Structural determinants of the television news audience

This study examined the impact that program scheduling and market characteristics had on people's exposure to the early evening local news. Three factors combined to explain 81% of the variation in local news ratings across the U.S.: a station's network news rating, the lead‐in rating for the local news, and the size of the available television audience. We discussed how such structural factors might be better integrated into research and theory that emphasize individual characteristics as determinants of exposure to television programming.     

Recent Film and Photography Production Guides

BEYOND FTS 2000: A PROGRAM FOR CHANGE by Bernard J. Bennington (Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1989—price not given, one volume main report, plus two appendices issued separately, ISBN not given, 219 pp. + 94 pp.+ 50 pp.)

GROWING VULNERABILITY OF THE PUBLIC SWITCHED NETWORKS: IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1989 price not given, paper, ISBN not given, 119 pp.)

PERSPECTIVES ON THE TELEPHONE INDUSTRY: THE CHALLENGE FOR THE FUTURE by James H. Alleman and Richard D. Emmerson (New York: Harper &; Row/Ballinger, 1989—price not given, ISBN 0-88730-376-5, 324 pp.)

TELECOMMUNICA TIONS SYSTEMS AND SER VICES DIRECTORY edited by John Krol and Julie Winklepleck (Gale Research, Book Tower, Detroit, Ml 48226—price not given, ISBN 0-8103-2241-2,1,238 pp.)

NEWTON'S TELECOM DICTIONARY: THE OFFICIAL GLOSSARY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS A CRONY MS, TERMS AND JARGON by Harry Newton (New York: Telecom Library, 1989—price not given, paper, no ISBN given, 650 pp.)

DATA AND COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS: TERMS, DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS by Gilbert Held (New York: John Wiley, 1989 $39.95, ISBN 0-4710-92066-5, 254 pp.)

E-MAIL by Stephen A. Caswell (Boston: Artech House, 1988—$48.00, ISBN 0-89006-303-6,250 pp.) deals with (as the cover says in its design)

UNDERSTANDING TELECOMMUNICATIONS by Ronald R. Thomas (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: TAB Books, 1989—$24.95/17.95, ISBN 0-8306-9229-0 hard and 0-8306-3229-b soft, 243 pp.)

CONSUMER INFORMATION IN TELEPHONE PRICING by Robert C. Rowe (December 1989,70 pp.)

THE INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY: SHOULD REGULATION DEPEND ON THE A BSENCE OF COMPETITION? by Roger D. Colton (December 1989, 50 pp.)

IDENTIFYING CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS WHICH ARE IMPORTANT TO DETERMINING THE EXISTENCE OF WORKABLE COMPETITION IN THE INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY by Roger D. Colton (December 1989,96 pp.)

FUNDAMENTALS AND DISCRETION: A FIXING ALLOCATOR SEPARATIONS MODEL by Jay L. Silberberg (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Program on Information Resources Policy, November 1989—price not given, paper, ISBN not given, 187 pp.)

FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEFINITION OF THE LOCAL CALLING AREA—AN ASSESSMENT OF TRENDS by Raymond Lawton and John Borrows (Columbus, OH: National Regulatory Research Institute, February 1990 price not given, paper, no ISBN given, 121 pp.)

SECRETS OF INSTALLING A TELEPHONE SYSTEM: HOW TO AVOID THE PITFALLS AND LESSEN THE PAIN by Neil Sachnoff (New York: Telecom Library, 1989 $22.95, paper, no ISBN given, 149 pp.)

GMP: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION, MAPPING AND POSITIONING NEWSLETTER (International Resource Development Inc., PO Box 1716, New Canaan, CT 06840 $325 per year, monthly, ISSN 1045-6732)

VOICE PROCESSING MAGAZINE (PO Box 42382, Houston, TX 77242—$24.00, periodicity not indicated, ISSN 1042-0460)

NRRI QUARTERLY BULLETIN(Columbus: National Regulatory Research Institute—$120, quarterly, ISSN 8756-632X)

NEWBOOKS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS FROMARTECH HOUSE (ArtechHouse, 685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062 free on request)

CATALOG OF BOOKS 1990 (Telecom Library, 12 West 21st St., New York 10010 free on request).     

Photographic Albums

Walter Herdeg Photographis 77: International Annual of Advertising and Editorial Photography (New York: Hastings House, 1977—$37.50)

Louis Stettner's Weegee (New York: Knopf, 1977—$15.00)

Shadow of Light: Photographs by Bill Brandt (New York: Da Capo Press, 1977—$14.50, paper)

Helmut Newton's White Women (New York: Stonehill, 1976—$25.00)

Roswell Angier's “...A Kind of Life,” Conversations in the Combat Zone (Danbury, N.H.: Addison House, 1976—$15.00)

Yvonne Kalmus, Rikki Ripp and Cheryl Wiesenfeld, eds. Women See Men (New York: McGraw- Hill, 1977.412.95/7.95)

Lew Thomas and Donna-Lee Phillips' Photography and Language (San Francisco: Camerawork Press, 1976—$6.95, paper)

Linda McCartney's Linda's Pictures: A Collection of Photographs (new York: Knopf, 1976-425.00, with a paperback edition now also available)     

Promoting prime‐time programs in megasporting events

Analysis of 677 promos for prime‐time series carried within 1993 and 1994 sporting events on the major broadcast networks showed that most on‐air promotion had a modest impact on program shares and ratings: about one‐third of shares went up, over one‐half stayed flat, and less than 10% went down. A six‐part model incorporating lead‐in shares/rating, three structural factors, and two presentational factors collectively accounted for about one‐third of the variance in promoted prime‐time series’ shares and ratings.     

A technology foundation course for women

The Technology Foundation Course for Women at Huddersfield Polytechnic is designed to help women compensate for their previous lack of experience in technology and to prepare them to enter diploma and degree courses in higher education. The course has several distinctive features in that it is for women only and is designed to meet the needs of mature students with family commitments. Students are allowed flexibility in their choice of subjects, enabling them to study mathematics, physics, computing or chemistry to approximately A‐level standard. Students from the first intake have evaluated the course positively and the majority are studying computing or engineering‐related subjects in higher education. The design of the course is discussed in the light of the requirements of women taking the course and the demand within industry and higher education for more qualified scientists and engineers.     

What Teachers See as Creative Incidents in Elementary Science Lessons

Teachers are often urged to nurture creativity but their conceptions of creativity in specific school subjects may have limitations which weaken their attempts to do so. Primary school teachers in England were asked to rate lesson activities according to the opportunity they offered children for creative thought in science. The teachers could, overall, distinguish between creative and reproductive activities but, as predicted, there was evidence of narrow conceptions of school science creativity, biased towards fact finding, practical activity, and technological design. Some teachers saw creativity in essentially reproductive activities and in what simply stimulated interest and on‐task talk. Some implications and recommendations for teacher training and professional development are discussed.     

Utilizing Adventure Education Within the Model of Moral Action

Character development has long been an assumed if not easily observed goal of physical activity. Shields and Bredemeier(1995, 2001) proposed a structural developmental model of moral action strongly based on the work of Rest (1984, 1994) along with the significant contributions of Piaget (1923), Kohlbcrg (1981, 1984), and Haan (Haan, Aerts, & Conper, 1985). Adventure education is an experientially based approach that utilizes cooperative physical activities to foster self esteem, trust, communication skills, self awareness, confidence, and the ability to problem solve (Bissnn, 1999: Prouty, 1999). The purpose of this paper is lo explore how adventure-based intervention strategies correspond with the theoretical tenets and implementation guidelines of the model of moral action. The major tenets of the model of tnoral action (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995, 2001) and adventure education are discussed. The extent to which adventure education may act as a conduit for the moral education strategies forwarded by the model of moral action is discussed.     

Redefining Diversity: Political Responses to the Post-PICS Environment

This article examines the federal and local political response to the Parents Involved decision. At the federal level, developments suggest a reaction to Parents Involved that, since President Obama has taken office, has been largely supportive of voluntary efforts to promote racial diversity. The administration has also been seeking to enforce more traditional race-based civil rights cases. Locally, even though reactions to the decision are as varied as the districts themselves, three broad categories of political responses emerge from our review of post–Parents Involved student assignment policies. They are the adoption of multifactor student assignment plans, the adoption of class-based (e.g., race-neutral) student assignments, and the elimination of efforts to pursue diversity. This article is particularly interested in examining the first two categories of responses. In doing so, we argue that some school districts are pursuing a redefined conceptualization of diversity in a challenging legal and political climate.     

The effectiveness of systems for appealing against marking error

One way to manage marking error, in a large‐scale educational testing context, is to establish a mechanism through which appeals can be lodged. While, at one level, this seems to offer a straightforward technical solution to the problem of marking error, it can also result in unintended consequences, with political, social or educational ramifications. It is therefore important to monitor the operation of any appeal system, to determine how effectively it meets its objectives. The present paper was based on an evaluation of the system which operates for National Curriculum testing in England. Four underlying objectives were identified: the measurement objective, the political objective, the educational objective and the psychological objective. Although there is reason to believe that such goals can be achieved through appeal systems, there are major threats to achieving them, many of which appear to be inevitable. These threats are examined within the paper and implications for policy and practice are explored.