Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond A 'Like': Building Parasocial Relationships With Baby Boomers On Facebook, Yunying (Susan) Zhong, Valeriya Shapoval, James Busser

Rosen Research Review

Baby boomers are a crucial cohort for hospitality marketing as they have more money to spend and more time on their hands than younger cohorts. However, reaching them on social media is harder. There is one social media platform popular with baby boomers: Facebook. Dr. YunYing Zhong and Dr. Valeriya Shapoval at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, together with their collaborator, have combined their different areas of expertise to analyze the effectiveness of social media marketing directed at baby boomers from an unusual angle: the illusionary and imaginary relationships we build with fictional characters.

Jim Brown, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past few days, the sports media have been filled with commentary and tributes to Jim Brown, superstar running back of the Cleveland Browns and leader in the battle against racism in the NFL, in Sport, in the United States, and across the world. Brown died last week at 87 having set all sorts of records in the NFL and having played an important leadership role in the fight for Civil Rights.

Creating Accessible Instructional Materials, Rachel E. Trnka

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Presentation at the FLA 2023 pre-conference panel, titled FACRL presents Academic Libraries & Student Success for the Next Generation

Movie Recommender System Using Matrix Factorization, Roland Fiagbe

Data Science and Data Mining

Recommendation systems are a popular and beneficial field that can help people make informed decisions automatically. This technique assists users in selecting relevant information from an overwhelming amount of available data. When it comes to movie recommendations, two common methods are collaborative filtering, which compares similarities between users, and content-based filtering, which takes a user’s specific preferences into account. However, our study focuses on the collaborative filtering approach, specifically matrix factorization. Various similarity metrics are used to identify user similarities for recommendation purposes. Our project aims to predict movie ratings for unwatched movies using the MovieLens rating dataset. We developed …

Intimate Partner Violence, Miami-Dade County, And System Responses, Julio Montanez, Amy Donley Phd

Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS)

In 2022, the UCF Institute for Social and Behavioral Science (ISBS) undertook a year-long study of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Miami-Dade County. Using an array of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, ISBS has developed a report to summarize its efforts.

The Role Of Aesthetics In Redesigning Accessible Information Literacy Modules, Rachel E. Trnka

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The outbreak of COVID-19 added an increased sense of urgency to creating accessible online materials for higher education professionals, including academic librarians, as they explored new ways to engage with users online. Librarians who relied on in-person sessions to provide information literacy instruction to students shifted to synchronous and asynchronous instruction methods. This paper shares the experiences of an instruction librarian tasked with evaluating and redesigning a set of asynchronous information literacy modules for first-year undergraduate students in the summer of 2020. The evaluation and redesign were informed by contemporary debates about the design of online instructional materials from a …

Data Set: Themes In Health Sciences Librarianship Literature, 2016-2020: A Keyword And Subject Analysis, Shalu Gillum, Terri Gotschall, Pamela Herring, Deedra Walton, Natasha Williams, Nadine Dexter

Research Data and Datasets

Data set for Themes in Health Sciences Librarianship Literature, 2016-2020: A Keyword and Subject Analysis.

Tribute To Charles (Chuck) Rossman, Alan W. Friedman

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

Twisted Tongues: Finnegans Wake In Translation, José Vergara

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

Cinema And Its Others, Nicholas Andrew Miller

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

Habit, Conditioning, Modernism, Enda Duffy

James Joyce Literary Supplement

No abstract provided.

Stars For Data, Lee Dotson

STARS Documentation

No abstract provided.

Forging Relationships & Building Digital Collections: Outreach Strategies To Promote And Populate The Institutional Repository, Tim Bottorff, Kerri Bottorff, Lee Dotson

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

“If you build it, they will come,” asserts the omniscient narrator in the movie Field of Dreams. This magical sentiment rings true in a baseball setting, where zealous fandoms believe ardently in their teams and heroes. In the field of institutional repositories, however… well, it takes a little more time and effort! Specifically, you have to build it, promote it, populate it, and consistently demonstrate the value of it to students and faculty!

This poster describes how a subject librarian partnered with institutional repository managers to build and grow the digital scholarly presence of a college within the university’s …

Saba Dutch Caribbean: Strategic Tourism Master Plan, A Beautiful Life Awaits, Robertico Croes, Kelly Semrad, Manuel Rivera, Sergio Alvarez

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

This report documents the Saba Strategic Tourism Master Plan, 2023-2028. The report provides directions to help Saba capitalize on new tourism related opportunities and overcome challenges that have emerged post pandemic. The plan is the outcome of a participatory process that includes multiple layers of tourism stakeholders including the residents, government officials, business owners, NGOs, community leaders, local organizations, and tourists. The plan observes that overall, there is a disconnect in the stakeholders’ message regarding the value of Saba. Tourists appreciate the value and beauty of Saba’s natural resources and authentic culture, yet residents undervalue themselves and Saba due to …

More Than Just Captions: Using Universal Design For Learning (Udl) Guidelines To Create Accessible Videos, Rachel E. Trnka

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The presentation at the 2023 Designing for Digital Conference explains the value of using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines proactively to design accessible videos in response to a new policy adopted at one librarian’s university; it challenges a common view that adding captions is all that is required to create accessible videos.

Episode 28: Megan Wasserman, Christina Torres

Futures in Languages Transcripts

Listen to Megan Wasserman share how an interest in French language led her to study French in undergrad, study abroad in France, and later serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon from 2015-2018. Hear her share her journey through UCF’s MA TESOL program and how she applies what she learned in our TESOL program to her current job as an English language instructor for Avant Healthcare Professionals.

Episode 27: Amy Crawford Weschler, Christina Torres

Futures in Languages Transcripts

Listen to Amy talk about her journey minoring in Spanish at UCF and interning in Spain before her graduation in 2015. Hear her share stories about completing a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Spain after graduation and how she uses her language skills at her current job for Delta Airlines.

Saving Faculty Time, Saving Students Money, Lily Dubach, James Paradiso

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This presentation was for Teaching & Learning Day, hosted by the Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning at the University of Central Florida. The session shared how the UCF Libraries and Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) can help faculty connect to free (open or library-sourced) resources and tools to find, adapt, or author course materials and reduce student out-of-pocket cost to zero ($0). Session activities included constructing queries to find quality, relevant free/open materials and using AI technology to automate the course assessment creation process.

Complete Issue, Volume 39, Issue 1

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 39, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

The Impact Of Lgbt Friendliness On Sexual Minority Travelers Perceptions, Heejung Ro

Rosen Research Review

There is a rise in niche travel for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. However, few studies have investigated how the hotel industry can best appeal to these customers. At UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, Dr. Heejung Ro has undertaken the first study focusing on how LGBT friendliness and the attitudes of service employees may impact upon LGBT customers' perceptions and future intentions. While the findings revealed these two factors are regarded independently, it is important that hotels signal LGBT friendliness, as well as ensuring these travelers are treated respectfully.

Resident Satisfaction In Continuing Care Retirement Communities, Suja Chaulagain, Abraham Pizam

Rosen Research Review

The senior living industry is big business and growing fast, thanks to increasing life expectancy. According to the U.S. Census, there were 53 million Americans aged over 65 in 2019. That figure is set to rise by 55% to 82 million—one in five of the population—by 2050. More and more seniors are already attracted to continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). But what impacts resident satisfaction in this increasingly competitive market? New research led by Dr. Suja Chaulagain and Dr. Abraham Pizam at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management finds that above all, it's the social environment.

Measuring Transformational Experiences In Tourism, Asli D.A. Tasci, Maksim Godovykh

Rosen Research Review

What makes a tourist's experience transformational? It's an important question given the growth of the types of tourism that seek to secure meaningful experiences. For decades, researchers have offered different definitions to guide practitioners. Drs. Asli Tasci and Maksim Godovykh of the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management have gone a step further and developed an empirical model for measuring whether experiences are transformational. The research has produced more than a few surprises.

How Hurricanes Impact Florida's Tourism Industry, Arthur Huang

Rosen Research Review

Almost every year, hurricanes bear down upon the state of Florida. The storms appear to be growing in occurrence and severity. While the media cover the damage and death toll, the impacts on the state's critical tourism sector remain largely anecdotal. The full story lies buried in data. Dr. Arthur Huang from UCF's Rosen College of Hospitality Management has investigated different data sets to understand the impact of hurricanes on the tourism industry. What has been uncovered has significance not only for Florida but for tourism sectors elsewhere affected by these giant storms.

Origins Of Fear Of Intimacy: The Effects Of Parental Involvement And Attachment Style, Victoria M. Perez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The present study explores the origins of fear of intimacy, specifically assessing parental involvement and attachment style. Correlations between each variable were analyzed and a mediation model was explored as well. Participants in this study (N = 372; mean age = 25.78; 86% female) completed scales to measure parental care, parental overprotection, attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and fear of intimacy. Data was analyzed to reveal correlational results that support the hypotheses. Negative correlations were found between parental care and attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and fear of intimacy. Parental overprotection was positively correlated with attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and fear of …

Renewed Social Democracy: Thomas Piketty And His Critiques, Patrick T. Connors

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze the proposals and prescriptions of Thomas Piketty as expressed in his vast array of works and the critiques of his works. His proposals for a system of participatory socialism is grounded in the notion that inequality is expanding at an unsustainable rate, and that growing economic inequality is a problem for the future of liberal democracy and economic growth and sustainability. This thesis argues that Piketty provides many compelling arguments in favor of tackling inequality, but he falls short of a real system of justice or elaborated political theory aside from his moral intuitions of …

Investigating Plant Physiological Responses To Global Phylogenetic Diversity Of Glomeromycotina, David Z. Mowbray

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ubiquitous symbionts of terrestrial plant species with associations predominantly characterized as mutualistic. In addition to well-documented enhancement of host growth response, more recent analyses have demonstrated the conferral of host benefits under numerous biotic and abiotic stressors. However, much of the established evidence originates from studies involving limited AM fungal diversity. Accordingly, this study sought to evaluate the potential effects of inoculation on plant host physiological traits within a growth chamber environment, investigate potential correlations between host trait responses, & assess the degree of phylogenetic signal observed in trait responses due to the presence of …

The Roles Of Media Multitasking And Technology Use In Selective Attention And Task Switching, Katina Chris

Honors Undergraduate Theses

A number of studies have explored the impact of multitasking on specific cognitive skills, primarily with regard to non-media multitasking activities. While briefly addressing technology, its use in the modern era regarding media multitasking and its associated cognitive declines has not been extensively examined. Forty-nine participants were required to complete a series of cognitive tasks including the Stroop Color and Word Test and the Trail Making Test. Data were also collected for how often participants media multitask, the amount of technology they use, as well as other demographic variables. The goal of this study was to empirically examine the role …

Development Of A Screening Methodology For The Analysis Of Rhodamine B In Foodstuffs, George T. Knecht

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Synthetic dyes that are used as color additives in foodstuffs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C). The use of synthetic dyes not approved by the FDA, or the addition of dyes approved by the FDA above their maximum concentration limits in foodstuffs necessarily constitutes illegal food adulteration. Recently, rhodamine B (RhB), a bright-pink synthetic dye not approved for use in foodstuffs, has become an adulterant of interest due to its discovery in a large variety of food samples, and its identity as a potential carcinogen. Numerous chromatographic and spectroscopic …

Quality Multicultural Literature As Windows, Mirrors, And Sliding Glass Doors For Arab American Students In The Elementary Classroom, (2012-2022), Sarah Ritts

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Discrimination occurs against underrepresented and misrepresented cultures in the United States of America. Hate crimes, racism, and stereotyping are not only against adults but also students in the educational system. These actions are causing division within our nation. There is a movement for transforming the classroom into one that is culturally inclusive for everyone. These Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) methods can help to unite our nation by celebrating diversity. One very effective method to achieve this is by using multicultural literature in classrooms as a way for students to see themselves as if looking in mirrors, understand their peers as …

Researching How Excess Social Media Use And Filters Affect Trust, Ula J. Mccarthy

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In the present day, excessive social media use has become synonymous with the younger generation. Prolonged social media interaction has resulted in new terminology describing the compulsive need for internet and social media use: internet addiction. This is a new term, and while it has not been defined as a clinical addiction used in acute care settings (Zahrai et al., 2022), it is important to understand its symptoms, like excessive social media use. Given the rapid speed of social media integration in modern society, it is important to investigate how excessive social media use (ESMU), as defined by Zahrai et …