The aim of this essay is to investigate the claims made by Robin Lakoff regarding women’s language, where she claims that women use hedges more than men. The aim of this essay is to investigate whether this statement is true. To put it differently, this essay aims to look at gender differences in the use of modal adverbs as hedges. As a method, a frequency analysis has been conducted, where data from the British National Corpus 2014 (BNC2014) has been used. Since hedging involves various linguistic forms, this essay focuses on the modal adverbs presented by Huddleston and Pullum. The results show that women do use more hedges than men. Regardless, there are not any major dissimilarities across genders. Although there were some findings that supported Lakoff’s claims, there were also some that contradicted her claims.

This dissertation focuses on two topics in multivariate statistics. The first part develops an inference procedure and fast computation tool for the modal clustering method proposed by Li et al. (2007). The modal clustering, based on the kernel density estimate, clusters data using their associations within a single mode, with the final number of clusters equaling the number of modes, otherwise known as the modality of the distribution of the data. This method provides a flexible tool for clustering data of low to moderate dimensions with arbitrary distributional shapes. In contrast to Li and colleagues, we expand their method by proposing a procedure that determines the number of clusters in the data. A test statistic and its asymptotic distribution are derived to assess the significance of each mode within the data. The inference procedure is tested on both simulated and real data sets. In addition, an R computing package is developed (Modalclust) that implements the modal clustering procedure using parallel processing which dramatically increases computing speed over the previously available method. This package is available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). The second part of this dissertation develops methods of statistical monitoring of clinical trials with multiple co-primary endpoints, where success is defined as meeting both endpoints simultaneously. In practice, a group sequential design method is used to stop trials early for promising efficacy, and conditional power is used for futility stopping rules. In this dissertation we show that stopping boundaries for the group sequential design with multiple co-primary endpoints should be the same as those for studies with single endpoints. Lan and Wittes (1988) proposed the B-value tool to calculate the conditional power of single endpoint trials and we extend this tool to calculate the conditional power for studies with multiple co-primary endpoints. We consider the cases of two-arm studies with co-primary normal and binary endpoints and provide several examples of implementation with simulated trials. A fixed-weight sample size re-estimation approach based on conditional power is introduced. Finally, we discuss the possibility of blinded interim analyses for multiple endpoints using the modality inference method introduced in the first part.

Illegal substance use in the United States is a growing problem, and a western state has a higher than average rate of drug offenders. Many courts, including misdemeanor courts, have limited to no budget for drug treatment programs outside of the drug court treatment programs. As such, many court-ordered drug treatment programs, when drug counseling is ordered in exchange for a reduction in charges, are outsourced to privately owned companies. The drug counseling entails a single 8-hour outsourced drug counseling course, which includes either in-person, online, or correspondence-based counseling. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the three modalities of the lower level drug counseling course. Effectiveness was measured by comparing recidivism rates of offenders completing each of the three modalities of the program. A second goal of the study was to investigate whether relationships exist in recidivism rates as a function of modality of program delivery, type of drug used by offenders, risk of re-offense, or an interaction between the three. Archival data (N = 395) were collected from a misdemeanor court, and the results of an ordinal logistic regression indicated a statistically significant relationship between recidivism, risk, and modalities of counseling. The modality that was most effective was the online modality of counseling, for offenders who had no risk, and reduced the potential for recidivism by 79%. The results of this study could assist the local government in determining the effectiveness of each of the three modalities of the abbreviated drug counseling program and assist in future decisions regarding development of drug counseling programs and necessary funding for those programs, providing potential for positive social change.

abstract: Autonomous systems that are out in the real world today deal with a slew of different data modalities to perform effectively in tasks ranging from robot navigation in complex maneuverable robots to identity verification in simpler static systems. The performance of the system heavily banks on the continuous supply of data from all modalities. These systems can face drastically increased risk with the loss of one or multiple modalities due to an adverse scenario like that of hardware malfunction, inimical environmental conditions, etc. This thesis investigates modality hallucination and its efficacy in mitigating the risks posed to the autonomous system. Modality hallucination is proposed as one effective way to ensure consistent modality availability thereby reducing unfavorable consequences. While there has been a significant research effort in high-to-low dimensional modality hallucination, like that of RGB to depth, there is considerably lesser interest in the other direction( low-to-high dimensional modality prediction). This thesis serves to demonstrate the effectiveness of this low-to-high modality hallucination in reducing the uncertainty in the affected system while also ensuring that the method remains task agnostic. A deep neural network based encoder-decoder architecture that aggregates multiple fields of view in its encoder blocks to recover the lost information of the affected modality from the extant modality is presented with evidence of its efficacy. The hallucination process is implemented by capturing a non-linear mapping between the data modalities and the learned mapping is used to aid the extant modality to mitigate the risk posed to the system in the adverse scenarios which involve modality loss. The results are compared with a well known generative model built for the task of image translation, as well as an off-the-shelf semantic segmentation architecture re-purposed for hallucination. To validate the practicality of hallucinated modality, extensive classification and segmentation experiments are conducted on the University of Washington's depth image database (UWRGBD) database and the New York University database (NYUD) and demonstrate that hallucination indeed lessens the negative effects of the modality loss. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Engineering 2019

No description available.

There is an increasing interest in using video games as a means to deliver training to individuals learning new skills or tasks. However, current research lacks a clear method of developing effective instructional material when these games are used as training tools and explaining how gameplay may affect learning. The literature contains multiple approaches to training and GBT but generally lacks a foundational-level and theoretically relevant approach to how people learn specifically from video games and how to design instructional guidance within these gaming environments. This study investigated instructional delivery within GBT. Video games are a form of multimedia, consisting of both imagery and sounds. The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML; Mayer 2005) explicitly describes how people learn from multimedia information, consisting of a combination of narration (words) and animation (pictures). This study empirically examined the effects of the modality and temporal contiguity principles on learning in a game-based virtual environment. Based on these principles, it was hypothesized that receiving either voice or embedded training would result in better performance on learning measures. Additionally, receiving a combination of voice and embedded training would lead to better performance on learning measures than all other instructional conditions. A total of 128 participants received training on the role and procedures related to the combat lifesaver - a non-medical soldier who receives additional training on combat-relevant lifesaving medical procedures. Training sessions involved an instructional presentation manipulated along the modality (voice or text) and temporal contiguity (embedded in the game or presented before gameplay) principles. Instructional delivery was manipulated in a 2x2 between-subjects design with four instructional conditions: Upfront-Voice, Upfront-Text, Embedded-Voice, and Embedded-Text. Results indicated that: (1) upfront instruction led to significantly better retention performance than embedded instructional regardless of delivery modality; (2) receiving voice-based instruction led to better transfer performance than text-based instruction regardless of presentation timing; (3) no differences in performance were observed on the simple application test between any instructional conditions; and (4) a significant interaction of modality-by-temporal contiguity was obtained. Simple effects analysis indicated differing effects along modality within the embedded instruction group, with voice recipients performing better than text (p = .012). Individual group comparisons revealed that the upfront-voice group performed better on retention than both embedded groups (p = .006), the embedded-voice group performed better on transfer than the upfront text group (p = .002), and the embedded-voice group performed better on the complex application test than the embedded-text group (p =.012). Findings indicated partial support for the application of the modality and temporal contiguity principles of CTML in interactive GBT. Combining gameplay (i.e., practice) with instructional presentation both helps and hinders working memory's ability to process information. Findings also explain how expanding CTML into game-based training may fundamentally change how a person processes information as a function of the specific type of knowledge being taught. Results will drive future systematic research to test and determine the most effective means of designing instruction for interactive GBT. Further theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Human-computer interaction design principles largely focus on static representations and have yet to fully incorporate theories of perception appropriate for the dynamic multimodal interactions inherent to virtual environment (VE) interaction. Theories of direct perception, in particular affordance theory, may prove particularly relevant to enhancing VE interaction design. The present research constructs a conceptual model of how affordances are realized in the natural world and how lack of sensory stimuli may lead to realization failures in virtual environments. Implications of the model were empirically investigated by examining three affordances: passability, catchability, and flyability. The experimental design involved four factors for each of the three affordances and was implemented as a 2 [subscript IV] [superscript 4-1] fractional factorial design. The results demonstrated that providing affording cues led to behavior closely in-line with real-world behavior. More specifically, when given affording cues participants tended to rotate their virtual bodies when entering narrow passageways, accurately judge balls as catchable, and fly when conditions warranted it. The results support the conceptual model and demonstrate 1) that substituting designed cues via sensory stimuli in available sensory modalities for absent or impoverished modalities may enable the perception of affordances in VEs; 2) that sensory stimuli substitutions provide potential approaches for enabling the perception of affordances in a VE which in the real world are cross-modal; and 3) that affordances relating to specific action capabilities may be enabled by designed sensory stimuli. This research lays an empirical foundation for a science of VE design based on choosing and implementing design properties so as to evoke targeted user behavior

This study investigated the effects of cross-modality warning presentation and retention in a dual-task paradigm in a simulated military environment under various task-induced stress levels. It was also intended to determine what role working memory played in the mode of warning presentation that resulted in the highest retention and subsequent compliance. An all within participant design was created in order to determine if scores on working memory span tasks predicted performance across the varying forms of warning presentation. Furthermore, task-induced stress levels were varied over the course of the experiment to identify if workload transitions affected performance. Results revealed that when the presentation format and the response format matched (e.g., verbal-verbal), behavioral compliance was greater then when presentation and response format were mismatched (e.g., verbal-pictorial). Thus, it is not necessarily the presentation type that affects compliance, but the combination of presentation and response mode. Analysis also revealed that the pictorial-pictorial warning combination resulted in greater behavioral compliance compared to verbal-verbal or written-written combinations. The format of warning presentation did not affect performance on the operational tasks as predicted. Thus, the visual/spatial operational task, regardless of its complexity was not interrupted in timesharing with intra-modal warning presentations or cross-modal time-sharing. As predicted, task based stress affected the WCCOM task in all experimental procedures. Results further revealed that as task demand increased, performance on the WCCOM task decreased. Task demand did affect the operational tasks, the shooting and the navigation tasks. The shooting task, which was less complex than the navigation task was not affected by lower levels of task demand, but at the greatest level of demand (eight warnings) performance in the operational task, degraded. Degradations in performance on the more complex task, the navigation task, materialized at a moderate level of task demand (four warnings). For subjective ratings, task demand did affect workload ratings. As the task demand increased, the subjective workload ratings also increased, revealing a true association between workload and subjective ratings. The working memory separability hypothesis was supported by the working memory span tasks, but consequently they were not predictive of the warning presentation format.

When people multi-task with inputs that demand attention, processing, andencoding, sensory interference is possible at almost any level. Multiple Resource Theory (MRT) suggests that such interference may be avoided by drawing from separate pools of resources available when using different sensory channels, memory processes, and even different response modes. Thus, there should be advantages in dividing tasks among different sensory channels to tap independent pools of attentional resources. For example, people are better with two tasks using the eye and ear, than when using two auditory or two visual inputs. The majority of the research on MRT involves visual to auditory comparisons, i.e., the prime distance senses. The unstated implication is that the theory can be easily applied to other sensory systems, such as touch, but this is untested. This overlooks the fact that each sensory system has different characteristics that can influence how information processing is allocated in a multiple-task environment. For example, vision requires a directed gaze that is not required for sound or touch. Testing MRT with touch, not only eliminates competing theories, but helps establish its robustness across the senses. Three experiments compared the senses of touch and hearing to determine if the characteristics of those sensory modalities alter the allocation of processing resources. Specifically, it was hypothesized that differences in sensory characteristics would affect performance on a simple targeting task. All three experiments used auditory shadowing as the dual task load. In the first and third experiments a target was placed to the left or right of the participant and the targeting cue (either tactile, auditory, or combined) used to locate the target originated from the side on which the target was located. The only difference between experiments 1 and 3 was that in experiment 1 the auditory targeting cue was delivered by headphones, while in experiment 3 it was delivered by speakers. Experiment 2 was more difficult both in auditory perception and in processing. In this study the targeting cues came from in front of or behind the participant. Cues coming from in front of the participant meant the target was to the left, and conversely if the cue came from behind it meant that the target was to the right. The results of experiments 1 and 3 showed that when the signals originated from the sides, there was no difference in performance between the auditory and tactile targeting cues, whether by proximal or distal stimulation. However, in experiment 2, the participants were significantly slower to locate the target when using the auditory targeting cue than when using the tactile targeting cue, with nearly twice the losses when dual-tasking. No significant differences were found on performance of the shadowing task across the three experiments. The overall findings support the hypothesis that the characteristics of the sensory system itself influence the allocation of processing resources. For example, the differences in experiment 2 are likely due to front-back reversal, a common problem found with auditory stimuli located in front of or behind, but not with tactile stimuli.

This study analyzed how six Heritage language learners at the university level gained conscious awareness and control of the concept of modality as revealed in student verbalizations (Vygotsky, 1998) throughout five different written communicative events. This work took place in the only course designed for Heritage language learners at a large public suburban university in the Northeast part of the United States. Grammatical simplification in bilingual speakers is due to incomplete acquisition of Spanish, attrition or loss of an underused linguistic system (Lynch, 1999; Martínez Mira, 2009a, 2009b; Mikulski, 2010b; Montrul, 2007; Ocampo, 1990; Silva-Corvalán, 1990, 1994a, 1994b, 2003; Studerus, 1995). The result of the process of simplification is reduction or loss of forms and/or meanings. In this work, I investigated in which ways Gal’perin’s (1989) systemic-theoretical organized instruction promoted awareness, control and internalization of the concept of modality in three sets of data: definition, discourse and verbalization (Negueruela, 2003). In addition, I examined how the concept of modality emerged and proceeded. By focusing students’ attention in Negueruela’s (2003) Concept of Mood in Spanish orienting chart in a top down fashion, students were able to strengthen their theoretical understanding in practical activity while still accessing empirical knowledge, and eventually generalizing its use in new contexts across nominal, adjectival and adverbial clauses. At the definition level, Gal’perin’s Systemic-theoretical instruction promoted emergence and progress of their conceptual understanding from perceptual to semantic. At the discourse level, students’ theoretically based semantic understanding had a positive impact as revealed in student’s discourse progress throughout tasks. At the verbalization level, semantic, abstract and systematic verbalizations showed students’ emergence of awareness of the interrelated categories of modality. The conceptual category of anticipation was appropriately verbalized and contextualized 68% of the time. The absence of quality verbalizations referring to a specific conceptual category in some students lead me to conclude that students did not fully understand the meaning of some conceptual categories. On the contrary, their presence in any of the tasks showed emergence of conceptual meaning(s) in appropriate contexts, further appropriate recontextualization may provide full awareness and control.