Telecommunications

Robert Lee Chartrand and James W. Norentz, Jr., eds. Information Technology Serving, Society (Oxford and New York: Pergamon Press, 1979—E12.50/$25.00)

Rosario Joseph Tosiello, The Birth and Early Years of the Bell Telephone System: 1376-1880 (New York: Aicno Press, 1979—$32.00)

James E. Brittain, ed. Turning Points in American Electrical History (New York: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Press [dist. by John Wiley], 1977– $20.00, paper)

Harry L. Van Trees, ed. Satellite Communications (New York: IEEE/John Wiley, 1979—$27.00, paper with a hardback edition available)

Dave Ingram's Oscar: The Ham Radio Satellites (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa: Tab Books, 1979—$8.95/4.95)

Clayton Hallmark's How to Repair Old-Time Radios (Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.: Tab Books, 1979—$12.95/7.95)

Telecommunications Law Reform (American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1150 17th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 —price not given, paper)     

Success in the Dutch Music Festival Market: The Role of Format and Content

Nowadays, music festivals are very important for generating revenue streams in the music industry. However, studies on what makes music festivals a success are scant. In this article, a conceptual model to explain the success of music festivals is introduced and tested. Such a model seems pressing now that competition in the music festival industry is increasing. Our conceptual model includes variables that are under the control of music festival organizers, namely format and content characteristics. The content features include scope of the audience, lineup, age, and having a theme or message. Budget, ticket price, location, and having a maximum visitor capacity make up the format features. The model is tested with data from 47 music festivals in the Netherlands. The results show that relatively newer festivals can achieve good growth in terms of visitor attendance, especially if they have a narrow scope (niche). Interestingly, this is true for both large and small festivals. Our findings are important with respect to music festival diversity and choice for audiences, which may be at risk due to increasing competition. The fact that several festivals have a capacity constraint seems to be beneficial for diversity as well. Interestingly, budgets (and star lineup and ticket price), theme, and location are largely nonsignificant predictors of success.     

Preparing public librarians for consumer health information service: A nationwide study

A nationwide survey study was conducted to gain understanding as to how to prepare public librarians for consumer health information service. Findings indicate that the popular health information needs encountered by public librarians cover a wide variety of topics, including the human body, a medical/health condition, a disease, a medical concept, and fitness/diet/nutrition. The top two challenges faced by public librarians when providing consumer health information service are difficulty in interpreting patrons' questions and lack of knowledge about available and trusted/appropriate medical/health information sources. Public librarians wish to receive training on a number of topics that could help address the challenges they face, and the most favorable training format for them, among all the options provided in the survey, is the self-paced online tutorial. This study constitutes the basis for establishing training requirements and developing training programs to meet the needs of public librarians. Their mastery of the necessary skills, knowledge and competencies via training will lead to effective and efficient delivery of consumer health information service in public libraries, and ultimately generate optimal patron experiences.     

A Brief History of the OCLC Members Council

ABSTRACT

On May 19, 2009, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Members Council held its 90th and final meeting. It was the end of an era that began in 1977, when the Ohio College Library Center changed its name to OCLC and adopted a new governance structure that extended membership in the cooperative to libraries outside Ohio. In the ensuing 30 years, libraries around the world elected 450 delegates to attend three Council meetings each year at OCLC.     

Use of Polarised Light Microscopy to Improve Conservation of Parchment

ABSTRACT

The preservation state of parchment primarily depends on the structure of the collagen fibre network, which in turn is responsible for optical anisotropy, i.e. birefringence. Polarised light microscopy can therefore be used as a non-invasive technique that allows recording of birefringence distribution in the parchment, which directly relates to stress–strain distribution. Using samples from diverse sources (commercial parchment, parchment used by restorers for book binding, and parchment fabricated for the purpose of this study), we assessed the capability of polarised light microscopy for various diagnostics. We performed, for instance, identification of gelatinised regions, layered or ?brous regions in parchment cross section, qualitative analysis of parchment fat content (lipids), observation of stress-induced patterns resulting from tensile tests, and observation of water diffusion. These proof-of-principle experiments extend the capability of polarised light microscopy far beyond its common use and open the path to its deployment in conservation studies.     

Mathematical thinking intervention programmes for preschool children with normal and low number sense

This study investigated the possibility of enhancing the level of preschoolers’ number sense by introducing two intervention programmes, Let’s think! and Young children with special educational needs count, too! .Forty‐five preschoolers, mean age 66.4 months, were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received instruction twice a week, for half an hour, and for a period of nine months. Pretest–postest comparison revealed that the experimental group showed enhanced number‐sense performance immediately after the instruction ended, but the between‐group difference faded after six months. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in general mathematical thinking abilities (transfer tasks) after the intervention.     

A cross‐cultural comparison of childhood developmental disorders between schoolchildren in the Netherlands and Greece

The scope of the present study was first to evaluate the cross‐cultural reliability and validity of the Social Emotional Questionnaire (SEQ) and second to estimate and compare the prevalence rates of childhood developmental and psychiatric disorders in the general population of young children in the Netherlands and Greece. To this end, the caregivers of 1748 Dutch and 384 Greek 4–12‐year‐old children from the general population completed the SEQ. The number of children displaying symptoms of childhood developmental disorders was estimated by applying the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders‐IV criteria of symptom occurrence. Results showed that the reliability and the construct validity of the SEQ were acceptable in both countries and for all the age‐groups of children. Concerning the prevalence, the Greek children were found to display overall significantly more symptoms of developmental disorders than the Dutch children. However, when the number of children suffering from psychiatric symptoms in the clinical range was estimated using the clinical criteria provided by categorical classification systems, no statistical significant differences emerged between the two countries. This finding suggests that when the criterion of clinical impairment is applied in diagnostic procedures, the number of children suffering from severe psychiatric disorders is about equal in the two countries. The implications of the study are discussed.     

The Effects of Ignoring a Level in Multilevel Analysis

Ignoring a level can have a substantial impact on the conclusions of a multilevel analysis. For intercept-only models and for balanced data, we derive these effects analytically. For more complex random intercept models or for unbalanced data, a simulation study is performed. Most important effects concern estimates and corresponding standard errors of the variance parameters at adjacent levels and of the coefficients of the predictors at the ignored and bordering levels. Therefore, we conclude that if the researcher is interested in a specific level, she/he should account for both the upper and lower level. Conclusions are illustrated using empirical data from educational research.     

Biology Teachers Designing Context-Based Lessons for Their Classroom Practice—The importance of rules-of-thumb

In science education in the Netherlands new, context‐based, curricula are being developed. As in any innovation, the outcome will largely depend on the teachers who design and implement lessons. Central to the study presented here is the idea that teachers, when designing lessons, use rules‐of‐thumb: notions of what a lesson should look like if certain classroom outcomes are to be reached. Our study aimed at (1) identifying the rules‐of‐thumb biology teachers use when designing context‐based lessons for their own classroom practice, and (2) assessing how these personal rules‐of‐thumb relate to formal innovative goals and lesson characteristics. Six biology teachers with varying backgrounds designed and implemented a lesson or series of lessons for their own practice, while thinking aloud. We interviewed the teachers and observed their lessons. Our results suggest that rules‐of‐thumb, which differed substantially among the teachers, indeed to a great extent guide the decisions teachers make when designing (innovative) lessons. These rules‐of‐thumb were often strongly associated with intended lesson outcomes. Also, teachers’ personal rules‐of‐thumb were more powerful in determining the lesson design than formal innovative goals and lesson characteristics. The results of this study encourage more research into how rules‐of‐thumb reflect teachers’ practical knowledge, for which suggestions are made.