Digital Commons Network^™

Improved System For Fabrication And Characterization Of Nanophotonic Devices By Multi-Photon Lithography, Rashi Sharma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A new system for multi-photon lithography (MPL) was developed and used to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) structures with higher aspect ratio, better resolution, improved fidelity, and reduced structural distortion relative to a conventional implementation of MPL. A set of curved waveguides (Rbend = 19 μm, and 38 μm) and straight waveguides (length = 50 μm, Rbend = ∞) were fabricated in an epoxide photopolymer and optically characterized using light having a wavelength in vacuum of λ0 = 2.94 μm. The optical performance of the waveguides was compared to novel spatially-variant photonic crystals (SVPCs) previously studied in the group. The waveguides were …

Chemometric Applications In Fire Debris Analysis: Likelihood Ratios From Naive Bayes And Frequency Of Component And Pyrolysis Product Occurrence, Anuradha Akmeemana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the major challenges in fire investigation is the determination of the cause of fire. The fire can be accidental or intentional. The determination of ignitable liquid residue (ILR) from fire debris helps the process and this process is called fire debris analysis in forensic science. This is one of the most complex areas in the field of forensics because of the evaporation of the ILR from the debris and the interference of the substrate matrix with the ILR if present. In the present, the final decisions in fire debris analysis are based on categorical statements and it only …

Featured Bookshelf: 2018 Staff Favorite Reads - Science Fiction & Fantasy, Megan M. Haught

Featured Bookshelf

For the month of December, the UCF Libraries Bookshelf celebrates the favorite books of employees of the UCF Libraries. And you know a major thing about librarians? They love talking about their favorite books. The books listed below are ones we have (and will continue to) read many times over the course of our lives. The genre for our 2018 staff favorites is science fiction and fantasy.

Keep reading to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the staff favorite science fiction and fantasy titles suggested by UCF Library employees. These 30 books plus many, many more are …

A Cohort-Based Program To Help Students Prepare A Conference Research Presentation, Alanna Lecher

Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

Students move through many first time experiences when navigating their undergraduate and graduate education. Such experiences include the first time students submit an article to a peer-reviewed scientific journal, attend a conference, and conduct fieldwork. The cohort model has been shown to be effective in increasing success in undergraduate education, and it can be adapted to helping students succeed in these novel experiences as well. This presentation will explore one program where the cohort model was implemented to aid undergraduate students preparing their first conference presentation on a scientific research project. Program structure and implementation will be described.

11th Annual Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices In Undergraduate Research, Florida Statewide Symposium

Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

Program for the Symposium

Thermodynamic Modeling And Transient Simulation Of A Low-Pressure Heat Recovery Steam Generator Using Siemens T3000, Andres Caesar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With world energy consumption rising, and nonrenewable energy resources quickly depleting, it is essential to design more efficient power plants and thereby economically utilize fossil fuels. To that end, this work focuses on the thermodynamic modeling of steam power systems to enhance our understanding of their dynamic and transient behavior. This thesis discusses the physical phenomena behind a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and develops a mathematical description of its system dynamics. The model is developed from fundamentals of fluid dynamics, phase change, heat transfer, conservation laws and unsteady flow energy equations. The resulting model captures coupled physical phenomena with …

Electrochemical Microsensors For In Situ Monitoring Of Chemical Compounds In Engineered And Natural Aquatic Systems, Jared Church

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The adaption of needle-type electrochemical microsensor (or microelectrode) techniques to environmental science and engineering systems has transformed how we understand mass transport in biotic and abiotic processes. Their small tip diameter (5-20μm) makes them a unique experimental tool for direct measurements of analytes with high spatial and temporal resolutions, providing a quantitative analysis of flux, diffusion, and reaction rate at a microscale that cannot be obtained using conventional analytical tools. However, their applications have been primarily limited to understanding mass transport dynamics and kinetics in biofilms. With the advancement of sensor fabrication and utilization techniques, their potential applications can surpass …

D-Fens: Dns Filtering & Extraction Network System For Malicious Domain Names, Jeffrey Spaulding

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the DNS (Domain Name System) has become a cornerstone for the operation of the Internet, it has also fostered creative cases of maliciousness, including phishing, typosquatting, and botnet communication among others. To address this problem, this dissertation focuses on identifying and mitigating such malicious domain names through prior knowledge and machine learning. In the first part of this dissertation, we explore a method of registering domain names with deliberate typographical mistakes (i.e., typosquatting) to masquerade as popular and well-established domain names. To understand the effectiveness of typosquatting, we conducted a user study which helped shed light on which techniques …

Modeling The Innovation Ecosystem And Development Of A Dynamic Innovation Index, Henriette Schoen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of innovation currently generates a tremendous amount of interest around the world. Innovation is considered an essential part of the solution to creating more jobs and improving the socio-economic conditions of many countries around the globe. Innovation comes about through the existence of many interrelated solutions to socio-economic problems in an extensively interconnected network, which create value for each other. Such a complex creativity and innovation value-creating network is here called an Innovation Ecosystem (IE). The main objective of this dissertation research is to improve the current understanding of the IE by developing a simulation model that uses …

Methods For Online Feature Selection For Classification Problems, Alaleh Razmjoo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Online learning is a growing branch of machine learning which allows all traditional data mining techniques to be applied on an online stream of data in real-time. In this dissertation, we present three efficient algorithms for feature ranking in online classification problems. Each of the methods are tailored to work well with different types of classification tasks and have different advantages. The reason for this variety of algorithms is that like other machine learning solutions, there is usually no algorithm which works well for all types of tasks. The first method, is an online sensitivity based feature ranking (SFR) which …

Room Temperature Operation Of Quantum Cascade Lasers Monolithically Integrated Onto A Lattice-Mismatched Substrate, Rowel Go

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) are semiconductor devices that, currently, have been observed to emit radiation from ~ 2.6 μm to 250 μm (1 to 100 terahertz range of frequencies.) They have established themselves as the laser of choice for spectroscopic gas sensing in the mid-wavelength infrared (3-8 μm) and long-wavelength infrared (8-15 μm) region. In the 4-12 μm wavelength region, the highest performing QCL devices, in terms of wall-plug efficiency and continuous wave operation, are indium phosphide (InP) based. The ultimate goal is to incorporate this InP-based QCL technology to silicon (Si) substrate since most opto-electronics are Si-based. The main …

Comparison Of A Modified And Traditional Rapid Infiltration Basin For Treatment And Control Of Nutrients In Wastewater Effluent, Jessica Cormier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid infiltration basins (RIB) have been historically used in Florida for groundwater recharge, effluent disposal, or a combination of both. However, this technique has proven ineffective in providing nitrogen control unless the RIB is modified in some manner. In this study, a traditional RIB was compared to a modified RIB constructed with manufactured biosorption activated media (BAM) to evaluate nitrate removal from reclaimed water. The RIBs are used for reclaimed and excess storm water disposal. Few, if any, studies have been published where BAM-modified RIBs have been used for this purpose. In this work, a mixture of clay, tire crumb, …

Autonomous Discovery And Maintenance Of Mobile Frees-Space-Optical Links, Mahmudur Khan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Free-Space-Optical (FSO) communication has the potential to play a significant role in future generation wireless networks. It is advantageous in terms of improved spectrum utilization, higher data transfer rate, and lower probability of interception from unwanted sources. FSO communication can provide optical-level wireless communication speeds and can also help solve the wireless capacity problem experienced by the traditional RF-based technologies. Despite these advantages, communications using FSO transceivers require establishment and maintenance of line-of-sight (LOS). We consider autonomous mobile nodes (Unmanned Ground Vehicles or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), each with one FSO transceiver mounted on a movable head capable of scanning in …

An Analysis Of 8th Grade Student Achievement Of Private And Public Schools In The Dominican Republic In Rural And Urban Settings, Daniel Boyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the difference in student academic achievement in private and public schools in the Dominican Republic in rural and urban settings. The 2016 8th Grade National Exams school mean scale scores were analyzed to determine if statistically significant differences existed among the different school types and school settings. There was a lack of literature on student academic achievement in the Dominican Republic, in particular on private and public school and rural and urban school students. The extant literature indicated that in the Dominican Republic, private school students historically had higher academic achievement on …

Analysis Of Nucleus Properties Of The Enigmatic Comet 29p/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, Charles Schambeau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We present results from a continuing effort to understand activity drivers for the enigmatic Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 (SW1). SW1 has been of interest since its discovery almost 100 years ago because of its nearly continuous, quiescent activity beyond the water-sublimation line and its highly variable, outburst activity while receiving a nearly constant insolation due to its low eccentricity orbit. These characteristics make SW1 a useful target for investigating both distant cometary activity drivers and also cometary outburst behavior. We approach answering these questions through a detailed analysis of SW1; first by measuring nucleus properties required for a more accurate nucleus …

Three Studies Examining The Effects Of Business Analytics On Judgment And Decision Making In Accounting, Bradley Lang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies investigating the relationship between business analytics and decision making in accounting. In an effort to improve performance, organizations increasingly emphasize fact-based decision making supported by business analytics, which translate complex data into manageable information through statistical analysis. While the recent focus on business analytics is transforming how managers make decisions, analytics alone do not generate increased performance; the synergy between business analytics and user judgments is a vital component of realizing value. To this end, Study I experimentally investigates how various characteristics of business analytics affect individuals' reliance and perceptions of the analytic. Through …

Investigation Of Energy Impacts Of Whole-House Ducted Dehumidifier Location, Florida Solar Energy Center, Charles Withers, Jr.

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This report discusses energy impacts related to how ducted dehumidifier ducts are configured as well as where they are located. Lab controlled testing evaluated three different duct configurations. The three DHU lab test configurations were: 1) DHU air ducted directly from/to room, 2) DHU ducted from/to the central air return duct, and 3) DHU from/to the central air supply duct. Simulation effort evaluated conductive energy gains/losses through dehumidifier and its ducts for 1) conditioned space, 2) attic, and garage locations.

University Of Central Florida Undergraduate Catalog, 2018 - 2019, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

An Agent Based Model To Assess Crew Temporal Variability During U.S. Navy Shipboard Operations, Kevin Muhs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the factors that affect human performance variability as well as their temporal impacts is an essential element in fully integrating and designing complex, adaptive environments. This understanding is particularly necessary for high stakes, time-critical routines such as those performed during nuclear reactor, air traffic control, and military operations. Over the last three decades significant efforts have emerged to demonstrate and apply a host of techniques to include Discrete Event Simulation, Bayesian Belief Networks, Neural Networks, and a multitude of existing software applications to provide relevant assessments of human task performance and temporal variability. The objective of this research was …

University Of Central Florida Graduate Catalog, 2018 - 2019, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Modeling In Law And Political Science: Learning From Public Health, William Butler

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper provides an overview of mathematical modeling in public health policy and recommends the teaching of mathematical models in other fields, like law and undergraduate political science studies. First, I describe various facets of public health in terms of their scope and goals. The complex nature of public health lends way to a description of mathematical modeling and the role it can serve. Various mathematical solution concepts are also provided, including the SIR model, reproductive number, and game theory. Finally, I explain why knowledge of simple models is beneficial for students in pre-professional programs in law and political science. …

Determining Tidal Elevations In Dry Elements Within A Coastal Salt Marsh Model, Martin Coleman

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

An integrated hydrodynamic/marsh biomass model is a useful tool for analyzing multiple hydrologic activities on a shoreline. A key component of this type of model is the location of local tidal elevations. During astronomic tide simulations, nodes in the finite element mesh are either wet or dry. At nodes that are continuously wet during the simulation, tidal elevations are computed from ADCIRC-2DDI (ADvanced CIRCulation) output. In areas that are intermittently wetted, tidal constituents cannot be determined using ADCIRC because the drying of nodes leaves a gap in the water-level time series. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation method can be …

The Impact Of Culture On Students' Motivation To Acquire A Second Language, Irina Pidberejna

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

In accordance with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, goals for foreign language learning include communities, communication, comparisons, connections, and cultures. Each teaching goal is interlinked and serves an essential component in language development. However, culture has been largely limited by stereotypical biases, which misrepresent the culture studied, and the native culture's sociological roles and perceptions of that target culture. The experiments and theories of Vygotsky (1934; 1956), and Leontyev (1978) indicate that second language learning can reconstruct self-identity and redevelop behaviors appropriate to the second language's respective culture. Personal investment and openness to a foreign language …

The Efficacy Of Peer Presentations For English Language Learners, Courtney A. Roy

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

This study investigates whether the instructional strategy of peer presentations positively influences English Language Learners' (ELLs') relationships with peers and their personal perspectives on their institution, the sciences, and public discourse. Data collection instruments included a pre- and post-sociometric survey to quantitate each classroom's social status, and a pre- and post-qualitative inquiry of appreciation concerning academic topics via oral interviews. Three ELLs from two learning environments participated in an eight-day intervention, comprised of 45-minute instructive sessions, to become proficient with an arrangement of scientific experiments. After the three ELLs presented these experiments to their classmates, analysis of pre- and post-sociometric …

Intensive Land Use And Conservation Planning At The University Of Central Florida, Chelsea R. Piner

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Conservation strategies are necessary for cities to meet regional goals of sustainability, but commitments and collaborative efforts among influential stakeholders for economic and developmental growth frequently hinder conservation efforts. This study analyzes how planning documents influence conservation at the University of Central Florida (UCF). I use an inductive method of analysis to explore the stated conservation goals and commitments of UCF's Campus Master Plan. I then compare these objectives with the behaviors of the institution. This research indicates that the absence of collaborative efforts among agencies has resulted in UCF undermining its academic mission. Intensive land-use has sparked global environmental …

A Practicality Analysis Pertaining To Minimally Invasive Robot-Assisted Urologic Surgery, Chase Cavayero

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery is a technological development that has changed the field of medicine in the past decade. The introduction of the da Vinci® by Intuitive Surgical Inc. has opened up many interesting options in several different fields. Specifically, the field of urology has seen increased utilization of the robotic technique due to the precision allowed by the technology. Although many perioperative and postoperative benefits have been documented within the literature pertaining to robotic surgery, some surgeons contend that the extra cost associated with the procedures is not practical. To this point the extra cost has not been prohibitive, …

An Iteratively Reweighted Least Square Implementation For Face Recognition, Jie Liang

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

We propose, as an alternative to current face recognition paradigms, an algorithm using reweighted l₂ minimization, whose recognition rates are not only comparable to the random projection using l₁ minimization compressive sensing method of Yang et al [5], but also robust to occlusion. Through numerical experiments, reweighted l₂mirrors the l₁solution [1] even with occlusion. Moreover, we present a theoretical analysis on the convergence of the proposed l₂approach.

Numerical Solutions To Hall Magnetohydrodynamic Equations Near An X-Type Magnetic Neutral Line, Kyle Reger

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The Hall Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model is a new paradigm for describing fast magnetic reconnection processes in space and laboratory plasmas. Current sheets form and store enormous amounts of magnetic energy at X-type magnetic neutral points, which is released as magnetic storms when the sheets break up. The fast magnetic reconnection process impacts solar flares and Earth's geomagnetic sub-storms, which affect global weather. The fast magnetic reconnection process also influences fusion reactors, which may be used as a future energy source. Numerical analysis of approximate solutions to the Hall MHD equations at X-type magnetic neutral points offer these solutions further credence …

Application Of Transformations In Parametric Inference, Naomi Brownstein

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

One can apply transformations of random variables to conduct inference for multiple distributions in a few simple steps. These methods are used routinely in maximum likelihood estimation but are rarely applied in other statistical procedures. In this project, transformations of variables were explored and applied to derivations of the best unbiased estimators, Bayesian estimators, construction of various kinds of priors, estimation and inference in the stress-strength problem. First, general results were obtained on the application of transformations of random variables to the derivation of numerous statistical procedures. Second, common distributions and the relationships between them were listed in a table. …

Computational Analysis Of Broad Complex Zinc-Finger Transcription Factors, Barbara Mascareno-Shaw

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Studies of transcription factors have provided important contributions toward understanding the cell morphology and developmental regulation of fruit flies based on sequence analysis of amino acid substitutions. In this report we describe the construction of four protein-DNA models based on two experimentally determined X-ray crystal structures (2DRP and 1A1H) using computational simulations of Z1, Z2, Z3, and Z4 zinc-finger DNA binding proteins. Once these models were constructed, 3 mutants were generated for the Z1/Z3 proteins. We evaluated the construction of the models and mutants against the templates using molecular mechanics (MM3) calculations in an attempt to determine the effect of …