Ratings of source credibility in relation to level of vocal variety, sex of the source, and sex of the receiver.

Pitch, rate, volume, and intensity express and evoke meaning and emotion that a verbal message cannot communicate by itself. The question arises, however, as to how much variety within the voice is desirable for the source of the message to appear most credible today in the United States. How much does the level of vocal variety affect source credibility? Does limited variability in paralinguistic cues significantly damage the perceived credibility of the source? Is it possible to have too much vocal variety in the delivery of a message

Relationships between parenting styles and risk behaviors in adolescent health: an integrative literature review

Pesquisas realizadas durante os últimos 20 anos sugerem que a qualidade da relação entre pais e adolescentes tem obtido impacto significante no desenvolvimento de comportamentos de risco a saúde dos adolescentes. A finalidade deste estudo é apresentar uma revisão bibliográfica de estudos publicados entre o ano de 1996 e 2007, que analisam relações especificas entre modelos de pais e seis principais comportamentos de risco em adolescentes. Os adolescentes crescidos sob disciplina autoritária demonstraram consistentemente mais comportamentos seguros e menos comportamentos de risco comparados a adolescentes vindos de famílias não autoritárias. O modelo dos pais e comportamentos relacionados a afetividade, comunicação familiar e práticas disciplinares, predizem importantes mediadores na formação do adolescente, incluindo o desenvolvimento acadêmico e o ajuste psico-social. Avaliações cuidadosas de modelos padrões de pais em diversas populações, será uma próxima etapa crítica no desenvolvimento de intervenções eficazes e culturalmente adaptadas, na promoção de saúde a adolescentes.Resultados de investigaciones realizadas durante los últimos 20 años muestran que la calidad en las relaciones entre padres e hijos ha provocado un impacto significativo en el desarrollo de comportamientos de riesgo para la salud del adolescente. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar una revisión bibliográfica de estudios publicados entre 1996-2007, analizando relaciones específicas entre los tipos de padres y los seis principales comportamientos de riesgo en adolescentes. Adolescentes criados bajo una disciplina autoritaria muestran comportamientos más seguros y menores comportamientos de riesgo al ser comparados con adolescentes que provienen de familias poco autoritarias. El tipo paternal y comportamientos relacionados con la afectividad, comunicación familiar y disciplina predicen importantes mediadores para la formación del adolescente, incluyendo desarrollo académico y adaptación psico-social. Cuidadosas evaluaciones sobre los tipos de padres estándar en poblaciones diversas será una próxima etapa crítica para el desarrollo de intervenciones eficaces y adaptadas culturalmente para la promoción de la salud del adolescente.Research over the past 20 years suggests that the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship significantly affects the development of risk behaviors in adolescent health. The purpose of this paper is to present a review of studies published between 1996-2007 that address specific relationships between parenting styles and six priority adolescent risk behaviors. The review supports the substantial influence of parenting style on adolescent development. Adolescents raised in authoritative households consistently demonstrate higher protective and fewer risk behaviors than adolescents from non-authoritative families. There is also considerable evidence to show that parenting styles and behaviors related to warmth, communication and disciplinary practices predict important mediators, including academic achievement and psychosocial adjustment. Careful examination of parenting style patterns in diverse populations, particularly with respect to physical activity and unintentional injury, will be a critical next step in the development of efficacious, culturally tailored adolescent health promotion interventions

Virtual Works – Actual Things: Essays in Music Ontology

"Beyond musical works: new perspectives on music ontology and performance What are musical works? How are they constructed in our minds? Which material things allow us to speak about them in the first place? Does a specific way of conceiving musical works limit their performative potentials? Which alternative, more productive images of musical work can be devised? Virtual Works – Actual Things addresses contemporary music ontological discourses, challenging dominant musicological accounts, questioning their authoritative foundation and moving towards dynamic perspectives devised by music practitioners and artist researchers. Specific attention is given to the relationship between the virtual multiplicities that enable the construction of an image of a musical work and the actual, concrete materials that make such a construction possible. With contributions by prominent scholars, this book is a wide-ranging and fascinating collection of essays, which will be of great interest for artistic research, contemporary musicology, music philosophy, performance studies and music pedagogy alike. Contributors: David Davies (McGill University, Montreal), Andreas Dorschel (University of the Arts Graz), Lydia Goehr (Columbia University, New York), Kathy Kiloh (OCAD University, Toronto), Jake McNulty (Columbia University, New York), Gunnar Hindrichs (University of Basel), John Rink (University of Cambridge)

Literary stylistics, authorial intention and the scientific study of literature: a critical overview

A tendency by literary stylisticians to overlook the role of the author in the generation of literary meaning has been a significant source of tension between linguistic approaches to literariness and other practices in the discipline, such as text-editing and literary biography. Recently, however, efforts have been made to close this gap, with the branch of stylistics, cognitive poetics, claiming to have developed a new and empirical method of integrating an appreciation of authorial imagination and creativity into the study of readers' responses to the language of literary texts. We examine these claims critically, testing the grounds of assertions about scientific rigour in relation to demands about model testing and falsifiability associated with the scientific study of literature more generally. We then explore how some other methodologies, technologies and insights associated with this last branch of the discipline might be brought to bear on the topic of authorial intention, with the aim of determining whether, and in what ways, our understanding of an authorial intention, and its role in literary processing, might be furthered through empirical enquiry

Brain structural correlates of functional capacity in first-episode psychosis

Impaired functional capacity is a core feature of schizophrenia and presents even in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients. Impairments in daily functioning tend to persist despite antipsychotic therapy but their neural basis is less clear. Previous studies suggest that volume loss in frontal cortex might be an important contributor, but findings are inconsistent. We aimed to comprehensively investigate the brain structural correlates of functional capacity in FEP using MRI and a reliable objective measure of functioning [University of California, San Diego Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA)]. In a sample of FEP (n = 39) and a well-matched control group (n = 21), we measured cortical thickness, gray matter volume, and white matter tract integrity (fractional anisotropy, FA) within brain regions implicated by previous work. The FEP group had thinner cortex in various frontal regions and fusiform, and reduced FA in inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). In FEP, poorer functional capacity correlated with reduced superior frontal volume and lower FA in left ILF. Importantly, frontal brain volumes and integrity of the ILF were identified as the structural correlates of functional capacity in FEP, controlling for other relevant factors. These findings enhance mechanistic understanding of functional capacity deficits in schizophrenia by specifying the underlying neural correlates. In future, this could help inform intervention strategies

Isolation and antisense suppression of flavonoid 3', 5'-hydroxylase modifies flower pigments and colour in cyclamen

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cyclamen is a popular and economically significant pot plant crop in several countries. Molecular breeding technologies provide opportunities to metabolically engineer the well-characterized flavonoid biosynthetic pathway for altered anthocyanin profile and hence the colour of the flower. Previously we reported on a genetic transformation system for cyclamen. Our aim in this study was to change pigment profiles and flower colours in cyclamen through the suppression of flavonoid 3', 5'-hydroxylase, an enzyme in the flavonoid pathway that plays a determining role in the colour of anthocyanin pigments.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A full-length cDNA putatively identified as a <it>F3'5'H </it>(<it>CpF3'5'H</it>) was isolated from cyclamen flower tissue. Amino acid and phylogeny analyses indicated the <it>CpF3'5'H </it>encodes a F3'5'H enzyme. Two cultivars of minicyclamen were transformed via <it>Agrobacterium tumefaciens </it>with an antisense <it>CpF3'5'H </it>construct. Flowers of the transgenic lines showed modified colour and this correlated positively with the loss of endogenous <it>F3'5'H </it>transcript. Changes in observed colour were confirmed by colorimeter measurements, with an overall loss in intensity of colour (C) in the transgenic lines and a shift in hue from purple to red/pink in one cultivar. HPLC analysis showed that delphinidin-derived pigment levels were reduced in transgenic lines relative to control lines while the percentage of cyanidin-derived pigments increased. Total anthocyanin concentration was reduced up to 80% in some transgenic lines and a smaller increase in flavonol concentration was recorded. Differences were also seen in the ratio of flavonol types that accumulated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To our knowledge this is the first report of genetic modification of the anthocyanin pathway in the commercially important species cyclamen. The effects of suppressing a key enzyme, F3'5'H, were wide ranging, extending from anthocyanins to other branches of the flavonoid pathway. The results illustrate the complexity involved in modifying a biosynthetic pathway with multiple branch points to different end products and provides important information for future flower colour modification experiments in cyclamen.</p