Research on video activity detection has primarily focused on identifying well-defined human activities in short video segments. The majority of the research on video activity recognition is focused on the development of large parameter systems that require training on large video datasets. This dissertation develops a low-parameter, modular…

Segmentation is a cornerstone of language processing across levels of linguistic analysis, and yet, standard models of linguistic memory leave the role of higher-order segments in online comprehension understudied. This dissertation advances the Context-Sensitive Encoding (CSE) hypothesis: that implicit prosodic boundaries (Bader, 1998; J. Fodor,…

Recently, with the advancement in 2D imaging techniques and 3D visual sensors such as LiDAR, RGB-D cameras, etc. The use of 2D and 3D data is ubiquitous in various fields like autonomous driving, AR, and VR. Therefore, we are faced with an ever-increasing demand for approaches toward the automatic processing and analysis of data from multiple…

This qualitative multi-case study engaged the "testimonios" of three educators who openly shared their social and emotional experiences from their middle school years. The central inquiry, "What valuable insights can you offer from your middle school experiences to help other educators recognize and respond to the social and…

Teenagers today are coming of age under unprecedented, pervasive networks of institutional mass surveillance technologies. Surveillance technologies spreading in youth spaces are impacting young people's prospects today and are expected to continue in the future. Additionally, today's teenagers will be tomorrow's decision-makers, tasked with…

Unlike desktop computers, reading in virtual reality allows the reader and the information to cohabit in the three-dimensional space. However, virtual reality typography rarely exploits the new affordances three-dimensionality offers. This study addressed the need to understand the contributions of spatially distributed layouts on expository text…

Reading is one of the most important daily visual tasks. Majority of people become expert readers at a very young age and perform this complex task effortlessly and automatically throughout most of their lives. However, in this "effortless" task, multiple complex processes must be efficiently carried out in a very short amount of time.…

This dissertation project designed, implemented, and measured the efficacy of Transformative Experience teaching methods in Community-Engaged contexts to help students connect with and apply their scientific knowledge in their daily lives. The Transformative Experience framework connects class ideas to everyday experiences by scaffolding students'…

This dissertation project designed, implemented, and measured the efficacy of Transformative Experience teaching methods in Community-Engaged contexts to help students connect with and apply their scientific knowledge in their daily lives. The Transformative Experience framework connects class ideas to everyday experiences by scaffolding students'…

Small, quick facial expressions termed Microexpressions, have been researched by over a dozen studies in the areas of business, criminal justice, and psychology. The addition of microexpression training could help counselors improve their micro-skills and, possibly, their self-efficacy. Many factors affect counselor trainees' reported…

This study examined the effects of three subtitle conditions on English vocabulary learning, form recognition and meaning recall, from TED Talks videos while controlling for vocabulary size and initial knowledge of the target words. The participants, 105 Libyan students (16 males and 89 females) at intermediate English proficiency level, were…

Sepsis kills more than 250,000 people every year in the United States. Immediate treatment is crucial for best patient outcomes but sepsis can be challenging to identify. Nurses may miss signs of sepsis and delay life-saving treatment. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine whether an instructional presentation on…

Researchers have investigated the promise of unimodal and bimodal input in enhancing vocabulary learning from meaning-focused activities. Compared to unimodal input, the simultaneous presentation of written and aural input in bimodal input has been argued to direct L2 learners' attention to words and enhance the form-meaning links for new…

Entrepreneurship programming has become a very popular choice among higher education students the past three decades. Entrepreneurial intent is consistently regarded as the greatest predictor of entrepreneurial behavior and success of entrepreneurial education programs, while ideation is viewed as a key skill needed for successful entrepreneurial…

Correlation of anatomy and medical imaging is foundational to radiology (medicine). Experts do this well, but we have little understanding of how they learn to do so. Knowing where our novices' understanding begins in making this correlation can aid us in helping them transition to being experts. Studying how experts and novices make these…