A deniable and efficient question and answer service over ad hoc social networks

When people are connected together over ad hoc social networks, it is possible to ask questions and retrieve answers using the wisdom of the crowd. However, locating a suitable candidate for answering a specific unique question within larger ad hoc groups is non-trivial, especially if we wish to respect the privacy of users by providing deniability. All members of the network wish to source the best possible answers from the network, while at the same time controlling the levels of attention required to generate them by the collective group of individuals and/or the time taken to read all the answers. Conventional expert retrieval approaches rank users for a given query in a centralised indexing process, associating users with material they have previously published. Such an approach is antithetical to privacy, so we have looked to distribute the routing of questions and answers, converting the indexing process into one of building a forwarding table. Starting from the simple operation of flooding the question to everyone, we compare a number of different routing options, where decisions must be made based on past performance and exploitation of the knowledge of our immediate neighbours. We focus on fully decentralised protocols using ant-inspired tactics to route questions towards members of the network who may be able to answer them well. Simultaneously, privacy concerns are acknowledged by allowing both question asking and answering to be plausibly deniable. We have found that via our routing method, it is possible to improve answer quality and also reduce the total amount of user attention required to generate those answers.     

Using Problem Solving to Assess Young Children’s Mathematics Knowledge

Mathematics problem solving provides a means for obtaining a view of young children’s understanding of mathematics as they move through the early childhood concept development sequence. Assessment information can be obtained through observations and interviews as children develop problem solutions. Examples of preschool, kindergarten, and primary grade children’s approaches to problem solving are provided in the article. Prekindergarten and kindergarten age children discover problems during play. For example, they figure out how to use informal measurement to use construction materials such as unit blocks and Lego to build a desired building or make a desired object. Moldable materials such as clay and play dough provided shape experiences. The daily sequence of activities builds on their concept of time. Primary grade children solve adult- and child-generated problems. They may use manipulatives and/or drawings to generate problem solutions prior to using symbols and notation. Teacher and/or student devised rubrics can be used to guide evaluation.     

A Tale of Two Conferences: L.A.T.E., Two Key Moments in the Development of ‘London' English and the Questions that Still Need Asking

Current and recent policy around curriculum and pedagogy for English in England has seen a lack of principled thinking about what the subject should be and how it should best serve the needs of children. In postwar England, in London in particular, teachers and academics working within the London Association for the Teaching of English (L.A.T.E.) were engaged in just such principled thinking, driven by the need to formulate a ‘new' English in the context of a changing school landscape and a changing school population. Central to L.A.T.E.'s work was the focus on the child, and the need to devise a model of the subject that was, at its core, responsive to the experience, interests and language of students. Given the direction central policy around English has taken in the past 20 years, this article considers the importance of reevaluating L.A.T.E.'s work, and considers two key conferences in the history of the Association as important watershed moments in the development of these aspects of ‘London' English. In doing so, it argues that the questions for which L.A.T.E. members sought answers are precisely those that should be asked today, but that seem to be absent from policymakers' debates about English.     

Intensity of parasitic infestation in silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Silver carp, Hypopthalmichthys molitrix is one of the most economically valuable fish species in Bangladesh. However, its production is often hindered by parasite-induced mortality. The present study reports the intensity of parasitic infestation in 216 specimens of H. molitrix collected from different fish markets in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. Nine different parasite species (Trichodina pediculatus, Dactylogyrus vastator, Ichthyophthirius multifilis, Gyrodactylus elegans, Lernaea sp., Apiosoma sp., Myxobolus rohitae, Camallanus ophiocephali, and Pallisentis ophiocephali) were recovered from the gill, skin, stomach, and intestine of host fish. The highest level of infection was observed for host skin, while lower levels were observed for host gill, stomach, and intestine. The results also revealed that the intensity of parasite infection in different organs of H. molitrix varied with the season. In particular, the highest levels of infection were recorded during the winter period (November-February), when fish are most susceptible to parasites. The findings of the study will help in the management and conservation of H. molitrix.     

Disciplining Drunken Mothers: Media Representations of Women's Use of Alcohol

Building on recent feminist and media scholarship, this article examines the manifestation of The Mommy Wars and focuses on women's psychological health and its subsequent news worthiness. Unlike previous Mommy Wars, the war waged between mothers in this project is not focused on whether a woman works in the public sector, but rather, whether she drinks alcohol. An analysis of various news outlets demonstrates how news media extends TMW to the psychological and physical health of women. Specifically, drinking mothers are portrayed by news media as “fractured females,” suggesting that there is a crisis in the United States where children are put in danger by their drunken mothers. The analysis argues that this struggle to fix the definition of motherhood is a power struggle over gender performance. It is also a struggle that separates women from one another with consequences for feminism's future.     

Communication Research and General Media

William B. Fairley and Frederick Mosteller, eds. Statistics and Public Policy (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1977— price not given)

Julian L. Simon's Basic. Research Methods in Social Sciences: The Art of Empirical Investigation (New York: Random House, 1978—$14.95)

Delbert C. Miller's Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement (New York: McKay, 1978—$14.95, with a paperback edition available)

James Monaco, ed. Media Culture and Celebrity: The Media as Image Makers (New York: Delta Books (Dell), 1978—$4.95 each, paper)     

Canadian Communication

E.B. Ogle, Long Distance Please: The Story of the TransCanada Telephone System (Toronto: Collins, 1979—$14.95)

Stuart McFadyen, et al., Canadian Broadcasting: Market Structure and Economic Performance (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy/available in U.S. from Renouf, Old Post Rd., Brookfield, Vt. 05036—$15.95, paper)

The Information Revolution and its Implications for Canada by Shirley Serafini and Michel Andrieu (November 1980, 113 pp. —$4.95, paper)

Telecommunications and Canada: Consultative Committee on the Implications of Telecommunications for Canadian Sovereignty (March 1979, 98 pp.—$6.00, paper)

The 1980s: A Decade of Diversity–Broadcasting, Satellites, and Pay-TV (.July 1980, 94 pp.—$3.95, paper)

Attitudes of Canadians Toward Advertising on Television (1978, 55 pp.—$2.00, paper)     

Practical Guides

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF RADIO, by Linda Busby and Donald Parker (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1984-$20.00).

ELECTRONIC ARTS OF SOUND AND LIGHT, by Ronald Pellegrino (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983—$28.50).

TELECONFERENCING HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO COST-EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION, by Ellen Lazar et al. (White Plains, New York: Knowledge Industry Publications, 1983—$34.95).

THE CREATIVE CONNECTION: ADVERTISING COPYWRITING AND IDEA VISUALIZATION, by Arthur A. Winters and Shirley F. Milton (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1982—$16.50).

BROADCAST NEWSWRITING AS PROCESS and BROADCAST COPYWRITING AS PROCESS by J. Clark Weaver (New York: Longman, 1984—price not given, paper).

PUBLIC RELATIONS/PUBLICITY: A KEY LINK IN COMMUNICATIONS, by Lois Ehrenkranz and Gilbert Kahn (New York: Fairchild, 1983—$14.50).

EXPERTS IN ACTION: INSIDE PUBLIC RELATIONS, by Bill Cantor (New York: Longman, 1984—$29.95/ 14.95).