Expression and Reception: An Analytic Method for Assessing Message Production and Consumption in CMC

This article presents an innovative methodology to study computer-mediated communication (CMC), which allows analysis of the multi-layered effects of online expression and reception. The methodology is demonstrated by combining the following three data sets collected from a widely tested eHealth system, the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS): (1) a flexible and precise computer-aided content analysis; (2) a record of individual message posting and reading; and (3) longitudinal survey data. Further, this article discusses how the resulting data can be applied to online social network analysis and demonstrates how to construct two distinct types of online social networks—open and targeted communication networks—for different types of content embedded in social networks.     

Really Social Disaster: An Examination of Photo Sharing on Twitter During the #SCFlood

In the open marketplace of visuals where the most valued photographs “rise to the top” via tweets, likes, and retweets rather than being dictated by professionals, the study of what makes an image go really social is merited. One occurrence during which professional photojournalism and nonprofessional photography truly coexist, intermingle, and blur is that of a natural disaster. A body of research exists that has examined the visual framing of disasters, but none has addressed how these differently framed photos go social online or by whom. In this study, 1,078 Twitter photos shared by professional media outlets and nonprofessional tweeters were examined to see what portrayals of photos are elevated in the network. Established frames and new frames were examined: depictions of people, emotional hierarchy, novelty, victims, ordinary people, uniforms, emergency professionals, valence, pragmatic, human interest, and political. The results add empirical evidence to the different ways that professional members of media and other visual sharers understand, visually communicate, and react to disaster and add to the visual framing literature an element of really social visual framing.     

Potent antiulcerogenic activity of ethanol extract of leaf ofPiper betle Linn by antioxidative mechanism

Pretreatment of an ethanolic extract of leaf ofPiper betle linn at a dose of 200mg/kg body weight, orally administered to rats for ten consecutive days, was found to possess a significant protective action against gastric lesions induced by indomethacin. The extract pretreatment resulted in significant increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity, increase in mucus, hexosamine and total thiol group content, but marked reduction in oxidatively damaged protein and peroxidised lipid levels as compared to untreated ulcerated control. The extract was also found to possess both superoxide and hydroxyl free radical scavenging action. The present observations establish the efficacy of the extract in prevention of experimentally induced peptic ulcer by indomethacin and antioxidant property appears to be predominantly responsible for such cytoprotective activity in the experimental model.     

Adult Recollections of Name-calling at School

A sample of 220 adults responded to a questionnaire on their recollections of name-calling and nicknames while at school. Hurtful names were reported by 141 participants, who described coping with them primarily by means of verbal retaliation or ignoring the names. Participants rarely told teachers and most stated that their school was unhelpful. Although the experience was regarded less negatively over time, this was not the case for those who reported finding the names most hurtful. These participants reported greater effects on all areas of school life and a stronger association of name-calling with physical bullying, and they rated their current feelings about the past experience as more negative. The most common content of names referred to physical appearance, play on the individual's own name, and animals, trends also found in studies of children and in research into teasing.     

AN APPROACH TO THE EVALUATION OF TEACHING COMPANY PROGRAMMES

In this paper we consider the problems associated with the evaluation of Teaching Company Programmes. These programmes involve Universities and Colleges, together with manufacturing companies, in efforts to improve manufacturing methods and to develop graduates for careers in manufacturing industry. We introduce a framework for the evaluation of these programmes and apply it to one in which the authors have been involved. The paper reports a number of results from the Teaching Company Programme involving Molins Ltd., Brunel University and Henley, the Management College.     

Correlation between performance in physics and prior mathematics knowledge

The final grade of 1403 students enrolled in the first semester of the introductory, pre-professional physics course has been correlated with performance on a precourse diagnostic test of mathematical skills. The students were from a total of eight different sections taught by six separate instructors over a three year time span. The student population has been separated into two groups, those who completed the course (913 students) and those who dropped (490 students). The drops were assigned a “projected final grade”based on performance up to date of withdrawal. The Pearson product-moment correlation for students who completed the course is 0.418 and correlation for the drops is 0.232. Both correlations are significant at the p < 0.001 level. This study suggests that prior mathematical ability is a primary influence on performance in the course, and has a secondary influence on the tendency to drop out of the course.     

Exploring indicators of engagement in online learning as applied to adolescent health prevention: a pilot study of REAL media

Educational technology research and development - Engagement is central to the effectiveness of online health messages and the related educational programs that aim to deliver these messages to the...     

Publication by men and women with same-sex and cross-sex PhD supervision

The rates at which men and women published during and after PhD training in psychology were compared for samples experiencing same-sex and cross-sex supervision. When allowance was made for the research productivity and impact of the supervisor, women supervised by women published at similar rates to women supervised by men. Similarly, men supervised by men did not publish on average more often than men supervised by women. Further, there was no difference in mean publication rate between men and women who had completed their PhD degrees in the same university under supervision of the same advisor. Although the analyses provides no evidence that publication is more frequent following same-sex than cross-sex supervision, the possibility that supervision by an advisor of the same sex advantages graduates in other ways needs to be assessed.