General Mass Communications

Alan Gowans' The Unchanging Arts: New Forms for the Traditional Functions of Art in Society (J. B. Lippincott, $12.95)

Manley R. Irwin's The Telecommunications Industry: Integration vs. Competition (Praeger Special Studies in U.S. Economic and Social Development, $11.00).

Robert Shelton and Burt Goldblatt's The Country Music Story (Arlington House, 81 Centre Ave., New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801, $7.95).

Howard Stephenson (ed.) Handbook of Public Relations (McGraw-Hill, $24.50– second edition)

Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center's Effective Public Relations (Prentice-Hall, $11.95).     

Measurement of polarization of the tyndall beam of aqueous suspensions as an aid in determining particle size

The relation between particle size and the degree of polarization of the Tyndall beam created by suspension of non-uniform particulate substances was investigated for three materials (silica, granite, and calcite) ranging in size from one to fifty microns. The degree of polarization was found to be a function of the arithmetic mean diameter of the material. The optical property of birefringence was also found to be a determining factor although its effect was not studied quantitatively. It is shown that by combining the equation expressing the relation between particle size and strength of Tyndall beam with the mathematical relation between degree of polarization and particle size, an indirect method of obtaining a complete definition of particle size is given. Particle size values calculated from observed Tyndall readings and measurements of polarization were found to be within approximately ten per cent. of observed values.     

Media effectiveness, essentiality, and amount of study: a mathematical model

An in‐depth investigation of the relationship between media effectiveness, essentiality, and amount of study was presented. Overall, effectiveness explains 48% of the variation in the amount of study. Students who found the media more effective studied the media more. Those media that were more effective were studied more. The relationship between effectiveness and amount of study is different for each medium. This is because media differ in their degree of ‘essentiality‐versus‐optionality’. Thus, the amount of study depends on a combination of effectiveness and essentiality. The relationship between effectiveness, essentiality, and amount of study is different for each student. This is because students differ in their ‘sensitivities’—their sensitivity to effectiveness and to essentiality. The final equation used effectiveness, essentiality, and sensitivity to explain 74% of the variation in the amount of study. The analysis was informed by a mathematical model.     

Content Validation of the Community College Student Success Program Inventory

This study reports on the content validation of the Community College Student Success Program Inventory (CCSSPI), a structured interview protocol for program personnel, designed to serve as a tool for researchers and practitioners alike to account for critical features of various types of student success programs in detailed and comparable ways across multiple sites. In all, 20 subject matter experts (SMEs) rated the relevancy and clarity of each item to ascertain essential program features. Content validity index (CVI) and scale-level index scores (S-CVI) were calculated. Results showed high to moderately high validity for items related to course goals, logistics, skills-focused curricular items, and academic and student services. Other contingent facets—collaborative and contextualized learning, co-curricular and community activities, ancillary instruction, and instructor role—were rated as less valid, depending on program goals. The instrument is recommended for use in multisite qualitative or mixed-methods research and institutional improvement.     

Determination of “average particle size” from the screen-analysis of non-uniform particulate substances

The size distribution data obtained by screen analysis of a non-uniform substance cannot be used directly in calculating the various average diameters of the material since this method of analysis gives the distribution in terms of weight rather than count. The distribution curve by weight however bears a definite relation to the regular size-frequency curve and suitable transformation equations are presented by means of which one is able to calculate the various average diameters from the parameters of the curve given by the screen analysis. The screens are calibrated in terms of the actual size of the material retained rather than the dimensions of the screen openings or an arbitrary method of calculating the “size of separation.”     

Spelling in adults: The role of reading skills and experience

One hundred university students completed tests of spellingproduction, vocabulary, reading comprehension, readingexperience, and reading accuracy (ability to distinguish apreviously read word from a similar distractor). Readingexperience, as measured by an adaptation of the AuthorRecognition Test, and reading accuracy contributed to theprediction of spelling beyond the joint contribution of readingcomprehension and vocabulary. The results are more consistentwith a uni-process model of spelling based on the quality ofword-specific orthographic learning, rather than with a dual-process account relying on both word-specific knowledge andrules.