The current study examined the relationship between sexual content in popular pop, rap, and R&B music videos and female consumers’ body image, self-objectification, the objectification of other women, and self-esteem. The current study had two main hypotheses: (1) exposure to sexual content in music videos would be negatively correlated with women’s body image, self-objectification, and the objectification of other women and (2) Women’s body image and self-objectification would mediate the relationship between exposure to sexual content in music videos and self-esteem. Participants included 308 female college students who answered questions related to the study aims online. Exposure to sexual content in music videos was estimated by the use of self-report viewing habits and content analysis using the frequency method of popular songs performed by artists highly rated by participants. Results indicated that there was a negative association between exposure to sexual content in R&B music videos and participants’ objectification of other women as well as exposure to sexual content in rap music videos was associated with negative body image. Results also indicated that exposure to sexual content in rap music videos was related to increased self-objectification, which, in turn was related to decreased self-esteem among participants. Negative body image was also found to be related to decreased self-esteem among participants.

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Utilizing an Afrocentric methodological framework, this dissertation research seeks to examine the general public perceptions of African American women as reflected in rap music videos, and to determine how African American females perceive the images that are presented of them in rap music videos. This study explores Black women's representation through analyses of top ten rap music videos from January to September 2010 and conceptualizes the effects of these representations on Black female viewers. This study also explores the reception of Black women's images in rap music videos as they are potentially exported to other cultures. This project is a multi-method examination including questionnaires and focus group sessions, exploring the effect of rap music video content on the representation of African American women, society's perceptions of African American females, and how when given an opportunity to construct their own media image, how would African women be represented. / African American Studies

No / There is an increasing interest in modelling of agents interacting as crowd and a simulation of such scenarios that map to real-life situations. This paper presents a generic state-based abstract model for crowd behaviour that can be mapped onto different agent-based systems. In particular, the abstract model is mapped into the simulation framework NetLogo. We have used the model to simulate a real-life case study of high density diverse crowd such as the Hajj ritual at the mosque in Mecca (Makkah). The computational model is based on real data extracted from videos of the ritual. We also present a methodology for extracting significant data, parameters, and patterns of behaviour from real-world videos that has been used as an early stage validation to demonstrate that the obtained simulations are realistic.

Traditional methods of teaching (i.e., didactic reading and lecture) remain the primary way instruction is delivered in construction management (CM) classrooms. This is true despite a growing body of literature promoting more contemporary, student-centered pedagogies that offer improvements over traditional teaching models. One of these is object-based learning (OBL), a student-centered approach that uses digital learning objects (LOs), such as videos, images, animations, mobile apps, and educational games, to facilitate deep and engaging learning experiences. One of the most common types of LO is instructional videos. Over the past quarter century, abundant research has been conducted in the field of computer science to advance the quality and reach of instructional video LOs. In contrast, a relatively small amount of research has been dedicated to understanding them in terms of their pedagogical efficacy. This is especially true for the field of CM. Very little empirical research currently exists at the intersection of CM and OBL. This dissertation examines the ability of supplemental instructional videos (SIVs) — a specific type of instructional video that complements other forms of instruction, including in-person teaching, readings, and group work, to deliver a full learning experience — to improve both the performance and the quality of the learning experience for undergraduate CM students. The first chapter of the dissertation is introductory, providing information about the major themes of the dissertation including construction management education, OBL, SIVs, and flipped classrooms. The second chapter explores the foundational learning theories that support OBL in a flipped CM classroom. A theoretical framework is proposed that can be used by teachers to guide them as they tailor their own approach for using instructional videos. The third chapter presents an interdisciplinary synthesis of best practices for the design and development of SIVs. Using these best practices, I document the production process of SIVs for an undergraduate CM course called Residential Construction Technologies. The fourth and fifth chapters cover a study in which the SIVs I developed were used as teaching aids for pre-class readings in Residential Construction Technologies. Chapter Four centers on a repeated measures experiment that was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the SIVs at improving student performance. Chapter Five uses surveys and interviews to understand student perceptions of the SIVs. Overall, I found that the SIVs had little measurable effect on improving the student's grades. However, overwhelmingly, the students reported that they valued having the videos, and felt that they helped with their understanding of unfamiliar or complicated course topics. Chapter Six concludes the dissertation with a short synthesis of all chapters and summary of their major themes and findings. / Doctor of Philosophy / Increasingly, teacher-made instructional videos are being used as educational tools in university classrooms. Unfortunately, not much guidance is available to help teachers with this task, and many of the videos being produced today are both low quality and ineffective. This dissertation's purpose is to help teachers find an efficient way to produce effective and appealing instructional videos for their specific learning audiences. Although this work was executed in a construction management (CM) context, teachers in many fields can benefit from the research. The first major accomplishment of the dissertation is an educational framework that teachers can use to incorporate instructional videos in their own curriculums. Next, a collection of the current best-practice guidelines for the design and development of instructional videos was assembled and explained. Using the guidelines for ourselves, I produced twelve short videos on various construction topics to be used in an undergraduate CM course called Residential Construction Technologies. The videos were designed to accompany readings that the students were assigned to complete before coming to class. To understand if the videos were effective teaching aids, I conducted an experiment to measure whether the videos made a difference to the students' grades. Additionally, I asked the students with a survey and interviews to describe how they felt about the videos. Overall, I found that the videos had little impact in improving the student's scores. However, overwhelmingly, the students reported that they valued and appreciated having the videos and they felt that they helped with the reading topics.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of learner control when using interactive video as a training tool. Food service managers (H=60) were randomly assigned to two groups, experimental and control. Each group was trained on the subject matter of food service sanitation following the program developed by the National Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation entitled, Applied Foodservice Sanitation: A Coursebook. Students of the control group were trained by the traditional, lecture-pupil technique (LPl. students of the experimental group were trained via interactive video (IV). The students of the experimental group were further randomly assigned to subgroups; limited interactive (L-I) and fully-interactive (F-I). Immediately following training, all students were given a review of the subject matter and then took the certification exam. Using t-tests to analyze scores between groups and multiple regressions to analyze the effect of time on score fc,r the experimental groups, effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability of score based on time-to-train were measured. The findings indicated that the IV program was as effective as the traditional technique and was significantly more efficient. The multiple regression analysis revealed that time was not a predictor of score; however, when students increased their interactivity while using IV programs, learning (effectiveness) increased. Interactive video programs that are designed to be limited-interactive are as effective and can be as efficient as fully-interactive programs. students who trained in small groups tended to score equally with students trained individually. / Ed. D.

In order to produce an Interactive MultiMedia Application (IMMA), the developer of that application needs a set of tools for such tasks as capturing, modifying, editing, sequencing, synchronizing, archiving, versioning, and backing up. The heart of this set of tools is an Integrator which can be used by the developer to assemble various multimedia objects into an IMMA and provide the end-user with ways of interacting with that IMMA. This work focuses on that essential tool - the multimedia Integrator. The Integrator uses a graphical interface that exploits a notation like that of a musical score. The IMMA produced by the Integrator is inherently parallel and includes elements required to define the asynchronous nature of applications, along with a standard set of multimedia objects. The timing and synchronization representation used by the Integrator is based on the model presented by the HyTime standard group. We also have explored the representation of our objects and their attributes according to the Multimedia Hypermedia Expert Group (MHEG) standard model as defined by the MHEG committee. This work formalizes the design of the Integrator and its constructs using the HyTime Draft International Standard (ISO/IEC DIS 10744). Multimedia application objects and their attributes are described, timing and synchronization aspects of the Integrator and some examples of IMMAs are explained, and several of these examples using the HyTime document structuring language are given. / Master of Science