In large enough quantities, heavy metals may be detrimental to human health. Metals in raw water may pass through a water treatment plant without being completely removed. Once in a the distribution system, the water may experience metal pick-up due to corrosion. During the course of this study, an attempt was made to determine the heavy metal concentrations in the University of Central Florida's potable water systems. Samples were fun on the plasma spectrophotometer, Spectraspan III, and analyzed for heavy metal content. The results indicate pick-up of Fe, Al, Cu, and Zn in the distribution system. The arsenic and lead concentrations in the drinking water samples should be verified. The UCF sewage treatment plant offers adequate heavy metal removal with the metal ions being removed concentrating in the activated sludge.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Rosemarye Taylor. Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-178).

Studying abroad during the collegiate experience is an idea sought by the many high school seniors and college freshmen alike. The social, intellectual, and cultural benefits received from participating makes it a seemingly easy decision. Yet, lack of action plagues the nation as there exists a miniscule number of students who follow through with their desire to study abroad. Prior research exemplifies that students rely on the perceptions of their peers and family when approaching an unfamiliar subject. These perceptions result in concocted barriers that dissuade the student from participating in study abroad before they seek concrete information. There are a limited number of studies completed at universities to identify these specific barriers. Thus, this research examines the student population at the University of Central Florida, the perceived barriers they possess concerning study abroad, and their sources of these perceptions. This is a qualitative and quantitative study that investigates the effects of perceived cost and graduation delay on the willingness of a student to study abroad. The unexpected ramifications of the marketing mix, utilized by the department of Study Abroad, will shed light upon the steps necessary to revise their position in order to transform student intent into action.

The purpose of this study was to determine the compensation preferences of seniors at the University of Central Florida. The sample consisted of 86 females and 77 males currently registered as seniors at the university. Subjects were mailed a questionnaire and asked to rank order 11 compensation options and answer nine demographic questions. One-way and repeated measures analyses of variance were used to compute significant differences, 10 were found between groups in compensation preferences as related to the demographic variables. For example, those students with children had significant differences in preferences for four of the options. Significant differences in rankings were also found for all 11 options within the academic major categories. Three of the groups had no significant differences in preferences for the options including males and females.

The College of Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF) required a data set containing the Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) graduates from 1970 on, to be updated each semester. The data set was created in 1984, through the use of the Statistical Analysis System/Full-Screen Product (SAS/FSP), a computer system which allows for easy access to and editing of data values, and the use of SAS programming for statistical analysis of the data set. The data set presently (1985) contains 1483 observations each with 70 variables, such as personal information (age, social security number, ethnic origin), degree information (junior college attended, grade point average, honors), post-graduate information (master and doctorate degrees, first job after graduation), and test results (CLAST, SAT, GRE). The current data was obtained through the Department of institutional Research and transcripts. Because this data set will be in use a long time, a manual has been written that contains a detailed description of (a) the data set and all its variables, (b) the use of the full-screen product with a tutorial, (c) the use of the questionnaires, and (d) the method used to collect data. Five tests were performed on four semesters of graduates, equaling 301 observations. The math and overall grade point averages (GPAs) for transfer and time-shortened-degree (TSD) students were tested against the math and overall GPAs of the general UCF BSE population. It was discovered that the math and overall GPAs of the graduates who received Associate of Arts degrees from Florida community colleges before entering UCF lowered significantly at UCF. The tests also suggested a possible difference in academic approaches between the community college and UCF, and there should be more than just a recognition of the drop in math and overall GPA. The TSD graduates did not perform as well in the math and overall curriculum as might be expected. Recommendations for manual testing, updating of the data set, and further testing with SAS are included.

Graduate employability skills have become one of the most important topics on the higher education agenda in the first decade of the 21st century. In the United States, and throughout the world, global competition, growth of a knowledge-based economy, technological advances, and the multigenerational workforce have combined to substantially alter the contemporary workplace (Gedye & Chalkey, 2006). Whether by choice or circumstance, the expectation of a secure lifelong position with one employer and the opportunity for linear career progression are no longer typical nor practical in the contemporary workplace (Harvey, Locke, & Morey, 2002). Employability skills are those skills, attributes, and behaviors, e.g., communication skills, problem-solving, organization, and planning, that bridge most disciplines, industries, and employing organizations. They have the greatest impact on the sustained, productive, successful employment of graduates (Cranmer, 2006; Gedye, Fender, & Chalkey, 2004). The purpose of this study was to (a) identify the employability skills employers perceive to be important for entry-level management/management-in-training positions in the hospitality industry, (b) to establish employability skills competency levels employers expect for these positions, and (c) to garner employer perceptions of Rosen College of Hospitality Management (RCHM) interns’ and new graduates’ employability skills competence for entry-level management/management-in-training positions in the hospitality industry. The findings add to the body of literature and provide insight into the need for further employability skills development of students prior to graduation and entrance into iv the workforce. Additionally, the study provides information and insight for faculty, career services, and experiential learning professionals regarding the skills students currently possess, the need for further skills development, and those skills employers deem most important

This research evaluated various mass transportation alternatives for the commuting students, faculty and staff of the University of Central Florida (U.C.F.), located at Orlando. The alternatives considered in this research are bus service, van service / minibus service, vanpool, carpool, and bicycle and pedestrian modes. During the life-time of the University the private automobile has been the only prevalent mode of transportation used by the U.C.F. commuters. Opinion surveys conducted in the summer of 1979 indicated that the U.C.F. commuters are confronted with a number of transportation problems including lack of parking spaces on campus, traffic congestion on the access roads to the University and the high cost of commuting using automobiles. Other surveys which were required for the evaluation process were taken during the same academic year. these included location survey, traffic study, intersection delay study, and parking study. Based on the results of these surveys the different transportation modes considered feasible in this situation are analyzed. According to the results of the comparative cost analysis, using present-worth and equivalent uniform annual cost methods, all the candidate modes were found to be economically advantageous over the existing auto transportation mode. However, with the existing rate of auto ownership by the commuters, the carpool program could e considered as the most realistic solution to the short-term transportation problems of the University, provided the legal obstacles are overcome before the implementation of the program. The feasibility and legal considerations of the various modes are discussed in the closing chapter of this report.

In order to familiarize local women with advanced degree possibilities in engineering and with expanding local industry, as well as increasing the graduate enrollment in the College of Engineering, the University of Central Florida has developed a Reentry Program for Women in the Industrial Engineering Department. Master of Science degrees are offered to the women with four options: Operations Research, Computer Systems, Engineering Administration, and Engineering Systems Analysis. The program is designed for women who received a bachelor's degree at least two years ago in mathematics, engineering, physics, or another hard science. Seed money for the program was obtained as a mini-grant from the Women's Reentry Consortium. The major component of the program is a mathematics review course which offers an intensive review of college math through differential equations. An Industrial Advisory Board is an integral part of the program and is giving support for potential employment of women during their schooling and afterwards, as well as making sure the women are going in directions consistent with the needs of industry. A special orientation, available tutoring, and a Professional Development Day are some of the features incorporated in this program. After the math review course, the women are mainstreamed into the standard graduate program with continued support.

A person's level of fear of crime or even their perceived fear of crime can affect how they view the Stand Your Ground Law and whether it is seen as beneficial or harmful to the general public. I begin with a discussion of the Stand Your Ground Law. Next, I report on research that examines the fear of crime and how it may shape opinions on the law as well as an individual’s level of fear. My research explores the relationship of these variables using survey data. I examine the attitudes of college students regarding their fear of crime to explore variables that impact their levels of fear and their opinions regarding the Stand Your Ground Law.

Music and Theatre have always captivated me. As a child, my parents would take me to live performances and cinematic shows and I would sit rapt, watching the theatrical events and emotional moments unfold before my eyes. Movie musicals and live shows that combined music and theatre were my favorite, especially theatrical banter and improvisation or sketch comedy. Some of my favorite youthful memories were my annual family summer trips to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents for six weeks. As a youngster, I got to experience the "old school" Las Vegas, replete with extravaganza, spectacle, cabaret, circus, lounge and nightclub acts, stand-up comedy, intimate revues, and all things marketed under the guise of entertainment, art, or both. Those summers, while not overtly planned as academic or educational in nature, proved, in retrospect, to be the training ground for what was to become my passion: the art of the cabaret genre. As a person who has always loved theatrical diversity, I am drawn to cabaret as an art form. Anything that fuses other forms interests me, and cabaret amalgamates many of the artistic forms I have grown to love. I come from a unique background of classical, jazz, musical theatre and pop styles, and have studied these styles in both the piano and vocal arena. The cabaret genre allows me to realize fully the stylistic variety of performance techniques with which I excel. My mother is a classical singer and my father a jazz pianist; during my youth they would perform at the piano, "meeting in the middle" so to speak in the world of Musical Theatre, through the fusion of cabaret, classical, jazz, and pop. Growing up hearing a song like "Summertime," from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, equally artistically rendered as both a classical aria and a jazz tune in my home was rich fodder for the vital informal education I received by being the offspring of musicians. It is due to this musical legacy that was passed on to me through my parents that I learned to explore the myriad of possibilities one can achieve through artistic musical and theatrical interpretation. Beyond the freedom of stylistic variety, cabaret performance also allows conventions such as direct interaction in the form of the proverbial "lowered fourth wall," allowing me to use my improvisational acting and interactive skill set as well as my musical skills. Cabaret is generally more intimate and personal in nature and I enjoy the camaraderie cabaret affords. Cabaret is interactive and intellectual and I am drawn to those aspects; I like the fusion of interactive banter and intellectual artistry. Also appealing to me is the "insider" sense cabaret not only allows but also encourages. Recalling my youthful memories of the Vegas shows in which the performer spoke directly to audience members, I remember the sense of belonging I felt at the recognition of some of the inside jokes. I knew I wanted to be involved with any aspect of music and theatre that would allow me the freedom to go with the moment, to reach people differently on any given day, to change with the times, and adapt to my audience and to the shifting world around me. I knew I had found a home in this intimate, insular, interactive, and intellectual art form known as cabaret. For these reasons and more I have chosen the genre of cabaret to be my intended thesis research project. I will produce, direct, and perform in a cabaret show, which will be the thesis performance. For the performance aspect of my thesis, in collaboration with my thesis partner, Josephine Leffner, I will perform a one-act chronological, historical, and stylistically varied cabaret show. The show will include material garnered from historical research of the cabaret genre, specifically settling on some of the famous women, songs, stories, lives, and important contributions. The cabaret will cover information, music, and spoken-word art from cabaret's inception in the Paris Montmartre district in 1881 to its height in Germany during the Weimar Republic. The show will culminate with cabaret's insurgence into American culture up to and including the state of American cabaret today. While my performance will focus mainly on American cabaret, a portion of the show will explore cabaret's European roots. Creating and performing this show will educate me further on the genre itself, as well as expand my performing skills through the varied styles in which I will perform within the realm of a single evening's entertainment. Creating and performing the show will also challenge me as a producer, director, promotional and administrative coordinator, music director, arranger, vocal director, collaborator, vocalist, pianist, actor, and writer. The show is intended as a kind of "Cabaret 101," in that the intended audience is treated to a night of variety entertainment with some historical background on the genre of cabaret. The audience is not expected to have any prior academic or experiential knowledge of cabaret in order to understand or enjoy the show. The cabaret intellectual will also be able to enjoy the show, as the songs, poems, skits, and sketches are intended to amuse and delight both the novice and the experienced cabaretist. For the research and analysis portion of my thesis monograph document I will provide information on cabaret's roots in France and Germany, as well as include informative research on American cabaret, its history and its current trends. I will have several chapters dedicated to the historical research and to other items such as the formatted libretto, documentation of a performance report from my thesis committee head, and a list of references used throughout the research and libretto chapters. I will include a structural and role analysis of the show itself and my contributions to it as outlined by the parameters of my graduate studies program. Several chapters of appendices will be included as information pertinent to the show such as costume, props, lighting lists as well as band and technical needs for the show itself. An introduction and conclusion will be created to bookend my document solidly and reveal myself as a person as well as a performer. This section will include reflective information on my intentions, triumphs, and tribulations, and will be codified through the opening and concluding perspectives. Through the process of writing the thesis monograph document I will create a public and personal record of the process, research, performance challenges, and decisions made throughout this journey. This document will be used as historical help to me should I need to refer to my thesis for later personal or professional use. The document will also be on record for the UCF theatre department, as I apply not only my performance training (as exhibited through the show itself) but also the research and critical thinking skills required of a masters degree candidate at a conservatory training program such as this one. Beyond its use for myself or for the department, I write this monograph document for others whose love and interest in studying the genre of cabaret match my own.