Various methods of communication exist and the understanding of the subtle differences in each form of communication may aid the compassing of this complex process. An example of one such method is music. At any given moment, worldwide, in restaurants, homes, offices, vehicles, night clubs, etc. people are listening to music. Music surrounds us, whether our listening to the radio, being put on-hold during a telephone call or going about day-to-day activities. Music has become a significant part of our lives â a ubiquitous social phenomenon and is the centre of various social activities, like concerts, where people gather to listen to and talk about music. Even in social gatherings where music is not the primary focus, for example weddings, it is an essential component â imagine a wedding without music (Rentfrow and Gosling 2003: 1236-1237). Radio stations may be regarded as some of the largest users of music as a method of communication. Wimmer and Dominick (2006:361) indicate that music is the main product of many radio stations and is of utmost importance for their economic sustainability. Furthermore, the audiences of radio stations â thus the receivers of the communication â also play an important role in the communication process employing music specifically as a method of communication. It may, therefore, be valuable to gain insight into the music preferences of a radio stationâs audience. As music is mostly the main product of a radio station, it is of cardinal importance to be able to identify the music preferred by the audience of that particular radio station. The audience figures for commercial radio stations are directly related to the radio stationâs advertising income (Wimmer and Dominick 2006:361). Despite the prevalence of music in our lives, the study into the personality psychology of music has remained mainly mute. Various questions remain regarding the individual differences and different uses of music, as well as individual differences and music preference choices. It is a given fact that people differ from one another. Precisely how and why they differ is less apparent and forms the focus of personality or individual differences research in the social science and, in particular, psychology (Rentfrow and Gosling 2003). It has been identified that there is currently a lack of knowledge and research specifically related to the relationship between personality traits, the uses and gratifications of music and the music preferences of radio audiences. The aim of this study will be to investigate the possible development of a predictive measurement tool in order to predict the music and genre preference for different psychographic groups of respondents who represent the audience of a central South African radio station, as well as their uses and gratifications of the music. Examining the patterns of music use and the relationship between music use and psychographic profiles, by employing the Ten- Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Uses of Music Inventory (UMI), may contribute to the development of a more efficient model in the construction of a radio stationâs music content and diversity. However, it should be noted that this will, by no means, be an exhaustive study into neither the exact influences on music preference nor the patterns of music use amongst the audience of this radio station.

In the study, the researcher explores the issue of ethics of reporting on HIV/Aids in three major South African newspapers, namely Mail & Guardian, The Star and Daily Sun. The researcher argues that deontological and social responsibility ethical approaches are the necessary foundation upon which ethical decisions ought to be based, regarding the coverage of the pandemic in the media. The researcher establishes that journalists have to be bound by duty, which is a key concept within the ethical paradigms which are being proposed. The position that the researcher maintains is premised on the fact that journalists have a responsibility to society, especially because HIV/Aids is killing millions of Africans. And since there is no known cure for the disease, the media have a powerful role to play in ensuring that issues relating to the disease are reported consistently and regularly, since the media have an enormous influence (Retief 2002: 5). Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis as a research design, the researcher examined specifically four main ethical violations levelled against the media. It was found that in the newspapers studied, they had, on average, one story per issue; there is a gross dearth of stories which were humanised; the language of reporting, especially the use of some metaphors, had negative connotations, some positive, and one was political. Regarding sensationalist headlines and text, very few examples were found. One of the major recommendations is that stories on HIV/Aids ought to be humanised, and the narrative genre of news writing offers a solution.

The purpose of this study is to identify and explore the problems surrounding time and space as narrative elements of the narrative film. Theorists differ in their views on cinematic tenses. Some claim there is only one speci= fic time - the time the viewers perceive the events as they are taking place !!now" before their eyes. Others classify time in "true!! and cinematic time with a past, present and future tense. For the purpose of this study the allocation of space is the perceiving of different places and not physical space. The question now arises: how does the director link the different images, shots, sequences and scenes together without any discontinuity and within the limited time? Due to the fact that the interpersonal, subjective and un= conscious-cognitive nature of film perception makes the testing of time and space difficult, the methodology used in this study is Van Leent's depth dimension. The result of this inquiry is that there exists no gol= den rule on film editing at present but that there is room for improvement in the application of film techniques so that better continuity in the story is created. The director must know his medium and the destination of his message. Finally, a number of proposals were put forward on how to improve the cinematic technique of story-telling in order to make the message more perceptible to the audience.

The study set out to construct a rhetorical imprint of Nelson Mandela as reflected in a combination of all, as well as selected publicly available speeches from 1950 to 2004. The rhetorical imprint refers to constant, underlying patterns of distinctive, verbal characteristics that support the content of numerous speeches in different contexts (Burgchardt, 1985: 441). The rhetorical imprint is conceptualised in pragmatic constructivist terms to be the product of the conceptual categories of the mind, which are intrinsically metaphorically structured (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 7). Since conceptual categories cannot be directly observed, evidence of the particular conceptual categories which governed Nelson Mandelaâs rhetorical imprint was sought in the rhetoric itself. The rhetorical imprint functions at both the manifest and latent levels of meaning. In this study, the researcher accessed the surface-level patterns through quantitative, computer-aided content analysis, while the very fact that the individual conceptual system was considered metaphorical suggested the use of metaphorical concepts as qualitative tool in order to access the deeply embedded content of the conceptual categories which were most influential on the rhetorical imprint. The rhetorical imprint was finally synthesised from the qualitative and quantitative data in terms of the general characteristics of the rhetoric, the cognitive complexity and the conceptual structure of the rhetorical imprint, which consists of transcending conceptual motifs and sub-ordinate themes. Mandelaâs rhetoric was also contextualised against his biographical background and ethos, as well as against the overall rhetorical situation, which include the socio-political context as controlling need or exigency, a consideration of the rhetorical audiences and constraints on the rhetor. Mandelaâs rhetoric was found to be complex, with sophisticated vocabulary use and conceptual structuring. The rhetorical complexity indicates a rhetor who is cognitively complex and able to adapt his rhetoric to the nuances of different audiences and contexts. Mandelaâs rhetoric further indicates a definite evolution from sub-corpus to sub-corpus. It was found that the controlling concern of the struggle period revolved around aspects of struggle, while the liberation sub-corpus signified a focus on aspects of the political transition. The presidential period focused on reconciliation and reconstruction and the postpresidential sub-corpus indicates a preoccupation with the issue of HIV/AIDS. The most dominant conceptual motif at the core of Mandelaâs rhetorical imprint was found to be his use of the archetypal JOURNEY source domain in metaphorical concepts to conceptualise the controlling concerns throughout the entire corpus. The JOURNEY motif is accompanied by a forward-looking orientation where future paths and destinations are optimistically envisioned. The source domains war and building/structure are also prominent, although subordinate to JOURNEY. The metaphorical concepts related to JOURNEY are based on the mega-metaphorical concept LIFE IS A JOURNEY, while war is derived from LIFE IS A STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL and building/structure is based on ABSTRACT COMPLEX SYSTEMS ARE BUILDINGS. These mega-metaphorical concepts interact and indicate that Mandelaâs individual construal system and rhetoric are fundamentally structured by the notion of a PERILOUS SYMBOLIC JOURNEY, which is the rhetorical imprint, and that all metaphorical concepts discovered in his rhetoric are subsumed in this configuration

No description available.

Mitochondrial deficiencies are present in limb skeletal muscle fibers throughout normal aging and can increase with accumulated exposure to reactive oxide species. Exogenous sources of reactive oxide species include cigarette smoke and other environmental toxins. Intrinsic laryngeal muscles are directly exposed to inhaled toxins which may increase the percentage of cytochrome c oxidase deficient fibers over time. Serial sections of posterior cricoarytenoid and control strap muscle were harvested post laryngectomy from 10 males age 54-78 years old. Cytochrome c oxidase, succinate dehydrogenase, and modified Gomori trichrome stains were used to determine the percentage of type I fibers with cytochrome c oxidase deficiency. Staining with myosin antibodies was used to determine fiber type. The posterior cricoarytenoid muscle contained a significantly higher percentage of type I fibers with cytochrome c oxidase deficiency (p=.002, t = 4.939) compared to the control strap muscle. The percentage of cytochrome c oxidase deficient fibers was also significantly correlated (r = +.851; p < .01) with age in posterior cricoarytenoid muscle. The percentage of type I fibers with cytochrome c oxidase deficiency increases with age in the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle and may be due to the accumulated exposure to reactive oxide species over time.

The role of exercise in vocal fold wound healing has been overlooked. Data from numerous other systems suggest a positive role of tissue mobilization to facilitate optimal wound healing and biomechanically superior tissue. The current study sought to investigate the potential role of mechanical signaling to attenuate the inflammatory and alter the synthetic properties of fibroblasts cultured from the vocal folds. Vocal fold fibroblasts were subjected to one of four conditions: no treatment, IL-1â alone, mechanical stress alone, or mechanical stress plus IL-1â. Results suggest that mechanical stress may limit the inflammatory phenotype of vocal fold fibroblasts in the short-term (4 hours), but not in the long-term (24 hours). In fact, 24 hours of mechanical stress may actually increase the inflammatory response. In addition, neither IL-1â nor mechanical stress had an effect on vocal fold fibroblast synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins. As a potential explanation for the current findings, it is hypothesized that the vocal folds may be more resilient to mechanical stress given the inherently stressful environment associated with phonation.

An important purpose of hearing is to aid communication. Because hearing-in-noise is of primary importance to individuals who seek remediation for hearing impairment, it has been the primary objective of advances in technology. Directional microphone technology is the most promising way to address this problem. Another important role of hearing is localization, allowing one to sense ones environment and feel safe and secure. The properties of the listening environment that are altered with directional microphone technology have the potential to significantly impair localization ability. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the impact of listening with directional microphone technology on individuals self-perceived level of localization disability and concurrent handicap. Participants included 57 unaided subjects, later randomly assigned to participate in one of three aided groups of 19 individuals each, who used omni-directional microphone only amplification, directional microphone only amplification, or toggle-switch equipped hearing aids that allowed user discretion over the directional microphone properties of the instruments. Comparisons were made between the unaided group responses and those of the subjects after having worn amplification for three months. Additionally, comparisons between the directional microphone only group responses and each of the other two aided groups responses were made. No significant differences were found. Hearing aids with omni-directional microphones, directional-only microphones, and those that are equipped with a toggle-switch, neither increased nor decreased the self-perceived level of ability to tell the location of sound or the level of withdrawal from situations where localization ability was a factor. Concurrently, directional-microphone only technology did not significantly worsen or improve these factors as compared to the other two microphone configurations. Future research should include objective measures of localization ability using the same paradigm employed herein. If the use of directional microphone technology has an objective impact on localization, clinicians might be advised to counsel their patients to be careful moving in their environment even though they do not perceive a problem with localization. If ultimately no significant differences in either objective or subjective measures are found, then concern over decreases in quality of life and safety with directional microphone use need no longer be considered.

This study examined the hypothesis that cognitive resources may be involved in swallowing. The approach involved a dual-task, reaction time (RT) paradigm with 10 healthy, non-impaired (NI) control participants and 10 participants in early to middle stages of Parkinsons disease (PD). First, baseline measures were obtained for durations of anticipatory phase and oropharyngeal phase during swallowing and RTs to non-word, auditory stimuli. Next, a dual-task was introduced requiring participants to swallow 5 ml of water from a cup while listening for a target non-word presented auditorily during anticipatory or oropharyngeal phases. Target stimuli were randomized across 19 baseline/single-task and 19 dual-task trials. For the single-task data, repeated measures analyses of variance were used to assess differences in (a) durations of the anticipatory phase across trials within and between participant groups; (b) durations of the oropharyngeal phase across trials within and between participant groups; and (c) durations of reaction times across trials within and between groups. For the dual-task data, analyses of variance were used to assess differences in (a) durations of the anticipatory phase between baseline/single-task and dual-task conditions; (b) durations of the oropharyngeal phase between baseline/single-task and dual-task conditions; and (c) durations of reaction times between baseline/single-task and dual-task conditions for each of the two swallowing phases. Results showed slowed swallowing and RTs in participants with PD compared to controls in both anticipatory and oropharyngeal phases of swallowing. This effect was largely carried by participants in more severe, mid-stage disease as compared to early disease. The anticipatory phase was more affected than the oropharyngeal phase, suggesting that cognitive demands may be greater for that phase. Swallowing durations were similar for NIs and participants in early stage PD, underscoring the strength and persistent nature of swallowing.

Abstract The present study sought (1) to determine if any evidence could be found of an influence of clinical language on self-efficacy for voice in adults with voice problems; and (2) to determine the number of subjects that would be required to undertake future large-scale study around this question, if warranted, based on effect sizes determined in the present investigation. The study¡¦s relevance has to do with prior concerns raised in the literature that common clinical language in voice care¡Xspecifically language indicating vocal ¡§abuse and misuse¡¨ as causal factors in selected voice disorders--has potential to harm self-efficacy for voice, which in turn may compromise patient compliance with treatment and thus clinical outcome (Verdolini, 1999). Fourteen teachers with self-reported voice disorders of unknown etiology were recruited as participants. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two 15-min standardized, videotaped educational exposures by an unbiased clinician who was unaware of the experimental questions. One exposure described the origins of common voice problems in teachers in terms of vocal ¡§abuse/misuse¡¨ (N=7). The other exposure described the problems in terms of ¡§phonotraumatic behaviors and muscular tension¡¨ (N=7). Before and immediately after exposures, subjects completed a visual analogue scale Voice Self-Efficacy Questionnaire that was specially designed for the study, that assessed situation-neutral self-efficacy for voice. Psychometric evaluation of the tool indicated strong intra-rater and test-retest reliability (r d. 99; r d .78 respectively). The groups were also found to have no significant differences between them at the pre-test level, thus showing that amount of change on the post-test Voice Self-Efficacy Questionnaire were not influenced by individual subject differences on the pre-test. More conceptually interesting, binomial tests indicated that the majority of responses to self-efficacy questions reliably increased pre- to post exposure in the ¡§phonotrauma/muscle tension¡¨ (20/28 responses; p < .05), whereas no reliable change in scores was seen in the ¡§abuse/misuse¡¨ group (11/28 responses increased; non-significant). A Chi-Square test was conducted, and as with the binomial test, found a statistical difference between the 11 increased/28 possible self-efficacy responses of the ¡§abuse/misuse¡¨ group, and the 20/28 increased self-efficacy responses of the ¡§phonotrauma¡¨ group to the < .05 level. Results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that clinical exposure to ¡§abuse/misuse¡¨ language may harm patients¡¦ self-efficacy for voice, not necessarily by decreasing pre-exposure self-efficacy but by compromising increases in self-efficacy that may normally be expected with patient education, as reported for other domains. The issue of self-efficacy for voice should be pursued in larger-scale studies in other laboratories. Effect sizes based on the present data indicated that at least 20 subjects per group (N=40 total) would be required to assess the effects of the noted terminology on voice-related self-efficacy shifts parametrically, using a similar experimental design.