Radio and presidential campaigning

The advent of radio broadcasting brought some significant changes into presidential campaigns but it jailed to produce other changes that one might have expected to arise from the use of this new communications medium. This paper describes the changes that took place and examines the reasons for certain expected changes failing to materialize.     

Refereeing Process in Mathematics and Physics: Meaningful Changes and Models for Improvement

Contemporary scientific publishing in mathematics and physics (as in other exact sciences) is a complex and rapidly changing process. The most important element of this process, namely, the refereeing process is considered. In particular, meaningful changes towards refereeing process in mathematics and physics are identified and predicted. Considering a transition that takes place from the traditional refereeing system to other models and introducing the four basic parameters of the refereeing process, namely, the review stage, the openness for editors, referees and authors, journals and e-journals, feedback and e-feedback, several different models are proposed and described for improving the traditional refereeing system (e.g., 2-stage open and semi-open pre-review models, 1-stage open and blind pre-review models, and 0-stage open post-review models).     

An MMB Special: Survey of Broadcasting Texts Compared

Harrison B. Summers, Robert E. Summers, and John H. Pennybacker, Broadcasting and the Public (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1978—$13.95)

Giraud Chester, Garnet R. Garrison, and Edgar E. Willis, Television and Radio (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, l978—price not given)

Saundra Hybels and Dana Ulloth, Broadcasting: An Introduction to Radio and Television (New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1978— price not given)     

Coverage of Methamphetamine in GLBT Newspapers

Research demonstrates that methamphetamine is a serious problem in gay communities. This study examined the framing of methamphetamine in nine gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) newspapers. Results showed that methamphetamine was framed as a “gay problem,” that sexual health and solutions frames were prevalent, and that GLBT newspapers covered methamphetamine in a way that is similar to how they covered AIDS in the 1980s. Implications for health campaigns are discussed.     

Dialogic voices in talk about drinking and pregnancy

Alcohol use during pregnancy poses a significant risk of fetal alcohol syndrome. This study presents the interpretive findings of the formative research phase of a funded grant to develop a community‐based public health media campaign on the topic of drinking during pregnancy. In the initial wave of data collection, 50 rural women were recruited from four Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in southeastern Iowa to participate in semi‐structured interviews. In the second wave, 10 additional WIC clients were interviewed for member‐checking purposes. Findings revealed two competing discourses that organized these women's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors surrounding drinking and pregnancy: the discourse of individualism and the discourse of responsible motherhood. These two discourses offer opposing normative guidelines for talk among their close female relatives and friends. The implications of these findings for designing a community‐based media campaign are discussed.     

Book Reviews by the Numbers

In the fall of 1985, four rural Illinois public libraries were weeded as part of a research project funded by the lllinois State Library. In each library, ten percent of the collection was removed by identifying books with low circulation rates in the circulating adult collection. Shelf time period and subjective opinion were used as weeding criteria. Although this cooperative weeding approach accurately identified books that would remain unused, weeding was not met with a corresponding increase in circulation.     

Toward Practical Procedures for Predicting and Promoting Success in Virtual School Students

Abstract

Two lines of research have emerged to study the causes and prevention of student failure in virtual (K–12) schools: studies of learner characteristics and studies of learning environment characteristics. To develop a useful model for predicting failure and promoting success in virtual school environments, a study was designed to measure the relation between a combination of student and environmental factors derived from previous research and successful course completion during one semester at a large (N =?4,100) virtual school. Study findings yielded a model that can discriminate between successful and unsuccessful online school students and is especially effective at identifying those likely to succeed.     

A parable

CHARLES JAMES FOX: A MAN FOR THE PEOPLE. By Loren Reid. Columbia: University of Missouri Press; London: Longmans, Green and Co.; 1969; pp. xvi + 475. $7.50.