Ohala (1974, 1981a) has proposed that sound changes can originate in hearers' misinterpretations of synchronic phonetic patterns. This paper applies this idea to sound changes that are conditioned by the prosodic environment, such as the voicing of voiceless fricatives in unstressed syllables in Proto-Germanic. Browman and Goldstein's (1989, 1990) "gestural score" suggests a representation of s...

Clear speech is a speaking style adopted by speakers in an attempt to maximize the clarity of their speech and is proven to be more intelligible than casual speech. This work focuses on modifying casual speech to sound as intelligible as clear speech. First, we examine the role of speaking rate for intelligibility. Clear and casual speech signals are time-scale stretched, matching the average d...

Research on relations between casual sex and mental health is inconclusive; while some studies indicate casual sex may lead to more negative mental health (e.g., depression), other studies report no such relationship. Using a genetically informed approach, this study examined whether earlier casual sex (i.e., ever engaging in casual sex and number of casual sex partners) in adolescence has a ca...

This study describes undergraduate casual-leisure information behaviors relevant to online videos. Diaries and in-depth interviews were used to collect data. Twenty-four undergraduates participated in this study (9 men, 15 women; all were aged 18–22 years). This study presents a model of casual-leisure information behaviors and contributes new insights into user experience in casual-leisure set...

The banks’ response to their changes in leverage ratios is examined and evaluated in this paper. This reaction can be interpreted as if the coefficient of total debts to equity (lev1) and total assets to equity (lev2) are positive as anticipated in the banking network of Iran. The paper uses data from 31 Iranian banks’ annual databases during the course of 2006-13 in order to estimate an empiri...

The effect of counselor attire on clients' state anxiety, willingness to self-disclose, and preference to be counseled by the counselor seen in the study was examined in an initial interview. Clients were 50 female undergraduates at an eastern university, and counselors were three male doctoral students in counseling psychology. Counselor attire was fixed at three levels: traditional (coat and ...

Most young adults have had some casual sex experience. However, it is important to understand the motivations for such behavior because of potential health consequences. We investigate the motivations for and consequences of casual sex using a life course lens. We use the Toledo Adolescent Relationship Study to examine a diverse sample of young adults with recent casual sex experiences (N=210)....