Empathy Manipulation Impacts Music-Induced Emotions: A Psychophysiological Study on Opera

This study investigated the effects of voluntarily empathizing with a musical performer (i.e., cognitive empathy) on music-induced emotions and their underlying physiological activity. N = 56 participants watched video-clips of two operatic compositions performed in concerts, with low or high empathy instructions. Heart rate and heart rate variability, skin conductance level (SCL), and respiration rate (RR) were measured during music listening, and music-induced emotions were quantified using the Geneva Emotional Music Scale immediately after music listening. Listening to the aria with sad content in a high empathy condition facilitated the emotion of nostalgia and decreased SCL, in comparison to the low empathy condition. Listening to the song with happy content in a high empathy condition also facilitated the emotion of power and increased RR, in comparison to the low empathy condition. To our knowledge, this study offers the first experimental evidence that cognitive empathy influences emotion psychophysiology during music listening

Entrepreneurs’ age, institutions, and social value creation goals: a multi-country study

This study explores the relationship between an entrepreneur's age and his/her social value creation goals. Building on the lifespan developmental psychology literature and institutional theory, we hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to create social value through their ventures, such that younger and older entrepreneurs create more social value with their businesses while middle age entrepreneurs are relatively more economically and less socially oriented with their ventures. We further hypothesize that the quality of a country’s formal institutions in terms of economic, social, and political freedom steepen the U-shaped relationship between entrepreneurs’ age and their choice to pursue social value creation as supportive institutional environments allow entrepreneurs to follow their age-based preferences. We confirm our predictions using multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions on a sample of over 15,000 entrepreneurs (aged between 18 and 64 years) in 45 countries from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data. The findings are robust to several alternative specifications. Based on our findings, we discuss implications for theory and practice, and we propose future research directions

A critical review and development of a conceptual model of exclusion from social relations for older people

Social exclusion is complex and dynamic, and it leads to the non-realization of social, economic, political or cultural rights or participation within a society. This critical review takes stock of the literature on exclusion of social relations. Social relations are defined as comprising social resources, social connections and social networks. An evidence review group undertook a critical review which integrates, interprets and synthesizes information across studies to develop a conceptual model of exclusion from social relations. The resulting model is a subjective interpretation of the literature and is intended to be the starting point for further evaluations. The conceptual model identifies individual risks for exclusion from social relations (personal attributes, biological and neurological risk, retirement, socio-economic status, exclusion from material resources and migration). It incorporates the evaluation of social relations, and the influence of psychosocial resources and socioemotional processes, sociocultural, social-structural, environmental and policy contextual influences on exclusion from social relations. It includes distal outcomes of exclusion from social relations, that is, individual well-being, health and functioning, social opportunities and social cohesion. The dynamic relationships between elements of the model are also reported. We conclude that the model provides a subjective interpretation of the data and an excellent starting point for further phases of conceptual development and systematic evaluation(s). Future research needs to consider the use of sophisticated analytical tools and an interdisciplinary approach in order to understand the underlying biological and ecopsychosocial associations that contribute to individual and dynamic differences in the experience of exclusion from social relation

Applying mechanistic models in bioprocess development.

The available knowledge on the mechanisms of a bioprocess system is central to process analytical technology. In this respect, mechanistic modeling has gained renewed attention, since a mechanistic model can provide an excellent summary of available process knowledge. Such a model therefore incorporates process-relevant input (critical process variables)-output (product concentration and product quality attributes) relations. The model therefore has great value in planning experiments, or in determining which critical process variables need to be monitored and controlled tightly. Mechanistic models should be combined with proper model analysis tools, such as uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. When assuming distributed inputs, the resulting uncertainty in the model outputs can be decomposed using sensitivity analysis to determine which input parameters are responsible for the major part of the output uncertainty. Such information can be used as guidance for experimental work; i.e., only parameters with a significant influence on model outputs need to be determined experimentally. The use of mechanistic models and model analysis tools is demonstrated in this chapter. As a practical case study, experimental data from Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentations are used. The data are described with the well-known model of Sonnleitner and Kappeli (Biotechnol Bioeng 28: 927-937, 1986) and the model is analyzed further. The methods used are generic, and can be transferred easily to other, more complex case studies as well