Molecular thermodynamics for cell biology as taught with boxes

Thermodynamic principles are basic to an understanding of the complex fluxes of energy and information required to keep cells alive. These microscopic machines are nonequilibrium systems at the micron scale that are maintained in pseudo-steady-state conditions by very sophisticated processes. Therefore, several nonstandard concepts need to be taught to rationalize why these very ordered systems proliferate actively all over our planet in seeming contradiction to the second law of thermodynamics. We propose a model consisting of boxes with different shapes that contain small balls that are in constant motion due to a stream of air blowing from below. This is a simple macroscopic system that can be easily visualized by students and that can be understood as mimicking the behavior of a set of molecules exchanging energy. With such boxes, the basic concepts of entropy, enthalpy, and free energy can be taught while reinforcing a molecular understanding of the concepts and stressing the stochastic nature of the thermodynamic laws. In addition, time-related concepts, such as reaction rates and activation energy, can be readily visualized. Moreover, the boxes provide an intuitive way to introduce the role in cellular organization of "information" and Maxwell's demons operating under nonequilibrium conditions.     

Intermedia Agenda Setting in Television,Advertising, and Blogs During the 2004 Election

This study examined whether the candidate-controlled public relations tools of political ads and candidate blogs were successful in influencing the issue and news agenda of the major television news networks during the 2004 presidential election. Data showed strong correlations between blogs and the media agenda. Advertisements did not correlate with the media agenda. Cross-lag analyses showed that the media set the candidates' agenda. The authors suggest intermedia agenda setting occurred as the media transferred their agenda to campaign blogs.     

A Review of: “John Hartley and Kelly Mcwilliam (Eds.). Story Circle: Digital Storytelling Around the World.”

Media rating systems have been introduced in many countries to protect minors from being exposed to harmful media content. This study examines whether retailers comply with the guidelines of media ratings in the Netherlands. In a mystery shopping study, minors tried to buy or rent media products for which they were too young. An overall success rate of 86% shows that compliance on the shop floor is problematic. In a mystery call study, parents asked vendors for advice about media ratings. Only 33% of the parents were advised in accordance with the age classifications. A survey of vendors investigated the determinants of compliance. Personal acceptance, awareness of a legal basis, and perceived surveillance proved to be important determinants of self-reported compliance.     

Economic and Cultural Influences on the Theatrical Consumption of Foreign Films in Singapore

This study investigates audience acceptance of foreign movies in an import-dominated exhibition market—Singapore. The characteristics of home cinema markets and the cultural distances of the film-exporting countries are operationalized in an empirical model to explain the highly varied demand in this import market for international films from various sources. We show that during 2002–2004 release frequencies and box-office performance for films originating in different countries are significantly accounted for by both economic and cultural factors. Films from countries with larger domestic markets and from countries culturally more similar to Singapore experience greater box-office success. Furthermore, an individual foreign film's Singapore box-office performance is explained by its box-office success in its home market and the intercountry cultural distance.     

Sex differences in social support in sororities and fraternities

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to assess differences between sorority and fraternity members with regard to the social support provided by the “sisters”; and “brothers”; with whom they live. Based on sex differences in communication in general, and the few findings of sex differences in social support, two research questions were posed: Do members of sororities and fraternities differ in the social support they provide? How do the various types of social support compare with each other within fraternities and within sororities?

Differences found in this study corroborate results of research on sex differences in communication that characterize women as using communication to connect with, support, and achieve closeness with others, and men using communication to accomplish some task and to assert their individuality. In general, differences were mostly confined to two of the eight types of social support studied: members of sororities, in comparison to members of fraternities, reported being more satisfied with the emotional support they receive and perceiving greater availability of listening support. If the goal of fraternities and sororities is to provide their members with the full range of social support, then findings indicate members of fraternities could benefit from becoming more skillful at providing types of support that tend to promote closeness and connection (e.g., emotional support and listening support); and members of sororities could benefit from becoming more skillful at providing types of support that tend to create distance and separation (e.g., technical challenge support and emotional challenge support).     

Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification: Implications for Access

On July 1, 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board officially adopted the Accounting Standards Codification as the sole source of generally accepted accounting principles. The codification is available online, and users may either subscribe to the free Basic View or purchase the Professional View. Although both views provide access to the same content, the Professional View contains more features than the Basic View and provides a significant increase in usability. This article compares the features within the Professional and Basic Views and discusses the implications of access for librarians, researchers, faculty, and students.     

Profiles of Classroom Practices in U.S. Public Schools

In this research, we consider how the instructional strategies of public school teachers interact with the achievement levels of their students. Slightly more than 1,000 teachers in schools broadly representative of public schools in the USA responded to a school climate survey. Of this number, data from 426 teachers were subjected to Rasch scaling analysis, resulting in profiles of classroom instructional activities interrelated to the skill levels of students. Analyses revealed interesting "uncommonalities" in instructional emphasis, in number as well as kind. Instruction in low achieving classrooms generally was less coordinated than in classes of average achieving students. Instructional strategies and lesson focus in classes of high achieving students were linked in ways that resulted in more continuity and greater productivity.     

Henrietta Crosman on voice

Good American Speech. By Margaret Prendergast Mclean. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1928.

The Psychology of Language. By W. B. Pillsbury and C. L. Meader. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1928; pp. 306: $3.

Abraham Lincoln: 1809‐1858. By Albert J. Beveridge. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1928: 2 volumes, pp. 1348.

The Public Mind: its disorders; its exploitation. By Norman Angell. New York, Button, 1926: pp. 220.

The Public and Its Problems. By John Dewey. New York, Henry Holt, 1927: pp. 224

Publicity for Social Work. By Mary Swain Routzahn and Evart G. Routzahn. New York: Bussell Sage Foundation, 1928, pp. xviii, 392.

Readings in Public Opinion. By W. Brooke Graves. New York: Appleton's, 1928, pp. viii, 1281. $6.

Propaganda. By Edward L. Bernays. New York: Horace Liveright, 1928, pp. 159. $2.50.

Propaganda Technique in the World War. By Harold Lasswell. New York: Knopf, 1927, pp. 283. $3.25.

Political Behavior. By Frank R. Kent. New York: Wm. Morrow, 1928, pp. 342. $2.50.

Public Discussion and Debate. By A. Craig Baird. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1928: pp. iv, 370.

Principles of Effective Speaking: A Text for Colleges and Universities. By William Phillips Sandford and Willard Hayes Yeager. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1928: pp. xv, 416.

The Art of Interpretative Speech. Principles and Practices of Effective Beading. By Charles H. Woollbert and Severina E. Nelson. New York: F. S. Crofts and Company, 1927: pp. vii, 385.

Communicative Speaking. By J. Stanley Gray. Boston: Expression Co., 1928: pp. 299: $2.50.

How to Talk. By John Mantle Clapp and Edwin A. Kane. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1928: pp. 631.

A Bibliography of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. By Clark Sutherland Northup (now President of the national Phi Beta Kappa Society). New York: The Elisha Parmele Press, 1928. pp. viii, 328.

Crowell's Dictionary of English Grammar and Handbook of American Usage. By Maurice H. Weseen. New York: Thomas T. Crowell Company, 1928: pp. ix, 703.

The Influence of the Audience on Shakespeare's Drama. By Robert Bridges. New York: Oxford University Press, 1927; pp. x, 29.

The Art of Playwriting. Lectures delivered at the University of Pennsylvania on the Mask and Wig Foundation. Philadelphia: the University of Pennsylvania Press: 1928.

The Oxford Recitations. With a Preface by John Masefield. New York: The MacMillan Company: 1928: $1.50.

Power Control. By H. S. RAushenbush and Harry W. Laidler. New York: New Republic, Inc., 1928: $1.