A grounded theory of young tennis players’ use of music to manipulate emotional state

The main objectives of this study were (a) to elucidate young tennis players’ use of music to manipulate emotional states, and (b) to present a model grounded in present data to illustrate this phenomenon and to stimulate further research. Anecdotal evidence suggests that music listening is used regularly by elite athletes as a preperformance strategy, but only limited empirical evidence corroborates such use. Young tennis players (N = 14) were selected purposively for interview and diary data collection. Results indicated that participants consciously selected music to elicit various emotional states; frequently reported consequences of music listening included improved mood, increased arousal, and visual and auditory imagery. The choice of music tracks and the impact of music listening were mediated by a number of factors, including extramusical associations, inspirational lyrics, music properties, and desired emotional state. Implications for the future investigation of preperformance music are discussed

Spartan Daily, December 6, 2018

Volume 151, Issue 44https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartan_daily_2018/1086/thumbnail.jp

Parental Ethnic Identity and Educational Attainment of Second-Generation Immigrants

A lack of cultural integration is often blamed for hindering immigrant families' economic progression. This paper is a first attempt to explore whether immigrant parents' ethnic identity affects the next generation's human capital accumulation in the host country. Empirical results based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) indicate that maternal majority as well as paternal minority identity are positively related to the educational attainment of second-generation youth – even controlling for differences in ethnicity, family background and years-since-migration. Additional tests show that the effect of maternal majority identity can be explained by mothers' German language proficiency, while the beneficial effect of fathers' minority identity is not related to language skills and thus likely to stem from paternal minority identity per se.ethnic identity, second-generation immigrants, education

Dimensionen des Lehrerinteresses und ihre Beziehung zu beruflichem Erleben und zu Unterrichtspraktiken

This study introduced a new questionnaire on subject, didactic, and educational teacher interest and analyzed their relations to occupational well-being (burnout, enjoyment, flow) and instructional practices in a sample of 281 teachers from elementary and both low- and high-achievement secondary schools. Results of confirmatory factor analysis verified the three-dimensional structure of the newly developed interest measure. Evidence for the construct validity of the interest measure was provided by structural equation analyses showing that teachers’ occupational well-being and instructional practices were predicted by their interests, even when controlling for self-efficacy beliefs. Specifically, both didactic and educational interest contributed to lower levels of burnout and predicted beneficial instructional practices (e.g., cognitive stimulation). In addition, subject and educational interest were the main predictors of enjoyment and flow in class. (DIPF/Orig.)Es wird über die Entwicklung eines neuen Fragebogens zur Erfassung des fachlichen, didaktischen und erzieherischen Interesses von Lehrkräften berichtet. In einer Stichprobe von 281 Lehrkräften verschiedener Grund-, Haupt- und Gymnasialschulen wurden die Zusammenhänge der drei Interessendimensionen mit der beruflichen Erlebensqualität (Burnout, Vergnügen, Flow) und dem Instruktionsverhalten untersucht. Konfirmatorische Faktorenanalysen bestätigten die dreidimensionale Struktur des neuen Fragebogens. Belege für die Konstruktvalidität ergaben sich aufgrund von Strukturgleichungsanalysen, die zeigten, dass das Interesse Beiträge zur Vorhersage von beruflichem Erleben und Instruktionsverhalten leistet, auch wenn Selbstwirksamkeitsüberzeugungen kontrolliert wurden. Im Einzelnen gingen das didaktische und das erzieherische Interesse mit geringerem Burnout einher und erwiesen sich als Prädiktoren förderlichen Instruktionsverhaltens (z. B. kognitive Aktivierung). Darüber hinaus trugen das fachliche und das erzieherische Interesse zur Vorhersage von Vergnügen und Flow im Unterricht bei. (DIPF/Orig.

The effect of dynamic range compression on the psychoacoustic quality and loudness of commercial music

It is common practice for music productions to be mastered with the aim of increasing the perceived loudness for the listener, allowing one record to stand out from another by delivering an immediate impact and intensity. Since the advent of the Compact Disc in 1980, music has increased in RMS level by up to 20dB. This results in many commercial releases being compressed to a dynamic range of 2–3 dB. Initial findings of this study have determined that amplitude compression adversely affects the audio signal with the introduction of audible artifacts such as sudden gain changes, modulation of the noise floor and signal distortion, all of which appear to be related to the onset of listener fatigue. In this paper, the history and changes in trends with respect to dynamic range are discussed and findings will be presented and evaluated. Initial experimentation, and both the roadmap and challenges for further and wider research are also described and discussed. The key aim of this research is to quantify the effects (both positive and negative) of dynamic range manipulation on the audio signal and subsequent listener experience. A future goal of this study is to ultimately define recommended standards for the dynamic range levels of mastered music in a similar manner to those associated with the film industry

Does Money Buy Higher Schooling? Evidence from Secondary School Track Choice in Germany

The German schooling system selects children into different secondary school tracks already at a very early stage in life. School track choice heavily influences choices and opportunities later in life. It has often been observed that secondary schooling achievements display a strong correlation with parental income.We use sibling fixed effects models and information on a natural experiment in order to analyze whether this correlation is due to a causal effect of income or due to unobservable factors that themselves might be correlated across generations. Our main findings suggest that income has no positive causal effect on school choice and that differences between high- and low-income households are driven by unobserved heterogeneity, e.g. differences in motivation.Child poverty, educational attainment, secondary schools, sibling differences, natural experiment

Cognitive skills and the LOGSE reform in Spain: evidence from PIAAC

We use data from the Spanish sample of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to analyze the effect of the LOGSE (Spanish acronym for General Law of the Education System) reform passed in 1990 on numeracy and literacy proficiency of the adult population. The LOGSE effect is identified by exploiting the variability of the rate of implementation among cohorts and regions. The results change depending on the specification of the econometric model and mainly on the type of birth year trend assumed. Nonetheless, overall results suggest that the LOGSE reform did not help to increase cognitive skills of the population despite an extension of compulsory years of education and postponement of the age of initial tracking into vocational and academic studies