Physical activity and cognitive function in multiple sclerosis

Cognitive impairment is prevalent, disabling, and poorly managed in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). This cross-sectional study examined the associations among physical activity, cognitive processing speed, and learning and memory in 33 persons with MS who underwent neuropsychological assessments and wore a physical activity monitor for 7 days. Cognitive impairment was greatest in cognitive processing speed. Physical activity was significantly correlated with cognitive processing speed (pr = .35), but not learning and memory (pr = .20), after controlling for sex, age, and education. Researchers should examine exercise training and physical activity effects on cognitive performance, particularly processing speed, in MS.     

Schools,social capital and space

This paper reports on the significance of social capital in relation to education, exploring its relevance to teachers and other professionals as well as among young people. It draws on aspects of five case studies undertaken by the Schools and Social Capital Network, within the Applied Educational Research Scheme in Scotland. These case studies focused on: an Inclusive Learning Network of teachers and parents of disabled children and young people concerned with inclusion; students from refugee families in one primary and one secondary school, working in association with Asylum Seekers Support Project units; young participants in a local authority youth club; independent (private) schools and a Get Ready for Work Programme. A framework for accounting for bonding, bridging and linking social capital as practices was developed and space was an emergent theme from these case studies.     

Modeling Change and Variation in U.S. News & World Report College Rankings: What would it really take to be in the Top 20?

University administrators may invest significant time and resources with the goal of improving their U.S. News & World Report ranking, but the real impact of these investments is not well known since, as other universities make similar changes, rankings become a moving target. This research removes the mystique of the U.S. News ranking process by producing a ranking model that faithfully recreates U.S. News outcomes and quantifies the inherent “noise” in the rankings for all nationally ranked universities. The model developed can be a valuable tool to institutional researchers and university leaders by providing detailed insight into the U.S. News ranking process. It allows the impact of changes to U.S. News subfactors to be studied when variation between universities and within subfactors is present. Numerous simulations were run using this model to understand the effect of each subfactor individually and to determine the amount of change that would be required for a university to improve its rank or move into the top 20. Results show that for a university ranked in the mid-30 s it would take a significant amount of additional resources, directed in a very focused way, to become a top-ranked national university, and that rank changes of up to ± 4 points should be considered “noise”. These results can serve as a basis for frank discussions within a university about the likelihood of significant changes in rank and provide valuable insight when formulating strategic goals.     

Program Readings

Richard C. Burke Instructional Television: Bold New Venture (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1971—$5.95)

Harold S. Davis (ed.) Instructional Media Center: Bold New Venture (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1971— $7.50)

Ralph J. Amelio, Film in the Classroom: Why to Use It How to Use It (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum/Standard, 1971—$4.50, paper)     

Broadcasting Education and Children's Programming

Wilbur Schramm (ed.) Quality in Instructional Television (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1973 - $5.00, paper)

Ralph M. Jennings, Marcella Kerr and Truman E. Parker's Public Television Station Employment Practices and The Composition of Boards of Directors: The Status of Minorities and Women (Office of Communications, United Church of Christ, 289 Park Ave. South, New York 10010, January 1973 - $10.00, but free on request to poverty organizations and citizen-action groups)

I. Keith Tyler and Catharine M. Williams (eds.) Educational Communication in a Revolutionary Age (Worthington, Ohio: Charles A. Jones, 1973 - $7.95)

Dennis Benson's Electric Evangelism (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1973 - $3.95)

G. William Jones' Landing Rightside Up in TV and Film (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1973 - price not known, paper)

Radical Software which is entitled “The TV Environment.”

Children's Television: Economics and Public Policy by William Melody (142 pp. spiral bound, $15.00)

Network Programming and Advertising in the Saturday Children's Hours: A June and November Comparison by F. Earle Barcus (32 pp., spiral bound, $5.00)

Network Children's Programming: A Content Analysis of Black and Minority Treatment on Children's Television by Gilbert Mendelson and Morrissa Young (of Best), (20 pp., $5.00)     

BRITISH PARTY ELECTION BROADCASTS IN THE 1950s

The debate about the American influence on political communication practices worldwide has raised a range of issues about how such a process might work. Much of the research in the field, however, has examined possible influences on practices in the last quarter of the twentieth century. By then, it could be argued, common global practices had become established in many Western Democracies. The aim of this paper is to explore a period before these changes had taken place, namely the 1950s and the 1960s, when television was still in its infancy in both Britain and the US, when new and different practices were being tried out and a period in which it might still be possible to look at influences at the dawn of political broadcasting. By focusing on the emergence and development of a specific form of political communication, namely, dedicated, unmediated, paid-for or free party election communication, in the US and in Britain in this early period, it might be possible to examine if, and how, American practices might have influenced British ones. Using unpublished work drawing on a range of archives and personal interviews that focus on interactions across the Atlantic, this paper argues that in this period, the two countries developed a range of different practices that cannot easily lend support to the idea of Americanisation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for more research into the domestic negotiations of transatlantic interactions.     

Book review

Handbook of telecommunications economics, volume I. structure, regulation & competition. Cave, M., Majumdar; S. & Vogelsang (eds.). Elsevier Science, B.V., 2002, 726 pages, ISBN 0–444–50389–7, www.elsevier.com

Cost proxy models and telecommunications policy. Farid Gasmi, D. Mark Kennett, Jean‐Jacques Laffont, William W. Sharkey. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002, 275 pages, ISBN 0–262–7237–8

Media institutions and audiences: Key concepts in media studies by Nick Lacey. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2002, 275 pages, ISBN 0–262–7237–8. Palgrave, 2002, 235 pages, ISBN 0–333–65870–1, www.palgrave.com

Copyright in the cultural industries edited by Ruth Towse. Edward Elgar, 2002, 263 + xxii pages, ISBN 1–84064–661–6, www.e‐elgar.co.uk

Telecommunications management. Industry structures and planning structures. by Richard A. Gershon. 365 pages, ISBN 0–8058–3002–2, www.erlbaum.com

Understanding media economics by Gillian Doyle. Sage Publications, 2002, vii +184 pages, ISBN 07619 6874

Media and power by James Curran. Routledge, London and New York, 2002, 308 pages, ISBN 0–415–07740–0, www.routledge.com     

The Effectiveness of Selected Methods of Radio Education at the School Level

The performance of students who completed a statistics examination under time limits was compared with that of students under no time limits. Another purpose of the study was to determine whether students high or low in statistics test anxiety were affected differentially by these two examination conditions. Twenty-six graduate students who were enrolled in an intermediate-level statistics course were randomly assigned to the two examination groups, timed or untimed. Both low- and high-anxious students performed better on the final course examination under the untimed condition than under the timed condition. However, the benefit of the untimed examination was greater for high-anxious students than for low-anxious students. The results were interpreted using Hill's (1984) and Wine's (1980) conceptual frameworks. The results suggest that differences between high- and low-anxious students in evaluative situations are caused by differences between them in motivational disposition and attentional focus.