Dialectical Tensions Underpinning Family Farm Succession Planning

Though succession planning is vital if a farm is to survive, many farm families fail to take necessary succession planning actions. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 20 members of nine small-farm families in Pennsylvania revealed that dialectical tensions surrounding a farm transfer influence succession planning readiness and action. This report identifies five indigenous dialectical tensions that influence succession planning and describes five praxis patterns families use to manage them. Practical applications are outlined for agriculture estate planning professionals and others involved in family inheritance communication services to provide effective assistance to farm families in their succession planning efforts.     

The Survivor in Contemporary Culture and Public Discourse: A Genealogy

This article sketches a genealogy examining the production of the concept of “the survivor” in contemporary culture and public discourse across five discursive sites in mainly western (particularly Anglo-American) cultures: the Holocaust, psychotherapy, feminist discourses of childhood and sexual abuse, reality TV, and discourses of health and illness. It argues that the survivor has become a meaningfully visible, cultural notion and a desirable role that individuals are encouraged to assume, rendering the categories of victim and the dead false and illegitimate. The article concludes by arguing for the need in contemporary public and highly mediated space to expand the range of explanatory frameworks through which individuals, especially those experiencing suffering, come to think, judge, and act.     

6. GENERAL MEDIA

Robert D. Singer and Robert M. Kaplan, eds. &;ldquo;Television and Social Behavior,&;rdquo; The Journal of Social Issues 32:4 (Fall 1976, $4.00 per copy from Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Publication Office, Box 1248, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106)

Jon Baggaley and Steve Duck's Dynamics of Television (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books [D.C. Heath] , 1977—$15.00

Symposium on Television Violence(Ottawa: Printing and Publishing Supply and Services Canada, 1976—$5.00 in Canada; $6.00 to other countries, paper [also available in the U.S. from Unipub in New York—for $9.25, paper] )

Toward a National Endowment for Children's Broadcasting (Center for Action Research, 20 Nassau St. [Suite 211] , Princeton, N.J. 08540—apparently free on request)

Maureen Harmonay, ed. ACT's Guide to TV Programming for Children— Promise and Performance: Children with Special Needs (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Co. [Lippincott] , 1977—$1230/6.95)

Scott H. Robb's Television/ Radio Age Communications Coursebook (Communications Research Institute, 25 Central Park West [Suite 1B] , New York, N.Y. 10023—$14.50, looseleaf format).

Claude and Barbara Hall's This Business of Radio Programming (Billboard Publications, 1515 Broadway, New York 10036—$15.95)

Frazier, Gross &; Clay Inc.'s Raio in 1985 (Washington: National Association of Broadcasters, 1977—$10.00 to non-members; $5.00 to members, paper)

Traveling F.M. Radio Guide (And/or Press, P.O. Box 2246, Berkeley, Calif. 94702— $2.95, paper     

Music and Popular Culture

Gaye Tuchman, Arlene Kaplan Daniels, and James Benet, eds. Hearth and Home: Ima9es of llomen in the Mass Media (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978—no price given, but available in hardback and paperback)

Maurice Horn's Women in the Comics (New York: Chelsea House, 1977—$15.00)

Charles K. Wolfe's Tennessee Strings: The Story of Country Music in Tennessee (Knoxville, Yniversity of Tennessee Press, 1977—$3.50, paper)

Anthony Hopkins' Downbeat Music Guide (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1977—$4.95)

Peter L. Skolnik's Fads: America's Crazes, Fevers & Fancies From the 1890s to the 1970s (New York: Crowell, 1978—$9.95)     

The Humanitarian Makeover

We examine how the makeover paradigm is mobilized in contemporary humanitarian communications—a practice we call “humanitarian makeover.” We demonstrate its operation in the Finnish television programme Arman and the Children of Cameroon and Plan's 2013 International Day of the Girl event. The analysis shows how helping distant others is configured within a makeover and self-transformation narrative, providing a stage for performance of an “ethical self.” We argue that while the humanitarian impetus is to disturb and redress global inequality and injustice, which includes exposing and interrupting the failures of neoliberalism, the makeover paradigm is intimately connected to and reinforces individualized “moral citizenship,” which conforms to and reinforces neoliberal values.     

Variation in I.Q. at the Preschool Level

The development of an Organizational Assessment Package (OAP) for use by Air Force management consultants is presented. Development was based on a contingency model of effectiveness with separate inventories measuring the major components of the model. Data were collected using the OAP from 4,786 Air Force military and civilian personnel. Factor analyses resulted in 22 factors which were orthogonal within each inventory. Internal consistency indices were computed using the coefficient alpha formula for the highest loading items which defined each factor. Some redundancy between inventories was identified and recommendations for items and factors for an operational OAP were made.     

On the utilization of sample weights in latent variable models

The purpose of this article is to examine the use of sample weights in the latent variable modeling context. A sample weight is the inverse of the probability that the unit in question was sampled and is used to obtain unbiased estimates of population parameters when units have unequal probabilities of inclusion in a sample. Although sample weights are discussed at length in survey research literature, virtually no discussion of sample weights can be found in the latent variable modeling literature. This article examines sample weights in latent variable models applied to the case where a simple random sample is drawn from a population containing a mixture of strata. A bootstrap simulation study is used to compare raw and normalized sample weights to conditions where weights are ignored. The results show that ignoring weights can lead to serious bias in latent variable model parameters and that this bias is mitigated by the incorporation of sample weights. Standard errors appear to be underestimated when sample weights are applied. Results on goodness‐of‐fit statistics demonstrate the advantages of utilizing sample weights.     

Volunteers in college teaching

Volunteers have worked traditionally with individuals whom society identifies as in need of extra help, be they physically handicapped, emotionally impoverished, or culturally disadvantaged. Recently, however, some nontraditional programs in higher education have begun to use volunteers to teach college classes. A five-year experience of the Experimental Programs Division at Kent State University with the use of volunteers in college teaching suggests that there may be intrinsic advantages to volunteerism in higher education.Helga Kaplan has completed her doctoral dissertation in history and is presently working as Assistant Director in the Experimental Programs Division. She has previously published inThe Journal of College Student Personnel.Donald M. Hassler has been Director of the Experimental Programs Division for the same period of time. He has published two books on literature. This is his first publication in the field of education. The authors' address is c/o Experimental Programs Division, Honors and Experimental College, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.     

Natural language processing techniques in computer-assisted language learning: Status and instructional issues

The role of natural language processing (NLP) techniques, such as parsing and semantic analysis, is described within current language tutoring systems. Significant trends are distinguished in the exploitation of these techniques, design issues and tradeoffs are examined, and current and potential contributions of NLP technology are discussed with respect to instructional theory and educational practice. Limitations and problems are addressed in using NLP tools for teaching, and approaches to assessment are considered.