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- Title
- Development and Evaluation of an Instrument to Measure Mother-Infant Togetherness After Childbirth.
- Creator
-
Lawrence, Carol, Norris, Anne, Byers, Jacqueline, Sole, Mary, Leon, Ana, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
No existing measure to date captures mother-infant togetherness. A valid measure of togetherness is essential to engage in evidence-based practice, evaluate obstetric delivery models and nursing interventions, and measure the level of togetherness which promotes optimal maternal-infant outcomes. When together and in close proximity, a women and her infant have access to one another to allow for mutual caregiving or caregiving on cue. A new measure entitled the Mother-Infant Togetherness Scale...
Show moreNo existing measure to date captures mother-infant togetherness. A valid measure of togetherness is essential to engage in evidence-based practice, evaluate obstetric delivery models and nursing interventions, and measure the level of togetherness which promotes optimal maternal-infant outcomes. When together and in close proximity, a women and her infant have access to one another to allow for mutual caregiving or caregiving on cue. A new measure entitled the Mother-Infant Togetherness Scale (MITS) was developed based on a review of the literature and conceptual framework of Mother-Newborn Mutual Caregiving. The MITS is a 35-item instrument composed of four subscales that measures the timing, duration, and intensity of togetherness of the mother-infant dyad during entire hospitalization. The purpose of this multiphase study was to obtain support for the validity of the MITS. Phase 1 determined the content validity at the scale (S-CVI), subscale, and item level (I-CVI) with a panel of expert judges. The final sample for the content validation consisted of 7 judges from medicine (n = 2), maternal-child nursing (n = 1), nursing research (n = 3), and social work (n = 1). Judges were instructed to use a 4-point Likert scale to rate the relevance of each item (I-CVI) to the construct of togetherness. The S-CVI was calculated from the mean I-CVI scores. The CVI-S of .88 was just slightly below the desired CVI-S ((>) .90). Of the four subscales, all had adequate CVI ((>) .90) at the subscale level except the delivery affective subscale (CVI = .74) and postpartum affective subscale (CVI = .89). The delivery events and postpartum events subscales had satisfactory CVI scores (CVI (>) .90), 1.00 and .94, respectively. The CVI-I results identified a total of seven items on the affective subscales that did not meet the desired I-CVI ((>) .78). Phase 2 pre-tested the readability and understandability of the MITS among eight postpartum women. During the interviews, the women were asked to complete the MITS and provide opinions about the readability and understandability of the directions and items. The audiotapes were transcribed word for word, reviewed for thematic content, and revisions made to the study instrument accordingly. This same sample of postpartum women participated in the content validation of the delivery affective subscale (items #4a-j) and postpartum affective subscale (items #17a-j). The I-CVI results identified that a total of six items on the affective subscales had a CVI-I of .75, just slightly below the desired I-CVI ((>) .78). Scale items were deleted or revised and the instrument retested until the desirable CVI at the scale and subscale level was achieved. Phase 3 used a descriptive study design to examine women's ability to accurately self-report birth events on the MITS delivery events subscale at 4 weeks postpartum, as compared to observer-collected data obtained at delivery to determine the most valid mode of administration. A purposive sample consisted of 45 women having delivered at a community hospital in southwest Florida. The research team completed the MITS delivery events subscale immediately after delivery. Women were sent the MITS for completion 4 weeks after delivery. McNemar Chi-Squares were (?) were calculated from the self-reported MITS delivery events subscale scores and the observer-collected MITS delivery events subscale scores. No significant difference (p (<) .05) was found supporting self-reported mode of administration for the MITS. Phase 4 is in-progress and evaluates the reliability and validity of the MITS subscale and total scale scores. The interim analysis was performed on a sample of 113 postpartum participants (composed of the final sample of 31 participants from Phase 3 and the first 82 participants from Phase 4) having delivered at three of the four participating hospital study sites. Adequate internal consistency reliability was found at the scale level with Cronbach's alpha (? = .89) and split-half reliability results (? = .79 (-) 81, r = .83 - .88). Of the 35 MITS items, 10 items (28.6%) were found to have item-total correlations less than .30, arguing against treating MITS items as a single total scale measure. Good internal consistency was found at the delivery events subscale level (? = .78). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified a two-factor solution. The two factors were named Taking In and Taking Control and had internal consistency reliability.79 and .65, respectively. Additional work needs to be done to improve the internal consistency of the Taking Control factor. The postpartum events subscale also had low internal consistency (? = .58). This subscale was not factor analyzed because the item response data did not meet the criteria for factor analysis. The items on the postpartum events subscale were assessed to be unique, singular, heterogeneous items that did not correlate well with other items. These results are conceptually logical given the nature of what the items are measuring (occurrence/intensity of specific events in time). The delivery affective subscale had good internal consistency reliability (? = .85) and a two factor solution. The two factors, named Feelings At Delivery and Delivery Concerns, had adequate internal constancy (? = .81 and ? = .80, respectively). The postpartum affective subscale had good internal consistency reliability (? = .92) and a one factor solution. Results for known groups testing based on feeding type and mode of delivery found all group differences were in the predicted direction. Higher scores were found for mother-infant dyads who breastfed than for mother-infant dyads who bottle fed. However, only group differences for the events subscales were substantive and statistically significant (p (<) 001.). Higher scores were found for mother-infant dyads who experiencing a vaginal delivery than for mother-infant dyads who experienced a cesarean delivery. Group differences were substantive and statistically significant (p (<) .01) for three of the four subscale scores. A post hoc power analysis on the means and standard deviations from the interim analysis and the between-groups comparison effect size observed for feeding type (d = .50) found a sample of 45 adequate to have statistical power at the recommended beta of .80 and alpha of .05. The post hoc power analysis on the effect size for mode of delivery (d = .75), found a sample of 156 are needed to obtain statistical power at the recommended beta of .80 and alpha of .05. Therefore, the desired sample size of 200 women for the final analysis is adequate to obtain statistical power. A third known group testing for the variable of central nursery availability could not be performed with the interim analysis data because no participants in the interim analysis sample reported this experience. However, this analysis will be performed with the final data set. This is the first study to operationalize togetherness during the entire hospitalization and to include all dimensions of the construct. The findings from this multi-phase study provide initial support for the reliability and validity of the MITS. Although the results from Phase 4 are interim and therefore tentative, they provide preliminary psychometric evidence for construct validity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004567, ucf:49200
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004567
- Title
- An Exploratory Study of Physiologic Responses to a Passive Exercise Intervention in Mechanically-ventilated Critically Ill Adults.
- Creator
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Amidei, Christina, Sole, Mary, Byers, Jacqueline, Covelli, Maureen, Smith, Gerald, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Muscle weakness is the most common and persistent problem after a critical illness. Early mobilization of the critically ill patient, beginning with passive exercise and progressing to ambulation, may mitigate muscle effects of the critical illness. However, mobilization may produce adverse effects, especially early in the illness when risk for physiologic deterioration is common. If safe, introducing a mobility intervention early in the illness may facilitate ventilator weaning, shorten...
Show moreMuscle weakness is the most common and persistent problem after a critical illness. Early mobilization of the critically ill patient, beginning with passive exercise and progressing to ambulation, may mitigate muscle effects of the critical illness. However, mobilization may produce adverse effects, especially early in the illness when risk for physiologic deterioration is common. If safe, introducing a mobility intervention early in the illness may facilitate ventilator weaning, shorten intensive care unit and hospitals stays, and improve functional status and quality of life for mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. The aim of this study was assess the cardiopulmonary and inflammatory responses to an early standardized passive exercise protocol (PEP) in mechanically ventilated critically ill patients. Using a quasi-experimental within-subjects repeated measures design, mechanically ventilated critically ill adults who were physiologically stable received a single standardized PEP within 72 hours of intubation. The PEP consisted of 20 minutes of bilateral passive leg movement delivered by continuous passive motion machines at a rate of 20 repetitions per minute, from 5-75 degrees, to simulate very slow walking. Physiologic parameters evaluated included heart rate (HR), mean blood pressure (MBP), oxygen saturation, and cytokine levels (IL-6 and IL-10), obtained before, during, and after the intervention. The Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS), administered before, during and after the intervention was used as a measure of participant comfort. The study sample was comprised of 18 (60%) males and 12 (40%) females, with a mean age of 56.5 years (SD 16.9 years), who were primarily Caucasian (N=18, 64%). Mean APACHE II scores for the sample were 23.8 (SD 6.2) with a mean predicted death rate of 48.8 (SD 19.8), indicating moderate mortality risk related to illness severity. Number of comorbidities ranged from 1-10 (X=4). All participants completed the intervention with no adverse events. Using repeated measures analysis of variance (rmANOVA), no significant differences were found in HR, MBP, or oxygen saturation at any of the four time points in comparison to baseline. BPS scores were significantly reduced (F(2.43, 70.42)=4.08, p=.02) at 5 and 10 minutes after the PEP was started, and were sustained at 20 minutes and for one hour after the PEP was completed. IL-6 was significantly reduced (F(1.60, 43.1)=4.351, p=.03) at the end of the intervention but not at the end of the final rest period. IL-10 values were not significantly different at any of the three time points, but IL-6 to IL-10 ratios did decrease significantly (F(1.61, 43.38)=3.42, p=.05) at the end of the PEP and again after a 60 minute rest period. Passive leg exercise was well tolerated by study participants. HR, MBP, and oxygen saturation were maintained within order set-specified ranges during and for one hour after activity, and patient comfort improved during and after the intervention. A downward trend in HR was noted in participants, which is contrary to usual HR response during exercise, and may represent clinical improvement in this population related to reduction in pain. Reduction of mean IL-6 values at the end of the PEP, but not after the rest period, suggests that the PEP was responsible for the initial IL-6 improvement. Improvement of IL-6 to IL-10 ratios from the end of the PEP to the end of the final rest period suggests that IL-10, although non-significant, may have had some effect, indicating that IL-10 increases may occur later than the time period of study.Passive exercise can be used as an approach to facilitating mobilization in mechanically ventilated critically ill adults until they are ready to participate in more active exercise. It could be that more frequent and aggressive exercise, such as passive cycling at faster rates, four times daily, will be tolerated in this population. While the understanding of clinical significance of cytokine profiles in critically ill patients is still evolving, cytokine levels may be useful in explaining benefits of mobilization in this population. Further study is required to replicate the impact of passive exercise on pain, and it may represent a novel approach to pain management in critically ill patients.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004350, ucf:49424
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004350
- Title
- NONINVASIVE PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES AND WORKLOAD TRANSITIONS:AN INVESTIGATION OF THRESHOLDS USING MULTIPLE SYNCHRONIZED SENSORS.
- Creator
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Sciarini, Lee, Nicholson, Denise, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study is to determine under what conditions multiple minimally intrusive physiological sensors can be used together and validly applied for use in areas which rely on adaptive systems including adaptive automation and augmented cognition. Specifically, this dissertation investigated the physiological transitions of operator state caused by changes in the level of taskload. Three questions were evaluated including (1) Do differences exist between physiological indicators...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to determine under what conditions multiple minimally intrusive physiological sensors can be used together and validly applied for use in areas which rely on adaptive systems including adaptive automation and augmented cognition. Specifically, this dissertation investigated the physiological transitions of operator state caused by changes in the level of taskload. Three questions were evaluated including (1) Do differences exist between physiological indicators when examined between levels of difficulty? (2) Are differences of physiological indicators (which may exist) between difficulty levels affected by spatial ability? (3) Which physiological indicators (if any) account for variation in performance on a spatial task with varying difficulty levels? The Modular Cognitive State Gauge model was presented and used to determine which basic physiological sensors (EEG, ECG, EDR and eye-tracking) could validly assess changes in the utilization of two-dimensional spatial resources required to perform a spatial ability dependent task. Thirty-six volunteers (20 female, 16 male) wore minimally invasive physiological sensing devices while executing a challenging computer based puzzle task. Specifically, participants were tested with two measures of spatial ability, received training, a practice session, an experimental trial and completed a subjective workload survey. The results of this experiment confirmed that participants with low spatial ability reported higher subjective workload and performed poorer when compared to those with high spatial ability. Additionally, there were significant changes for a majority of the physiological indicators between two difficulty levels and most importantly three measures (EEG, ECG and eye-tracking) were shown to account for variability in performance on the spatial task.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002781, ucf:48108
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002781
- Title
- MYSTERY SHOPPER MOTIVATIONS AND THE PRESENCE OF MOTIVATION CROWDING.
- Creator
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Allison, Pamela, Severt, Denver, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Mystery shopping is used in a variety of service industries to measure service performance, as a training tool for employees, and to ensure the safety and security of the product offered. The persons performing this activity, mystery shoppers, experience various motivations, some of which are similar to employees and/or volunteers. These motivations can be intrinsic, where the performance of the activity is a reward itself, or extrinsic, meaning performance of the activity is a method for...
Show moreMystery shopping is used in a variety of service industries to measure service performance, as a training tool for employees, and to ensure the safety and security of the product offered. The persons performing this activity, mystery shoppers, experience various motivations, some of which are similar to employees and/or volunteers. These motivations can be intrinsic, where the performance of the activity is a reward itself, or extrinsic, meaning performance of the activity is a method for attaining a reward. The dominance of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation can shift within the individual, which is termed motivation crowding. Individuals can crowd in when intrinsic motivations are supplemented and supported by extrinsic motivations, or crowd out if extrinsic motivations become the dominant factor, devaluing the activity and reducing intrinsic motivation. This study examines the motivations of mystery shoppers and examines whether the tenets of motivation crowding are supported using a mixed methods research design. The objectives for the study were to identify, classify, and measure mystery shopping motivations using motivational theory to test for the presence of motivation crowding, as reflected in the initial two hypotheses: H1: There are salient dimensions of motivation influencing individual participation in mystery shopping activities. H2: Mystery shoppers experience motivation "crowding in" after initial performance of mystery shopping activities, with intrinsic motivations increasing. To address the first hypothesis, the study began with a qualitative research approach utilizing semi-structured interviews with current mystery shoppers. Through qualitative analysis, 14 constructs of mystery shopper motivations were identified. The constructs were then utilized to develop the Mystery Shopper Motivation Scale, following the eight-step scale development process defined by DeVellis (2003). The scale was then refined through pre-testing and pilot testing, and was used in a survey administration to 323 current mystery shoppers. Through factor analysis, the motivations identified were quantitatively supported, and then dependent t-tests indicated the presence of motivation crowding affecting mystery shoppers. However, unanticipated increases in extrinsic motivations prompted further analysis of motivations based on mystery shopping experience levels, resulting in the addition of a third hypothesis: H3: The direction of motivation crowding is dependent on the mystery shopper's level of experience. H3a: Mystery shoppers who have performed less than 10 mystery shops will crowd in, with an increase in intrinsic motivations and a decrease in extrinsic motivations. H3b: Mystery shoppers who have performed between 10-24 mystery shops will crowd in, with an increase in both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and intrinsic motivations remaining the dominant factor. H3c: Mystery shoppers who have performed 25 or more mystery shops will crowd in, with an increase in both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, but extrinsic motivations becoming the dominant factor. Results supported motivation crowding as dependent on the experience level of the mystery shopper, prompting the categorization of three distinct mystery shopping phases of activity: the novelty phase, the exploratory phase, and the career phase. Empirical results of the survey were then compared to a subsequent round of qualitative analysis of mystery shopper online forums. Recommendations for future research include longitudinal studies of novelty phase mystery shoppers, examination of the effects motivation crowding may have on mystery shopper behavioral intentions, and incorporation of the perceived costs associated with mystery shopping.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002588, ucf:48290
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002588
- Title
- Techniques for characterization of third order optical nonlinearities.
- Creator
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Ferdinandus, Manuel, Hagan, David, Vanstryland, Eric, Christodoulides, Demetrios, Hernandez, Florencio, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation describes the development of novel techniques for characterization of nonlinear properties of materials. The dissertation is divided into two parts, a background and theory section and a technique development section.In the background and theory section we explain the origins of the nonlinear optical response of materials across many different spatial and temporal scales. The mechanisms that we are most interested in are the electronic nuclear and reorientational responses,...
Show moreThis dissertation describes the development of novel techniques for characterization of nonlinear properties of materials. The dissertation is divided into two parts, a background and theory section and a technique development section.In the background and theory section we explain the origins of the nonlinear optical response of materials across many different spatial and temporal scales. The mechanisms that we are most interested in are the electronic nuclear and reorientational responses, which occur on the range of sub-femtosecond to several picoseconds. The electronic mechanism is due to the electrons of a material experiencing a non-parabolic potential well due a strong electric field and occurs on the sub-femtosecond timescale. The nuclear or vibrational effect results from the motion of the nuclei of the atoms and typically occurs on the order of a few hundred femtoseconds. Finally the reorientational nonlinearity is due to the alignment of the molecule to the electric field, which alters the polarizability of the molecule and typically occurs on the scale of a few picoseconds. There are other mechanisms can induce nonlinear optical effects such as thermal effects and electrostriction, but these effects typically occur on much larger timescales than we are interested in, and hence will not be a major focus of this dissertation.In the nonlinear characterization techniques section, we describe previous research into the field of nonlinear optical characterization techniques, describing the techniques used to characterize the nonlinear properties of materials, their applications and limitations. We will trace the development of two recently developed techniques for nonlinear spectroscopy ? the Dual Arm Z-Scan and the Beam Deflection techniques. The Dual Arm Z-Scan technique is an enhancement of the standard Z-Scan technique that allows for the measurement of small nonlinear signals in the presence of large background signals. This technique allows for the measurement of materials under certain conditions not previously measureable using the standard Z-Scan technique, such materials with low damage thresholds, poor solubility and thin films.In addition to the Dual Arm Z-Scan, we have developed a new method for characterizing nonlinear refraction, the Beam Deflection technique, which is a variation of the photothermal beam deflection technique previously used to measure very weak absorption signals. This technique offers relative ease of use, the ability to measure the absolute magnitude and sign of both the real and imaginary parts of ?^((3)) simultaneously with high sensitivity. We fully develop the theory for materials with instantaneous and non-instantaneous nonlinearities, with nonlinear absorption and group velocity mismatch. We also demonstrate the power of this technique to separate the isotropic and reorientational contributions of liquids by examining the temporal response and polarization dependences.Lastly, we summarize our conclusions and describe two promising future research directions that would benefit from the Dual Arm Z-Scan and Beam Deflection techniques.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005164, ucf:50709
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005164
- Title
- Measuring the evolving Internet ecosystem with exchange points.
- Creator
-
Ahmad, Mohammad Zubair, Guha, Ratan, Bassiouni, Mostafa, Chatterjee, Mainak, Jha, Sumit, Goldiez, Brian, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The Internet ecosystem comprising of thousands of Autonomous Systems (ASes) now include Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) as another critical component in the infrastructure. Peering plays a significant part in driving the economic growth of ASes and is contributing to a variety of structural changes in the Internet. IXPs are a primary component of this peering ecosystem and are playing an increasing role not only in the topology evolution of the Internet but also inter-domain path routing. In...
Show moreThe Internet ecosystem comprising of thousands of Autonomous Systems (ASes) now include Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) as another critical component in the infrastructure. Peering plays a significant part in driving the economic growth of ASes and is contributing to a variety of structural changes in the Internet. IXPs are a primary component of this peering ecosystem and are playing an increasing role not only in the topology evolution of the Internet but also inter-domain path routing. In this dissertation we study and analyze the overall affects of peering and IXP infrastructure on the Internet. We observe IXP peering is enabling a quicker flattening of the Internet topology and leading to over-utilization of popular inter-AS links. Indiscriminate peering at these locations is leading to higher end-to-end path latencies for ASes peering at an exchange point, an effect magnified at the most popular worldwide IXPs. We first study the effects of recently discovered IXP links on the inter-AS routes using graph based approaches and find that it points towards the changing and flattening landscape in the evolution of the Internet's topology. We then study more IXP effects by using measurements to investigate the networks benefits of peering. We propose and implement a measurement framework which identifies default paths through IXPs and compares them with alternate paths isolating the IXP hop. Our system is running and recording default and alternate path latencies and made publicly available. We model the probability of an alternate path performing better than a default path through an IXP by identifying the underlying factors influencing the end-to end path latency. Our first-of-its-kind modeling study, which uses a combination of statistical and machine learning approaches, shows that path latencies depend on the popularity of the particular IXP, the size of the provider ASes of the networks peering at common locations and the relative position of the IXP hop along the path. An in-depth comparison of end-to-end path latencies reveal a significant percentage of alternate paths outperforming the default route through an IXP. This characteristic of higher path latencies is magnified in the popular continental exchanges as measured by us in a case study looking at the largest regional IXPs. We continue by studying another effect of peering which has numerous applications in overlay routing, Triangle Inequality Violations (TIVs). These TIVs in the Internet delay space are created due to peering and we compare their essential characteristics with overlay paths such as detour routes. They are identified and analyzed from existing measurement datasets but on a scale not carried out earlier. This implementation exhibits the effectiveness of GPUs in analyzing big data sets while the TIVs studied show that the a set of common inter-AS links create these TIVs. This result provides a new insight about the development of TIVs by analyzing a very large data set using GPGPUs.Overall our work presents numerous insights into the inner workings of the Internet's peering ecosystem. Our measurements show the effects of exchange points on the evolving Internet and exhibits their importance to Internet routing.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004802, ucf:49744
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004802
- Title
- The Perception and Measurement of Human-Robot Trust.
- Creator
-
Schaefer, Kristin, Hancock, Peter, Jentsch, Florian, Kincaid, John, Reinerman, Lauren, Billings, Deborah, Lee, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
As robots penetrate further into the everyday environments, trust in these robots becomes a crucial issue. The purpose of this work was to create and validate a reliable scale that could measure changes in an individual's trust in a robot. Assessment of current trust theory identified measurable antecedents specific to the human, the robot, and the environment. Six experiments subsumed the development of the 40 item trust scale. Scale development included the creation of a 172 item pool. Two...
Show moreAs robots penetrate further into the everyday environments, trust in these robots becomes a crucial issue. The purpose of this work was to create and validate a reliable scale that could measure changes in an individual's trust in a robot. Assessment of current trust theory identified measurable antecedents specific to the human, the robot, and the environment. Six experiments subsumed the development of the 40 item trust scale. Scale development included the creation of a 172 item pool. Two experiments identified the robot features and perceived functional characteristics that were related to the classification of a machine as a robot for this item pool. Item pool reduction techniques and subject matter expert (SME) content validation were used to reduce the scale to 40 items. The two final experiments were then conducted to validate the scale. The finalized 40 item pre-post interaction trust scale was designed to measure trust perceptions specific to HRI. The scale measured trust on a 0-100% rating scale and provides a percentage trust score. A 14 item sub-scale of this final version of the test recommended by SMEs may be sufficient for some HRI tasks, and the implications of this proposition were discussed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004931, ucf:49634
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004931
- Title
- Predictors of an Effective Performance Measurement System: Evidence from Municipal Governments in Turkey.
- Creator
-
Eliuz, Sedat, Kapucu, Naim, Hu, Qian, Martin, Lawrence, Wang, Xiaohu, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The aim of this study is to examine the predictors of effective performance measurement in the context of Turkish municipalities. In the study, mainly the theoretical guidance of context-design-performance model has been utilized to examine the contextual and design factors which have influenced the effective use of performance measurement systems in Turkish municipalities. The following research questions were examined in this study: To what extent do Turkish municipalities implement...
Show moreThe aim of this study is to examine the predictors of effective performance measurement in the context of Turkish municipalities. In the study, mainly the theoretical guidance of context-design-performance model has been utilized to examine the contextual and design factors which have influenced the effective use of performance measurement systems in Turkish municipalities. The following research questions were examined in this study: To what extent do Turkish municipalities implement performance measurement systems effectively?, What are the predictors of effective performance measurement in Turkish municipalities?, and whether or to what extent do quality of performance measures, technical capacity of the municipality for performance measurement, organizational support, and external support for the use of performance measurement have influence on the effectiveness level of performance measurement systems in Turkish municipalities? In the study, the data were collected from Turkish municipalities by a self-administered online survey and were analyzed by using the structural equation modeling (SEM). It is hypothesized in the study that external support and organizational support for the use performance measurement, and technical capacity for the performance measurement are associated with quality of performance measures and effectiveness of performance measurement systems in general. The results of the study supported the hypotheses of the study regarding the relationships among organizational support, technical capacity, quality of performance measures, and effectiveness of performance measurement. Although the results confirmed that external support has an indirect effect on effectiveness of performance measurement via technical capacity and quality of performance measures, the hypothesis regarding the direct effect of it on effectiveness of performance measurement was not supported. Moreover, the study found that support of employees and citizens for the use of performance measurement in Turkish municipalities are relatively low, the municipalities have deficiencies both in the quantity and the quality of staff that are responsible for performance measurement activities, and the level of employee involvement in the development of performance measures is low.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005487, ucf:50364
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005487
- Title
- STUDENT RETENTION IN FLORIDA COMMUNITY COLLEGES:CCSSE'S RETENTION INDEX AND FLORIDA ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES.
- Creator
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ROMAN, Marcia, Taylor, Rosemarye, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Student retention has become a serious topic in the past several decades (Wild and Ebbers, 2002). Problematic, however, is how retention is defined and measured, as well as a lack of multi-institutional studies that support a theoretical model for improving student retention, particularly in community colleges (Bailey & Alfonso, 2005). The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) was launched in 2001. Based on extensive research that pertains to student learning and persistence,...
Show moreStudent retention has become a serious topic in the past several decades (Wild and Ebbers, 2002). Problematic, however, is how retention is defined and measured, as well as a lack of multi-institutional studies that support a theoretical model for improving student retention, particularly in community colleges (Bailey & Alfonso, 2005). The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) was launched in 2001. Based on extensive research that pertains to student learning and persistence, CCSSE defined five benchmarks of educational practice. Three of the benchmarks comprise the Retention Index. CCSSE has encouraged additional studies to further validate the relatively new survey instrument. Florida's legislature has a keen interest in the performance of educational institutions which are mandated by statute to participate in system-wide data collection from which accountability measures are drawn, including institutional retention rates. Using institutional level data in simple and multiple linear regressions, this study examined the relationship between the Florida Community Colleges' CCSSE Retention Indices and their retention rate(s) measured by the Florida Accountability Measure. Student level data was also analyzed using a Nested ANOVA to examine mean differences in CCSSE Retention Index scores of students from different racial and gender groups when accounting for the possible influence of institution attended.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- Identifier
- CFE0001355, ucf:47006
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001355
- Title
- EFFECTS OF SIMULTANEOUS EXERCISE AND SPEECH TASKS ON THE PERCEPTION OF EFFORT AND VOCAL MEASURES IN AEROBIC INSTRUCTURS.
- Creator
-
Koblick, Heather, Hoffman-Ruddy, Bari, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of voice production and perception of dyspnea in aerobic instructors during simultaneous tasks of exercise and speech production. The study aimed to document changes that occur during four conditions: 1) voice production without exercise and no use of amplification; 2) voice production without exercise and the use of amplification; 3) voice production during exercise without the use of amplification; 4) voice production during exercise...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of voice production and perception of dyspnea in aerobic instructors during simultaneous tasks of exercise and speech production. The study aimed to document changes that occur during four conditions: 1) voice production without exercise and no use of amplification; 2) voice production without exercise and the use of amplification; 3) voice production during exercise without the use of amplification; 4) voice production during exercise with the use of amplification. Participants included ten aerobic instructors (two male and eight female). The dependent variables included vocal intensity, average fundamental frequency (F0), noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR), jitter percent (jitt %), shimmer percent (shim %), and participants' self-perception of dyspnea. The results indicated that speech alone, whether it was with or without amplification, had no effect on the sensation of dyspnea. However, when combining speech with exercise, the speech task became increasingly difficult, even more so without the use of amplification. Exercise was observed to inhibit vocal loudness levels as vocal intensity measures were lowest in the conditions with exercise with the use of amplification. Increases in F0 occurred in conditions involving exercise without the use of amplification. Moreover, four participants in various conditions exhibited frequencies that diverged from their gender's normal range. Participants' NHR increased during periods of exercise, however no participants were found to have NHR measures outside the normal range. Four participants were found to have moderate laryngeal pathology that was hemorrhagic in nature. Findings suggest that traditional treatment protocols may need to be modified beyond hygienic approaches in order to address both the respiratory and laryngeal work-loads that are encountered in this population and others involving similar occupational tasks.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000274, ucf:46234
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000274
- Title
- Development and Validation of a Scale to Measure Misconceptions About Educational Psychology Among Pre-Service Teachers.
- Creator
-
McAfee, Morgan, Boote, David, Hayes, Grant, Vitale, Thomas, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Misconceptions are widespread or commonly held beliefs explicitly contradicted by empirical evidence. When teachers harbor misconceptions or unjustified beliefs about teaching, learning, and human motivation, the potential pedagogical consequences are profound, and these inaccurate beliefs may be instilled into future students through ineffective teaching strategies and gross misinterpretations of learning science. While existing research has examined misconceptions about general psychology...
Show moreMisconceptions are widespread or commonly held beliefs explicitly contradicted by empirical evidence. When teachers harbor misconceptions or unjustified beliefs about teaching, learning, and human motivation, the potential pedagogical consequences are profound, and these inaccurate beliefs may be instilled into future students through ineffective teaching strategies and gross misinterpretations of learning science. While existing research has examined misconceptions about general psychology and neuroscience among various populations, no prior work has evaluated pre-service teachers' misconceptions about topics of educational psychology, comprising inaccurate beliefs about teaching, learning, and human motivation. The purpose of this research is to describe the development and validation of a scale to measure misconceptions about educational psychology among pre-service teachers. Employing an experimental 2 (scale: true/false, six-point Likert-type) x 2 (valence: positive, mixed) x 2 (order: true/false presented first, Likert-type presented first) factorial, repeated measures design, a randomized experiment was performed to systematically evaluate the conditions under which the proposed scale for misconceptions of educational psychology performed best. As expected, the Likert-type scale was more sensitive to detecting misconceptions relative to the true/false scale. However, contrary to extant research on the valence effect, mixed-valence scales outperformed the positively-valenced scales across conditions indicating that misconceptions are best measured with a Likert-type response format using a heterogeneous mix of positively- and negatively-valenced items rather than a homogeneous set of positively-valenced items. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007051, ucf:51969
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007051
- Title
- Three Studies Examining Auditors' Use of Data Analytics.
- Creator
-
Koreff, Jared, Sutton, Steven, Arnold, Vicky, Baudot, Lisa, Brazel, Joe, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This dissertation comprises three studies, one qualitative and two experimental, that center on auditor's use of data analytics. Data analytics hold the potential for auditors to reallocate time spent on labor intensive tasks to judgment intensive tasks (Brown-Liburd et al. 2015), ultimately improving audit quality (Raphael 2017). Yet the availability of these tools does not guarantee that auditors will incorporate the data analytics into their judgments (Davis et al. 1989; Venkatesh et al....
Show moreThis dissertation comprises three studies, one qualitative and two experimental, that center on auditor's use of data analytics. Data analytics hold the potential for auditors to reallocate time spent on labor intensive tasks to judgment intensive tasks (Brown-Liburd et al. 2015), ultimately improving audit quality (Raphael 2017). Yet the availability of these tools does not guarantee that auditors will incorporate the data analytics into their judgments (Davis et al. 1989; Venkatesh et al. 2003). The first study investigates implications of using data analytics to structure the audit process for nonprofessionalized auditors. As the public accounting profession continues down a path of de-professionalization (Dirsmith et al. 2015), data analytics may increasingly be used as a control mechanism for guiding nonprofessionalized auditors' work tasks. Results of this study highlight negative ramifications of using nonprofessionalized auditors in a critical audit setting. The second study examines how different types of data analytics impact auditors' judgments. This study demonstrates the joint impact that the type of data analytical model and type of data analyzed have on auditors' judgments. This study contributes to the literature and practice by demonstrating that data analytics do not uniformly impact auditors' judgments. The third study examines how auditors' reliance on data analytics is impacted by the presentation source and level of risk identified. This study provide insights into the effectiveness of public accounting firms' development of data scientist groups to incorporate the data analytic skillset into audit teams.Collectively, these studies contribute to the literature by providing evidence on auditors' use of data analytics. Currently, the literature is limited to demonstrating that auditors are not effective at identifying patterns in data analytics visualizations when viewed before traditional audit evidence (Rose et al. 2017). The three studies in this dissertation highlight that not all data analytics influence judgments equally.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007210, ucf:52289
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007210
- Title
- Readability of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Persons with Aphasia.
- Creator
-
Gray, Sara, Wilson, Lauren Bislick, Engelhoven, Amy, Zraick, Richard, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The relationship between positive health outcomes in persons with aphasia (PWA) and personcentered care is highlighted by personally relevant information obtained directly from the PWA. Such is often facilitated via patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). In order to provide accurate responses to PROMs, PWAs must to read, comprehend, formulate and generate answersto a variety of questions. PROMs designed for other clinical populations assessed/treated by speech-language pathologists have...
Show moreThe relationship between positive health outcomes in persons with aphasia (PWA) and personcentered care is highlighted by personally relevant information obtained directly from the PWA. Such is often facilitated via patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). In order to provide accurate responses to PROMs, PWAs must to read, comprehend, formulate and generate answersto a variety of questions. PROMs designed for other clinical populations assessed/treated by speech-language pathologists have been found to be largely unreadable. Despite the significant role of PROMs in assessment and management of aphasia, no study to date has examined the readability of these measures. Four readability formulae were applied to identified PROMs for PWAs. These formulae estimate readability in terms of reading grade level and provide additional, quantitative information regarding textual elements such as syllable, word, and sentence length, complexity, and frequency. Fourteen PROMs were identified, per review of extant literature. A Macintosh-based readability software program was used to perform readability analyses. Additional metrics of clinical utility were applied to the selected measures via the Clinical Utility Scale. Results indicate that, on average, PROMs designed for PWAs are written at an eighth-grade reading level which is discordant with fourth-to-sixth reading gradelevel recommendations set forth by health literacy experts. Scores derived from the Clinical Utility Scale highlight the disconnect among measures that are easy to implement but are unreadable. Further analysis indicates that syllable-, word-, and sentence-level complexities can also impact the difficulty of analyzed texts. Results of the present study are consistent with prior PROM analyses performed across a variety of clinical populations assessed/treated by speech-language pathologists. Clinical implications and limitations of the present study are discussed as well as directions for further research.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007462, ucf:52661
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007462
- Title
- INNOVATIVE POLLUTANT LOAD MONITORING.
- Creator
-
Gurr, Eric, Nnadi, Fidelia, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Modern streamflow measuring equipment, water quality sampling techniques and a better understanding of pollutant washoff are continuously being developed as today's society is in critical need of improving water management, minimizing developmental impacts and preventing environmental hazards. In particular, the study of the spatial, temporal and volumetric characteristics of annual pollutant loading caused by variations in precipitation, land use and other anthropogenic factors is of great...
Show moreModern streamflow measuring equipment, water quality sampling techniques and a better understanding of pollutant washoff are continuously being developed as today's society is in critical need of improving water management, minimizing developmental impacts and preventing environmental hazards. In particular, the study of the spatial, temporal and volumetric characteristics of annual pollutant loading caused by variations in precipitation, land use and other anthropogenic factors is of great significance due to their relation to future global water demands. The research presented here falls in three parts. In the first part of the dissertation, an acoustical doppler velocity profiler installed in a submerged concrete channel is proposed to continually measure the annual fluctuation in streamflow levels down to dry channel conditions. The tailwater influenced, intermittent streamflow conditions for the City of Kissimmee, Florida were selected for the evaluation of this approach under a 3-year study from 2006 to 2008. The performance of these concrete channels were systematically evaluated by comparisons with established field measurement techniques over various stream configurations and flow conditions. The second part of this research investigates the dynamics of flood wave detection with respect to enabling an automatic water quality sampler to start collecting samples. The main focus was on the accurate detection of flood waves in the absence of rainfall and the presence of fluctuating baseflows and stream stages. In the 3-year study, it was shown that a dual parameter trigger, utilizing independent measuring equipment, resulted in accurate flood wave detection with minimal false triggering of the autosampler. In addition, an incremental or percent deviation from a moving average of stage or flow proved to be a more consistent indicator for the presence of a flood wave. In the third part of this work, the frequency of water quality sampling and the associated level of detail for sampling of rainfall events were investigated with respect to accurately depicting annual pollutant loads. It was found that the seasonal variations in baseflow pollutant loads are not accurately represented by current 4-quarter grab sampling. Also, significant pollutant loading within rainfall events may not be captured by only performing grab sampling during baseflow conditions. In addition, although increased pollutant concentrations were observed within the initial 30 minutes of the flood wave, their actual loadings did not represent a significant impact on the annual pollutant loads. A bi-weekly grab sampling frequency was found to be adequate in many cases to depict the annual pollutant loads, but depending upon the targeted constituent and particular streamflow condition, rainfall event sampling might also be necessary. The results of this research complemented with other studies will promote better understanding of intermittent streamflows, accurate flood wave detection, and assessment of annual pollutant loads to our nation's waterbodies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004002, ucf:49159
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004002
- Title
- MEASURING MULTILEVEL CONSTRUCTS: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES OF TEAM BEHAVIORAL PROCESS UNDER COMPILATIONAL MODELS.
- Creator
-
Murase, Toshio, Dechurch, Leslie, Salas, Eduardo, Bowers, Clint, Kapucu, Naim, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Since at least the 1950s, researchers interested in studying the dynamics of small groups have struggled with how best to measure interaction processes. Although team process measurement issues are not particularly unique in terms of content, measuring multilevel phenomena presents an interesting problem because structural aspects are integral components of emergence. The elemental content of multilevel phenomena is wholly unique and distinguishable from the elemental content of composite...
Show moreSince at least the 1950s, researchers interested in studying the dynamics of small groups have struggled with how best to measure interaction processes. Although team process measurement issues are not particularly unique in terms of content, measuring multilevel phenomena presents an interesting problem because structural aspects are integral components of emergence. The elemental content of multilevel phenomena is wholly unique and distinguishable from the elemental content of composite units, and emerges as individual behaviors compile to higher levels of analyses. Analogous to chemical structures, behavioral phenomena manifest at higher levels in different structural patterns as members connect to one another through dynamic interactions. Subsequently, multilevel phenomena are more appropriately characterized in terms of pattern in addition to the traditionally measured intensity. The vast majority of teams research conceptualizes and operationalizes multilevel phenomena based on compositional (i.e., additive) models. This approach impedes the further advancement of the science of team effectiveness by capturing content and intensity, but not structure. This dissertation argues that compilational models better capture content, intensity, and structure, and therefore represent a preferred alternative for conceptualizing and operationalizing team processes. This dissertation details measurement issues associated with compositional models in teams research, and provides concepts helpful for reconceptualizing team processes as compilational forms.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004145, ucf:49048
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004145
- Title
- Use of Performance Information by Local Government Administrators: Evidence from Florida.
- Creator
-
Dimitrijevska-Markoski, Tamara, Kapucu, Naim, Martin, Lawrence, Hu, Qian, Wang, Xiaohu, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This study examines the factors that facilitate and hinder the use of performance information by public administrators in local governments in Florida. Acknowledging the incompleteness of many theoretical and conceptual models in previous performance management studies and the absence of theory on the use of performance information; this study utilizes a grounded theory approach to develop and test a model analyzing the use of performance information. The research focuses on cities and...
Show moreThis study examines the factors that facilitate and hinder the use of performance information by public administrators in local governments in Florida. Acknowledging the incompleteness of many theoretical and conceptual models in previous performance management studies and the absence of theory on the use of performance information; this study utilizes a grounded theory approach to develop and test a model analyzing the use of performance information. The research focuses on cities and counties, members of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium (FBC), and surveys public administrators whose tasks are related with the collection and/or reporting of performance information. The study examines three research questions: First, to what extent and in what capacity do local government administrators use performance information? Second, what are the predictors of the use of performance information among local government administrators? Finally, to what extent does the design adequacy of a performance measurement system (PMS), institutionalization of performance measurement (IPM), organizational support (OS), individual factors (IF) and external influences (EI) impact the use of performance information among local government administrators? To collect data on the above questions, an online survey was administrated to public administrators involved in the 2015-2016 FBC data collection cycle. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study demonstrate that institutionalization of performance measurement has the strongest statistically significant positive association with the use of performance information followed by the influence of the design adequacy of the performance measurement system. Organizational support, through institutionalization of performance measurement, has an indirect influence on the use of performance information. Interestingly, in this study individual factors were not found to be significantly associated with the use of performance information.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006586, ucf:51261
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006586
- Title
- Analysis of pedestrian safety using micro-simulation and driving simulator.
- Creator
-
Wu, Jiawei, Radwan, Essam, Abdel-Aty, Mohamed, Abou-Senna, Hatem, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In recent years, traffic agencies have begun to place emphasis on the importance of pedestrian safety. In the United States, nearly 70,000 pedestrians were reported injured in 2015. Although the number only account for 3% of all the people injured in traffic crashes, the number of pedestrian fatalities is still around 15% of total traffic fatalities. Furthermore, the state of Florida has consistently ranked as one of the worst states in terms of pedestrian crashes, injuries and fatalities....
Show moreIn recent years, traffic agencies have begun to place emphasis on the importance of pedestrian safety. In the United States, nearly 70,000 pedestrians were reported injured in 2015. Although the number only account for 3% of all the people injured in traffic crashes, the number of pedestrian fatalities is still around 15% of total traffic fatalities. Furthermore, the state of Florida has consistently ranked as one of the worst states in terms of pedestrian crashes, injuries and fatalities. Therefore, it is befitting to focus on the pedestrian safety. This dissertation mainly focused on pedestrian safety at both midblock crossings and intersections by using micro-simulation and driving simulator. First, this study examined if the micro-simulation models (VISSIM and SSAM) could estimate pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at signalized intersections. A total of 42 video-hours were recorded at seven signalized intersections for field data collection. The observed conflicts from the field were used to calibrate VISSIM and replicate the conflicts. The calibrated and validated VISSIM model generated the pedestrian-vehicle conflicts from SSAM software using the vehicle trajectory data in VISSIM. The mean absolute percent error (MAPE) was used to determine the optimum TTC and PET thresholds for pedestrian-vehicle conflicts and linear regression analysis was used to study the correlation between the observed and simulated conflicts at the established thresholds. The results indicated the highest correlation between the simulated and observed conflicts when the TTC parameter was set at 2.7 and the PET was set at 8. Second, the driving simulator experiment was designed to assess pedestrian safety under different potential risk factors at both midblock crossings and intersections. Four potential risk factors were selected and 67 subjects participated in this experiment. In order to analyze pedestrian safety, the surrogate safety measures were examined to evaluate these pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. Third, by using the driving simulator data from the midblock crossing scenario, typical examples of drivers' deceleration rate and the distance to crosswalk were summarized, which exhibited a clear drivers' avoidance pattern during the vehicle pedestrian conflicts. This pattern was summarized into four stages, including the brake response stage, the deceleration adjustment stage, the maximum deceleration stage, and the brake release stage. In addition, the pedestrian-vehicle conflict prediction model was built to predict the minimum distance between vehicle and pedestrian.Finally, this study summarized the three different kinds of data that were to evaluate the pedestrian safety, including field data, simulation data, and driving simulator data. The process of combining of field data, simulation data, and simulator data was proposed. The process would show how the researches could evaluate the pedestrian safety by using the field observations, micro-simulation, and driving simulator.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006822, ucf:51770
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006822
- Title
- Statistical Analysis of Multi-Row Film Cooling Flowfields.
- Creator
-
Fernandes, Craig, Kapat, Jayanta, Ahmed, Kareem, Vasu Sumathi, Subith, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A huge part of modern day power generation research and development strives to achievehigher thermal efficiencies and specific work outputs for both gas turbine Brayton and combinedcycles. Advances in cooling technologies, both internal to turbine blades and external, provide the easiest way to accomplish this by raising the turbine inlet temperature far beyond the super-alloy's allowable temperature. Discrete film cooling injection, an external cooling technique, ensures a cool blanket of...
Show moreA huge part of modern day power generation research and development strives to achievehigher thermal efficiencies and specific work outputs for both gas turbine Brayton and combinedcycles. Advances in cooling technologies, both internal to turbine blades and external, provide the easiest way to accomplish this by raising the turbine inlet temperature far beyond the super-alloy's allowable temperature. Discrete film cooling injection, an external cooling technique, ensures a cool blanket of compressed air protects the blade surface from the harsh mainstream gas. To optimize the coverage and effectiveness of the film, a thorough understanding of the behavior andflow physics is necessary.The objective of the current study is to use hotwire anemometry as a tool to conduct 1D timeresolved turbulent measurements on the flow field of staggered multi-row film cooling arrays withcylindrical and diffuser shaped holes inclined at 20 degrees to the freestream. The study aims toinvestigate the flowfield to determine why the performance of diffuser shaped jets is enhanced even at comparatively high blowing ratios. In addition, blowing ratio effects and flowfield discrepanciesat set downstream locations in the array centerline plane are also investigated.The experiments are conducted on an open-loop wind tunnel for blowing ratios in the rangeof 0.3 to 1.5 at a density ratio of 1. Boundary layer measurements were taken at 12 locations atthe array centerline to obtain mean velocity, turbulence level, turbulence intensity, and integral length scales. Measurements were also taken at a location upstream of the array to characterize the incoming boundary layer and estimate the wall normal position of the probe in comparison with the logarithmic law of the wall.Mean effective velocity profiles were found to scale with blowing ratio for both geometries.A strong dependence of turbulence levels on velocity gradients between jets and the local fluid was also noticed. For cylindrical jets, attached cases displayed lower integral length scales in the nearwall region compared with higher blowing ratio cases. This was found to be due to entrainmentof mainstream fluid showing increased momentum transport below the jets. Diffuser cases atall blowing ratios tested do not show increased length scales near the wall demonstrating theirenhanced surface coverage. Row-to-row discrepancies in mean velocity and turbulence level are only evident at extremely high blowing cases for cylindrical, but show significant deviations for diffuser cases at all blowing ratios.Unlike the cylindrical cases, jets from diffuser shaped holes, due to their extremely low injecting velocities, dragged the boundary layer with each row of blowing. Increased velocity gradients create a rise in peak turbulence levels at downstream locations. At high blowing ratios however, faster moving fluid, due to injection, at lower elevations acts as a shield for downstream jets allowing significantly further propagation downstream. Near the wall low magnitude integral length scales are noticed for diffuser jets indicating low momentum transport in this region.The results show good agreement with effectiveness measurements of a previous study at a higher density ratio. However, to accurately draw the comparison, effectiveness measurements should be conducted at a density ratio of 1. Recommendations were made to further the study of multi-row film cooled boundary layers. The scope includes a CFD component, other flowfield measurement techniques, and surface effectiveness studies using Nitrogen as the coolant for a much broader picture of this flowfield.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006738, ucf:51863
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006738
- Title
- An analysis of the difference between assessed instructional practices, value-added measures, and learning gains of secondary reading teachers.
- Creator
-
Fritz, Ronald, Taylor, Rosemarye, Baldwin, Lee, Doherty, Walter, Kennedy, Mary, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship that exists among instructional practice scores, value-added measures, and learning gains for the Large Urban School District (LUSD) among reading teachers in Grades 6-12 for the 2012-2013 school year. In addition, this study was also conducted to address the perceptions of secondary school principals and assistant principals regarding the relationship of the three variables and their relevance in making personnel decisions....
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship that exists among instructional practice scores, value-added measures, and learning gains for the Large Urban School District (LUSD) among reading teachers in Grades 6-12 for the 2012-2013 school year. In addition, this study was also conducted to address the perceptions of secondary school principals and assistant principals regarding the relationship of the three variables and their relevance in making personnel decisions. Quantitative data were obtained from school district databases for observation scores, value-added measures, and standardized assessment achievement data to determine the relationship among the variables. In addition, a perception survey was completed by secondary school principals and assistant principals. With a sample size of 138, the survey yielded a return rate of 84%. The data were analyzed to determine actual relationships among instructional practice scores, value-added measures, and learning gains, as well as how the participants perceived each variable in isolation. The literature review supported the findings regarding the inflation of observation scores by school administrators. The only significant relationship (.48) existed between value-added measures and learning gains. Likewise, school leaders in the LUSD believed that their observations were important in analyzing the needs of their teachers and should be included in summative evaluations. Learning gains were supported by the participants more than instructional practice scores and value-added measures as evidence of effective instruction. The literature review revealed past program evaluation studies regarding the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) as a valid measure for assessing grade level benchmarks. The information in this study is valuable and suggests that continued professional learning for school leaders regarding classroom observations to improve inter-rater reliability is needed. Likewise, school leaders would benefit from understanding the relationships that exist among instructional practice scores, value-added measures, and learning gains to drive conversations with teachers regarding rigorous instruction.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005494, ucf:50362
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005494
- Title
- SCALING OF SPECTRA OF CANTOR-TYPE MEASURES AND SOME NUMBER THEORETIC CONSIDERATIONS.
- Creator
-
Kraus, Isabelle, Dutkay, Dorin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
We investigate some relations between number theory and spectral measures related to the harmonic analysis of a Cantor set. Specifically, we explore ways to determine when an odd natural number m generates a complete or incomplete Fourier basis for a Cantor-type measure with scale g.
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFH2000169, ucf:45948
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000169
