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Econometric Frameworks For Energy Prediction, Naveen Chandra Iraganaboina Jan 2021

Econometric Frameworks For Energy Prediction, Naveen Chandra Iraganaboina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Global warming and associated role of energy consumption across various sectors is a well-researched topic in recent years. Understanding current urban energy consumption patterns will allow us to understand how future energy consumption patterns will evolve. With electrification of vehicles and potentially altering culture of work from home, the energy usage at regional level would see a significant change in the future. The current PhD dissertation contributes to energy consumption analysis of a region by analyzing residential energy consumption, commercial energy consumption and transportation energy use by households. The aggregation of these energy consumption within a region contributes to the …

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First Impressions Of The Bedside Nurse From The Patient Perspective, Sharon Imes Jan 2021

First Impressions Of The Bedside Nurse From The Patient Perspective, Sharon Imes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Relationships begin with first impressions. Since nurses are the cornerstone to hospital experiences, the nurse-patient relationship is of vital importance, beginning with the first impression. The nurse-patient relationship has the potential to impact the patient's trust, comfort, fear, and ultimately satisfaction with the entire hospital experience. Evidence is found in other disciplines emphasizing the importance of the first impression, however there is minimal research in nursing about first impressions of the bedside nurse. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the first step in understanding the first impression of the bedside nurse from the patient perspective. Additionally, this research …

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Perceived Impacts Of Collaborative Technology On Grant Writing Teams: Collaboration, Productivity, And Quality Of Writing, Joshua Roney Jan 2021

Perceived Impacts Of Collaborative Technology On Grant Writing Teams: Collaboration, Productivity, And Quality Of Writing, Joshua Roney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

When a team works together on a collaborative grant proposal, each member will bring expertise and past experience in developing this complex text. Online collaborative tools can be used to support this effort, but it is important to understand how team members perceive the tools, the ways they can or should be used, and the impacts of using them. By adapting the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model to this context, we can consider perceived task and technology characteristics, performance impacts, and utilization. Trends can be analyzed regarding the perceived fit of specific online collaborative tools to support collaboration, productivity, and quality …

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The Role Of Emotions In Consumer Behavior, Aysu Senyuz Jan 2021

The Role Of Emotions In Consumer Behavior, Aysu Senyuz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Feelings and thoughts are inseparable in decision making process. As social beings, individuals frequently integrate their emotions in relation to other people in their consumption choices. In my two dissertation essays, I seek to examine the role of emotions on consumption decisions. In the first essay, I explore the impact of self-transcendent emotion of awe on preferences for limited edition products. Findings across seven studies indicate that awe-eliciting appeals commonly used in the promotion of limited edition products decrease consumer preferences towards those products. This effect is due to reduced feelings of connection for individuals feeling awe in response to …

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Signals As Symbols: Applying Normalization Of Deviance To Improve User-Centered Design, Amy Vanschaik Jan 2021

Signals As Symbols: Applying Normalization Of Deviance To Improve User-Centered Design, Amy Vanschaik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Mistakes can happen in the process of designing and developing interactive digital projects. Sometimes these mistakes negatively impact users' perception and trust of digital interfaces. This research applies the concept of normalization of deviance to identify potential missed opportunities in user-centered design data within the context of a website redesign. By doing this I explore how through observing accidental deviant behaviors or processes we can identify ways to improve the usability and user experience of digital environments. I review the concepts of normalized deviant behavior as addressed by Diane Vaughan in the field of engineering and identify a process for …

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Assessment Of Work-Related Feelings Among Teachers Within The United States And Jordan, Shahed Obeidat Jan 2021

Assessment Of Work-Related Feelings Among Teachers Within The United States And Jordan, Shahed Obeidat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Human personalities combined with working conditions affect how employees react to different work situations. Personality and work environment have also been shown to affect workers' feelings. Employees' psychological health plays an essential role in their performance and productivity in the workplace, and organizational awareness of work-related feelings has sparked interest in investigating this field of study. Teaching is a stressful job; however, research evaluating discrete states of work-related emotions in teachers remains somewhat limited. This study investigated the effects of job demands on teachers' work-related feelings within middle and high schools in the United States and Jordan. The study results …

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Analyzing The Self-Reported Experiences Of Japanese English As A Foreign Language Pre-Service Teachers With Listening Comprehension Skills, Akira Yamamoto Jan 2021

Analyzing The Self-Reported Experiences Of Japanese English As A Foreign Language Pre-Service Teachers With Listening Comprehension Skills, Akira Yamamoto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of the study was to analyze the self-reported experiences of Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) pre-service teachers with listening comprehension skills in their teaching classroom as university students and in their learning classroom as EFL students. Currently, Japanese EFL education is changing rapidly and focusing on developing overall English skills that include listening, speaking, reading, and writing. However, pre-service teacher EFL education in Japan does not stress the importance of listening comprehension pedagogy. Moreover, there have been few studies about listening pedagogy from the perspective of preservice teachers. Through analyzing pre-service teacher's self-reported listening learning experiences, …

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Representation Of Death In Independent Videogames: Providing A Space For Meaningful Death Reflection, Alexander Boyd Jan 2021

Representation Of Death In Independent Videogames: Providing A Space For Meaningful Death Reflection, Alexander Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis examines the unique representation of death in independent videogames. Specifically, in three titles: That Dragon, Cancer, Spiritfarer, and A Mortician's Tale. These three games break traditional norms of death in video games and how death is presented in other more traditional mediums. These unique perspectives are more concerned with the personal and societal side of death, the reflection, and confrontation of our mortality. Each game is a stand-out example of a growing trend in independent titles coined as "death positive" games. These types of games are made with the intent to approach death differently, potentially providing comfort to …

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Performance Enhancement Of Rf/Microwave Devices Using Filter Synthesis Techniques, Ricardo Lovato Jan 2021

Performance Enhancement Of Rf/Microwave Devices Using Filter Synthesis Techniques, Ricardo Lovato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation shows that filter synthesis techniques can be used to design and enhance the performance of several discrete components of the RF front-end. Throughout this work, a block diagram of a typical receiver is used to illustrate each component separately. Four main areas are covered: (1) filter/antenna integration, (2) frequency-tunable filter/antenna integration with control of the bandwidth characteristics, (3) antenna arrays designed based on integrated cavity resonators, and (4) novel low-loss phase shifters using band-pass and band-stop filters. The filter/antenna designed using two cavity resonators with a slot antenna in the second cavity. The slot antenna excites two modes …

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Corrective Feedback In L2 Pronunciation: The Learner Lens, Elif Saribas Jan 2021

Corrective Feedback In L2 Pronunciation: The Learner Lens, Elif Saribas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study investigated learner perceptions of correction in L2 (second language) pronunciation. Research indicates that L2 learners have a strong preference toward corrective feedback provided by the teacher and also favor peer feedback (Kaivanpanah et al., 2012). In addition, external feedback is shown to contribute to the development of internal feedback, or self-correction (Huang & Jia, 2016). Learners were also found to carry positive opinions towards explicit error correction, with culture and proficiency level influencing those opinions (Yang, 2016). The current study used a qualitative approach to investigate learner perceptions toward correction in L2 pronunciation and examine real-life correction instances …

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Mutilated Masculinity: Intersections Of Disability, Gender, And Mental Health In Modernist Fiction, Sara Thames Jan 2021

Mutilated Masculinity: Intersections Of Disability, Gender, And Mental Health In Modernist Fiction, Sara Thames

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis investigates the impact of the intersection of physical disabilities and mental health conditions on the masculine identities presented in modernist texts. Here, I analyze a collection of works by Ernest Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, Claude McKay, and Wilfred Owen. Utilizing a combination of theoretical approaches: trauma theory, gender and sexuality studies, narratology, disability studies, and insights from the medical humanities, I revisit well-known novels like The Sun Also Rises and Lady Chatterley's Lover and illuminate lesser-studied works like "A Natural History of the Dead" and the recently published Romance in Marseille. I recognize here the psychosocial struggles faced by …

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Identifying The Links Between Mental Frameworks, Context Features, And Driver Attention In Complete Streets Environments, Patricia Tice Jan 2021

Identifying The Links Between Mental Frameworks, Context Features, And Driver Attention In Complete Streets Environments, Patricia Tice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Complete street systems integrate a wide range of users in the same space, with unequal risks and responsibilities. This makes driver attention a critical factor in assuring the safety of vulnerable users. The Conditioned Anticipation of People psychological model of driver attention proposes that drivers reflexively reengage their metacognitive processes when they anticipate visually interacting with the human face or form due to the neurological priority that the brain places on human recognition. To test this model, an eye-tracking tabulation was generated from the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study that measured midsegment percent of time on-task and multitasking behavior for 200 …

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Distributed Service Restoration In Active Distribution Networks, Nejad Reza Roofegari Jan 2021

Distributed Service Restoration In Active Distribution Networks, Nejad Reza Roofegari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Despite tremendous efforts on increasing power system reliability, outages and blackouts are inevitable. These losses can be greatly reduced by fast and reliable restoration mechanisms. Largescale distribution networks and increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) make restoration one of the most challenging problems in power systems. The prevailing centralized restoration scheme is costly, limited by information privacy of entities, unreliable due to dependence on central units, and might suffer from single-point failures. In this dissertation, a fully distributed restoration framework based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is proposed to address these challenges. Accordingly, the restoration problem …

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"Keep Your Facts, I'M Going With The Truth": Toward An Ethical Perfromance Of Satire In The Age Of Hyper-Polarization And Culture War, Carson Betts Jan 2021

"Keep Your Facts, I'M Going With The Truth": Toward An Ethical Perfromance Of Satire In The Age Of Hyper-Polarization And Culture War, Carson Betts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Satire is having a unique cultural moment. Conversations about what constitutes satire, why it should be performed, and how can it be done ethically are abundant in American popular culture. As with many forms of art and entertainment, satire has become a major subject of discussion in the great American Culture Wars: the conflict between the highly stratified ideological poles of right and left over the dominance of each's closely held social values, political ideals, and aesthetic sensibilities. Divides, real and imagined, in the American public have given popular discourse a sharp and biting edge, driven by growing political polarization …

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The Actor And The Iceberg, Christopher Creane Jan 2021

The Actor And The Iceberg, Christopher Creane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Actors have ingrained vocal, physical, and mental habits they unknowingly use on stage in the form of physical movements, vocalization, and character choices which can inadvertently communicate information to the audience. Rarely, however, are actors asked to play themselves and if their own habits are unconsciously being merged with their intentional character choices, then the audience's perception of the actor's portrayal may be shaped by unintentional behavior. "The Actor and the Iceberg" will be a synthesis of awareness building and control techniques for the mind and body, specifically: meditation, mindfulness, the Feldenkrais Method, and the Alexander Technique. The goal of …

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Braving The Discomfort: An Examination Of Hate Speech And Racially-Motivated Violence Onstage, And How We Should Approach It, Sarah Hubert Jan 2021

Braving The Discomfort: An Examination Of Hate Speech And Racially-Motivated Violence Onstage, And How We Should Approach It, Sarah Hubert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis is an exploration of best practices in regards to creating a safe space within the theatre for artists to feel comfortable creating without risk to their emotional or physical safety. These safe spaces are particularly needed around shows which call for onstage racial violence or racist language. Methodology for these best practices includes theatrical intimacy, safe space creation as utilized by various advocacy groups, Theatre of the Oppressed, and drama therapy. In addition to these best practices that apply to the entire production, ideas for individual practice are explored. As a case study, Theatre UCF's production of Sweat …

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Sympathy For The Devil: A Compassionate Approach To Morally Reprehensible Characters In Drama, Amy Livingston Jan 2021

Sympathy For The Devil: A Compassionate Approach To Morally Reprehensible Characters In Drama, Amy Livingston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Empathy is often heralded as a vital part of the theatrical experience. Generally understood as the experience of feeling what another person is feeling, it is believed to help actors create more honest performances and to help audiences better understand viewpoints different from their own. These empathic experiences are complicated, however, when applied to stories about characters who commit unforgivably evil acts and may lead people to feel manipulated into justifying or sharing the immoral beliefs of these characters. This thesis argues that for theatre practitioners telling stories about morally reprehensible characters, compassion, involving feelings of care and concern for …

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Towards A Postdramatic Jazz Aesthetic: Per(Form)Ance And Its Discontents, Johann Robert Wood Jan 2021

Towards A Postdramatic Jazz Aesthetic: Per(Form)Ance And Its Discontents, Johann Robert Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In Karen Jürs-Munby's introduction to her English translation of Hans-Thies Lehmann's Postdramatic Theatre (2006), she positions a single African American theatre practitioner, Suzan-Lori Parks, within the canon of postdramatic writers in spite of Lehmann's blind spot for the contribution of Black artists to innovations in theatre practice and aesthetics. This thesis draws from critical jazz studies, particularly Parks's "Rep & Rev" and Fred Moten's analysis of jazz improvisation from his seminal work, In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition (2003), in order to visibilize Black contributions to theatre innovation through what has often been overlooked as merely …

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Factors Associated With Resilience And Sense Of Coherence In Adult Transgender Persons: Identifying Predictors To Reduce Health Disparities In A Vulnerable Population, Jake Bush Jan 2021

Factors Associated With Resilience And Sense Of Coherence In Adult Transgender Persons: Identifying Predictors To Reduce Health Disparities In A Vulnerable Population, Jake Bush

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

National studies revealed the transgender population has barriers to positive health outcomes, but also showed evidence of resilience. A focus on health strengths such as resilience may help mitigate health barriers. This work focused on the sociodemographic predictors of and interrelationships between resilience, sense of coherence (SOC), and health perception. There were three aims of this work. The first aim was to review the literature surrounding resilience and SOC in the adult transgender population. Results from an integrative literature review revealed three themes of resilience in the adult transgender population: social support, individual factors, and resources. Prior to the current …

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Artistic Science: An Exploration Of Dramaturgy Through Inquiry-Based Learning For Youth Artists, Sam Dirosa Jan 2021

Artistic Science: An Exploration Of Dramaturgy Through Inquiry-Based Learning For Youth Artists, Sam Dirosa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In the unique world of a play, dramaturgy provides the essential multi-dimensional foundation for comprehensive exploration. As the identity of dramaturgy is complex and continues to evolve, the artistic value discovered through practice positively contributes to the theatrical experience for both artists and audience members. This substantial element is mostly absent from theatrical experiences for youth, usually making a meaningful appearance in professional and collegiate theatre productions. To promote the importance of dramaturgy, I attempt to construct and explore a learning opportunity at Long Lake Camp for the Arts, a summer performing arts camp for youth artists and performers. This …

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Three Papers Examining The Impact Of Non-Financial And Supplier Diversity Disclosures On Investors' Judgments And Decisions., Andria Hill Jan 2021

Three Papers Examining The Impact Of Non-Financial And Supplier Diversity Disclosures On Investors' Judgments And Decisions., Andria Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Sustainability reporting is standard practice for large and mid-cap global companies. Sustainability reports are voluntary in nature and are used by companies to report on their sustainability activities to investors and other stakeholders. The supplier diversity disclosure is common amongst sustainability reports; however, current standards provide limited guidance on the information that is pertinent to the users of the information. Supplier diversity and inclusion is an important strategic business initiative, and yet the topic has garnered little attention in academic research. To further examine this topic, I conduct three studies examining the topic using multiple methods. The first study presents …

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Emotional Availability: A Practice-As-Research Exploration On Acting In Film And Theatre, Janice Munk Jan 2021

Emotional Availability: A Practice-As-Research Exploration On Acting In Film And Theatre, Janice Munk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Actors are frequently required to be emotionally available on the spot, in situations ranging from an early morning acting class, to filming a scene well past midnight after a full day on set. In theatre, there is the expectation to deliver the right emotion every performance, and in film, when the camera and crew are ready, the actor is expected to produce the emotion at that moment. This demand to give emotionally compelling performances can cause an actor to stress under the pressure to deliver. Acting for stage and film have similarities and differences, and an actor needs to learn …

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Group Level Cues And The Use Of Force In Domestic And Foreign Policy Contexts, Zlatin Mitkov Jan 2021

Group Level Cues And The Use Of Force In Domestic And Foreign Policy Contexts, Zlatin Mitkov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

To what extent do elite and social group cues affect the public's willingness to embrace their leader's actions during domestic and international security crises? Studies traditionally have focused on top-down elite cue-driven models to study how the public's attitudes are influenced during international and domestic security crises, largely disregarding the bottom-up effects social peer groups can have on individuals' attitudes. This is problematic as the public is regularly exposed to cue messages from elites and social peer groups, both of which are expected to help determine how successful leaders will be in mobilizing public support on a tactical level. To …

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Rubicon: The Dialectic, Marcos Carrasco Yanez Jan 2021

Rubicon: The Dialectic, Marcos Carrasco Yanez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Rubicon: The Dialectic is a virtual reality (VR), multi-channel, video-art installation, created after researching interactivity, virtual reality, 2D and 3D animation, filmmaking, philosophy, and music. I intend to manifest my feelings as a Venezuelan, a Latin-American, and a free thinker by sharing with the spectator a VR immersive piece representing my inner struggle in these times of political meltdown. Attempting to go beyond the two orders that structure reality according to French structuralist psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, The Imaginary and The Symbolic, I am searching to approach the third Lacanian order that structures human existence--the one that opposes and exists beyond …

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Liminality Of Culture In Studio Art: A Biographical Investigation Of A Second Generation Filipino American Experience, Danielle Culibao Powell Jan 2021

Liminality Of Culture In Studio Art: A Biographical Investigation Of A Second Generation Filipino American Experience, Danielle Culibao Powell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Danielle Culibao Powell manifests the disconnectedness of a second-generation immigrants' cultural disorientation into colorful collage paintings, reconciling cultural history with contemporary identity while building a connection between herself and her parents' homeland the Philippines. The evolution of Powell's studio art practice follows entering a transcultural marriage and researching the art created by the Filipino women artists before her. This thesis documents that evolution both visually and conceptually. It elaborates the history of both the cannons of Western Art and lesser-known Filipina art and expressed in art rooted in cultural plurality.

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Novel Liquid Crystal Photonic Devices Enabled By Liquid Crystal Alignment Engineering, Ziqian He Jan 2021

Novel Liquid Crystal Photonic Devices Enabled By Liquid Crystal Alignment Engineering, Ziqian He

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Liquid crystals (LCs) are self-assembled soft materials composed of certain anisotropic molecules with orientational orders. Their widespread applications include information displays and photonic devices, such as spatial light modulators for laser beam steering and tunable-focus lens, where achieving desired LC alignment is pivotal. In general, LC alignment is influenced by several factors, including chemical bonding, dipolar interactions, van der Waals interactions, surface topographies, and steric factors. Here, we focus on three alignment techniques for aligning rod-like LC molecules and highlights the photonic devices enabled by these techniques: 1) Two-photon polymerization direct-laser writing-induced alignment, 2) Weigert effect-based reversible photoalignment, and 3) …

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Mechanically Reconfigurable Materials And Devices Based On Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Layers, Emmanuel Okogbue Jan 2021

Mechanically Reconfigurable Materials And Devices Based On Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Layers, Emmanuel Okogbue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The recent advances in electronic technologies are geared towards a combination of continued miniaturization in device components and their integration onto unconventional platforms. These efforts are aimed towards achieving electronic devices with various form factors and novel functionalities which are unattainable from traditional devices. Among these envisioned 'futuristic' technologies, electronic devices which are mechanically reconfigurable and operable under harsh operational conditions in the form of stretching, twisting and folding offer tremendous amount of unparalleled opportunities. This dissertation studies two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDs), a distinct class of materials with peculiar optical, electrical and mechanical properties for mechanically reconfigurable electronics. …

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Analyzing The Blockchain Attack Surface: A Top-Down Approach, Muhammad Saad Jan 2021

Analyzing The Blockchain Attack Surface: A Top-Down Approach, Muhammad Saad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Blockchains enable secure asset exchange in a distributed system, thereby facilitating innovative applications such as cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. Although the cryptographic constructs of blockchains are highly secure, however, their practical deployments are vulnerable to various attacks due to their application-specific policies, and their peer-to-peer (P2P) network intricacies. In this work, we take a top-down approach towards exploring those attacks, starting with the application-specific abuse of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies and concluding with the network conditions that violate the blockchain consistency. In the top-down approach, we first analyze the application-specific abuse of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies by uncovering (1) covert cryptocurrency mining in the …

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Help In The Time Of Covid: Informational, Emotional, And Instrumental Support Among Graduate Students During A Pandemic, Teanna Staser Jan 2021

Help In The Time Of Covid: Informational, Emotional, And Instrumental Support Among Graduate Students During A Pandemic, Teanna Staser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study examined graduate students' experiences with social support in relation to stress and uncertainty during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Graduate students as a population have significant levels of stress and uncertainty which may have negative effects on their lives and academic experiences. Graduate students often utilize social support as a way to cope with or mitigate the effects of stress and uncertainty. This qualitative study consisted of six focus groups, ranging from three to six participants, total of 22 participants, who were found using a purposeful snowball sampling method. The participants were masters and doctoral level students in communication …

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When Fairness Fails: Using Territorial Behaviors To Cope With Uncertainty, Christopher Stein Jan 2021

When Fairness Fails: Using Territorial Behaviors To Cope With Uncertainty, Christopher Stein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Research on territorial behaviors in organizations is an emerging field (Brown, Crossley, & Robinson, 2014). Current theoretical approaches to territoriality rely heavily on a psychological ownership perspective; however, there is a wealth of theory organizational scholars can integrate from other disciplines (Altman, 1975; Ardrey, 1965; Brown, Lawrence, & Robinson, 2005). The purpose of this dissertation is to integrate an evolutionary perspective into organizational scholarship to explore new antecedents of territoriality. This research draws upon uncertainty management theory to hypothesize a moderated-mediated model predicting territorial behaviors. A measurement instrument is developed to test territoriality and findings from a three-wave field study …

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