Motivated by challenges and opportunities in nutritional epidemiology and food journaling, ubiquitous computing researchers have proposed numerous techniques for automated dietary monitoring (ADM) over the years. Although progress has been made, a truly practical system that can automatically recognize what people eat in real-world settings remains elusive. This dissertation addresses the problem of ADM by focusing on practical eating moment detection. Eating detection is a foundational element of ADM since automatically recognizing when a person is eating is required before identifying what and how much is being consumed. Additionally, eating detection can serve as the basis for new types of dietary self-monitoring practices such as semi-automated food journaling. In this thesis, I show that everyday eating moments such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner can be automatically detected in real-world settings by opportunistically leveraging sensors in practical, off-the-shelf wearable devices. I refer to this instrumentation approach as "commodity sensing". The work covered by this thesis encompasses a series of experiments I conducted with a total of 106 participants where I explored a variety of sensing modalities for automatic eating moment detection. The modalities studied include first-person images taken with wearable cameras, ambient sounds, and on-body inertial sensors. I discuss the extent to which first-person images reflecting everyday experiences can be used to identify eating moments using two approaches: human computation, and by employing a combination of state-of-the-art machine learning and computer vision techniques. Furthermore, I also describe privacy challenges that arise with first-person photographs. Next, I present results showing how certain sounds associated with eating can be recognized and used to infer eating activities. Finally, I elaborate on findings from three studies focused on the use of on-body inertial sensors (head and wrists) to recognize eating moments both in a semi-controlled laboratory setting and in real-world conditions. I conclude by relating findings and insights to practical applications, and highlighting opportunities for future work.

Depression, anxiety, and stress in the college undergraduate population have been steadily rising over the past decade. Trait self-compassion has been shown to be significantly and negatively related to perceptions of stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Research has indicated that self-compassion inductions are effective in increasing state self-compassion. In general, selfcompassion inductions are designed to be easily self-administered. Current research on Internetbased interventions indicates that self-administered therapeutic techniques are effective in reducing self-reported depression, anxiety, and stress. The goal of the current study was to compare the effects of self-compassionate journaling, narrative journaling, and a true control group on depression, anxiety, stress, and self-compassion. There was not a significant time x induction interaction, nor did time or condition have a significant effect on outcomes.

Recently, 44% of college students reported increased levels of stress, and 28% reported feeling overwhelmed (e.g., The American College Health Association: 2004). Stress has been linked to a variety of physical and emotional problems (e.g., Matheny & McCarthy, 2000). A number of studies (e.g., Matheny et al., 1993; Matheny et al., 1986) have identified coping resources as helpful in decreasing the negative effects of stress. However, there are still some questions in the literature regarding effective ways to increase coping resources. Reading written feedback about coping resources is one way to increase individuals’ awareness about their coping resources (e.g., Matheny et al., 1993). Another intervention that has been shown to have positive and lasting effects with regard to health and well being is therapeutic writing (e.g. Smyth, 1998). While there are studies that point toward writing being beneficial to coping, there are currently no studies that have specifically connected writing interventions with increased coping resources. The purpose of this study was to determine if individuals could increase coping resources and life satisfaction, as well as decrease perceptions of stress and depression by reading about their coping resources and/or writing about them. One hundred and four college students were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Condition one was the control condition (i.e. no treatment), condition two received and read written feedback about their current coping resources, and condition three received written feedback about their current coping resources, and wrote about them at three different times. All students were given the following measures at the beginning and end of the study to assess for changes in their perceptions of stress and coping, as well as depression and satisfaction with life: the Coping Resources Inventory for Stress (Matheny, Curlette, Aycock, Pugh, & Taylor, 1992), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), and the Satisfaction with Life scale (Diener, Emmons, Larasen, & Griffen, 1985). The results showed that reading written feedback about coping resources positively and significantly affected the overall coping level of females. However, their satisfaction with life, perception of stress, and depression levels remained unchanged. For males, reading written feedback did not significantly change their overall coping resources or any of the other variables. Writing about stress and coping did not significantly benefit males or females on any variable. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

abstract: ABSTRACT Learning world history has the potential to develop adolescents into thoughtful, active citizens. This is especially true when students are taught in ways that engage them with complex issues and help them make connections between what they learn and their personal goals and experiences. However, instructional time in social studies is limited because of the current emphasis on standardized achievement testing in other content areas. Furthermore, in the specific field of world history, the scope of material covered, coupled with debate over what should be taught, has made it difficult to present a curriculum that is meaningful and relevant to students. As a result, the study of world history may be seen as tangential or incoherent. The purpose of this action research study was to introduce an innovation aimed at helping students think deeply and find personal relevance in the study of world history. Specifically, visual imagery and reflective journaling were used to help students to become proficient in historical thinking and to fully engage in the study of world history. The study was developed according to a mixed-methods design: the quantitative data collection tools were pre- and posttests and a student survey, and the qualitative data collection tools included discussion transcripts, reflective journals, student-created presentations, and observations. Results showed that the use of images and reflective journaling enabled students to develop some critical thinking skills, such as making claims, supporting claims with evidence, and considering divergent perspectives. Furthermore, students' awareness of their connections to the world around them increased, as did student performance on tests about historical events and concepts. Unfortunately, students did not reach proficiency in factual knowledge on post-tests in the class, despite these increases. However, this study highlights the benefits of explicitly connecting students to historical thinking through the use of images and journaling that allow students to explore their own thoughts and deductions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2015

abstract: Interest in health and wellness has significantly increased in today's society. Living a healthy and active lifestyle is suggested to promote overall physical and psychological well-being. This study explored the effects of wearing a Fitbit Zip activity monitor and the impact of expressing mindfulness on levels of physical activity. It was predicted that expressing mindfulness, as measured by the use of present-tense language during the daily emotional writing task, would moderate the relationship between wearing a Fitbit Zip activity monitor and change in physical activity. Specifically, it was hypothesized daily monitoring would only lead to increased activity among those higher in mindful language. Over the course of five days, participants were asked to wear a Fitbit Zip and to complete a daily questionnaire and writing task at the end of each evening. On the last day of the study, participants completed a follow-up assessment, which suggested that the combination of wearing a Fitbit Zip activity monitor and expressing more mindfulness throughout the week increased levels of physical activity. An important issue for future research is to conduct this study for a longer period of time in order to get more variability in the data. However, despite the limitations of the design, these findings suggest that activity monitoring may be a promising way to promote healthy lifestyle change. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Psychology 2014

In Chapter One, a systematic literature review was conducted to analyze intervention studies that measured student- teacher relationships (STR). STR are important for all students (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, & Howes, 2002; Hughes, Luo, Kwok, & Loyd, 2008; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Students who have positive relationships that include high levels of closeness with their teachers have better academic, behavioral, and social emotional outcomes (Mihalas, Morse, Allsopp, & McHatton, 2009; Roorda, Koomen, Spilt & Oort, 2011). In addition, students who have relationships with their teacher that are high in conflict are more likely to demonstrate negative behavior, social skills and academic achievement (Murray & Greenberg, 2001; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Fourteen intervention studies were synthesized in this systematic literature review to identify strategies that can be used in the classroom to improve STR. Ten strategies were represented in two or more studies that had a positive impact on STR: (a) specific praise and positive feedback, (b) direct student intervention, (c) de-escalation by ignoring or redirecting, (d) increased one-to-one time, (e) helping students change their representational models, (f) adjusting the teachers representational models, (g) tangible reinforcement, (I) parent involvement, and (j) morning meetings. One intervention in Chapter One that improved STR was dialogue journaling (DJ). DJ is an ongoing, personal, and interactive written conversation between the teacher and student. Previous research suggests that DJ has the potential to help students and teachers improve their relationships as they develop a personal connection that is mutually respectful. DJ also has the potential to reduce students’ disruptive behavior, improve their interactions with the teacher, and enhance their writing skills. In Chapter Two, a multiple baseline across participants single-case design study was conducted to examine the relationship between DJ and disruptive behavior, teacher praise, writing length, writing quality, and STR with four middle school students with emotional and behavior disorders in a therapeutic school. Students responded to journal prompts or wrote to a topic of their choosing during baseline and maintenance. During intervention, students and teachers corresponded in writing through the dialogue journals. A functional relation was found between DJ and disruptive behavior, but not between DJ and teacher praise, STR or writing skills. However, there was an effect demonstrated between DJ and writing length for two students. In addition, three of the four students reported an increased perception of teacher-student relationships. Students and teachers expressed satisfaction with the intervention. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

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Der Vortrag stellt zwei Filesysteme aus der kommerziellen Welt vor die derzeit auf Linux portiert werden: JFS von IBM und XFS von SGI. Es wird ein Ueberblick ueber die beiden Dateissysteme, ihre Eigenschaften und ihre Portiertung gegeben.

This project investigates the intersection between reflection through journaling and Artificial Intelligence (AI), more specifically Conversational Agents (CA) in interaction design. Journaling together with a CA is a relatively unexplored area in HCI and Interaction Design, especially when studying the experiential aspect. Furthermore, designing for reflection has been a rising topic within HCI and Interaction Design. The project used a modified version of the double diamond model as a design process to research, create and test a concept for multimodal interactive journaling using a conversational agent. The results suggest that conversational agents have the potential to play an influential and positive role in evoking reflection in an individual through collaborative and conversational interaction. The project provides design recommendations for designing an interactive journaling experience with a conversational agent and an example of how designers can design using interaction, AI, and language as a design material. The project contributes insights to designing artifacts for reflection and how a design process can be designed to design for AI and conversational interfaces.

Evolution is the central organizing theory of biology. Without evolutionary theory, biology becomes a somewhat tangential assemblage of facts about living organisms, which is precisely how it is viewed by many students. Many teachers teach evolution in a limited capacity or avoid it entirely due to fear of opposition, lack of confidence in their own understanding, or lack of acceptance of the theory themselves. When evolution is not taught, or is not accepted, it cannot be utilized to make sense of the field, and is quickly forgotten by students. While some studies have shown a correlation between instruction about evolution and acceptance of evolution, many have not. Understanding which instructional factors, both pedagogical and conceptual, contribute to increases in evolution acceptance are paramount if we are going to make biology education more cohesive and applicable beyond the context of the course itself. To better understand what these factors may be, I utilized curriculum that I developed previously to teach introductory biology to non-biology majors that incorporated evolution as the organizing structure and appeared to produce considerable increases in acceptance of evolution based on the lack of hostility and pushback from the students in the course. I verified that the curriculum as taught produced increases in acceptance of evolution using the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) instrument as a measure of acceptance, and by asking students on the final exam what their position had been before instruction and if it had changed as a result of the course. Both measures revealed a considerable increase in evolution acceptance. Using a full factorial experimental design, tested three major pedagogical approaches that have all been hypothesized to contribute to increasing evolution acceptance: Constructivist-inspired vs Behaviorist-inspired, active vs less active instruction, and reflexive journaling vs not journaling. While all possible combinations of treatments showed statistically significant increases in evolution acceptance, there was no statistically significant difference between any of the treatments or combinations of treatments. Also, using Thematic Analysis, we coded and analyzed the responses that students provided as to the concepts from class that played a role in their having changed or not changed their positions on evolution as reported on the final exams, and in their reflexive journals which provided a valuable window into the concepts that we might emphasize or choose to remove or deemphasize in the future to maximize the probability that student acceptance of evolution will increase following instruction.