Mapping the Cyber-Stakeholders: U.S. Energy Policy on the Web

This article looks to decentered hyperlinking patterns on the worldwide web as a site where media researchers can investigate the treatment of social issues by websites. Such “issue networks” are offered in contrast to the increasingly portalized and commercial nature of information architecture and interfaces on the worldwide web. The article searches for commonly linked sites on the issue of the Bush-Cheney energy policy in an attempt to uncover the hyperlink patterns and debate among the most interconnected sites.     

Fostering Community College Leaders: An Examination of Leadership Development Programs

The study reported in this paper identifies leadership development practices within community colleges by surveying North Carolina community college presidents and evaluating an individual North Carolina community college's leadership institute. The results of the study indicate these community colleges indeed have an interest in leadership development activities for its employees, and the examined leadership institutes are quite effective and beneficial for its participants. Based upon these findings, two sets of recommendations are offered for fostering leadership initiatives within community colleges, namely, a focus on more significant topics for community college employees and developing a leadership learning community within a community college.     

Seeing Silence: Filmic and Acoustic Convergences in the Work of Thierry Knauff and Francisco López

Analysing the work of Spanish composer Francisco López and the Belgian film maker Thierry Knauff's 2000 production, Wild Blue: notes à quelques voix, this paper aims to go beyond the Deleuzean methodology that it employs. Deleuze argues, in Difference and Repetition, that artistic production deploys an active form of repetition that creates difference in itself and not a banal Platonic form of repetition based on an originary identity. Finding this process at work in the texts studied, we argue that of vital importance in these works and (although it is not explicitly stated) in Deleuze's own theory here is a reflection on the concept of texture. In deploying an artistic form of repetition that is infused with a deep sense of texture, both López and Knauff distance their works from the documentary realm in which they appear to be grounded. This, however, only increases their potential political efficacy which, rather than working according to extensive and limited, therefore, principles, is transmitted via an intensive mode.     

Effects of time of day and distance upon accuracy and consistency of throwing darts

Abstract

We examined variations in dart-throwing performance during the daytime in 12 participants. Two distances from the dartboard were investigated – the normal distance (short throws) and another 50% further away than this (long throws). Intra-aural temperature and subjective fatigue were measured, and errors in performance were assessed as the radial distances of throws from the bulls-eye and the standard deviation of these distances. Long-distance throws improved significantly throughout the daytime and correlated positively with intra-aural temperature (r = ?0.49, P = 0.002 and r = ?0.49, P = 0.002 for errors and standard deviation of errors, respectively), but not with subjective fatigue (r = ?0.10, P = 0.56 and r = ?0.05, P = 0.74 for errors and standard deviation of errors, respectively). Short-distance throws were associated less with intra-aural temperature (r = ?0.46, P = 0.005 and r = ?0.17, P = 0.31 for errors and standard deviation of errors, respectively), and worsened with fatigue (r = +0.34, P = 0.040 for errors). Compared with the short-distance throws, the long-distance throws were performed significantly less well than could be accounted for by the increased distance (mean errors were increased 1.67 – 2.78 times and standard deviation of errors of errors 1.58 – 3.68 times), supporting the concept of a trade-off between force of contraction and accuracy of performance. Throwing darts can be used as a model for investigating factors that influence motor performance, and our results indicate that the effects of time of day upon performance depend upon the relative importance of force and accuracy.     

Effects of stance width on performance and postural stability in national-standard pistol shooters

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine whether changing stance width would result in a corresponding change in postural and/or pistol stability. Twelve national-standard male air pistol shooters performed 10 shots each at five stance widths (30 cm, 45 cm, 60 cm, 75 cm, and 90 cm). Postural stability was determined by measuring centre-of-pressure changes with a dual force-platform system. Shooting mechanics measures were determined by a NOPTEL ST-2000 optoelectronic training system. Medial-lateral centre-of-pressure excursion (F _4,44 = 7.17, P < 0.001, effect size = 0.99) and speed (F _4,44 = 77.03, P < 0.001, effect size = 3.88) were reduced as stance width decreased. Centre of gravity fine (the percentage of time held within an area the size of the ten-ring) improved during narrower stance widths (F _4,32 = 12.49, P < 0.001, effect size = 0.71). Our findings suggest that stance width affects postural and pistol stability in national-standard air pistol athletes. Moreover, the current method of suggesting a wider stance to improve shooting performance should be reconsidered and perhaps air-pistol shooters should use a 30-cm stance width to improve postural stability and shooting performance.     

The (Non)Importance of a Programming Language in a Software Engineering Course

Our catchy title is intended to be controversial, provoking thought upon the impact (or lack of any) that a programming language has on the curriculum for a software engineering course. Our view on the subject is from both directions, as indicated by the title. As educators, we argue that the language issues are secondary to the fundamental concern of understanding software engineering concepts, specifically object‐oriented concepts. However, we appreciate that expertise in a widely accepted object‐oriented language may be essential towards the more practical aspect of building a critical mass of software engineers versed in object‐oriented techniques. This reflects upon the maturing nature of computer science and engineering as a science, which is evolving its fundamental principles, while at the same time recognizing its impact as an engineering discipline sensitive to practical applications. The evolution of our primary software engineering course, CS250 Introduction to Software Engineering, has been influenced by our own reflections on the state of software engineering in the 1990s, industrial requirements for expertise by our graduates, and the needs of accreditation. We present the internal and external factors that have guided our course design. This process reflects our own experiences in academia and industry. We present this process as a representative model of a sound approach, but make no claims that it is the optimal approach.     

Beyond Commercialization: Science, Higher Education and the Culture of Neoliberalism

Since the 1980s, scholars and others have been engaged in a lively debate about the virtues and dangers of mingling commerce with university science. In this paper, we contend that the commercialization of academic science, and higher education more broadly, are best understood as pieces of a larger story. We use two cases of institutional change at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to shed light on the implications of neoliberalism for public research universities in the United States. We conclude that instead of neoliberalization being a timely strategy for the specific fiscal and other problems facing public universities today, it has become an omnibus solution available to be employed when any opportunity arises and, in fact, helps to define the “problems” of the university in the first place.