An increasing number of students are learning in classrooms that employ electronic presentations designed in PowerPoint and other similar software programs. The design of the slides in such electronic presentations has an impact upon student learning, and ample recommendations are made within the literature as to specific strategies that serve as presumed best practices for the design of those slides that will best facilitate learning. While most of such recommended strategies are well supported by cognitive theory – they are considered to positively impact learning by contributing to decreased cognitive load, leveraged dual coding, and facilitated active processing, for example – many of them are not supported by empirical evidence that they do in fact enhance learning. Some of the recommended best practice strategies unsupported by empirical evidence include the use of progressive disclosure, dimming, and highlighting of text instead of full disclosure of text. Through the development and use of four separate electronic presentations, each of which was designed to employ one of these specific strategies (full disclosure, progressive disclosure, dimming, and highlighting), this study examined the impact of such strategies on student learning. The findings of this study indicate that significant differences are not evident in learning among the four different strategies. As such, this initial foray into the examination of the effectiveness of these four strategies indicates that any of the four strategies may be used with equal impact in the design of electronic presentations by instructors who want to help foster student learning. / Doctor of Philosophy / An increasing number of students are learning in classrooms that employ electronic presentations designed in PowerPoint and other similar software programs. The design of the slides in such electronic presentations has an impact upon student learning, and ample recommendations are made within the literature as to specific strategies that serve as presumed best practices for the design of those slides that will best facilitate learning. While most of such recommended strategies are well supported by cognitive theory, many of them are not supported by empirical evidence that they do in fact enhance learning. Some of the recommended best practice strategies unsupported by empirical evidence include the use of progressive disclosure, dimming, and highlighting of text instead of full disclosure of text. Through the development and use of four separate electronic presentations, each of which was designed to employ one of these specific strategies (full disclosure, progressive disclosure, dimming, and highlighting), this study examined the impact of such strategies on student learning. The findings of this study indicate that significant differences are not evident in learning among the four different strategies. As such, this initial foray into the examination of the effectiveness of these four strategies indicates that any of the four strategies may be used with equal impact in the design of electronic presentations by instructors who want to help foster student learning.

Cette thèse a pour objet de définir la nature du lien entre l'utilisation de l’écrit numérique en messagerie instantanée et la qualité de la production orthographique. C’est pourquoi il était nécessaire de comprendre ce qui se produit sur le plan cognitif lorsque des adolescents en contact quasi quotidien avec la norme produisent de l’écrit normé et numérique. Nous avons poursuivi le travail de recherche engagé en proposant une analyse en deux temps (le premier visant à définir plus amplement l’écrit numérique en messagerie instantanée ; le second à identifier la nature du lien évoqué supra). Dans un premier temps, nous avons défini (a) l’écrit numérique lorsqu’il est employé par les adolescents, identifié (b) les connaissances potentiellement impactées à l’origine des modifications (qui sont les formes propres à l’écrit numérique), et tenté de (c) de savoir si le contexte de production influe sur la performance des adolescents. Dans un second temps, nous avons tenté de déterminer (d) si le niveau orthographique a un lien avec la production de modifications, (e) si certaines modifications sont plus à risque que d’autres, et (f) si l’exposition à l’écrit numérique en messagerie instantanée a des conséquences sur la qualité de la performance orthographique. Pour les besoins de cette thèse, les méthodologies appliquées ont été l’analyse de corpus, la comparaison de performances en fonction du support (normé et numérique), et en fonction du groupe (e.g., francophones et anglophones). Les premiers résultats ont d’abord montré que (a) l’écrit numérique en messagerie instantanée est plus proche du code oral que du code écrit, que (b) les connaissances potentiellement impactées (relatives à la valeur des lettres) sont celles qui permettent à la fois de produire de l’orthographe et des modifications, et que (c) le contexte de production (entre francophones et anglophones) influence autant la performance que la profondeur orthographique d’une langue. La seconde série de résultats a montré que (d) les adolescents qui disposent d’un niveau orthographique élevé produisent davantage de modifications que les adolescents qui disposent d’un niveau orthographique faible, (e) que les modifications qui peuvent être confondues avec des erreurs orthographiques sont plus à risque que celles qui ne le peuvent pas, et (f) que l’exposition à l’écrit numérique en messagerie instantanée chez les adolescents dont le niveau orthographique est faible et dont les connaissances orthographiques sont toujours en phase de consolidation a des conséquences négatives sur leur performance orthographique. Pour conclure, la nature de ce lien diffère en fonction du niveau orthographique des participants (même si le contexte de production influence la performance de façon inconditionnelle). D’un côté, elle s’avère négative pour les adolescents dont le niveau orthographique est faible et dont les connaissances orthographiques sont en cours de consolidation. La phonétisation de l’écrit, la production de modifications qui peuvent être confondues avec des erreurs orthographiques, et le risque associé lorsque les connaissances relatives à la valeur des lettres ne sont pas consolidées semblent être en cause. De l’autre, elle s’avère neutre pour les adolescents dont le niveau orthographique est élevé. / This thesis aims at defining the nature of the link between the use of digital writing in instant messaging and the quality of spelling performance. That is why it was necessary to understand what happens from a cognitive perspective when adolescents – who are exposed to the standards of spelling almost every day – produce standard and digital writing. We carried on with the research work that has been performed so far by dividing our analysis into two sections (the first that aims at deeply defining digital writing in instant messaging; the second at identifying the nature of the link that has been mentioned supra). First, we have defined (a) digital writing when it was used by adolescents, identified (b) the kind of knowledge which may be impacted and that allows producing modifications (which are the modified words in digital writing), and tried (c) to know whether the context of production has an influence on adolescent performance. Second, we tried to know (d) whether the spelling level is related to the production of modification, (e) whether using some modifications is more at risk than using others, and (f) whether being exposed to digital writing in instant messaging has consequences on the quality of spelling performance. For this thesis, we used different types of methodology by analyzing corpuses, comparing performances by taking the media into account (standard or digital) or the group (e.g., French speaking and English speaking). The first part of results showed that (a) digital writing in instant messaging is closer to the oral code than the written code, that (b) the kind of knowledge that may be impacted (related to the value of letters) corresponds to the one which allows producing both spelling and modifications, and that (c) the context of production (between French speaking and English speaking adolescents) has as much influence on performance than orthographic depth of a language. The second part of results showed that (d) the adolescents with a good spelling level produce more modifications than adolescents with a low spelling level, that (e) the modifications that can be confused with misspellings are more at risk than those that cannot, and that (f) being exposed to digital writing in instant messaging for adolescents whose spelling level is low and whose spelling knowledge is still being consolidated has negative consequences on spelling performance. To finish, the nature of the link differs according to the spelling level of participants (even if the context of production has an influence on performance unconditionally). On the one hand, it is proved to be negative for adolescents whose spelling level is low and whose spelling knowledge is still being consolidated. The phonetisation of writing, the production of modifications that can be confused with misspellings, and the associated risk when knowledge related to the value of letters is not yet consolidated have something to do with it. On the other hand, it is proved to be neutral for adolescents with a high spelling level.

IH-35 is a major north-south interstate highway across the State of Texas. It is an important business corridor, conveniently connecting four large Texas cities, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio, as well as facilitating trade between Mexico and the United States. During construction of the SH-71/IH-35 Interchange, the Austin District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has had to close the main lanes of IH-35 and re-route traffic. Three main lane closures happened during three weekends in 2011. During those closures, a parallel route, the SH-130 toll road, was made free to travelers. TxDOT provided both pre-trip and en-route information about the closure. They used radio, TV, portable message sign (PMS), and dynamic message signs (DMS) to inform commuters about the closure. To inform travelers passing through Austin about the closure and the existing alternative (SH-130 was toll free), they even collaborated with Dallas and San Antonio TxDOT district personnel. However, usage of SH130 was less than anticipated, and there was significant traffic queuing on IH-35. In this study, we tried to document the quantity of traffic that used the alternative path during the IH-35 closure and explore options for relieving delays on IH-35 during future closures. / text

Depuis l’aube des civilisations, l’humanité a essayé d’exprimer ses pensées. Pour exprimer ces pensées, l’homme utilise des langages. Les langages peuvent prendre différentes formes qui vont de la parole à l’image en passant par l’écriture. Pour garantir une cohérence et la compréhension de ce qui constitue une double traduction, celle de l’émission d’un message et celle de la réception d’un message, la philosophie a elle aussi tenté d’expliquer la signification de cette suite de caractère que constituent les mots, les phrases, les livres et des discours. Pour arriver à garantir cette cohérence de la signification d’un message, les philosophes ont généralement utilisé des méthodes analytiques dont Descartes a été le premier à décrire les principes. Nous avons donc appliqué ces principes aux différentes philosophies pour arriver à une impasse. L’analyse ne nous permet pas de garantir la compréhension de la signification d’un message. C’est l’intelligence artificielle qui nous a offert une solution. En effet, les travaux de Simon H. A. nous ont conduits à ne plus considérer la signification comme un système simple ou compliqué, mais comme un système complexe. Les méthodes appliquées aux systèmes complexes sont différentes des méthodes appliquées aux autres systèmes. Pour garantir la cohérence entre pensée et langage nous donc avons modélisé la signification au moyen de la systémique. Sur cette base, nous avons ouvert des réflexions sur les mécanismes que le cerveau utilise pour gérer la signification et appliquer notre modélisation à la recherche d’information sur internet non plus sur la base de mots, mais celle de leur signification. / Since the dawn of civilisation, humanity has tried to express its thoughts. To express these thoughts, man uses languages. Languages can take different forms, ranging from speech to images and writing. To ensure consistency and understanding of what constitutes a double translation, that of the transmission of a message and that of the receipt of a message, philosophy has also tried to explain the meaning of this sequence of characters that constitutes words, sentences, books, and speeches. To guarantee this coherence of the meaning of a message, philosophers used analytical methods, of whom Descartes was the first to describe the principles. We have applied these principles to different philosophies to reach an impasse. Analysis does not allow us to guarantee the understanding of the meaning of a message. Artificial intelligence that offered us a solution. Indeed, the work of Simon H. A. led us to no longer consider meaning as a simple or complicated system, but as a complex one. The methods applied to complex systems are different from the methods applied to other systems. To guarantee the coherence between thought and language, we have modelled the meaning using systemic. Using this as a base, we began to reflect on the mechanisms the brain uses to manage meaning and apply our modelling to the search for information on the Internet, based, not on words, but on their meaning.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Laura A. Brannon / Two studies address the serious problem of college student binge drinking. Both studies identify factors that improve the effectiveness of public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging responsible drinking presented through a website simulation. Study 1 tested four levels of Message Personalization (i.e., extent to which the PSA targets important aspects of the individual's personality) by comparing the effectiveness of messages matched to the person's Big Five personality traits, their actual self-schema, their ideal self-schema, or a non-personalized control message. Matching to actual self-schema has been found to be effective in past research. However, it was expected that the more thoroughly personalized the message, the more effective it would be. Results revealed that in no instance was the most thoroughly personalized condition (Big Five matched) or the alternate way of matching to schema (ideal self-schema) more effective than the actual self-schema matching. When designing PSAs, there appears to be a threshold of personalization. Research related to testing PSAs discouraging binge drinking should continue to pursue self-schema matching rather than the more complicated Big Five matching. Study 2 tested Person Matching (i.e., whether the PSA matches the person's self-schema type or not) and two types of Context Matching (i.e., whether the PSA matches the Topic or Values of the message context) to determine their relative influence on the effectiveness of the PSA. It was expected that PSAs matched to any of these factors would be more effective than messages not matched, and that Person Matching would be more influential on the PSAs effectiveness than the two types of context matching. Person Matching reduced intentions to drink while staying in/home, but Topic Matching reduced intentions to drink when going out, suggesting that different factors are important for PSAs targeting drinking behavior in different locations. The interaction of Topic Matching and Values Matching indicate that the PSA should not match the message context too closely. Again, there appears to be a matching threshold; increasing the number of factors the message matches does not increase message effectiveness, possibly because it makes the message too redundant with the webpage content.

The world is experiencing a rapid rise in chronic health problems, which places an enormous burden on health care services. Modifiable health behaviors such as physical inactivity are largely responsible for this high prevalence and incidence of chronic diseases. Message tailoring is a well-established approach for constructing health communication and has been shown to increase the persuasiveness of messages in the promotion of healthy behaviors. Message framing is an effective strategy that has been well-studied in psychology over the past 20-plus years across a breadth of health-related behaviors but has received little attention in the nursing research literature. Based on prospect theory, temporal construal theory, and motivational orientation theories, the present study examined how two individual differences factors - consideration of future consequences (CFC) and motivational orientation - combine to moderate temporal proximity and valence framing effects on intentions to increase physical activity. A mail survey was conducted using Dillman's Tailored Design Method. Two hundred and eighteen adults with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to receive one of four versions of a health message aimed to increase regular physical activity. Messages were framed using a 2 (immediate- vs. distal-framed) x 2 (gain- vs. loss-framed) design. After reading the message, participants rated their intention to increase physical activity. They also completed a measure of CFC and two measures of motivational orientation. Participants who read a message with a temporal proximity or valence frame congruent with their CFC or motivational orientation, respectively, did not show greater intentions to increase physical activity when compared to those who read a health message that was incongruent with these individual differences. Plausible explanations for these negative results are considered. Several interesting findings emerged from supplemental analyses. For instance, participants who perceived the health message as more believable tended to have greater intentions to increase physical activity. Suggestions for future research applying message congruence to promote complex health behaviors in at-risk populations are given. Implications of message framing and other message tailoring strategies for nursing research, education, and practice are discussed.

Misinformation remains pervasive in digital platforms, shaping how individuals receive news online. Prior work suggests that credibility perceptions of misinformation can differ based on the modality of the misinformation message. Informed by the MAIN model, this quantitative study conducted two separate 2 (Modality: video or text) x 2 (Social endorsement cues: high vs. low) between-subject experiments to assess the influence of message modality and social endorsement cues on misinformation credibility judgments. The experiments reviewed two different topics of misinformation: artificial intelligence technology malfunction (N = 296) and a cure for cancer (N = 306). Results for Study 1 on artificial intelligent technology malfunction misinformation indicated that participants who viewed the video modality judged a higher perception of source expertise and message credibility. The results of Study 2 suggested that the text presentation of health misinformation prompted higher message elaboration relative to the video conditions. Findings suggest that modality does influence how people judge misinformation messages depending on the subject matter. In addition, source credibility influences how people judge message credibility. The paper concludes with a discussion of theoretical implications and practical applications.

Un défi majeur pour les programmeurs, en particulier pour les novices, est de comprendre les messages d'erreurs émis par le compilateur. Nous nous intéresserons au problème d'affichage de bon message d'erreur de compilation. Dans certains langages, tels que Typer, la vérification du type des expressions est faite lors de la compilation; ce qui oblige le compilateur à déduire les types de certaines ou de toutes les expressions; mais aussi d'envisager la meilleure manière d'écrire le type (dans le langage source) dans un message d'erreur (ce qui est infaisable pour le moment dans Typer). Cependant l'interprétation du type des expressions faite par le compilateur est toujours différente de ce que l'utilisateur aimerait voir en cas d'erreur de compilation. En effet, lorsque le code source est converti en une représentation interne via une fonction complexe (appelée \Code{elaborate}), il peut être difficile de trouver une correspondance entre le type "t\_source" (type du code source) et le type "t\_interne" (type de la représentation interne du code source) en cas d'erreur. Parfois, "t\_source" peut ne pas être disponible ou même n'avoir jamais existé car "t\_interne" a été créé de toute pièce par inférence de type. Il peut donc être difficile de trouver un "t\_source" correspondant, d'autant plus qu'il doit être clair et compréhensible pour le programmeur. En d'autres termes, il n'existe pas d'algorithme déterministe permettant de trouver une représentation naturelle dans le code source correspondant à la représentation interne d'un type. D'où l'importance d'implémenter un système heuristique tel que les algorithmes génétiques ou les réseaux de neurones qui nous donne cette information, permettant ainsi une meilleure affichage du texte des messages d'erreurs. Nous avons donc décidé de travailler sur l'amélioration des messages d'erreur du compilateur Typer, dans sa phase de traduction du langage (interprétation et représentation des différentes expressions dans le langage source) en proposant une approche basée sur les algorithmes génétiques. \\ / A major challenge for programmers, especially for novices, is to understand the error messages issued by the compiler. We are interested in the problem of displaying correct compiler error messages. In some languages, such as Typer, the type checking of expressions is done at compile time; this forces the compiler to deduce the types of some or all expressions; but also to consider the best way to write the type (in the source language) in an error message (which is unfeasible for the moment in Typer). However, the interpretation of the type of expressions made by the compiler is always different from what the user would like to see in case of a compilation error. Indeed, when the source code is converted into an internal representation via a complex function (called ‘elaborate’), it can be difficult to find a correspondence between the type "t_source" (type of the source code) and the type "t_interne" (type of the internal representation of the source code) in case of error. Sometimes, "t_source" may not be available or even have never existed because "t_interne" was created from scratch by type inference. It can therefore be difficult to find a corresponding "source_t", especially since it must be clear and understandable for the programmer. In other words, there is no deterministic algorithm to find a natural representation in the source code corresponding to the internal representation of a type. Hence the importance of implementing a heuristic system such as genetic algorithms or neural networks that gives us this information; thus allowing a better display of the text of error messages. We therefore decided to work on the improvement of the error messages of the Typer compiler, in its language translation phase (interpretation and representation of the different expressions in the source language) by proposing an approach based on genetic algorithms.

No description available.

As time progresses, computer architects continue to create faster and more complex microprocessors using techniques such as out-of-order execution, branch prediction, dynamic scheduling, and predication. While these techniques enable greater performance, they also increase the complexity and silicon area of the design. This creates larger development and testing times. The shrinking feature sizes associated with newer technology increase wire resistance and signal propagation delays, further complicating large designs. One potential solution is the Single-Chip Message-Passing (SCMP) Parallel Computer, developed at Virginia Tech. SCMP makes use of an architecture where a number of simple processors are tiled across a single chip and connected by a fast interconnection network. The system is designed to take advantage of thread-level parallelism and to keep wire traces short in preparation for even smaller integrated circuit feature sizes. This thesis presents the implementation of the MPI (Message-Passing Interface) communications library on top of SCMP's hardware communication support. Emphasis is placed on the specific needs of this system with regards to MPI. For example, MPI is designed to operate between heterogeneous systems; however, in the SCMP environment such support is unnecessary and wastes resources. The SCMP network is also designed such that messages can be sent with very low latency, but with cooperative multitasking it is difficult to assure a timely response to messages. Finally, the low-level network primitives have no support for send operations that occur before the receiver is prepared and that functionality is necessary for MPI support. / Master of Science