Adults'' Tolerance of Cries: An Experimental Investigation of Acoustic Features

Variations in the aversiveness of a newborn's distress cry were examined using experimental manipulation of 3 acoustic features of the cry (fundamental frequency, intonation, spectral complexity) and of the information given to subjects about the infant's health status. The subjects (N = 164 medical students) were allowed to control the sound pressure level (range: 50 dB [A]-105 dB[A]) of the different cry versions by repeatedly pressing a button (operant titration). For the nonmanipulated (original) cry version, the accepted sound pressure level decreased as fundamental frequency increased at above 610 Hz. This effect was modified by experimental manipulation of spectral complexity as well as intonation. A preference of intonated cries over monotonous cries was most pronounced between 534 and 686 Hz. Significant interactions of the information variable with the intonation and the complexity variables suggest that the listener's reaction to certain physical cry characteristics can be altered substantially by inducing different cognitive sets.     

Low energy availability in exercising men is associated with reduced leptin and insulin but not with changes in other metabolic hormones

Low energy availability, defined as low caloric intake relative to exercise energy expenditure, has been linked to endocrine alterations frequently observed in chronically energy-deficient exercising women. Our goal was to determine the endocrine effects of low energy availability in exercising men. Six exercising men (VO_2peak: 49.3 ± 2.4 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1) underwent two conditions of low energy availability (15 kcal · kg^?1 fat-free mass [FFM] · day^?1) and two energy-balanced conditions (40 kcal · kg^?1 FFM · day^?1) in randomised order. During one low energy availability and one balanced condition, participants exercised to expend 15 kcal · kg^?1 FFM · day^?1; no exercise was conducted during the other two conditions. Metabolic hormones were assessed before and after each 4-day period. Following both low energy availability conditions, leptin (?53% to ?56%) and insulin (?34% to ?38%) were reduced (P < 0.05). Reductions in leptin and insulin were independent of whether low energy availability was attained with or without exercise (P > 0.80). Low energy availability did not significantly impact ghrelin, triiodothyronine, testosterone and IGF-1 (all P > 0.05). The observed reductions in leptin and insulin were in the same magnitude as changes previously reported in sedentary women. Further research is needed to understand why other metabolic hormones are more robust against low energy availability in exercising men than those in sedentary and exercising women.     

Conceptions of Knowledge and Institutional Realities: reflections on the creation of a new university in eastern Germany

This article has to do with a particularly persistent and intriguing problem in the politics of higher education, namely, the fault lines between ideas and reality, between a concept of a university and its implementation. The case in point is the creation of a new university at Frankfurt (Oder)—the European University ‘Viadrina‘—in the state of Brandenburg, on the eastern edge of what used to be the (East) German Democratic Republic. The case study traces the politics of creating and designing the new institution under the special conditions of post‐unification Germany and focuses on the challenges of implementing the twin elements of its founding concept: a particularly intensive international orientation, especially in its relationship with neighbouring Poland, and an attempt to transcend the boundaries of discipline‐based scholarship in teaching and research. Substantial problems with the implementation of the concept notwithstanding, the Viadrina stands a reasonable chance of becoming one of the few exceptions to the rule that unification has produced little innovation in German higher education.     

Realism, authenticity, and learning in healthcare simulations: rules of relevance and irrelevance as interactive achievements

Because simulators offer the possibility of functioning as authentic representations of real-world tasks, these tools are regarded as efficient for developing expertise. The users’ experience of realism is recognised as crucial, and is often regarded as an effect of the similarity between reality and the simulator itself. In this study, it is argued that simulation as a realistic and relevant activity cannot be predesigned but emerges in the interaction between the participants, the simulator, and the context. The study draws on interaction analysis of video data from medical training. The aim is to contrast the use of two different simulators to explore the requirements needed to establish and maintain simulations as authentic representations of clinical practice. Irrespective of the realism of the simulator, glitches in the understanding of the simulation as work-related activity appear and are bridged by participants. This regularly involves an orientation to the relevant similarities with work and, simultaneously, the ruling out of irrelevant dissimilarities. In doing so, the participants rely on established professional practices to construe the situation. Moreover, the realism of the simulation is maintained through the participants’ mutual orientation to the moral order of good clinical practice and a proper simulation. It is concluded that the design of simulation activities needs to account for the possibilities of participants understanding the specific conditions of the simulation and the work practices that the simulation represents. Learning to simulate is thus something that needs further attention in its own right.     

The Videodisc in Classroom Teaching

Abstract

This article consists of a report on a research project set up in the Federal Republic of Germany to look into the potential applications of new systems and technologies in the field of education. The various functions and possible uses of videodiscs are considered in some detail before conclusions are outlined concerning the current position of the integration of the videodisc into the education system.     

Exploring the emerging knowledge base of ‘the knowledge society’

Science, technology and innovation have grown in importance over the last 50 years as we have moved towards a more knowledge-intensive society (the ‘knowledge society’). A number of new research fields have emerged in an effort to understand these developments and to offer advice to decision-makers in government, industry and elsewhere. This special issue focuses on studies of three relatively distinct though thematically related research fields (innovation studies, entrepreneurship studies, and science and technology studies). The first three articles use a particular methodology based on analysis of the references cited in the chapters to authoritative ‘handbooks’ to identify the core contributions in the three fields. A fourth article examines the relationship between the core literatures in three fields and how this has evolved over time. Other articles look at the evolution of innovation studies as reflected in highly cited papers, at the development of entrepreneurship as seen by a key ‘insider’, and at the creation of new centres in these fields and the difficulties they face. The last article in this special issue shows how interdisciplinary centres in innovation studies suffer from research assessment systems that are intrinsically biased against interdisciplinary research. This introduction presents a synthesis of the articles in this special issue, discusses similarities and differences between the three fields and their development over time, and considers challenges for policy and governance arising from the research presented here.