Digital Commons Network^™

Installments, Issue 69, April/May 2013, Renee Montgomery

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Sandspur, Vol 119, No 14, March 21, 2013, Rollins College

The Rollins Sandspur

Rollins College student newspaper, written by the students and published at Rollins College. The Sandspur started as a literary journal.

Together, Science And Art Can Provide Answers In Search For Truth, Carla Poindexter

UCF Forum

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of UCF this year, we are reminded that the core benefit of an upper-level education is the opportunity to pursue and obtain insight and knowledge over blindness and ignorance.

Sandspur, Vol 119, No 13, February 21, 2013, Rollins College

The Rollins Sandspur

Rollins College student newspaper, written by the students and published at Rollins College. The Sandspur started as a literary journal.

Sandspur, Vol 119, No 12, February 14, 2013, Rollins College

The Rollins Sandspur

Rollins College student newspaper, written by the students and published at Rollins College. The Sandspur started as a literary journal.

Synthesis Of Hyperbranched Amphiphylic Polyester And Theranostic Nanoparticles Thereof, J. Manuel Perez Figueroa, Santimukul Santra

UCF Patents

A method of making a hyperbranched amphiphillic polyester compound includes drying under vacuum a mixture of 2-(4-hydroxybutyl)-malonic acid and p-toulene sulphonic acid as a catalyst. The vacuum is then released with a dry inert gas after drying. The dried mixture is heated under the inert gas at a temperature sufficient for polymerization. The inert gas is evacuated while continuing to heat the mixture. The formed polymer is then dissolved in dimethylformamide and precipitated out by adding methanol. Modifications of the method yield nanoparticles of polyesters having properties suited for coencapsulating fluorescent dyes together with therapeutic drugs, resulting in theranostic nanoparticles, …

Sandspur, Vol 119, No 11, February 07, 2013, Rollins College

The Rollins Sandspur

Rollins College student newspaper, written by the students and published at Rollins College. The Sandspur started as a literary journal.

How To Make An Oyster Restoration Mat, Linda Walters

CEELAB Outreach Materials

No abstract provided.

Sandspur, Vol 119, No 10, January 31, 2013, Rollins College

The Rollins Sandspur

Rollins College student newspaper, written by the students and published at Rollins College. The Sandspur started as a literary journal.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells With Increased Developmental Potency By Expressing Nanog, Kiminobu Sugaya, Angel Alvarez

UCF Patents

CON filing for non-elected claims 7 and 12

Multimodal Nanoparticles For Non-Invasive Bio-Imaging, Swadeshmukul Santra, Niclas Bengtsson, Scott Brown, Stephen Grobmyer, Huabei Jiang, Brij Moudgil, Edward Scott, Parvesh Sharma, Glenn Walter, Qizhi Zhang

UCF Patents

The present teachings provide multimodal nanoparticles that can act simultaneously as contrast agents for one or more of PAT, fluorescence imaging, x-ray imaging, and/or MRI. Exemplary multimodal nanoparticles can have a size between 50-100 nm and can be tunable to large sizes. In various embodiments, these nanoparticles can also be used for therapeutic purposes.

The Ethos Of Humor In Technical Communication, David Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the realm of technical communication, humor has often been regarded as an unnecessary or risky rhetorical device that can negatively impact the credibility of a document. While many other professional fields, such as medicine, computer technology fields, or business have used humor, and humor continues to crop up in "user as producer" documentation, technical writing continues to approach humor cautiously and with little theoretical guidance. In order to fully understand how humor functions, it is important to understand the main theories of humor: superiority, relief, and incongruity. It is also important to understand how humor functions, by looking at …

University Of Central Florida Factbook 2012-2013, University Of Central Florida

Historical Fact Book and Enrollment

Historical fact book and enrollment data for the University of Central Florida.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 Attenuates Inflammation And Apoptosis And Improves Cardiac Function In Diabetes, Princess Urbina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 (BMP-7) belongs to the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) family of cytokines has is known to have potent anti-inflammatory properties. It has been used in patients to treat osteoporosis clinically and has been reported to treat diabetic nephropathy in murine models. Moreover, studies show that inflammation is up-regulated in patients with pre-diabetes (PD). We, therefore, hypothesize that the administration of BMP-7 will attenuate inflammation in the heart of Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced PD mice. In this study, we divided C57Bl/6 mice into three groups: CONTROL, PD, and PD+BMP-7. CONTROL mice received intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of Sodium Citrate Buffer while PD …

Curvelets And The Radon Transform, Jill Dickerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computed Tomography (CT) is the standard in medical imaging field. In this study, we look at the curvelet transform in an attempt to use it as a basis for representing a function. In doing so, we seek a way to reconstruct a function from the Radon data that may produce clearer results. Using curvelet decomposition, any known function can be represented as a sum of curvelets with corresponding coefficients. It can be shown that these corresponding coefficients can be found using the Radon data, even if the function is unknown. The use of curvelets has the potential to solve partial …

Bridging The Gap Between Fun And Fitness: Instructional Techniques And Real-World Applications For Full-Body Dance Games, Emiko Charbonneau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Full-body controlled games offer the opportunity for not only entertainment, but education and exercise as well. Refined gameplay mechanics and content can boost intrinsic motivation and keep people playing over a long period of time, which is desirable for individuals who struggle with maintaining a regular exercise program. Within this gameplay genre, dance rhythm games have proven to be popular with game console owners. Yet, while other types of games utilize story mechanics that keep players engaged for dozens of hours, motion-controlled dance games are just beginning to incorporate these elements. In addition, this control scheme is still young, only …

The Restorative Effects Of Color And Environment Type On Cognitive Functioning, Jessica Michaelis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although individuals have limited directed attention capabilities, it has been shown that exposure to natural environments elicit cognitive restoration (i.e. Berman, 2008). It has also been shown that individuals prefer blue and green colors because they are relaxing and prompt happy feelings (Guilford & Smith, 1959; Mahnke, 1996; Wexner, 1954). The question however, is what aspects of nature elicit these effects: is it the natural colors, the environmental setting, or both? The present experiment will examine the effects of color (Blue, Green, Black and White, & Natural) and environmental setting (Urban, Foliage, & Aquatic) on measures of attention, short term …

Learning Hierarchical Representations For Video Analysis Using Deep Learning, Yang Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the exponential growth of the digital data, video content analysis (e.g., action, event recognition) has been drawing increasing attention from computer vision researchers. Effective modeling of the objects, scenes, and motions is critical for visual understanding. Recently there has been a growing interest in the bio-inspired deep learning models, which has shown impressive results in speech and object recognition. The deep learning models are formed by the composition of multiple non-linear transformations of the data, with the goal of yielding more abstract and ultimately more useful representations. The advantages of the deep models are three fold: 1) They learn …

Hospitality Management: A Guide To Key Reference Works, Tim Bottorff

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose
– This paper aims to provide an overview of the field of hospitality management and a guide to the major books, databases, web sites, and other resources that comprise a quality hospitality management reference collection.

Design/methodology/approach
– Following a short introduction and overview, key sources and annotations are presented in categories that will help reference and collection librarians to better understand and serve hospitality management students. The sources were identified through the author's experience, library research guides and web sites, bibliographies, and other standard sources.

Findings
– Hospitality management is growing and maturing as an academic discipline, aided by …

Hidden Scars: The Art Of Ptsd, Gabriel Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the use of mixed media, I explore imagery that reveals the trauma of returning combat veterans, of which I am one, as we try to reintegrate into a society that does not understand the war that still lingers within us. In my work, I depict emotional disturbances that are related to my personal encounters with war. My working process starts by referencing mainstream media imagery, which I juxtapose against harsh images inspired by veterans' drug and alcohol use, trauma and death. My black-and-white pixelated paintings feature the fragmented memories of a hostile combat environment, and although "Out of My …

Screening Of Quantum Dots For Toxicity On The Growth And Viability Of Escherichia Coli, Jeremy Tharkur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metal (HM) containing quantum dots (Qdots) are increasingly used in commercial products due to their unique electronic, optoelectronic, optical and magnetic properties. Once disposed to the landfill, environmental weathering is likely to compromise HM Qdot integrity, leading to release of heavy metal ions. To minimize any negative environmental impact of HM Qdots, there is an increasing demand for developing HM free or environmentally-friendly surface modified HM Qdot alternatives. In this study, synthesis of HM free ZnS:Mn/ZnS and surface modified HM CdS:Mn/ZnS Qdots (using N-acetylcysteine, NAC, and Dihydrolipoic acid, DHLA) and their potential toxicity assessment using E. coli as a …

Robust Subspace Estimation Using Low-Rank Optimization. Theory And Applications In Scene Reconstruction, Video Denoising, And Activity Recognition., Omar Oreifej

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we discuss the problem of robust linear subspace estimation using low-rank optimization and propose three formulations of it. We demonstrate how these formulations can be used to solve fundamental computer vision problems, and provide superior performance in terms of accuracy and running time. Consider a set of observations extracted from images (such as pixel gray values, local features, trajectories . . . etc). If the assumption that these observations are drawn from a liner subspace (or can be linearly approximated) is valid, then the goal is to represent each observation as a linear combination of a compact …

Is Breakdown Of Fatty Acid Peroxides Involved In The Induction Of Apolipoprotein A1?, Rajat Gupta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past few years the number of deaths caused due to cardiovascular diseases has been increasing and is of major concern. In the United States, 75% of cardiovascular-related deaths have been attributed to atherosclerosis. Western diets containing large quantities of peroxidized lipids are considered atherogenic. Heated oil in the form of fried food brings high levels of peroxidized fat and its decomposition products in the diet. Peroxidized lipids are known to increase the susceptibility of serum lipoproteins to undergo oxidation, thereby contributing to the progression of atherosclerosis. The intestinal cells are responsible for the absorption of dietary fatty acid …

Identification Of Epithelial Stromal Interaction 1 And Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor As Novel Kruppel-Like Factor 8 Targets In Promoting Breast Cancer Progression, Tianshu Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is the major cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Understanding the mechanisms underlying breast cancer progression remains urgent for developing effective treatment strategies to eliminate breast cancer mortality. Our recent studies have demonstrated that Krüppel-like transcriptional factor 8 (KLF8) plays a critical role for breast cancer progression. Other studies have shown that Epithelial stromal interaction 1 (EPSTI1), a recently identified stromal fibroblast-induced gene in non-invasive breast cancer cells and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are highly overexpressed in aggressively invasive breast carcinomas including triple negative breast cancers. In this thesis project, we demonstrate high co-overexpression of KLF8 …

Preliminary Validation Of Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (Hhxrf) Spectrometry: Distinguishing Osseous And Dental Tissue From Non-Bone Material Of Similar Chemical Composition, Heather Zimmerman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forensic anthropologists normally examine bone from a variety of medicolegal contexts. The skeletal remains may in some cases be highly fragmented or taphonomically modified, making it difficult to sort bone from non-bone material. In these cases, the forensic anthropologist may rely on microscopic or destructive chemical analyses to sort the material. However, these techniques are costly and time-intensive, prompting the use of nondestructive analytical methods in distinguishing bone and teeth from non-bone materials in a limited number of cases. The proposed analytical techniques are limited in that they rely on an examination of the major elements in the material, and …

Influence Of Task-Role Mental Models On Human Interpretation Of Robot Motion Behavior, Scott Ososky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The transition in robotics from tools to teammates has begun. However, the benefit autonomous robots provide will be diminished if human teammates misinterpret robot behaviors. Applying mental model theory as the organizing framework for human understanding of robots, the current empirical study examined the influence of task-role mental models of robots on the interpretation of robot motion behaviors, and the resulting impact on subjective ratings of robots. Observers (N = 120) were exposed to robot behaviors that were either congruent or incongruent with their task-role mental model, by experimental manipulation of preparatory robot task-role information to influence mental models (i.e., …

Suction Detection And Feedback Control For The Rotary Left Ventricular Assist Device, Yu Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) is a rotary mechanical pump that is implanted in patients with congestive heart failure to help the left ventricle in pumping blood in the circulatory system. The rotary type pumps are controlled by varying the pump motor current to adjust the amount of blood flowing through the LVAD. One important challenge in using such a device is the desire to provide the patient with as close to a normal lifestyle as possible until a donor heart becomes available. The development of an appropriate feedback controller that is capable of automatically adjusting the pump current …

Ozone And Gac Treatment Of A Central Florida Groundwater For Sulfide And Disinfectant By-Product Control, Tara Lamoureux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the combination of ozone and granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment for the removal of sulfide and disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursors in drinking water at the pilot-scale. The research conducted was performed at the Auxiliary (Aux) and Main Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) in Sanford, Florida. Both WTPs rely upon groundwater sources that contain total sulfide ranging from 0.02 to 2.35 mg/L and total organic carbon (TOC) ranging from 0.61 to 2.20 mg/L. The Aux WTP’s raw water contains, on average, 88% more sulfide and 24% more TOC than the Main WTP. Haloacetic acids (HAA5) and total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) …

Time And Space Efficient Techniques For Facial Recognition, Waleed Alrasheed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in face recognition. As a result, many new facial recognition techniques have been introduced. Recent developments in the field of face recognition have led to an increase in the number of available face recognition commercial products. However, Face recognition techniques are currently constrained by three main factors: recognition accuracy, computational complexity, and storage requirements. The problem is that most of the current face recognition techniques succeed in improving one or two of these factors at the expense of the others. In this dissertation, four novel face recognition techniques that improve the …

The Accelerator, Volume 6 Issue 11, Winter 2013, Christa Santos

The Accelerator

No abstract provided.