An interdisciplinary collaboration between computer engineering and mathematics/bilingual education to develop a curriculum for underrepresented middle school students

There is a strong need in the United States to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Drawing from sociocultural theory, we present approaches to establishing collaborations between computer engineering and mathematics/bilingual education faculty to address this need. We describe our work through the Advancing Out-of-School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering project by illustrating how an integrated curriculum that is based on mathematics with applications in image and video processing can be designed and how it can be implemented with middle school students from underrepresented groups.     

A Student Guide for Interpreting Case Material

Abstract

The use of peers in the evaluation of teaching is part of a larger trend in postsecondary education toward a more systematic assessment of classroom performance. Many scholars believe that certain aspects of teaching can be assessed only by classroom observation. This study examines the use that peer reviewers make of teaching products, especially peer observation reports, during the promotion and tenure review process. Results indicate that peer observation reports are seen as an important component in evaluating teaching effectiveness, though perhaps not the best indicator of effective teaching. Despite flaws in peer observation instruments, the results from classroom observation are seen as valid and are used in deliberations about faculty teaching performance.     

Library development in Swaziland

Collaboration practices vary greatly per scientific area and discipline and influence the scientific performance and its scholarly communication. In this study, the collaborative pattern of the Information Retrieval (IR) research field is analyzed using co-authored articles retrieved from Social Science Citation Index for a period of 11 years from 1987 to 1997. The level of collaboration, journal collaborative distribution, disciplinary collaborative distribution and country collaboration are probed according to IR collaborative research. Findings are discussed from the above perspectives in detail. In particular, this study reveals a perceptible upward trend of collaborative IR research with the results of these research efforts being reported in all major core IR journals. The inter-disciplinary and intra-disciplinary scholarly communications in collaborative researches are very much in evidence and cover broad areas like psychology, and computer and medical sciences, respectively.     

Mass Media

Communications Industry Report and Communications Industry Forecast (Veronis, Suhler & Associates, 350 Park Ave, New York, NY 10022—$500 each, paper, no ISBN numbers given)

The Annual Report Glossary: 1988 Edition by Richard Loth (FIPS Partners, 4579 Airlie Way, Annandale, VA 22003—$26.00, three-ring notebook, ISBN 0-924399-00-7)

Super Media: A Cultural Studies Approach by Michael Real (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989—$35.00/16.95, ISBN 0-8039-3313-4 hard, 0-8039-3314-2 soft)

The Olympic Movement and the Mass Media: Past, Present and Future Issues edited by R. Jackson and T. McPhail (Hurford Enterprises, PO Box 61256, 3630 Morley Trail NW, Calgary, Alberta T2L 1KS, Canada—price not given, paper, ISBN 0-88953-115-3)

Historical Methods in Mass Communication by James Startt and William David Sloan (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1989—$24.50, ISBN 0-8058-0433-1)

Communication Research: Strategies and Sources by Rebecca Rubin, Alan Rubin and Linda Piele (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1990—price not given, paper, ISBN 0-534-12144-6)

“The Communication Series,”

Mass Communication: An Introductory Survey by James Harless (Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1990)     

Branding Television News in a Multichannel Environment: An Exploratory Study of Network News Brand Personality

Adopting the construct of “brand personality,” this article examines the perceived differences among various television news brands, investigates the distinction between cable and broadcast news brands, and explores the applicability of brand personality in this market. CNN was found to possess the most distinct, positive personality, whereas CBS news had the least differentiated brand personality. Fox News was seen as the most dynamic and conservative. Overall, broadcast network news was perceived to be more traditional and liberal than cable network news. Three modified dimensions—competence, timeliness, and dynamism—were found to represent the personality facets of the television news product.     

The Emergence of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs): An Examination of the Business Strategy in the Global MVNO Market

Abstract

To assess the strategy adopted by the mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and the factors that affect the development of this mobile market, this study analyzes the MNVO sector from 2 perspectives: the exogenous factors including the consumer, industry, regulation, and technology characteristics; and the generic strategies that have been adopted by successful MVNOs in various Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development markets. Although cost leadership was found to be most prevalent initially, as the mobile market begins to be infused by high-capacity networks and value-added services, MVNOs are more inclined to apply multiple generic strategies and non-price competition. The strategies of differentiation and focus are practiced in addition to, not in place of, the cost leadership strategy. This study also found that countries with higher third-generation (3G) license fees tend to have higher levels of MVNO development, suggesting that the economic pressure created by the high 3G license fee might contribute to the deployment of MVNOs in a country.     

Ex-Communication: Competition and Collusion in the U.S. Prison Telephone Industry

This paper explores the political economy of the prison telephone industry, with special emphasis on changes in the industry since the mid-1980s. Contrary to the expectations of competition advocates, the principal outcome of deregulation in the prison telephone sector has been a sharp increase in price, as new market entrants compete for monopoly service contracts on the basis of steadily escalating commissions paid to state and private prison authorities—costs which are then passed on to the (literally) captive market through exorbitant end-user rates. The sheer magnitude of such rate increases, together with explosive growth in the national prison population over the same period, has turned the prison telephone sector into a lucrative and largely invisible growth center for the U.S. telecommunication industries as a whole.     

A content analytic technique for measuring the sexiness of women's business attire in media presentations

This study describes the development and pretest of a content analytic category scheme for objectively measuring the sexiness of women's business attire in media presentations. In a test of the validity of the category scheme, presentations of women's business attire in television soap operas were compared to real world examples. The television samples were found to be significantly more provocative than the real world attire. In addition, the results of the content analysis of soap opera attire was compared to an intuitive perception of “sexiness.” A significant positive correlation was found between the degree of sexiness as measured by the content analytic category scheme and subject's perception of sexiness.