As Though Heard from Afar: Score Indications in Debussyste Compositions

The Arts: 1st Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)Since their advent in musical scores during the sixteenth century, composers have used dynamic markings (symbols based on Italian words that conveyed relative volume levels such as the abbreviation p for piano, or soft) and performance indications (more lengthy descriptions of the desired speed, style, or timbre of sound) with increasing frequency and precision. Around 1900 the debussyste composers continued the trend of increasing use and finer nuance of directions in musical scores, but in a unique way. They strongly favored the soft side of the dynamic spectrum and performance indications calling for delicate sounds, such as lointain (far off), perdendo (dying out), très doux (very soft), le plus p possible (as quiet as possible), and à peine (barely audible). These distinguishing and pervasive directions written into their musical scores indicate that Debussy and the composers influenced by him were inspired by similar aesthetic goals. I extract the most common poetic indications in the piano scores of Debussy and Maurice Ravel, two of the most influential debussystes, and situate them as well as the predilection for soft and subdued pieces in aesthetic and philosophical trends of the time. The roots of this stylistic practice trace back to the slightly earlier theories of Francophone Symbolists such as Stephan Mallarmé, Albert Samain, and Maurice Maeterlinck, who sought to create delicate atmospheres of monotony and melancholy, because it was an artist in this state and free of superfluous emotional extremes that could produce the most authentic translations of the soul, or interior mental life. Drawing upon the insights of Jann Pasler and Jessie Fillerup, I further suggest that the debussystes’ musical style responded to theories about the functioning of the human mind that were formulated around 1900 by philosophers such as Henri Bergson and Charles Henry. I argue that the debussystes portrayed in their compositions both philsophers’ descriptions of the mind, which were widely known among artists in early twentieth-century France, and that score indications helped to accomplish this. Scholars have long noted Debussy’s predilection for soft dynamics and melancholy themes, but have not accounted for them. My research explains why Debussy was so attracted to soft as well as slow sounds, and it reveals that his novel score indications inspired dozens of other French composers, who were similarly fascinated by the glimpses into the human mind offered by Symbolist literature and contemporaneous philosophy.No embarg

Social Mechanisms of Musical Stylistic Change: A Case Study from Early 20th-Century France

This study examined notated meter changes in scores by French composers to probe the role of sociological mechanisms in musical stylistic change. The stylistic feature of notated meter changes, which indexed metrical complexity, was conducive to empirical observation and functioned as a salient innovation in France around 1900. The principal sociological variable was membership in the Apaches artistic club, known for its avant-garde identity. A hypothesis that the Apaches would use significantly more meter changes than their peers was supported. Additional explanatory variables were derived from previous historical research on French composers and from theories about stylistic change. A complex relationship between the stylistic feature and social mechanisms emerged, involving multiple, overlapping social structures. The Labovian sociolinguistic approach was especially resonant in this data, as a composer's proximity to certain individuals, groups, and institutions in the social space related to their degree of enthusiasm for metric innovation. In addition, sociolinguistic theories about stylistic variation in human languages were consistent with patterns in this data set. Finally, a descriptive title was also a significant explanatory variable, which implicates the Labovian notion of register and the importance that Meyer gave to aesthetic goals in musical stylistic change

The overvaluation of weight or shape as a defining feature of binge eating disorder : a population-based investigation of psychopathology and psychosocial impairment

Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterised by the consumption of an abnormally large amount of food and the experience of a loss of control over one's eating. Concerns have been raised around the absence of a cognitive criterion, namely overvaluation of weight or shape toward one's self-worth (overvaluation), in current BED diagnostic criteria. The current thesis aimed to investigate the status of overvaluation within BED by means of a series of community-based studies. Study one examined eating disorder psychopathology, distress and psychosocial functioning across groups of women with probable BED with and without overvaluation, obese individuals who reported no binge eating (obese controls) and normal-weight individuals who reported no binge eating (healthy controls). Women with probable BED and overvaluation reported significantly greater eating disorder psychopathology, distress, and poorer psychosocial functioning. No significant differences on any outcome measures were found between probable BED without overvaluation and obese control groups. Study two examined eating disorder psychopathology, generic and disease-specific quality of life across groups of women with probable BED with and without overvaluation, obese controls and healthy controls. A comparison group of individuals with BED receiving specialist treatment was also considered. Participants with probable BED and overvaluation reported significantly greater eating disorder psychopathology and poorer generic and disease-specific quality of life, comparable to BED patients receiving specialist treatment. Participants with probable BED without overvaluation did not differ from obese controls on any these measures. Study three examined eating disorder psychopathology, distress and quality of life among female adolescents with loss of control (LOC) eating across groups of LOC eating with and without overvaluation, obese control and healthy control. Participants in the LOC eating with overvaluation subgroup reported significantly greater eating disorder psychopathology than all other groups, while levels of eating disorder psychopathology did not differ between LOC eating without overvaluation and obese control groups. On measures of distress and quality of life there were no significant differences between LOC eating with and without overvaluation groups. Study four examined eating disorder psychopathology and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties, a core theorised aetiological mechanism in BED, across groups of women with probable BED with and without overvaluation, obese controls and healthy controls. A comparison group of individuals with a clinical BED diagnosis was again also considered. Participants with probable BED and overvaluation reported significantly greater ER difficulties, comparable to BED patients receiving specialist treatment. Participants with probable BED without overvaluation more closely resembled obese controls with respect to ER difficulties. The current findings provide evidence that overvaluation indicates a significantly more severe presentation in terms of eating disorder psychopathology, psychosocial impairment, generic and eating disorder specific quality of life as well as ER difficulties. It highlights the need for reference to overvaluation in the diagnostic criteria for BED and questions the clinical significance of BED in the absence of overvaluation. Though further research is needed, particularly in adolescents, the inclusion of overvaluation in diagnostic criteria would enhance the clinical utility of the BED diagnosis and become consistent with a transdiagnostic conceptualisation of eating disorder psychopathology

Rohde's Psyche Psyche. Seekncult und Unsterblichkeitsglaube der Griechen. Von Erwin Rohde. Erste Hälfte. Freiburg-i.-B. 1890. Akademische Verlagsbuchhandlung von J. C. B. Mohr. 7Mk.

n/

Remembering out-of-context: a developmental perspective.

Contextual influences on memory retrieval are of theoretical and e~pirical importance in infant memory research. Early in infancy, memory is strongly constrained by contextual congruency at encoding and retrieval. Contextual constraints appear to progressively loosen over the infancy period (Hayne, 2004), but little is known about the nature and extent of this change. The present studies revealed that age-related decreases in contextual constraints on memory retrieval extend to both physical and social context, and to recall and recognition memory (Experiments 1-4). Specifically, for 9-month-olds both recognition and recall memory were less affected by a change of social context than for 6-month- . olds, and for 12-month-olds, recognition memory was less influenced by a change of global physical context than for 6-month-olds. At 12-months, memory retrieval appeared to be particularly constrained by intrinsic contextual details, a constraint that was robust across procedural variations that alleviate context-shift effects in other age-groups (Experiment 5). Nonetheless, providing infants with a unique environment for learning and retrieval helped them to retrieve memory across an intrinsic contextual change, indicating that extrinsic context may perform a disambiguating function later in infancy (Experiment 6). Finally, Experiments 7 to 9 used an EEG study to explore the processes underlying contextual influences on memory retrieval with adults. A change ofioom selectively impaired the purported neural correlates ofrecollective-based recognition memory, indicating that investigating the development ofrecollection in infancy may be an important step towards understanding contextual influences on memory in development. Taken together, these studies show that sirililar contextual features are encoded in memory from infancy to adulthood. Contextual details exert progressively less influence over memory retrieval over the first year of life, likely through a combination ofboth the maturation ofbrain regions involved in memory, and experience oflearning and remembering in a variety of settings

Sustainability Across the Supply Chain: A Case Study in the Automotive Industry

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have been widely adopted and implemented by organizations worldwide. However, with 17 goals and 169 targets, the decision on what to focus on and invest in are not trivial tasks. This research focuses on a major Tier-1 automotive supplier, here identified as CMF. With annual sales of 16 billion euros (2021), one in every three vehicles in the world is equipped with some form of CMF technology. The objective of this research was to evaluate CMF’s value chain and understand the challenges and opportunities related to the United Nations 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). To fulfill this goal considering that sustainability is better understood when evaluated across the supply chain, we investigated 41 companies that were part of CMF’s supply chain, including 14 customers that together represented about 70% of CMF’s revenue, 14 suppliers, 9 competitors, and 4 other OEMs indirectly related to CMF’s supply chain. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Primary data was collected involving interviews and site visits in the US and Europe. Thousands of pages of companies’ reports were used as secondary data and analyzed using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Results show that CMF’s customers focus mostly on SDGs #7 (71%), #9 (71%), and #13 (71%). Suppliers’ main focus was on SDGs #12 (77%), #13 (69%), #11 (38%), and #3 (38%). CMF’s competitors’ main focus was on SDGs #13 (88%), #12 (77%), and #6 (66%). Taking all of that into consideration as well as CMF’s strategic position within its value chain, we provided recommendations for CMF going forward to focus on three main SDGs. With respect to aligning specific goals highlighted throughout the supply chain, SDG 13 Climate Action is the area of highest overlap. Considering CMF’s strategy to become a leader in sustainability across the supply chain, SDG 4 Quality Education and SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals were also identified as the main focus

Effectiveness of an educational intervention for general practice teams to deliver problem focused therapy for insomnia: pilot cluster randomised trial

Introduction Sleep problems are common leading to physical and psychosocial morbidity and impaired quality of life. Sufferers often seek help from primary care and receive advice or hypnotic drugs which are ineffective long term. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) is effective but is not widely used in general practice. We conducted a pilot study to test procedures and collect information in preparation for a larger definitive trial to measure effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an educational intervention for general practitioners and primary care nurses a to deliver problem focused therapy to adults Methods This was a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial. General practices were randomised to an educational intervention (2x2 hours) for problem focused therapy which comprised assessment (of secondary causes, severity and using sleep diaries) and modified CBTi compared with usual care (sleep hygiene advice and hypnotic drugs). We recruited patients with sleep problems due to lifestyle causes, pain or mild to moderate depression or anxiety and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI≥4). The primary outcome was PSQI and secondary outcomes including Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and PSYCHLOPS were measured at 0, 4, 8 and 13 weeks. Intervention fidelity was evaluated using telephone interviews of participating practitioners and patients. Results Out of 64 participants recruited, 37 completed the trial. Analysis was conducted masked to treatment allocation. We used a mixed effects model to test for overall change and whether the intervention affected the rate of change over time. There was significant dropout during the pilot study, mainly due to delays in recruitment. We detected neither an overall change over time (PSQI score increase per week 0.06 (95%CI -0.03 to 0.16) nor differential change between intervention and control groups 0.10 (-0.03 to 0.23) although the study was not powered to detect such a change. Conclusion This pilot study confirmed that it was feasible to undertake a trial of education for primary care clinicians to deliver problem focused therapy for insomnia in general practice but also exposed problems with study recruitment, dropout, and intervention fidelity which should be addressed in the design of a full trial

Voices through my hands: An auto-ethnographic study of the lived experiences of a South African child of Deaf adults

There is a dearth of literature about the lived experiences of hearing children of Deaf adults (CODAs) within the South African context that this study attempts to address. Most African publications examining issues of Deafness focus on the experience of Deaf people themselves. Not much attention is given to the fact that children of Deaf adults may have their own experiences which are tied to the Deafness of their parents. Through a critical examination of my own experiences as a CODA, I sought to answer the following question: In which ways has my position in my family as a CODA, my identification as a Coloured person, my gender, and the context of Apartheid South Africa influenced my sense of self? Aim: The aim of the study is to provide the reader with rich, first-person information regarding the social, political and cultural circumstances of my formative years, in the context of being female, coloured, and having parents who are Deaf, against the backdrop of the South Africa of the 1980s. I draw attention to the intersections within my life as a bicultural, Coloured female in South Africa. Using a qualitative research method, auto-ethnography (specifically an evocative ethnographic method) to generate and analyse data, I endeavour to connect my story to wider cultural, political and social processes. The analysis was informed by literature from d/Deaf studies and a conceptual framework that included models of disability, the notion of intersectionality, and theoretical ideas concerning identity formation. Objectives: I explore: i) the key elements of context that combined to shape my experience of being raised as a CODA; ii) my experiences of identity formation; iii) the ways in which the intersection of various social life attributes that include race, gender, bicultural identity, and disability have intersected to frame my lifeworld as a CODA. Methodology: I used the auto-ethnographic approach and specifically, evocative autoethnography. I drew upon the thematic analysis method to analyse the data. Findings: The auto-ethnographic material depicts my lived experience as a CODA. A key finding relates to bicultural identity formation in a context of South Africa that has been profoundly shaped by Apartheid. While negotiating a terrain that is characterised by rampant racial discrimination and the difficulties that surround an identity that is both of the Deaf and hearing worlds, my story shows up a number of active responses to my life-world, rather than a passive acceptance and internalisation of its contradictions. Conclusion: This study supports the use of auto-ethnography as a way of exploring the experience of identity formation in CODAs in a context where the ambiguities of life as a CODA are complicated by identity intersections with race, gender and culture

Case study research: foundations and methodological orientations

Im Verlauf der letzten 40 Jahre wurden für Forschung mittels Fallstudien substanzielle methodologische Weiterentwicklungen erzielt. Hieraus sind pragmatische und flexible Zugangsweisen erwachsen, die ein tiefgehendes Verständnis unterschiedlichster Themen für zahlreiche Disziplinen erlauben. Wandel und Fortschritt resultierten aus der parallelen historischen Entwicklung von Forschungsansätzen und den Design-Präferenzen, -Perspektiven und -Interpretationen individueller Forscher/innen. Letztere gehören verschiedenen Wissenschaftsrichtungen zu, sie arbeiten vor dem Hintergrund ebenfalls unterschiedlicher philosophischer Annahmen und mit einer großen Vielfalt an Definitionen und konkreten methodischen Umsetzungen. Insbesondere für Forschende, die sich neu und ohne Vorwissen für Fallstudien entscheiden, resultiert hieraus einige Konfusion. Wir befassen uns deshalb in diesem Beitrag zunächst mit der Geschichte dieses Ansatzes und mit seinen methodologischen Variationen. Anschließend skizzieren wir einige Leitlinien, die aus unserer Perspektive essenziell sind und hoffentlich für Forschende, die an der Nutzung von Fallstudien in ihrer Arbeit interessiert sind, Hilfen bei der Wahl zwischen den verfügbaren Optionen bieten.Over the last forty years, case study research has undergone substantial methodological development. This evolution has resulted in a pragmatic, flexible research approach, capable of providing comprehensive in-depth understanding of a diverse range of issues across a number of disciplines. Change and progress have stemmed from parallel influences of historical transformations in approaches to research and individual researcher's preferences, perspectives, and interpretations of this design. Researchers who have contributed to the development of case study research come from diverse disciplines with different philosophical perspectives, resulting in a variety of definitions and approaches. For the researcher new to using case study, such variety can create a confusing platform for its application. In this article, we explore the evolution of case study research, discuss methodological variations, and summarize key elements with the aim of providing guidance on the available options for researchers wanting to use case study in their work