Bauer suggested the possibility for the use of computer graphics as a toll for analysis of the bands generated by the Green Band Control System Simulation developed in his dissertation. The use of computer generated movies of the bands displayed to ramp...
Show moreFlorida Technological University College of Engineering Thesis; In 1975, C.S. Bauer completed a doctoral dissertation at the University of Florida which treated the Green Band Merging Control System on I-75 in Tampa, Florida. In this work, Bauer suggested the possibility for the use of computer graphics as a toll for analysis of the bands generated by the Green Band Control System Simulation developed in his dissertation. The use of computer generated movies of the bands displayed to ramp drivers by the system allows the comparison of various band control strategies without the need for field implementation and testing. With the goal of producing such films in mind, the research topic discussed in this paper was undertaken. The report introduces the reader to some of the basic aspects of computer graphics and presents specialized computer software and interface hardware for producing automated computer graphics movies from a Tektronix 4010 storage display. A brief discussion of the Tampa System and its associated simulation program is presented, and representative frames from the moves of the Tampa System produced in the research are discussed. Suggestions for additional work that could be undertaken in the research area conclude the report.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1976
- Identifier
- CFR0011597, ucf:53042
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011597
- Title
- A CONFIGURAL APPROACH TO PATIENT SAFETY CLIMATE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIMATE PROFILE CHARACTERISTICS AND PATIENT OUTCOMES.
- Creator
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Weaver, Sallie, Salas, Eduardo, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Patient safety climate is defined as a holistic snapshot of enacted work environment practices and procedures related to patient safety, derived from shared perceptions of social and environmental work characteristics. While patient safety climate has been touted as a critical factor underlying safe patient care, our understanding of input factors influencing shared climate perceptions and, in turn, the effects of climate as a collective, group-level construct on important outcomes remains...
Show morePatient safety climate is defined as a holistic snapshot of enacted work environment practices and procedures related to patient safety, derived from shared perceptions of social and environmental work characteristics. While patient safety climate has been touted as a critical factor underlying safe patient care, our understanding of input factors influencing shared climate perceptions and, in turn, the effects of climate as a collective, group-level construct on important outcomes remains underdeveloped, both theoretically and empirically. Therefore, the current study examines (1) the antecedents that impact individual patient safety climate perceptions and (2) the relationships between hospital unit patient safety climate and two important unit level outcomes: patient willingness to recommend a facility to others and patient safety. This study also examines climate strength-the degree to which climate perceptions are shared-as a moderator of these relationships. While climate is conceptualized as a holistic description of the working environment, existing evidence has focused on relationships between the independent dimensions of patient safety climate and patient safety. No study to date has examined the configurations (i.e. patterns or profiles) among the multiple dimensions of patient safety climate or how these configurations are related to important employee and patient outcomes. This gap is redressed in the current study by examining patient safety climate in terms of three profile characteristics: (1) climate elevation (i.e., mean positive or negative valence across all dimensions), (2) climate variability (i.e., variance among dimensions), and (3) climate shape (i.e., the pattern of peaks and valleys among climate dimensions). Evidence from studies of general organizational climate suggests that the shape of the pattern among climate dimensions, the overall mean score across dimensions, and the degree to which dimension scores vary are predictive of employee attitudes, customer satisfaction, and organizational financial performance (Dickson et al., 2006; Joyce & Slocum, 1984; Jackofsky & Slocum, 1988; Gonzalez-Roma, Peiro, & Zornoza, 1999; Litwin & Stringer, 1968; Schulte et al., 2009). The current study, then, tests a theoretical model of patient safety climate examining the configural nature of the construct. An archival dataset collected from seven hospitals located in a metropolitan area of the southeastern United States was utilized to test study hypotheses. Data was collected from 3,149 individuals nested within 84 hospital units using the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (Sorra & Nieva, 2004). Unit level patient safety and patient willingness to recommend was collected by the hospital risk management and nursing administration departments. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM7; Raudenbush, Bryk, Cheong, Congdon, & du Toit, 2011) was utilized to test hypotheses regarding antecedents of individual level perceptions of patient safety climate to account for the fact that individuals were nested within hospital units. Traditional multiple regression analyses were utilized to test unit level hypotheses examining the relationships between unit level patient safety climate and patient outcomes. Results indicated that unit membership was significantly related to individual climate perceptions-specifically, individual-level climate profile elevation. In turn, individual climate profile elevation and profile variability were related to employee willingness to recommend their organization to family and friends in need of care. At the unit level of analysis, climate profile variability was significantly related to patient willingness to recommend the organization to others, and climate shape was found to be related to patient safety. Furthermore, these results were not dependent on climate strength. The current study meaningfully contributes to the conceptual understanding of the patient safety climate construct by examining the degree to which configural aspects of the construct are predictive of important outcomes across multiple levels of analysis. In this way, it extends beyond existing studies of climate configurations to examine relationships at multiple levels of analysis and to also examine the moderating effects of climate strength. Practically, results provide insight into how the construct of patient safety climate can be used diagnostically and prescriptively to improve patient care and the working environment for providers. In addition to contributing to the theoretical understanding of the patient safety climate construct, this study also augments the evidence-base available to administrators, front-line providers, and regulators regarding how patient safety climate can be used to guide and align quality improvement efforts for greatest impact.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003992, ucf:48668
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003992
- Title
- A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS OFTEACHING PRESENCE WITHIN THE FLORIDA ONLINE READING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.
- Creator
-
Stevison, Melinda, Hahs-Vaughn, Debbie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The Community of Inquiry model provides a framework for recognizing and evaluating interpersonal behaviors in online educational settings. One of its three components, teaching presence (TP), describes those behaviors that are under the auspices of the online instructor. By examining these interactions and behaviors through the theoretical lens provided by teaching presence, and by measuring them with the Teaching Presence Scale (TPS), it may be possible to gain greater understanding of the...
Show moreThe Community of Inquiry model provides a framework for recognizing and evaluating interpersonal behaviors in online educational settings. One of its three components, teaching presence (TP), describes those behaviors that are under the auspices of the online instructor. By examining these interactions and behaviors through the theoretical lens provided by teaching presence, and by measuring them with the Teaching Presence Scale (TPS), it may be possible to gain greater understanding of the practices employed most effectively by online instructors. This dissertation describes the background, theoretical and empirical foundations, methods, and results of a study on TP. The purpose of the study was threefold: to validate the use of the TPS in an online professional development setting outside of the higher education context in which it was designed and tested; to confirm the factor composition of TP among facilitators in an online professional development course; and to determine the extent and direction of the relationship between teaching presence and student satisfaction. The participants in this study (n = 718) were in-service educators enrolled at the Florida Online Reading Professional Development program. They responded to an instrument that included the 28 original TPS questions, plus 17 student satisfaction and 11 demographic items. Confirmatory factor analysis and Pearson's correlation were used to answer the three research questions and corresponding hypotheses. The research questions were answered in the affirmative, and the null hypotheses rejected. There was support for the use of the TPS in an online professional development setting (all 28 TPS items loaded as hypothesized on the three TP factors); support for a three-factor model of TP using 17 of the 28 TPS items (X2 [116, N = 718] = 115.56, p = .49, CFI = .999; NNFI = .999; SRMR = .02; and RMSEA = .03); and evidence of a strong relationship between components of TP and student satisfaction (statistically significant correlations [p < .001] between TP and student satisfaction, r2 values ranging from .25 to .57). A discussion of the results, implications for practice, implications for further research, and limitations of the study were presented following the data analysis.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002941, ucf:47985
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002941
- Title
- A CONSTRUCTIONIST ANALYSIS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.
- Creator
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Nead, Sandra, Lynxwiler, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Same-sex marriage has been heavily debated in academics and in the public sphere. During the 2004 Presidential election same-sex marriage became an issue that polarized the candidates. It has become a lightning rod for public debate. Due to the increasing attention to the controversy of legalizing same-sex marriage, it is an important topic for research. This paper seeks to contribute to the research of same-sex marriage by providing insight into claims-making efforts to define same-sex...
Show moreSame-sex marriage has been heavily debated in academics and in the public sphere. During the 2004 Presidential election same-sex marriage became an issue that polarized the candidates. It has become a lightning rod for public debate. Due to the increasing attention to the controversy of legalizing same-sex marriage, it is an important topic for research. This paper seeks to contribute to the research of same-sex marriage by providing insight into claims-making efforts to define same-sex marriage as a social problem. My findings shed light on this topic from a social constructionist perspective by examining the use of rhetorical idioms of the claims made by opposing parties in the debate over same-sex marriage as it relates to the court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000662, ucf:46552
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000662
- Title
- A CONSUMER-BASED ASSESSMENT OF ALLIANCE PERFORMANCE: AN EXAMINATION OF CONSUMER VALUE, SATISFACTION AND POST-PURCHASE BEHAVIOR.
- Creator
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Mouri, Nacef, Ganesh, Jai, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Strategic alliances have become a recognized strategy used by firms in the pursuit of their diverse organizational objectives. Consequently, the literature on alliances is replete with research investigating the value strategic alliances generate for participating organizations. Strategic alliances have been shown to contribute to firm value through numerous sources, including scale economies, effective risk management, cost efficient market entries, and learning from partners. Largely...
Show moreStrategic alliances have become a recognized strategy used by firms in the pursuit of their diverse organizational objectives. Consequently, the literature on alliances is replete with research investigating the value strategic alliances generate for participating organizations. Strategic alliances have been shown to contribute to firm value through numerous sources, including scale economies, effective risk management, cost efficient market entries, and learning from partners. Largely overlooked in the literature however, are issues investigating the relationship between strategic alliances and one of the organization's most important constituents, the consumer. Questions such as how the consumer reacts to inter-firm alliances, how strategic alliances impact consumer value, satisfaction, and customer post-purchase behavior have yet to be answered. This lacuna has been recently highlighted by prominent researchers in the discipline (Rindfleisch and Moorman 2003). Focusing on marketing alliances, the present dissertation attempts to address this gap in the alliance literature by advancing and testing a theoretical framework examining consumers' cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to organizational strategic alliances. The dissertation also contributes to the satisfaction literature. Scholars in this area have traditionally viewed satisfaction as a cognitive response to the comparison of actual consumption experiences with some comparison standard (confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm). Recently however, there have been increasing calls for satisfaction measures to capture not just how the customer thinks the product performed relative to the comparison standard, but also the resulting customer emotion. The study provides additional support of an affective route to customer satisfaction, particularly when customer hedonic value is enhanced. Moreover, the association between customer satisfaction and behavioral outcomes is also examined. While prior research shows that satisfaction is positively related to loyalty and word of mouth and negatively related to intentions to switch, it was found that these relationships are even stronger in the presence of alliances. The results of this dissertation provide important theoretical and managerial insights. The strategic alliance literature is enhanced insofar as this is the first effort aimed at investigating the impact of strategic alliances on the consumer. The study examines the relationship between marketing alliances and customer value, particularly utilitarian and hedonic value, as well as the moderating role of alliance type (functional or symbolic) in this relationship. From a managerial perspective, engaging in strategic alliances is strategically critical and costly. By providing insight into how alliances enhance consumer value, and how in turn value enhancement is related to customer satisfaction and behavioral outcomes, the present research will help managers make more appropriate and better-informed alliance decisions.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000744, ucf:46594
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000744
- Title
- A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION HEADLINES OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES AND THE WASHINGTON TIMES.
- Creator
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McCluskey, Maureen, Costain, Gene, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Previous research suggested Election 2004 involved many issue regimes and wedge issues (Kaplan, 2004; Drum, 2004; Fagan & Dinan, 2004). Preceding research proposed that the American perception of presidential candidates has been somewhat based on the mass media's increasing priming and agenda setting techniques (Scheufele, 2000; Kiousis & McCombs, 2004). Hence the research addressed two questions: Is there a bias for or against either candidate in the headlines of the Los Angeles Times and...
Show morePrevious research suggested Election 2004 involved many issue regimes and wedge issues (Kaplan, 2004; Drum, 2004; Fagan & Dinan, 2004). Preceding research proposed that the American perception of presidential candidates has been somewhat based on the mass media's increasing priming and agenda setting techniques (Scheufele, 2000; Kiousis & McCombs, 2004). Hence the research addressed two questions: Is there a bias for or against either candidate in the headlines of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Times? If there is bias, which issues tended to produce the most positive, negative and neutral results? All election headlines, from February to November 2004, pertaining to a specific candidate were recorded and analyzed. The researcher chose to study headlines because they convey the newsworthiness of the story and former research confirms that reader perceptions of a news account can depend on the headline (Pfau, 1995; Tannenbaum, 1953). This study utilized content analysis to assess the word choices and biases of the headlines of the two newspapers. The researcher created definitions for coding, trained two coders, and analyzed and discussed the results. The main findings were the Washington Times contained more headlines that were pro-Bush, while the Los Angeles Times contained more headlines that were pro-Kerry. The key issues that reflected bias included that candidate's campaign, homeland security, and values.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000442, ucf:46395
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000442
- Title
- A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION HEADLINES OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES AND THE WASHINGTON TIMES.
- Creator
-
McCluskey, Maureen, Costain, Gene, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Previous research suggested Election 2004 involved many issue regimes and wedge issues (Kaplan, 2004; Drum, 2004; Fagan & Dinan, 2004). Preceding research proposed that the American perception of presidential candidates has been somewhat based on the mass media's increasing priming and agenda setting techniques (Scheufele, 2000; Kiousis & McCombs, 2004). Hence the research addressed two questions: Is there a bias for or against either candidate in the headlines of The Washington Times and The...
Show morePrevious research suggested Election 2004 involved many issue regimes and wedge issues (Kaplan, 2004; Drum, 2004; Fagan & Dinan, 2004). Preceding research proposed that the American perception of presidential candidates has been somewhat based on the mass media's increasing priming and agenda setting techniques (Scheufele, 2000; Kiousis & McCombs, 2004). Hence the research addressed two questions: Is there a bias for or against either candidate in the headlines of The Washington Times and The Los Angeles Times? If there is bias, which issues tend to produce the most positive, negative and neutral results? All election headlines from February to November 2004 that pertained to a specific candidate were recorded and analyzed. The researcher chose to study headlines because they convey the newsworthiness of the story and former research confirms that reader perceptions of a news account can depend on the headline (Pfau, 1995; Tannenbaum, 1953). This study utilized content analysis to assess the word choices and biases of the headlines of the two newspapers. The researcher created definitions for coding, trained two coders, and analyzed and discussed the results. The main findings were The Washington Times contained more headlines that were pro-Bush, while The Los Angeles Times contained more headlines that were pro-Kerry. The key issues that reflected bias included that candidate's campaign, homeland security, and values.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000550, ucf:46445
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000550
- Title
- A content analysis of developmental education in the community college from the Chronicle of Higher Education (2010 - 2015).
- Creator
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Mezquita, Jennifer, Cintron Delgado, Rosa, Owens, J. Thomas, Preston, Michael, Molina, Olga, Penfold Navarro, Catherine, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to examine how developmental education in community colleges has been reported in one of the most prominent newspapers in higher education, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Using Framing Media Theory (de Vreese, 2005; Entman, 1993; Scheufele, 2000; Semetko (&) Valkenburg, 2000), 31 articles published from 2010 to 2015 were analyzed to explore the scope of attention given to developmental education, the frame devices used to describe the...
Show moreThe purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to examine how developmental education in community colleges has been reported in one of the most prominent newspapers in higher education, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Using Framing Media Theory (de Vreese, 2005; Entman, 1993; Scheufele, 2000; Semetko (&) Valkenburg, 2000), 31 articles published from 2010 to 2015 were analyzed to explore the scope of attention given to developmental education, the frame devices used to describe the topic, and how the dominant frames changed from 2010 to 2015. The final results of this study indicated that the dominant frames associated with developmental education were human interest, economic consequences, and conflict. Among those dominant frames, three themes were identified based on their saliency(-) external influencers, expert authorities, and the college completion agenda. The majority of the articles focused on what external influencers were proposing or doing to change developmental education through the economic consequences frame to increase the college completion rate. Expert authorities focused on refuting much of the external influencers' claims through the human interest frame by presenting success stories with inconclusive data to support their claims. The researcher viewed the exchange between external influencers and expert authorities as a battlefield, defined by the conflict frame, between two forces over developmental education and the college completion agenda.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006481, ucf:51416
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006481
- Title
- A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ELITE U.S. NEWSPAPERSÂÂ' COVERAGE OF IRAN, 1979 AND 2005.
- Creator
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Kamal, Melissa, Akita, Kimiko, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study is a quantitative content analysis of the New York Times and Washington Post coverage of Iran during the period surrounding the Ayatollah KhomeiniÂÂ's ascension to power in 1979 as well as the period surrounding Mahmoud AhmadinejadÂÂ's election in 2005. The results showed that coverage of Iran in the elite American print media as it related to terror was higher in the period after Khomeini came to power and also in the period after...
Show moreThis study is a quantitative content analysis of the New York Times and Washington Post coverage of Iran during the period surrounding the Ayatollah KhomeiniÂÂ's ascension to power in 1979 as well as the period surrounding Mahmoud AhmadinejadÂÂ's election in 2005. The results showed that coverage of Iran in the elite American print media as it related to terror was higher in the period after Khomeini came to power and also in the period after AhmadinejadÂÂ's election than it was in the period immediately preceding their respective ascensions. The results also showed that there was more coverage of Iran as it related to terror in the year surrounding AhmadinejadÂÂ's election than there was during the year surrounding Ayatollah KhomeiniÂÂ's rise to power in Iran.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003077, ucf:48331
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003077
- Title
- A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH TO LEARNING COLLABORATIVE BEHAVIOR VIA OBSERVATION.
- Creator
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Johnson, Cynthia, Gonzalez, Avelino, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation describes a novel technique to creating a simulated team of agents through observation. Simulated human teamwork can be used for a number of purposes, such as expert examples, automated teammates for training purposes and realistic opponents in games and training simulation. Current teamwork simulations require the team member behaviors be programmed into the simulation, often requiring a great deal of time and effort. None are able to observe a team at work and replicate...
Show moreThis dissertation describes a novel technique to creating a simulated team of agents through observation. Simulated human teamwork can be used for a number of purposes, such as expert examples, automated teammates for training purposes and realistic opponents in games and training simulation. Current teamwork simulations require the team member behaviors be programmed into the simulation, often requiring a great deal of time and effort. None are able to observe a team at work and replicate the teamwork behaviors. Machine learning techniques for learning by observation and learning by demonstration have proven successful at observing behavior of humans or other software agents and creating a behavior function for a single agent. The research described here combines current research in teamwork simulations and learning by observation to effectively train a multi-agent system in effective team behavior. The dissertation describes the background and work by others as well as a detailed description of the learning method. A prototype built to evaluate the developed approach as well as the extensive experimentation conducted is also described.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003602, ucf:48869
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003602
- Title
- A Contextual Approach to Real Time, Interactive Narrative Generation.
- Creator
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Hollister, James, Richie, Samuel, Weeks, Arthur, Wanielista, Martin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Oral story telling has become a lost art of family histories because social media and technology have taken over the personal interactions that once passed on the important stories and facts from generation to generation. This dissertation presents and evaluates a method of generating a narrative with input from the listener without actually forcing him or her to become an actual character in the narrative. This system is called CAMPFIRE Story Telling System (STS) and employs a contextual...
Show moreOral story telling has become a lost art of family histories because social media and technology have taken over the personal interactions that once passed on the important stories and facts from generation to generation. This dissertation presents and evaluates a method of generating a narrative with input from the listener without actually forcing him or her to become an actual character in the narrative. This system is called CAMPFIRE Story Telling System (STS) and employs a contextual approach to story generation. This system uses the Cooperating Context Method (CCM) to generate and tell dynamic stories in real time and can be modified by the listener. CCM was created to overcome the weaknesses found in other contextual approaches during story generation while still meeting the design criteria of 1) being able to plan out a story; 2) being able to create a narrative that is entertaining to the listener; and 3) being able to modify the story that could incorporate the listener's request in the story. The CCM process begins by creating a list of tasks by analyzing the current situation. A list of contexts is narrowed down through a series of algorithms into two lists: high priority and low priority lists. These lists are analyzed and a set of context best suited to handle the tasks are selected. The CAMPFIRE STS was rigorously assessed for its functionality, novelty, and user acceptance as well as the time needed to modify the knowledge base. These evaluations showed that the CAMPFIRE STS has the ability to create novel stories using the same knowledge base. A group of 38 test subjects used and evaluated CAMPFIRE STS with respect to its use for children, story entertainment, story creativity and the system's ease of use answering a extensive survey of 54 questions. The survey showed that CAMPFIRE STS can create stories appropriate for bedtime stories with some minor modifications and that the generated stories are novel and entertaining stories, and that it was an easy system to use.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006687, ucf:51923
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006687
- Title
- A Continuous Hydrologic Model Structure for Applications at Multiple Time Scales.
- Creator
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Griffen, Jonathan, Wang, Dingbao, O'Reilly, Andrew, Medeiros, Stephen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
There are many different controlling factors on the partitioning of rainfall into runoff. However, the influence of each of these controls varies across different temporal scales. Consequently, numerous water balance models have been developed in the literature for application across various time scales. These models are usually developed for a particular time scale so that the controls with the greatest influence on rainfall partitioning are captured. For example, the SCS curve number method...
Show moreThere are many different controlling factors on the partitioning of rainfall into runoff. However, the influence of each of these controls varies across different temporal scales. Consequently, numerous water balance models have been developed in the literature for application across various time scales. These models are usually developed for a particular time scale so that the controls with the greatest influence on rainfall partitioning are captured. For example, the SCS curve number method was developed to simulate direct runoff at the event scale; the (")abcd(") model was developed as a monthly water balance model; and the Budyko model was developed for long-term water balance. More recently, the proportionality hypothesis, which traces its origins from the SCS curve number method, has been identified as the commonality between these three hydrologic models, suggesting that this hypothesis may be the unifying principle of hydrologic models across various time scales.The objective of this thesis is to develop a conceptual hydrologic model structure for continuous simulations for multiple time scales. The developed model is applicable to daily, monthly, and annual time scales.Direct runoff is computed by a proportionality relationship in the SCS curve number method. In the (")abcd(") model, evapotranspiration and storage at the end of each time period are computed by a proportionality relationship, however evapotranspiration is computed based on an exponential relationship of storage and potential evapotranspiration while base flow is computed based on a linear reservoir model. In the Budyko model, runoff and evapotranspiration are computed by a proportionality relationship.The primary difference with the proposed model in this thesis in comparison with the other three water balance models is the application of the proportionality hypothesis to the partitioning of surface runoff and continuing abstraction as well as the partitioning of continuing evapotranspiration and subsurface flow.The proposed model structure is implemented in Matlab. The developed model includes six parameters, which are estimated for 71 case study catchments in the United States using a genetic algorithm. The model performances at the daily, monthly and annual time scales are evaluated during calibration and validation periods, and compared with the (")abcd(") model and a Budyko-type model developed for multiple time scales.Evaluation of the models shows that the proposed model performs better or comparable to the other models at all time scales.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005173, ucf:50672
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005173
