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Does Motion Parallax Improve Communication Efficiency in Video Chats?
No full textAs video communication has become more prevalent in our day-to-day lives, it becomes evident that face-to-face communication vastly outclasses video chat in terms of peer communication. Motion parallax is a perceptual effect that arises when an observer moves relative to their surroundings, or their surroundings move relative to them, causing nearby objects in their visual field to appear to move more quickly than distant objects. This relative motion provides a depth cue that the brain can use to estimate the relative distances and orientations of the objects. Directionality is a mutual understanding of the distance and orientation of people in 3D space (Troje, 2023). Previous studies have found that motion parallax is important in determining the direction of objects (Wang & Troje, 2023). Motion parallax can help provide directionality in day-to-day life, including aiding with nonverbal cues such as pointing or turning one’s head.
This study examines whether adding motion parallax to video chat with avatars can enhance communication efficiency, as indicated by performance on an instruction task. Many nonverbal cues like mutual gaze, pointing, and eye contact rely on directionality to function accurately. Video chat can create misleading cues due to the lack of motion parallax, causing misunderstandings (Troje, 2023). This study found that the use of motion parallax while video chatting did not enhance performance on a shared task between two subjects, relative to the control. Further research is required to clarify the relationship between motion parallax and communication efficiency in video chat with avatars
The Development of the Functional Dissociation of Perception and Action
No full textHumans rely on their visual system to navigate and interact with the world, utilizing two functionally distinct cortical pathways: the ventral pathway, responsible for visual perception, and the dorsal pathway, which supports visuomotor actions. While the functional dissociation between these behaviours has been extensively studied in adults, its developmental trajectory and susceptibility to neurodevelopmental conditions is not as well-understood. This dissertation investigates the dissociation between perception and action in pediatric and adult populations with atypical neurodevelopment, focusing on three experimental studies. The first study examines a pediatric patient, TC, who underwent a unilateral cortical resection impacting both the dorsal and ventral pathways. Despite intact perceptual abilities, her visuomotor behaviors were markedly impaired, highlighting differential developmental trajectories of the two pathways and the dissociation between perception and action. The second study investigates children with amblyopia, a developmental visual disorder, and finds a reduced perception-action functional dissociation compared to neurotypical controls. This suggests that atypical visual experience disrupts the functional specialization of the pathways early in life. The final study focuses on adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and reveals reduced perception-action dissociation in two different contextual conditions. Together, these studies provide a detailed examination of how neurodevelopmental conditions influence the emergence of perceptual behaviors, visuomotor behaviours and the dissociation between these functions. These investigations confirm the sensitivity of visuomotor behaviours to atypical development and show that the dissociation between perceptual and visuomotor functions is disrupted under a range of neurodevelopmental conditions
Characterizing Boreal Forest Fire Disturbance Boundaries Through Space And Time In Ontario
No full textThe Ontario boreal forest contains vast natural resources but is increasingly threatened by wildland fires, which are becoming more frequent and affecting larger areas due to climate change. In response, this thesis compares wildland fire boundaries derived from vegetation index slopes with those provided by BorealDB a newly developed database that compiles consistent disturbance maps from 1972 to the present. BorealDB includes various attribute combinations and an ensemble confidence measure that shows how often different data sources agree. By examining which attribute combinations produce fire boundaries that most closely match remote sensing data, this research offers practical guidance for BorealDB users on selecting the most reliable disturbance points for their analyses
Experiences of Service Users with Psychosis and Crisis Teams: A Scoping Review
No full textDeinstitutionalization in North America led to increased community mental health crises, prompting the development of Crisis Teams (CTs). Nursing plays a vital role for these teams, which specialize in crisis intervention. Service users with psychosis are frequent users of CT services, yet their experiences remain under-explored. The aim of this scoping review study was to explore the experiences of individuals with psychosis during interactions with CTs. A scoping review was the methodological approach for this study. Crisis theory was the theoretical framework and twenty-six articles met inclusion criteria. Findings from these articles were divided into three main themes: 1) service user, 2) carer, 3) healthcare professional. Service users and carers were mostly satisfied, though some found their experiences were stigmatizing and traumatizing. Both highlighted the need for better communication and compassion from CTs. Professionals reported high stress and educational gaps. Understanding these experiences could identify gaps and make care improvements
The Indirect Effect of a Brief Couple Intervention on Child Mental Health via the Interparental Relationship
No full textChild mental health challenges (CMHC) have long-term implications for social and emotional functioning. The quality of the interparental relationship (IPR) is an important contributor to children’s mental health challenges. Evidence supports the use of brief couple interventions (BCI) to enhance couple functioning, though secondary benefits to child outcomes are unknown. The current study examines whether changes to IPR following participation in a BCI, in turn, lead to changes in CMHC. Participants come from a secondary dataset from a randomized controlled trial of Love Together, Parent Together, a BCI, and included 267 parents (140 couples) with at least one child under 6 years old. Parents reported on ten indicators of the IPR and their CMHC at baseline, 1-week post-intervention, and 1- and 3-month follow-up. Based on an exploratory factor analysis, a two-factor model emerged, which included interparental conflict and relationship quality. Structural equation modelling was used to test indirect effects with interparental conflict and relationship quality, respectively, as mediators, and CMHC at 1- and 3-month follow-ups, respectively, as outcomes. The intervention did not significantly predict couple’s T2 conflict, nor did T2 conflict predict follow-up CMHC. The intervention significantly improved the couple’s T2 relationship quality, though there were no reliable effects found on CMHC. In sum, though findings are consistent with the idea that conflict and relationship quality are unique factors of the IRP, there is no evidence for benefits of a BCI to CMHC. Future studies should carefully consider measurement selection and assessment schedules to detect developmental cascades following couple interventions
Encampment policy and public perception: a cross-country analysis of host community responses to Rohingya refugees
No full textThis article is published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license.This study examines the influence of encampment policies on host community perceptions towards Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Nepal, with an emphasis on how these perceptions shape the future of the refugees. Bangladesh, which has implemented an encampment policy, contrasts with Nepal, where no such policy exists. The research employs ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to evaluate host community attitudes towards government policies, citizenship for newborns, and access to essential services like healthcare, jobs, education, and social security. The findings reveal that in Bangladesh, wealthier community members perceive less economic competition from refugees, particularly in job markets, due to the restrictions imposed by the encampment policy. However, social media in Bangladesh exacerbates negative perceptions, particularly concerning citizenship for Rohingya newborns, potentially hindering social cohesion. In Nepal, the absence of an encampment policy correlates with more negative perceptions among younger and economically vulnerable groups, who view refugees as competitors for limited resources. The study concludes that while encampment policies may mitigate immediate economic tensions, they risk deepening social divisions. Conversely, the lack of such policies in Nepal may lead to heightened resource competition and social tension. The research highlights the need for adaptive policy strategies that balance economic integration with social cohesion, ensuring sustainable refugee-host relations in both countries.This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (grant number JP20K20092 and JP21H03727) and Hirose Grant Foundation
Evolving Software Ecosystems: The Role of Community Dynamics in Shaping Software Extensions
No full textAs software ecosystems (SECOs) grow across domains, understanding how tools evolve and differentiate functionally is critical for innovation. This manuscript-based thesis explores the evolution of the software ecosystem and its influence on developers’ motivations to extend their software products in two ecosystems.
In the first part, we focus on the evolution of open-source software by analyzing 6,983 GitHub Actions on GitHub Marketplace, revealing a widespread functional redundancy. A graph-based analysis of version histories and release patterns identifies early contributors and offers strategies to reduce duplication and align tools with emerging trends.
In the second part, in collaboration with industry partners, we examined proprietary software products, focusing on functional maturity, in particular AI-related features in 116 patient-centric healthcare applications. We find that 86.21% of apps remain in early AI adoption stages, indicating limited advancement toward AI integration.
Together, these studies introduce a generalizable, data-driven framework for analyzing functional evolution across domains
Capital as Coordination: A Synthesis Encompassing Marx and CasP
No full textThe global system we inhabit is often described in terms of markets, capital, and labor, but beneath these abstractions lies the deeper question of how coordination produces power and how power organizes coordination. Among the most influential traditions attempting to answer this question are Marxism and Capital as Power (CasP), two frameworks that, while sharing certain roots, diverge sharply in their interpretation of what capital is and how it operates. This divergence has led to ongoing tension. Marxists often argue that CasP misrepresents or abandons the core of Marx’s critique, while CasP theorists argue that Marxism remains tethered to outdated economic metaphysics. Both claim to reveal capitalism’s inner workings. But must we choose between them?
This essay argues that we do not. Through the lens of Coordination: the Fabric of Power (CfP), a broader theoretical framework that views coordination itself as the primary material of power, we can move beyond this impasse. Rather than asking whether capital is labor-time or capitalization, CfP reframes the question: How is coordination patterned, withheld, or manipulated in ways that produce asymmetries of power? In doing so, it offers a synthesis that integrates the structural insights of Marxism with the empirical clarity of CasP, not by erasing their differences, but by metabolizing their strongest claims
Temporal Memory Accuracy For Autobiographical Events Across Childhood
No full textThere is relatively little research about how accurately children remember temporal (when) details associated with autobiographical events. This thesis is part of a large-scale study with a goal of providing legal practitioners information about children’s accuracy for several forensically-relevant temporal details (e.g., age during event, month, time of day), and tests whether accuracy is affected by age of the child and valence of the event. Parents nominated and provided timestamped documentation for a positive and negative event (occurring within the past two years). Children (N=121; 4-6-years-old, 7-9-year-olds, 10-12-year-olds,13-15-year-olds) then answered various temporal questions about the events. We found age-related improvements for total temporal accuracy (sum of scores across temporal judgments), age, season and month estimates, and higher accuracy for positive compared to negative events for some temporal judgments. These preliminary findings provide novel insight for memory researchers and legal practitioners and will help with understanding time estimates provided by children
The Acculturation of Maternal Sensitivity: A Comparison of South Korean, Korean American, European American Mother-Infant Dyads and Variation in Korean American Mothers' Traditional South Korean Parenting Values
No full textThis study explored the relations between acculturation and the maternal sensitivity of Korean American mothers and examined how Confucian-derived values of hyo might be associated with maternal sensitivity. Mean-levels of maternal sensitivity in native South Korean, South Korean immigrants in the United States (Korean American), and U.S.-born European American mothers and their 5.5-month-old infants were compared. In addition, this study examined the associations between maternal sensitivity and acculturation in Korean American mothers, specifically the extents to which Korean American mother maintain South Korean cultural values and/or adapt the dominant cultural values in the United States (U.S.). Maternal sensitivity was assessed using three popular Western observational maternal sensitivity measures, namely the Ainsworth Maternal Sensitivity Scales (AMSS; Ainsworth, 1969), Mini Maternal Behaviour Q-Sort-VR (Mini MBQS-VR; Moran et al., 2009), and the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS; Oxford & Findlay, 2015). Altogether 181 mother-infant dyads participated: 57 South Korean, 74 Korean American, and 50 European American. South Korean mothers showed statistically greater (< 2-point), but perhaps not meaningful, mean-level AMSS Acceptance subscale score than European American mothers. Additionally, South Korean mothers showed meaningfully greater (.20), but not statistically significant, difference in Mini MBQS-VR scores than European American mothers. No associations were found between maternal sensitivity, as measured by AMSS, MBQS, and NCAFS, and acculturation level in Korean American mothers. This study suggests that, depending on the measure used to assess maternal sensitivity, there may be some differences observed in the scores of mothers from different cultures. However, overall, there appear to be few differences in observed maternal sensitivity across South Korean, Korean American, and European American mothers. Furthermore, this study suggests that there may be no relations between acculturation and maternal sensitivity in Korean American mothers. This study provides insight into maternal sensitivity behaviours in South Korean, Korean American, and European American mothers in different cultural contexts