bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How Does Financial Performance of MNCs in the Automobile Sector Compare with Indian Companies? An Analysis Using Financial Ratios
Authors: Mahajan Siddharth , Sarkar Mainak
Published: November 2015

We compare the financial performance of three Indian companies, Tata Motors, Maruti, and Mahindra & Mahindra with two MNCs, Honda and Hyundai. While it would be desirable to include other MNCs in the study, data on only these two MNCs are available in the PROWESS database as these are the only ones listed on the stock exchange. In order to compare the financial performance, we use ten ratios. There are four profitability ratios, four liquidity ratios and two solvency ratios. The profitability ratios used are profit margin, asset turnover, return on assets, and return on equity. The liquidity ratios used are current ratio, quick ratio, debtor turnover and inventory turnover. The solvency ratios used are debt to equity ratio and interest coverage ratio. For each ratio we find the average performance for the three Indian companies and the average performance for the two MNCs. The averages are compared. We also find the coefficient of variation for Indian companies and for MNCs for each of the ten ratios. A high average performance on a particular ratio combined with a lower coefficient of variation would definitely indicate a better performance by a particular group. Based on this criterion, MNCs have a better performance than Indian companies on return on assets and interest coverage ratio. On the other hand, Indian companies have a better performance than MNCs on return on equity. For each of the ten ratios, we also look at data from 2002 to 2006 for each of the five companies. Using regression, we see if the trend in each ratio for each company is statistically significant. This would indicate whether a company is on an improvement path, based on a particular ratio.
Intellectual Capital Reporting At The Crossroads
Authors: Bhasin Madan
Published: November 2015

Intellectual capital (IC) is an important value driver in today's organization. Although IC reporting is receiving increasing attention from accountants in recent years, the innovativeness of the concept impedes IC from being fully incorporated in financial accounting reports as yet. At present, disclosure of IC-related information by companies is done on a voluntary basis, as applicable accounting regulations dictate the definition of a balance sheet and the assets to be included therein. Omission of IC-related information may adversely influence the decisions made by shareholders or lead to material misstatements. Only when companies provide IC statements on a large scale, we would be able to speak of a true reporting revolution in company valuation, both in theory and in practice. This paper attempts to review some prominent internal and external measurement methods of IC.

There is a tremendous need for standardization and harmonization across companies and across national boundaries in the field of IC reporting. A solid theoretical base should be achieved at the earliest in order to advance in the field, and future research should focus on the development of IC guidelines as well as their international harmonization. Additionally, researchers should analyse IC reports published by pioneer firms, from around the world, to gather the best learning experiences. With this international insight, firms could be advised on how to introduce a new dimension in transparency that will strengthen its organizational governance. After more than a decade, the IC movement is still growing and more and more organizations are recognizing IC as the essence of business navigation.
Assessing Competitive Advantage of SMEs through Effective Supply Chain Management
Authors: Roslin Rosmimah Mohd , Ismail Noraini
Published: November 2015

This study starts with an inter-organizational approach where relational elements are incorporated in the analysis of Supply Chain Management (SCM) of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This is in line with the study’s main intention of assessing the determinants or drivers for effective SCM of small businesses and their impact on the realization of competitive advantage. The findings suggest an interesting perspective on SCM and distribution channel functions among SMEs where elements of information sharing, cooperation, and integration are linked to competitive advantage. The correlation amongst the three independent variables of cooperation, information sharing, and integration with competitive advantage are all significant, depicting the relevance for SMEs to focus on these relational elements. The highest correlation is noted between information sharing and integration and this definitely makes sense as SMEs strive to integrate their functions that are moving towards the attainment of common goals. Thus, the more integrated the functions amongst supply chain and distribution partners, the more likely that information would be shared amongst them. However, it is interesting to note that the predictive ability of the relational elements of cooperation, information sharing, and integration on competitive advantage is not supported through the regression analysis. In other words, the existence of cooperation, information sharing, and integration amongst supply chain and distribution channel members do not necessarily predict that competitive advantage will be attained. There are perhaps other factors that should be considered besides relational elements that influence competitive advantage.
Service Quality Gap Analysis in Indian Banks: An Empirical Study
Authors: Alok Kumar Rai
Published: November 2015

Introduction of Liberalisation Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG) in Indian economy has affected almost all the sectors and industries of the economy. Indian banking industry is no exception to that. The net result of such policy initiatives has been increased competition at the marketplace. The fight for customers has got intensified. Literatures establish a direct link between service quality and marketing performance of banks thus concluding that loyal customer base can only be created through superior service. Hence effectiveness of service quality of banks is largely being tested to forecast the marketing performances of the banks. It has also been seen that degree and effectiveness of service quality has been said to be different in case of public and private sector bank. The paper investigates the service quality gaps existing with the offerings of the leaders of public and private sector banks of India, viz., SBI and HDFC Bank. An attempt has also been made to identify the weak links of select banks and enable the banks to understand the areas of their strengths and weaknesses and work upon to infuse efficiency and effectiveness.
Information System Dynamics: An International Research Programme
Authors: Bounfour Ahmed , Batra Surinder
Published: November 2015

The purpose of this paper is to disseminate information regarding the international research project titled ‘Information System Dynamics’ (ISD) initiated by Club lnformatique des Grandes Entreprises Francaises (IS) (CIGREF), France, an association of French and other European companies representing the users of information systems (IS) (CIGREF 2008a). This information is targeted at a wider community of researchers and practitioners globally, particularly in India, and is aimed at bringing in greater awareness of the key perspectives of this international research project among a variety of stakeholders. These include the communities of Iarge companies (users of information system (IS)/information technologies (IT), vendors, governments, academia, industry, and research institutions, among others. ISD would mobilize the collective intelligence of these communities and prepare them to plan for and create their own future. ISD has been designed as a multidisciplinary project, focusing on long-term impacts of IS/IT on multiple dimensions such as business models, innovations, human resource, best practices, and regulations. It consciously embraces the whole societal field as the canvass for IS / IT impact; and simultaneously focuses on the historical and the prospective dimensions. The project aims at mobilizing research expertise from several countries in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, triggering new research initiatives which can form part of this project, or which can be bridged with this project.
Foreign Institutional Investors and Macroeconomic Variables In India: A Study of Causal Relation
Authors: Bodla B S , Kumar Ashish
Published: November 2015

Foreign capital inflows through FIIs, in India, are important from the policy perspective, especially when the country has emerged as one of the most attractive investment destinations in Asia. In order to formulate policy regarding FIIs, it is essential to determine their relation with economic variables. For facilitating the above purpose the monthly data sets pertaining to stock market capitalization, trading volume, FIIs flows and other related variables have been taken for a period of 15 years ranging from January 1993 to December 2007. The same has been analyzed by using the Granger Causality Test to determine the relation of FII purchase, sales and net investment with stock market capitalization and trading volume. The study found that the net investment made by the foreign institutional investors (FIIN) in Indian stock market proved as a casual force of Market Capitalization but in case of trading volume, FIIs investment turned as a result of trading volume.
Challenges in Empirical Estimation of Term Structure in India
Authors: Sinha Suyash , Gupta CP
Published: November 2015

Subsequent to reform measures initiated by the government during the 1990s signalling the end of the era of government-determined interest rates, the Indian bond market has moved to a phase where market forces have been driving the interest rates putting forward at the same time challenges in the estimation of term structure of interest rates. There are problems in implementation of term structure estimation models in every market, even developed ones, yet due to problems largely attributed to lack of liquidity and efficient price discovery in the Indian bond market, term structure estimation is quite a challenging task. This article is a part of a larger study focusing on estimation and prediction of term structure in Indian bond market and goes deep into issues specific to the Indian bond market related to the challenges faced by researchers and others in term structure estimation.
Causal Nexus Between Trade, Fdi And Economic Growth-Evidence From India
Authors: Mandal Mousumi Bhattacharya
Published: November 2015

The objective of the present study is to find out the impact of demographic variables on the equity share investment decisions of the employees. The study is done on the employees of Oil India Limited [OIL]. It is found that out of the four demographic variables namely age, gender, qualification and designation considered for the study only age is having significant influence on the equity share investment decisions in past, present and future however, gender is only having impact on the present equity investment decisions. Other than these other demographic variables are not significant for equity investment decisions.
A Study Of Customer Satisfaction With Life Insurance In Chandigarh Tricity
Authors: Negi Meenakshi , Kaur Dr. Parmjit
Published: November 2015

Over the last few years, developments in the insurance sector have resulted in a paradigm shift in the way the business is conducted. Customer servicing today has become the focal point of insurance companies. However, there is absolutely no exaggeration in mentioning that the amount of customer grievances in the insurance domain has gone up steeply. Redressal of customers’ grievances is just a reactive way of insurers providing the minimum expected customer service. The need of the hour is a more proactive approach aimed at seeking what additional elements would delight the customer more and more. This study explores factors, which are important determinants of customer satisfaction in case of life insurance customers, to see how much effect the factors have on overall customer satisfaction; and identifies the common grievances of customers with regard to their life insurance policies. The study was restricted in the tricity of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. The factors identified for overall customer satisfaction are customised and timely service, Brand USP Considerate employees Price Immunity and results indicate that satisfaction with product offerings is the primary driver of overall customer satisfaction in case of insurance policies, even if the after sale service is not up to the satisfaction level. Customers were satisfied with their insurance policies but they were not satisfied with the quality of agents.
Market Valuation Of Research And Development Investments By Indian Firms
Authors: Sharma Dr. Meena
Published: November 2015

This paper attempts to measure the relationship between research and development (R&D) expenditure and market value of the firm. Number of studies has already been conducted in U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Italy etc. to explore the relationship between R&D and market value. Market value of the equity of firm reflects the value of the firm's tangible and intangible assets. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether market places a positive value on reported R&D spending of the firm. The focus on market value of the firm as a measure of the success of its innovative activity derives from the notion that R&D expenditure creates intangible assets for the firm. Sample consists of manufacturing companies publicly traded in India. Data for different variables namely market value of firm, book value of tangible assets and intangible assets, value of research and development expenditure, value of sales are analysed by applying regression analysis. Results shows that one unit increase in research and development expenditure ratio leads to 9. 9 percent increase in market value of the firm. Results are significant at one percent level.
Emotional Intelligence And Job Satisfaction As Correlates Of Job Performance - A Study Among Women Employed In The Indian Software Industry
Authors: Gunavathy Dr. J.S. , Ayswarya MS. R.
Published: November 2015

The foundation for organisational performance, success and effectiveness is employee performance. The purpose of this paper is to trace the relationship between emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and job performance based on data collected from women employed in the Information Technology (IT) sector in India. This study adopted the survey research methodology and data were collected using questionnaires comprising of standardised tools. Randomly identified women employed in the IT sector (N = 150) constituted the sample. Among others, data analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and job performance and that emotional intelligence and job satisfaction significantly served to predict the variance in job performance.
Human Resource Practices And Organizational Trust: An Empirical Study
Authors: Narang Dr. Leenu , Singh Kang Dr. Lakhwinder
Published: November 2015

An organization’s mission is fulfilled through interpersonal relations and trust is the foundation of effective interpersonal relations. In order to identify the factors that create trust, the present study aims to test empirically the impact of selected human resource practices on employee trust. Supervisory support, Compensation, Career development along with work experience of the employees have been found to be significant predictors of trust which collectively explained 61.8% of variance in organizational trust. Managerial and research implication of the findings of the present study have also been discussed.
Implications of Changing Paradigms on Management Education
Authors: Singh Dr. Ashu
Published: November 2015

The world market has globalised and companies have extended their operations into more and more locations. This has led to an increase in the demand for young and well-educated leaders. Management education aims at developing leadership qualities thus creating a relationship between all stakeholders and connecting the industry with academia. The success of these institutions lies on their culture and the faculty. But of late management education seems to have lost its glory due to its inability in preparing skilled and ethical leaders. Also a wide gap is evidenced in the educational and research missions leaving the institutions more vulnerable to focused criticism, attack and competition. The traditional university system and private B-schools have certain routine and innovative faculty roles. This research paper is an attempt to compare the benefits and drawbacks of innovative and creative practices adopted by the management of B-schools and University teaching systems for high performance expectations from the faculty. The B-schools of today have adopted the corporate culture and fixed targets for faculty with respect to teaching, training, research and consultancy affecting the entire academic scene. This has transformed the role of a teacher in numerous ways and is looked at as a complete rebirth of teaching profession. An attempt is also made on attitudinal study of faculty for their acceptance of this innovative approach from management since the social and economic values attached to this transformation may influence the entry and exit of talent in the academic world.
Sectoral Indices Movement: A Study of Financial Crisis ERA
Authors: Taneja Dr. Yash Pal , Bansal Prof. Shipra
Published: November 2015

The paper attempts to examine the movement of sectoral Indices of India before, after and during the era of global financial crisis 2007-09. It is intended to examine the changing risk-return dynamics of Indian economy especially for the above discussed period. Changing risk-return dynamics will reveal the impact of global financial crisis on Indian economy and result thereof in the after crisis period. It covers daily return data of ten sectoral indices and S&P CNX Nifty for the period 2005 to 2011 which is further sub-divided into three periods; before crisis (April 2005 to November 2007), during crisis (December 2007 to June 2009) and after crisis (July 2009 to March 2011). Descriptive statistics, paired t-test and stepwise regression have been used for data analysis and presentation. The results indicate that the major impact is on sectors such as IT and Infra structure taking economy to restrictive growth run.
The Impact of Green Core Competencies on Green Image and Green Innovation-an Indian Perspective
Authors: Trott Dr. Sangeeta
Published: November 2015

The main purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of green core competencies on green innovation and green image in relation to the automobile industry in India. Data was collected from leading automobile industries. Data was collected through questionnaire method and personal interview method. The questionnaire was divided into five parts; the first part consisted of introduction about the company this introduction was gathered through personal interview method. The second part consisted of the measurement of green core competence, the third part consisted of the measurement of green product innovation, fourth part consisted of the measurement of green process innovation and the last part consisted of measuring green image. Multivariate and univariate tests are used for analysis. The study can be of great use to the industrialists in enhancing their core competencies through green innovation and green image.
Book Review: Mutual Funds: A Comprehensive Approach
Authors: Dhameja Nand
Published: November 2015

Mutual Funds: A Comprehensive Approach, Dr. Peeush Ranjan Aggarwal Orient Law House, New Delhi (1996) pp. 898, Price Rs. 550
Book Review: Family Business in India
Authors: Baxi Chetan
Published: November 2015

Family Business in India, Sudipt Dutta, Response Books, a Division of Sage Publication, (1997) pp. 267, Price Rs. 425
Culture, Job Values and Motivations: A Sino Chile Comparison
Authors: Ahmed Sadrudin A. , Litvack David S. , Rojas Jose
Published: November 2015

This article reports the results of a cross-cultural study carried out on job-related perceptions and motivations of business students in the People’s Republic of China and Chile. The major research objective was to investigate how the achievement motivation of Chinese, their value systems, the characteristics they look for in employment, and their general perceptions of attributes of business enterprises differed from those of the Chileans. The results indicated that the Chinese are more similar than dissimilar to Chileans. Although the value system of the two groups were somewhat different, these were not reflected on their perceptions of the public and private sector enterprises, job motivations and job needs.
Organizational Role Stress as Related to Efficacy Amongst Managers of Government, Public and Private Sectors
Authors: Mohan Vidhu , Chauhan Daisy
Published: November 2015

Optimisation of stress in accordance with one’s personality and environment can lead to best performance. But if stress becomes distress it can cause major handicap in one’s level of performance and productivity. The present study was conducted on middle level managers from Government, Public and Private sectors. They were administered Udai Pareek’s Organizational Role Stress (ORS) and Role Efficacy Scale. The results show that there was no significant difference in these three sectors on Role Efficacy - all the ten dimensions. But as far as stress was concerned, the public sector managers experienced significantly higher stress on Role Erosion and Self-Role Conflict followed by Government and least in the private sector. As far as the correlations were concerned, all the ten sub-scales of ORS were significantly negatively related to the overall index of Role Efficacy and most of its sub-scales.
Book Review: Stripped Steel
Authors: Singh Anup K.
Published: November 2015

Stripped Steel, N.K. Singh, Excel Books (1997), Price Rs. 225 (Hard Bound)
Book Review: Managing Organisational Change (1998)
Authors: Singh Anup K.
Published: November 2015

Managing Organisational Change (1998), V. Nilkant and S. Ramanarayan, Response Books, New Delhi (pp. 380) Price Rs. 450/- (Cloth) Rs. 250/- (Paper)
Changing Geo-Politics of Central Asia and Implications for India
Authors: Tripathi Sudhanshu
Published: November 2015

The Central Asian Republics (CARs) constitute one of the most important strategic links in various forms to almost all regions of the world by virtue of occupying the heart of Asian Continent. Being highly volatile and also becoming as hub of terrorism, Central Asia urgently needs attention from countries like India for regional political stability and economic progress.
Environment and Sustainable Development in South Asia
Authors: Tripathi Sudhanshu
Published: November 2015

The problem of environmental degradation affecting ecological balance in South Asia has its roots in several factors particularly socio-economic backwardness, lack of popular participation in policy formation and lack of collective effort at national as well as regional level. A corrective to this situation would be proper utilisation of the forum of SAARC and also developing partnership among public, industry and government for achieving sustainable development assuring human well-being.
Nehru's World-View: An Alternative to the Superpowers' Model of International Relations
Authors: Sharma Ritu
Published: November 2015

Jawaharlal Nehru's keen sense of history and his intense nationalism played a key role in the evolution of his world-view which pioneered to give new direction to international politics in the post-Indian independence period. This world-view had developed gradually but formidably over a span of half a century entailing and synchronising the turmoil at the national and global level and finally leaving a profound impact on Nehru's mind.1 The vulnerable Western colonial domination of the world; the gripping struggle between the fascist and the liberal forces within the West itself and the confrontational poise between the Communist Soviet Union and the non-Communist Western countries were all considered to be the basic issues by Nehru, on the outcome of which would emerge a new world order. Nehru was ambitious enough to envisage top grading of India in the comity of nations following elimination of its colonial subjugation as a part of the well construed basis of the new order and it rhymed perfectly with the broad contours of his world vision.
Emotional musicality in mother-infant vocal affect, and an acoustic study of postnatal depression
Authors: Robb Louise
Published: November 2015

Mother-Infant communication that satisfies both partners exhibits various musical elements. In cases where the mother is suffering from postnatal depression, qualities of rhythmic attunement, reciprocity and overall satisfaction with the interaction all decline. This case study reports detailed acoustic analysis of vocal interactions between a depressed mother and her infant at eight weeks and six months of age, and compares these with the same analysis of a healthy dyad at matching ages. Results showed the depressed mother to produce quieter, lower-pitched vocalisations, punctuated by longer pauses. Disruption was also evident in the depressed mother's turn-taking behaviour. Matching of pitch, low arousal, less “joining in” and negative mood states in the infant of the depressed mother suggested corresponding low affect in the baby. These characteristics of the depressed dyad's communication improved as clinical symptoms declined. Both dyads showed periodicity in timing of interactions, but this was considerably slower and less co-ordinated in the depressed pair. The control dyad produced more evidence of reciprocal, happy communication with regular timing and “singing” voice quality. These results present preliminary evidence of the importance of objectively defined features of communicative musicality in healthy, reciprocal interactions, and they highlight the part played by an innate pulse and shared timing within a musical framework in the organisation of the motives that regulate infant behaviours.
Musicality and the intrinsic motive pulse: evidence from human psychobiology and infant communication
Authors: Trevarthen Colwyn
Published: November 2015

Musicality in human motives, the psycho-biological source of music, is described as a talent inherent in the unique way human beings move, and hence experience their world, their bodies and one another. It originates in the brain images of moving and feeling that generate and guide behaviour in time, with goal-defining purposefulness and creativity. Intelligent perception, cognition and learning, and the potentiality for immediate sympathy between humans for expressions of intrinsic motives in narrative form (linguistic and non-linguistic), depend on this spontaneous, self-regulating brain activity. It is proposed that evolution of human bipedal locomotion and the pressure of social intelligence set free a new polyrhythmia of motive processes, and that these generate fugal complexes of the Intrinsic Motive Pulse (IMP), with radical consequences for human imagination, thinking, remembering and communicating. Gestural mimesis and rhythmic narrative expression of purposes and images of awareness, regulated by, and regulating, dynamic emotional processes, form the foundations of human intersubjectivity, and of musicality. Acquired musical skill and the conventions of musical culture are animated from this core process in the human mind. Research on the dynamics of protoconversations and musical games with infants elucidates the rhythmic and prosodic foundations of sympathetic engagement in expressive exchanges. Developments in the first year prove the importance of the impulses of natural musicality in the emergence of cooperative awareness, and show how shared participation in the expressive phrases and emotional transformations of vocal games can facilitate not only imitation of speech, but interest in all shared meanings, or conventional uses, of objects and actions. Disturbances of early communication attributable to emotional unavailability of a depressed mother, or those due to sensory, motor or emotional handicap that causes a child to fail to react in an expected normal way, both confirm the crucial function in the development of intelligence and personality of sympathetic motives shared between adult and child in a secure and affectionate relationship, and offer a way of promoting development by supporting these motives. These facts establish that the parameters of musicality are intrinsically determined in the brain, or innate, and necessary for human development. Through their effects in emotional integration and the collaborative learning that leads to mastery of cultural knowledge, cultural skills, and language, they express the essential generator of human cognitive development.
L'oreille absolue: une oreille plus “fine” ?
Authors: Vangenot Sylvie
Published: November 2015

Il est souvent dit des musiciens qui possèdent l'oreille absolue qu'ils ont une “bonne oreille”. Celle-ci est associée à une exceptionnelle capacité de discrimination, une plus grande sensibilité aux plus petites différences de hauteur. Nous présentons deux expériences. La première est une tàche d'identification. Elle vise à mettre en évidence l'oreille absolue. Cinquante sept élèves du conservatoire et/ou étudiants en musicologie doivent identifier et placer sur une portée les sons qu'ils entendent. Trois groupes sont alors constitués: les possesseurs de l'oreille absolue, les possesseurs de l'oreille absolue partielle et les non-possesseurs de l'oreille absolue. Nous montrons que plusieurs facteurs affectent la précision des identifications, comme la qualité de timbre et le type de notes. La deuxième partie de ce travail est consacrée à la perception de la hauteur. Une expérience de mesure de seuils permet de montrer que l'acuité des possesseurs de l'oreille absolue est identique à celle des individus non doués d'un tel savoir-faire. De surcroît, l'apprentissage de la musique ne permet pas une augmentation des capacités discriminatives.
Investigating Performance Evaluation by Assessors of Singers in a Music College Setting
Authors: Davidson Jane W. , Da Costa Coimbra Daniela
Published: November 2015

Although there is a long-established history of music performance assessment in musiccolleges, there has been little systematic research into potential assessing biases and how criteria are actually arrived at by assessment panels in order for decisions to be made. Indeed, at best, it appears that assessment is established upon tradition and intuition, rather than any systematic procedure. The current paper examines such issues in detailby following the evaluation processes undertaken by a panel of four assessors (three internal and one external assessor) of mid-term recitals for the second year vocal studies students at the Guildhall School of Music, London. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, the results suggest that the singer's physical appearance allied to their ability control of the voice in order to project emotional expression are the critical variables in the assessment procedure. The assessors in this study showed a high degree of correlation in their assessment grades and the way in which they discussed individuals, indicatingthat they shared similar ideas. The analysis revealed, however, that the criteria for theassessments were implicitly rather than explicitly held. At one level, the results suggest, therefore, that there is a clearly shared code of assessment criteria, even though it is not precisely articulated. However, at another level, this lack of articulation means that no individual assessor is really sure of what their own or another assessor's thoughts and beliefs lead to a particular decision about the performance. These results are discussed with regard to the Guildhall's approach to assessment procedure, and the broader implications of creating specific lists of assessment criteria are explored.
What Do We Hear, When We Hear Music?: Music Perception and Musical Material
Authors: Dibben Nicola
Published: November 2015

Theories of auditory event perception have highlighted a distinction between “everyday” and “musical” listening. This paper challenges this account of listening in two ways: first, it extends the notion of source specification to the specification of cultural and compositional categories, and second, it argues that listening to music involves listening to what sounds specify just as much as it involves listening to the acoustic characteristics of sounds. It is argued here that the characterisation of ‘musical’ listening as attending to the acoustic character of sound is a reflection of the prevailing reception ideology of the autonomous art work.

This paper reports the results of two empirical studies which provide evidence for the perception of music in terms of categories of musical material (.i.e. what sounds specify). In the first study, participants were presented with triads of musical and everyday sounds presented in conflicting pairings and asked to identify the two that were most similar. In the second study listeners were asked to give commentaries on the sounds. These listening studies showed that while listeners pay attention to the acoustic properties of sounds they are also sensitive to what sounds specify (physical source, physical space and proximity, genre, musical function, performance skill, emotional attributes and social context). The results highlight the way in which listeners privilege particular kinds of specifications, and some of the factors involved in these choices are discussed briefly in relation to a performative theory of musical meaning.
The Mimetic Hypothesis and Embodied Musical Meaning
Authors: Cox Arnie
Published: November 2015

Research into the bodily basis of musical meaning has focused on conceptual metaphor and image schemata, but the processes whereby embodied experience becomes relevant to music conceptualization remains largely unexplained. This paper offers an account of music conceptualization that helps explain how embodied experience motivates and constrains the formation of basic musical meaning.

The core of the “mimetic hypothesis” holds that 1) we understand sounds in comparison to sounds we have made ourselves, and that 2) this process of comparison involves tacit imitation, or mimetic participation, which in turn draws on the prior embodied experience of sound production. Evidence for the hypothesis comes from developmental and neuropsychological studies, and from speech imagery, motor imagery, and musical imagery studies. The embodied experience activated during mimetic participation motivates and constrains the cross-domain mappings on which so many musical concepts depend. For example, the metaphoric concept of musical verticality cannot be accounted for without acknowledging the role of mimetic participation. If this participation is as fundamental to musical experience as the hypothesis suggests, not only will it allow us to account for music's most fundamental concepts, but it will also help account for the affective features of musical experience and meaning. Furthermore, the proposed view of mimetic participation helps establish a physical grounding for theories of musical gesture, semiotics, music and gender, music and drama, aural skills pedagogy, music and society, music and dance, and music therapy.
The “sound of music” versus the “essence of music”: Dilemmas for music-emotion researchers (Commentary)
Authors: Sloboda John A.
Published: November 2015

Potential relationships are explored between contemporary music-emotion science and social and economic trends within dominant industrialised cultures. These trends are argued to have the effect of attempting to degrade those elements of the musical experience which are individual, personal, complex, subtle, unreplicable; whilst accentuating those elements which are communal, public, simple, plain, and replicable. A review of the findings reported in the papers in this special issue demonstrate that factors attributable to individual music events and individual listeners, along with the beliefs and attitudes which listeners bring to the experience, are crucially important in determining the nature and level of emotional response to the music. Any apparently firm statement regarding the emotional effects of music have to be hedged with so many caveats and qualifications as to significantly hinder the prospects for formulaic commercial exploitation of these findings.
Developing the Keele Assessment of Auditory Style (KAAS): A Factor-Analytic Study of Cognitive Trait Predisposition for Audition
Authors: Brodsky Warren
Published: November 2015

The current study explored the existence of an auditive-specific orientation among everyday ordinary individuals from the general public and professional orchestra musicians (N = 256). A personality-based cognitive trait grounded on predisposition or sensory preference for audition is referred to as an Auditory Style. The study developed and refined the Keele Assessment of Auditory Style (KAAS), and examined the underlying dimensions through factor analysis. The study found Auditory Style to be normally distributed, and while not rooted on the development of musical ability, professional orchestra musicians clearly demonstrated significantly higher scores than individuals from the general public. The underlying four dimensions of Auditory Style were interpreted as: Awareness, Responsiveness, Sensitivity, and Preference. Post-hoc analysis exhibited distinct factorial solutions for musicians and the general public, pointing to the possibility that characteristic stylistic profiles of each subgroup exist. Finally, the study showed that higher scoring professional orchestra musicians reported a discrete set of characteristic behaviors and attitudes.
Fondements d'une théorié générale Du Musical
Authors: Leroy Jean-Luc
Published: November 2015

Le modèle dominant du laboratoire dans l'approche scientifique de la musique aboutit à faire d'une science de l'homme une science de l'objet. Or, l'“objet épistémique” des sciences humaines n'est-il pas l'interaction d'un “sujet” producteur de sens avec la virtualité d'un “objet” ? Le but est done de développer un champ théorique qui permette de penser cette interaction.

L'hypothèse est que I'ëtre humain est un système énergétique engagé dans une dynamique interactive avec les systèmes de son environnement. Tout vécu est éprouvé comme une expérience d’énergie (“vie émotive”) qu'on peut schématiser sous la forme d'un profil dynamique (“processus émotif”). C'est par la dynamique corporelle que ces “profils dynamiques de la vie émotive” (PDVE) sont stabilisés en représentations (“processus postural”) utilisables alors par le sujet pour organiser un sens de soi (Stern) et contrôler son activité. La “vie affective”, en tant que guide de l'activité orientée de l'organisme, est ce qui permet d'intégrer subjectivement ces vécus. Le musical est directement en rapport avec ces mécanismes.

La substance de la musique, c'est le temps subjectif exprimé par les PDVEs concrétisés par le matériau sonore (mécanisme de “projection”). Divers mécanismes rendent compte de I'élaboration subjective de la “forme” a partir d'un “modèle”.

Le musical jouerait un röle dans les mécanismes de régulation énergétique de l'organisme par le système nerveux central. La musique fournirait des configurations énergétiques typiques permettant de placer l'organisme dans un état motivationnel contextuellement adapté (“systèmes motivationnels”). Ces systèmes seraient le véhicule de (“imprégnation émotive” de l'individu par le milieu social.
The Consonance and the Context Guiding the Participants' Ratings of Chords Representing Different Set-Classes
Authors: Kuusi Tuire
Published: November 2015

This study examined factors guiding the participants' ratings of pentachords representing different pentad classes. Two tests were carried out where the participants (non-musicians, professional music students, and music theorists and composers) heard sequences of five chords. Four of the chords represented one set-class, and these chords formed the context; one chord represented another set-class, and it was the deviant. The participants were asked which chord did not belong to the same group as the others.

When the data were analysed, the main interest was in the difference in the consonances of the context chords and the deviant chord. The difference varied greatly from case to case. It was found that the participants selected the deviant chord when there was a clear difference in the consonances of the set-classes. However, the difference in the consonances was not the only factor guiding the participants' ratings. The context was found to be important for both musically trained and untrained participants, but in different ways. Generally, the non-musicians used the set-class identity as a guide in the items where the context was more consonant than the deviant, while in a dissonant context they used chordal characteristics, especially the transpositional level. The composers and theorists, on the other hand, made their ratings according to the set-class identity when the context was more dissonant than the deviant and according to the chordal characteristics when the context was more consonant than the deviant.
Seeing the Sound: An Exploration of the Use of Mental Imagery by Classical Musicians
Authors: Gregg Melanie J. , Clark Terry W. , Hall Craig R.
Published: November 2015

Similarities exist between the performance of musicians and athletes; both must prepare to perform at their optimal level and both experience psychological reactions to performance. Sport psychologists have begun to collaborate with performing artists to investigate the potential positive outcome of psychological skills on their performance (e.g., Connolly & Williamon, 2004; Fish et al., 2004). Mental imagery may be used for both cognitive and motivational purposes, resulting in positive performance outcomes such as learning a technically difficult piece, regulating arousal, and being confident. To explore these functions of imagery use an examination of classical musicians' use of imagery was undertaken. Music students (N = 159) completed the Functions of Imagery in Music Questionnaire (created for the purposes of this study). It was found that musicians reported employing imagery to limit distractions, recover from an error, maintain mental toughness, demonstrate confidence, and overcome mental and physical fatigue. In addition, performance majors indicated using imagery significantly more frequently to see themselves overcoming a difficult situation than non-performance majors, while voice musicians employed imagery to see goal achievement more often than instrumental musicians.
The Ghost in the Machine: Towards a Musicology of Recordings
Authors: Cook Nicholas
Published: November 2015

This article introduces the other contributions to this second issue of Musicae Scientiae devoted to the work of the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music (CHARM), and sets them into the larger context of musicological research into recorded musical performance. There is consideration of musicology's historically odd relationship to performance, including the historically informed performance movement and what is referred to as the ‘page-to-stage’ approach of recent music theory: CHARM's analytical projects focussed on aspects overlooked by the score-based approach, on the potential for bottom-up methods, and on the nature of performance style and the extent to which it can be meaningfully analysed by empirical methods. Another strand of CHARM's research investigated the extent to which the commercial practices of the record industry have helped to shape twentieth-century performance. The author includes brief accounts of his own projects with CHARM so as to provide an overview of the Centre's work as a whole.
Two notions of well-formedness in the organization of musical pitch
Authors: Noll Thomas
Published: November 2015

The attribute “well-formed” is used homonymously in two different approaches to the study of musical tone relations. The present article explores commonalities and differences of the underlying theoretical ideas. Fred Lerdahl (2001) uses the attribute “well-formed” (in extension of the GTTM tradition) in order to formulate constraints for the constitution of the basic space as a context-sensitive stratification of the chromatic pitches into layers. Norman Carey and David Clampitt (1989) use the term in order to formulate a criterion to select music-theoretically relevant scales from the larger domain of generated scales. The appearance of pitch hierarchies is common to both approaches and thus provides a starting point for the discussion. There are two other theoretical aspects, which motivate the the comparison between the two approches: (a) the distinction between generic and specific intervals and (b) the duality between step interval patterns and fifth/fourth foldings in the theory of well-formed modes.
Reflections towards a generative theory of musical parallelism
Authors: Lartillot Olivier
Published: November 2015

Parallelism plays a core role in Lerdahl and Jackendoff's (1983) GTTM, as it rules the emergence of motivic, metrical, grouping and even formal structures. Due to the high amount of detail and complexity characterising associational structures, neither explicit model nor systematic methodology of parallelism-based structural inference has been included into the GTTM. This paper develops a methodological and computational answer to this problem founded on a computational modelling of pattern extraction operations. The paper focuses in particular on the methodological interest of the pattern mining formalism, and in particular its application to the formalisation of grouping and metrical structure inference and to the understanding of the possible interdependences, between these two levels of representation, but also more generally between parallelism and phenomenal accents. Concerning grouping structures, an attenuation of the strong hierarchy postulate is suggested, opening the framework to the study of structural polysemy and polyphony. A generalisation of the pattern mining formalism indicates a bottom-up understanding of musical variation and ornamentation, through the construction of a syntagmatic network whose connectivity is constrained by basic tonal principles.
Musical structure processing after repeated listening: Schematic expectations resist veridical expectations
Authors: Tillmann Barbara , Bigand Emmanuel
Published: November 2015

The present study investigates whether expectations based on listeners’ schematic knowledge of music (related to tonal functions and reflected in harmonic priming) may be modulated by veridical expectancies (knowing what to come, here tested with repetition priming). It is well established that target chord processing is facilitated when the target acts as the most referential chord of the Western musical system (i.e., the tonic chord) in the prime context. Our study attempted to modulate this harmonic priming effect by presenting half of participants with numerous sequences ending on a moderately referential chord (i.e., the subdominant chord) before the experimental test. The second half of participants was presented with sequences ending on the most referential tonic chord. This repeated processing was supposed to modulate the strength of the harmonic priming effect, with lesser priming in the former than in the latter group. These sequences were either different idioms than those in the exposition phase, but with the same musical structure (Experiment 1) or identical repetitions (Experiment 2). Harmonic priming effects were observed in both experiments, and were only weakly affected by repetition priming in Experiment 2. This outcome underlines the strength of schematic expectations, which resist veridical expectations, and it provides some empirical ground for the role of expectations in musical expressivity despite listeners’ knowing about what will come next.