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- Title
- THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POST-SECONDARY WEB BASED COMMUNICATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA'S ONLINE EDUCATIONAL SETTING.
- Creator
-
Hinchman, Brandon, Kaplan, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
While technology continues to advance, so do methods of learning. In post-secondary education during the twentieth century, the traditional classroom setting was geared toward auditory instruction and face-to-face peer interaction. Not only was this the most efficient means of instruction for the time period but the only means. Along with the advent of communication technology came the concept of Web courses. Web courses have expanded the means by which students can experience course lectures...
Show moreWhile technology continues to advance, so do methods of learning. In post-secondary education during the twentieth century, the traditional classroom setting was geared toward auditory instruction and face-to-face peer interaction. Not only was this the most efficient means of instruction for the time period but the only means. Along with the advent of communication technology came the concept of Web courses. Web courses have expanded the means by which students can experience course lectures and have beckoned the use of updated media by which such lectures can take place. Such media include threaded discussions, chat rooms and e-mail. At the University of Central Florida, the gradual change from WebCT to Webcourses offered students more direct contact with updated threaded discussions and more centralized communication on the whole. The quality of such communication measures has been in question, though, and the effectiveness of such online communication methods is the focus of my research.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002749, ucf:48147
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002749
- Title
- WEB-BASED CIRCUIT DESIGN SIMULATION PACKAGE FOR SOLVING ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING CIRCUITS.
- Creator
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Harb, Shadi, Batarseh, Issa, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A Web-based circuit design package has been improved and evaluated to provide students with an enhanced and innovative teaching tools package for the electrical circuit design course. The project objectives can be summarized as follows: 1) developing enhanced problem solving skills using a Web-based environment, 2) developing the design skills and sharpening the critical thinking process, 3) developing a generic and comprehensive teaching/learning circuit package as an extention to the...
Show moreA Web-based circuit design package has been improved and evaluated to provide students with an enhanced and innovative teaching tools package for the electrical circuit design course. The project objectives can be summarized as follows: 1) developing enhanced problem solving skills using a Web-based environment, 2) developing the design skills and sharpening the critical thinking process, 3) developing a generic and comprehensive teaching/learning circuit package as an extention to the Electrical Engineering virtual lab environment, which gives students the capability to practice and experience all the circuit design skills with minimum cost and effort. The project provides the students with an enhanced and powerful graphical computer aided design (CAD) tool by which students can carry out an online simulation of AC and DC designs with the capability to plot simulation results graphically. The proposed prototype is implemented by JAVA, which is used to to implement Web-based applications with different platform support. The project provides students with an enhanced graphical user interface (GUI) by which they can build any electrical circuit using either text or schematic entry format, generate the Netlist, which describes all circuit information (circuit topology, circuit attributes and so on), and simulate the design by parsing the Netlist to CIRML format, which is sent over the network to the remote server. The server will process the CIRML data and run the simulation using PSPICE and eventually send back the simulation results to the client for display.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000315, ucf:46316
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000315
- Title
- INFORMATION-SEEKING STRATEGIES OF DOCTORAL STUDENTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL WEB SPACE.
- Creator
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Winter, Debra, Applen, J. D., University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This dissertation looks at the information-seeking practices of doctoral students in the context of their search for a doctoral program and considers the implications for design of the graduate school Web space. Of particular interest is the description of patterns of Web use and the practices related to students' preparation for interactions with technology, the nature of the interactions, and the thinking that occurs. An exploratory study that brings together hypertext theory,...
Show moreThis dissertation looks at the information-seeking practices of doctoral students in the context of their search for a doctoral program and considers the implications for design of the graduate school Web space. Of particular interest is the description of patterns of Web use and the practices related to students' preparation for interactions with technology, the nature of the interactions, and the thinking that occurs. An exploratory study that brings together hypertext theory, contextual, holistic approaches, and information behavior, this research includes a focus group of current undergraduate and graduate students to gather fresh details about information-seeking for a graduate program as a preliminary investigation in this area, eight interviews with current doctoral students admitted in Fall 2007 to capture the specific details of students' information-seeking experiences for a doctoral program by mapping the journeys, and an online survey of current doctoral students admitted in Fall 2007 as further investigation of information-seeking for a doctoral program. Doctoral students who participated in this study rely on the Web as the primary source of prior knowledge of graduate education and graduate school, as well as the source most used to build that knowledge during the information-seeking journey for a graduate program and to prepare them for the start of their graduate study. The eight maps of students' information-seeking journeys for a graduate program show how complex and wide-ranging these journeys are. Based on bits collected through their many Web encounters over six months to two years, students develop a "feeling" for the people who make up the graduate program, social interactions within this group and research subgroups, and what it would be like to be a student in the program, all contributing to students' decision making. Academic Web sites play a key role as support structures for students and have to do more than make the information available and findable; they must design in order to encourage and sustain engagement, or deep involvement. This study proposes several suggestions for academic Web design.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002557, ucf:47634
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002557
- Title
- Evaluation of a Mind-Body Website by Women with Breast Cancer.
- Creator
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Beck, Laura, Loerzel, Victoria, Sole, Mary, Morrison, Kimberly, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Despite having access to volumes of information, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer report a moderate level of distress related to their diagnosis, treatment, life expectancy, threat to current roles, and life-changing surgery and treatment choices. Web sites designed to teach people strategies to reduce distress are readily available online. The online format may be useful and practical for women who can access the site at their convenience, learn the components of the interventions at...
Show moreDespite having access to volumes of information, women newly diagnosed with breast cancer report a moderate level of distress related to their diagnosis, treatment, life expectancy, threat to current roles, and life-changing surgery and treatment choices. Web sites designed to teach people strategies to reduce distress are readily available online. The online format may be useful and practical for women who can access the site at their convenience, learn the components of the interventions at their own pace, and practice the strategies in the comfort of their home. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an online Mind-Body web site (http://www.www.preparingforyoursurgery.com) designed to reduce distress related to surgery for its usability, practicality, and appropriateness for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Results of this study will be used to either adopt use of the web site into standard of care at our cancer center or explore development of a similar web site to meet the needs of women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Women recently diagnosed with breast cancer, who had breast cancer surgery in the past 60 days, were asked to evaluate an online Mind-Body web site and then respond to an online questionnaire measuring the web site usability, practicality, and appropriateness. Thirty-one women evaluated the web site and completed the online survey. The majority of women agreed the web site is useful, practical, appropriate, and would recommend to others. There was no significant relationship between age, income, level of education, frequency of Internet use, or experience with Mind-Body techniques and women who agreed the web site is useful, appropriate, or practical compared to women who were neutral or disagreed the web siteis useful, appropriate, or practical. The results of this study suggest the web site could be introduced to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer at our cancer center regardless of age, income, education, frequency of Internet use, or experience with Mind-Body techniques.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005085, ucf:50752
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005085
- Title
- A SOFTWARE-BASED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING NARRATIVE TEXTS.
- Creator
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McDaniel, Thomas Rudy, Dombrowski, Paul, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Technical and professional communicators have in recent research been challenged to make significant contributions to the field of knowledge management, and to learn or create the new technologies allowing them to do so. The purpose of this dissertation is to make such a combined theoretical and applied contribution from the context of the emerging discipline of Texts and Technology. This dissertation explores the field of knowledge management (KM), particularly its relationship to the...
Show moreTechnical and professional communicators have in recent research been challenged to make significant contributions to the field of knowledge management, and to learn or create the new technologies allowing them to do so. The purpose of this dissertation is to make such a combined theoretical and applied contribution from the context of the emerging discipline of Texts and Technology. This dissertation explores the field of knowledge management (KM), particularly its relationship to the related study of artificial intelligence (AI), and then recommends a KM software application based on the principles of narratology and narrative information exchange. The focus of knowledge is shifted from the reductive approach of data and information to a holistic approach of meaning and the way people make sense of complex events as experiences expressed in stories. Such an analysis requires a discussion of the evolution of intelligent systems and narrative theory as well as an examination of existing computerized and non-computerized storytelling systems. After a thorough discussion of these issues, an original software program that is used to collect, analyze, and distribute thematic stories within any hierarchical organization is modeled, exemplified, and explained in detail.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000012, ucf:46117
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000012
- Title
- ONLY SCREEN DEEP? EVALUATING AESTHETICS, USABILITY, AND SATISFACTION IN INFORMATIONAL WEBSITES.
- Creator
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Avery, Carrie, Saari Kitalong, Karla, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This thesis explores the role aesthetics plays in informational websites. In commercial interfaces, aesthetics (the perceived visual appeal and appropriateness of an object) has shown to correlate positively with many aspects of usability and emotional satisfaction. This thesis examines whether aesthetics has similar positive correlations in informational websites. Heuristics or guidelines for evaluating informational websites are developed based on empirical research and practitioner...
Show moreThis thesis explores the role aesthetics plays in informational websites. In commercial interfaces, aesthetics (the perceived visual appeal and appropriateness of an object) has shown to correlate positively with many aspects of usability and emotional satisfaction. This thesis examines whether aesthetics has similar positive correlations in informational websites. Heuristics or guidelines for evaluating informational websites are developed based on empirical research and practitioner expertise. Categories for heuristic evaluation include usability, credibility, visual clarity, visual richness, and emotional satisfaction. A class of graduate students browsed three academic websites, evaluated them, and critiqued the heuristics. Results indicate that aesthetics does correlate with overall impression, usability, satisfaction, and credibility. The data also suggests that there are two dimensions of aesthetics: visual richness and visual clarity. Overall impression correlated with the average of all categories. The heuristics used in this pilot study are now ready to be tested on a larger population.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000465, ucf:46412
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000465
- Title
- FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH RETENTION RATES IN CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION TEACHER PREPARATION WEB-BASED COURSES.
- Creator
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Whiteman, Jo Ann, Hudson, Larry, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
There is a recognized state and national shortage of Career and Technical (CTE) teachers; in certain school districts or by subject area, it is defined as a "Critical Shortage". At the same time, both statewide and nationally, the number of teacher preparation programs for Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers has decreased. To alleviate the shortage and increase access many Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation programs use the web. This study examined retention...
Show moreThere is a recognized state and national shortage of Career and Technical (CTE) teachers; in certain school districts or by subject area, it is defined as a "Critical Shortage". At the same time, both statewide and nationally, the number of teacher preparation programs for Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers has decreased. To alleviate the shortage and increase access many Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation programs use the web. This study examined retention rates in courses from Fall 1997 through Fall 2003 within web-based courses in a CTE teacher preparation program at the University of Central Florida to identify factors associated with student retention. Three research questions emerged from the primary question: Are there factors associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? (a) Is gender associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? (b) Is ethnicity associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? and (c) Is age associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? Enrollees were non-admitted students seeking initial Career and Technical Education (CTE) school district certification as well as admitted students seeking state certification and/or a Bachelors degree. Of the 2371 enrollees in eleven (11) web-based courses during 74 course offerings from Fall 1997 through Fall 2003in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation program at the University of Central Florida, a large metropolitan public university, 92.1% were retained. Three demographic variables, gender, ethnicity and age were compared, to evaluate retention. The categorical data were analyzed using Chi Square Test of Independence.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2004
- Identifier
- CFE0000210, ucf:46277
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000210
- Title
- EFFECTS OF ADVANCE ORGANIZERS ON LEARNING AND RETENTION FROM A FULLY WEB-BASED CLASS.
- Creator
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Chen, Baiyun, Hirumi, Atsusi, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of two kinds of advance organizers (AOs), a visual concept map and a text outline. The AOs were administered in a fully Web-based course in health care ethics. The outcome measures are students' knowledge acquisition and application in two posttests. This study was conducted through a post-test only control group design with a random assignment. The population of the study involved 166 college students who...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of two kinds of advance organizers (AOs), a visual concept map and a text outline. The AOs were administered in a fully Web-based course in health care ethics. The outcome measures are students' knowledge acquisition and application in two posttests. This study was conducted through a post-test only control group design with a random assignment. The population of the study involved 166 college students who participated in this online class in their junior or senior year. The voluntary research participants were randomly assigned into the two treatment groups and one control group. The treatment of AO was administered as an integral part of a one-week-long online module on the topic of patient-physician relationships. Students of the two treatment groups were presented with one of the two AOs, while the control group was instructed to proceed to textbook reading without an AO. Then, students were tested on the subject matter with two parallel posttests. Both posttests were composed of a multiple-choice question quiz and a set of scenario-based essay questions. The students took posttest I at the end of the instructional week, and posttest II four weeks after. A survey and interviews were also conducted to supplement the quantitative results with contextual information. The findings do not demonstrate a statistically significant AO effect among the treatment groups and the control group. However, in agreement with the previous research, this study shows a positive but inconclusive benefit of using AOs for students' short-term knowledge acquisition. The students using a concept map consistently obtained higher learning achievements than individuals using a text outline. More importantly, this study reiterated the proposition that students of lower-learning abilities benefit more from using an AO for online learning than those of higher-learning abilities. The current study extends our knowledge on the use of AOs in fully Web-based educational environments. The results indicated that although AOs more often than not have small facilitative effects for learners, they are not equally effective for all learners in all learning situations. The incorporation of the instructional strategies, such as AOs, in Web-based courses and programs might benefit online learners, especially those students of lower verbal and analytical abilities, or of lower prior knowledge of the material-to-be-learned.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001556, ucf:47137
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001556
- Title
- ACADEMIC ADVISING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: DISTANCE LEARNERS AND LEVELS OF SATISFACTION USING WEB CAMERA TECHNOLOGY.
- Creator
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Hernandez, Terri, Tubbs, Levester, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of in-seat face-to-face advising in contrast to web camera advising of College of Arts and Sciences psychology majors in the 2005-2006 academic year. Satisfaction levels were determined and analyzed based on random assignment to either the control group (in-seat face-to face) or the experimental group (web camera) advising. The data collected for this study consisted of participants' responses to the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI)...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of in-seat face-to-face advising in contrast to web camera advising of College of Arts and Sciences psychology majors in the 2005-2006 academic year. Satisfaction levels were determined and analyzed based on random assignment to either the control group (in-seat face-to face) or the experimental group (web camera) advising. The data collected for this study consisted of participants' responses to the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) administered to undergraduate psychology majors (N = 102). Overall, students were satisfied with advising services regardless of the advising group to which they were randomly assigned. Although there was not a statistically significant difference between students who were advised in-seat face-to-face and those advised via web camera advising, the data reflected a slight preference for advisement via web camera.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001773, ucf:47250
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001773
- Title
- Persistence of Physical Activity Among Veterans.
- Creator
-
Davis, Jean, Edwards, Joellen, Loerzel, Victoria, Weiss, Josie, Kehinde, Julius, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The global burden of disease is staggering in terms of financial costs and human suffering. The general public is aware that physical activity is healthy, although the fact that physical activity can treat and reverse diseases, reduce the risk of cancers, prevent many chronic diseases, stave off cognitive decline, and contribute to quality longevity is less well known. Healthcare practitioners and policymakers are impeded in efforts to support physical activity due to the lack of knowledge of...
Show moreThe global burden of disease is staggering in terms of financial costs and human suffering. The general public is aware that physical activity is healthy, although the fact that physical activity can treat and reverse diseases, reduce the risk of cancers, prevent many chronic diseases, stave off cognitive decline, and contribute to quality longevity is less well known. Healthcare practitioners and policymakers are impeded in efforts to support physical activity due to the lack of knowledge of factors associated with physical activity persistence. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine these factors and identify which predict persistent physical activity among veterans to inform future programs and policies to support physical activity for health. The theorized influence of physical activity habit is addressed in the initial dissertation manuscript. Habits being more difficult to lapse from than to continue made them suitable for investigation to address the knowledge gap identified when no reports of long-term physical activity habits were found. Veterans provided an ideal population to study long-term physical activity habits with, as research indicates that veterans likely formed physical activity habits through recurrent physical activity required to meet the fitness requirements of active duty service. This led to the research reported in the second manuscript. The research was based on theory, literature review, and input from veterans. The integrated theory of health behavior change informed the predictor variables investigated. The explanatory and predictive cross-sectional study of community-dwelling veterans used the web survey method to answer questions of which factors were associated with sufficient or insufficient physical activity among veterans, and which factors were predictive. Recruitment of veterans occurred through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk(&)#174;) and linked veterans to the survey on Qualtrics(&)#174;. Findings revealed direct associations of exercise self-regulation, social support for exercise, and some service-related and other demographic factors with sufficient or insufficient physical activity. Qualtrics(&)#174; allowed for the presentation of survey questions in a variety of formats. To determine the best format for survey items, a state of the knowledge review was conducted. This review is presented in the final dissertation manuscript. Implications for future research, health education, clinical practice, and health policy are identified. It is expected that the knowledge gained in this study will inform future Veterans Affairs programs, provider practices, public health initiatives, and health care policies to support physical activity practices for healthy longevity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007886, ucf:52783
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007886
- Title
- The Relationship between Course Syllabi and Participant Evaluation Reactions Across Web-based and Face-to-Face Courses.
- Creator
-
Glerum, David, Wooten, William, Fritzsche, Barbara, Yee, Kevin, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A common form of training or education evaluation involves the examination of course participant reactions towards various aspects of the course for summative evaluation purposes. Participant reactions have been examined within the framework of a comparison between online and face to face courses often with a slight positive weight towards online courses (Sitzmann et al., 2006). Past research on this topic has denoted a need for studies examining the relationship between objective course...
Show moreA common form of training or education evaluation involves the examination of course participant reactions towards various aspects of the course for summative evaluation purposes. Participant reactions have been examined within the framework of a comparison between online and face to face courses often with a slight positive weight towards online courses (Sitzmann et al., 2006). Past research on this topic has denoted a need for studies examining the relationship between objective course characteristics and participant reactions. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between participant reactions of a sample of geographically disbursed teachers enrolled in a large, national professional development company and objective course characteristics as communicated by course syllabi within a framework of comparison between online and face to face courses. The delivery format, knowledge base, specificity of course objectives, and student interaction levels were all related to some degree to various participant reactions, although the effect sizes were notably small. In many cases, an interaction between the delivery format and objective course characteristic in question influenced the participant reaction. Objective course characteristics as communicated by the syllabi appeared to be major predictors of participant reactions within the face to face courses that were examined, but not for the online courses. Course development stakeholders are recommended to pay attention to the course syllabus design process and craft quality syllabi that communicate relevant information while concurrently anticipating potential participant reactions. Organizations may be able to align the outline for instruction or (")contract(") as presented by the syllabus with recommendations as offered by participant evaluations so as to instill consistent expectations within the participants and maximize positive reactions towards the courses within which they are enrolled.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0004113, ucf:49119
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004113
- Title
- INCREASING PARENTAL AWARENESS AND MONITORING: THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A WEB-BASED PROGRAM TO EMPOWER PARENTS TO REDUCE UNDERAGE ALCOHOL USE.
- Creator
-
Brown, Pamela, Dunn, Michael, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Parent attitudes about underage alcohol use and parent monitoring of the activities of their adolescent children have been found to be directly related to the likelihood of underage alcohol use. Unfortunately, there are relatively few programs or resources available to parents to assist them to reduce their childrenÂÂ's potential for early and problematic alcohol involvement. In an effort to address this need, the present project entailed the development and evaluation...
Show moreParent attitudes about underage alcohol use and parent monitoring of the activities of their adolescent children have been found to be directly related to the likelihood of underage alcohol use. Unfortunately, there are relatively few programs or resources available to parents to assist them to reduce their childrenÂÂ's potential for early and problematic alcohol involvement. In an effort to address this need, the present project entailed the development and evaluation of a web-based psychoeducational program entitled, Increasing Parental Awareness and Monitoring (iPAM). This online program begins to fill the gap in effective and convenient programming focused on development of parent skills and awareness. The content of the program is based on parenting factors that have been consistently found to correspond to underage alcohol use. The format includes engaging and interactive components that function to promote increased parent knowledge of the problem of underage drinking. In addition, the program is designed to alter permissive or ambivalent attitudes regarding underage alcohol use, and increase parental behaviors that have shown to be effective in reducing youth alcohol involvement. A randomized controlled trial was conducted (n = 34 control; n = 33 experimental) with parents of adolescents in Central Florida who were asked to complete measures before exposure to the program and again approximately one month later. Findings revealed significant differences between the iPAM group and the control group. Specifically, an increase in parent knowledge about underage alcohol use and increased parental monitoring of their adolescent children was revealed. There was also a main effect for time with regard to increased parent-child communication about alcohol. Additionally, while both groups revealed increased communication, the experimental group revealed greater frequency of communication about alcohol although not significantly.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003389, ucf:48454
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003389
- Title
- Modeling and analysis of a three-species food web with facilitated and intraguild predation.
- Creator
-
Castro, Joshua, Weishampel, John, Quintana-Ascencio, Pedro, Nevai, A, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Biotic interactions are known to shape natural community assemblages and biodiversity. Positive interactions such as facilitation have recently received attention in ecological food webs. Mechanistic models have improved our understanding of these complex food web interactions. Here, focus is given to a three-species food web system with a beach dune natural community in mind. In the last decade, there has been a series of studies investigating intraguild predation between two major...
Show moreBiotic interactions are known to shape natural community assemblages and biodiversity. Positive interactions such as facilitation have recently received attention in ecological food webs. Mechanistic models have improved our understanding of these complex food web interactions. Here, focus is given to a three-species food web system with a beach dune natural community in mind. In the last decade, there has been a series of studies investigating intraguild predation between two major loggerhead sea turtle nest predators, North American raccoons and Atlantic ghost crabs. Studies have also highlighted that ghost crab predation assists raccoons in finding nests (i.e., facilitated predation). However, the combined effects of these two intraguild interactions and their consequences on nests have not been examined explicitly. The aims of this study were to (i) develop a three-species, ordinary differential equation model (ii) implement a sensitivity analysis to understand the influence of facilitation and other factors in driving species richness and abundance and (iii) characterize the dynamic interactions between intraguild predators and their effects on a shared resource. Interactions between ghost crabs and sea turtle eggs and facilitation can yield a wide variety of species abundance responses and were influential factors in the model. I found that high secondary sea turtle egg depredation and low facilitated predation by raccoons led to three species co-existence regions in the model. Controlling for nest predators at higher abundance levels showed that ghost crabs had a larger negative effect on sea turtle egg abundance responses when compared to raccoons. This suggests that interactions between sea turtle eggs and ghost crabs appear to be important and potential sea turtle nest management implications are discussed such as the use of ghost crab exclusion devices.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005771, ucf:50074
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005771
- Title
- ASSESSING THE WEB-BASED DESTINATION MARKETING ACTIVITIES: A RELATIONSHIP MARKETING PERSPECTIVE.
- Creator
-
Cobos, Liza, Wang, Youcheng, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Innovations in information technology have played an important role in the way business is conducted. Technology innovations have great impact on tourism destination marketing organizations such as convention and visitor bureaus, since they are highly dependent on information and timely distribution of it to the public. Information technology innovations such as the Internet allow CVBs to perform their marketing functions in a more efficient manner. The implementation of web-based marketing...
Show moreInnovations in information technology have played an important role in the way business is conducted. Technology innovations have great impact on tourism destination marketing organizations such as convention and visitor bureaus, since they are highly dependent on information and timely distribution of it to the public. Information technology innovations such as the Internet allow CVBs to perform their marketing functions in a more efficient manner. The implementation of web-based marketing functions is impacted by organizational characteristics that either foster or hinder their implementation (Thong, 1999; Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990; Wang & Fesenmaier, 2006; Zhu & Kraemer, 2005). Information technology innovations have been adopted by organizations in different levels of sophistication. Since the main function of a CVB is the promotion of a destination technologies that facilitate this process are important to this type of organization. Unfortunately, the marketing practice of American CVBs is still dominated by principles of mass marketing by communicating the same message to all consumers. As a result, the use of websites by American CVB has been limited to information provision functions and has lost opportunities to build relationship with customers through additional web-based marketing activities. This study proposes that CVBs should use web-based marketing activities to attract and retain relationships with customers. This study provides two main contributions to the existing literature: a) examines web-based marketing functions from a relationship marketing perspective and b) examines the impact of organizational characteristics on the sophistication level of web-based marketing functions. The use and effectiveness of web functions and its applications were examined. The results showed that the majority of the CVBs focus the use of their website to provide information. A standard multiple regression was used to investigate the impact of the organizational factors on the different web functions. The results of the regression show that size, financial resources and management team's technological expertise are the only factors that impact the level of web functions implemented by CVBs.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- Identifier
- CFE0001470, ucf:47083
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001470
- Title
- INTEGRATING KEY ELEMENTS IN AN E-LEARNING CURRICULUM FOR AN OPTIMUM EDUCATIONAL AND INTERACTIVE USER EXPERIENCE.
- Creator
-
Stearns, Heather, Jones, Dan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study determines the particular components that are considered the best practices to use when implementing an e-Learning curriculum. Technical communicators and instructional designers have numerous development options to choose from. However, practices that work in academe do not always integrate well in a corporate setting, and what works for one corporation may not work for another. There is no singular methodology for developers to apply that enables e-Learning to fit every...
Show moreThis study determines the particular components that are considered the best practices to use when implementing an e-Learning curriculum. Technical communicators and instructional designers have numerous development options to choose from. However, practices that work in academe do not always integrate well in a corporate setting, and what works for one corporation may not work for another. There is no singular methodology for developers to apply that enables e-Learning to fit every organization's needs. Research shows that to ensure a successful online learning implementation, a sound project management team must be in place at the beginning of the project planning. This team must be prepared to collaborate with managers and users across an organization and carefully incorporate their suggestions into the curriculum design. Additionally, this team must be experienced not only in making sure that the project is launched on time and within the defined budget, but also in asking pertinent questions about the users, content structure, and design. Implementing an e-Learning site involves more than putting a Web page online for users to view. Developers must know about adult learning styles, must know how to incorporate interactive activities (like games and simulations), and must know how to write content so that it is engaging yet understandable.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002099, ucf:47547
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002099
- Title
- THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' USAGE OF WEBCT AS A COLLABORATIVE TOOL.
- Creator
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Yang, Huei-Hsuan, Sivo, Stephen A., University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The purpose of this research study was to use the Technology Acceptance Model (Pan, 2003) for re-examination of the relationships between students' attitude toward the use of WebCT and the relevance of the actual usage in light of social presence and sociability. By using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by F. Davis (1989), this study focused on variables such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, subjective norms, attitude and actual use of...
Show moreThe purpose of this research study was to use the Technology Acceptance Model (Pan, 2003) for re-examination of the relationships between students' attitude toward the use of WebCT and the relevance of the actual usage in light of social presence and sociability. By using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by F. Davis (1989), this study focused on variables such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, subjective norms, attitude and actual use of WebCT to account for the effect towards the achievement in the exam which is an outcome variable. The data were collected over three different time periods during the spring semester of 2007 to find how these results changed over time. The participants were the students who enrolled in the business marketing course (Principle of marketing) at the University of Central Florida in spring, 2007. The course was divided to three sections: on-campus, video-streaming and online classes. Although there were three different delivery methods, there was only one instructor and they used same material for all sections so the results were used to compare the differences from three classes. The study was conducted by using instruments to measure perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, subjective norms, actual use, attitude, sociability, social presence and an additional demographic instrument.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001761, ucf:47262
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001761
- Title
- POSTMODERN FEMINISM, HYPERTEXT, AND THE RHETORIC OF COOKING WEBSITES.
- Creator
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McGrane, Heather, Applen, J.D., University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study explores the ways cookbooks and their rhetorical dimensions have been re-imagined using hypertext and Web technology. Using the tenets of postmodern feminist rhetoric and Web design theory, the study considers how commercial cooking hypertexts construct users' identities. Although hypertext is a potentially empowering technology, democratizing rhetoric and knowledge making practices, commercial hypertext often circumscribes agency formation and prohibits participation....
Show moreThis study explores the ways cookbooks and their rhetorical dimensions have been re-imagined using hypertext and Web technology. Using the tenets of postmodern feminist rhetoric and Web design theory, the study considers how commercial cooking hypertexts construct users' identities. Although hypertext is a potentially empowering technology, democratizing rhetoric and knowledge making practices, commercial hypertext often circumscribes agency formation and prohibits participation. Participatory, constructive hypertexts are difficult to design and costly to maintain. Of the three sites studied, Epicurious.com, BettyCrocker.com, and FoodNetwork.com, only Epicurious.com encourages meaningful communication between users and between users and designers. In many ways, Epicurious.com conceives of its users as active agents. Most of its content celebrates many knowledge making practices traditionally considered feminine and embodied. In contrast, BettyCrocker.com and FoodNetwork.com rely on closed, proprietary systems designs to maintain their authority. Users have little opportunity to participate as active agents. In small ways, however, users can begin to deconstruct the hypertexts, to resist the standards and strictures of expertly created recipes by reporting variations and opinions. The features that most reflect the tenets of a constructive feminist hypertext make possible some small movements toward agency.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- Identifier
- CFE0001855, ucf:47369
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001855
- Title
- ANALYZING THE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF WEB-LIKE NETWORKS: MODELS AND ALGORITHMS.
- Creator
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Cami, Aurel, Deo, Narsingh, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This dissertation investigates the community structure of web-like networks (i.e., large, random, real-life networks such as the World Wide Web and the Internet). Recently, it has been shown that many such networks have a locally dense and globally sparse structure with certain small, dense subgraphs occurring much more frequently than they do in the classical Erdös-Rényi random graphs. This peculiarity--which is commonly referred to as community structure--has been observed in...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates the community structure of web-like networks (i.e., large, random, real-life networks such as the World Wide Web and the Internet). Recently, it has been shown that many such networks have a locally dense and globally sparse structure with certain small, dense subgraphs occurring much more frequently than they do in the classical Erdös-Rényi random graphs. This peculiarity--which is commonly referred to as community structure--has been observed in seemingly unrelated networks such as the Web, email networks, citation networks, biological networks, etc. The pervasiveness of this phenomenon has led many researchers to believe that such cohesive groups of nodes might represent meaningful entities. For example, in the Web such tightly-knit groups of nodes might represent pages with a common topic, geographical location, etc., while in the neural networks they might represent evolved computational units. The notion of community has emerged in an effort to formalize the empirical observation of the locally dense globally sparse structure of web-like networks. In the broadest sense, a community in a web-like network is defined as a group of nodes that induces a dense subgraph which is sparsely linked with the rest of the network. Due to a wide array of envisioned applications, ranging from crawlers and search engines to network security and network compression, there has recently been a widespread interest in finding efficient community-mining algorithms. In this dissertation, the community structure of web-like networks is investigated by a combination of analytical and computational techniques: First, we consider the problem of modeling the web-like networks. In the recent years, many new random graph models have been proposed to account for some recently discovered properties of web-like networks that distinguish them from the classical random graphs. The vast majority of these random graph models take into account only the addition of new nodes and edges. Yet, several empirical observations indicate that deletion of nodes and edges occurs frequently in web-like networks. Inspired by such observations, we propose and analyze two dynamic random graph models that combine node and edge addition with a uniform and a preferential deletion of nodes, respectively. In both cases, we find that the random graphs generated by such models follow power-law degree distributions (in agreement with the degree distribution of many web-like networks). Second, we analyze the expected density of certain small subgraphs--such as defensive alliances on three and four nodes--in various random graphs models. Our findings show that while in the binomial random graph the expected density of such subgraphs is very close to zero, in some dynamic random graph models it is much larger. These findings converge with our results obtained by computing the number of communities in some Web crawls. Next, we investigate the computational complexity of the community-mining problem under various definitions of community. Assuming the definition of community as a global defensive alliance, or a global offensive alliance we prove--using transformations from the dominating set problem--that finding optimal communities is an NP-complete problem. These and other similar complexity results coupled with the fact that many web-like networks are huge, indicate that it is unlikely that fast, exact sequential algorithms for mining communities may be found. To handle this difficulty we adopt an algorithmic definition of community and a simpler version of the community-mining problem, namely: find the largest community to which a given set of seed nodes belong. We propose several greedy algorithms for this problem: The first proposed algorithm starts out with a set of seed nodes--the initial community--and then repeatedly selects some nodes from community's neighborhood and pulls them in the community. In each step, the algorithm uses clustering coefficient--a parameter that measures the fraction of the neighbors of a node that are neighbors themselves--to decide which nodes from the neighborhood should be pulled in the community. This algorithm has time complexity of order , where denotes the number of nodes visited by the algorithm and is the maximum degree encountered. Thus, assuming a power-law degree distribution this algorithm is expected to run in near-linear time. The proposed algorithm achieved good accuracy when tested on some real and computer-generated networks: The fraction of community nodes classified correctly is generally above 80% and often above 90% . A second algorithm based on a generalized clustering coefficient, where not only the first neighborhood is taken into account but also the second, the third, etc., is also proposed. This algorithm achieves a better accuracy than the first one but also runs slower. Finally, a randomized version of the second algorithm which improves the time complexity without affecting the accuracy significantly, is proposed. The main target application of the proposed algorithms is focused crawling--the selective search for web pages that are relevant to a pre-defined topic.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2005
- Identifier
- CFE0000900, ucf:46726
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000900
- Title
- ITERCHANGING DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATIONPROCESS INTERACTION MODELSUSING THE WEB ONTOLOGY LANGUAGE - OWL.
- Creator
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Lacy, Lee, Sepulveda, Jose, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Discrete event simulation development requires significant investments in time and resources. Descriptions of discrete event simulation models are associated with world views, including the process interaction orientation. Historically, these models have been encoded using high-level programming languages or special purpose, typically vendor-specific, simulation languages. These approaches complicate simulation model reuse and interchange. The current document-centric World Wide Web is...
Show moreDiscrete event simulation development requires significant investments in time and resources. Descriptions of discrete event simulation models are associated with world views, including the process interaction orientation. Historically, these models have been encoded using high-level programming languages or special purpose, typically vendor-specific, simulation languages. These approaches complicate simulation model reuse and interchange. The current document-centric World Wide Web is evolving into a Semantic Web that communicates information using ontologies. The Web Ontology Language – OWL, was used to encode a Process Interaction Modeling Ontology for Discrete Event Simulations (PIMODES). The PIMODES ontology was developed using ontology engineering processes. Software was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of interchanging models from commercial simulation packages using PIMODES as an intermediate representation. The purpose of PIMODES is to provide a vendor-neutral open representation to support model interchange. Model interchange enables reuse and provides an opportunity to improve simulation quality, reduce development costs, and reduce development times.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- Identifier
- CFE0001353, ucf:46977
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001353
- Title
- An Engineering Analytics Based Framework for Computational Advertising Systems.
- Creator
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Chen, Mengmeng, Rabelo, Luis, Lee, Gene, Keathley, Heather, Rahal, Ahmad, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Engineering analytics is a multifaceted landscape with a diversity of analytics tools which comes from emerging fields such as big data, machine learning, and traditional operations research. Industrial engineering is capable to optimize complex process and systems using engineering analytics elements and the traditional components such as total quality management. This dissertation has proven that industrial engineering using engineering analytics can optimize the emerging area of...
Show moreEngineering analytics is a multifaceted landscape with a diversity of analytics tools which comes from emerging fields such as big data, machine learning, and traditional operations research. Industrial engineering is capable to optimize complex process and systems using engineering analytics elements and the traditional components such as total quality management. This dissertation has proven that industrial engineering using engineering analytics can optimize the emerging area of Computational Advertising. The key was to know the different fields very well and do the right selection. However, people first need to understand and be experts in the flow of the complex application of Computational Advertising and based on the characteristics of each step map the right field of Engineering analytics and traditional Industrial Engineering. Then build the apparatus and apply it to the respective problem in question.This dissertation consists of four research papers addressing the development of a framework to tame the complexity of computational advertising and improve its usage efficiency from an advertiser's viewpoint. This new framework and its respective systems architecture combine the use of support vector machines, Recurrent Neural Networks, Deep Learning Neural Networks, traditional neural networks, Game Theory/Auction Theory with Generative adversarial networks, and Web Engineering to optimize the computational advertising bidding process and achieve a higher rate of return. The system is validated with an actual case study with commercial providers such as Google AdWords and an advertiser's budget of several million dollars.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007319, ucf:52118
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007319
