Illustrations for Children: depth perception and economy of style

A way in which some economical pictures for children will tend to be perceived incorrectly or inadequately as far as spatial depth is concerned is described. Some children's perceptions of depth in diagrams which varied in kinds and amounts of information on depth were investigated. It was found that an economical illustration style which includes information on depth is possible and that this provides a simple way of alleviating the shortcomings of such a style.     

The reliability of linear position transducer,force plate and combined measurement of explosive power-time variables during a loaded jump squat in elite athletes

The purpose of this study was to determine the between day reliability of power-time measures calculated with data collected using the linear position transducer or the force plate independently, or a combination of the two technologies. Twenty-five male rugby union players performed three jump squats on two occasions one week apart. Ground reaction forces were measured via a force plate and position data were collected using a linear position transducer. From these data, a number of power-time variables were calculated for each method. The force plate, linear position transducer and a combined method were all found to be a reliable means of measuring peak power (ICC = 0.87‐0.95, CV = 3.4%‐8.0%). The absolute consistency of power-time measures varied between methods (CV = 8.0%‐53.4%). Relative consistency of power-time measures was generally comparable between methods and measures, and for many variables was at an acceptable level (ICC = 0.77‐0.94). Although a number of time-dependent power variables can be reliably calculated from data acquired from the three methods investigated, the reliability of a number of these measures is below that which is acceptable for use in research and for practical applications.     

Skills training to avoid inadvertent plagiarism: results from a randomised control study

Plagiarism continues to be a concern within academic institutions. The current study utilised a randomised control trial of 137 new entry tertiary students to assess the efficacy of a scalable short training session on paraphrasing, patch writing and plagiarism. The results indicate that the training significantly enhanced students' overall knowledge about in-text referencing protocols. Importantly, this knowledge was found to translate into applied skills, with the intervention group performing significantly better in a practical skills application task. Moreover, the findings suggest that it is confidence in writing in English, not language background per se, which plays a significant role in students' practical skills in referencing and their confidence in performing assignment preparation tasks that can help them avoid claims of inadvertent plagiarism.     

Using Microcomputers in the Classroom

Drawing upon their practical experience as teachers and as teacher trainers, the authors describe development work done in a school for children with severe learning handicap. The project in question focused upon the communication and learning needs of a boy with athetoid cerebral palsy. Over a period of time, both the computer hardware (mainly communication devices) and software programmes were developed which have made an incalculable contribution to the boy's contact with his teachers and his fellow‐pupils. The work done has already been adapted and made available for other pupils.     

Measuring the severity of child maltreatment

OBJECTIVE: The purpose was to identify different operational definitions of maltreatment severity, and then to examine their predictive validity. METHOD: Children and their primary caregivers participating in a consortium of ongoing longitudinal studies were interviewed when they were approximately 4 and 8 years of age to assess behavior problems, and developmental and psychological functioning. Four different severity definitions were identified and applied to 519 children who were reported for alleged maltreatment between Birth and the Age 8 interview. A taxonomy for defining maltreatment characteristics (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993) was applied to Child Protective Service records to define severity as (a) Maximum Severity within each of five maltreatment types, (b) Overall Maximum Severity across the five types, (c) Total Severity or the sum of the maximum severity for each of five types, and (d) Mean Severity or the average severity for those types of maltreatment alleged, during each of two time periods-Birth to Age 4, and Age 4 to Age 8. RESULTS: Regression analyses that controlled for socio-demographic factors, early maltreatment (Birth to Age 4), prior functioning (Age 4), and site revealed that (a) all four severity definitions for maltreatment reports between Age 4 and Age 8 predicted Age 8 behavior problems, (b) Maximum Severity by Type and Mean Severity predicted adaptive functioning at Age 8, and (c) only Maximum Severity by Type was related to anger, at Age 8. Follow-up regression analyses indicated that only Maximum Severity by Type, specifically physical abuse, accounted for outcomes, beyond maltreatment occurrence versus non-occurrence. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that maltreatment severity definitions that preserve ratings within types of maltreatment may be the optimal approach to measure the severity of children's experiences.     

The Developmental Roots of Disaffection?

Recent studies have shown that self‐esteem may play an important role in the onset of disaffection among secondary age pupils. It has been suggested that low‐achieving pupils deal with the threat posed to their self‐esteem by poor academic achievement by re‐organising their domain‐specific evaluations so that investment is increased in potentially more rewarding areas (in being part of a scholastic counter‐culture). In this vein, an exploratory study was conducted in which self‐esteem, mood/affect, and perceptions of social support were examined in 62 high and low achieving Year 7 (mean age: 11.8) pupils. We found differences between high‐ and low‐achieving pupils in a variety of constructs, including academic self‐esteem, mood/affect, and global self‐worth. Further, within‐group correlations revealed distinct differences between high and low achieving pupils, in the relationships between self‐esteem, mood/affect, and social support. The findings are discussed in relation to suggested psychosocial mechanisms in the onset of disaffection. In particular, differences between the findings of this and other studies involving older participants are examined, and Year 7 is tentatively suggested as a critical period of self‐esteem re‐organisation for low achievers.     

Structural determinants of the television news audience

This study examined the impact that program scheduling and market characteristics had on people's exposure to the early evening local news. Three factors combined to explain 81% of the variation in local news ratings across the U.S.: a station's network news rating, the lead‐in rating for the local news, and the size of the available television audience. We discussed how such structural factors might be better integrated into research and theory that emphasize individual characteristics as determinants of exposure to television programming.     

Recent Film and Photography Production Guides

BEYOND FTS 2000: A PROGRAM FOR CHANGE by Bernard J. Bennington (Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1989—price not given, one volume main report, plus two appendices issued separately, ISBN not given, 219 pp. + 94 pp.+ 50 pp.)

GROWING VULNERABILITY OF THE PUBLIC SWITCHED NETWORKS: IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1989 price not given, paper, ISBN not given, 119 pp.)

PERSPECTIVES ON THE TELEPHONE INDUSTRY: THE CHALLENGE FOR THE FUTURE by James H. Alleman and Richard D. Emmerson (New York: Harper &; Row/Ballinger, 1989—price not given, ISBN 0-88730-376-5, 324 pp.)

TELECOMMUNICA TIONS SYSTEMS AND SER VICES DIRECTORY edited by John Krol and Julie Winklepleck (Gale Research, Book Tower, Detroit, Ml 48226—price not given, ISBN 0-8103-2241-2,1,238 pp.)

NEWTON'S TELECOM DICTIONARY: THE OFFICIAL GLOSSARY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS A CRONY MS, TERMS AND JARGON by Harry Newton (New York: Telecom Library, 1989—price not given, paper, no ISBN given, 650 pp.)

DATA AND COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS: TERMS, DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS by Gilbert Held (New York: John Wiley, 1989 $39.95, ISBN 0-4710-92066-5, 254 pp.)

E-MAIL by Stephen A. Caswell (Boston: Artech House, 1988—$48.00, ISBN 0-89006-303-6,250 pp.) deals with (as the cover says in its design)

UNDERSTANDING TELECOMMUNICATIONS by Ronald R. Thomas (Blue Ridge Summit, PA: TAB Books, 1989—$24.95/17.95, ISBN 0-8306-9229-0 hard and 0-8306-3229-b soft, 243 pp.)

CONSUMER INFORMATION IN TELEPHONE PRICING by Robert C. Rowe (December 1989,70 pp.)

THE INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY: SHOULD REGULATION DEPEND ON THE A BSENCE OF COMPETITION? by Roger D. Colton (December 1989, 50 pp.)

IDENTIFYING CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS WHICH ARE IMPORTANT TO DETERMINING THE EXISTENCE OF WORKABLE COMPETITION IN THE INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY by Roger D. Colton (December 1989,96 pp.)

FUNDAMENTALS AND DISCRETION: A FIXING ALLOCATOR SEPARATIONS MODEL by Jay L. Silberberg (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Program on Information Resources Policy, November 1989—price not given, paper, ISBN not given, 187 pp.)

FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEFINITION OF THE LOCAL CALLING AREA—AN ASSESSMENT OF TRENDS by Raymond Lawton and John Borrows (Columbus, OH: National Regulatory Research Institute, February 1990 price not given, paper, no ISBN given, 121 pp.)

SECRETS OF INSTALLING A TELEPHONE SYSTEM: HOW TO AVOID THE PITFALLS AND LESSEN THE PAIN by Neil Sachnoff (New York: Telecom Library, 1989 $22.95, paper, no ISBN given, 149 pp.)

GMP: GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION, MAPPING AND POSITIONING NEWSLETTER (International Resource Development Inc., PO Box 1716, New Canaan, CT 06840 $325 per year, monthly, ISSN 1045-6732)

VOICE PROCESSING MAGAZINE (PO Box 42382, Houston, TX 77242—$24.00, periodicity not indicated, ISSN 1042-0460)

NRRI QUARTERLY BULLETIN(Columbus: National Regulatory Research Institute—$120, quarterly, ISSN 8756-632X)

NEWBOOKS IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS FROMARTECH HOUSE (ArtechHouse, 685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062 free on request)

CATALOG OF BOOKS 1990 (Telecom Library, 12 West 21st St., New York 10010 free on request).     

Photographic Albums

Walter Herdeg Photographis 77: International Annual of Advertising and Editorial Photography (New York: Hastings House, 1977—$37.50)

Louis Stettner's Weegee (New York: Knopf, 1977—$15.00)

Shadow of Light: Photographs by Bill Brandt (New York: Da Capo Press, 1977—$14.50, paper)

Helmut Newton's White Women (New York: Stonehill, 1976—$25.00)

Roswell Angier's “...A Kind of Life,” Conversations in the Combat Zone (Danbury, N.H.: Addison House, 1976—$15.00)

Yvonne Kalmus, Rikki Ripp and Cheryl Wiesenfeld, eds. Women See Men (New York: McGraw- Hill, 1977.412.95/7.95)

Lew Thomas and Donna-Lee Phillips' Photography and Language (San Francisco: Camerawork Press, 1976—$6.95, paper)

Linda McCartney's Linda's Pictures: A Collection of Photographs (new York: Knopf, 1976-425.00, with a paperback edition now also available)