Current Search: Mark, Mark (x)
View All Items
Pages
- Title
- NONLINEAR STABILIZATION AND CONTROL OF MEDIUM RANGE SURFACE TO AIR INTERCEPTOR MISSILES.
- Creator
-
Snyder, Mark, Qu, Zhihua, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Nonlinear stabilization and control autopilots are capable of sustaining nominal performance throughout the entire fight envelope an interceptor missile may encounter during hostile engagements and require no gain scheduling to maintain autopilot stability. Due to non minimum phase conditions characteristic of tail controlled missile airframes, a separation of time scales within the dynamic equations of motion between rotational and translational differential equations was enforced to...
Show moreNonlinear stabilization and control autopilots are capable of sustaining nominal performance throughout the entire fight envelope an interceptor missile may encounter during hostile engagements and require no gain scheduling to maintain autopilot stability. Due to non minimum phase conditions characteristic of tail controlled missile airframes, a separation of time scales within the dynamic equations of motion between rotational and translational differential equations was enforced to overcome unstable effects of non minimum phase. Dynamic inversion techniques are then applied to derive linearizing equations which, when injected forward into the plant result in a fully controllable linear system. Objectives of the two time scale control architecture are to stabilize vehicle rotational rates while at the same time controlling acceleration within the lateral plane of the vehicle under rapidly increasing dynamic pressure. Full 6 degree of freedom dynamic terms including all coriolis accelerations due to translational and rotational dynamic coupling have been taken into account in the inversion process. The result is a very stable, nonlinear autopilot with fixed control gains fully capable of stable nonlinear missile control. Several actuator systems were also designed to explore the destabilizing effects second order nonlinear actuator characteristics can have on nonlinear autopilot designs.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002566, ucf:48268
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002566
- Title
- ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LEVEL OF EDUCATIONAL COMPUTER GAME USE AND MILKEN EXEMPLAR TEACHER INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES.
- Creator
-
Dahan Marks, Yaela, Proctor, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This research examines the nature and level of educational computer-based game techniques adoption by Milken Educator Award winning teachers in achieving success in their classrooms. The focus of the research is on their level of acceptance of educational computer-based games and the nature of game usage to increase student performance in the classroom. With Davis' (1985) Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1985) as the conceptual framework, the research also examines how teachers'...
Show moreThis research examines the nature and level of educational computer-based game techniques adoption by Milken Educator Award winning teachers in achieving success in their classrooms. The focus of the research is on their level of acceptance of educational computer-based games and the nature of game usage to increase student performance in the classroom. With Davis' (1985) Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1985) as the conceptual framework, the research also examines how teachers' perceptions of educational computer-based games influence their willingness to incorporate these teaching methods in their classroom. The approach utilizes a descriptive survey to develop and evaluate responses from exemplar teachers about the level and nature of their use (or lack thereof) of educational computer-based games and implementation in the classroom. Further, this research seeks to identify successful and unsuccessful techniques in the use of educational computer-based games in the classroom. In addition, data collection and analysis will seek to identify the strength of relationships between content-specific educational computer-based games and subject; educational computer-based games and gender; educational computer-based games and age; etc. A teacher who is exemplary as defined by Milken Educator Awards possesses, "exceptional educational talent as evidenced by effective instructional practices and student learning results in the classroom and school". Survey findings are placed within the Technology Acceptance Model framework developed by Davis.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003682, ucf:48811
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003682
- Title
- CONVENTIONAL AND ZVT SYNCHRONOUS BUCK CONVERTER DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND MEASUREMENT.
- Creator
-
Cory, Mark, Yuan, Jiann, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The role played by power converting circuits is extremely important to almost any electronic system built today. Circuits that use converters of any type depend on power that is consistent in form and reliable in order to properly function. In addition, todayÃÂ's demands require more efficient use of energy, from large stationary systems such as power plants all the way down to small mobile devices such as laptops and cell phones. This places a need to reduce any losses...
Show moreThe role played by power converting circuits is extremely important to almost any electronic system built today. Circuits that use converters of any type depend on power that is consistent in form and reliable in order to properly function. In addition, todayÃÂ's demands require more efficient use of energy, from large stationary systems such as power plants all the way down to small mobile devices such as laptops and cell phones. This places a need to reduce any losses to a minimum. The power conversion circuitry in a system is a very good place to reduce a large amount of unnecessary loss. This can be done using circuit topologies that are low loss in nature. For low loss and high performance, soft switching topologies have offered solutions in some cases. Also, limited study has been performed on device aging effects on switching mode power converting circuits. The impact of this effect on a converterÃÂ's overall efficiency is theoretically known but with little experimental evidence in support. In this thesis, non-isolated buck type switching converters will be the main focus. This type of power conversion is widely used in many systems for DC to DC voltage step down. Newer methods and topologies to raise converter power efficiency are discussed, including a new synchronous ZVT topology . Also, a study has been performed on device aging effects on converter efficiency. Various scenarios of voltage conversion, switching frequency, and circuit components as well as other conditions have been considered. Experimental testing has been performed in both cases, ZVTÃÂ's benefits and device aging effects, the results of which are discussed as well.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003106, ucf:48650
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003106
- Title
- Leader Psychology and Civil War Behavior.
- Creator
-
Smith, Gary, Schafer, Mark, Kang, Kyungkook, Powell, Jonathan, Walker, Stephen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
How do the psychological characteristics of world leaders affect civil wars? Multiple studies have investigated how the personalities and beliefs of world leaders affect foreign policy preferences and outcomes. However, this research has yet to be applied to the intrastate context, which is problematic, given the growing importance of civil wars in the conflict-studies literature. This dissertation project utilizes at-a-distance profiling methods to investigate how leaders and their...
Show moreHow do the psychological characteristics of world leaders affect civil wars? Multiple studies have investigated how the personalities and beliefs of world leaders affect foreign policy preferences and outcomes. However, this research has yet to be applied to the intrastate context, which is problematic, given the growing importance of civil wars in the conflict-studies literature. This dissertation project utilizes at-a-distance profiling methods to investigate how leaders and their psychological characteristics can affect the likelihood, severity, and duration of civil conflicts. The findings of this research provide further support for the general hypothesis that leaders can, and often do, matter when trying to explain policy outcomes. More importantly, the findings demonstrate that leaders can influence the likelihood of civil war onset, the severity of civil wars, and their duration. Additionally, this project investigates the effect that civil war severity has on the psychological characteristics of leaders. Contrary to some previous research, however, the findings here indicate that leaders' psychology may not be sensitive to civil conflict severity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007375, ucf:52089
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007375
- Title
- Group Composition Characteristics as Predictors of Shared Leadership: An Exploration of Competing Models of Shared Leadership Emergence.
- Creator
-
Currie, Richard, Ehrhart, Mark, Burke, Shawn, Jex, Steve, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The study of leadership in organizations has received much research attention over the past several decades. However, most of this research has examined hierarchical structures of leadership wherein one individual leads, or is perceived to lead, several other individuals. With a growing number of organizations structuring employees within teams or work groups, researchers have begun studying the ways in which leadership operates in groups. One alternative to the traditional hierarchical...
Show moreThe study of leadership in organizations has received much research attention over the past several decades. However, most of this research has examined hierarchical structures of leadership wherein one individual leads, or is perceived to lead, several other individuals. With a growing number of organizations structuring employees within teams or work groups, researchers have begun studying the ways in which leadership operates in groups. One alternative to the traditional hierarchical structure is for leadership to be distributed or shared in groups such that multiple group members contribute to the overall leadership function of the group. As a result, researchers have begun examining the construct of shared leadership, which is defined as the extent to which multiple group members share in the leadership function of the group. Because shared leadership is a relatively new concept in the research literature, our knowledge of the antecedents of shared leadership is limited. The primary aim of the present research was to explore group composition as a potential antecedent of shared leadership in teams. Group composition was examined in terms of the agreeableness, extraversion, collectivistic work orientation, and trait competitiveness within the group. Mean, minimum/maximum, and variance models of group composition were employed in the present research. A sample of 385 participants comprised a total of 97 groups of three to six individuals to complete a leaderless group discussion exercise and completed measures of shared leadership after completing the group exercise. Results from a series of hierarchical linear regression analyses found no significant relationships between any of predictors and shared leadership using either a social network analysis or a referent-shift approach. Given the short amount of time group members worked on the group task, a clear implication of these findings is that shared leadership requires adequate time to manifest in groups.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007446, ucf:52694
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007446
- Title
- Cognitive and vascular risk factors for depression: Testing an integrated theoretical framework.
- Creator
-
Scott, Rosanna, Paulson, Daniel, Rapport, Mark, Dvorak, Robert, Dangiolo, Mariana, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Objective: Theoretical models that have guided the study of later-life depression include the vascular depression hypothesis, depression-executive dysfunction syndrome, and the CaR-FA-X model. Evidence suggests these can be integrated into a single developmental model of disordered mood (and its associated overgeneral memory feature) in later-life to delineate a mechanism of the vascular depression effect and identify modifiable intervention targets.Methods: In older adults, four serial...
Show moreObjective: Theoretical models that have guided the study of later-life depression include the vascular depression hypothesis, depression-executive dysfunction syndrome, and the CaR-FA-X model. Evidence suggests these can be integrated into a single developmental model of disordered mood (and its associated overgeneral memory feature) in later-life to delineate a mechanism of the vascular depression effect and identify modifiable intervention targets.Methods: In older adults, four serial mediation models evaluated the relationships between (1) vascular burden and depressive symptoms via executive control and rumination, and (2) vascular burden and autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) via executive control and rumination. In younger adults, four simple mediation models were conducted to compare results to older adults, including models assessing the relationships between (1) executive control and depressive symptoms via rumination, and (2) executive control and AMS via rumination. Bias-corrected bootstrapping was employed throughout.Results: Older adult n=56; younger adult n=63. Older adult serial mediation models demonstrated significant individual relationships between a working memory measure and depressive symptoms, as well as between rumination and depressive symptoms. The vascular depression effect neared significance. No other direct or indirect effects were supported. In younger adults, rumination was significantly associated with depressive symptoms; all other hypothesized relationships were not significant.Conclusions: Model 1, evaluating the impact of vascular burden on depressive symptoms in older adults via working memory and rumination, respectively, was the most effective in integrating vascular depression, DED, and CaR-FA-X. However, there was not support for a vascular depression mechanism. Null results in this sample could be attributable to inadequate power or measurement error. Clinically, results promote interventions that target older adults presenting with depression, executive dysfunction, or rumination, independently or combined.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007860, ucf:52759
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007860
- Title
- Eye Movements and Spatial Ability: Influences on Thinking During Analogical Problem Solving.
- Creator
-
Schroeder, Bradford, Sims, Valerie, Szalma, James, Neider, Mark, Gill, Michele, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Classic studies have examined the factors that influence the way in which people can solve difficult (")insight(") problems, which require creative solutions. Recent research has shown that guiding one's eye movements in a pattern spatially congruent with the solution improves the likelihood of formulating a spatial solution. The authors in this line of research argued that guiding eye movements in a pattern spatially equivalent to the solution of the problem yields an embodied cognitive...
Show moreClassic studies have examined the factors that influence the way in which people can solve difficult (")insight(") problems, which require creative solutions. Recent research has shown that guiding one's eye movements in a pattern spatially congruent with the solution improves the likelihood of formulating a spatial solution. The authors in this line of research argued that guiding eye movements in a pattern spatially equivalent to the solution of the problem yields an embodied cognitive benefit that aids problem solving. Specifically, guiding eye movements leads to the generation of a mental representation containing perceptual information that helps a problem solver mentally simulate the problem features, increasing likelihood to generate a solution to the problem. However, evidence from a small but critically relevant area of research supports that this embodied effect may be more simply a creativity-priming effect. The proposed research aimed to disentangle these ideas while addressing other research questions of interest: do embodied problem solving benefits transfer to later problem solving? Do individual differences in spatial ability influence how people solve these problems? The present study combined previously established methodologies in problem solving and analogical problem solving to investigate these research questions. Results of the present work tentatively support the embodied priming effect, mediated by a creativity-priming effect that influences problem solving performance. Both effects emerged after manipulating problem solvers' eye movements. There is also modest support for a link between spatial ability and analogical problem solving, but not initial problem solving. These results are interpreted through the lens of embodied cognitive theory, providing tentative support that guiding eye movements can influence reasoning through an enhancement of creativity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007366, ucf:52079
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007366
- Title
- Noise Thinks the Anthropocene: An Experiment in Noise Poetics.
- Creator
-
Zwintscher, Aaron, Mauer, Barry, Grajeda, Anthony, Rounsaville, Angela, Schafer, Mark, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This dissertation is a textual experiment in noise poetics. It is an experiment in that it results from indeterminate means, alternative grammar, and experimental thinking. The outcome was not predetermined. Noise poetics is the use of noise to explain, elucidate, and evoke (akin to other poetic forms) within the textual milieu in a manner that seeks to be less determinate and more improvisational than conventional writing. This text argues that noise poetics is a necessary form for...
Show moreThis dissertation is a textual experiment in noise poetics. It is an experiment in that it results from indeterminate means, alternative grammar, and experimental thinking. The outcome was not predetermined. Noise poetics is the use of noise to explain, elucidate, and evoke (akin to other poetic forms) within the textual milieu in a manner that seeks to be less determinate and more improvisational than conventional writing. This text argues that noise poetics is a necessary form for addressing political inequality, coexistence with the (nonhuman) other, the ecological crisis, and sustainability because it approaches these issues as system of interconnected fragments and excesses and thus has the potential to reach or envision solutions in novel ways. The experiment draws quotations and fragments from a diverse collection of noise theory texts, arranged and assembled via indeterminate cut-up methods based on the work of several prominent artists and theorists (John Cage and William Burroughs among them). The experimental text (contained in full in Appendix B) was then edited and added to in order to craft the textual project into an argument for noise poetics that followed the juxtaposed lines of thought towards possible conclusions and practical applications. This project coincided with and was supplemented by bruit jouissance, a multimedia audiovisual noise project (contained and explicated in Appendix A). The two projects together are two applications of thoryvology (an articulation of noise theory created and presented within the text) and as complementary methods of viewing and understanding each other.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006679, ucf:51911
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006679
- Title
- Life, Death, and Awakening: As Seen in Reflections of Nature.
- Creator
-
Parks, Diane, Poindexter, Carla, Kim, Joo, Kovach, Keith, Price, Mark, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
My objective, in undertaking this three year MFA degree has been to create and produce metaphorical paintings which communicate my deepest feelings about my personal experiences of life, death, and nature using various types of landscapes as subject matter. My goal has been to explore many processes of painting, using a range of color palettes to suggest and inspire emotional responses from viewers that are similar to my own. Ultimately my intention has been to share feelings of empathy...
Show moreMy objective, in undertaking this three year MFA degree has been to create and produce metaphorical paintings which communicate my deepest feelings about my personal experiences of life, death, and nature using various types of landscapes as subject matter. My goal has been to explore many processes of painting, using a range of color palettes to suggest and inspire emotional responses from viewers that are similar to my own. Ultimately my intention has been to share feelings of empathy between myself and a viewer through the art I've produced. This thesis body of work chronicles my three year journey.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007072, ucf:52002
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007072
- Title
- Categorical Change: Exploring the Effects of Concept Drift in Human Perceptual Category Learning.
- Creator
-
Wismer, Andrew, Bohil, Corey, Szalma, James, Neider, Mark, Gluck, Kevin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Categorization is an essential survival skill that we engage in daily. A multitude of behavioral and neuropsychological evidence support the existence of multiple learning systems involved in category learning. COmpetition between Verbal and Implicit Systems (COVIS) theory provides a neuropsychological basis for the existence of an explicit and implicit learning system involved in the learning of category rules. COVIS provides a convincing account of asymptotic performance in human category...
Show moreCategorization is an essential survival skill that we engage in daily. A multitude of behavioral and neuropsychological evidence support the existence of multiple learning systems involved in category learning. COmpetition between Verbal and Implicit Systems (COVIS) theory provides a neuropsychological basis for the existence of an explicit and implicit learning system involved in the learning of category rules. COVIS provides a convincing account of asymptotic performance in human category learning. However, COVIS (-) and virtually all current theories of category learning (-) focus solely on categories and decision environments that remain stationary over time. However, our environment is dynamic, and we often need to adapt our decision making to account for environmental or categorical changes. Machine learning addresses this significant challenge through what is termed concept drift. Concept drift occurs any time a data distribution changes over time. This dissertation draws from two key characteristics of concept drift in machine learning known to impact the performance of learning models, and in-so-doing provides the first systematic exploration of concept drift (i.e., categorical change) in human perceptual category learning. Four experiments, each including one key change parameter (category base-rates, payoffs, or category structure [RB/II]), investigated the effect of rate of change (abrupt, gradual) and awareness of change (foretold or not) on decision criterion adaptation. Critically, Experiments 3 and 4 evaluated differences in categorical adaptation within explicit and implicit category learning tasks to determine if rate and awareness of change moderated any learning system differences. The results of these experiments inform current category learning theory and provide information for machine learning models of decision support in non-stationary environments.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007114, ucf:51947
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007114
- Title
- Potential Relationship Between Vascular Depression and Autobiographical Memory Specificity in an Older Adult Population According to the CaR-FA-X Model.
- Creator
-
Herrera Legon, Manuel, Paulson, Daniel, Rapport, Mark, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Vascular depression is a type of depression that has its onset later in life, and it has been associated with cardiovascular or metabolic diseases. Depression can be costly and associated with other health problems, which is why it becomes imperative to uncover the multiple mechanisms of action for depression symptomatology. A proposed mechanism of action for the emergence of depressive symptomatology is poor autobiographical memory specificity according to the CaR-FA-X model. However, it...
Show moreVascular depression is a type of depression that has its onset later in life, and it has been associated with cardiovascular or metabolic diseases. Depression can be costly and associated with other health problems, which is why it becomes imperative to uncover the multiple mechanisms of action for depression symptomatology. A proposed mechanism of action for the emergence of depressive symptomatology is poor autobiographical memory specificity according to the CaR-FA-X model. However, it remains unclear whether this mechanism contributes somehow to the vascular depression specific type. The purpose of this research was to determine the potential relationship between the mechanisms proposed by the CaR-FA-X model and the presence of vascular depression, which has not been addressed by previous literature or research. Forty three older adults over the age of seventy from the Orlando area completed multiple measures including the Geriatric Depression Scale, Autobiographical Memory Test, and physiological measures. Results showed no support for a relationship between CaR-FA-X model elements and vascular depression; however, support was found for the relationship between cerebrovascular burden and depression as proposed by the vascular depression theory with rumination serving as a moderator. To our knowledge, this is the first time a study finds the moderating effect of rumination in the development of vascular depression. Further studies will need to address other potential mechanisms that increase risk for this specific type of depression as well as investigate the reasons under which, if any, autobiographical memory specificity might be related to vascular depression by using other measures that might be more sensitive to a non-clinical population.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007014, ucf:52041
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007014
- Title
- Gee, Officer Krupke: An Actor's Casebook.
- Creator
-
Eichenlaub, Eric, Brotherton, Mark, Ingram, Kate, Niess, Christopher, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In 2016, I was cast as Officer Krupke in a production of West Side Story at Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF. Even though Krupke can be thought of as a minor character in the play, bringing him to life required a great deal of research and imagination. In order to ground myself in the reality of the role, I researched the effects of implicit bias in modern policing, applied that research to Uta Hagen's Nine Questions, and brought that knowledge into the rehearsal hall and...
Show moreIn 2016, I was cast as Officer Krupke in a production of West Side Story at Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF. Even though Krupke can be thought of as a minor character in the play, bringing him to life required a great deal of research and imagination. In order to ground myself in the reality of the role, I researched the effects of implicit bias in modern policing, applied that research to Uta Hagen's Nine Questions, and brought that knowledge into the rehearsal hall and onto the stage. I examined how my character's interactions with Lieutenant Schrank influenced his actions and attitudes toward both street gangs in the play and reflected on how my research and these performances changed my point of view and helped me recognize my own biases. This thesis reflects that process and will serve as a tool available to any actor seeking to create his or her own interpretation of Officer Krupke.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007327, ucf:52140
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007327
- Title
- Oculomotor Mechanisms Underlying Attentional Costs In Distracted Visual Search.
- Creator
-
Lewis, Joanna, Neider, Mark, Szalma, James, Schmidt, Joseph, Joseph, Dana, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Performance consequences have been long established when humans multitask. This research concerns the impact of distraction on the attentional shifts during a task that underlies many cognitive processes and everyday tasks, searching for a target item among non-target items (e.g., scanning the road for potential collisions). There is evidence that increasing the mental workload by introducing additional tasks influences our ability to search our environment or interferes with processing...
Show morePerformance consequences have been long established when humans multitask. This research concerns the impact of distraction on the attentional shifts during a task that underlies many cognitive processes and everyday tasks, searching for a target item among non-target items (e.g., scanning the road for potential collisions). There is evidence that increasing the mental workload by introducing additional tasks influences our ability to search our environment or interferes with processing fixated information. In the current studies, I aimed to evaluate the changes in gaze behaviors during visual search to evaluate how multitasking impairs our attentional processes. Participants completed a visual search task (search for a target T among distractor L's) while wearing a heads-up display (Google Glass) which displays an unrelated word during the dual task condition, while the control condition required participants to complete the search task without distraction. The changes in oculomotor behavior were observed in four experiments: (1) evaluating general oculomotor behavior during distraction, (2) masking the display onset of the secondary information during an eye movement to reduce the possibility of distraction from the word appearing, (3) removing any occlusion of stimuli from the heads-up display by having no visual overlap of the two tasks, and (4) evaluating whether oculomotor behaviors were similar to previous results when the nature of the distracting task changes in sensory modality. Participants typically took longer to respond when distracted, except for when the word onset was masked and the word was present auditorily. Oculomotor results indicated an increase in fixation durations (occasionally for the initial saccade latency as well) and a reduction of target fixations when participants were distracted by secondary information. These results suggest that secondary visual information can impact how humans search their environment in a fashion which increases their time to respond and impacts selective visual processing.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007039, ucf:51993
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007039
- Title
- Real People Acting Out Interpersonal Issues With Paper Representations.
- Creator
-
Dufner, Gary, Poindexter, Carla, Raimundi-Ortiz, Wanda, Price, Mark, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In this thesis body of work, I have interacted and collaborated with five friends to create images exploring human relationships. The subject matter illustrates my friends and myself acting out interpersonal issues with paper representations of one another. It has been my aim to represent my imagery in a campy thematic way. I include a discussion of the images in my body of work from both my perspective and the perspective of my models. The figurative paper images (")stand in(") as...
Show moreIn this thesis body of work, I have interacted and collaborated with five friends to create images exploring human relationships. The subject matter illustrates my friends and myself acting out interpersonal issues with paper representations of one another. It has been my aim to represent my imagery in a campy thematic way. I include a discussion of the images in my body of work from both my perspective and the perspective of my models. The figurative paper images (")stand in(") as representatives of the genders of their subjects.I have explored multiple points of view, constructing, reconstructing and deconstructing complex compositions; experimenting with a variety of focal points; and I have increased my knowledge of lighting and color effects through digital manipulation.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005607, ucf:52868
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005607
- Title
- Do multiple conditions elicit the visual redundant signals effect in simple response times?.
- Creator
-
Mishler, Ada, Neider, Mark, Lighthall, Nichole, Szalma, James, Joseph, Dana, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The redundant signals effect, or redundancy gain, is an increase in human processing efficiency when target redundancy is introduced into a display. An advantage for two visual signals over one has been found in a wide variety of speeded response time tasks, but does not always occur and may be weakened by some task parameters. These disparate results suggest that visual redundancy gain is not a unitary effect, but is instead based on different underlying mechanisms in different tasks. The...
Show moreThe redundant signals effect, or redundancy gain, is an increase in human processing efficiency when target redundancy is introduced into a display. An advantage for two visual signals over one has been found in a wide variety of speeded response time tasks, but does not always occur and may be weakened by some task parameters. These disparate results suggest that visual redundancy gain is not a unitary effect, but is instead based on different underlying mechanisms in different tasks. The current study synthesizes previous theories applied to redundancy gain into the three-conditions hypothesis, which states that visual redundancy gain depends on the presence of at least one of three factors: visual identicalness between multiple targets, familiarity with multiple similar targets, or prepotentiation for multiple different targets. In a series of four simple response time experiments, participants responded to single targets presented to one side of the visual field, or to bilateral targets presented to both sides of the visual field. The first three experiments each explored one condition, the first experiment by comparing identical to non-identical random shapes to examine visual identicalness, the second by comparing familiar to unfamiliar letters to examine familiarity, and the third by comparing previewed with non-previewed random shapes to examine prepotentiation. Finally, the fourth experiment employed letters that varied in familiarity, identicalness, and preview, to examine whether or not the three hypothesized causes have multiplicative effects on redundancy. Results indicated that participants were able to benefit equally from redundancy regardless of identicalness, familiarity, or prepotentiation, but that they did so by ignoring one target in the redundant-target trials. These results suggest that redundancy gain may need to be even further divided into more than three underlying mechanisms, with a serial processing mechanism that can be used for stimuli that are not familiar, prepotentiated, or identical.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006899, ucf:52890
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006899
- Title
- Learning Algorithms for Fat Quantification and Tumor Characterization.
- Creator
-
Hussein, Sarfaraz, Bagci, Ulas, Shah, Mubarak, Heinrich, Mark, Pensky, Marianna, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Obesity is one of the most prevalent health conditions. About 30% of the world's and over 70% of the United States' adult populations are either overweight or obese, causing an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Among all cancers, lung cancer is the leading cause of death, whereas pancreatic cancer has the poorest prognosis among all major cancers. Early diagnosis of these cancers can save lives. This dissertation contributes towards the...
Show moreObesity is one of the most prevalent health conditions. About 30% of the world's and over 70% of the United States' adult populations are either overweight or obese, causing an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Among all cancers, lung cancer is the leading cause of death, whereas pancreatic cancer has the poorest prognosis among all major cancers. Early diagnosis of these cancers can save lives. This dissertation contributes towards the development of computer-aided diagnosis tools in order to aid clinicians in establishing the quantitative relationship between obesity and cancers. With respect to obesity and metabolism, in the first part of the dissertation, we specifically focus on the segmentation and quantification of white and brown adipose tissue. For cancer diagnosis, we perform analysis on two important cases: lung cancer and Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm (IPMN), a precursor to pancreatic cancer. This dissertation proposes an automatic body region detection method trained with only a single example. Then a new fat quantification approach is proposed which is based on geometric and appearance characteristics. For the segmentation of brown fat, a PET-guided CT co-segmentation method is presented. With different variants of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), supervised learning strategies are proposed for the automatic diagnosis of lung nodules and IPMN. In order to address the unavailability of a large number of labeled examples required for training, unsupervised learning approaches for cancer diagnosis without explicit labeling are proposed. We evaluate our proposed approaches (both supervised and unsupervised) on two different tumor diagnosis challenges: lung and pancreas with 1018 CT and 171 MRI scans respectively. The proposed segmentation, quantification and diagnosis approaches explore the important adiposity-cancer association and help pave the way towards improved diagnostic decision making in routine clinical practice.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007196, ucf:52288
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007196
- Title
- Predicting Counterproductive Work Behavior with Explicit and Implicit Measures of Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability.
- Creator
-
Zheng, Jimmy, Shoss, Mindy, Jex, Steve, Ehrhart, Mark, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The current study leveraged the stressor-emotion model of CWB, the reflective-impulsive model of behavior, and theories of explicit and implicit personality to investigate the roles explicit and implicit aspects of personality, and work stressors have in influencing CWB. The stressor-emotion and reflective-impulsive models suggest that in addition to reflective (i.e., explicit) processes, impulsive (i.e., implicit) processes may also influence CWB because the act can be motivated by negative...
Show moreThe current study leveraged the stressor-emotion model of CWB, the reflective-impulsive model of behavior, and theories of explicit and implicit personality to investigate the roles explicit and implicit aspects of personality, and work stressors have in influencing CWB. The stressor-emotion and reflective-impulsive models suggest that in addition to reflective (i.e., explicit) processes, impulsive (i.e., implicit) processes may also influence CWB because the act can be motivated by negative emotions induced by frustrating working conditions. Theories of personality and motivation suggest that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability predict CWB because these traits motivate people to pursue goals that reduce or increase acts of CWB. Explicit and implicit theories of personality suggest that explicit aspects of personality should predict CWB driven by explicit processes, whereas implicit aspects of personality should predict CWB driven by implicit processes. These ideas were tested by examining explicit and implicit conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability as predictors of CWB, by examining implicit personality's incremental prediction of CWB over explicit personality, and by examining the interactions between implicit personality and work stressors as predictors of CWB. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using online survey data from 194 participants. The results of this study suggest that CWBs can be influenced by both explicit and implicit aspects of personality; however, in contrast to explicit personality, implicit personality is most likely to influence CWB when individuals experience a high level of work stressors.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007560, ucf:52614
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007560
- Title
- Realtime Editing in Virtual Reality for Room Scale Scans.
- Creator
-
Greenwood, Charles, Laviola II, Joseph, Hughes, Charles, Heinrich, Mark, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This work presents a system for the design and implementation of tools that support the editing of room-scale scans within a virtual reality environment, in real time. The moniker REVRRSS ((")reverse(")) thus stands for Real-time Editing (in) Virtual Reality (of) Room Scale Scans. The tools were evaluated for usefulness based upon whether they meet the criterion of real time usability. Users evaluated the editing experience with traditional keyboard-video-mouse compared to a head mounted...
Show moreThis work presents a system for the design and implementation of tools that support the editing of room-scale scans within a virtual reality environment, in real time. The moniker REVRRSS ((")reverse(")) thus stands for Real-time Editing (in) Virtual Reality (of) Room Scale Scans. The tools were evaluated for usefulness based upon whether they meet the criterion of real time usability. Users evaluated the editing experience with traditional keyboard-video-mouse compared to a head mounted display and hand-held controllers for Virtual Reality. Results show that users prefer the VR approach. The quality of the finished product when using VR is comparable to that of traditional desktop controls. The architecture developed here can be adapted to innumerable future projects and tools.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007463, ucf:52678
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007463
- Title
- Predictors of Territorial Work Behavior: An Investigation of Individual Differences in Personality Using the HEXACO Model.
- Creator
-
White, Andrew, Jex, Steve, Pace, Victoria, Ehrhart, Mark, Horan, Kristin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
To date, little research has examined the relationship between territorial work behavior and individual differences in personality. Using hierarchical multiple regression, dimension-level and facet-level personality traits of the HEXACO model of personality were examined to determine whether personality traits predict territorial work behaviors. Based on a sample of 160 workers from Amazon's Mechanical Turk, it was observed that the dimensions of Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Openness to...
Show moreTo date, little research has examined the relationship between territorial work behavior and individual differences in personality. Using hierarchical multiple regression, dimension-level and facet-level personality traits of the HEXACO model of personality were examined to determine whether personality traits predict territorial work behaviors. Based on a sample of 160 workers from Amazon's Mechanical Turk, it was observed that the dimensions of Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Openness to Experience, and Altruism predicted territorial work behaviors. In addition, facet-level traits from these dimensions, in addition to facets from the Extraversion and Agreeableness dimension, explained variance in each of the territorial behaviors. Furthermore, quantile regression was utilized to examine differences between ordinary least squares regression and quantile regression in order to investigate the utility of quantile regression methods to predict territorial work behaviors and similar constructs. Results from quantile regression analyses provided a more detailed conceptualization compared to OLS regression and found additional regions of significance differing from OLS regression results. These findings, implications, and future research directions are discussed in detail.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007742, ucf:52400
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007742
- Title
- The Path of a Stressed Temporary Worker to CWB.
- Creator
-
Striler, Jamie, Shoss, Mindy, Jex, Steve, Ehrhart, Mark, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Temporary workers may experience unique and oftentimes stressful work situations that can precipitate negative outcomes for these workers, their coworkers, and their organizations. The current study considered broader implications of the various work experiences among temporary workers by testing the relationships of workplace stressors to temporary workers' behaviors. The workplace stressors examined were chosen based on their salience to temporary workers as shown throughout the current...
Show moreTemporary workers may experience unique and oftentimes stressful work situations that can precipitate negative outcomes for these workers, their coworkers, and their organizations. The current study considered broader implications of the various work experiences among temporary workers by testing the relationships of workplace stressors to temporary workers' behaviors. The workplace stressors examined were chosen based on their salience to temporary workers as shown throughout the current temporary worker literature, and included economic stressors, interpersonal mistreatment, and organizational constraints. It was hypothesized that these stressors would predict temporary workers' behaviors via emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement pathways, predicting the performance of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB). Three waves of data were collected from multiple sources, including at a temporary staffing agency, at a large university, and using the MTurk platform. Results showed that the temporary workers varied in their experiences of workplace stressors, which were linked to both cognitive and emotional reactions, which consequently predicted CWB. More specifically, temporary workers who experienced higher levels of workplace stressors reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement, and then these reactions were linked to an increased likelihood of performing behaviors that are harmful to the organization and/or others within the organization.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007730, ucf:52414
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007730