Geographic characteristics of the growth of informetrics literature 1987–2008

Recent studies have concluded that American contributions to science literature have been in relative decline, whereas contributions from other parts of the world such as the European Union and Asia have increased. Is the same true for the areas of bibliometrics, informetrics and scientometrics? This study investigates the growth and geographic distribution of metrics research for the period 1987–2008. Similar to studies of other disciplines or science in general, the findings reveal that the United States continues to dominate, but there has been a recent relative decline in North American contributions overall. European and Asian contributions have grown substantially. National and institutional collaborations that contribute to this growth do not necessarily follow close geographic proximity, although European nations have been more active with international collaborations overall, both within Europe and elsewhere.     

Evolution of an academic–public library partnership

A partnership to improve access to health information via an urban public library system was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2011. A multiyear project was outlined that included an information needs assessment, a training class for public library staff, information kiosks at library branches for delivering printed consumer health materials, and a series of health-related programming. The partnership evolved to include social service and community organizations to carry out project goals and establish a sustainable program that met the health and wellness interests of the community.     

The evolution of television: 1944–1948

In the Summer of 1960 issue of the Journal of Broadcasting (Volume IV, Number 3) appeared the first in a series of excerpts from the official records of the Federal Commications Commission relating to broadcasting. It outlined the evolution of television from 1927 through 1943. Below, this history is carried through fiscal 1948, the year that television broadcasting took its first giant jump in number of stations, number of receivers, and number of problems. At the end of this period, television was poised at the edge of the “freeze” Following 1948, Annual Reports of the Commission become more readily available (as contrasted to the bare handful of copies of the 1944 Report in dog‐eared existence), as do broadcasters and others who lived through and are familiar with subsequent events.

The Journal is hopeful that these verbatim excerpts from official Annual Reports of the FCC will be of use to researchers, and of interest and value to the Journal's entire readership. As the introduction to the first installment said, “From them we may, with some confidence in factual accuracy, examine the fascinating panorama of the growth of a great American industry . . . .”     

The oratory of James Wilson of Pennsylvania∗ (1742–1798)

Responses provided by high school freshmen and seniors to hypothetical persuasive and empathic communication situations involving peers were coded according to the level of perspective‐taking implied in the communicative strategy. Older adolescents were found to use. higher level communication strategies reflecting greater perspective‐taking ability than younger adolescents on both tasks. Although the quantity and quality of interpersonal constructs supplied in describing peers varied between age groups, this was not shown to affect communication within age group levels. The group membership of the other being addressed was, however, a relevant condition affecting the level of performance in empathic communication for both early and late adolescents.     

Network news construction of homelessness: 1980–1993

Through an extensive content analysis of 14 years of television nightly news stories, evidence is presented showing coverage of homelessness corresponded more to seasonal variations than actual changes in the plight of the homeless. In addition, news coverage appeared to reify boundaries between the acceptable and the unacceptable while masking socioeconomic factors central to homelessness during the 1980s and early 1990s. Finally, implications are drawn concerning the likely effects of news portrayal of homelessness as an individual problem requiring individual acts of kindness rather than a systemic problem demanding institutional and societal change.     

Characterization of organic azo-pigments by pyrolysis–gas chromatography

Abstract

Pyrolysis–gas chromatography was applied to the characterization of synthetic organic pigments. On pyrolysis, azo pigments and phthalocyanine blue yield characteristic fragments. These pyrolysis products were identified, and the mechanism of decomposition was studied. In the case of paint samples, the main pyrolysis products derive from the medium, although the presence of additional peaks enables azo pigments and phthalocyanine blue to be characterized. Some examples of the analysis of artists' paints are given and the peaks are identified. The main limitation of this technique is that it is impossible to detect chemically and thermally stable pigments, or inorganic components.     

A bibliography of studies of radio and television program content, 1928–1958

Unlike a telephone or telgraph cable, a broadcast, once sent out over the air, can only be “stopped” at the receiving end. If the potential listeners have radio receiving sets able to pick up the broadcast, it can only be stopped by causing such radio interference as to make it difficult or impossible to listen to the original broadcast. Over the years, several nations have assumed the large cost of producing such interference, or “jamming,” so as to prevent their citizens from listening to the broadcasts of other nations. An expensive and often inefficient technique, jamming was then believed preferable to allowing unrestricted and uncensored international communication by radio. Mr. Ranjan Borra, who was associated with All India Radio and with the Voice of America for several years and is currently on the staff of the Library of Congress describes both the background and some of the encouraging recent developments in the field of jamming and other impediments to international broadcasting.     

A Historical Comparison of the Social Origins of Broadcasting Policy, 1896–1920

Using the United States and Great Britain as a comparative case study, this article employs a historical framework to consider the broad array of social, cultural, political, and economic contexts that led to divergent outcomes in the early development of broadcasting policy. This comparative historical analysis reveals the causal chains formed before the 1920s despite a period of post-war contingency. As a policy option, government control was removed in the United States but stayed in place in Britain after the war. This comparative approach can help to explain policy outcomes and inform modern policy debates.     

Publication patterns of LIS faculty from 1982–1992: Effects of doctoral programs

Previous studies have examined the publication patterns of library and information science (LIS) school faculty with respect to the effects of the presence of a Ph.D. program in the school on overall publication productivity. These studies have come to different conclusions and are not strictly comparable due to differences in methodology and data sets. Online indexes were searched to compile a database of 7,937 publications from the 607 faculty members teaching in accredited North American LIS schools. Analysis of these data shows that publication productivity is generally higher in LIS schools with a Ph.D. program than in those without, that Carnegie Research Universities I schools tend to publish more, and that although the Ph.D. and master's granting schools devote about the same proportion of their total output to refereed journals, the Ph.D. institutions have a greater output of refereed articles.     

The analysis of synthetic paints by pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (PyGCMS)

Abstract

This paper describes the application of pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (PyGCMS) to the characterization of an extensive range of synthetic paint types. Household and industrial paints, both of which have been formulated with polymers such as alkyd, polyvinyl acetate (PVA) and nitrocellulose, are included in this study, in addition to the acrylic solution and acrylic emulsion paints that were made specifically for the artists' market. The pyrograms obtained by PyGCMS were characteristic to each paint type and their principal diagnostic features are discussed. Apart from using the mass spectra produced by electron impact (EI) to confirm the identity of every peak, two additional analytical features of the mass spectrometer were shown to be particularly useful in this study. Chemical ionization (CI) was used to assist with the identification of unknown peaks through molecular weight determination. Selected ion current (SIC) monitoring, where the mass spectrometer only scans for specific masses, was successfully used for the detection of peaks of low intensity or those hidden by a more abundant material with a similar retention time.     

The Effect of Newspaper Coverage of Influenza on the Rate of Physician Visits for Influenza 2002–2008

The effect that newspapers had on patients visiting physicians for influenza was examined for 2002 to 2008. The basis for this investigation rests on theories of media effects drawn from agenda setting, media hype, and the Social Amplification of Risk Framework. It was hypothesized that controlling for the rate of influenza, a positive relationship exists in which increases and decreases of newspaper attention to influenza precede increases and decreases in the percentage of patients visiting physicians for flu symptoms. The percentage of visits and the percentage of positive flu tests are taken from the Centers for Disease Control's flu report. Media attention was located through the Lexis/Nexis database as words per week in stories having flu in the headline in 32 newspapers. Time series analysis shows that controlling for autoregressive and seasonal effects, and the actual rate of disease present, news attention in the previous week accounts for a statistically significant portion of the increase and decrease in the number of individuals who go to their physician reporting influenza-like symptoms. Reverse causality was examined. It was shown that controlling for autoregressive and seasonal effects, patient visits did not predict news coverage, whereas the rate of the flu in the previous 3 weeks did.     

Rhetoric at the university of Paris, 1550–1789

This study investigated the factor structure of source credibility within the context of three situations in which communication typically occurs. The study tested the hypothesis that the situation in which the speaker communicates will influence the receiver's perception of the dimensions underlying the credibility of that speaker. The results indicated that the factor structure of source credibility across situations was variant. The scales used to measure the factors of trustworthiness and expertness may reflect more than one perceptual element for the receiver. The study indicated further that different types of communication in the same situation yield different source credibility factor structures.     

Discourses of forgiveness and resilience in stepchild–stepparent relationships

Challenges and conflicts experienced by stepfamilies are well documented, but researchers are increasingly focused on communication processes that facilitate resilience in these relationships. In other contexts, communicating forgiveness has been linked to relational healing after transgressions or adversity. In the current study, the researchers sought to understand how stepchildren talk about the role of forgiveness in the development of positive adult stepchild–stepparent relationships. Data were drawn from interviews with adult stepchildren who have a positive relationship with a stepparent. Following an interpretive analysis, the researchers identified five themes representing the ways forgiveness was conceptualized and enacted in these positive stepchild–stepparent relationships: forgiveness as (a) healing family connections, (b) explicit negotiation, (c) maturation and acceptance, (d) a response to vulnerability and compassion, and (e) evidence of relational growth. Theoretical and practical applications for understanding and fostering resilient stepfamilies and the role of forgiveness are discussed.     

Mapping the literature of health education: 2006–2008

Objectives:

The study updates Schloman''s 1997 study, “Mapping the Literature of Health Education.” The authors identify an updated list of core health education journals and determine the coverage of these journals by electronic indexes.

Methods:

Citations from four source journals for the years 2006 to 2008 were analyzed using the established methodology of the “Mapping the Literature of Allied Health Project.” The cited journals were divided into three zones of productivity by using Bradford''s Law of Scattering.

Results:

There were 19,907 citations in 602 source articles. Journal articles were the most commonly cited format type. Of the 1,896 journal titles cited, 20 (1.1%) made up the core journals. Together, the fields of medicine, health education, and psychology accounted for 85.0% of the journals in the core. Self-citation was found to be a common practice in the source journals. Scopus had the broadest journal coverage of the indexes examined.

Conclusions:

The results of this study provide a new picture of the health education literature: The volume has grown significantly, cites older materials, and relies less on sexual health journals and more on psychology journals.

Highlights

• Three of the four health education journals in this study showed a statistically significant increase in the number of journal articles published since 1993.
• The majority of core journals in the field are from medicine (35.0%), health education (30.0%), and psychology (20.0%), with the largest change in core journal make-up being an increase in psychology journals.
• Scopus provided the most thorough coverage of the cited journals, followed by MEDLINE, Social Sciences Citation Index, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text.

Implications

• Reference librarians should instruct users on more sophisticated ways to manage the growing volume of the health education literature.
• Collection development librarians may need to purchase and retain older materials to support health education research.
• Librarians should purchase and direct patrons to a variety of databases to completely cover the literature of medicine, health education, and psychology.

     

The Formation of Swedish Media Studies, 1960–1980

Around 1960, the politics of the emerging media society in Sweden tended to fixate the formative functions of mass communication. The monopoly of public service broadcast media, press subsidies and new tendencies in film policy were some of the issues around which uncertainty prevailed. New methods to provide reliable data were sought by politicians, since empirical facts were required as arguments for an updated media policy. This article examines the different ways that the field of media studies was introduced in Sweden between 1960 and 1980. We argue that Swedish academic media studies departed from, and emerged within, a rather diffuse borderland between industry, politics and academia. The formation of national media research in Sweden can partly be seen as an effect of politicians and the media industry wanting to be better informed on issues such as media influence, media ownership and the habits and composition of the media audience.