Second hearing recognition of music: The design and administration of a research instrument which examines one aspect of music listening

Listening is the one universal encounter all people have with music. Today the possibility exists of listening to music by itself, for itself, but this accessibility has not resulted in an increase in listening ability nor a closing of the gap between contemporary composers and listeners; consequently listeners need to be assisted to develop their listening skills. Music educators need to understand both the listening process and the composers' expectations. This thesis investigates Recognition (an important area of listening) through a research instrument, the Second Hearing Recognition of Music Test (SHRMT). Its four sub-tests together with a Musical Background Questionnaire (MBQ) were administered in Intermediate Schools. Findings from the SHRMT (using a study of the errors) isolated features of the music which pupils recognised more easily, for example the outline and range of notes of a piece. The pupils identified two parts of the listening process with which they had difficulty - Attention and Memory; teachers identify an additional problem area - Attitude. A review of the general research on these topics has implications for music educators. In terms of their performance and home background the more musically experienced pupils achieved better. The boys' comparative lack of music training outside of the school system evidenced the disadvantaging effects of cultural prejudices. Several New Zealand composers were interviewed to ascertain their ideas on improving listening to contemporary music. The main problems identified by composers were listener attitudes and unfamiliarity with the music and suggestions for improving these were given. The conclusion relates these three approaches of the Thesis (Testing, Review of Research and Interview) to the topic and shows that they speak with a single voice on the question of promoting adequate strategies for listening to music and especially to contemporary compositions

Trägerbefragung zur Verbreitung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung (BAV 2017): Endbericht

Im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales hat Kantar Public (ehemals TNS Infratest Sozialforschung) im Jahr 2018 zum achten Mal nach 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 und 2015 eine empirische Untersuchung zur Situation und Entwicklung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung durchgeführt. Einbezogen in die "Trägerbefragung zur betrieblichen Altersversorgung 2017" (BAV 2017) wurden Pensionskassen, Pensionsfonds, Lebensversicherungen, die betriebliche Direktversicherungen anbieten, und öffentliche Zusatzversorgungsträger. Die Daten zu Direktzusagen und Unterstützungskassen basieren dagegen auf Geschäftsstatistiken des "Pensions-Sicherungs-Vereins auf Gegenseitigkeit" (PSVaG). Damit wird nunmehr die Entwicklung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung seit Inkrafttreten des Altersvermögensgesetzes (AVmG) und des Altersvermögensergänzungsgesetzes (AVmEG) am 1. Januar 2002 aufgezeigt. Mit BAV 2017 wird die bestehende Zeitreihe um die Referenzpunkte Dezember 2016 und Dezember 2017 ergänzt und damit bis unmittelbar vor Inkrafttreten des Betriebsrentenstärkungsgesetzes (BRSG) im Januar 2018. Neben der Entwicklung der Zahl von Versicherten und Anwartschaften werden in BAV 2017 auch die Beitragshöhe sowie die Inanspruchnahme von Förderwegen analysiert.On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Kantar Public (formerly TNS Infratest Social Research) conducted a survey on the situation and development of occupational pension provision in 2018 for the eighth time after 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Included in the "Trägerbefragung zur betrieblichen Altersversorgung 2017" (BAV 2017) were pension pools, pension funds, life insurance companies offering direct insurances and public supplementary pension funds. The data on direct pension promises and benevolent funds are based on statistics from the "Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein auf Gegenseitigkeit" (PSVaG), the German pension protection system. BAV 2017 covers the situation in December 2016 and December 2017. Thus, the latest reference period of the survey is immediately before the Betriebsrentenstärkungsgesetz (BRSG) came into force in January 2018. Together with its predecessor surveys, it shows the development of the occupational pensions since the Altersvermögensgesetz (AVmG) and the Altersvermögensergänzungsgesetz (AVmEG) came into force in January 2002, giving employees the right to have part of their earnings paid into to a company pension plan (known as a deferred compensation). In addition to the development of the number of insured persons and entitlements, BAV 2017 also analyses the level of contributions as well as the use of subsidy schemes

Trägerbefragung zur Verbreitung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung (BAV 2017): Methodenbericht

Im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales hat Kantar Public (ehemals TNS Infratest Sozialforschung) im Jahr 2018 zum achten Mal nach 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 und 2015 eine empirische Untersuchung zur Situation und Entwicklung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung durchgeführt. Einbezogen in die "Trägerbefragung zur betrieblichen Altersversorgung 2017" (BAV 2017) wurden Pensionskassen, Pensionsfonds, Lebensversicherungen, die betriebliche Direktversicherungen anbieten, und öffentliche Zusatzversorgungsträger. Die Daten zu Direktzusagen und Unterstützungskassen basieren dagegen auf Geschäftsstatistiken des "Pensions-Sicherungs-Vereins auf Gegenseitigkeit" (PSVaG). Damit wird nunmehr die Entwicklung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung seit Inkrafttreten des Altersvermögensgesetzes (AVmG) und des Altersvermögensergänzungsgesetzes (AVmEG) am 1. Januar 2002 aufgezeigt. Mit BAV 2017 wird die bestehende Zeitreihe um die Referenzpunkte Dezember 2016 und Dezember 2017 ergänzt und damit bis unmittelbar vor Inkrafttreten des Betriebsrentenstärkungsgesetzes (BRSG) im Januar 2018. Neben der Entwicklung der Zahl von Versicherten und Anwartschaften werden in BAV 2017 auch die Beitragshöhe sowie die Inanspruchnahme von Förderwegen analysiert.On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Kantar Public (formerly TNS Infratest Social Research) conducted a survey on the situation and development of occupational pension provision in 2018 for the eighth time after 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Included in the "Trägerbefragung zur betrieblichen Altersversorgung 2017" (BAV 2017) were pension pools, pension funds, life insurance companies offering direct insurances and public supplementary pension funds. The data on direct pension promises and benevolent funds are based on statistics from the "Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein auf Gegenseitigkeit" (PSVaG), the German pension protection system. BAV 2017 covers the situation in December 2016 and December 2017. Thus, the latest reference period of the survey is immediately before the Betriebsrentenstärkungsgesetz (BRSG) came into force in January 2018. Together with its predecessor surveys, it shows the development of the occupational pensions since the Altersvermögensgesetz (AVmG) and the Altersvermögensergänzungsgesetz (AVmEG) came into force in January 2002, giving employees the right to have part of their earnings paid into to a company pension plan (known as a deferred compensation). In addition to the development of the number of insured persons and entitlements, BAV 2017 also analyses the level of contributions as well as the use of subsidy schemes

Perspectives on a Way Forward to Implementation of Precision Medicine in Patients With Diabetic Kidney Disease; Results of a Stakeholder Consensus-Building Meeting

Aim: This study aimed to identify from different stakeholders the benefits and obstacles of implementing precision medicine in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and to build consensus about a way forward in order to treat, prevent, or even reverse this disease. Methods: As part of an ongoing effort of moving implementation of precision medicine in DKD forward, a two-day consensus-building meeting was organized with different stakeholders involved in drug development and patient care in DKD, including patients, patient representatives, pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies representatives, health technology assessors, healthcare professionals, basic scientists, and clinical academic researchers. The meeting consisted of plenary presentations and discussions, and small group break-out sessions. Discussion topics were based on a symposium, focus groups and literature search. Benefits, obstacles and potential solutions toward implementing precision medicine were discussed. Results from the break-out sessions were presented in plenary and formed the basis of a broad consensus discussion to reach final conclusions. Throughout the meeting, participants answered several statement and open-ended questions on their mobile device, using a real-time online survey tool. Answers to the statement questions were analyzed descriptively. Results of the open-ended survey questions, the break-out sessions and the consensus discussion were analyzed qualitatively. Results and conclusion: Seventy-one participants from 26 countries attended the consensus-building meeting in Amsterdam, April 2019. During the opening plenary on the first day, the participants agreed with the statement that precision medicine is the way forward in DKD (n = 57, median 90, IQR [75–100]). Lack of efficient tools for implementation in practice and generating robust data were identified as significant obstacles. The identified benefits, e.g., improvement of the benefit-risk ratio of treatment, offer substantive incentives to find solutions for the identified obstacles. Earlier and increased multi-stakeholder collaboration and specific training may provide solutions to alter clinical and regulatory guidelines that lie at the basis of both obstacles and solutions. At the end of the second day, the opinion of the participants toward precision medicine in DKD was somewhat more nuanced (n = 45, median 83, IQR [70–92]) and they concluded that precision medicine is an important way forward in improving the treatment of patients with DKD

Bank competition and stability: Cross-country heterogeneity

This paper documents large cross-country variation in the relationship between bank competition and bank stability and explores market, regulatory and institutional features that can explain this variation. We show that an increase in competition will have a larger impact on banks’ fragility in countries with stricter activity restrictions, lower systemic fragility, better developed stock exchanges, more generous deposit insurance and more effective systems of credit information sharing. The effects are economically large and thus have important repercussions for the current regulatory reform debate

Toward a theory of repeat purchase drivers for consumer services

The marketing discipline’s knowledge about the drivers of service customers’ repeat purchase behavior is highly fragmented. This research attempts to overcome that fragmented state of knowledge by making major advances toward a theory of repeat purchase drivers for consumer services. Drawing on means–end theory, the authors develop a hierarchical classification scheme that organizes repeat purchase drivers into an integrative and comprehensive framework. They then identify drivers on the basis of 188 face-to-face laddering interviews in two countries (USA and Germany) and assess the drivers’ importance and interrelations through a national probability sample survey of 618 service customers. In addition to presenting an exhaustive and coherent set of hierarchical repeat-purchase drivers, the authors provide theoretical explanations for how and why drivers relate to one another and to repeat purchase behavior. This research also tests the boundary conditions of the proposed framework by accounting for different service types. In addition to its theoretical contribution, the framework provides companies with specific information about how to manage long-term customer relationships successfully

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Velocity-map ion-imaging of the NO fragment from the UV-photodissociation of nitrosobenzene

The velocity and angular distribution of NO fragments produced by UV photodissocn. of nitrosobenzene have been detd. by velocity-map ion-imaging. Excitation of the S2-state by irradn. into the peak of the first UV absorption band at 290.5 nm leads to a completely isotropic velocity distribution with Gaussian shape. The av. kinetic energy in both fragments correlates with the rotational energy of the NO fragment and increases from 6% of the excess energy for j = 6.5 to 11% for j = 29.5. A similar isotropic distribution albeit with larger av. velocity is obsd. when the ionization laser at 226 nm is also used for photodissocn., corresponding to excitation into a higher electronic state Sn (n >= 3) of nitrosobenzene. It is concluded that photodissocn. occurs on a timescale much slower than rotation of the parent mol., and after redistribution of the excess energy into the vibrational degrees of freedom

Visual Hand Posture Recognition in Monocular Image Sequences

Abstract. We present a model-based method for hand posture recognition in monocular image sequences that measures joint angles, viewing angle, and position in space. Visual markers in form of a colored cotton glove are used to extract descriptive and stable 2D features. Searching a synthetically generated database of 2.6 million entries, each consisting of 3D hand posture parameters and the corresponding 2D features, yields several candidate postures per frame. This ambiguity is resolved by exploiting temporal continuity between successive frames. The method is robust to noise, can be used from any viewing angle, and places no constraints on the hand posture. Self-occlusion of any number of markers is handled. It requires no initialization and retrospectively corrects posture errors when accordant information becomes available. Besides a qualitative evaluation on real images, a quantitative performance measurement using a large amount of synthetic input data featuring various degrees of noise shows the effectiveness of the approach.