Commentary on Lahdelma and Eerola

This commentary offers a critique of the idea that nostalgia can be conveyed by a single chord – a major 7th. The commentary questions the constancy of emotion conveyed by a single chord in its different manifestations, and the extent to which it can afford perception of a complex emotion such as nostalgia

Globalization and the health of Canadians: ‘Having a job is the most important thing’

Background Globalization describes processes of greater integration of the world economy through increased flows goods, services, capital and people. Globalization has undergone significant transformation since the 1970s, entrenching neoliberal economics as the dominant model of global market integration. Although this transformation has generated some health gains, since the 1990s it has also increased health disparities. Methods As part of a larger project examining how contemporary globalization was affecting the health of Canadians, we undertook semi-structured interviews with 147 families living in low-income neighbourhoods in Canada’s three largest cities (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver). Many of the families were recent immigrants, which was another focus of the study. Drawing on research syntheses undertaken by the Globalization Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health, we examined respondents’ experiences of three globalization-related pathways known to influence health: labour markets (and the rise of precarious employment), housing markets (speculative investments and affordability) and social protection measures (changes in scope and redistributive aspects of social spending and taxation). Interviews took place between April 2009 and November 2011. Results Families experienced an erosion of labour markets (employment) attributed to outsourcing, discrimination in employment experienced by new immigrants, increased precarious employment, and high levels of stress and poor mental health; costly and poor quality housing, especially for new immigrants; and, despite evidence of declining social protection spending, appreciation for state-provided benefits, notably for new immigrants arriving as refugees. Job insecurity was the greatest worry for respondents and their families. Questions concerning the impact of these experiences on health and living standards produced mixed results, with a majority expressing greater difficulty ‘making ends meet,’ some experiencing deterioration in health and yet many also reporting improved living standards. We speculate on reasons for these counter-intuitive results. Conclusions Current trends in the three globalization-related pathways in Canada are likely to worsen the health of families similar to those who participated in our study

Fingerprinting an natürlichen und angepflanzten Schilf-Beständen (Phragmites australis) Nordwestdeutschlands

In Folge der Erweiterung des Bremer Flughafens mußte der Flußlauf der Ochtum (Alte Ochtum) verlegt werden (Neue Ochtum). Im Mittelpunkt des Projektes stehen natürliche und artifizielle Schilfbestände der Alten und Neuen Ochtum westlich von Bremen. Mit Hilfe der RAPD-Fingerprinting Methode wurden 13 Phragmites australis Bestände Nordwestdeutschlands untersucht. Die angepflanzten jungen Bestände der Neuen Ochtum unterscheiden sich nicht wesentlich von den spontan angesiedelten Populationen. Die neuen Bestände (Neue Ochtum) sind genetisch variabler als die älteren natürlichen Bestände (Alte Ochtum, sowie zum Vergleich Dümmer, Rubbenbruchsee). Einzelne Stichproben aus den angepflanzten Beständen können eindeutig Ancestorpopulationen (Alte Ochtum) zugeordnet werden. In manchen Beständen der Neuen Ochtum kann ein bedeutender Prozentsatz (bis zu 13%) an Merkmalen identifiziert werden, die in den Beständen der Alten Ochtum nicht vertreten sind. Es muß zu einem Neueintrag von außerhalb gekommen sein, der durch Anschwemmung von Saatgut erfolgt sein könnte. Möglicherweise erfolgte die artifizielle Bepflanzung mit Material, das nicht, wie angegeben, aus autochthonen Beständen der Alten Ochtum stammte. Innerhalb der Populationen sind Stichproben terrestrischer Bereiche von denen überfluteter Bereiche zu unterscheiden. Die Dümmerpopulationen sowie die Rubbenbruchpopulation sind deutlich verschieden von den Ochtum Populationen. Die Bestände der Neuen Ochtum und der Alten Ochtum bilden keine getrennten Cluster.Subsequent to the airport extension near Bremen the course of the river Ochtum (Alte Ochtum) has been moved to another place (Neue Ochtum). Our task was to compare the artificial and natural new stands (Neue Ochtum) with the natural old stands (Alte Ochtum) at the river Ochtum west of Bremen. With RAPD fingerprinting we studied the relationships within and between 13 reed stands of north-west Germany. The planted new stands do not differ essentially from the spontaneous new stands. The new stands (Neue Ochtum) are generally more variable than the old stands (Alte Ochtum, in comparison with Dümmer, Rubbenbruchsee). Single probes from the planted stands have nearly the same RAPD pattern as old stands (Alte Ochtum, ancestral genotypes). Some stands of the Neue Ochtum developed new RAPD markers (up to 13%) which do not occur in the Alte Ochtum populations. This is explained by an input of new genotypes from outside by washed up seeds or air borne pollen. The artificially planted material of the Neue Ochtum is possibly not an outcome of autochthonous stands of the Alte Ochtum as stated in the literature. Within some populations terrestrial and flooded genotypes can be determined. Populations from the Dümmer and the Rubbenbruchsee are clearly distinct from Ochtum populations. Neue Ochtum and Alte Ochtum stands do not create distinct clusters

Civil Practice and Procedure

This article will summarize recent developments of interest to practitioners handling civil cases in the courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Specifically included are relevant decisions of the Supreme Court of Virginia dating from opinions announced on June 10, 2004 to those announced on April 22, 2005; changes to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia announced during the same time period; and legislation enacted by the Virginia General Assembly at its 2005 Session, effective July 1, 2005

Conceptual blending and musical emotion

The scholarly literature on conceptual blending and emotion is very scant. One exception is a short section in Fauconnier and Turner (2002) focused on the emotion of anger. Fauconnier and Turner refer to the cross-cultural research of Lakoff and Kövecses (1987) on the anger script. The present article takes this dialogue on anger as a starting point to develop two separate yet interlinked matters: first, to open up a perspective on emotion from the standpoint of conceptual blending; second, to apply this perspective to the analysis of music’s structural features. The article begins by reviewing Juslin and Timmers’ (2010) model of the expressive character of acoustic features and proceeds to assess Lakoff and Kövecses’ theory of emotion as cognitive metaphor. Reconciling the cognitive metaphor of anger with the theory of conceptual blending allows us to analyze anger in two pieces, by Vivaldi and Haydn, respectively. The analysis throws into relief issues which arise when we apply conceptual blending to aesthetic objects in general, and musical works in particular. One key concept here is Fauconnier and Turner’s notion of time compression. Finally, the article examines Brandt’s (2006) useful ideas on blending in art as a way of further clarifying the special status of emotion in music, as distinct from utilitarian emotion in everyday life. The article concludes that a synthesis of conceptual blending and cognitive metaphor provides a useful tool for analyzing musical emotion

On the Perception of Difficulty: Differences between Humans and AI

With the increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in industry and society, effective human-AI interaction systems are becoming increasingly important. A central challenge in the interaction of humans with AI is the estimation of difficulty for human and AI agents for single task instances.These estimations are crucial to evaluate each agent's capabilities and, thus, required to facilitate effective collaboration. So far, research in the field of human-AI interaction estimates the perceived difficulty of humans and AI independently from each other. However, the effective interaction of human and AI agents depends on metrics that accurately reflect each agent's perceived difficulty in achieving valuable outcomes. Research to date has not yet adequately examined the differences in the perceived difficulty of humans and AI. Thus, this work reviews recent research on the perceived difficulty in human-AI interaction and contributing factors to consistently compare each agent's perceived difficulty, e.g., creating the same prerequisites. Furthermore, we present an experimental design to thoroughly examine the perceived difficulty of both agents and contribute to a better understanding of the design of such systems