Visitor Center Staff Training: A U.S Assessment

As the first step toward developing benchmarks for travel counselor training, the authors identify the methods and characteristics of existing travel counselor-training programs in the U.S. Responses from 30 out of 50 state tourism agencies indicate that 12 different methods of training are emplyed; however, usage and satisfaction with these various training methods vary.

Restaurant Customer Loyalty: A Qualitative Assessment of Niche Brands

Using the Loyalty Triangle framework developed by Lewis and Shoemaker (1999) and focus group methodology, the study examined how a niche brand restaurant best achieved long-term loyalty. Results indicate that customers are loyal to a niche brand because of the unique characteristics inherent to the brand. Customers have higher perceptions of such qualities as the presentation of service, consistency of product, and the benefits offered by the loyalty program than characteristics that are shared across all brands. Niche brand restaurants can be more effective in developing these qualities to promote customer loyalty.

Categorical Differences in Scores of Students with Disabilities on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test

Students with disabilities participate in statewide assessments as required by federal law, and the success of schools is contingent on this group making Adequate Yearly Progress. This report on research includes the findings of differences between disability categories scoring proficient on the FCAT from the years 2005 through 2010.

Content Analysis of Outcome Assessment of Global Learning Foundations Courses: A Case Study

This study used content analysis to interpret and evaluate outcome evaluation matrices of undergraduate Global Learning foundations courses. The findings revealed a lack of uniformity in the faculty members’ interpretation and implementation of global learning components in the coursework. Successful teaching practices and challenges were identified and classified.

Authentic Experiences Assessment Instrument: The Case of Millennial Students and Cultural Attractions in Central Florida

Three types of authenticity were chosen to analyze cultural attractions—they were: staged or real authenticity, sensory authenticity, and existential authenticity. A group of millennium students that visited Orlando’s cultural attractions from the University of Central Florida were part of this study. Results show that the term “culture” is unclear among students. Also gender might play a role in determining what is perceived as “authenticity.” In general the focus group discussion had a consensus that these three types of authenticity were the right ones to measured cultural attractions, people, and behaviors.

Assessment of Higher-Education Hospitality Programs

The function of assessment in higher-education hospitality programs is to improve student learning. Although the assessment process is common in higher-education institutions, examples of assessment practices in hospitality programs have not been made available to academic practitioners. This paper describes a method successful at formulating assessment in a hospitality college professional program.

Multiplex PCR for Assessment of Tetracycline Resistance (tet) Genes in Antibiotic-Resistant Soil Bacteria and the Ecological Implications

Antibiotics are becoming increasingly prevalent in bacterial communities due to clinical and agricultural misuse and overuse in their environment. As exposure increases, so does the incidence of microbial resistance. Such is the case with bacterial resistance to tetracyclines, a phenotype often acquired through the horizontal gene transfer of tet genes between bacteria. The objective of this project was to analyze the bacterial diversity of tet resistance genes in soil from Miami-Dade County. Bacterial isolates were Gram-stained and the Kirby-Bauer antibiotic disk diffusion test was performed to determine each bacterium’s degree of resistance. The 16S rRNA gene from antibiotic-resistant isolates was amplified by PCR and sequenced to identify the isolates. All isolates’ tet genes were amplified by multiplex PCR, sequenced, and compared. Among eight isolates, three distinct species were positively identified based on their 16S rRNA sequences and four distinct tet genes were identified, though all tested susceptible to tetracycline via the Kirby-Bauer test. This project clarifies some aspects of the ecology of antibiotic resistance genes, their natural ecological function and the potential for the expansion of intrinsic multi-antibiotic resistance into new ecosystems and/or hosts.

Assessment of policies for innovative financing in infrastructure systems

Infrastructure systems are drivers of the economy in the nation. A dollar spent on infrastructure development yields roughly double the initial spending in ultimate economic output in the short term; and over a twenty-year period, and generalized ‘public investment’ produces an aggregated $3.21 of economic activity per $1.00 spent [1]. Thus, formulation of policies pertaining to infrastructure investment and development is of significance affecting the social and economic wellbeing of the nation. The aim of this policy brief is to evaluate innovative financing in infrastructure systems from two different perspectives: (1) through consideration of the current condition of infrastructure in the U.S., the current trends in public spending, and the emerging innovative financing tools; (2) through evaluation of the roles and interactions of different agencies in the creation and the diffusion of innovative financing tools. Then using the example of transportation financing, the policy brief provides an assessment of policy landscapes which could lead to the closure of infrastructure financing gap in the U.S and proposes strategies for citizen involvement to gain public support of innovative financing.

Integrated Performance Assessment of Engineering Projects at the Interface of Emergent Properties and Uncertainty

Investigation of the performance of engineering project organizations is critical for understanding and eliminating inefficiencies in today’s dynamic global markets. The existing theoretical frameworks consider project organizations as monolithic systems and attribute the performance of project organizations to the characteristics of the constituents. However, project organizations consist of complex interdependent networks of agents, information, and resources whose interactions give rise to emergent properties that affect the overall performance of project organizations. Yet, our understanding of the emergent properties in project organizations and their impact on project performance is rather limited. This limitation is one of the major barriers towards creation of integrated theories of performance assessment in project organizations. The objective of this paper is to investigate the emergent properties that affect the ability of project organization to cope with uncertainty. Based on the theories of complex systems, we propose and test a novel framework in which the likelihood of performance variations in project organizations could be investigated based on the environment of uncertainty (i.e., static complexity, dynamic complexity, and external source of disruption) as well as the emergent properties (i.e., absorptive capacity, adaptive capacity, and restorative capacity) of project organizations. The existence and significance of different dimensions of the environment of uncertainty and emergent properties in the proposed framework are tested based on the analysis of the information collected from interviews with senior project managers in the construction industry. The outcomes of this study provide a novel theoretical lens for proactive bottom-up investigation of performance in project organizations at the interface of emergent properties and uncertainty

The Monitoring and Assessment Plan (MAP) Greater Everglades Wetlands Module- Landscape Pattern- Ridge, Slough, and Tree Island Mosaics: Year 1 Annual Report

In the current managed Everglades system, the pre-drainage, patterned mosaic of sawgrass ridges, sloughs and tree islands has been substantially altered or reduced largely as a result of human alterations to historic ecological and hydrological processes that sustained landscape patterns. The pre-compartmentalization ridge and slough landscape was a mosaic of sloughs, elongated sawgrass ridges (50-200m wide), and tree islands. The ridges and sloughs and tree islands were elongated in the direction of the water flow, with roughly equal area of ridge and slough. Over the past decades, the ridge-slough topographic relief and spatial patterning have degraded in many areas of the Everglades. Nutrient enriched areas have become dominated by Typha with little topographic relief; areas of reduced flow have lost the elongated ridge-slough topography; and ponded areas with excessively long hydroperiods have experienced a decline in ridge prevalence and shape, and in the number of tree islands (Sklar et al. 2004, Ogden 2005).

Loaxahatchee Impoundment Landscape Assessment (LILA): Tree Island Experiments and Management; May 1, 2005 to September 4, 2009: Final Report

Hydrologic modifications have negatively impacted the Florida Everglades in numerous significant ways. The compartmentalization of the once continuously flowing system into the Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) caused disruption of the slow natural flow of water south from Lake Okeechobee through the Everglades to Florida Bay. The ponding of water in the WCAs, the linking of water flow to controlled water levels, and the management of water levels for anthropogenic vs. ecological well-being has caused a reduction in the spatial heterogeneity of the Everglades leading to greater uniformity in topography and vegetation. These effects are noticeable as the degradation in structure of the Everglades Ridge and Slough environment and associated Tree Islands. In aquatic systems water flow is of fundamental importance in shaping the structure and function of the ecosystem. The organized patterns of parallel orientation of ridges, sloughs, and tear-drop shaped tree islands along historic flow paths attest to the importance of water movement in structuring this system. Our main objective was to operate and manage the LILA facility to provide a broad potential as a research platform for an integrated group of multidisciplinary, multi-agency scientists collaborating on multifunctional studies aimed primarily at determining the effects of CERP water management scenarios on the ecology of tree islands and ridge and slough habitats. We support Everglades water management, CERP, and the Long-Term Plan by defining hydrologic regimes that sustain healthy tree islands and ridge and slough ecosystems. Information gained through this project will help to reduce the uncertainty of predicting the tree island and ridge and slough ecosystem response to changes in hydrologic conditions. Additionally, we have developed the LILA site as a visual example of Everglades restoration programs in action.

Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Habitat Monitoring and Assessment - 2010 Final Report

For the last two decades, the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (CSSS), a federally endangered species, has been a pivot point for water management operations in the Everglades, primarily because a decline in sparrow population in the early 1990s was attributed in part to managementinduced alterations in hydrologic regimes. With a goal of understanding the response of landscape-level processes to hydrological restoration and its interaction with fire, a study intended to monitor vegetation structure and composition throughout the marl prairie landscape has been conducted since 2003 with funding from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In the first three years (2003-2005), vegetation structure and composition was characterized in relation to the existing hydrologic regime and fire history. During 2006-2010, vegetation was resampled to assess vegetation change within the sparrow habitat. This document summarizes the vegetation change pattern observed between the two sampling periods in sub-population A, C, E and F, emphasizing the work accomplished in FY 2010.

Use of Homeostatic Model Assessment Indexes for the Identification of Metabolic Syndrome and Insulin Resistance among Cuban-Americans: A Cross Sectional Study

Aim: to determine cut off points for The Homeostatic Model Assessment Index 1 and 2 (HOMA-1 and HOMA-2) for identifying insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among a Cuban-American population. Study Design: Cross sectional. Place and Duration of Study: Florida International University, Robert Stempel School of Public Health and Social Work, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Miami, FL from July 2010 to December 2011. Methodology: Subjects without diabetes residing in South Florida were enrolled (N=146, aged 37 to 83 years). The HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR 90th percentile in the healthy group (n=75) was used as the cut-off point for insulin resistance. A ROC curve was constructed to determine the cut-off point for metabolic syndrome. Results: HOMA1-IR was associated with BMI, central obesity, and triglycerides (P3.95 and >2.20 and for metabolic syndrome were >2.98 (63.4% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity) and >1.55 (60.6% sensitivity and 66.7% specificity), respectively. Conclusion: HOMA cut-off points may be used as a screening tool to identify insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among Cuban-Americans living in South Florida.

English Language Learners: A Correlational Study of the Relationship Between A Proficiency Level Assessment and End of Course Test Scores at one Georgia High School

Understanding the language of one’s cultural environment is important for effective communication and function. As such, students entering U.S. schools from foreign countries are given access to English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs and they are referred to as English Language Learner (ELL) students. This dissertation examined the correlation of ELL ACCESS Composite Performance Level (CPL) score to the End of Course tests (EOCTs) and the Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGTs) in the four content courses (language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies). A premise of this study was that English language proficiency is critical in meeting or exceeding state and county assessment standards. A quantitative descriptive research design was conducted using Cross-sectional archival data from a secondary source. There were 148 participants from school years 2011-2012 to 2013- 2014 from Grades 9-12. A Pearson product moment correlation was run to assess the relationship between the ACCESS CPL (independent variable) and the EOCT scores and the GHSGT scores (dependent variables). The findings showed that there was a positive correlation between ACCESS CPL scores and the EOCT scores where language arts showed a strong positive correlation and mathematics showed a positive weak correlation. Also, there was a positive correlation between ACCESS CPL scores and GHSGT scores where language arts showed a weak positive correlation. The results of this study indicated that that there is a relationship between the stated variables, ACCESS CPL, EOCT and GHSGT. Also, the results of this study showed that there were positive correlations at varying degrees for each grade levels. While the null hypothesis for Research Question 1 and Research Question 2 were rejected, there was a slight relationship between the variables.