Broadcast Journalism

Edwin Diamond's Good News, Bad News (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1978---S12.50)

Laurily Keir Epstein, ed. Women and the News (New York: Hastings House, 1978---$12.50)

Gates, Gary Paul. Air Time: The Inside Story of CBS News (New York: Harper & Row, 1978---$12.95)

Barrett, Marvin. Rich News, Poor News: The Sixth Alfred I. duPont--Columbia University Survey of Broadcast Journalism (New York: Crowell, 1978---$12.95/ 5.95)

General Communications (partial list of contents)     

The Effect of Bicycle Ergometer Exercise at Varying Intensities on the Heart Rate,EMG and Mood State Responses to a Mental Arithmetic Stressor

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of bicycle ergometer exercise at varying metabolic intensities upon the heart rate, electromyographic (EMG), and mood state responses to a timed mental arithmetic stressor. Twelve males participated in four experimental conditions: three exercise trials consisting of workloads of 40%, 55%, and 70% of physical work capacity, and an attentional control condition. Daily test protocol involved the following time sequence: habituation, baseline, exercise or control condition (presented in a counterbalanced order), recovery, mental arithmetic, and completion of mood state questionnaire. Results indicated no differential response to the mental arithmetic stressor across the four conditions for the 12 subjects for heart rate, EMG activity, or mood state. Thus, 15 min of exercise at 40%, 55%, and 70% of physical work capacity proved to be no different from an attentional control condition in influencing the physiological and psychological responses to the mental arithmetic stressor.     

Parental activity as a determinant of activity level and patterns of activity in obese children

The purposes of this study were to measure the level and pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA = > 4.5 METs) and examine predictors of activity in obese children. Fifty-one 8-12-year-old children seeking obesity treatment wore accelerometers for 3 or 4 days. Children averaged 12.2 bouts of MVPA per day that lasted an average of 4.2 min, while parents engaged in 3.9 bouts of MVPA that lasted 4.2 min. Hierarchical regression models showed parent activity improved the prediction of obese children's activity levels and the number of bouts of MVPA but not the duration of MVPA. These results suggest that programs to increase physical activity in obese children should structure the activity in short bouts and attempt to increase parental physical activity.     

BioSYNTHESIS: bridging the information gap

BioSYNTHESIS is a prototype intelligent retrieval system under development as part of the IAIMS project at Georgetown University. The aim is to create an integrated system that can retrieve information located on disparate computer systems. The project work has been divided in two phases: BioSYNTHESIS I, development of a single menu to access various databases which reside on different computers; and BioSYNTHESIS II, development of a search component that facilitates complex searching for the user. BioSYNTHESIS II will accept a user's query and conduct a search for appropriate information in the IAIMS databases at Georgetown. For information not available at Georgetown, such as full text, it will access selected remote systems and translate the search query as appropriate for the target system. The search through various computer systems and different databases with unique storage and retrieval structures will be transparent to the user. BioSYNTHESIS I is complete and available to users. The design work for BioSYNTHESIS II is under development and will continue as a multiyear technical research effort of the proposed Georgetown IAIMS implementation project.