Toward a holistic approach to communication: The effect of “pure” hemispheric reception on message acceptance

This study examined the relationship between hemispheric processing of complex messages and message acceptance. In particular the research sought to answer several questions regarding the processing and interpretation of persuasive messages and message sources. Based on the results of this research it was concluded that (1) the brain's right and left hemispheres, when isolated from one another, process information according to a particular “style,” (2) that semantic properties of language influence hemispheric processing, and (3) that message sources are perceived differently by the right and left hemispheres. Potential implications for the study of communication in terms of message style and acceptability, language intensity, perceptions of source, and perceptions of threat conclude this analysis.     

William Wales and the 1769 transit of Venus: puzzle solving and the determination of the astronomical unit

According to Thomas Kuhn, a significant part of “normal science” is the fact gathering, empirical work which is intended to illustrate an existing paradigm. Some of this effort focuses on the determination of physical constants such as the astronomical unit (AU). For Kuhn, normal science is also what prepares students for membership in a particular scientific community and is embodied in some form in our science textbooks. However, neither Kuhn nor the textbook says much about the individuals who practice normal science, especially those who had been relegated to the “hack” duties of long and arduous measurement and calculation. In this paper, to provide a context for students of astronomy, I will outline the story of the determination of the AU and in particular the contribution of William Wales, an obscure British astronomer. Wales, toiling in the shadow of Halley (of Halley’s comet fame), Mason and Dixon (of Mason and Dixon line fame) and the infamous Captain Cook endured a brutal winter in northern Canada for a brief glimpse of the 1769 transit of Venus. In the end, Wales supplied one small piece of the puzzle in the determination of the AU and he exemplified the human spirit and persistence of a Kuhnian “puzzle solver”.

Using 9-1-1 call data and the space–time permutation scan statistic for emergency event detection

During medium to large-scale emergency events such as fires or earthquakes, emergency response teams must be deployed to the location of the event in a timely fashion. Information gathered from 9-1-1 call makers is useful for this, but is not always accurate. In this paper, we show how the space–time permutation scan statistic can be used to detect the presence and location of such events by monitoring the overall spatiotemporal pattern of 9-1-1 emergency calls instead. In an analysis of collected 9-1-1 call data, top detected clusters were found to correlate with emergency events as reported on the news, showing the algorithm's usefulness for automatically estimating their location and temporal extent. We show how the detection procedure works in cases where the emergency event generates a small but statistically significant increase in the number of 9-1-1 calls, as well as cases where events must be detected against a large background activity of 9-1-1 calls. We discuss the possible adoption of the proposed algorithm within the next generation digital government framework.