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Title: A test of supported characters.
Creator: Stephens, Blake, Sundaram, Kalpathy, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: What follows is every charecter from ASCII Value 32 through 255. The entire lower and upper ASCII character set converted to ANSI. !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~¦ÇüéâäàåçêëèïîìÄÅÉæÆôöòûùÿÖÜ¢£¥PáíóúñÑªº¿¬¬½¼¡«»¦¦¦¦¦¦¦++¦¦++++++--+-+¦¦++--¦-+----++++++++¦_¦¦¯aßGpSsµtFTOd8fen=±==()÷°··vn²¦
Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFE8001337, ucf:52834
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE8001337

Title: CHARACTER EDUCATION: EXAMINING THE PERCEPTIONS OF ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE, AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS IN A CENTRAL FLORIDA SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Creator: Ampel, Jason, Holt, Larry, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: While schools are academic institutions to prepare our country's youth for their future, developing a child's character and civic responsibilities is necessary and is often deleted from the explicit curriculum set forth in most school districts throughout the country. This study investigated the perception of character education of teachers in a Central Florida school district, as it related to teacher importance, teacher efficacy, and teacher practice of character education. This...
Show moreWhile schools are academic institutions to prepare our country's youth for their future, developing a child's character and civic responsibilities is necessary and is often deleted from the explicit curriculum set forth in most school districts throughout the country. This study investigated the perception of character education of teachers in a Central Florida school district, as it related to teacher importance, teacher efficacy, and teacher practice of character education. This study investigated the responses of 497 classroom teachers surveyed within one Central Florida school district. The questionnaire used in this study was designed to illuminate teacher perceptions of character education, by examining a teacher's level of importance, efficacy, and practice of character education in their classrooms and schools. The three areas of importance, efficacy, and practice were examined to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference among Central Florida educators based upon demographic variables of a) grades level taught, b) years of experience, c) highest degree attained, d) gender, and e) National Board Certification. The results of this survey, in combination with existing research findings, proved to be beneficial in revealing the ideals and explicit actions that need to be prevalent in public schools today to insure a balance between academics and the development of civic behaviors and positive character values. This study was a step in a effort to depict the voices of all teachers as stakeholders in one Central Florida School district.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002556, ucf:47642
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002556

Title: A COMPARISON OF CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, BEHAVIOR, AND ATTENDANCE.
Creator: Berger, Beth, Murray, Barbara, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this study was to determine whether significant relationships existed between character education and the number of incidents of crimes and violence, attendance rates, and academic achievement in Florida public schools. Proponents of character education such as Lickona (1991) and Murphy (1998) posited that there was a positive correlation between teaching and practicing the six pillars of character education, and student achievement, and increased attendance. They also posited...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to determine whether significant relationships existed between character education and the number of incidents of crimes and violence, attendance rates, and academic achievement in Florida public schools. Proponents of character education such as Lickona (1991) and Murphy (1998) posited that there was a positive correlation between teaching and practicing the six pillars of character education, and student achievement, and increased attendance. They also posited that there was a negative correlation between character education and incidents of crime and violence. The researcher acquired data in an attempt to determine whether or not the views of Lickona (1991), Murphy (1998) and others holding this view would yield similar results in the Florida public schools. The theoretical framework for the study was Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory of moral reasoning. The study was compiled between 2003 and 2004 based on data for the 1998-1999 school year and the 2002-2003 school year. These dates were chosen because they were the pre-implementation year (1998-1999) and four years after the character education mandate went into effect. Data from 67 Florida counties were solicited and 10 counties selected as samples of effective character education implementers and non-effective character education implementers in their elementary schools. Utilizing Statistical Package for Social Science (2004), data were analyzed for statistically significant relationships in order to confirm or negate the null hypotheses. The tests utilized were repeated measures ANOVAs. The study found a statistically significant relationship between those counties that effectively implemented a character education program in their elementary schools and student attendance, as compared to counties that did not effectively implement a character education program in their elementary schools. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between those counties that effectively implemented a successful character education program in their elementary schools and student achievement, as compared to counties that did not effectively implement a character education program in their elementary schools. The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between those counties that effectively implemented a successful character education program in their elementary schools and lowered incidents of crime and violence, as compared to counties that did not effectively implement a character education program in their elementary schools. In all school districts studied, however, over the four-year period incidents of crime and violence were reduced, the absenteeism rate was reduced, and achievement had increased. This could have been due to the implementation of any type of character education program or it may have been due to other programs implemented in the Florida schools.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000333, ucf:46283
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000333

Title: PRESUPPOSITIONS IN MORAL EDUCATION DISCOURSE: DEVELOPING AN ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK AND APPLYING IT TO MORAL EDUCATION TRADITIONS.
Creator: Sciaino, Maria, Boote, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Moral education is ever more important in our schools today, but the various moral education traditions make it difficult to decide which tradition best serves our purpose and population. This dissertation develops and uses an original analytic framework to narrow the choices of moral education curricula. The analytic framework introduced presuppositions that expounded upon one's center of value or source of moral authority, the nature of people and their capacity for rational thought, the...
Show moreMoral education is ever more important in our schools today, but the various moral education traditions make it difficult to decide which tradition best serves our purpose and population. This dissertation develops and uses an original analytic framework to narrow the choices of moral education curricula. The analytic framework introduced presuppositions that expounded upon one's center of value or source of moral authority, the nature of people and their capacity for rational thought, the nature of society, the time orientation of tradition, and the resulting morality in action. The analytic framework was then applied to ten notable traditions: Catholic religious education, values clarification, Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory, five multicultural education traditions (Teaching the Exceptional and Culturally Different, Human Relations, Single-Group Studies, Multicultural Education, and Education that is Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist) reviewed by Sleeter & Grant, and Skinner's theory of behavior modification. This study presents the analytic framework in depth and offers a brief narrative of its application across traditions. The resulting synthesis offers a review of commonalities, differences, surprises, and finally, a proposal that an existing presupposition stands as the defining one in regard to differentiating among moral education traditions.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000405, ucf:46350
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000405

Title: Reason for Rejoice.
Creator: Karr, Jennifer, Hubbard, Susan, Neal, Mary, Rushin, Patrick, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This collection of short stories features characters who face unexpected situations arising from ordinary circumstances. Most of the characters find themselves compelled to react in ways that may even surprise themselves. A young woman finds her first feeling of joy in a long time in the face of her mother's possible death. Best friends recall their years spent doing drugs and ignoring responsibility. When a woman confronts her fear of sex, she finds herself literally in another world. Rather...
Show moreThis collection of short stories features characters who face unexpected situations arising from ordinary circumstances. Most of the characters find themselves compelled to react in ways that may even surprise themselves. A young woman finds her first feeling of joy in a long time in the face of her mother's possible death. Best friends recall their years spent doing drugs and ignoring responsibility. When a woman confronts her fear of sex, she finds herself literally in another world. Rather than sticking with one form, several stories depart from traditional structures. One flash fiction piece is told in the first-person collective voice; another story evolves into magical realism; two are linked, and one story is told as an elegy. What matters are the characters, their struggles, and their relationships with one another.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0005101, ucf:50736
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005101

Title: THE EFFECTS OF A RESPONSIBILITY-BASED CHARACTER EDUCATION PROGRAM ON MIDDLE SCHOOL ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND SCHOOL CLIMATE AT AN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN EAST AFRICA.
Creator: HOWARD, TERRY, ROBINSON, EDWARD, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of a character education program on middle school student academic performance, effort and attitude about their school located in an international setting. Middle school students at the participating international school were assigned to either an experimental or control group. Those students in the experimental group classes received a series of 12 lessons focusing on the character trait of responsibility. Those students in the...
Show moreThe purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of a character education program on middle school student academic performance, effort and attitude about their school located in an international setting. Middle school students at the participating international school were assigned to either an experimental or control group. Those students in the experimental group classes received a series of 12 lessons focusing on the character trait of responsibility. Those students in the control group classes did not receive these lessons. Twelve responsibility-based lessons were presented to students in the experimental group. Student academic grades in six different academic subjects, effort scores in six different academic courses, and student attitude concerning school climate constituted the dependent variable. The literature review and the general results of this study indicate that there are many factors that may influence student academic performance, effort or attitude. Various character education programs which have been designed to be integrated into school curricula as part of pre-existing courses or as stand alone programs have had varying levels of success. There is limited quantitative data available to support the claims that many existing programs make related to their effectiveness. The data collected from this study were also inconclusive making it difficult to generalize the findings beyond the scope of this study. While certain middle school grade levels showed statistically significant improvement in some academic disciplines or effort improvement in some subjects it would not be appropriate to generalize the findings based on this investigation. Implications of this study and suggestions for future investigations are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000620, ucf:46518
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000620

Title: MISTRESS QUICKLY IN THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR: A PERFORMANCE MONOGRAPH.
Creator: Rossman, Paula, Listengarten, Julia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The subject of my Thesis and accompanying Monograph Document in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree / Performance Track is my work in the role of Mistress Quickly from William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. In my research, I will be focusing on a number of issues, many of which will bear direct relevance to and undoubtedly, more fully inform, my interpretation in performance. A key element of the performance-related side of my research...
Show moreThe subject of my Thesis and accompanying Monograph Document in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree / Performance Track is my work in the role of Mistress Quickly from William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. In my research, I will be focusing on a number of issues, many of which will bear direct relevance to and undoubtedly, more fully inform, my interpretation in performance. A key element of the performance-related side of my research will be an exploration of the cultural, historical, political, economic, and religious attributes of Shakespeare's times and how these factors drive Mistress Quickly's interactions with others, her perspectives of the society in which she lives, and her personal behavior. The directorial concept, as initially explained to the cast, will be keeping us within the English Renaissance and Shakespeare's time. Any variation within this initial concept will also be elaborated upon. Finally, I would like to explore the overall place of women at the time Shakespeare wrote, as well as during the specific time frame in which our production is set. Furthermore, I will look at Mistress Quickly as a character and how she is either reflected in or at odds with that societal placement.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: CFE0001265, ucf:46886
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001265

Title: DIRECT DISCOURSE AND FEMALE ARCHETYPES IN CHRETIEN DE TROYES'S ROMANCES.
Creator: Crotty, Raquelle A, Smith, Geri, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of the female messenger archetype in Chretien de Troyes's romances within the context of the rising courtly literature written in France throughout the early twelfth century. The romances by Chretien that will serve as cases in point for this thesis are Erec et Enide, Lancelot, and Yvain. I analyze the various courtly ladies of the lower nobility to whom Chretien attributes direct discourse and study how their verbal influence over the plot...
Show moreThe purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of the female messenger archetype in Chretien de Troyes's romances within the context of the rising courtly literature written in France throughout the early twelfth century. The romances by Chretien that will serve as cases in point for this thesis are Erec et Enide, Lancelot, and Yvain. I analyze the various courtly ladies of the lower nobility to whom Chretien attributes direct discourse and study how their verbal influence over the plot and the extent to which they are directly involved in the action of that plot correlate to one another. This, as a counterpoint to the queen's traditional role as seemingly powerful, but ultimately passive object in the chivalric paradigm, demonstrates how Chretien uses the female messenger archetype within his romances. While this study focuses on examining the existence of the female messenger archetype, it also acknowledges the variation amongst the different female characters, even as they fit into the role of the female messenger archetype within Chretien's individual works. Lastly, the ambiguity of enide's character, as the oldest example of the female messenger archetype, in comparison with the examples from Chretien's later works, suggests a possible development in Chretien's use of the female messenger archetypes, specifically a crystallization of the literary function of both the queen and the female messenger figures in his corpus.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: CFH2000569, ucf:45693
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000569

Title: The Actor Process: Playing Multiple Characters.
Creator: Brown, Danielle, Boyd, Belinda, Shafer, John, McDonald, Holly, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This study examines the process used while preparing for the role of Daughter in Jim Helsinger's adaptation of A Christmas Carol: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, performed at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (OST). Within the framework of the play, Daughter is a character who is transformed into multiple roles. Her characters include Charity Collector, Belle, Martha Cratchit, Miner, Fred's Wife and Quarreler #1.Presented with the challenge of playing multiple roles in the same production, I...
Show moreThis study examines the process used while preparing for the role of Daughter in Jim Helsinger's adaptation of A Christmas Carol: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, performed at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (OST). Within the framework of the play, Daughter is a character who is transformed into multiple roles. Her characters include Charity Collector, Belle, Martha Cratchit, Miner, Fred's Wife and Quarreler #1.Presented with the challenge of playing multiple roles in the same production, I sought efficient and straightforward character development and analysis methods to strengthen my performance. Using Uta Hagen's nine questions as a scaffold, I composed a distinguishing analysis for each of my characters while utilizing skills cultivated in my MFA program at the University of Central Florida. I created an actor process motivated by the examination of my identity and circumstances at this point in my life. It is supported by a rehearsal and performance journal detailing my journey, followed by analysis.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006270, ucf:51034
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006270

Title: OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION: A STATISTICAL MODEL OF MULTI-ENGINE OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEMS.
Creator: McDonald, Mercedes Terre, M Richie, Samuel, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This thesis is a benchmark performed on three commercial Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engines. The purpose of this benchmark is to characterize the performance of the OCR engines with emphasis on the correlation of errors between each engine. The benchmarks are performed for the evaluation of the effect of a multi-OCR system employing a voting scheme to increase overall recognition accuracy. This is desirable since currently OCR systems are still unable to recognize characters with 100...
Show moreThis thesis is a benchmark performed on three commercial Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engines. The purpose of this benchmark is to characterize the performance of the OCR engines with emphasis on the correlation of errors between each engine. The benchmarks are performed for the evaluation of the effect of a multi-OCR system employing a voting scheme to increase overall recognition accuracy. This is desirable since currently OCR systems are still unable to recognize characters with 100% accuracy. The existing error rates of OCR engines pose a major problem for applications where a single error can possibly effect significant outcomes, such as in legal applications. The results obtained from this benchmark are the primary determining factor in the decision of implementing a voting scheme. The experiment performed displayed a very high accuracy rate for each of these commercial OCR engines. The average accuracy rate found for each engine was near 99.5% based on a less than 6,000 word document. While these error rates are very low, the goal is 100% accuracy in legal applications. Based on the work in this thesis, it has been determined that a simple voting scheme will help to improve the accuracy rate.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: CFE0000123, ucf:46188
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000123

Title: TEXT-IMAGE RESTORATION AND TEXT ALIGNMENT FOR MULTI-ENGINE OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEMS.
Creator: Kozlovski, Nikolai, Weeks, Arthur, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Previous research showed that combining three different optical character recognition (OCR) engines (ExperVision® OCR, Scansoft OCR, and Abbyy® OCR) results using voting algorithms will get higher accuracy rate than each of the engines individually. While a voting algorithm has been realized, several aspects to automate and improve the accuracy rate needed further research. This thesis will focus on morphological image preprocessing and morphological text restoration that goes to OCR...
Show morePrevious research showed that combining three different optical character recognition (OCR) engines (ExperVision® OCR, Scansoft OCR, and Abbyy® OCR) results using voting algorithms will get higher accuracy rate than each of the engines individually. While a voting algorithm has been realized, several aspects to automate and improve the accuracy rate needed further research. This thesis will focus on morphological image preprocessing and morphological text restoration that goes to OCR engines. This method is similar to the one used in restoration partial finger prints. Series of morphological dilating and eroding filters of various mask shapes and sizes were applied to text of different font sizes and types with various noises added. These images were then processed by the OCR engines, and based on these results successful combinations of text, noise, and filters were chosen. The thesis will also deal with the problem of text alignment. Each OCR engine has its own way of dealing with noise and corrupted characters; as a result, the output texts of OCR engines have different lengths and number of words. This in turn, makes it impossible to use spaces a delimiter as a method to separate the words for processing by the voting part of the system. Text aligning determines, using various techniques, what is an extra word, what is supposed to be two or more words instead of one, which words are missing in one document compared to the other, etc. Alignment algorithm is made up of a series of shifts in the two texts to determine which parts are similar and which are not. Since errors made by OCR engines are due to visual misrecognition, in addition to simple character comparison (equal or not), a technique was developed that allows comparison of characters based on how they look.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: CFE0001060, ucf:46799
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001060

Title: IMPLEMENTING LEXICAL AND CREATIVE INTENTIONALITY IN SYNTHETIC PERSONALITY.
Creator: Vick, Erik, Cannon-Bowers, Jan, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Creating engaging, interactive, and immersive synthetic characters is a difficult task and evaluating the success of a synthetic character is often even more difficult. The later problem is solved by extending Turing's Imitation Game thusly: computational construct should be evaluated based on the criteria of how well the character can mimic a human. In order to accomplish a successful evaluation of the proposed metric, synthetic characters must be consistently believable and capable of role...
Show moreCreating engaging, interactive, and immersive synthetic characters is a difficult task and evaluating the success of a synthetic character is often even more difficult. The later problem is solved by extending Turing's Imitation Game thusly: computational construct should be evaluated based on the criteria of how well the character can mimic a human. In order to accomplish a successful evaluation of the proposed metric, synthetic characters must be consistently believable and capable of role-appropriate emotional expression. The author believes traditional synthetic characters must be improved to meet this goal. For a synthetic character to be believable, human users must be able to perceive a link between the mental state of the character and its behaviors. That is to say, synthetic characters must possess intentionality. In addition to intentionality, the mental state of the character must be human-like in order to provide an adequate frame of reference for the human users' internal simulations, to wit, the character's mental state must be comprised of a synthetic model of personality, of personality dynamics, and of cognition, each of which must be psychologically valid and of sufficient fidelity for the type of character represented. The author proposes that synthetic characters possessing these three models are more accurately described as synthetic personalities. The author proposes and implements computational models of personality, personality dynamics, and cognition in order to evaluate the psychological veracity of these models and computational equivalence between the models and the implementation as a first step in the process of creating believable synthetic personalities.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000422, ucf:46397
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000422

Title: AUTONOMOUS REPAIR OF OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION DATA THROUGH SIMPLE VOTING AND MULTI-DIMENSIONAL INDEXING TECHNIQUES.
Creator: Sprague, Christopher, Weeks, Arthur, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The three major optical character recognition (OCR) engines (ExperVision, Scansoft OCR, and Abby OCR) in use today are all capable of recognizing text at near perfect percentages. The remaining errors however have proven very difficult to identify within a single engine. Recent research has shown that a comparison between the errors of the three engines proved to have very little correlation, and thus, when used in conjunction, may be useful to increase accuracy of the final result. This...
Show moreThe three major optical character recognition (OCR) engines (ExperVision, Scansoft OCR, and Abby OCR) in use today are all capable of recognizing text at near perfect percentages. The remaining errors however have proven very difficult to identify within a single engine. Recent research has shown that a comparison between the errors of the three engines proved to have very little correlation, and thus, when used in conjunction, may be useful to increase accuracy of the final result. This document discusses the implementation and results of a simple voting system designed to prove the hypothesis and show a statistical improvement in overall accuracy. Additional aspects of implementing an improved OCR scheme such as dealing with multiple engine data output alignment and recognizing application specific solutions are also addressed in this research. Although voting systems are currently in use by many major OCR engine developers, this research focuses on the addition of a collaborative system which is able to utilize the various positive aspects of multiple engines while also addressing the immediate need for practical industry applications such as litigation and forms processing. Doculex TM, a major developer and leader in the document imaging industry, has provided the funding for this research.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: CFE0000380, ucf:46337
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000380

Title: ANTON CHEKHOV:THE CHARACTERIZATION AND INTERPRETATIONOF A HISTORICAL FIGURE FOR THE STAGE.
Creator: gALLANT, Alan, Seay, Donald, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: ABSTRACT This thesis will explore the execution of the monograph role of "Anton Chekhov" in the original one-act play, An Evening with Anton Chekhov. The play script, rehearsal and public performances of the piece are all self- generated by the candidate, with the proper assistance of the thesis committee. This written thesis serves as the completion of the thesis project, and includes analysis of several key areas of the development of the script and thesis role. This document includes the...
Show moreABSTRACT This thesis will explore the execution of the monograph role of "Anton Chekhov" in the original one-act play, An Evening with Anton Chekhov. The play script, rehearsal and public performances of the piece are all self- generated by the candidate, with the proper assistance of the thesis committee. This written thesis serves as the completion of the thesis project, and includes analysis of several key areas of the development of the script and thesis role. This document includes the original script with endnotes and a structural analysis. Social and historical background of the character, Anton Chekhov, a real person, is presented. This background includes the history as it pertains to Anton Chekhov and the national mindset in pre-revolutionary Russia. This background is integral in not only the development of the character, but also of the script which supports the character. Much of what is contained in the script is from correspondences, anecdotes, and written material from and about Anton Chekhov. These materials will be used as interpretive tools in the development of the character, and includes clues to physical appearance and personality. The character analysis contained herein is, in part, a reflection of these historical and environmental concerns. In addition, external and internal portrayal and the means used to achieve them are discussed. These means include physical and vocal techniques for the stage in conjunction with the use of emotional recall, behaving "as if," and being emotionally and energetically present for the acting partner. Since this is a "one man show," the acting partner will take the form of the audience as other or confidante. This phenomenon, and its effect on the performance, is included in the written thesis. The acting approach in execution of the monograph will also be reflected in a journal, which will contain a record of the successes, challenges, choices and adjustments made in the rehearsal/performance process. Included among these will be the various adjustments made in order to achieve a higher level of spontaneity in movement and transition, and how this semi-improvisational approach aided in adjusting to each unique audience in performance. Analysis will be provided by members of the committee. Dr. Julia Listengarten and Mark Brotherton will submit performance analysis, while the committee chair, Dr. Donald Seay will also provide rehearsal reports. Script work on An Evening with Anton Chekhov will begin in October of 2005, with rehearsals commencing on February 6, 2006. Two performances will be given at the Black Box theatre on the campus of UCF on Monday, February 27, and Tuesday February 28, 2006.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: CFE0000961, ucf:46722
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000961

Title: THE EFFECT OF NEIGHBORHOOD SIZE AND MORPHOLOGY IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.
Creator: Nguyen, Long, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The Neighborhood Size Effect (NSE), characterized as the effect in word determination based on changing one orthographic aspect of that word. The amount of words that can be created through such manipulation is called a neighborhood size (NS). Number of other factors such as frequency, how often a word appears and morphology, the combination of meaningful word units, have been suggested to have an overriding effect on NSE. In addition, there is a lack of research on NSE with non-alphabetical...
Show moreThe Neighborhood Size Effect (NSE), characterized as the effect in word determination based on changing one orthographic aspect of that word. The amount of words that can be created through such manipulation is called a neighborhood size (NS). Number of other factors such as frequency, how often a word appears and morphology, the combination of meaningful word units, have been suggested to have an overriding effect on NSE. In addition, there is a lack of research on NSE with non-alphabetical languages such as Chinese, which uses characters comprising of a multitude of semantic or phonetic markers. In this experiment, participants coming from mainland China were presented with 60 individual characters and 59 characters with Chinese morphology made up of two characters which form single words. Both conditions, were manipulated with NS by adjusting the semantic or phonetical radical within a character and with frequency by using a website that measures how frequent a character appeared within the language. Both character conditions were found to have a significant effect with frequency and neighborhood size (NS) with characters with higher frequency and lower NS found to have higher accuracy and lower reaction times. With low frequency single characters, it was that those with higher neighborhood size had greater delay in reaction time and lower accuracy. With low frequency morphologically constructed characters, it was found that lower neighborhood size had higher accuracy, but no significant result with regards to reaction time. Due to differing accuracy results with NS and character condition, it is suggested that further factors such as morphological processing in single characters and bigram frequency in morphologically constructed characters might have an effect on word determination in conjunction with neighborhood size. Thus, it is a possibility that Chinese morphological may depend more on other factors than neighborhood size.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFH2000098, ucf:45556
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000098

Title: The Revenge of the Second Banana: A Female Sidekick's Survival Guide.
Creator: Mason, Melissa, Weaver, Earl, Ingram, Katelyn, Lee, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: I returned to school to receive an MFA in Musical Theater for many reasons, but paramount was the need to further explore and develop my range as an actress. Throughout my career, I have played a variety of roles, but none as challenging or possibly as rewarding as the man-hungry secretary "(")Charlie"(") in James Valcq''s Zombies from the Beyond, produced by the Jester Theatre in Winter Garden, FL. Performing this role allowed me to achieve one of my objectives when entering the grad program...
Show moreI returned to school to receive an MFA in Musical Theater for many reasons, but paramount was the need to further explore and develop my range as an actress. Throughout my career, I have played a variety of roles, but none as challenging or possibly as rewarding as the man-hungry secretary "(")Charlie"(") in James Valcq''s Zombies from the Beyond, produced by the Jester Theatre in Winter Garden, FL. Performing this role allowed me to achieve one of my objectives when entering the grad program at UCF: to transition from a classical ing(&)#233;nue or soubrette into a leading lady or character actress; making Zombies from the Beyond the perfect capstone to my graduate experience.During the 1950s, American cinema was filled with sci-fi movies such as Forbidden Planet, The Thing from Another World, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Each movie depicted an otherworldly creature as the villain (a metaphor for the relationship between the United States and the USSR) who had only one purpose: total domination. Zombies from the Beyond aptly reveals the absurdity of the hysteria and paranoia surrounding the "(")cold war"(") and the "(")space race"(") that dominated America in the 1950s. The play makes comic use of the "(")double-red agent"(") and presents the belief that the space race and cold war inevitably were tied together, while examining Russia''s dirty tactics in the struggle for power.In addition to the historical ramifications of Zombies from the Beyond, post WWII America saw an explosive growth in female empowerment. Through each female character''s thoughts and actions on stage, Valcq''s musical tackles the struggle many women faced between the new feminist ideals and old-fashioned morals. My character, Charlene "(")Charlie"(") Osmanski, is the iconic man-hungry, working girl with a big heart (aka "(")The Sidekick"(")). She is a woman very much caught between the traditional values of the 1950s and the progressive, more feminist attitudes starting to take hold in the country.After accepting the role in Zombies from the Beyond, I realized my responsibility was to breathe new life into the role of the comedic sidekick while remaining true to the original vision and traditions that had been set forth by such brave comic pioneers as Rose-Marie, Thelma Ritter, and Vivian Vance. Faced with this daunting task and the enormity of creating a role with such a prominent historical and societal lineage, I asked myself, "(")What does an actor need to know in order to become the perfect sidekick?"(")To answer this compelling question and to ensure I did not fail in my task, I researched actresses who play a similar archetype; studied the evolution of the female comedienne; examined the audience''s relationship to the sidekick; and discussed the character''s future as an integral force in contemporary theatre, all in a convenient survival guide.Ultimately, the evolution of the mainstream audience and their shifting requirements for entertainment impact the sidekick''s portrayal on stage; however, since post-modernistic audiences no longer need one definitive stereotype or archetypal character, the ideas I set forth are not finite or absolute in nature. Instead, they create a basic foundation that serves as a guide for the actor when creating a similar character while ensuring the sidekick''s place as a relevant and sustainable character for generations to come.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFE0004135, ucf:49110
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004135

Title: BEYOND BLONDE: CREATING A NON-STEREOTYPICAL AUDREY IN KEN LUDWIG'S LEADING LADIES.
Creator: Young, Christine, Wuehrmann, Nicholas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: American society possesses strong, if not basic, stereotypes for each hair color: the "dumb" blonde, the "intelligent" or "serious" brunette, and the "spitfire" redhead. In contemporary entertainment culture, blonde women have achieved unique status beyond the stereotypes accorded to their brunette and redheaded counterparts. Revered and reviled simultaneously, these women cannot be ignored or dismissed. The convention of the "dumb blonde" is at the heart of this issue. When scrutinized, it...
Show moreAmerican society possesses strong, if not basic, stereotypes for each hair color: the "dumb" blonde, the "intelligent" or "serious" brunette, and the "spitfire" redhead. In contemporary entertainment culture, blonde women have achieved unique status beyond the stereotypes accorded to their brunette and redheaded counterparts. Revered and reviled simultaneously, these women cannot be ignored or dismissed. The convention of the "dumb blonde" is at the heart of this issue. When scrutinized, it is possible to discern at least four distinctions of this stereotype: the perceived as truly dumb, or innocent, blonde (Johanna in Sweeney Todd); the bombshell blonde (Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Mae West in Dumb Blonde); the dumb-but-actually-intelligent blonde (Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Galinda in Wicked); and the comedic blonde (Adelaide in Guys and Dolls). These characters presumably share more than their hair color and sex. By researching these blonde stereotypes, commonalities will be discovered and assessed for their applicability in character research. As this thesis explores the creation of Audrey in Ken Ludwig's Leading Ladies, a methodology for creating this type of character will be created. Through research and analysis of the various blonde stereotypes, an in-depth character and script analysis, and a journal of the creation process, it is my intention to reveal how a non-superficial portrayal of this character is possible and can be duplicated. Audrey's "blonde" traits will also be explored as they relate to the character's function within the play, emphasizing the ways her specified blondeness serves the play's needs. Analysis of the blonde stereotypes, script and character analyses, and the rehearsal journal will not only create a system for creating this type of character, but also will illuminate why this character type is important to comedic theatrical literature.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002694, ucf:48223
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002694

Title: A study of holistic strategies for the recognition of characters in natural scene images.
Creator: Ali, Muhammad, Foroosh, Hassan, Hughes, Charles, Sukthankar, Gita, Wiegand, Rudolf, Yun, Hae-Bum, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Recognition and understanding of text in scene images is an important and challenging task. The importance can be seen in the context of tasks such as assisted navigation for the blind, providing directions to driverless cars, e.g. Google car, etc. Other applications include automated document archival services, mining text from images, and so on. The challenge comes from a variety of factors, like variable typefaces, uncontrolled imaging conditions, and various sources of noise corrupting...
Show moreRecognition and understanding of text in scene images is an important and challenging task. The importance can be seen in the context of tasks such as assisted navigation for the blind, providing directions to driverless cars, e.g. Google car, etc. Other applications include automated document archival services, mining text from images, and so on. The challenge comes from a variety of factors, like variable typefaces, uncontrolled imaging conditions, and various sources of noise corrupting the captured images. In this work, we study and address the fundamental problem of recognition of characters extracted from natural scene images, and contribute three holistic strategies to deal with this challenging task. Scene text recognition (STR) has been a known problem in computer vision and pattern recognition community for over two decades, and is still an active area of research owing to the fact that the recognition performance has still got a lot of room for improvement. Recognition of characters lies at the heart of STR and is a crucial component for a reliable STR system. Most of the current methods heavily rely on discriminative power of local features, such as histograms of oriented gradient (HoG), scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), shape contexts (SC), geometric blur (GB), etc. One of the problems with such methods is that the local features are rasterized in an ad hoc manner to get a single vector for subsequent use in recognition. This rearrangement of features clearly perturbs the spatial correlations that may carry crucial information vis-(&)#224;-vis recognition. Moreover, such approaches, in general, do not take into account the rotational invariance property that often leads to failed recognition in cases where characters in scene images do not occur in upright position. To eliminate this local feature dependency and the associated problems, we propose the following three holistic solutions: The first one is based on modelling character images of a class as a 3-mode tensor and then factoring it into a set of rank-1 matrices and the associated mixing coefficients. Each set of rank-1 matrices spans the solution subspace of a specific image class and enables us to capture the required holistic signature for each character class along with the mixing coefficients associated with each character image. During recognition, we project each test image onto the candidate subspaces to derive its mixing coefficients, which are eventually used for final classification.The second approach we study in this work lets us form a novel holistic feature for character recognition based on active contour model, also known as snakes. Our feature vector is based on two variables, direction and distance, cumulatively traversed by each point as the initial circular contour evolves under the force field induced by the character image. The initial contour design in conjunction with cross-correlation based similarity metric enables us to account for rotational variance in the character image. Our third approach is based on modelling a 3-mode tensor via rotation of a single image. This is different from our tensor based approach described above in that we form the tensor using a single image instead of collecting a specific number of samples of a particular class. In this case, to generate a 3D image cube, we rotate an image through a predefined range of angles. This enables us to explicitly capture rotational variance and leads to better performance than various local approaches.Finally, as an application, we use our holistic model to recognize word images extracted from natural scenes. Here we first use our novel word segmentation method based on image seam analysis to split a scene word into individual character images. We then apply our holistic model to recognize individual letters and use a spell-checker module to get the final word prediction. Throughout our work, we employ popular scene text datasets, like Chars74K-Font, Chars74K-Image, SVT, and ICDAR03, which include synthetic and natural image sets, to test the performance of our strategies. We compare results of our recognition models with several baseline methods and show comparable or better performance than several local feature-based methods justifying thus the importance of holistic strategies.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006247, ucf:51076
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006247

Title: Examining Emotional Responses to Effective Versus Ineffective Virtual Buddies.
Creator: Ingraham, Kathleen, Gunter, Glenda, Boote, David, Taylor, Rosemarye, Hughes, Charles, Proctor, Michael, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of virtual character design on user emotional experience and user behavior in a simulated environment. With simulation training increasing in popularity as a tool for teaching social skills, it is essential that social interactions in virtual environments provide authentic opportunities for practice (Swartout et al., 2006). This study used Interactive Performance Theory (Wirth, 2012) to examine the effect of designing a virtual...
Show moreThe purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of virtual character design on user emotional experience and user behavior in a simulated environment. With simulation training increasing in popularity as a tool for teaching social skills, it is essential that social interactions in virtual environments provide authentic opportunities for practice (Swartout et al., 2006). This study used Interactive Performance Theory (Wirth, 2012) to examine the effect of designing a virtual buddy character with ineffective traits instead of effective or expert traits. The sample population for this study (n = 145) consisted of first year university students enrolled in courses in the fall of 2013 at the University of Central Florida. Data on participant emotional experience and behavior were collected through questionnaires, researcher observations, and physiological signal recording that included participant heart rate and galvanic skin response. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, and qualitative thematic coding of participant verbal behavior and written responses. Results of the analysis revealed that participants who interacted with an ineffective virtual buddy character had statistically significant higher averages of verbal statements to the antagonist in the simulated environment and statistically significant lower perceptions of antagonist amiability than participants who interacted with an effective virtual buddy. Additionally, participants who interacted with a virtual buddy of the opposite gender gave statistically significant higher ecological validity scores to the simulated environment than participants who interacted with a virtual buddy of the same gender. Qualitative analysis also revealed that participants tended to describe the female buddy character with more ineffective traits than the male buddy character even though effective and ineffective design conditions were equally divided for both groups. Further research should be conducted on the effect of virtual buddy character design in different types of simulation environments and with different target audiences.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005633, ucf:50220
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005633

Title: An actor's approach: stepping into a role and a world of the past.
Creator: Gosselin, Danielle, Listengarten, Julia, Wood, Mary, Brown, James, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: To step into a character and a world of the past, the actor must not discard the present, but seek to find connections and links between the worlds. I was cast in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater production of Sense and Sensibility, a Jon Jory adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, in the role of Lucy Steele. This was an equity production, and it ran February 6th (-) March 17th, 2013, in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater's Margeson Theater. Lucy is a female character from England in a period often...
Show moreTo step into a character and a world of the past, the actor must not discard the present, but seek to find connections and links between the worlds. I was cast in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater production of Sense and Sensibility, a Jon Jory adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, in the role of Lucy Steele. This was an equity production, and it ran February 6th (-) March 17th, 2013, in the Orlando Shakespeare Theater's Margeson Theater. Lucy is a female character from England in a period often referred to as the Regency era. As a woman from today's United States of America, first I explored how Lucy's words and actions fit into the society of her time, and second I explored how I, a contemporary actor, could organically step into her shoes.One of the greatest tools I had to help me address these questions was the playwright himself, Jon Jory. He was at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater for the 2012 Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, during which he gave a keynote address and taught a master class in acting, in which I participated. Furthermore, I had the unique opportunity to personally interview him regarding Sense and Sensibility and his connection to the world of Austen and her characters. Along with applying this insight, I applied tools from his acting master class to my work on his Sense and Sensibility text. This special access to the playwright greatly influenced the work and served as a key into Lucy's world.In addition to working with the playwright, I further researched Austen and her work, because Lucy and her world originate there. I explored various resources about England's Regency era society and the role of women in this society. By comparing the world and people of the play to the current cultural and political landscape with which I am most familiar, I found fundamental links between people living in different times and places, breaking down walls between Lucy's world and my own. Finally, this performance thesis project utilized the practical acting, voice, and movement skills, which I cultivated in my studio work as an MFA acting candidate at the University of Central Florida. It was a wonderful opportunity as an aspiring young actor to participate in an equity production and work with professional actors. I exercised my stage dialects training by using a standard British dialect, and I applied what I learned in my theatre styles acting class and in various movement classes to develop the behavior and physicality of my character. In order to preserve the new information gained from this study, I chronicled my explorations and discoveries throughout the rehearsal and production process. Through my work with the playwright Jon Jory, my research on Jane Austen and the Regency era, and my application of what I learned in the studio, I strove to create a model process for an actor to utilize when stepping into a role and a world of the past.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004685, ucf:49874
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004685

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