Executing Democracy: Volume 1: Capital Punishment & The Making of America, 1683–1807

The Nature of Literature: Its Relation to Science, Language and Human Experience. By Thomas Clark Pollock. Princeton: the Princeton University Press, 1942; pp. 218 + xxvi. $3.00.

Roosevelt's Foreign Policy, 1933–1941: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Unedited Speeches and Messages. Compiled and collated by Douglas Lurton. New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1942; pp. xv + 634. $3.75.

Voices of History: Great Speeches and Papers of the Year 1941. Edited by Franklin Watts with an introduction by Charles Beard. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1942; pp. xix + 669. $3.50.

Playwrights Present. By H. H. Giles and Robert J. Cadigan. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943; pp. xiii + 290. $1.60.

A Theory of Meaning Analyzed. General Semantics Monographs, Number III. Chicago: Institute of General Semantics, 1942; pp. xvi and 46. $1.50.

Speech Correction on the Contract Plan. By Ruth Manser. Rev. ed. New York: Prentice‐Hall, Inc., 1942; pp. xix + 381. $3.00.

Speech in a Democracy. By Herold T. Ross and Clarence C. Shoemaker. Boston: Expression Co., 1942; pp. 276. $2.50.     

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala's Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno and the Practice of Rhetorical Theory in Colonial Peru

This essay takes up Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala's Primer Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno as an artifact of early colonial Peruvian rhetoric and an evocative example of American rhetorical theory. Our analysis illuminates how Guaman Poma theorizes transcultural colonial communication from an Andean perspective. We highlight three key elements in his theory: its ethical copia, its concern with the insufficiency of the available genres, and its assumption that communication will fail. In the end, we suggest, Guaman Poma provides a generative, if incomplete, theory that helps account for the complexities of colonial rhetorical practice.     

The Monster Within: How Male Serial Killers Discursively Manage Their Stigmatized Identities

Investigations of identity management regarding serial killers are sparse and rarely account for the communal discourse surrounding serial homicide. Such studies are essential to understanding the intersections of stigma and identity, particularly for the exploration of reframing that is severely limited for deviant populations. This interpretive study examined 13 interviews with serial killers to explore stigmatized identity management. The analysis revealed that male serial killers rejected their stigmatized identity by indicating a lack of control over their non-normal behavior or by justifying their actions. They also indicated that societal influences, such as previous traumatic experiences and communal discourse surrounding serial killing, influenced their identity management.     

Investigating Personality and Viewing-Motivation Correlates of Reality Television Exposure

This study investigated the personality and viewing-motivation correlates of reality television exposure. Results from a survey of 592 undergraduates showed that extroversion negatively predicted reality television exposure, whereas neuroticism was not associated with it. Both instrumental (social interaction, information, and arousal) and ritualized (relaxation, pass time, entertainment, and companionship) viewing motivations positively predicted exposure to reality television. A two-stage model by which personality traits contributed to viewing motivations, which, in turn, contributed to the selection of reality television, was tested and offered an adequate fit to the data. Implications for uses and gratifications research are discussed.     

Developing a Model of Medication Adherence among Filipino Elderly

While adherence to medication remains a problematic area in the care of chronically ill elderly, an extended model that incorporates the interaction of studied variables remains a blank spot. Anchored on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, this article details our efforts to develop and test a model of medication adherence among Filipino elderly relative to their medication belief, follow-up visits, consultation satisfaction, memory task, trust with physician, perceived stress, memory strategies, social support, memory load, depression, length of time taking the medication, number of conditions, and self-efficacy with medication adherence. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to study causalities among all parameters. With the participation of 325 older adults located in District IV, Sampaloc, Manila, data needed were gathered through a multiaspect questionnaire consisting of a robotfoto, a memory strategy usage measure, an eight-scale Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, a 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, a General Self-efficacy Scale, a Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire, and a Perceived Stress Scale. Data were analyzed using AMOS version 19. Results revealed that depression, trust with physician, and number of conditions affect adherence positively, while event-based memory, consultation satisfaction, memory load, and external memory strategy affect it otherwise. Some suggested variables were found to have no impact at all. As this study reveals, careful consideration should be given to multiple factors, and their interrelationship should be examined well. Because many factors can influence medication adherence behavior of the elderly, and because the reasons for their noncompliance are also varied, multifaceted solutions must be developed.     

What underlies successful word problem solving? A path analysis in sixth grade students

Two component skills are thought to be necessary for successful word problem solving: (1) the production of visual-schematic representations and (2) the derivation of the correct relations between the solution-relevant elements from the text base. The first component skill is grounded in the visual–spatial domain, and presumed to be influenced by spatial ability, whereas the latter is seated in the linguistic–semantic domain, and presumed to be influenced by reading comprehension. These component skills as well as their underlying basic abilities are examined in 128 sixth grade students through path analysis. The results of the path analysis showed that both component skills and their underlying basic abilities explained 49% of students’ word problem solving performance. Furthermore, spatial ability and reading comprehension both had a direct and an indirect relation (via the component skills) with word problem solving performance. These results contribute to the development of instruction methods that help students using these components while solving word problems.     

Size-dependent trajectories of DNA macromolecules due to insulative dielectrophoresis in submicrometer-deep fluidic channels

In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time that insulative dielectrophoresis can induce size-dependent trajectories of DNA macromolecules. We experimentally use λ (48.5 kbp) and T4GT7 (165.6 kbp) DNA molecules flowing continuously around a sharp corner inside fluidic channels with a depth of 0.4 μm. Numerical simulation of the electrokinetic force distribution inside the channels is in qualitative agreement with our experimentally observed trajectories. We discuss a possible physical mechanism for the DNA polarization and dielectrophoresis inside confining channels, based on the observed dielectrophoresis responses due to different DNA sizes and various electric fields applied between the inlet and the outlet. The proposed physical mechanism indicates that further extensive investigations, both theoretically and experimentally, would be very useful to better elucidate the forces involved at DNA dielectrophoresis. When applied for size-based sorting of DNA molecules, our sorting method offers two major advantages compared to earlier attempts with insulative dielectrophoresis: Its continuous operation allows for high-throughput analysis, and it only requires electric field strengths as low as ∼10 V∕cm.     

How Do Humans Acquire Knowledge? And What Does That Imply About the Nature of Knowledge?

This paper offers a resolution to the debate between constructivists andrealists regarding the epistemological status of human knowledge. Evidence in the form of three case studies and one experimentalstudy is presented. The conclusion drawn is that knowledge acquisitioninvolves a pattern of idea (representation) generation and test that, whencast in the form of a verbal argument, follows an If/then/Thereforepattern. Self-generated ideas/representations are tested by comparingexpected and observed outcomes. Ideas may be retained or rejected,but can not be proved or disproved. Therefore, absolute Truth aboutany and all ideas, including the idea that the external world exists, isunattainable. Yet learning at all levels above the sensory-motor requiresthat one assume the independent existence of the external world becauseonly then can the behavior of the objects in that world be used to testsubsequent higher-order ideas. In the final analysis, ideas – includingscientific hypotheses and theories – stand or fall, not due to socialnegotiation, but due to their ability to predict future events. Althoughthe knowledge acquisition process has limitations, its use neverthelessresults in increasingly useful representations about an assumed to existexternal world as evidenced by technological progress that is undeniablybased on sound scientific theory. The primary instructional implicationis that science instruction should remain committed to helping studentsunderstand the crucial role played by hypotheses, predictions and evidencein learning.