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(141 - 160 of 205)
Pages
- Title
- The Modern Church Communicates: Rhetoric and Hypertext in Church Website Design.
- Creator
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Palmer, Edward, Applen, John, Jones, Dan, Stephens, Sonia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The Internet and the World Wide Web have supplanted many paper-based information systems. People turn to the web to locate local services in the same way they find ecommerce sites such as Amazon. Churches of all sizes must develop effective and attractive websites to attract new members and inform existing members. These two groups form distinct audiences that must be correctly targeted by the website content. Other churches may visit to gather ideas for their programs; they are a third group...
Show moreThe Internet and the World Wide Web have supplanted many paper-based information systems. People turn to the web to locate local services in the same way they find ecommerce sites such as Amazon. Churches of all sizes must develop effective and attractive websites to attract new members and inform existing members. These two groups form distinct audiences that must be correctly targeted by the website content. Other churches may visit to gather ideas for their programs; they are a third group of site visitors. Organization of hypertext on the web requires skills that are different than writing for print. Technical communicators possess those skills and can help others write better hypertext. This research examines eight churches that cross three categories: denomination, size, and location. The websites of the churches are analyzed from the standpoint of the reader and the technical communicator to determine their effectiveness in content, organization, and underlying structure of the webpages, and then consider if geography, size, or denomination account for the observed differences. Audience and message are lesser issues than organization of information and navigational guidance for the reader. No remarkable differences were observed based on size, geography, or denomination. The technical communicator can assist non-technical content producers in developing skills in organization and classification.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006635, ucf:51218
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006635
- Title
- The WOZ Recognizer: A Tool For Understanding User Perceptions of Sketch-Based Interfaces.
- Creator
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Bott, Jared, Laviola II, Joseph, Hughes, Charles, Foroosh, Hassan, Lank, Edward, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Sketch recognition has the potential to be an important input method for computers in the coming years; however, designing and building an accurate and sophisticated sketch recognition system is a time consuming and daunting task. Since sketch recognition is still at a level where mistakes are common, it is important to understand how users perceive and tolerate recognition errors and other user interface elements with these imperfect systems. A problem in performing this type of research is...
Show moreSketch recognition has the potential to be an important input method for computers in the coming years; however, designing and building an accurate and sophisticated sketch recognition system is a time consuming and daunting task. Since sketch recognition is still at a level where mistakes are common, it is important to understand how users perceive and tolerate recognition errors and other user interface elements with these imperfect systems. A problem in performing this type of research is that we cannot easily control aspects of recognition in order to rigorously study the systems. We performed a study examining user perceptions of three pen-based systems for creating logic gate diagrams: a sketch-based interface, a WIMP-based interface, and a hybrid interface that combined elements of sketching and WIMP. We found that users preferred the sketch-based interface and we identified important criteria for pen-based application design. This work exposed the issue of studying recognition systems without fine-grained control over accuracy, recognition mode, and other recognizer properties. In order to solve this problem, we developed a Wizard of Oz sketch recognition tool, the WOZ Recognizer, that supports controlled symbol and position accuracy and batch and streaming recognition modes for a variety of sketching domains. We present the design of the WOZ Recognizer, modeling recognition domains using graphs, symbol alphabets, and grammars; and discuss the types of recognition errors we included in its design. Further, we discuss how the WOZ Recognizer simulates sketch recognition, controlling the WOZ Recognizer, and how users interact with it. In addition, we present an evaluative user study of the WOZ Recognizer and the lessons we learned.We have used the WOZ Recognizer to perform two user studies examining user perceptions of sketch recognition; both studies focused on mathematical sketching. In the first study, we examined whether users prefer recognition feedback now (real-time recognition) or later (batch recognition) in relation to different recognition accuracies and sketch complexities. We found that participants displayed a preference for real-time recognition in some situations (multiple expressions, low accuracy), but no statistical preference in others. In our second study, we examined whether users displayed a greater tolerance for recognition errors when they used mathematical sketching applications they found interesting or useful compared to applications they found less interesting. Participants felt they had a greater tolerance for the applications they preferred, although our statistical analysis did not positively support this.In addition to the research already performed, we propose several avenues for future research into user perceptions of sketch recognition that we believe will be of value to sketch recognizer researchers and application designers.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006077, ucf:50945
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006077
- Title
- A Human-Centric Approach to Data Fusion in Post-Disaster Managment: The Development of a Fuzzy Set Theory Based Model.
- Creator
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Banisakher, Mubarak, McCauley, Pamular, Geiger, Christopher, Lee, Gene, Shi, Fuqian, Zou, Changchun, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
It is critical to provide an efficient and accurate information system in the post-disaster phase for individuals' in order to access and obtain the necessary resources in a timely manner; but current map based post-disaster management systems provide all emergency resource lists without filtering them which usually leads to high levels of energy consumed in calculation. Also an effective post-disaster management system (PDMS) will result in distribution of all emergency resources such as,...
Show moreIt is critical to provide an efficient and accurate information system in the post-disaster phase for individuals' in order to access and obtain the necessary resources in a timely manner; but current map based post-disaster management systems provide all emergency resource lists without filtering them which usually leads to high levels of energy consumed in calculation. Also an effective post-disaster management system (PDMS) will result in distribution of all emergency resources such as, hospital, storage and transportation much more reasonably and be more beneficial to the individuals in the post disaster period. In this Dissertation, firstly, semi-supervised learning (SSL) based graph systems was constructed for PDMS. A Graph-based PDMS' resource map was converted to a directed graph that presented by adjacent matrix and then the decision information will be conducted from the PDMS by two ways, one is clustering operation, and another is graph-based semi-supervised optimization process. In this study, PDMS was applied for emergency resource distribution in post-disaster (responses phase), a path optimization algorithm based ant colony optimization (ACO) was used for minimizing the cost in post-disaster, simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. This analysis was done by comparing it with clustering based algorithms under improvement ACO of tour improvement algorithm (TIA) and Min-Max Ant System (MMAS) and the results also show that the SSL based graph will be more effective for calculating the optimization path in PDMS. This research improved the map by combining the disaster map with the initial GIS based map which located the target area considering the influence of disaster. First, all initial map and disaster map will be under Gaussian transformation while we acquired the histogram of all map pictures. And then all pictures will be under discrete wavelet transform (DWT), a Gaussian fusion algorithm was applied in the DWT pictures. Second, inverse DWT (iDWT) was applied to generate a new map for a post-disaster management system. Finally, simulation works were proposed and the results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing it to other fusion algorithms, such as mean-mean fusion and max-UD fusion through the evaluation indices including entropy, spatial frequency (SF) and image quality index (IQI). Fuzzy set model were proposed to improve the presentation capacity of nodes in this GIS based PDMS.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005128, ucf:50702
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005128
- Title
- The Education Pathway Through Social and Economic Integration of Highly Educated Immigrants: The Case of Colombians in the United States.
- Creator
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Bedoya Arturo, Olga, Cintron Delgado, Rosa, Owens, J. Thomas, Laureano Fuentes, Gloria, Rivera, Fernando, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Developed countries have promoted immigration of educated people as a strategy to satisfy the demand for educated labor. Highly educated immigrants' poor language skills, absence of cultural networks, and lack of credentials and recognized professional experience gained in the country of origin are barriers to their social and economic integration (Ferrer (&) Riddell, 2008; Mattoo, Neagu, (&) ?zden, 2008; Miranda (&) Umhoefer, 1998; Zikic, Bonache, (&) Cerdin, 2010). The purpose of this study...
Show moreDeveloped countries have promoted immigration of educated people as a strategy to satisfy the demand for educated labor. Highly educated immigrants' poor language skills, absence of cultural networks, and lack of credentials and recognized professional experience gained in the country of origin are barriers to their social and economic integration (Ferrer (&) Riddell, 2008; Mattoo, Neagu, (&) ?zden, 2008; Miranda (&) Umhoefer, 1998; Zikic, Bonache, (&) Cerdin, 2010). The purpose of this study was to explore how college experiences in an American college or university facilitate or hinder the transfer and gain of different forms of capital among highly educated Colombia immigrants. All of the participants in this study completed at least a bachelor's degree before moving to the United States and came to this country under any visa category except that of student. Two in-depth interviews were conducted with six Colombian immigrants living in the state of Florida. The results of the study revealed five common themes shared by the participants: (1) exposure and exchange of different forms of thinking and cultural expressions; (2) performing in ways that meet requirements of American institutions; (3) achieving credentials recognized by professionals in the United States' job market and social structure; (4) capacity to assess their own abilities and take control of their future; and (5) connections that provide social, emotional, and intellectual support as well as information.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005923, ucf:50828
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005923
- Title
- Enhancing the effectiveness of Human-Robot teaming with a closed-loop system.
- Creator
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Teo, Grace, Szalma, James, Jentsch, Florian, Hancock, Peter, Matthews, Gerald, Reinerman, Lauren, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
With the development in robotics and the increasing deployment of robots, human-robot teams are set to be a mainstay in the future. However, our understanding of the effectiveness and impact of this new form of teaming is limited. Previous experience with technology and automa-tion has shown that technological aids do not always result in the intended consequences of im-proved performance and alleviation of workload and stress. No doubt a large part of this is due to the fact that the...
Show moreWith the development in robotics and the increasing deployment of robots, human-robot teams are set to be a mainstay in the future. However, our understanding of the effectiveness and impact of this new form of teaming is limited. Previous experience with technology and automa-tion has shown that technological aids do not always result in the intended consequences of im-proved performance and alleviation of workload and stress. No doubt a large part of this is due to the fact that the relationships among taskload, workload and performance are complex as hu-man operators interact dynamically with tasks and technology. Measures of workload are also varied and differentially sensitive. There is also the added challenge posed by multi-tasking envi-ronments which typify most real-world situations. Given all this, efforts in designing technologi-cal aids, such as an adaptive robot aid in the context of human-robot teaming, would require a workload model that reflects the intricate relationship between taskload and the individual opera-tor's experience of workload. Such a model can then be used to drive a closed-loop system on which adaptive robot aiding can be based. The present research sought to investigate the effec-tiveness of a closed-loop system, based on a model of workload, in enhancing performance in a simulated military mission involving a human-robot team. Results showed that adaptive robot aid driven by workload needs as assessed by physiological measures resulted in greater improve-ments in performance compared to robot aid that was imposed by the system.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0006403, ucf:51485
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006403
- Title
- Spatiotemporal Graphs for Object Segmentation and Human Pose Estimation in Videos.
- Creator
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Zhang, Dong, Shah, Mubarak, Qi, GuoJun, Bagci, Ulas, Yun, Hae-Bum, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Images and videos can be naturally represented by graphs, with spatial graphs for images and spatiotemporal graphs for videos. However, for different applications, there are usually different formulations of the graphs, and algorithms for each formulation have different complexities. Therefore, wisely formulating the problem to ensure an accurate and efficient solution is one of the core issues in Computer Vision research. We explore three problems in this domain to demonstrate how to...
Show moreImages and videos can be naturally represented by graphs, with spatial graphs for images and spatiotemporal graphs for videos. However, for different applications, there are usually different formulations of the graphs, and algorithms for each formulation have different complexities. Therefore, wisely formulating the problem to ensure an accurate and efficient solution is one of the core issues in Computer Vision research. We explore three problems in this domain to demonstrate how to formulate all of these problems in terms of spatiotemporal graphs and obtain good and efficient solutions.The first problem we explore is video object segmentation. The goal is to segment the primary moving objects in the videos. This problem is important for many applications, such as content based video retrieval, video summarization, activity understanding and targeted content replacement. In our framework, we use object proposals, which are object-like regions obtained by low-level visual cues. Each object proposal has an object-ness score associated with it, which indicates how likely this object proposal corresponds to an object. The problem is formulated as a directed acyclic graph, for which nodes represent the object proposals and edges represent the spatiotemporal relationship between nodes. A dynamic programming solution is employed to select one object proposal from each video frame, while ensuring their consistency throughout the video frames. Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) are used for modeling the background and foreground, and Markov Random Fields (MRFs) are employed to smooth the pixel-level segmentation.In the above spatiotemporal graph formulation, we consider the object segmentation in only single video. Next, we consider multiple videos and model the video co-segmentation problem as a spatiotemporal graph. The goal here is to simultaneously segment the moving objects from multiple videos and assign common objects the same labels. The problem is formulated as a regulated maximum clique problem using object proposals. The object proposals are tracked in adjacent frames to generate a pool of candidate tracklets. Then an undirected graph is built with the nodes corresponding to the tracklets from all the videos and edges representing the similarities between the tracklets. A modified Bron-Kerbosch Algorithm is applied to the graph in order to select the prominent objects contained in these videos, hence relate the segmentation of each object in different videos.In online and surveillance videos, the most important object class is the human. In contrast to generic video object segmentation and co-segmentation, specific knowledge about humans, which is defined by a pose (i.e. human skeleton), can be employed to help the segmentation and tracking of people in the videos. We formulate the problem of human pose estimation in videos using the spatiotemporal graph. In this formulation, the nodes represent different body parts in the video frames and edges represent the spatiotemporal relationship between body parts in adjacent frames. The graph is carefully designed to ensure an exact and efficient solution. The overall objective for the new formulation is to remove the simple cycles from the traditional graph-based formulations. Dynamic programming is employed in different stages in the method to select the best tracklets and human pose configurations
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006429, ucf:51488
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006429
- Title
- The Russian Connection: How Russia Became a Leader in the World's Human Trafficking Market.
- Creator
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De Mauro, Anthony, Mousseau, Demet, Dolan, Thomas, Boutton, Andrew, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This thesis assesses how the history of the USSR and its collapse affected the human trafficking market. By conducting a historical analysis of the Soviet Union, key aspects of Soviet society were determined that allowed for the human trafficking market to establish and operate extremely lucratively; a focus on some of the established factors of human trafficking including corruption, law enforcement, the economy, organized crime, and the dissolution of the Soviet government. While this...
Show moreThis thesis assesses how the history of the USSR and its collapse affected the human trafficking market. By conducting a historical analysis of the Soviet Union, key aspects of Soviet society were determined that allowed for the human trafficking market to establish and operate extremely lucratively; a focus on some of the established factors of human trafficking including corruption, law enforcement, the economy, organized crime, and the dissolution of the Soviet government. While this thesis highlights the historical factors of Russian human trafficking, this thesis does not determine why human trafficking exists beyond the surface exploitation that human trafficking consists of. This thesis also does not explore or explain why Russian human trafficking continues to exist for nearly twenty-five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This thesis does conclude that the history of the Soviet Union is almost tailor made for the purposes of human trafficking, with the combination of organized crime, an economy that constantly struggled, a government that was full of corruption and focused on too many endeavors, and a population that faced starvations, a lack of material goods, and political persecution all contributed to Russia having a large supply (population) of victims to be potentially exploited.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006450, ucf:51444
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006450
- Title
- Individual Differences in Trust Toward Robotic Assistants.
- Creator
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Sanders, Tracy, Hancock, Peter, Mouloua, Mustapha, Szalma, James, Behal, Aman, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This work on trust in human-robot interaction describes a series of three experiments from which a series of predictive models are developed. Previous work in trust and robotics has examined HRI components related to robots extensively, but there has been little research to quantify the influence of individual differences in trust on HRI. The present work seeks to fill that void by measuring individual differences across a variety of conditions, including differences in robot characteristics...
Show moreThis work on trust in human-robot interaction describes a series of three experiments from which a series of predictive models are developed. Previous work in trust and robotics has examined HRI components related to robots extensively, but there has been little research to quantify the influence of individual differences in trust on HRI. The present work seeks to fill that void by measuring individual differences across a variety of conditions, including differences in robot characteristics and environments. The models produced indicate that the main individual factors predicting trust in robotics include pre-existing attitudes towards robots, interpersonal trust, and personality traits.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006843, ucf:51776
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006843
- Title
- Intrinsic Factors Affecting Decomposition Changes in Archaeological Head Hair from Kellis 2 Cemetery, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt.
- Creator
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Cole, Kathleen, Dupras, Tosha, Williams, Lana, Groff, Amanda, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Post-mortem hair root degradation, and associated characteristics such as post-mortem root banding, brush-like ends, and hard keratin points, has remained a little understood phenomenon in the forensics discipline since its discovery in the 1800's. At present, the underlying causes of these characteristics are still unknown. In addition, there is no standardization for preparing samples for forensic or archaeological analysis. In this study, 1200 hairs from a total of 51 individuals (males, n...
Show morePost-mortem hair root degradation, and associated characteristics such as post-mortem root banding, brush-like ends, and hard keratin points, has remained a little understood phenomenon in the forensics discipline since its discovery in the 1800's. At present, the underlying causes of these characteristics are still unknown. In addition, there is no standardization for preparing samples for forensic or archaeological analysis. In this study, 1200 hairs from a total of 51 individuals (males, n = 22; females, n = 29) ranging in age from 16 to 60+ and interred at the Kellis 2 cemetery in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt are examined microscopically for evidence of post-mortem hair root degradation. These remains date from ~50AD to ~450AD, and all were naturally mummified. The purposes of this thesis are two-fold; 1) to determine the efficacy of two preparation methods, and 2) to examine the intrinsic and extrinsic variables in each hair in order to ascertain the factors that affect the degradation of the human hair root after death. The preparation methods include a dry sample, where the hair is directly removed from the scalp tissue using tweezers, and a wet sample, where a 1cm portion of the scalp was first rehydrated using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) for 48 hours before the hairs were extracted. Results indicate that when working with naturally mummified remains the wet method provides for easier acquisition of the sample and less chance of breakage before the hair is mounted for observation. This, therefore, provides a larger sample size for analysis.Each hair was observed using polarizing microscopy to determine whether postmortem root degradation was present, the growth stage of the hair, color, pigment density and distribution, pigment aggregate size and shape, medulla continuity and opacity, cuticle scale profile and thickness, inner cuticle margin, and the presence of ovoid bodies. Significant correlations were found between the incidence of postmortem root degradation and the growth stage, hair color, cuticle thickness, cuticle scale profile, and individual's age. The remaining variables did not show any significant correlations.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006577, ucf:51342
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006577
- Title
- Quantitative Framework For Social Cultural Interactions.
- Creator
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Bhatia, Taranjeet, Boloni, Ladislau, Turgut, Damla, Sukthankar, Gita, Fiore, Stephen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
For an autonomous robot or software agent to participate in the social life of humans, it must have a way to perform a calculus of social behavior. Such a calculus must have explanatory power (it must provide a coherent theory for why the humans act the way they do), and predictive power (it must provide some plausible events from the predicted future actions of the humans).This dissertation describes a series of contributions that would allow agents observing or interacting with humans to...
Show moreFor an autonomous robot or software agent to participate in the social life of humans, it must have a way to perform a calculus of social behavior. Such a calculus must have explanatory power (it must provide a coherent theory for why the humans act the way they do), and predictive power (it must provide some plausible events from the predicted future actions of the humans).This dissertation describes a series of contributions that would allow agents observing or interacting with humans to perform a calculus of social behavior taking into account cultural conventions and socially acceptable behavior models. We discuss the formal components of the model: culture-sanctioned social metrics (CSSMs), concrete beliefs (CBs) and action impact functions. Through a detailed case study of a crooked seller who relies on the manipulation of public perception, we show that the model explains how the exploitation of social conventions allows the seller to finalize transactions, despite the fact that the clients know that they are being cheated. In a separate study, we show that how the crooked seller can find an optimal strategy with the use of reinforcement learning.We extend the CSSM model for modeling the propagation of public perception across multiple social interactions. We model the evolution of the public perception both over a single interaction and during a series of interactions over an extended period of time. An important aspect for modeling the public perception is its propagation - how the propagation is affected by the spatio-temporal context of the interaction and how does the short-term and long-term memory of humans affect the overall public perception.We validated the CSSM model through a user study in which participants cognizant with the modeled culture had to evaluate the impact on the social values. The scenarios used in the experiments modeled emotionally charged social situations in a cross-cultural setting and with the presence of a robot. The scenarios model conflicts of cross-cultural communication as well as ethical, social and financial choices. This study allowed us to study whether people sharing the same culture evaluate CSSMs at the same way (the inter-cultural uniformity conjecture). By presenting a wide range of possible metrics, the study also allowed us to determine whether any given metric can be considered a CSSM in a given culture or not.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006262, ucf:51047
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006262
- Title
- Supporting situation awareness through robot-to-human information exchanges under conditions of visuospatial perspective taking.
- Creator
-
Phillips, Elizabeth, Jentsch, Florian, Sims, Valerie, Bowers, Clint, Shumaker, Randall, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The future vision of military Soldier(-)robot teams is one in which Soldiers and robots work together to complete separate, but interdependent tasks that advance the goals of the mission. However, in the near term, robots will be limited in their ability to successfully perform tasks without, at least, occasional assistance from their human teammates. A need exists to design, in robots, mechanisms that can support human situation awareness (SA) regarding the operations of the robot, which...
Show moreThe future vision of military Soldier(-)robot teams is one in which Soldiers and robots work together to complete separate, but interdependent tasks that advance the goals of the mission. However, in the near term, robots will be limited in their ability to successfully perform tasks without, at least, occasional assistance from their human teammates. A need exists to design, in robots, mechanisms that can support human situation awareness (SA) regarding the operations of the robot, which humans can use to provide interventions in robot tasks. The purpose of the current study was to test the effects of information exchanges provided by a robot on the development of SA in a human partner, under differing levels of visual perspective taking, and the consequential effects on the quality of human assistance provided to a robot. After data screening, fifty-six male participants ranging in age from 18 to 29 (M= 18.89, SD= 3.412) were included in the analysis of the results. Hierarchical multiple regression and a series of ANOVAs with comparisons between individual within-subjects study conditions were conducted to analyze five Hypotheses. The results of this study revealed that if robots, through robot-to-human information exchanges, can increasingly support a human's understanding of when assistance is needed, humans will be better able to provide that assistance. As opposed to originally hypothesized, this study also showed that fewer instances in which robots share status information with their human counterparts may be more beneficial for supporting awareness, assistance, and dual task performance than more information sharing, by guarding against performance decrements that could be the result of receiving too many robot-to-human information exchanges. It was also thought that anchoring robot-to-human information sharing with spatial information in reference to the human's view of the environment would be most beneficial for supporting awareness regarding the robot and assistance provided to the robot. This notion was not supported. Instead, results suggested that if extra spatial information is added to robot-to-human information exchanges, representing that spatial information in reference to a cardinal, global-relative perspective of the environment may be better for supporting awareness and assistance than representing that information in reference to the human's view of the environment.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006162, ucf:51143
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006162
- Title
- Preliminary Validation of Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (HHXRF) Spectrometry: Distinguishing Osseous and Dental Tissue from Non-Bone Material of Similar Chemical Composition.
- Creator
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Zimmerman, Heather, Schultz, John, Toyne, Jennifer, Sigman, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Forensic anthropologists normally examine bone from a variety of medicolegal contexts. The skeletal remains may in some cases be highly fragmented or taphonomically modified, making it difficult to sort bone from non-bone material. In these cases, the forensic anthropologist may rely on microscopic or destructive chemical analyses to sort the material. However, these techniques are costly and time-intensive, prompting the use of nondestructive analytical methods in distinguishing bone and...
Show moreForensic anthropologists normally examine bone from a variety of medicolegal contexts. The skeletal remains may in some cases be highly fragmented or taphonomically modified, making it difficult to sort bone from non-bone material. In these cases, the forensic anthropologist may rely on microscopic or destructive chemical analyses to sort the material. However, these techniques are costly and time-intensive, prompting the use of nondestructive analytical methods in distinguishing bone and teeth from non-bone materials in a limited number of cases. The proposed analytical techniques are limited in that they rely on an examination of the major elements in the material, and do not sort out all materials with a similar chemical composition to bone/teeth. To date, no methods have been proposed for the use of handheld X-ray fluorescence (HHXRF) spectrometry in discriminating human and nonhuman bone/teeth from non-bone materials. The purpose of this research was to develop a method for the use of HHXRF spectrometry in forensic anthropology specifically related to distinguishing human and nonhuman bone and teeth from non-bone materials of a similar chemical composition using multivariate statistical analyses: principal components analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). This was accomplished in two phases. Phase 1 consisted of a Reliability Test and involved sampling a single human long bone in thirty locations. Multiple spectra were collected at each location to examine the reliability of the instrument in detecting the elements both within a single site and between multiple sites. The results of the Reliability Test indicated that HHXRF consistently detected the major and minor elements found on the surface of a human bone. These results were used for Phase 2, designated the Accuracy Test, which involved analyzing a set of materials compiled from the literature to test the accuracy of the technique in discriminating bone (human and nonhuman) and non-bone samples (other biological and non-biological). The results of the Accuracy Test indicate that osseous and dental tissue can be distinguished from non-bone material of similar chemical composition with a high degree of accuracy (94%) when data is collected from several locations on a sample and analyzed separately during multivariate statistical analyses. Overall, it was not possible to discriminate rock apatite and synthetic hydroxyapatite (synthetic bone) from bone. However, this technique successfully discriminated other non-bone materials that are chemically similar to bone, such as ivory and octocoral, which previous methods focusing on only a comparison of Ca/P ratios were unable to distinguish from bone.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004801, ucf:49736
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004801
- Title
- Imperial Japan's Human Experiments Before and During World War Two.
- Creator
-
Vanderbrook, Alan, Zhang, Hong, Larson, Peter, Lester, Connie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
After Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931, Ishii Shiro created Unit 731 and began testing biological weapons on unwilling human test subjects. The history of Imperial Japan's human experiments was one in which Ishii and Unit 731 was the principal actor, but Unit 731 operated in a much larger context. The network in which 731 operated consisted of Unit 731 and all its sub-units, nearly every major Japanese university, as well as many people in Japan's scientific and medical community, military...
Show moreAfter Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931, Ishii Shiro created Unit 731 and began testing biological weapons on unwilling human test subjects. The history of Imperial Japan's human experiments was one in which Ishii and Unit 731 was the principal actor, but Unit 731 operated in a much larger context. The network in which 731 operated consisted of Unit 731 and all its sub-units, nearly every major Japanese university, as well as many people in Japan's scientific and medical community, military hospitals, military and civilian laboratories, and the Japanese military as a whole. Japan's racist ultra-nationalist movement heavily influenced these institutions and people; previous historians have failed to view Japan's human experiments in this context. This thesis makes use of a combination of declassified United States government and military documents, including court documents and the interviews conducted during the Unit 731 Exhibition that traveled Japan in 1993 and 1994, and then recorded by Hal Gold in his book, Unit 731 Testimony, along with a number of secondary sources as supporting material. Each of these sources has informed this work and helped clarify that Unit 731 acted within a broader network of human experimentation and exploitation in a racist system, which normalized human atrocities. Attitudes of racism and superiority do not necessarily explain every action taken by Japanese military personnel and scientists, nor did every individual view their actions or the actions of their countrymen as morally correct, but it does help explain why these acts occurred. What enabled many Japanese scientists was the racist ideology of the ultra-nationalist movement in Japan.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004767, ucf:49769
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004767
- Title
- The Effect of Habitat for Humanity Homeownership on Student Attendance and Standardized Test Scores in Orange County Florida School District.
- Creator
-
Harris, Charles, Kincaid, John, Uddin, Nizam, Rivers, Kenyatta, Wiegand, Rudolf, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The mobility of low-income students who do not have access to stable housing creates numerous challenges both at home and in school. Among these challenges, academic performance certainly is one of the most important. The lack of a more permanent, familiar, and safe environment is presumed to impact home life as well as students' performance in the classroom. This research compares two groups of current and former students of Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in Florida (1) children of...
Show moreThe mobility of low-income students who do not have access to stable housing creates numerous challenges both at home and in school. Among these challenges, academic performance certainly is one of the most important. The lack of a more permanent, familiar, and safe environment is presumed to impact home life as well as students' performance in the classroom. This research compares two groups of current and former students of Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in Florida (1) children of families who are Habitat for Humanity (HFH) homeowners, and (2) a matched socioeconomic control group. The HFH program is designed to provide a stable, affordable housing for families who cannot acquire it through standard means. The research question is: Does stability in housing make an impact on academic performance in the particular area of FCAT scores and attendance? Data were gathered from OCPS and the HFH homeowners themselves. This data were used to evaluate the impact of HFH homeownership on students' academic environment. Results showed better attendance at school, but HFH students fared worse in FCAT performance when compared to control group especially in reading.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005504, ucf:50360
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005504
- Title
- Influence of Task-Role Mental Models on Human Interpretation of Robot Motion Behavior.
- Creator
-
Ososky, Scott, Jentsch, Florian, Shumaker, Randall, Fiore, Stephen, Lackey, Stephanie, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The transition in robotics from tools to teammates has begun. However, the benefit autonomous robots provide will be diminished if human teammates misinterpret robot behaviors. Applying mental model theory as the organizing framework for human understanding of robots, the current empirical study examined the influence of task-role mental models of robots on the interpretation of robot motion behaviors, and the resulting impact on subjective ratings of robots. Observers (N = 120) were exposed...
Show moreThe transition in robotics from tools to teammates has begun. However, the benefit autonomous robots provide will be diminished if human teammates misinterpret robot behaviors. Applying mental model theory as the organizing framework for human understanding of robots, the current empirical study examined the influence of task-role mental models of robots on the interpretation of robot motion behaviors, and the resulting impact on subjective ratings of robots. Observers (N = 120) were exposed to robot behaviors that were either congruent or incongruent with their task-role mental model, by experimental manipulation of preparatory robot task-role information to influence mental models (i.e., security guard, groundskeeper, or no information), the robot's actual task-role behaviors (i.e., security guard or groundskeeper), and the order in which these robot behaviors were presented. The results of the research supported the hypothesis that observers with congruent mental models were significantly more accurate in interpreting the motion behaviors of the robot than observers without a specific mental model. Additionally, an incongruent mental model, under certain circumstances, significantly hindered an observer's interpretation accuracy, resulting in subjective sureness of inaccurate interpretations. The strength of the effects that mental models had on the interpretation and assessment of robot behaviors was thought to have been moderated by the ease with which a particular mental model could reasonably explain the robot's behavior, termed mental model applicability. Finally, positive associations were found between differences in observers' interpretation accuracy and differences in subjective ratings of robot intelligence, safety, and trustworthiness. The current research offers implications for the relationships between mental model components, as well as implications for designing robot behaviors to appear more transparent, or opaque, to humans.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005391, ucf:50457
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005391
- Title
- Role of host immune response and bacterial autolysin Atl in human nasal colonization by Staphylococcus aureus.
- Creator
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Paramanandam, Vanathy, Cole, Alexander, Naser, Saleh, Self, William, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is a major human pathogen that colonizes the anterior nares in 30% of the human population. Though nasal carriage of SA is a known risk factor for the subsequent spread of SA infections, the dynamics of SA nasal colonization is poorly understood. Our research focuses on understanding the host and bacterial factors that might contribute to the human nasal colonization by SA. In an attempt to elucidate the host response to SA, we performed an autologous human in vivo...
Show moreStaphylococcus aureus (SA) is a major human pathogen that colonizes the anterior nares in 30% of the human population. Though nasal carriage of SA is a known risk factor for the subsequent spread of SA infections, the dynamics of SA nasal colonization is poorly understood. Our research focuses on understanding the host and bacterial factors that might contribute to the human nasal colonization by SA. In an attempt to elucidate the host response to SA, we performed an autologous human in vivo nasal colonization study, which showed decreased survival rates of SA in hosts who elicited a robust immune response. We also identified a significant correlation between SA nasal colonization and the expression of host proinflammatory, chemotactic and growth factors.Additionally, we functionally disrupted a major autolysin, atl a surface expressed bacterial protein that plays multiple roles in cell separation, adhesion and biofilm formation of SA. Microscopic analysis of the ?atl strains showed phenotypic differences, including cell clumping and cluster formation due to defective cell separation, which confirmed the functional loss of atl. Subsequent analysis of the ?atl and wild-type strains revealed that there was no significant difference in their ability to adhere to human nasal epithelial cells (hNEC) in an ex vivo hNEC model. Similarly, our competitive in vivo human nasal colonization study, in which equal colony-forming units of each wild-type and ?atl SA strain were inoculated in the anterior nares of donors, showed similar survival rates between wild-type and ?atl. These results suggest that Atl might not be directly involved in the adherence and colonization of SA to the anterior nares. Furthermore, our study suggests that host factors might play a predominant role in determining SA colonization to human anterior nares.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005393, ucf:50463
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005393
- Title
- Bridging the Gap Between Fun and Fitness: Instructional Techniques and Real-World Applications for Full-Body Dance Games.
- Creator
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Charbonneau, Emiko, Laviola II, Joseph, Hughes, Charles, Tappen, Marshall, Angelopoulos, Theodore, Mueller, Florian, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Full-body controlled games offer the opportunity for not only entertainment, but education and exercise as well. Refined gameplay mechanics and content can boost intrinsic motivation and keep people playing over a long period of time, which is desirable for individuals who struggle with maintaining a regular exercise program. Within this gameplay genre, dance rhythm games have proven to be popular with game console owners. Yet, while other types of games utilize story mechanics that keep...
Show moreFull-body controlled games offer the opportunity for not only entertainment, but education and exercise as well. Refined gameplay mechanics and content can boost intrinsic motivation and keep people playing over a long period of time, which is desirable for individuals who struggle with maintaining a regular exercise program. Within this gameplay genre, dance rhythm games have proven to be popular with game console owners. Yet, while other types of games utilize story mechanics that keep players engaged for dozens of hours, motion-controlled dance games are just beginning to incorporate these elements. In addition, this control scheme is still young, only becoming commercially available in the last few years. Instructional displays and clear real-time feedback remain difficult challenges.This thesis investigates the potential for full-body dance games to be used as tools for entertainment, education, and fitness. We built several game prototypes to investigate visual, aural, and tactile methods for instruction and feedback. We also evaluated the fitness potential of the game Dance Central 2 both by itself and with extra game content which unlocked based on performance.Significant contributions include a framework for running a longitudinal video game study, results indicating high engagement with some fitness potential, and informed discussion of how dance games could make exertion a more enjoyable experience.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004829, ucf:49690
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004829
- Title
- The Effects of Diagnostic Aiding on Situation Awareness under Robot Unreliability.
- Creator
-
Schuster, David, Jentsch, Florian, Szalma, James, Mouloua, Mustapha, Shumaker, Randall, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In highly autonomous robotic systems, human operators are able to attend to their own, separate tasks, but robots still need occasional human intervention. In this scenario, it may be difficult for human operators to determine the status of the system and environment when called upon to aid the robot. The resulting lack of situation awareness (SA) is a problem common to other automated systems, and it can lead to poor performance and compromised safety. Existing research on this problem...
Show moreIn highly autonomous robotic systems, human operators are able to attend to their own, separate tasks, but robots still need occasional human intervention. In this scenario, it may be difficult for human operators to determine the status of the system and environment when called upon to aid the robot. The resulting lack of situation awareness (SA) is a problem common to other automated systems, and it can lead to poor performance and compromised safety. Existing research on this problem suggested that reliable automation of information processing, called diagnostic aiding, leads to better operator SA. The effects of unreliable diagnostic aiding, however, were not well understood. These effects are likely to depend on the ability of the operator to perform the task unaided. That is, under conditions in which the operator can reconcile their own sensing with that of the robot, the influence of unreliable diagnostic aiding may be more pronounced. When the robot is the only source of information for a task, these effects may be weaker or may reverse direction. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine if SA is differentially affected by unreliability at different levels of unaided human performance and at different stages of diagnostic aiding. This was accomplished by experimentally manipulating the stage of diagnostic aiding, robot reliability, and the ability of the operator to build SA unaided. Results indicated that while reliable diagnostic aiding is generally useful, unreliable diagnostic aiding has effects that depend on the amount of information available to operators in the environment. This research improves understanding of how robots can support operator SA and can guide the development of future robots so that humans are most likely to use them effectively.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005247, ucf:50577
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005247
- Title
- Automatic 3D human modeling: an initial stage towards 2-way inside interaction in mixed reality.
- Creator
-
Xiong, Yiyan, Hughes, Charles, Pattanaik, Sumanta, Laviola II, Joseph, Moshell, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
3D human models play an important role in computer graphics applications from a wide range of domains, including education, entertainment, medical care simulation and military training. In many situations, we want the 3D model to have a visual appearance that matches that of a specific living person and to be able to be controlled by that person in a natural manner. Among other uses, this approach supports the notion of human surrogacy, where the virtual counterpart provides a remote presence...
Show more3D human models play an important role in computer graphics applications from a wide range of domains, including education, entertainment, medical care simulation and military training. In many situations, we want the 3D model to have a visual appearance that matches that of a specific living person and to be able to be controlled by that person in a natural manner. Among other uses, this approach supports the notion of human surrogacy, where the virtual counterpart provides a remote presence for the human who controls the virtual character's behavior. In this dissertation, a human modeling pipeline is proposed for the problem of creating a 3D digital model of a real person. Our solution involves reshaping a 3D human template with a 2D contour of the participant and then mapping the captured texture of that person to the generated mesh. Our method produces an initial contour of a participant by extracting the user image from a natural background. One particularly novel contribution in our approach is the manner in which we improve the initial vertex estimate. We do so through a variant of the ShortStraw corner-finding algorithm commonly used in sketch-based systems. Here, we develop improvements to ShortStraw, presenting an algorithm called IStraw, and then introduce adaptations of this improved version to create a corner-based contour segmentatiuon algorithm. This algorithm provides significant improvements on contour matching over previously developed systems, and does so with low computational complexity. The system presented here advances the state of the art in the following aspects. First, the human modeling process is triggered automatically by matching the participant's pose with an initial pose through a tracking device and software. In our case, the pose capture and skeletal model are provided by the Microsoft Kinect and its associated SDK. Second, color image, depth data, and human tracking information from the Kinect and its SDK are used to automatically extract the contour of the participant and then generate a 3D human model with skeleton. Third, using the pose and the skeletal model, we segment the contour into eight parts and then match the contour points on each segment to a corresponding anchor set associated with a 3D human template. Finally, we map the color image of the person to the 3D model as its corresponding texture map. The whole modeling process only take several seconds and the resulting human model looks like the real person. The geometry of the 3D model matches the contour of the real person, and the model has a photorealistic texture. Furthermore, the mesh of the human model is attached to the skeleton provided in the template, so the model can support programmed animations or be controlled by real people. This human control is commonly done through a literal mapping (motion capture) or a gesture-based puppetry system. Our ultimate goal is to create a mixed reality (MR) system, in which the participants can manipulate virtual objects, and in which these virtual objects can affect the participant, e.g., by restricting theirmobility. This MR system prototype design motivated the work of this dissertation, since a realistic 3D human model of the participant is an essential part of implementing this vision.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005277, ucf:50543
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005277
- Title
- Impact of Interruption Frequency on Nurses' Performance, Satisfaction, and Cognition During Patient-Controlled Analgesia Use in the Simulated Setting.
- Creator
-
Campoe, Kristi, Talbert, Steven, Sole, Mary Lou, Andrews, Diane, Jentsch, Florian, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Problem: Interruption during medication administration is a significant patient safety concern within health care, especially during the administration of high risk medications in nursing. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) devices are frequently associated with adverse events and have a four-fold increased risk of patient injury compared to non-PCA related adverse events. While the nature and frequency of interruptions have been established for nurses' medication processes, the impact of...
Show moreProblem: Interruption during medication administration is a significant patient safety concern within health care, especially during the administration of high risk medications in nursing. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) devices are frequently associated with adverse events and have a four-fold increased risk of patient injury compared to non-PCA related adverse events. While the nature and frequency of interruptions have been established for nurses' medication processes, the impact of interruption frequency on nurses' PCA interaction has not been fully measured or described.Purpose: The purposes of this study were to quantify the impact of interruption frequency on registered nurses' (RN) performance, satisfaction, and cognitive workload during PCA interaction, and to determine nurses' perceptions of the impact of interruption frequency.Methods: This study employed a mixed-method design. First, an experimental repeated measures design was used to quantify the impact of interruption frequency on a purposive sample of nine medical-surgical RNs. The RNs completed PCA programming tasks in a simulated laboratory nursing environment for each of four conditions where interruption frequency was pre-determined. Four established human factors usability measures were completed for each of the four test conditions. The research questions were answered using repeated measures analysis of variance with (RM-ANOVA), McNamar's test, and Friedman's test. After each experiment, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data that were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis to determine RNs' perceptions of the impact of interruption frequency. Results: Results of the RM-ANOVA were significant for the main effect of interruption frequency on efficiency F(3,24)=9.592, p = .000. McNemar's test did not show significance for the impact of interruption frequency on effectiveness (accuracy). Friedman test showed participant satisfaction was significantly impacted by interruption frequency (x2=9.47, df=3, p=0.024). Friedman test showed no significance for the main effect of interruption frequency on cognitive workload scores by condition type (x2=1.88, df=3, p=0.599). Results of the qualitative content analysis revealed two main categories to describe nurses' perception of interruption frequency: the nature of interruptions and nurses' reaction to the interrupted work environment.Discussion/Implications: The results suggested that interruption frequency significantly affected task completion time and satisfaction for participants but not participant accuracy or cognitive workload. A high error rate during PCA programming tasks indicated the need to evaluate the conditions in which RNs complete PCA programming as each error presents potential risk of patient harm. RNs' described the impact of interruption frequency as having a negative impact on the work environment and subsequently implement compensating strategies to counterbalance interruptions. RNs' perceived that patient safety was negatively impacted by frequent interruption. RNs experienced negative intrapersonal consequences as a results of frequent interruption. Additional study is needed to better understand the impact of interruption frequency on RNs' performance accuracy and cognitive workload.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005770, ucf:50099
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005770
