Acceptability of Social Media Incentives to Increase Physical Activity

Background: Contingency management can be effective in promoting physical activity, but the change frequently does not sustain after the intervention is withdrawn. A feasible and sustainable physical activity intervention is needed. Social media may meet the criteria for a sustainable intervention, as it is free to use and enormously popular. Introduction: The goal of the current study was to assess acceptability of using social media as an incentive for a physical activity intervention. Materials and Methods: The current study surveyed 102 Mechanical Turk users on their social media use, physical activity habits, and interest in a proposed physical activity intervention. Results: There was moderate interest in social media as an incentive, with 32.35% of participants indicating initial interest in the intervention and 62.75% of participants interested in a free trial. Interest in increasing physical activity predicted interest in the intervention. Discussion and Conclusions: Social media can be an acceptable incentive for use in a physical activity intervention

Why do the poor leave the safety net in Mexico? A study of the effects of conditionality on dropouts

This paper analyzes the characteristics of beneficiaries that drop out of the Mexican conditional cash transfer program Oportunidades to determine if dropping out of the program is a result of selftargeting by the non-poor, the exclusion of the target poor population or a combination of both. The analysis, which uses a duration model, indicates that it is the wealthier beneficiaries that have greater odds of dropping out suggesting that conditionality acts as a screening device. Results also indicate that administrative factors and the particular provider of health services to beneficiaries have an important influence on dropouts.Cash transfer programs, conditionality, Oportunidades, Latin America, Mexico, hazard models

Mendoza : al canto

Fil: Devoto, Daniel. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Francia

Reconstitution d'un chansonnier espagnol inedit du XVe Siècle : une experience pedagogique

Dans son article, le professeur Devoto fait allusion à la reconstitution à la voix disparue d'un groupe de 12 chansons hispaniques de la Renaissance, à travers la confrontation de deux manuscrits fragmentaires: le ms. Rodríguez Moñino (i) et le ms. Lázaro Galdeano (ii), tous les deux faisant partie d'un même volume originaire, le deuxiême datant de 1548. L'une des voix conservées est enregistrée en clef d'ut en le (= Superius), l'autre en clef d'ut en 3e (voix grave, pas nécessairement un Bassus). Sous la direction du professeur Devoto, deux groupes d'élèves de l'Institut de Musicologie de l'Universitéd de Poitiers ont refait tour à tour la voix qui manquait, suivant les caractéristiques du répertoire hispanique de l'époque (alternance de l'élément culte/populaire, système modal, emprunt mélodique, particularités rhytmiques, etc.) L'exemple apporté, Vuestro raro valor y gentileza (Votre rare valeur et gentillesse), est un exemple typique de la chanson espagnole de la première moitié du XVIe siècle, ou l'on montre de façon claire la liberté rhytmique et la péculiarité expressive qui ressortent de l'application de la musique au texte. En même temps, c'est un témoignage du haut sens professionel du Prof. Daniel Devoto, qui a su conjuguer l'intérêt musicologique avec la clarté de la pédagogie.In his article, prof. Devoto refers to the reconstruction of the missing voice in a group of 12 Renaissance Hispanic three-part songs, through the comparison between two fragmentary manuscripts: ms. Rodríguez Moñino (i) and ms. Lazaro Galdiano (ii), both of them belonging to the same original volume, the second dated in 1548. One of the remaining voices is written in tenor clef in 1st (= Superius), the other in tenor clef in 3d (deep voice, not necessarily a Bassus). Two groups of students from the Institute of Musicology at the University of Poitiers, conducted by Prof. Devoto, successively remade the missing part, according to the characteristics of the Hispanic repertory at that time (alternance of learned/popular elements, modal system, melodic lendings, rythmic peculiarities, etc) The example adduced, Vuestro raro valor y gentileza (Your rare merit and gracefulness), is a typical example of Spanish song in the first half of the 16th century, in which clearly appear the rythmic liberty and the expressive peculiarity resultant from the application of music to text; at the same time it is an evidence of Prof. Devoto's high professionalism, since he has been able to combine musicologic interest with pedagogical clarity

Boris's Bells, By Way of Schubert and Others

We define "bell chords" as different dominant-seventh chords whose roots are separated by multiples of interval 3, the minor third.The Boris bell chords are an early milestone in the history of nonfunctional harmony; yet the two harmonies, considered individually, are of course absolutely functional in classical contexts. This essay traces some of the historical antecedents of the bell chords as well as their developing descendants. The expectation of tonic harmony to follow a dominant-seventh sonority is a principal component of forehearing; we assume, in our ordinary and long-tested experience of tonal music, that the tonic function will follow the dominant-seventh function and be fortified by it. So familiar is this everyday phenomenon that it hardly needs to be stated; we need mention it here only to assert the contrary case, namely, that the dominant-seventh function followed by something else introduces the element of the unexpected