As computers are increasingly used to mediate social interaction, tools are needed not only to support direct communication, but also to create a richer social environment for the networked group. These include tools that provide information about the presence of others and that give the user a sense of the ongoing activities. This paper describes two ongoing research projects in this area. Col...

Clear speech is a speaking style adopted by speakers in an attempt to maximize the clarity of their speech and is proven to be more intelligible than casual speech. This work focuses on modifying casual speech to sound as intelligible as clear speech. First, we examine the role of speaking rate for intelligibility. Clear and casual speech signals are time-scale stretched, matching the average d...

Research on relations between casual sex and mental health is inconclusive; while some studies indicate casual sex may lead to more negative mental health (e.g., depression), other studies report no such relationship. Using a genetically informed approach, this study examined whether earlier casual sex (i.e., ever engaging in casual sex and number of casual sex partners) in adolescence has a ca...