Associations between vocal emotion recognition and socio-emotional adjustment in children

The human voice is a primary channel for emotional communication. It is often presumed that being able to recognize vocal emotions is important for everyday socio-emotional functioning, but evidence for this assumption remains scarce. Here, we examined relationships between vocal emotion recognition and socio-emotional adjustment in children. The sample included 141 6- to 8-year-old children, and the emotion tasks required them to categorize five emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, plus neutrality), as conveyed by two types of vocal emotional cues: speech prosody and non-verbal vocalizations such as laughter. Socio-emotional adjustment was evaluated by the children's teachers using a multidimensional questionnaire of self-regulation and social behaviour. Based on frequentist and Bayesian analyses, we found that, for speech prosody, higher emotion recognition related to better general socio-emotional adjustment. This association remained significant even when the children's cognitive ability, age, sex and parental education were held constant. Follow-up analyses indicated that higher emotional prosody recognition was more robustly related to the socio-emotional dimensions of prosocial behaviour and cognitive and behavioural self-regulation. For emotion recognition in non-verbal vocalizations, no associations with socio-emotional adjustment were found. A similar null result was obtained for an additional task focused on facial emotion recognition. Overall, these results support the close link between children's emotional prosody recognition skills and their everyday social behaviour

Communication changes following non-glottic head and neck cancer management: The perspectives of survivors and carers

Purpose. Head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors may experience functional changes to their voice, speech and hearing following curative chemoradiotherapy. However, few studies have explored the impact of living with such changes from the perspective of the HNC survivor and their carer. The current study employed a person-centred approach to explore the lived experience of communication changes following chemoradiotherapy treatment for HNC from the perspective of survivors and carers. Method. Participants included 14 survivors with non-glottic HNC and nine carers. All participants took part in in-depth interviews where they were encouraged to describe their experiences of living with and adjusting to communication changes following treatment. Interviews were analysed as a single data set. Result. Four themes emerged including: (1) impairments in communication sub-systems; (2) the challenges of communicating in everyday life; (3) broad ranging effects of communication changes; and (4) adaptations as a result of communication changes. Conclusion. These data confirm that communication changes following chemoradiotherapy have potentially negative psychosocial impacts on both the HNC survivor and their carer. Clinicians should consider the impact of communication changes on the life of the HNC survivor and their carer and provide adequate and timely education and management to address the needs of this population

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe study's goals were twofold: (1) to examine how children's and adolescents' guilt-proneness relates to the intensity and nature of their overall distress, and changes in their distress, when they narrate experiences of hurting others; and (2) to identify how these relations vary under distinct fault conditions and across childhood and adolescence. Participants were 116 participants, evenly divided into three age groups (ages 5, 9, and 16) and by sex. Results suggest that when more guilt-prone youth narrate harmdoing experiences, they feel more current overall distress than less guilt-prone youth, but not more past distress. Contrary to expectations, these relations do not vary between youths' narration of "it was my fault" and "it was not my fault" harmdoing experiences, and do not vary for younger and older youth. Additional analyses show that more and less guilt- prone youth have different patterns of change in their current distress over the course of their narratives about harmdoings, and these changes vary by fault condition. More guilt- prone children's distress is temporally stable during their narration of my-fault harm, and their distress changes in ways that are unlikely to last when they narrate not-my-fault harm, whereas less guilt-prone children's distress decreases steadily over the course of their storytelling under both conditions. Since current and unchanging feelings of distress may interfere with narrative processes whereby children learn from harmdoings, this study's findings suggest that more guilt-prone youth of all ages may construct understandings of their past harmdoings that are problematic for their moral development

The Morphic Orator: Transmogrified Delivery on the Audio-Enabled Web

Audio is an effective but often overlooked component of World Wide Web delivery. Of the nearly twenty billion web pages estimated to exist, statistically few use sound. Those few using sound often use it poorly and with hardly any regard to theoretical and rhetorical issues. This thesis is an examination of the uses of audio on the World Wide Web, specifically focusing on how that use could be informed by current and historical rhetorical theory. A theoretical methodology is applied to suggest the concepts and disciplines required to make online audio more meaningful and useful. The thesis argues for the connection between the Web and the modern orator, its embodiment, its place in sound reproduction technology, and awareness of the limitations placed on it by design and convention

THE HERO, BARACK OBAMA, AND HIS UNIQUENESS: A STUDY OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

The essay establishes that Barack Obama’s uniqueness and admiration lies in his manner of approach to the people and the enthusiasm with which he discharges his political responsibilities. The theories of heroism and racism are employed in the analysis of the text, The Audacity of Hope. The essay notes Obama’s endearing commitment to the well-being of the masses: he identifies with the masses, brings himself to their level, visits both the urban rich and the rural poor, holds meetings with them, identifies their problems and tries to solve them to the best of his ability. His political career does not interfere with his emotional attachment to his wife and children. His sagacity, boldness and political acumen win him the American presidency. His victories in politics help to break racism to a reasonable extent and restore the hope, confidence and pride of the black race. Obama is a black hero and a model character. The method of research is qualitative – critical reading and interpretation of the primary text and using the library and internet sources to support or refute the arguments raised in the essay.  Key words: Heroism, unique, actions, masses, racism, black, white and America

The effectiveness of robot-enacted messages to reduce the consumption of high-sugar energy drinks

This exploratory study examines the effectiveness of social robots' ability to deliver advertising messages using different "appeals" in a business environment. Specifically, it explores the use of three types of message appeals in a human-robot interaction scenario: guilt, humour and non-emotional. The study extends past research in advertising by exploring whether messages communicated by social robots can impact consumers' behaviour. Using an experimental research design, the emotional-themed messages focus on the health-related properties of two fictitious energy drink brands. The findings show mixed results for humour and guilt messages. When the robot delivered a promotion message using humour, participants perceived it as being less manipulative. Participants who were exposed to humourous messages also demonstrated a significantly greater intent for future purchase decisions. However, guilt messages were more likely to persuade consumers to change their brand selection. This study contributes to the literature as it provides empirical evidence on the social robots' ability to deliver different advertising messages. It has practical implications for businesses as a growing number seek to employ humanoids to promote their services

Suite on "Spiritus Silvestre": For Symphony

Charles D. Keeling, climate science, oceanography, musi

The experience of undergraduate mature students studying for a degree in a college of further education: a life history approach

Higher education in the United Kingdom has undergone considerable change following the publication of the Robbins Report (1963). One of the transformational changes that has occurred is a move towards widening participation, which has included an increase in the number of mature students as well as those from diverse backgrounds. The opportunities that a degree-level education offers are well documented. However, returning to education following a break can be daunting, particularly for those who have had a long gap in their education or who have had negative educational experiences. Returning to education for mature students presents other risk factors both financial and social. Unlike traditional students, mature students have specific needs associated with maturity. At a personal level, an increase in confidence and self-esteem as well as changes in their sense of self may also impact on other members of their family. Nonetheless, for many, the decision to return to education can also be life changing, as my thesis will show. Within the policy and political context of the expansion of higher education since the Robbins Report (1963), this study offers an interpretative analysis which explores, illustrates, interprets and illuminates the educational experiences of full-time mature students undertaking their first undergraduate degree in a college of Further Education. The participant narratives begin with their early educational experiences and thence to their reasons for entering higher education, and the impact that this has had on their lives. The participants are all first-generation entrants to higher education who have entered higher education with an array of transferable skills and life experiences that they have accrued, without involving any form of academic accreditation. A life history/narrative methodology was adopted because it generated in this instance, rich and deep data. The participants were interviewed in relatively open-ended ways, the aim being to build the confidence and trust (rapport) that is essential in eliciting personal, ingenuous responses. It is a process that enables the interviewee to tell their story in a thoughtful and reflective way, whilst the interviewer adopts a non-judgemental stance. The point about building confidence and trust in the interview relationship is that it creates a situation where people can be open and honest about their experiences - they can tell it like it is. The completed interviews (vignettes) reveal a number of positive experiences, such as an increase in self-confidence and self-esteem, highlighting how many of the participants appear to shape and construct their own sense of identity, development and life-course. On the other hand, the data also emphasises a number of problematic areas, which include finance and the challenges of fitting full-time study in and around other commitments such as childcare and employment

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 3. Diffusion of Human-Machine Communication During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 3. Diffusion of Human-Machine Communication During and After the COVID-19 Pandemi

Using assessment data to support the learning of young pupils in four Kent primary schools

This thesis discusses how assessment data are used to support the learning of pupils aged four to seven years in four Kent primary schools. The sample was 451 pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2; the researcher collected and analysed quantitative data from pupil attainment on school entry – either as Baseline Assessment or the Foundation Stage Profile – and from results in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of KS1, both as SATs and Teacher Assessment. These data were triangulated with qualitative data collected from a semi-structured questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews with the Reception class practitioners. The author – a head teacher with many years’ experience of primary schools and the Early Years – outlines recent and current government policy and links these to assessment theory and existing practice in the four schools studied. She identifies some possible influences on attainment and looks at how value-added data are currently used as measures of pupil performance. The three research questions look at whether benchmark data can be used to predict future achievement, the educational implications of using value-added data as measures of pupil performance, and whether benchmark data can be used to support learning in the primary classroom. The findings led the researcher to conclude that accurate prediction from prior attainment is not possible at the present time and that contextual value-added data are only useful when other variables are taken into account. However, the findings showed that benchmark data – when used formatively – can be useful in supporting pupils’ learning. This study will help head teacher colleagues to look at data in a fresh way, and to identify and target the needs of individual pupils to optimise their performance from the beginning of the Foundation Stage to the end of Key Stage One