Acoustic Ecology and Sound Mapping the University of Central Florida Main Campus

Acoustic Ecology and Sound Mapping the University of Central Florida Main Campus explores the intersection of place and space, sound studies and acoustic ecology, visualization, and archives. The end result consists of a collection of soundwalk and stationary recordings conducted from 2016-2019 at the University of Central Florida (UCF) main campus in Orlando presented as an online Sound Map. This archive previously did not exist and provides a snapshot of the various sounds heard throughout the campus as well as a starting point and context for future research into this still-emerging field of acoustic ecology and sound studies. While the individual recordings help to provide a sense of place at the university, they also represent a benchmark from a public history standpoint to interpret sonic change over time

Student Stress Exposure: A Daily Path Perspective on the Connections among Cognition, Place, and the Socioenvironment

Few health studies of psychological stress have examined individual socio-environmental stressors in the field at a daily path scale. An individual's conception of a stressful experience is inextricably linked to the process of cognitive appraisals, which are the meanings assigned to social situations and environments. Directly assessing individual stress exposures in the field as they are experienced requires mobile measures that are people-based, rather than using place- or activity-based proxies. The integration of time geography and psychology's theory of daily hassles/uplifts allow for the measurement of stressors from a geographic perspective. This study advances research on socio-environmental health exposures by (1) focusing on measuring a cognitive health exposure; (2) using mobile methods to acquire quantitative and qualitative field data; and (3) geo-referencing physiological responses to examine daily path patterns and commonalities in stress exposure. In this study, spatiotemporal paths linked with physiological measurement are combined with individual narratives on stress, place, and social situations to examine socio-environmental factors that influence stress exposures. Mobile measurement tools include wristwatch Global Positioning System (GPS) units with synched heart rate monitors and digital audio recorders. Stress as operationalized in this study is a negative cognitive appraisal and related physiological reaction to internal dialogues and the surrounding socio-environment assessed through heart rate reactivity (HRR) and individual accounts. Measuring geographically referenced physiological responses and personal accounts is a novel field approach that captures the acute stressful episodes that are a part of daily life. Results show that there is a difference between measuring stress through a static metric like the Student-Life Stress Inventory (SSI) and assessing stress with mobile self-report and monitored measures. The negative correlation between HRR and SSI total score appears to highlight the divide between fundamentally different measurement methods for stress exposures; active versus passive. Regardless of the relation with previous psychometrics the mobile measures used in this research produced a 75 percent concordance between the participants self-reported stress episodes and monitored heart rate (HR) logs. HRR episodes that build in intensity and then ebb toward the end are more common than those that have an abrupt beginning and ending point. The incorporation of ethnographic audio diaries and the participant survey provided insight about the influence of academic pressures on socio-environmental contexts relating to stress experiences

Providing and assessing intelligible explanations in autonomous driving

Intelligent vehicles with automated driving functionalities provide many benefits, but also instigate serious concerns around human safety and trust. While the automotive industry has devoted enormous resources to realising vehicle autonomy, there exist uncertainties as to whether the technology would be widely adopted by society. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are complex systems, and in challenging driving scenarios, they are likely to make decisions that could be confusing to end-users. As a way to bridge the gap between this technology and end-users, the provision of explanations is generally being put forward. While explanations are considered to be helpful, this thesis argues that explanations must also be intelligible (as obligated by the GDPR Article 12) to the intended stakeholders, and should make causal attributions in order to foster confidence and trust in end-users. Moreover, the methods for generating these explanations should be transparent for easy audit. To substantiate this argument, the thesis proceeds in four steps: First, we adopted a mixed method approach (in a user study $N=101$) to elicit passengers' requirements for effective explainability in diverse autonomous driving scenarios. Second, we explored different representations, data structures and driving data annotation schemes to facilitate intelligible explanation generation and general explainability research in autonomous driving. Third, we developed transparent algorithms for posthoc explanation generation. These algorithms were tested within a collision risk assessment case study and an AV navigation case study, using the Lyft Level5 dataset and our new SAX dataset---a dataset that we have introduced for AV explainability research. Fourth, we deployed these algorithms in an immersive physical simulation environment and assessed (in a lab study $N=39$) the impact of the generated explanations on passengers' perceived safety while varying the prediction accuracy of an AV's perception system and the specificity of the explanations. The thesis concludes by providing recommendations needed for the realisation of more effective explainable autonomous driving, and provides a future research agenda

Emotion Socialization via Mother-Child Conversations about Past Emotional Events

This study examined how mothers (N = 24) socialized emotions in their 7- to 10-year-old children during conversations about past positive and negative events. Mothers completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) to rate the extent to which they experienced negative and positive affect. Conversations were coded for content, themes, mothers\u27 and children\u27s narrative strategies, life lessons, and statements that foster self-esteem. These patterns are discussed across mothers and children. Mothers and their children were collaborative in their discussions of past emotional events. That is, they tended to emphasize similar narrative processes during their conversations, regardless of emotional valence. Conversations also were coded for mothers\u27 approach of emotions and event details, which then were correlated with mothers\u27 affect levels. There were no significant findings for happy conversations. Mothers with higher (i.e., a little) negative affect tended to socialize their children to be less detail-focused when discussing past negative events. Maternal affect was only related to mothers\u27 amount of speaking during happy conversations, with mothers with higher positive affect using fewer conversational exchanges. Overall, the strategies that mothers in this dissertation used during the conversations with their children tend to enhance children\u27s social competence development (e.g., modeling, coaching, reacting; Denham, 1998). The children in this dissertation displayed skills that are associated with success in multiple socioemotional domains (e.g., identify and discuss causes and consequences for their and others\u27 emotions; Fivush, Reese, & Haden, 2006). These data were collected as part of a faculty member\u27s ongoing project

Accidental injury, risk-taking behaviour and the social circumstances in which young people (aged 12-24) live: a systematic review

In industrialised countries such as England and Wales, unintended injury (which ranges from sprains in sport to hospitalisation and death due to drugs or transport crashes) is the leading cause of death in children aged 0 to 14 years, and a major cause of death in young adults aged 15 to 24. It is also a major cause of ill health and disability in these age groups. There is a large body of research on young people and their perceived propensity to take risks. Common sense suggests that an increased willingness to place oneself at risk will result an increased likelihood of physical injury. However, given that pathways to injury are complex and not always well understood, the UK Department of Health commissioned a large systematic review to examine this multifaceted issue. Drug use • The review found that the use of drugs is associated with an increased risk of accidental death among young people and that 12–24 year olds are less at risk than those immediately older. However, risk of death increases with length of drug use, so there is value in targeting interventions at this age group. • Many more young men than women die from drug overdoses, because more men take drugs, but those women who do use drugs are at higher risk. Certain other groups of young people are more at risk than others. These include young people in deprived areas and men who have recently been released from prison. • There was a clear disjunction of views between young people who used drugs and those who did not. The young people who did not take drugs regarded them as risky and stated that media images about possible negative consequences dissuaded them from trying them, while those who did tended not to believe ‘official’ messages about possible harms and did not perceive taking drugs as being dangerous. Cannabis in particular was singled out as possibly being good for you, with some young people believing it to be cheaper than alcohol. The recent reclassification of cannabis and the subsequent debate may have helped to reinforce this view. • The burden of the more serious injuries – as demonstrated by the mortality statistics – is carried by young people in the lower socio-economic groups. • In road injuries, drugs are found in the bloodstream of more young fatal accident victims than older age groups; however, it is difficult to assess whether drugs actually contributed to the accident. • Driving on cannabis was thought to be more acceptable than drink-driving and not thought to be dangerous. Alcohol use • Almost everyone admitted to hospital for alcohol poisoning is aged between 11 and 17. After a sharp peak among 14 and 15 year olds, hospital admissions for injuries with alcohol involvement decline slowly between the ages of 16 and 30. • Correlational studies have shown that alcohol puts the drinker at an increased risk of injury, that young people are more likely to have injuries than older people, and that young men are more at risk than young women. In the one study that examined ethnicity, minority ethnic status did not increase alcohol-related injuries, and may in fact have had a protective association. • Views studies found that young people say that they do not commonly mix alcohol and other drugs. Most young people reported that drinking places them at greater risk of injury, though some did not. The younger teenagers – 14 and 15 year olds – felt most in danger of injury when drinking. Young people felt that they learned to manage their drinking through experience and that unsupervised, outdoor drinking was the most dangerous and was more common among younger teenagers (with injuries being considered less common in licensed venues). Peers encourage both drinking and drunken pranks, but also protect one another when they have become more vulnerable as a result of drink. Young people felt that drinking reduces their perceptions of danger and some stated that injury as a result was inevitable. Most young people were cautious about getting very drunk, though being sick as a result of drinking is common and not regarded as serious. Bad experiences – whether to self or someone else – might change behaviour in the short- but not long-term. • One study which examined attempts to reduce alcohol-related injuries found some evidence that motivational interviews in A&E departments are more effective than information handouts. Drink-driving • Drink-driving was generally considered dangerous and not socially acceptable, whereas driving on cannabis was more acceptable and not thought to be dangerous. Some young people stated that a lack of public transport (or alternatives, such as taxis) made it more likely that they would drink and drive. • Interventions based on models of behaviour change to reduce drink-driving are ineffective or have a negative effect. Combining different approaches has more effect than using a single approach. Education or skills training has either negative or no effects on driver behaviour and subsequent accidents, possibly because these approaches lead to over-confidence or early licensing. • Legislation and enforcement on reducing drink-driving has been found to be effective

ADEnosine testing to determine the need for Pacing Therapy with the additional use of an Implantable Loop Recorder (ADEPT-ILR)

MD ThesisAim: To determine the efficacy of permanent pacing in preventing syncopal episodes in patients with unexplained syncope and a positive adenosine test via a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial with an accompanying negative adenosine test implantable loop recorder arm. Methods: Individuals presenting to secondary care with unexplained syncope underwent adenosine testing as defined by the European Society of Cardiology. Those with a positive test had a permanent pacemaker implant and were randomised to pacemaker on or off for 6 months before crossing over to the alternative mode. Those with a negative adenosine test underwent a loop recorder implantation. The primary outcome was cumulative syncope burden as reported by monthly syncope diaries. Results: Fifty-two patients were included in the trial and had adenosine testing. There were 35 positive adenosine tests (67%) and 17 negative adenosine tests (33%). There was a mean of 0.4 fewer syncopal episodes per patient during the pacemaker on period compared to the pacemaker off period (1.2 vs. 1.6 episodes) with a higher relative risk of syncope in the pacemaker off period compared with the pacemaker on (RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.0 to 4.4, p=0.048). In the adenosine negative arm, one patient developed bradycardia requiring permanent pacing, giving a negative predictive value of the adenosine test for identifying a bradycardia pacing indication of 0.94 (95% CI 0.69 to 1.0). Conclusion: Permanent pacing reduces the syncope burden in patients with unexplained syncope and a positive adenosine test, whilst a high negative predictive value demonstrates the low likelihood of a missed opportunity for pacemaker implantation. Our study suggests that a positive adenosine test unmasks bradycardia pacing indications without the need for prolonged and invasive investigations, providing opportunity for early and effective intervention

Ocean Noise

Scientific and societal concern about the effects of underwater sound on marine ecosystems is growing. While iconic megafauna was of initial concern, more and more taxa are being included. Some countries have joined in multi-national initiatives to measure, monitor and mitigate environmental impacts of ocean noise at large, trans-boundary spatial scales. Approaches to regulating ocean noise change as new scientific evidence becomes available, but may also differ by country. The OCEANOISE conference series has provided a platform for the exchange of scientific results, management approaches, research needs, stakeholder concerns, etc. Attendees have represented various sectors, including academia, offshore industry, defence, NGOs, consultants and government regulators. The published articles in the Special Issue cover a range of topics and applications central to ocean noise

The impact of technology: value-added classroom practice: final report

This report extends Becta’s enquiries into the ways in which digital technologies are supporting learning. It looks in detail at the learning practices mediated by ICT in nine secondary schools in which ICT for learning is well embedded. The project proposes a broader perspective on the notion of ‘impact’ that is rather different from a number of previous studies investigating impact. Previous studies have been limited in that they have either focused on a single innovation or have reported on institutional level factors. However, in both cases this pays insufficient attention to the contexts of learning. In this project, the focus has been on the learning practices of the classroom and the contexts of ICT-supported learning. The study reports an analysis of 85 lesson logs, in which teachers recorded their use of space, digital technology and student outcomes in relation to student engagement and learning. The teachers who filled in the logs, as well as their schools’ senior managers, were interviewed as part of a ‘deep audit’ of ICT provision conducted over two days. One-hour follow-up interviews with the teachers were carried out after the teachers’ log activity. The aim of this was to obtain a broader contextualisation of their teaching

Trade-off analysis of modes of data handling for earth resources (ERS), volume 1

Data handling requirements are reviewed for earth observation missions along with likely technology advances. Parametric techniques for synthesizing potential systems are developed. Major tasks include: (1) review of the sensors under development and extensions of or improvements in these sensors; (2) development of mission models for missions spanning land, ocean, and atmosphere observations; (3) summary of data handling requirements including the frequency of coverage, timeliness of dissemination, and geographic relationships between points of collection and points of dissemination; (4) review of data routing to establish ways of getting data from the collection point to the user; (5) on-board data processing; (6) communications link; and (7) ground data processing. A detailed synthesis of three specific missions is included