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Title: SITUATING POLITICAL OBLIGATION IN POLITICAL ONTOLOGY: ETHICAL MARXISM AND THE EMBEDDED SELF.
Creator: Chambers, Chris A, Strawser, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Though various obligations typically affect our behavior without being recognized, they have a substantial impact on how we operate as human beings. The relationships we have between, say, our parents when in their household obligate us to take out the trash at certain times and wash the dishes after dinner. The relationships we have between our closest friends often oblige us to hear them out when they have undergone a traumatic experience. Upon reflection, it may be easy to point out a...
Show moreThough various obligations typically affect our behavior without being recognized, they have a substantial impact on how we operate as human beings. The relationships we have between, say, our parents when in their household obligate us to take out the trash at certain times and wash the dishes after dinner. The relationships we have between our closest friends often oblige us to hear them out when they have undergone a traumatic experience. Upon reflection, it may be easy to point out a number of the obligations which inform our social behavior. What is not so easy, however, is pointing out the foundation for such obligations. In this project I will explore the foundation of obligation, specifically political obligation. Through this exploration I will attempt to situation political obligation in the ontology of political actors. In particular, an analysis of liberal democracy and social democracy, and their ontological backgrounds, liberalism and communitarianism, will be utilized in order to elucidate both the usefulness and the location of political obligation. Ultimately, I will show how recourse to Marxism provides for a more robust account of political obligation.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFH2000064, ucf:45568
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000064

Title: REASON LEADS: A RECONCILIATION IN ETHICS.
Creator: Oldham, Stephen, Stanlick, Nancy, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The use of reason appears to lead to divergent conclusions for what is right and what is good in human action. While reason is a central feature in ethical theory, there is a problem when that central feature does not lead to consistent conclusions about how to act in a given situation. Several philosophers have attempted to combine previous moral theories in order to provide a better template for human action. I contend that the use of reason is of vital import when determining the...
Show moreThe use of reason appears to lead to divergent conclusions for what is right and what is good in human action. While reason is a central feature in ethical theory, there is a problem when that central feature does not lead to consistent conclusions about how to act in a given situation. Several philosophers have attempted to combine previous moral theories in order to provide a better template for human action. I contend that the use of reason is of vital import when determining the foundation for moral action and that moral theories, to be consistent with reason, should incorporate aspects of both non-consequentialist and consequentialist ethical theories. I argue that there is a unifying foundation presupposed by the moral theories of both Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. Through the use of reason the theories of Kant and Mill can be reconciled to show that these theories can be combined when understanding the basic foundation that they share.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFH0004488, ucf:45080
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004488

Title: TEACHING AS A MORAL ACT: SIMONE WEIL'S LIMINALITY AS AN ADDITION TO THE MORAL CONVERSATION IN EDUCATION.
Creator: Bowden, MaryZoe, Kaplan, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: We are facing a crisis in education: there is a vacuum where there once was an exhortation in terms of how teachers serve as moral models for their students. This reality becomes even more complex when the particular educator facing the dilemma has a specific religious perspective herself. The problem confronted in this philosophical study is how does today's educator, working in the public sector and having a particular religious background, best serve her students in her role as a moral...
Show moreWe are facing a crisis in education: there is a vacuum where there once was an exhortation in terms of how teachers serve as moral models for their students. This reality becomes even more complex when the particular educator facing the dilemma has a specific religious perspective herself. The problem confronted in this philosophical study is how does today's educator, working in the public sector and having a particular religious background, best serve her students in her role as a moral agent, given an environment that is either vacuous of or even hostile toward the moral vector implicit in education. The following questions are considered: 1) Does education today have a moral end? 2) What should that moral end be? 3) What should the educator's role be in said education? 4) Has education historically served as a moral endeavor? 5) And finally, how much should a teacher with a specific religious basis for her morals allow that to affect her role as moral agent in a secular setting? In order to respond to these questions, an historical review of how teachers were traditionally expected to serve as moral agents was undertaken, as were a review of contemporary research on moral education and a consideration of numerous philosophers' perspectives. Simone Weil, a French philosopher and teacher, is looked to as an example of a woman who lived her life with a core set of beliefs that led her to both push boundaries and yet remain in a liminal space that allowed her to remain open to others' values and needs. Weil's liminal approach to life is explored in combination with MacIntyre's call to found a morality on virtues based on a teleological view of man. Ultimately it is suggested that the educator with a deep sense of faith must both strive to function in the liminality Weil represented, and to root herself deeply in her own faith, from which she will gain the strength to live within the necessary tension evoked by teaching in a secular institution.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002898, ucf:48044
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002898

Title: The Feminine Margin: The Re-Imagining of One Professor's Rhetorical Pedagogy--A Curriculum Project.
Creator: Alvarez, Camila, Brenckle, Martha, Bowdon, Melody, Mauer, Barry, Weishampel, John, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Writing pedagogy uses techniques that institutionalize dichotomous thinking rather than work against it. Cartesian duality has helped to create the marginalization of people, environments, and animals inherent in Western thought. Writing pedagogy based in current-traditional rhetoric uses a writing process that reinforces the hierarchical structure of Self/Other, Author/Reader, and Teacher/Student. This structure, in conjunction with capitalism, prioritizes the self and financial gain while...
Show moreWriting pedagogy uses techniques that institutionalize dichotomous thinking rather than work against it. Cartesian duality has helped to create the marginalization of people, environments, and animals inherent in Western thought. Writing pedagogy based in current-traditional rhetoric uses a writing process that reinforces the hierarchical structure of Self/Other, Author/Reader, and Teacher/Student. This structure, in conjunction with capitalism, prioritizes the self and financial gain while diminishing and objectifying the other. The thought process behind the objectification and monetization of the other created the unsustainable business and life practices behind global warming, racism, sexism, and environmental destruction. A reframing of pedagogical writing practices can fight dichotomous thinking by re-imagining student writers as counter-capitalism content creators. Changing student perceptions from isolation to a transmodern, humanitarian, and feminist ethics of care model uses a self-reflexive ethnography to form a pedagogy of writing that challenges dichotomous thought(-)by focusing on transparency in my teaching practice, the utilization of liminality through images, the use of technology to publish student work, and both instructor and student self-reflection as a part of the writing and communication process. This practice has led me to a theory of resistance and influence that I have titled The Resistance Hurricane, a definition of digital rhetoric that includes humanitarian and feminist objectives that I have titled Electric Rhetoric, and a definition for the digitally mediated product of that rhetoric that I call Electric Blooms or electracy after Gregory Ulmer's term for digital media.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: CFE0007777, ucf:52371
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007777

Title: Academic Engagement through Experiential Learning: Building Transferable Skills within Undergraduate Education.
Creator: Lee, Shara, Cintron Delgado, Rosa, Laureano Fuentes, Gloria, Boyd, Karen, Okumus, Fevzi, Dressler, Sheri, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Presently, there is a national focus on the industry-benefitting skills developed through undergraduate education. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an experiential learning course on building three ability-based transferable skills: communication, emotional intelligence, and professional qualities. These skills have been determined to be important components to the skill set of graduates intending to enter any career, including one within the hospitality industry....
Show morePresently, there is a national focus on the industry-benefitting skills developed through undergraduate education. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an experiential learning course on building three ability-based transferable skills: communication, emotional intelligence, and professional qualities. These skills have been determined to be important components to the skill set of graduates intending to enter any career, including one within the hospitality industry. Results from an examination of three related instruments led to conclusions that an experiential learning course positively impacts self-perceived skill development among the three aforementioned skills as well as perception of overall performance. In addition, it was determined that experiential learning courses benefitted interns irrespective of self-reported learning style preference and that such courses may aid in narrowing the perceived gap between intern and employer perceptions of intern skill levels and thereby prepare graduates with increasing success for societal productivity.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFE0004568, ucf:49189
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004568

Title: A PERSONAL EXPLORATION INTO THE ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF A THEATRE TEACHING ARTIST.
Creator: Dunn , Amie, Weaver , Earl, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: As an artist in the field of theatre for young audiences, I encounter many definitions of Ã‚Â'teaching artist,Ã‚Â' and within each definition lies a new set of physical, educational, and psychological responsibilities. While the term Ã‚Â'teaching artistÃ‚Â' continues to evolve and grow, I am interested in exploring a common struggle among teaching artists: What does it mean to be an ethical and responsible...
Show moreAs an artist in the field of theatre for young audiences, I encounter many definitions of Ã‚Â'teaching artist,Ã‚Â' and within each definition lies a new set of physical, educational, and psychological responsibilities. While the term Ã‚Â'teaching artistÃ‚Â' continues to evolve and grow, I am interested in exploring a common struggle among teaching artists: What does it mean to be an ethical and responsible teaching artist? This thesis allows me to create a personal definition of Ã‚Â'teaching artistÃ‚Â' while exploring the relationship between responsibility, ethics, and community-based teaching. I begin by formulating my current understanding and beliefs about what it means to be a responsible teaching artist. I research how others in the TYA field, specifically Michael Rohd, Stephani Etheridge Woodson and Barbara McKean have dealt with issues of ethics and responsibility through four specific questions: How does my personal culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, and beliefs positively or negatively affect the work I do with young people? How does a teaching artist manage an environment in which there are inherently therapeutic qualities, without stepping into the role of therapist, and maintain a healthy relationship with the young people and the work? How do teaching artists maneuver through a structure where the ideologies of the teacher are guiding the project on a macro level but not a micro level? Is it possible or necessary to share responsibility with young people? As a reflective artist I canÃ‚Â't help but question, challenge, and rethink choices I make in facilitation. I would venture to say it would be irresponsible not to do so. I am hopeful this exploration will not only improve my personal teaching but also allow and inspire others to take a look at their practice in terms of ethics and responsibility.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: CFE0003012, ucf:48339
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003012

Title: TOURISTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD THE USE OF ANIMALS IN TOURIST ATTRACTIONS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION.
Creator: Shani, Amir, Pizam, Abraham, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: From time immemorial human beings have utilized animals for various needs and purposes, which led societies to debate the justification for using animals and to reflect on the way in which animals are treated. These concerns have also resulted in various contemporary studies aimed to reveal interest groups' – as well as the general publics' – views and opinions on the issues under dispute. Nevertheless, despite the considerable incorporation of animals in entertainment and...
Show moreFrom time immemorial human beings have utilized animals for various needs and purposes, which led societies to debate the justification for using animals and to reflect on the way in which animals are treated. These concerns have also resulted in various contemporary studies aimed to reveal interest groups' – as well as the general publics' – views and opinions on the issues under dispute. Nevertheless, despite the considerable incorporation of animals in entertainment and leisure venues, only limited efforts have been geared towards exploring the ethical aspects of using animals in these initiatives. This lack of attention is especially evident in the tourism literature, despite the great relevancy of animal-based attractions to the tourism industry. Moreover, despite certain preliminary attempts to investigate people's perceptions of the use of animals in attractions, their attitudes for the most part are still ambiguous and speculative. Consequently, the purpose of the current research was to fill these and other gaps in the literature by investigating tourists' attitudes toward various animal-based attractions. The theoretical framework used for the study was based on a previous exploratory qualitative research, which also assisted in developing the research questions and hypotheses as well as in constructing the study survey. Therefore, the current study's instrument attempts to cover the main aspects of tourists' attitudes as they appear both in the literature and in the exploratory study. The survey was conducted among 252 tourists to the Central Florida area, using judgmental sampling with the intent to ensure heterogeneity among the study sample. Prior to addressing the research questions, the study instrument was tested for reliability and validity, which were found to be at satisfactory levels. The statistical analyses revealed some interesting findings with important implications for both research and practice. While several inquiries were evaluated in the course of the dissertation, the central findings of the study concerned the prominent aspects of tourists' ethical evaluation of animal-based attractions. The tourists expressed the highest agreement with the roles of the attractions in conservation, in family-oriented experience, in education, and as an alternative to nature. They also expressed a clear animal welfare approach, as they put the greatest importance on the way the animals are treated and trained by their keepers among conditions for ethical operations. Nevertheless, it was found that the key to developing positive attitudes toward attractions is the conviction in general arguments in favor of their presence, while specific sites' attributes seem to be more limited in their influence on the tourists' overall attitudes. In addition, belief in the positive effects of public opinion on attractions' ethical treatment of animals was found to have a greater association with tourists' attitudes, in comparison to more formal supervision and regulations. No less important, the study's findings confirm the heterogeneous nature of animal-based attractions as perceived by tourists, where multiple dominant factors influence attitudes toward diverse attraction types. Following the description of the results, the dissertation offers specific recommendations based on the findings for the management and marketing functions in animal-based attractions, especially with regard to potential steps for the purpose of improving and enhancing their ethical image among tourists. The study can be seen as one of the few comprehensive attempts to investigate tourists' attitudes toward animal-based attractions in the tourism literature, which can also serve as a benchmark and a basis for future studies on this contentious issue. The paper ends with an assessment of the study's limitations, and a series of suggestions of relevant topics for future investigations.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002693, ucf:48191
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002693

Title: Moral Judgment Development of Student Nurses in an Associate Degree in Nursing Program.
Creator: Way, Graciela, Cintron Delgado, Rosa, Owens, J. Thomas, Olan, Elsie, Welch, Kerry, Cicotti, Cheryl, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This study explored the correlation between the development of moral judgment and the variables of gender, age, primacy of religion, level of educational attainment, and year in the nursing program student nurses enrolled in an associate degree in nursing program who were concurrently enrolled in a bachelor degree in nursing program in the southern United States. A correlation was established with the dependent variable, or N2 index score, and the independent variable, primacy of religion. A...
Show moreThis study explored the correlation between the development of moral judgment and the variables of gender, age, primacy of religion, level of educational attainment, and year in the nursing program student nurses enrolled in an associate degree in nursing program who were concurrently enrolled in a bachelor degree in nursing program in the southern United States. A correlation was established with the dependent variable, or N2 index score, and the independent variable, primacy of religion. A negative correlation between the N2 index was established in students who believed that religion exerted a great influence on their lives while a positive correlation was established between the N2 index score and students who believed that religion exerted no influence on their lives. One conclusion reached was that the freshman class had a higher number of respondents who did not feel that religion was important in their lives with higher N2 index scores and a larger number of students in the Postconventional Schema of Moral Judgment. Regarding recommendations, it was suggested that ethical instruction needs to move beyond merely teaching students' ethical theories and shift towards instruction in situationally-dependent, context-driven, real-world management of ethical predicaments in practice.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006195, ucf:51092
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006195

Title: Driven to Dishonesty: The Effects of Commuting on Self-Regulatory Depletion and Unethical Behavior.
Creator: Griffith, Matthew, Folger, Robert, Taylor, Shannon, Crossley, Craig, Sivo, Stephen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Most people must commute to and from work each day, yet little research has examined this critical time between home and work and the potential spillover effects of commuting on employees' subsequent workplace behavior. Drawing on self-regulation theory and the commuting stress literature, I propose that stressful driving conditions on the way to work (e.g., bad weather, traffic congestion, long routes) can cause employees to subsequently behave unethically at work. Specifically, I suggest...
Show moreMost people must commute to and from work each day, yet little research has examined this critical time between home and work and the potential spillover effects of commuting on employees' subsequent workplace behavior. Drawing on self-regulation theory and the commuting stress literature, I propose that stressful driving conditions on the way to work (e.g., bad weather, traffic congestion, long routes) can cause employees to subsequently behave unethically at work. Specifically, I suggest this occurs through a depletion of self-regulation as resources are consumed while driving under stress and thus unavailable for deterring tempting, unethical behavior. I test this mediation model in two studies using an experimental-causal-chain design. In Study 1, using a sample of 204 participants recruited at a university, I manipulated commuting conditions in a driving simulator and measured self-regulatory depletion and dishonesty using behavioral tasks in the laboratory. In Study 2, using an online panel of 117 participants, I manipulated self-regulatory depletion and measured dishonesty using modified versions of the same behavioral tasks. Overall I find some support that driving(-)regardless of driving-induced stress level(-)depletes self-regulatory resources and that reduced self-regulation leads to a higher likelihood to engage in unethical behavior.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006741, ucf:51845
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006741

Title: Ethical Decision-Making in Higher Education: A sociological examination of graduate students' understanding of appropriate academic sharing.
Creator: Parham, Jennifer, Boote, David, Biraimah, Karen, Vitale, Thomas, Owens, Tom, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Most prior research and scholarship views cheating as an individual failing rather than a sociological or organizational phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges students face in graduate education and the factors that affect ethical beliefs towards academic dishonesty. This study used a mixed method research approach including an online survey with approximately 1,250 responses from graduate students representing each of UCF's colleges and fifteen interviews with...
Show moreMost prior research and scholarship views cheating as an individual failing rather than a sociological or organizational phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges students face in graduate education and the factors that affect ethical beliefs towards academic dishonesty. This study used a mixed method research approach including an online survey with approximately 1,250 responses from graduate students representing each of UCF's colleges and fifteen interviews with students in fourteen different disciplines. Results of the online survey indicated no significant differences between international and domestic students. Survey and interview data indicate that graduate students' perceptions of the perceived norms and expectations related to academic honesty are impacted by the culture of the academic program. Analyzing these data through three sociological theories of deviance (-) anomie, labeling, and rational choice (-) shows that graduate students' understanding of appropriate academic behavior depends on their academic socialization. The data also reveal that graduate students struggle with subtleties of cheating, such as misrepresentation or (")fudging(") of data. Especially for the doctoral students in the sample, their views were highly influenced by viewing themselves as teachers and independent researchers. This sociological analysis emphasizes the role of culture in graduate programs and students' socialization into those cultures. This doctoral dissertation also provides a deeper understanding of the social and organizational factors affecting graduate students and re-frames students' perspectives on appropriate academic behavior.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005394, ucf:50452
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005394

Title: THE INCREASE OF SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP) PARTICIPATIONBY LOW INCOME WORKERS: A SOCIAL WORK PERSPECTIVE.
Creator: Scheiner, Elizabeth, Mann, Mary, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the literature focused on the increased utilization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by low-income workers attempting to become food secure. Poverty measurement will be discussed for its importance to accurately identify individuals and families who are still excluded of social services and programs due to a faulty measurement of poverty. Furthermore, this paper will identify how the limitations of the current minimum...
Show moreThe purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the literature focused on the increased utilization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by low-income workers attempting to become food secure. Poverty measurement will be discussed for its importance to accurately identify individuals and families who are still excluded of social services and programs due to a faulty measurement of poverty. Furthermore, this paper will identify how the limitations of the current minimum wage system in the United States contributes to food insecurity within the population of low-income workers. A concise history of the creation of the SNAP program and the current minimum wage system will be provided. Identifying the increased utilization of the SNAP program, how this intersects with the current minimum wage system and increased food insecurity, will help identify potential areas for advocacy within social work practice and potential areas for policy change.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFH0004796, ucf:45326
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004796

Title: LEVINAS ON THE 'ORIGIN' OF JUSTICE: KANT, HEIDEGGER, AND A COMMUNAL STRUCTURE OF DIFFERENCE.
Creator: Tomasello, Olga, Janz, Bruce, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The way we understand community fundamentally structures the way we approach justice. In opposition to totalizing structures of justice founded upon an ontological conception of community, Emmanuel Levinas conceives the possibility of a political or social structure of difference. I argue that the conceptions of community presented by Kant and Heidegger, either as a harmonious, unified being in common, or as a common-identity disclosed beneath the ontological horizon of being-with,...
Show moreThe way we understand community fundamentally structures the way we approach justice. In opposition to totalizing structures of justice founded upon an ontological conception of community, Emmanuel Levinas conceives the possibility of a political or social structure of difference. I argue that the conceptions of community presented by Kant and Heidegger, either as a harmonious, unified being in common, or as a common-identity disclosed beneath the ontological horizon of being-with, necessarily leads to violence. This violence is reflected in the forms of justice instantiated by these philosophies, which privilege the 'light' of the universal over the particularity of individuals in the face-to-face encounter, ultimately corrupting and nullifying one's anarchic moral responsibility for the Other. The intent of this thesis is to argue that justice can only remain just if it is seen, not on the basis of a communal 'light' that absorbs, integrates, and incorporates the Other as an element of a system, but as founded on the anarchic responsibility of the one-for-the-Other. Justice, I will show, cannot be seen as an aim of a community—complete and self-sufficient—in achieving an end, but as a rupture, a disturbance, as a call made among a multitude of particular, unique Others by which ethics (the face-to-face) is fundamental.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFH0004630, ucf:45309
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004630

Title: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY AND ETHICAL RAMIFICATIONS OF VIDEO SURVEILLANCE IN THE ICU.
Creator: Bagge, Laura, Heglund, Stephen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this review of literature is to investigate the various roles of video surveillance (VS) in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) as well as its legal and ethical implications. Today, hospitals spend more money on the ICU than on any other unit. By 2030, the population of those 65 and over is expected to double. 80% of older adults have at least one chronic diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). As a consequence, the demand for ICU services will likely...
Show moreThe purpose of this review of literature is to investigate the various roles of video surveillance (VS) in the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) as well as its legal and ethical implications. Today, hospitals spend more money on the ICU than on any other unit. By 2030, the population of those 65 and over is expected to double. 80% of older adults have at least one chronic diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). As a consequence, the demand for ICU services will likely increase, which may burden hospital with additional costs.. Because of increasing economic pressures, more hospitals are using video surveillance to enhance quality care and reduce ICU costs (Goran, 2012). Research shows that VS enhances positive outcomes among patients and best practice compliance among hospital staff. The results are fewer reports of patient complications and days spent in the ICU, and an increase in reported hospital savings. In addition, VS is becoming an important tool for the families of newborns in the neonatal ICU (NICU). The belief is that the VS can facilitate parent-baby bonding. In the United States of America, privacy rights impose legal restrictions on VS. These rights come from the U.S. Constitution, Statutory law, Regulatory law, and State law. HIPPA authorizes the patient to control the use and disclosure of his or her health information. Accordingly, hospitals are under obligation to inform patients on their right to protected health information. It is appropriate that hospitals use VS for diagnostic purposes as long as they have obtained patient consent. According to modern day privacy experts Charles Fried and Alan Westin, a violation of a person's privacy equates a violation on their liberty and morality. However, if a physician suspects that a third party person is causing harm to the patient, than the use of covert VS is justifiable.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFH0004475, ucf:45138
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004475

Title: Effects of Signal Probability on Multitasking-Based Distraction in Driving, Cyberattack (&) Battlefield Simulation.
Creator: Sawyer, Benjamin, Karwowski, Waldemar, Hancock, Peter, Xanthopoulos, Petros, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Multitasking-based failures of perception and action are the focus of much research in driving, where they are attributed to distraction. Similar failures occur in contexts where the construct of distraction is little used. Such narrow application was attributed to methodology which cannot precisely account for experimental variables in time and space, limiting distraction's conceptual portability to other contexts. An approach based upon vigilance methodology was forwarded as a solution, and...
Show moreMultitasking-based failures of perception and action are the focus of much research in driving, where they are attributed to distraction. Similar failures occur in contexts where the construct of distraction is little used. Such narrow application was attributed to methodology which cannot precisely account for experimental variables in time and space, limiting distraction's conceptual portability to other contexts. An approach based upon vigilance methodology was forwarded as a solution, and highlighted a fundamental human performance question: Would increasing the signal probability (SP) of a secondary task increase associated performance, as is seen in the prevalence effect associated with vigilance tasks? Would it reduce associated performance, as is seen in driving distraction tasks? A series of experiments weighed these competing assumptions. In the first, a psychophysical task, analysis of accuracy and response data revealed an interaction between the number of concurrent tasks and SP of presented targets. The question was further tested in the applied contexts of driving, cyberattack and battlefield target decision-making. In line with previous prevalence effect inquiry, presentation of stimuli at higher SP led to higher accuracy. In line with existing distraction work, performance of higher numbers of concurrent tasks tended to elicit slower response times. In all experiments raising either number of concurrent tasks or SP of targets resulted in greater subjective workload, as measured by the NASA TLX, even when accompanied by improved accuracy. It would seem that (")distraction(") in previous experiments has been an aggregate effect including both delayed response time and prevalence-based accuracy effects. These findings support the view that superior experimental control of SP reveals nomothetic patterns of performance that allow better understanding and wider application of the distraction construct both within and in diverse contexts beyond driving.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0006388, ucf:51522
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006388

Title: The Role of Occupational Branding in the Professionalization of Technical Communication.
Creator: Thomas, Chelsea, Jones, Dan, Flammia, Madelyn, Bell, Kathleen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This study investigates the relationship between professional identity and professional status by exploring the quest for professionalization within technical communication. An established professional identity is crucial to an occupation's professionalization process, as it enables members of a given field to create a common sense of being and facilitates a recognizable personal and collective identity. Such recognition is vital to an occupation's rise to professional status, as it creates a...
Show moreThis study investigates the relationship between professional identity and professional status by exploring the quest for professionalization within technical communication. An established professional identity is crucial to an occupation's professionalization process, as it enables members of a given field to create a common sense of being and facilitates a recognizable personal and collective identity. Such recognition is vital to an occupation's rise to professional status, as it creates a distilled image of the ideal practitioner for outsiders and forms the basis upon which claims of expertise may be made. By constructing the meaning surrounding their profession, members are able to portray an image which designates their knowledge as a scarce expertise and their profession as the appropriate source for the services they provide.A lack of professional identity constitutes the primary factor hindering technical communication from realizing the professionalization process, as it prevents the formation of practitioners' common sense of being, promotes the absence of identifiability and precludes the possibility of recognition by larger society. Without an established professional identity, the field cannot formulate a culturally-relevant perception of its role, claim professional expertise or jurisdiction over their work, or achieve the social and cultural legitimacy necessary in order to increase its professional status. By implementing processes of occupational branding within the professional project, efforts involving the construction of collective professional identity will increase professional status by enabling a group's management of professional meaning, facilitating the creation of an occupational brand and assisting in value production.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006189, ucf:51137
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006189

Title: Using Hashtags to Disambiguate Aboutness in Social Media Discourse: A Case Study of #OrlandoStrong.
Creator: DeArmas, Nicholas, Vie, Stephanie, Salter, Anastasia, Beever, Jonathan, Dodd, Melissa, Wheeler, Stephanie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: While the field of writing studies has studied digital writing as a response to multiple calls for more research on digital forms of writing, research on hashtags has yet to build bridges between different disciplines' approaches to studying the uses and effects of hashtags. This dissertation builds that bridge in its interdisciplinary approach to the study of hashtags by focusing on how hashtags can be fully appreciated at the intersection of the fields of information research, linguistics,...
Show moreWhile the field of writing studies has studied digital writing as a response to multiple calls for more research on digital forms of writing, research on hashtags has yet to build bridges between different disciplines' approaches to studying the uses and effects of hashtags. This dissertation builds that bridge in its interdisciplinary approach to the study of hashtags by focusing on how hashtags can be fully appreciated at the intersection of the fields of information research, linguistics, rhetoric, ethics, writing studies, new media studies, and discourse studies. Hashtags are writing innovations that perform unique digital functions rhetorically while still hearkening back to functions of both print and oral rhetorical traditions. Hashtags function linguistically as indicators of semantic meaning; additionally, hashtags also perform the role of search queries on social media, retrieving texts that include the same hashtag. Information researchers refer to the relationship between a search query and its results using the term (")aboutness(") (Kehoe and Gee, 2011). By considering how hashtags have an aboutness, the humanities can call upon information research to better understand the digital aspects of the hashtag's search function. Especially when hashtags are used to organize discourse, aboutness has an effect on how a discourse community's agendas and goals are expressed, as well as framing what is relevant and irrelevant to the discourse. As digital activists increasingly use hashtags to organize and circulate the goals of their discourse communities, knowledge of ethical strategies for hashtag use will help to better preserve a relevant aboutness for their discourse while enabling them to better leverage their hashtag for circulation. In this dissertation, through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Twitter discourse that used #OrlandoStrong over the five-month period before the first anniversary of the Pulse shooting, I trace how the #OrlandoStrong discourse community used innovative rhetorical strategies to combat irrelevant content from ambiguating their discourse space. In Chapter One, I acknowledge the call from scholars to study digital tools and briefly describe the history of the Pulse shooting, reflecting on non-digital texts that employed #OrlandoStrong as memorials in the Orlando area. In Chapter Two, I focus on the literature surrounding hashtags, discourse, aboutness, intertextuality, hashtag activism, and informational compositions. In Chapter Three, I provide an overview of the stages of grounded theory methodology and the implications of critical discourse analysis before I detail how I approached the collection, coding, and analysis of the #OrlandoStrong Tweets I studied. The results of my study are reported in Chapter Four, offering examples of Tweets that were important to understanding how the discourse space became ambiguous through the use of hashtags. In Chapter Five, I reflect on ethical approaches to understanding the consequences of hashtag use, and then I offer an ethical recommendation for hashtag use by hashtag activists. I conclude Chapter Five with an example of a classroom activity that allows students to use hashtags to better understand the relationship between aboutness, (dis)ambiguation, discourse communities, and ethics. This classroom activity is provided with the hope that instructors from different disciplines will be able to provide ethical recommendations to future activists who may benefit from these rhetorical strategies.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0007322, ucf:52136
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007322

Title: ON RIGHTS: A DEFENSE AND ANALYSIS OF RIGHTS THROUGH NATURAL LAW.
Creator: Lopez, Ramon, Kiel, Dwight, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: One of the central questions in political theory deals with the nature of rights. What sorts of rights do people possess? How are these rights justified? How ought these rights be reflected and related when seen in political, economic, and social institutions? Following the publication of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice (1971) and Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), rights have once again returned to dominate much of contemporary political theory. However, natural law, which...
Show moreOne of the central questions in political theory deals with the nature of rights. What sorts of rights do people possess? How are these rights justified? How ought these rights be reflected and related when seen in political, economic, and social institutions? Following the publication of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice (1971) and Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), rights have once again returned to dominate much of contemporary political theory. However, natural law, which was the historical basis of the early Enlightenment theories of rights, is no longer the primary system appealed to when discussing rights. In fact, classical natural law has been all but discarded in most of political theory today. There has also been renewed debate over the nature of public neutrality, and what the relationship ought to be between the public and private sphere. The mainstream view of how our liberties relate to our rights, as well as what kinds of rights we have over our private affairs, has come under fire from a newly emerging political philosophy known as communitarianism. This thesis will present a robust theory of rights that provides a new understanding of the relationship between positive and negative rights through a defense of classical natural law as an ethical foundation for political theory. It will side with the communitarian critics of public neutrality, and offer a practical method of determining when the state is justified in limiting private liberties due to public interest.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFH0003856, ucf:44695
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003856

ethics (15)	+ -
Ethics (11)	+ -
Kant (3)	+ -
morality (3)	+ -
Mill (2)	+ -

Reflection (2)	+ -
equality (2)	+ -
justice (2)	+ -
law (2)	+ -
moral judgment (2)	+ -
outcomes (2)	+ -
philosophy (2)	+ -
technical communication (2)	+ -
technical writing (2)	+ -
virtue (2)	+ -
#orlandostrong (1)	+ -
Alasdair MacIntyre (1)	+ -
Animal Rights. (1)	+ -
Animal-Based Attractions (1)	+ -
Aristotle (1)	+ -
Bottom-line mentality (1)	+ -
Bounded Ethicality (1)	+ -
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Honors Collection (9)	+ -
PRISM: Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements (2)	+ -

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