Digital Commons Network^™

Evoking Affordances In Virtual Environments Via Sensory-Stimuli Substitution, David C. Gross, Kay M. Stanney, Lt. Joseph Cohn

Faculty Bibliography 2000s

Artifacts in an environment afford to their observers utility and function directly through specific object characteristics (e.g., mediums, surfaces, substances). Virtual environments (VEs) similarly seek to afford specific utility to their users, whether it is for training, education, or entertainment, thus it seems natural to consider basing VE designs on affordances. Such affordance-based design should yield significant benefits by providing designs that behave in more understandable and intuitive manners. These designs should be easier to learn, adapt better to user tasks, and frustrate users less by allowing use of the same skills acquired via real-world interactions. In order to realize …

Risk Aversion And Incentive Effects: Comment, Glenn W. Harrison, Eric Johnson, Melayne M. Mcinnes, E. Elisabet Rutström

Faculty Bibliography 2000s

No abstract provided.

The Factor Structure Of The Presence Questionnaire, Bob G. Witmer, Christian J. Jerome, Michael J. Singer

Faculty Bibliography 2000s

Constructing a valid measure of presence and discovering the factors that contribute to presence have been much sought after goals of presence researchers and at times have generated controversy among them. This paper describes the results of principal-components analyses of Presence Questionnaire (PQ) data from 325 participants following exposure to immersive virtual environments. The analyses suggest that a 4-factor model provides the best fit to our data. The factors are Involvement, Adaptation/Immersion, Sensory Fidelity, and Interface Quality. Except for the Adaptation/Immersion factor, these factors corresponded to those identified in a cluster analysis of data from an earlier version of the …

Combined Vitamin B6-Magnesium Treatment In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Bryce A. Nye C

Faculty Bibliography 2000s

Background The use of mega-vitamin intervention began in the 1950s with the treatment of schizophrenic patients. Pyroxidine (vitamin B6) was first used with children diagnosed with "autism syndrome" when speech and language improvement was observed in some children as a result of large doses of B6. A number of studies attempted to assess the effects of vitamin B6-Magnesium (Mg) was found to reduce undesirable side effects from B6) on characteristics such as verbal communication, non-verbal communication, interpersonal skills, and physiological function, in individuals with autism. Objectives To determine the efficacy of vitamin B6 and magnesium (B6-Mg) for treating social, communication, …

Development Of Head-Mounted Projection Displays For Distributed, Collaborative, Augmented Reality Applications, Jannick P. Rolland, Frank Biocca, Felix Hamza-Lup, Yanggang Ha

Faculty Bibliography 2000s

Distributed systems technologies supporting 3D visualization and social collaboration will be increasing in frequency and type over time. An emerging type of head-mounted display referred to as the head-mounted projection display (HMPD) was recently developed that only requires ultralight optics (i.e., less than 8 g per eye) that enables immersive multiuser, mobile augmented reality 3D visualization, as well as remote 3D collaborations. In this paper a review of the development of lightweight HMPD technology is provided, together with insight into what makes this technology timely and so unique. Two novel emerging HMPD-based technologies are then described: a teleportal WED (T-HMPD) …

An Evaluation Of Enrollment Management Models Of The 28 Florida Community Colleges, Thomas Lobasso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which enrollment management models have been successfully implemented within the 28 Florida community colleges. The study also sought to determine when enrollment management structures began and whether expected benefits were achieved. Analysis of the data collected in this study indicated the following five major findings. First, enrollment management concepts and practices have been implemented at some level within the 23 Florida community colleges surveyed. This was evident by the use of the word "enrollment" in the organizational titles as well as in the titles of the individuals who were …

Relationships Among School Counselor Self-Efficacy, Perceived School Counselor Role, And Actual Practice, Michelle Mitcham-Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships that exist among school counselor self-efficacy, perceptions of the professional school counselor's role held by counselors, and actual practice. Data were collected from 192 professional school counselors that attended a statewide counselor conference. Professional school counselors responded to two researcher-designed surveys; the first was a 14-item demographic survey; the second, a 20-item by four-question survey for a total of 80 responses. A Multiple Regression Analysis was used to ascertain what relationships existed between school counselor self-efficacy, school counselor perceived role, and actual practice. The questionnaire listed 20 different counselor and …

Parental Attributions And Discipline Of Child Behavior, Arazais Oliveros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extant empirical evidence suggests that multiple risk and protective factors implicated in children's development of behavior problems are intertwined. This study, therefore, investigated the relationships among parental depression and anger, attributions of control, discipline, parent-child relationship variables, and children's behavior problems. Results were based on the responses of parents (55 mothers and 13 fathers) with children in Head Start and parents (52 mothers and 4 fathers) with children in Private School settings. All parents had children who ranged in age from 3- to 8-years. Compared to Private School parents, Head Start parents had lower levels of nonviolent discipline, involvement, and …

The Effects Of Exposure To Feminist Ideology On Women's Body Image, Rachel Diane Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body image disturbance has become an increasing problem among women (Cash & Henry, 1995). Thus researchers have begun to focus on methods of prevention and intervention. Programs utilizing psychoeducation and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, for example, have been found to reduce body image dissatisfaction and related symptomatology. The information provided and potential impact are limited, however, because the interventions do not offer women an adaptive method of interpreting the many appearance-related messages they experience. This study sought to determine if exposure to feminist theory of body image may act as a buffer – a filter through which cultural messages about …

The Influence Of Counselor Education Programs On Counselor Wellness, Leila Roach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Counselor education programs strive to promote the personal development and wellness of counselors in addition to cognitive, skill, and professional competencies. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in self-reported levels of wellness of master's level counseling students. The cross-sectional study investigated the influence of time in a counselor education program on the wellness levels of counseling students. Students were surveyed at three points in their counselor education training: the beginning, middle, and end. Participants included 204 master's level counseling students enrolled in three CACREP-accredited counselor education programs located in the southeastern United States. Each participant completed the …

A Measure Of Entrepreneurial Risk Preference And Optimism Using Field Experiments, Mark Schneider

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have underscored the economic importance of the role of the entrepreneur, and empirical studies testing the nature of the entrepreneur are notably lacking. This study directly addresses this issue by examining newly gathered field data which captures the decision making and risk behaviors for a group of high-technology entrepreneurs. Two decision making tasks were used to elicit risk aversion measures and to test for any 'joy of winning' or judgmental errors, possibly in the form of over optimistic behavior. These elicitations were made with the use of multiple price formats and winner's curse experiments. 62 responses were collected …

Couple Play As A Predictor Of Couple Bonding, Physical Health And Emotional Health, Linda Vanderbleek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditional couple counseling research focused on why people end relationships, with research only recently addressing what factors contribute to relationship satisfaction and stability. Yet, throughout this research, minimal attention has been paid to the role of play in couple counseling. The research available on play in couple counseling had varied definitions of couple play and was not based on current couple counseling theory. The research and anecdotal data on couple play proposed a strong relationship between couple play and the factors that predict successful, long-term couple relationships, individual physical health and emotional health. This study applied current couple counseling theory …

College Students' Well Being: The Role Of Parent-College Student Expectation Discrepancies And Communication, Allison Kanter Agliata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parental influence on college students' well being is underestimated frequently in the developmental literature. College students often set social and academic goals according to their perception of what their parents expect from them. The discrepancy between college students' performance and their perceptions of parents' expectations can impact their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to examine various parent-college student expectation discrepancies and communication levels as predictors for college students' psychological well being. Results revealed that college students reported experiencing higher levels of anger, depression, and anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem and college adjustment when higher expectation-performance …

Performance Implications Of Alternative Color-Codesin Airport X-Ray Baggage Screening, Matthew Hilscher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated both cognitive and affective influences of alternative color combinations in a search task paradigm. The effects of re-mapping the existing, comparatively arbitrarily color codes of baggage X-ray images, were explored. Alternative color-codes were evaluated for improving the economy of visual search in X-ray baggage screening. Using a 2 x 2 between-groups design, the perceptual aspects of color-codes varying in degree of visual agreeability (accordant or discordant) and color contrast (high or low) were examined in terms of effectiveness (detection accuracy) and efficiency (reaction time). Three hypotheses were put forth; two postulated main effects for color contrast and …

Non-Acute Cognitive Sequelae Associated With Recreational Ecstasy Use: A Meta-Analysis, Tiffany Leigh Linkovich Kyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies using animal models have found considerable evidence of neurological damage resulting from exposure to 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy). Yet, studies comparing the cognitive performance of human recreational ecstasy users to ecstasy naïve controls have produced inconsistent results. The present study is a meta-analysis of the published empirical literature on the cognitive sequelae of human recreational ecstasy use. The pooled effect size estimate for combined cognitive domains was statistically significant and moderate in size. Small to large, statistically significant aggregate effect sizes resulted for eight of the nine cognitive ability domains included in the analysis. Moderator analyses suggested that frequent …

The Effect Of Technology Acceptance On Post Secondary African- American Students Achievement In Mathematics: A Path Analytic Inquiry, Sulakshana Sen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of technology acceptance on post secondary African American students' achievement in Mathematics. The study was conducted in a historically Black four-year college in Daytona Beach, Florida on students using the computer to enhance their mathematics performance in an introductory algebra mathematics course. 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 the computer to account the effect towards the achievement in the final exam which is …

Ritual, Myth, And Symbol In The Field Of Nuclear Posturing, Sean Noah Walsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since their inception, the actual use of nuclear weapons in conflict is extremely limited. There have been only two documented occurrences which were committed exclusively by the United States. By contrast, however, state posturing with nuclear weapons occurs with regularity transcending historical situations, national wealth, military power, or even the actual possession of nuclear weapons. Rationalist arguments that depict nuclear posturing as a means of deterrence appear insufficient given its tendency to unbalance perceptions of equilibrium, and the public nature in which it occurs. Instead, I examine nuclear posturing by the United States during the Cold War as a form …

Empirical Modeling Of A Marijuana Expectancy Memory Network In Children As A Function Of Age And Marijuana Use, Jacqueline Alfonso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present investigation modeled the expectancy memory organization and likely memory activation patterns of marijuana expectancies of children across age and marijuana use. The first phase of the study surveyed 142 children to obtain their first associate to marijuana use. From their responses, the Marijuana Expectancy Inventory for Children and Adolescents (MEICA) was developed. The second phase of the study administered the MEICA to a second sample of 392 children to model marijuana expectancy organization and probable memory activation paths of marijuana users versus never-users. Results indicated that irrespective of age, adolescents who have used marijuana tend to emphasize positive-negative …

The Development Of A Fuzzy Model To Quantify Training Andeducational Factors And The Resulting Impact On Student Successand Lear, Chandre Butler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The utilization of fuzzy mathematical modeling for quantification of the quality of training and educational delivery is an innovative application that can result in measurable and repeatable results. This research was designed to apply proven quantification techniques and Industrial Engineering methodologies to a nontraditional environment. The outcomes of this research provide the foundation, initial steps and preliminary validation for the development of a systematic fuzzy theoretical model to be applied for the quantification of various areas within training and education delivery. The test bed for this methodology is Orange County Public School system, the twelfth largest school district in the …

A Study Of Blended Learning At A Metropolitan Research University, Linda Futch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to better understand blended learning at the University of Central Florida (UCF). The investigator examined blended learning from the institutional, faculty, and student perspectives in an attempt to capture the complexities of this learning environment. For the institutional perspective, models emerged that were critical to the development of UCF's initiative and ongoing support of both fully online and blended courses. The individual faculty perspective outlined unique characteristics of one blended course, HFT4932 - Exploring Wines of the World. The professor explained his/her choices and reasons for an instructional model as well as why the …

Acculturation, Social Acceptance, And Adjustment Of Early Adolescents, Jenny Klein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A majority of research regarding disruptive behavior disorders in youth has focused primarily upon Caucasian children and adolescents. As a result, more investigation of the unique characteristics of youth from ethnically diverse backgrounds, particularly those from Hispanic American and African American backgrounds, is needed (Balls Organista, Organista, & Kurasaki, 2003). This study investigated the relationships between several characteristics (e.g., ethnic identity, socioeconomic status, social acceptance, and emotional and behavioral symptoms) of early adolescents belonging to diverse ethnic groups. Results suggested that socioeconomic status and degree of early adolescents' social acceptance were important factors in predicting the development of internalizing and …

Investigating The Effects Of 3-D Spatialized Auditory Cues On The Development Of Situation Awareness For Teams, Laura Milham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the effects of spatialized auditory cues on the development of situation awareness for teams. Based on extant research, it was hypothesized that 3-D spatialized auditory cues can be utilized by teams to develop knowledge about team member location in addition to supporting the usage of team behaviors for developing and maintaining situation awareness. Accordingly, the study examined how situation awareness would be differentially influenced by varying the type of auditory cues incorporated into virtual environment (VE) team training scenarios within the context of a MOUT team task. In general, the results of this study provided partial support …

Selected School Characteristics And Their Relationshipto High School Teacher Retention, Jhunu Mohapatra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine the perceptions of Orange County high school teachers and administrators regarding selected school characteristics and their relationship to teacher retention. The study was based on another investigation conducted by the Charlotte Advocates of Education (2004) inquiring into the working conditions in schools and their impact on teacher retention. A total of 292 teachers with less than 4 years of experience and 14 administrators with more than 1 year of experience responded to 25 survey items related to the 6 factors comprising positive school characteristics. Factors such as School Facility, Resources, and Professional Development contributed …

An Hedonomic Evaluation Of Pleasurable Human-Technology Experience: The Effect Of Exposure And Aesthetics On The Experience Of Flow, Lauren Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A framework was developed called the Extended Hedonomic Hierarchy (EHH) that provides a basis for evaluating pleasurable human-system experience. Results from a number of experiments within this framework that evaluated specific dimensions of the framework are reported. The 'Exposure' component of the EHH framework and hedonics of the system were investigated to see how changes would affect other dimensions, such as the occurrence of flow, the mode of interaction, and the needs of the user. Simulations and video games were used to investigate how repeated exposure affects flow, interaction mode, and the user needs. The Kansei Engineering method was used …

Email Utilization By University Employees And Its Relationship To Job Satisfaction, Anthony Recascino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of technology, such as electronic mail and the Internet, is becoming the norm in many workplaces. This is especially true in academic workplaces. The present study examined several issues related to electronic mail use and job satisfaction for employees within a higher education workplace. Results of the study found that administrative level employees both sent and received more email than non-administrative level staff. Job satisfaction was not found to be related to the amount of email sent or received. No difference in job satisfaction was found between employees at the main campus versus regional locations, nor was there …

Rejection In The Job Selection Process: The Effects Of Information & Sensitivity, Clayton Yonce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most people will experience rejection in the job selection process. Rejection from job opportunities is often issued via a letter from a hiring manager. These letters elicit reactions from applicants who may, in turn, have less favorable self perceptions and less favorable perceptions of the organization from which the applicant was rejected. Numerous research articles have been published that deal with delivering notification of selection and/or rejection to applicants in the job selection process. However, relatively few use a realistic laboratory design to obtain results. This study examined the effects of sensitivity and information in notifications of rejection when applicants …

The Effects Of Athletic Participation, Expectations About Counseling And Gender On Attitudes Toward Help Seeking Behaviors Among Community College Students, Jose Fernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have determined that college student-athletes are an underrepresented population when it comes to utilizing college counseling services. Traditional students have appeared for counseling services more so than student-athletes. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between attitudes toward help seeking behavior and (a) expectations about counseling, (b) athlete status, and (c) gender of respondent among community college students. The study included 195 students at a central Florida community college, 74 student-athletes and 121 non-athlete students. The participants were asked to convey their counseling expectations by completing the Expectations About Counseling-Brief Form. Respondents were also asked …

The Science And Religion Dialogue: Are Philosophical Foundations Necessary?, Michael Ventimiglia

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

William James is well-known for arguing that different words which describe the same practical state of affairs are, in fact, equivalent in meaning. This theory of meaning is one important strain of American pragmatism, the movement which remains America’s primary philosophical contribution to intellectual history, and it invites us to consider a unique perspective on the contemporary dialogue between science and religion. Specifically, it raises the question of the necessity of philosophical foundations when there is practical agreement.

This paper argues that when practical agreement can be reached there are certain purposes for which philosophical foundations can be strategically ignored. …

Reforming Child Protection: A Public Health Perspective, Marsha Garrison

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Letter To The Editors Of Health Matrix -- Is Antidepressant Drug Discontinuation Warranted Prior To Polygraph Administration ?, J. R. Kuykendall

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.