Evaluating the Relation of Vocal Accommodation in Conversation Partners' Fundamental Frequencies to Perceptions of Communication Quality

Previous acoustic analysis of fundamental frequencies from interview partners' voices revealed mutual accommodation of voice frequency and amplitude. These findings also showed partners' accommodation was associated with such attributes as social status. However, previous studies did not assess the function of partners' voice accommodation in extending general communication quality. The present study employs an experimental protocol wherein the fundamental frequency is included in some conversations and filtered from others to show, first, that partners do actively accommodate the fundamental frequency of their voices, and, second, that elimination of the fundamental frequency from conversation partners' voices profoundly alters perceived positive evaluations by judges overhearing the conversation. This experiment specifies an important auxiliary role for the fundamental frequency in nonverbal communication.     

Writing and Reading as Social Activities

The form of association made possible by the complementary activities of reading and writing is examined from the perspective of each. The primary focus is on the differences in how readers and writers experience both themselves and others in the process of such mediated communication as opposed to the experience of persons in face-to-face interaction. These differences are then related to the rise of individualism and the mode of analytic thought in Western Civilization. A final section focuses on the relationship between writers and authority systems as a possible explanation for bursts of creative literary production in societies.     

Projection of Health Benefits from Ambient Ozone Reduction Related to the Use of Methyl tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) in the Reformulated Gasoline Program

To estimate potential public health benefits from ozone (O₃) pollution reduction attributable to the use of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in gasoline, O₃ dose-response estimates from the biomedical literature were combined with model estimates of O₃ reduction. Modeling employed EPA MOBILE5a and Complex models to predict emission changes, industry AQIRP techniques to predict ambient O₃ changes, and the National Exposure Model to predict human exposures. Human health effects considered were lung function decrements and respiratory irritant symptoms (using dose-response functions measured in laboratory and field studies), and increased death rates (using concentration-response functions inferred statistically from public-health data). Other reported health effects, such as lung inflammation, increases in asthma attacks, and hospitalizations, were not addressed because of inadequate dose-response information. Even for the health responses considered, quantitation of improvements due to MTBE use is problematical, because MTBE affects only a small percentage of existing O₃ pollution, and because exposure-response relationships are not well understood for population subgroups most likely to be affected. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to conclude that even small MTBE-associated reductions in peak ambient O₃ levels (1–5 ppb, according to model estimates) should yield considerable public health benefits. Tens of millions of Americans are potentially exposed to O₃ in the concentration range associated with health effects. Even if only a small percentage of them are susceptible, any incremental reduction in O₃ (as with MTBE use) must mitigate or prevent effects for a meaningful number of people. Better quantitative estimates of benefit must await a more detailed understanding of each link in the chain of causation.     

Qualitative research strategies in rehabilitation

This article presents an overview of the qualitative research methods that social scientists use to explore human phenomena. The authors describe the philosophical and historical foundations of qualitative research, coupled with illustrations of specific qualitative designs. Applications of qualitative methods in the contemporary rehabilitation literature are also presented.     

War mobilization and the life course: A cohort of World War II veterans

Men experience historical events, such as wars, at different times in their lives and are thereby influenced in different ways. Using data on a cohort of veterans from World War II, this study investigates the proposition that entry into the armed forces at a relatively early age maximized discontinuity and facilitated a redirection of the life course through psychological development, a delayed entry into family roles, and greater advancement opportunity. By comparison, later entry into the service favored greater risk of family and career disruption within a pattern of life continuity from adolescence to the middle years. Results from the analysis are consistent with these expectations.