All About Demand-Driven Acquisition

This article reports on a talk delivered at the Mississippi State University Libraries eResource & Emerging Technologies Summit. The author introduces the concept of Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA) for e-books and explains how it works. The author discusses predicting and controlling costs, as well as other implementation decisions. Finally, the author discusses the possibility of removing books from a DDA program and speculates on some of the effects of DDA on libraries and scholarly publishing.     

The somatic marker as a “short cut” to verbal immediacy

This study examined the relationships between the somatic‐marker hypothesis, developed by Damasio (1994) as it relates to homophily and verbal immediacy in the classroom. Damasio has hypothesized that when particular events occur in one's life, there is a “memory” of that event in the brain. As a result, when a similar event occurs, the somatic marker recreates that first event. Students were provided three different scenarios about the first day of a communication class. In the scenarios, the instructor presented information about himself. One instructor provided only autobiographical, demographic data (the control). Another provided information hozu he had had difficulty with public speaking (the selfish marker). The third provided information about how the instructor had helped someone else who had difficulty in public speaking (the altruistic marker). The results indicated that while homophily differences were not significant, there was a significant difference between the control group and the altruistic marker.     

Measurement of communication flexibility: Working adults vs. college students

Earlier work has indicated that certain groups of adults might be disproportionately inflexible in their communicative interactions, but conclusions are uncertain due to the accepted practice of sampling college students to develop and validate measures. This study compared working adults with college student respondents on the Communication Flexibility scale (Martin & Rubin, 1994). Results from two samples of working adults indicate that adults score lower on communication flexibility than do traditional college students. This reinforces researchers’ need to be aware that some measures’ norms may vary depending on the targeted population.     

The function of mundane ritualizing in adult friendship and marriage

Rituals serve important functions in both friendships and married relationships. This study served, to investigate the categorical structures of rituals in both of these relationship types. In married relationships, seven categories of ritual functions emerged including: Relational Masonry, Relational Maintenance, Life Management, Fun/Enjoyment, Togetherness, Talk‐Time, and Anti‐Ritual. In friendships, seven categories of ritual functions also emerged including: Personal & Relational Stimulation, Personal Improvement, Relational‐Affirmation, Support, Self‐Affirmation, Escape, and Anti‐Ritual.     

The function of uncertainty reduction in alleviating primary tension in small groups

Two studies manipulated levels of uncertainty and employed self report, observer‐ratings, and behavioral coding to assess primary tension in groups. Results indicate that a) participants cannot differentiate levels of primary tension in groups, b) observers can reliably detect differences in primary tension behaviors, and c) these tense group behaviors decrease as uncertainty is effectively reduced.     

Measuring patients' communication apprehension about interacting with physicians: Instrument development

The purpose of these studies was to develop an instrument to measure patients' perceived communication apprehension in patient/physician interactions. In the first stydy, a five item Patients' Report of Communication Apprehension with Physicians (PRCAP) was developed. The scale appears to be a reliable, unidimensional scale which shows a moderate positive correlation with the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA), a moderate negative correlation with willingness to communicate (WTC), and a moderate negative correlation with self‐perceived communication competence (SPCC). In the second study, designed to assess the predictive validity of the PRCAP, those who scored one standard deviation above the mean on the PRCAP reported being less satisfied with their interactions with physicians than those who scored one standard deviation below the mean on the PRCAP. It appears the PRCAP is a reliable and valid instrument that can be employed to pursue issues involving the role of CA in patient/physician interactions.