Source credibility and presidential candidates in 1996: The changing nature of character and empathy evaluations

This study examines the importance of character, competence, empathy, and leadership in evaluations of presidential candidates in 1996. Public opinion research suggests changes in the importance and meaning of character in candidate evaluations. The results of this study strongly support distinctions between character‐generated liking of a candidate and vote choice among respondents in 1996. Results also suggest that perceptions of candidate empathy played a larger role in evaluations than in previous elections. Implications of these findings include the need for renewed political communication research on the importance and conceptualization of character and empathy, and the extension of current theory to explain differences in affective candidate evaluations and vote choice.     

Embedded Librarians: MLS Students as Apprentice Librarians in Online Courses

ABSTRACT

Master of Library Science (MLS) students at one university are serving as apprentice “embedded” librarians in nursing courses at another university. Results of surveys of nursing students at the end of the class and reflections of the MLS students after this experience will be shared from the first semester iteration of this project. A comparison of this project with past iterations of the project will be made in the hope that the information gleaned from these interactions will help in the design of library services. Furthermore, this premise of the development of relationships in the provision of library services for distance learners will be further examined.     

Job performance assessment for public affairs officers in the U. S. air force

Effectiveness of an information program requires cooperation between those who make decisions and those who explain them to the various persons and groups affected. This study explores difficulties between public affairs officers and their commanders in the U. S. Air Force. A census survey, analyzing questionnaire responses of 118 com’ manding officers, compared preferred to perceived actual time allocations of their public affairs officers across sixteen job assignments. Results indicate low levels of agreement between what commanders perceive as happening and what they prefer. Discussion focuses on four specific problem areas and possible explanations. Directions for improved working relationships are identified.     

Understanding Collaboration Using New Technologies: A Structurational Perspective

Recent research in information systems (IS) has focused on the application of social theory in general and Anthony Gidden's structuration theory in particular to help reveal how technical systems can support or hinder human interaction in societal, organizational, and personal contexts. This article examines the potential of structuration theory to facilitate an understanding of social and organizational issues that surround collaboration using new technologies.     

The Exercise Physiology Paradigm in Contemporary Biology: To Molbiol or Not to Molbiol—That is the Question

Two perspectives on exercise physiology in contemporary biomedical research are presented. First, exercise represents a powerful tool for understanding physiology. The magnitude and gradation in physiological responses to exercise afford an opportunity for studying the range and control mechanisms in physiological systems under the diverse circumstances. Moreover, the exercise stimulus of training offers a means to study processes of physiological adaptation. Second, the science of physiology represents a powerful means for understanding the limits of human performance. The concepts, tools, and techniques of physiology allow performance-based exercise physiologists to contribute significantly to understanding and improving the limits of human performance. In contemporary biomedical science, there is a pronounced emphasis in the burgeoning area of molecular biology (molbiol). Molecular biologists have developed powerful tools for studying the regulation of essential cellular processes, such as gene expression. Consequently, within biomedical research there has been a deemphasis on classic organ-systems physiology. However, even in this milieu exercise physiologists will continue to contribute, for they are uniquely prepared to address important contemporary problems related to adaptation to environmental stressors, resistance to degenerative diseases, and expansion of the limits to human performance.     

Post‐graduation reflections on the value of a degree

This article investigates the impact of a changing higher education system on young adults' priorities and motivations. A considerable number of studies have explored the impact of recent changes on patterns of participation within higher education. However, there has been less emphasis on how such changes have been played out in the experiences of graduates and, more specifically, in the interface between higher education and lifelong learning. To redress this gap, this article explores the changes to graduates' experiences brought about by the ‘massification’ of the higher education system. Research conducted amongst young people in Australia has suggested that as result of the normalisation of post‐compulsory education and the encouragement of high aspirations, young people have come to assume a one‐to‐one relationship between being qualified and having a lasting professional career. It has been argued that as a result of these assumptions, young adults are often disappointed when they do eventually enter the labour market, and experience uncertainties previously associated with the end of compulsory schooling. If young adults do indeed feel misled about the rewards of a higher education, it is possible that this may have a significant bearing on their perceptions of the value of engaging in further education and training in the future. Drawing on 90 life history interviews with graduates in their mid‐twenties, this article explores the prevalence of such attitudes in the UK and their impact on young adults' attitudes to lifelong learning.     

What Lies Beneath Seemingly Positive Campus Climate Results: Institutional Sexism,Racism, and Male Hostility Toward Equity Initiatives and Liberal Bias

This study investigates what preservice elementary school teachers assume about children's capacities to learn about equity issues and how teachers might translate teaching for social justice into actual classroom practices. Participants said they did not see the age of their students as a barrier to teaching for social justice, although their ways of conceptualizing this varied considerably, and those teaching grade 4–6 students were generally more risk-taking in the curricular and pedagogical choices they made. We found that the concepts of childhood innocence and developmental appropriateness mediated the topics and approach to topics that beginning teachers considered. Roughly half the participants believed that younger children are relatively uninterested in the events of the day, are incapable of forming nuanced opinions, and are unable to analyze political issues; while the other half disagreed. Participants concerned about engendering negative emotional responses from elementary students made more limited and generic responses to name-calling or teasing rather than naming specific forms of oppression or prompting students to reflect critically on hurtful language and behavior.