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The Sound of Success: Investigating Cognitive and Behavioral Effects of Motivational Music in Sports
(2017)
Listening to music before, during, or after sports is a common phenomenon, yet its functions and effects on performance, cognition, and behavior remain to be investigated. Listening to music before, during, or after sports is a common phenomenon, yet its functions and effects on performance, cognition, and behavior remain to be investigated. In this study we present a novel approach to the role of music in sports and exercise that focuses on the notion of musical self-enhancement (Elvers, 2016). We derived the following hypotheses from this framework: listening to motivational music will (i) enhance self-evaluative cognition, (ii) improve performance in a ball game, and (iii) evoke greater risk-taking behavior. To evaluate the hypotheses, we conducted a between-groups experiment (N = 150) testing the effectiveness of both an experimenter playlist and a participant-selected playlist in comparison to a no-music control condition. All participants performed a ball-throwing task developed by Decharms and Davé (1965), consisting of two parts: First, participants threw the ball from fixed distances into a funnel basket. During this task, performance was measured. In the second part, the participants themselves chose distances from the basket, which allowed their risk-taking behavior to be assessed. The results indicate that listening to motivational music led to greater risk taking but did not improve ball-throwing performance. This effect was more pronounced in male participants and among those who listened to their own playlists. Furthermore, self-selected music enhanced state self-esteem in participants who were performing well but not in those who were performing poorly. We also discuss further implications for the notion of musical self-enhancement. // Listening to music before, during, or after sports is a common phenomenon, yet its functions and effects on performance, cognition, and behavior remain to be investigated. In this study we present a novel approach to the role of music in sports and exercise that focuses on the notion of musical self-enhancement (Elvers, 2016). We derived the following hypotheses from this framework: listening to motivational music will (i) enhance self-evaluative cognition, (ii) improve performance in a ball game, and (iii) evoke greater risk-taking behavior. To evaluate the hypotheses, we conducted a between-groups experiment (N = 150) testing the effectiveness of both an experimenter playlist and a participant-selected playlist in comparison to a no-music control condition. All participants performed a ball-throwing task developed by Decharms and Davé (1965), consisting of two parts: First, participants threw the ball from fixed distances into a funnel basket. During this task, performance was measured. In the second part, the participants themselves chose distances from the basket, which allowed their risk-taking behavior to be assessed. The results indicate that listening to motivational music led to greater risk taking but did not improve ball-throwing performance. This effect was more pronounced in male participants and among those who listened to their own playlists. Furthermore, self-selected music enhanced state self-esteem in participants who were performing well but not in those who were performing poorly. We also discuss further implications for the notion of musical self-enhancement.
The rock material pentlandite with the composition Fe4.5Ni4.5S8 was synthesized via high temperature synthesis from the elements. The structure and composition of the material was characterized via powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Mössbauer spectroscopy (MB), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Two preparation methods of pentlandite bulk electrodes are presented. In the first approach a piece of synthetic pentlandite rock is directly contacted via a wire ferrule. The second approach utilizes pentlandite pellets, pressed from finely ground powder, which is immobilized in a Teflon casing. Both electrodes, whilst being prepared by an additive-free method, reveal high durability during electrocatalytic conversions in comparison to common drop-coating methods. We herein showcase the striking performance of such electrodes to accomplish the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and present a standardized method to evaluate the electrocatalytic performance by electrochemical and gas chromatographic methods. Furthermore, we report stability tests via potentiostatic methods at an overpotential of 0.6 V to explore the material limitations of the electrodes during electrolysis under industrial relevant conditions.
Reconciling work and family life is one of the main issues of welfare state policies in the fields of childcare and long-term care. On that account, policy and research are focused almost exclusively on women – often on the reconciliation of work and childbearing – and social policy at the state level. In our study, we concentrate on men who reconcile gainful employment with elderly care, and we include the company level – a level of analysis often neglected in traditional theoretical approaches and typologies of comparative welfare state research. In Germany, during the last decade, the share of sons who are responsible for taking care of their elderly relatives has remarkably increased. In our qualitative research, we carried out comparative case studies in eleven German companies. We conducted around 60 interviews with male employees caring for an elderly relative, as well as with members of the works councils and human resources departments in different kinds of companies. We analysed which familial, social, professional, legal as well as occupational resources are central for these men, how they cope with reconciling work and care, and which gaps in the welfare system they identify. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of the caring sons claim not to have problems in reconciling work and care, although they spend significant time on caring. In this paper we try to explain this pattern by looking at their typical care arrangements. We found that while women tend to organise employment around care, men rather seem to organise care around their employment. Given the feminist critique of the “adult worker model” this is an interesting result and needs theoretical reflection. Do men have the solution to the care-blindness of the “adult worker model” without falling into the “cold modern model of care”? Which resources are mainly used in “adult worker care arrangements”? Where are the limits of the approach?
Progressive web applications (PWAs) seem to be the next big thing in the mobile landscape. These are web applications with “super-powers” which are meant to provide the kinds of user experiences previously only native mobile applications could. Therefore they are able to match native applications in their capabilities but still thrive on the reachability of the web. They achieve this by implementing certain characteristics which originate from innovative standards and sophisticated best practices. Conveniently, as it is the web, PWAs are working seamlessly cross-platform. One of the closest things to a PWA so far may be an application created with the NativeScript framework. Such an application is also developed with web technologies yet able to use any native interface directly. This is made possible by using a designated runtime for mediating between JavaScript and the mobile system. Eventually, NativeScript is able to offer a high degree nativity yet also of convenient abstraction during development. This paper is set out to deliver further insight into both approaches by contrasting them based on the characteristics of PWAs. For this purpose, these characteristics are elaborated and adjusted to be applicable to native mobile applications. Hence a reasonable basis for what to expect from a native application is derived. Then NativeScript is assessed on this basis by the means of transferable concepts and technologies as well as a prototypic mobile application. Finally, an informed discussion and conclusion is performed based on the results. The comprehensive characteristics of PWAs resolve previous shortcomings with well thought out concepts and new technologies. These are transferable to native mobile applications to a far extent and may also be put into practice with NativeScript. The framework’s approach may be very well called ingenious, however, in the long run it might fall short of the innovative concept of PWAs. Having said this, it is still able to serve as a practical measure for creating appealing user experiences for multiple systems with arguably little effort. Due to large overlap a transformation between the two application types is a realistic option. Either way, web technologies are far from what they used to be and it is exciting to see how the mobile and web landscape will evolve in the future.
Investing as Random Trial
(2017)
We introduce an investment algorithm for a market of individual securities. The investment algorithm is derived from constraints depending on investment parameters in order to limit the risk and to take into account an individual investor. One constraint is devoted to trading costs. Purchased securities are selected randomly among securities that meet the buy condition, making trading a random trial. Simulations with historical price data are demonstrated for a simple example: The buy condition is evaluated on the basis of the price relationship for two subsequent trading days and the sales condition is defined by holding securities only for one day. A trading expert evaluates the expected return for the investment algorithm with respect to the random selection. Thus, the expert informs precisely on how many market players perform using the same investment algorithm. Its findings are for a parametrized set of buy conditions simultaneously, which makes a trading expert a valuable tool for theorists as well as for practitioners. In our example, the trading expert demonstrated clearly a significant mean reversion effect for a horizon of one day.