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Four preregistered experiments (N = 4,307) explored whether anti-Christian bias claims can discreetly signal White allyship among Christian American adults. In Experiments 1 and 2, reading about anti-Christian bias led White, but not Black, Christians to perceive more anti-White bias. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrate the connection between Christian and White can be leveraged by politicians in the form of a racial dog whistle. In Experiment 3, White Christians perceived a politician concerned about anti-Christian bias as caring more about anti-White bias and more willing to fight for White people (relative to a control). This politician was also perceived as less offensive than a politician concerned about anti-White bias. In Experiment 4, Black Christians perceived a politician concerned about anti-Christian bias as less offensive than one concerned about anti-White bias yet still unlikely to fight for Black people. Results suggest "anti-Christian bias" can provide a relatively palatable way to signal allegiance to White people.

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INTRODUCTION: Singers use a whistle register to sing at a fundamental frequency above 1000 Hz. In previous studies, vocal fold vibrations with or without complete closure and partial vocal fold vibrations were observed depending on the subject. However, the production mechanism of the whistle register is not yet clearly understood because of the limitations of the imaging device for the glottis and subjects. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine vocal fold vibrations in a whistle register. METHODS: The dynamic behavior of the glottis was recorded for six singers (four females and two males) using a high-speed digital imaging device with a frame rate above 10,000 fps. Audio signals were recorded simultaneously. The data were analyzed in the form of topography, glottal area waveforms, spectrograms, and phonovibrography to examine spatiotemporal patterns of glottal motion. RESULTS: The vibratory motion of the vocal folds was classified into six patterns. The first pattern was the entire vocal fold vibration with complete closure during the closed phase. The second to fifth was the entire vocal fold vibration without complete closure, where a gap was observed for the full length of the vocal folds for the second, at the posterior part of the glottis for the third, at the anterior for the fourth, and at both ends for the fifth. In the sixth pattern, the vocal folds vibrated partially. Our results support the previous findings on the vibration of the vocal folds. In addition, we identified novel vibratory patterns in the vocal folds. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the production of the whistle register is not just an extension of the falsetto register to the higher fundamental-frequency region; rather, the production mechanism of the whistle register appeared to be diverse as a means of vocalization.

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Human caregivers interacting with children typically modify their speech in ways that promote attention, bonding, and language acquisition. Although this "motherese," or child-directed communication (CDC), occurs in a variety of human cultures, evidence among nonhuman species is very rare. We looked for its occurrence in a nonhuman mammalian species with long-term mother-offspring bonds that is capable of vocal production learning, the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Dolphin signature whistles provide a unique opportunity to test for CDC in nonhuman animals, because we are able to quantify changes in the same vocalizations produced in the presence or absence of calves. We analyzed recordings made during brief catch-and-release events of wild bottlenose dolphins in waters near Sarasota Bay, Florida, United States, and found that females produced signature whistles with significantly higher maximum frequencies and wider frequency ranges when they were recorded with their own dependent calves vs. not with them. These differences align with the higher fundamental frequencies and wider pitch ranges seen in human CDC. Our results provide evidence in a nonhuman mammal for changes in the same vocalizations when produced in the presence vs. absence of offspring, and thus strongly support convergent evolution of motherese, or CDC, in bottlenose dolphins. CDC may function to enhance attention, bonding, and vocal learning in dolphin calves, as it does in human children. Our data add to the growing body of evidence that dolphins provide a powerful animal model for studying the evolution of vocal learning and language.

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Doctor Montagu Lomax was a retired General Practioner, whose service in English lunatic asylums during the First World War inspired him to write The experiences of an asylum doctor: with suggestions for asylum and lunacy law reform. Published in 1921, the book acted as a catalyst for lunacy reform and stimulated improvements in the mental health services in the United Kingdom. Lomax spent the remainder of his retirement campaigning for lunacy reform. He suffered financial and personal hardship following the publication of the book and was castigated by his own profession. On the centenary of the publication of Experiences, this article explores the background and motivation of a remarkable man.

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The aim of this paper is to describe a technique that can be utilised for the targeted correction of the Whistle Deformity and accompanying upper lip subunits. All patients were post-primary cleft lip repair, either unilateral or bilateral cleft lips, with a resulting Whistle Deformity post-operatively. They all elected to undergo surgical correction of the Whistle Deformity using bilateral philtral dermofascial flaps to correct their Whistle Deformity. Post-operative clinical photographs demonstrate the results of the technique. We assessed for the resolution of the Whistle Deformity and improvement of the appearance of the upper lip subunits, including; philtral, columella, and nostril sill elements. The patients treated with this technique, with Whistle Deformities following unilateral and bilateral cleft lip repair, had satisfactory results from the procedure and recovered with no complications. We propose this is an effective method for treating up to moderate-severe Whistle deformities following both unilateral and bilateral primary cleft lip repairs.

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Purpose: This study aims to explain the interaction of perceived privacy legislation on the relationship between affective commitment and whistle-blowing. Additionally, it seeks to determine the consequences of whistle-blowing on employee careers moderated by perceived supervisor support in government organizations. Design/methodology/approach: A Moderated Regression Analysis was used to analyze survey data from 411 local government employees in West Java, Indonesia. Findings: The result found a positive relationship between affective commitment and whistle-blowing. Perceived privacy legislation also had a significant moderating effect on the correlation between the two variables. Furthermore, whistle-blowing found a positive relationship with career opportunities, moderated by perceived supervisor support. Originality/value: The finding may contribute to the extension of scientific literature by making privacy legislation a moderator with the potential to increase employee affective commitment to whistle-blowing behavior. It determines the relationship between whistle-blowing on employee careers opportunity moderated by perceived supervisor support. In contrast, previous studies only focused on factors influencing whistle-blowing behavior.

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BACKGROUND: Moral courage means courage to act according to individual's own ethical values and principles despite the risk of negative consequences for them. Research about the moral courage of whistle-blowers in health care is scarce, although whistleblowing involves a significant risk for the whistle-blower. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the moral courage of potential whistle-blowers and its association with their background variables in health care. RESEARCH DESIGN: Was a descriptive-correlational study using a questionnaire, containing Nurses Moral Courage Scale©, a video vignette of the wrongdoing situation with an open question about the vignette, and several background variables. Data were analysed statistically and inductive content analysis was used for the narratives. PARTICIPANTS AND RESEARCH CONTEXT: Nurses as healthcare professionals (including registered nurses, public health nurses, midwives, and nurse paramedics) were recruited from the membership register of the Nurses' Association via email in 2019. A total of 454 nurses responded. The research context was simulated using a vignette. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Good scientific inquiry guidelines were followed. Permission to use the Nurses' Moral Courage Scale© was obtained from the copyright holder. The ethical approval and permission to conduct the study were obtained from the participating university and the Nurses' Association. FINDINGS: The mean value of potential whistle-blowers' moral courage on a Visual Analogue Scale (0-10) was 8.55 and the mean score was 4.34 on a 5-point Likert scale. Potential whistle-blowers' moral courage was associated with their socio-demographics, education, work, personality and social responsibility related background variables. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In health care, potential whistle-blowers seem to be quite morally courageous actors. The results offer opportunities for developing interventions, practices and education to support and encourage healthcare professionals in their whistleblowing. Research is needed for developing a theoretical construction to eventually increase whistleblowing and decrease and prevent wrongdoing.

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The blade is a crucial part of large-scale wind turbine for converting wind energy into electricity. Increasing attentions have been paid to the blade health monitoring in recent years. This paper focuses on acoustic-based surface damage detection of the blade and presents a novel intelligent detection method of the whistle produced by the drain hold using the pattern recognition. In the algorithm, a developed preprocessing strategy with multiband adaptive spectral subtraction can well reduce the random wind noise from raw acoustic signal. Moreover, a correlated empirical mode decomposition method in combination with morphological filtering is proposed for extracting time-frequency ridge features of whistle event. Finally, an incremental support vector machine based on adaptive reserved set strategy is designed for recognizing the whistle event. Experimental results demonstrate that proposed method is feasible and effective in whistle detection of drain hole.

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In order to meet the requirements of communication security and concealment, as well as to protect marine life, bionic covert communication has become a hot research topic for underwater acoustic communication (UAC). In this paper, we propose a bionic covert UAC (BC-UAC) method based on the time-frequency contour (TFC) of the bottlenose dolphin whistle, which can overcome the safety problem of traditional low signal-noise ratio (SNR) covert communication and make the detected communication signal be excluded as marine biological noise. In the proposed BC-UAC method, the TFC of the bottlenose dolphin whistle is segmented to improve the transmission rate. Two BC-UAC schemes based on the segmented TFC of the whistle, the BC-UAC scheme using the whistle signal with time-delay (BC-UAC-TD) and the BC-UAC scheme using the whistle signal with frequency-shift (BC-UAC-FS), are addressed. The original whistle signal is used as a synchronization signal. Moreover, the virtual time reversal mirror (VTRM) technique is adopted to equalize the channel for mitigating the multipath effect. The performance of the proposed BC-UAC method, in terms of the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and bit error rate (BER), is evaluated under simulated and measured underwater channels. Numerical results show that the proposed BC-UAC method performs well on covertness and reliability. Furthermore, the covertness of the bionic modulated signal in BC-UAC-TD is better than that of BC-UAC-FS, although the reliability of BC-UAC-FS is better than that of BC-UAC-TD.

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PURPOSE: Over a range roughly C5-C6, sopranos usually tune their first vocal tract resonance (R1) to the fundamental frequency (fo) of the note sung: R1:fo tuning. Those who sing well above C6 usually adjust their second vocal tract resonance (R2) and use R2:fo tuning. This study investigated these questions: Can singers quickly learn R2:fo tuning when given suitable feedback? Can they subsequently use this tuning without feedback? And finally, if so, does this assist their singing in the high range? METHODS: New computer software for the technique of resonance estimation by broadband excitation at the lips was used to provide real-time visual feedback on fo and vocal tract resonances. Eight sopranos participated. In a one-hour session, they practised adjusting R2 whilst miming (i.e. without phonating), and then during singing. RESULTS: Six sopranos learned to tune R2 over a range of several semi-tones, when feedback was present. This achievement did not immediately extend their singing range. When the feedback was removed, two sopranos spontaneously used R2:fo tuning at the top of their range above C6. CONCLUSIONS: With only one hour of training, singers can learn to adjust their vocal tract shape for R2:fo tuning when provided with visual feedback. One additional participant who spent considerable time with the software, acquired greater skill at R2:fo tuning and was able to extend her singing range. A simple version of the hardware used can be assembled using basic equipment and the software is available online.

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OBJECTIVES: A vortex whistle produces a tone which has a frequency proportional to the inlet air flow rate. The objectives of this study were to replicate previous studies demonstrating the use of a vortex whistle as an accurate flow meter, and to assess the degree of relationship between measures of vital capacity (VC) obtained using low-cost methods (vortex whistle and hand-held spirometry) vs. pneumotach-based spirometry. METHODOLOGY: A vortex whistle was designed using 3D modeling software and manufactured using a 3D printer with non-toxic, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA). The digitized vortex whistle tone was analyzed using custom software to produce a frequency vs. time contour. As the frequency is proportional to flow, the integral of this curve corresponds to the overall volume by a linear relationship. The accuracy of vortex whistle volume estimates were assessed using (1) controlled flow rates from a consistent volume calibration syringe, and (2) with 66 subjects between the ages of 18-30 yrs. in comparison to hand-held spirometry and two pneumotach systems. RESULTS: Observations from the calibration syringe experiment confirmed that the vortex whistle and software are able to effectively track the flow rate, with a correlation coefficient between the average flow and the average frequency of r2 = 0.9965. Results from the human VC testing showed that measures obtained using both vortex whistles and hand-held spirometry correlated very strongly (r > 0.94) with computerized pneumotach systems, and the strength of correlations obtained via vortex whistles vs. hand-held spirometry were highly comparable. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSIONS: When coupled with the analysis software described herein, valid and reliable frequency/flow curves and volume estimates may be obtained using a vortex whistle that are highly comparable to the hand-held spirometer. The use of the vortex whistle has the potential to bring measures of basic respiratory function to clinicians and patients alike at a fraction of the cost of currently used spirometric methods.

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Illegal wildlife trade enforcement is a cornerstone conservation strategy worldwide, yet we have a limited understanding on its social impacts. Using Chinese online wildlife seizure news (2003-2018), we evaluated the interactions among enforcement operations, news frequency, and social engagement (i.e., whistle-blowing) frequency. Our results showed that intensive enforcement operations, which commenced after 2012, have social impacts by increasing the frequency of all seizure news significantly by 28% [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 5%, 51%] and those via whistle-blowing by 24% [95% CI: 2%, 45%], when compared to counterfactual models where possible confounding factors were accounted for. Furthermore, we revealed the potential interaction between enforcement seizure news with and without social engagement, and the consequential social feedback process. Of the species identified from 'whistle-blowing' news, up to 28% are considered as high conservation priorities. Overall, we expanded our understanding of the enforcement impacts to social dimensions, which could contribute to improving the cost-effectiveness of such conservation efforts.

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Marine mammal vocal elements have been investigated for decades to assess whether they correlate with stress levels or stress indicators. Due to their acoustic plasticity, the interpretation of dolphins' acoustic signals of has been studied most extensively. This work describes the acoustic parameters detected in whistle spectral contours, collected using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), in a bycatch event that involved three Bottlenose dolphins during midwater commercial trawling. The results indicate a total number of 23 upsweep whistles recorded during the bycatch event, that were analyzed based on the acoustic parameters as follows: (Median; 25th percentile; 75th percentile) Dr (second), total duration (1.09; 0.88; 1.24); fmin (HZ), minimum frequency (5836.4; 5635.3; 5967.1); fmax (HZ), maximum frequency, (11,610 ± 11,293; 11,810); fc (HZ), central frequency; (8665.2; 8492.9; 8982.8); BW (HZ), bandwidth (5836.4; 5635.3; 5967.1); Step, number of step (5; 4; 6). Furthermore, our data show that vocal production during the capture event was characterized by an undescribed to date combination of two signals, an ascending whistle (upsweep), and a pulsed signal that we called "low-frequency signal" in the frequency band between 4.5 and 7 kHz. This capture event reveals a novel aspect of T. truncatus acoustic communication, it confirms their acoustic plasticity, and suggests that states of discomfort are conveyed through their acoustic repertoire.

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Humans use whistled communications, the most elaborate of which are commonly called "whistled languages" or "whistled speech" because they consist of a natural type of speech. The principle of whistled speech is straightforward: people articulate words while whistling and thereby transform spoken utterances by simplifying them, syllable by syllable, into whistled melodies. One of the most striking aspects of this whistled transformation of words is that it remains intelligible to trained speakers, despite a reduced acoustic channel to convey meaning. It constitutes a natural traditional means of telecommunication that permits spoken communication at long distances in a large diversity of languages of the world. Historically, birdsong has been used as a model for vocal learning and language. But conversely, human whistled languages can serve as a model for elucidating how information may be encoded in dolphin whistle communication. In this paper, we elucidate the reasons why human whistled speech and dolphin whistles are interesting to compare. Both are characterized by similar acoustic parameters and serve a common purpose of long distance communication in natural surroundings in two large brained social species. Moreover, their differences - e.g., how they are produced, the dynamics of the whistles, and the types of information they convey - are not barriers to such a comparison. On the contrary, by exploring the structure and attributes found across human whistle languages, we highlight that they can provide an important model as to how complex information is and can be encoded in what appears at first sight to be simple whistled modulated signals. Observing details, such as processes of segmentation and coarticulation, in whistled speech can serve to advance and inform the development of new approaches for the analysis of whistle repertoires of dolphins, and eventually other species. Human whistled languages and dolphin whistles could serve as complementary test benches for the development of new methodologies and algorithms for decoding whistled communication signals by providing new perspectives on how information may be encoded structurally and organizationally.

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Vocal flexibility is a hallmark of the human species, most particularly the capacity to speak and sing. This ability is supported in part by the evolution of a direct neural pathway linking the motor cortex to the brainstem nucleus that controls the larynx the primary sound source for communication. Early brain imaging studies demonstrated that larynx motor cortex at the dorsal end of the orofacial division of motor cortex (dLMC) integrated laryngeal and respiratory control, thereby coordinating two major muscular systems that are necessary for vocalization. Neurosurgical studies have since demonstrated the existence of a second larynx motor area at the ventral extent of the orofacial motor division (vLMC) of motor cortex. The vLMC has been presumed to be less relevant to speech motor control, but its functional role remains unknown. We employed a novel ultra-high field (7T) magnetic resonance imaging paradigm that combined singing and whistling simple melodies to localise the larynx motor cortices and test their involvement in respiratory motor control. Surprisingly, whistling activated both 'larynx areas' more strongly than singing despite the reduced involvement of the larynx during whistling. We provide further evidence for the existence of two larynx motor areas in the human brain, and the first evidence that laryngeal-respiratory integration is a shared property of both larynx motor areas. We outline explicit predictions about the descending motor pathways that give these cortical areas access to both the laryngeal and respiratory systems and discuss the implications for the evolution of speech.

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Geographic variations in the dolphin whistles could be useful in assessing association and isolation among populations. Whistle of free-ranging Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) among the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), Leizhou Bei (LZB) and Sanniang Bay (SNB) populations were investigated. A total of 2850 whistles with legible fundamental contour were extracted and 15 acoustic parameters were measured. Contrary to SNB, PRE and LZB had the same relative proportion of tonal type compositions with flat and sine representing the most frequent types. The generalized linear model analysis showed significant acoustic difference among populations and tonal types. All frequency parameters in SNB were significantly higher than those in PRE and LZB, where no significant variation was observed in most of the parameters either at the population level or within each tonal type. Canonical discriminant functions analysis showed a smaller difference between PRE and LZB than between PRE and SNB and between LZB and SNB. Compared with previous recordings, recent recordings demonstrated a consistent pattern of becoming higher in whistle frequency parameters in both LZB and SNB populations, suggesting that noise pollution in LZB and SNB increasing with time according to the acoustic niche hypothesis. Dolphin whistle's geographic variations could be shaped by the combined function of the geographical barrier function of the Qiongzhou strait and local ambient noise. Considering the isolated condition and the relatively smaller population size of the humpback dolphin in the SNB, more effective and proactive conservation actions should be taken to prevent the extinction of small populations.

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Students are often reluctant to report the academic dishonesty of their peers. Loyalty to friends and classmates has previously been identified as an important reason for this. This paper explores loyalty conflicts among students from upper secondary school, through bachelor's, to Ph.D. level. Drawing on semi-structured qualitative interviews (N = 72) conducted in Denmark, Ireland and Hungary, we show that loyalty considerations among students can be complex and draw on a range of norms including responsibility. The study demonstrates how students are often willing to assume substantial personal responsibility for dealing with the academic dishonesty of a peer, often preferring this to reporting. However, when deciding on the right course of action, they also perceive tensions between the norms of the good researcher and student and their own norms of being a good friend and person. The loyalty considerations and tension were identified in all three countries and across the educational levels, which suggests that this is a cross-cultural challenge. We argue that institutions should formally decide whether they want students to take some degree of responsibility themselves for addressing less serious cases of academic dishonesty and communicate their decision to their students.

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The ethical experience and lessons of China's and the world's response to COVID-19 will be debated for many years to come. But one feature of the Chinese authoritarian response that should not be overlooked is its practice of silencing and humiliating the whistle-blowers who told the truth about the epidemic. In this article, we document the humiliation of Dr Li Wenliang (1986-2020), the most prominent whistle-blower in the Chinese COVID-19 epidemic. Engaging with the thought of Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit, who argues that humiliation constitutes an injury to a person's self-respect, we discuss his contention that a decent society is one that abolishes conditions which constitute a justification for its dependents to consider themselves humiliated. We explore the ways that institutions humiliate whistle-blowers in Western countries as well as in China.

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