Current Search: Sims, Robert (x)
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- Title
- Truly Accomplished: Effectiveness of a Measurement and Feedback Approach to Lifestyle Change.
- Creator
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Wright, Natalie, Pritchard, Robert, Fritzsche, Barbara, Sims, Valerie, Roth, Colin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Individuals' personal improvement efforts are pervasive and the benefits associated with successful self-improvement are both tangible (e.g., healthier lifestyles, more intimate relationships) and intangible (e.g., personal accomplishment, enhanced well-being). As evidenced by research on work-family spillover, self-improvement also has important implications for organizations, as there is considerable crossover between work and non-work domains. The current study tested the effectiveness of...
Show moreIndividuals' personal improvement efforts are pervasive and the benefits associated with successful self-improvement are both tangible (e.g., healthier lifestyles, more intimate relationships) and intangible (e.g., personal accomplishment, enhanced well-being). As evidenced by research on work-family spillover, self-improvement also has important implications for organizations, as there is considerable crossover between work and non-work domains. The current study tested the effectiveness of Truly Accomplished, an intervention designed to help individuals develop personalized systems for measuring and improving behavior, and examined the extent to which the outcomes associated with such behavior change exhibit positive spillover effects into the workplace. Participants (N = 44) experienced large gains in effectiveness (d = 2.93). Effectiveness gain was predicted by conscientiousness (r = .40), core self-evaluations (r = .42), and psychological safety (r = .64). Learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation interacted with perceived goal difficulty to predict effectiveness gain. Overall effectiveness gain was negatively related to stress and positively related to future change efficacy, job-related efficacy, and satisfaction with the intervention. Job satisfaction and job efficacy increased following feedback, providing some evidence of spillover.Results have implications for individual behavior and attitude change, and its impact seems to extend into subjective well-being above and beyond actual behavior change. Evidence of spillover has implications for organizations, suggesting that TA may be used as a mechanism through which job-related outcomes can be improved.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004231, ucf:48998
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004231
- Title
- Interactive Amusement Park Queues: Examining the Indirect Effect of Task Work Load on Guests' Perception of Wait Duration Through Task Immersion.
- Creator
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Ledbetter, Jonathan, Smither, Janan, Hancock, Peter, Joseph, Dana, Sims, Valerie, Allen, Robert, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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With the increasing attendance across amusement and theme parks worldwide, it is not surprising that minimizing the impact of large crowds and long attraction waits on the guests' experience has received much focus by park operators in recent years. Although effective in the short term, attempting to eliminate or reduce wait times by simply increasing capacity cannot be sustained long term. A recent trend in amusement park design is to theme the queue with interactive elements to engage...
Show moreWith the increasing attendance across amusement and theme parks worldwide, it is not surprising that minimizing the impact of large crowds and long attraction waits on the guests' experience has received much focus by park operators in recent years. Although effective in the short term, attempting to eliminate or reduce wait times by simply increasing capacity cannot be sustained long term. A recent trend in amusement park design is to theme the queue with interactive elements to engage guests and occupy their wait time with the intent of making the wait queue part of the attraction itself. Much of the research on the topic of waiting in line focuses on improving the customers' experience while waiting by altering the wait queue. Very little research to date empirically tests the impact that queue characteristics have on a customers' perceived wait duration with the research pool void of any applications to an interactive amusement park queue. This dissertation study tested five hypotheses to determine how playing an interactive math skills game while waiting to ride a virtual roller coaster affected the participants' perceived wait duration. The first hypothesis tested if the participants' perceived wait time decreased as the mental workload of the game increased. The results did not find that this effect of mental workload on perception of time was significant. The second hypothesis tested whether participants who experience higher levels of game immersion estimate perceive wait time to be lower. The results indicated that this effect of game immersion on perceived wait time was significant. The third hypothesis tested whether participants' experience higher levels of game immersion when the perceived mental workload of the math skills game was higher. This effect of mental workload on immersion was found to be significant.Hypothesis 4 tested whether the participants' perceived wait time was indirectly effected by the mental workload of the math skills through immersion. This indirect effect was found to be significant and the results support complete mediation by immersion because the direct effect was not significant with the indirect effect in the model. Hypothesis tested whether the mediated effect of mental workload on time perception via game immersion was moderated by participants' levels of sensation seeking and extraversion. Individual differences of extraversion and sensation seeking were not found to moderate the indirect effect.This study demonstrates that research in the area of time perception can be applied to amusement and theme park queue design. Furthermore, it shows the importance of providing guests with an immersive queue experience to positively impact their perception of wait time, the number one complaint of many amusement and theme park visitors. Future research in this field should examine the individual elements of the queue environment to determine the optimal design to increase the level of immersion for park guests.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006135, ucf:51183
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006135
- Title
- Biochemical Studies of ABCE1.
- Creator
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Sims, Lynn, Igarashi, Robert, Ebert, Steven, Self, William, Moore, Sean, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The growth and survival of all cells require functional ribosomes that are capable of protein synthesis. The disruption of the steps required for the function of ribosomes represents a potential future target for pharmacological anti-cancer therapy. ABCE1 is an essential Fe-S protein involved in ribosomal function and is vital for protein synthesis and cell survival. Thus, ABCE1 is potentially a great therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Previously, cell biological, genetic, and...
Show moreThe growth and survival of all cells require functional ribosomes that are capable of protein synthesis. The disruption of the steps required for the function of ribosomes represents a potential future target for pharmacological anti-cancer therapy. ABCE1 is an essential Fe-S protein involved in ribosomal function and is vital for protein synthesis and cell survival. Thus, ABCE1 is potentially a great therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Previously, cell biological, genetic, and structural studies uncovered the general importance of ABCE1, although the exact function of the Fe-S clusters was previously unclear, only a simple structural role was suggested. Additionally, due to the essential nature of ABCE1, its function in ribosome biogenesis, ribosome recycling, and the presence of Fe-S within ABCE1, the protein has been hypothesized to be a target for oxidative degradation by ROS and critically impact cellular function. In an effort to better understand the function of ABCE1 and its associated Fe-S cofactors, the goal of this research was to achieve a better biochemical understanding of the Fe-S clusters of ABCE1. The kinetics of the ATPase activity for the Pyrococcus abyssi ABCE1 (PabABCE1) was studied using both apo- (without reconstituted Fe-S clusters) and holo- (with full complement of Fe-S clusters reconstituted post-purification) forms, and is shown to be jointly regulated by the status of Fe-S clusters and Mg2+. Typically, ATPases require Mg2+, as is true for PabABCE1, but Mg2+ also acts as a unusual negative allosteric effector that modulates ATP affinity of PabABCE1. Comparative kinetic analysis of Mg2+ inhibition shows differences in the degree of allosteric regulation between the apo- and holo-PabABCE1 where the apparent Km for ATP of apo-PabABCE1 increases (>)30 fold from ~30 (&)#181;M to over 1 mM when in the presence of physiologically relevant concentrations of Mg2+. This effect would significantly convert the ATPase activity of PabABCE1 from being independent of cellular energy charge to being dependent on energy charge with cellular [Mg2+]. The effect of ROS on the Fe-S clusters within ABCE1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied by in vivo 55Fe labeling. A dose and time dependent depletion of ABCE1 bound 55Fe after exposure to H2O2 was discovered, suggesting the progressive degradation of Fe-S clusters under oxidative stress conditions. Furthermore, our experiments show growth recovery, upon removal of the H2O2, reaching a growth rate close to that of untreated cells after ~8 hrs. Additionally, a corresponding increase (~88% recovery) in the ABCE1 bound 55Fe (Fe-S) was demonstrated. Observations presented in this work demonstrate that the majority of growth inhibition, induced by oxidative stress, can be explained by a comparable decrease in ABCE1 bound 55Fe and likely loss of ABCE1 activity that is necessary for normal ribosomal activity. The regulatory roles of the Fe-S clusters with ABCE1 provide the cell a way to modulate the activity of ABCE1 and effectively regulate translation based on both cellular energy charge and the redox state of the cell. Intricate overlapping effects by both [Mg2+] and the status of Fe-S clusters regulate ABCE1's ATPase activity and suggest a regulatory mechanism, where under oxidative stress conditions, the translational activity of ABCE1 can be inhibited by oxidative degradation of the Fe-S clusters. These findings uncover the regulatory function of the Fe-S clusters with ABCE1, providing important clues needed for the development of pharmacological agents toward ABCE1 targeted anti-cancer therapy.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004600, ucf:49204
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004600
- Title
- Development of Thulium Fiber Lasers for High Average Power and High Peak Power Operation.
- Creator
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Sims, Robert, Richardson, Martin, Schulzgen, Axel, Delfyett, Peter, Chow, Louis, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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High power thulium fiber lasers are useful for a number of applications in both continuous-wave and pulsed operating regimes. The use of thulium as a dopant has recently gained interest due to its large bandwidth, possibility of high efficiency, possibility of high power and long wavelength ~1.8 (-) 2.1 ?m. The longer emission wavelength of Tm-doped fiber lasers compared to Yb- and/or Er-doped fiber lasers creates the possibility for higher peak power operation due to the larger nonlinear...
Show moreHigh power thulium fiber lasers are useful for a number of applications in both continuous-wave and pulsed operating regimes. The use of thulium as a dopant has recently gained interest due to its large bandwidth, possibility of high efficiency, possibility of high power and long wavelength ~1.8 (-) 2.1 ?m. The longer emission wavelength of Tm-doped fiber lasers compared to Yb- and/or Er-doped fiber lasers creates the possibility for higher peak power operation due to the larger nonlinear thresholds and reduced nonlinear phase accumulation. One primary interest in Tm-doped fiber lasers has been to scale to high average powers; however, the thermal and mechanical constraints of the fiber limit the average power out of a single-fiber aperture. One method to overcome the constraints of a single laser aperture is to spectrally combine the output from multiple lasers operating with different wavelengths into a single beam. In this thesis, results will be presented on the development of three polarized 100 W level laser systems that were wavelength stabilized for SBC. In addition to the development of the laser channels, the beams were combined using bandpass filters to achieve a single near diffraction-limited output.Concurrently, with the development of high average power systems there is an increasing interest in femotosecond pulse generation and amplification using Tm- doped fiber lasers. High peak power sources operating near 2 (&)#181;m have the potential to be efficient pump sources to generate mid-infrared light through supercontinuum generation or optical parametric oscillators. This thesis focuses on the development of a laser system utilizing chirped pulse amplification (CPA) to achieve record level energies and peak powers for ultrashort pulses in Tm-doped fiber. A mode-locked oscillator was built to generate femtosecond pulses operating with pJ energy. Pulses generated in the mode-locked oscillator were limited to low energies and contained spectral modulation due to the mode-locking mechanism, therefore, a Raman-soliton self-frequency shift (Raman-SSFS) amplifier was built to amplify pulses, decrease the pulse duration, and spectrally clean pulses. These pulses were amplified using chirped pulse amplification (CPA) in which, limiting factors for amplification were examined and a high peak power system was built. The primary limiting factors of CPA in fibers include the nonlinear phase accumulation, primarily through self-phase modulation (SPM), and gain narrowing. Gain narrowing was examined by temporally stretching pulses in a highly nonlinear fiber that both stretched the pulse duration and broadened the spectrum. A high peak power CPA system amplified pulses to 1 (&)#181;J energy with 300 fs compressed pulses, corresponding to a peak power (>)3 MW. High peak power pulses were coupled into highly nonlinear fibers to generate supercontinuum.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004752, ucf:49768
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004752