Chaos theory, informational needs, and natural disasters

This study applies chaos theory to a system-wide analysis of crisis communication in a natural disaster. Specifically, we analyze crisis communication during the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Minnesota and North Dakota. This flood, among the worst in modern American history, consumed entire metropolitan areas, displacing thousands of people. The conditions and decisions leading to the disaster, and the subsequent reactions are retraced. Communication related to river crest predictions (fractals), the shock at the magnitude of the crisis (cosmology episode), novel forms of reorganizing (self-organization), and agencies that aided in establishing a renewed order (strange attractors) are evaluated. Ultimately, we argue that preexisting sensemaking structures favoring rationalized, traditional views of a complex system led officials to make inappropriately unequivocal predictions and ultimately diminished the effectiveness of the region's crisis communication and planning.     

The reliability of distance run tests for children in grades K-4.

The purpose of this study was to determine test-retest reliability for the 1-mile, 3/4-mile, and 1/2-mile distance run/alk tests for children in Grades K-4. Fifty-one intact physical education classes were randomly assigned to one of the three distance run conditions. A total of 1,229 (621 boys, 608 girls) completed the test-retests in the fall (October), with 1,050 of these students (543 boys, 507 girls) repeating the tests in the spring (May). Results indicated that the 1-mile run/walk distance, as recommended for young children in most national test batteries, has acceptable intraclass reliability (.83 less than R less than .90) for both boys and girls in Grades 3 and 4, has minimal (fall) to acceptable (spring) reliability for Grade 2 students (.70 less than R less than .83), but is not reliable for children in Grades K and 1 (.34 less than R less than .56). The 1/2 mile was the only distance meeting minimal reliability standards for boys and girls in Grades K and 1 (.73 less than R less than .82). Results also indicated that reliability estimates remained fairly stable across gender and age groups from the fall to spring testing periods, with the exception of the noticeably improved values for Grade 2 students on the 1-mile run/walk test. Criterion-referenced reliability (P, percent agreement) was also estimated relative to Physical Best and Fitnessgram run/walk standards. Reliability coefficients for all age group standards were acceptable to high (.70 less than P less than .95), except for Fitnessgram standards for 5-year-old girls on the 1-mile test for both fall and spring and for 6-year-old boys and girls on the 1-mile test administered in the spring.     

Can Knowledge of Erasure Behavior be Used as an Indicator of Possible Cheating?

What is the typical amount of student answer‐changing that takes place in a low‐stakes test environment? Can we use this information to look for evidence of improper answer‐changing (cheating) on high‐stakes test?     

An intrapreneurial approach to integrating information production services into an academic medical center library

The many challenges faced by health sciences libraries of all types and sizes often require innovative solutions. When an innovative solution involves calculated risk taking, the approach is called intrapreneurial. At the University of Miami School of Medicine, an intrapreneurial approach solved the fiscal problems of the biomedical communications unit. The Louis Calder Memorial Library inherited these problems when the Department of the Library and Biomedical Communications was created in the early 1980s. In this paper, two intrapreneurial programs are described, and the benefit and suitability of this management style to information services are demonstrated.     

Morphological proportionality in elite age group North American divers.

The purpose of this investigation was to describe the morphological parameters that characterize elite age group divers. Comparisons are made to normative age group data from the Coquitlam Growth Study and the constancy of important characteristics from age group to age group is examined. Data were collected on 27 male and 28 female elite divers who participated in the 1990 North American Age Group Diving Championships. Body build, body composition and skinfold corrected diameters were determined from 36 anthropometric parameters and analysed by ANOVA, t-test and Phantom z-scores procedures. All age groups except the 14- to 15-year-old males were significantly (P < or = 0.05) shorter than their norms but recorded higher androgyny index values. The estimated relative muscle mass increased significantly (P < or = 0.05) with age for males at all ages (40.8-46.3%). The 16- to 18-year-old females had a significantly (P < or = 0.05) larger relative muscle component compared to the younger age groups (40.1-38.4%). When normalized for height, active tissue development of the extremities was comparable between the sexes except in the forearm. The results indicate that at all age levels short stature is an important characteristic for divers. Analysis of regional active tissue development provides further insight into sport-specific prerequisites for success at elite levels.     

Supervisors' In-Session Behaviors and Cognitions

A multiple case study of four supervisors indicated that numerous factors shape supervisors' in-session performance and revealed a complex interplay between thoughts and behaviors.     

Among the eminent,the aspiring,and the young: A short history of new world writing

New World Writing, a magazine founded by New American Library in 1952, quickly became an important vehicle for liberal intellectual and literary thought. In addition to providing an outlet for new writing, the magazine became an important acquisitions tool for NAL. Throughout its lifetime, New World Writing remained a showcase for many of the finest writers of the 1950s, including Christopher Isherwood, Louis Auchincloss, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O’Connor, Jack Kerouac, and Gore Vidal. He is the author of Under Cover: An Illustrated History of American Mass Market Paperbacksand Heavy Traffic and High Culture: The New American Library as Literary Gatekeeper. He is working on a study of American literary agents