bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Rounded Picture: Using Media Framing as a Tool for Competitive Intelligence and Business Research
Authors: Cullen John
Published: May 2004

Many of the organizations who commission news monitoring agencies for press cutting deliveries do very little with the articles they collect other than occasionally circulating individual items of interest and the judgements which managers make about their competitors tend to be made on the basis of one or two recent articles. Framing methodologies offer opportunities for analyzing data sourced from news and trade media in order to provide rounded pictures of organizational cultures, strategies and management styles. Framing offers distinct advantages to competitive intelligence professionals, business researchers, librarians, academics and students. Focuses primarily on media framing as a tool for competitive intelligence (CI) and competitor analysis, stressing the benefits of media framing in terms of the ease of application and relative cheapness in terms of data resources. Media framing can take the large amount of disparate information generated by the print media and organize it in such a way as to create distinct and unique intelligence about competitors. Since all the information used by media framing is obtained from public domain sources, it is exempt from the legal and ethical issues which often confront CI and business research professionals. The overall nature of media framing is described with step-by-step guidance in its application to real situations. Typical of the sets of constructs which news items on competitors should be analyzed include: possible substitute services; possible substitute products; potential entrants to client market; competitor’s relationship with suppliers; competitor’s relationship with buyers; competitor’s pricing strategy; competitor’s market focus; competitor’s talent pool; competitor’s organizational culture and management style; and change in competitor’s organization.
Liability in Cyberspace: Some Key Legal Issues when Publishing Material Online that Refers to Individuals
Authors: Hann Graham
Published: May 2004

Publishing has always attracted a number of legal risks, and information professionals that publish materials in some way or another have always had to be aware of those risks, and the practical steps that can be taken to reduce them. This is especially so when the material being published (or, say, included in a publicly available archive) relates to a living identifiable individual. The growth of the Internet has far outpaced changes in the law. This has brought about a new set of risks for publishers borne out of the ambiguity of applying traditional ‘paper based’ laws to new media and also, generally, out of the global availability of information posted on the Internet and therefore the potential application of laws of more than one country. The rapidly increasing use of the Internet by information professionals as a standard tool for disseminating access to materials and information means that they need to be aware of the risks associated with online publishing, the way the law is moving to address those risks, and what steps can be taken to reduce them. This article looks at two key legal risks which arise in relation to the making available online materials which relate to individuals: libel and data protection. It not only looks at the risks in England (under English law) but focuses on the risk, due to the global availability of the Internet, of someone placing material on the Internet finding themselves liable under the laws of other countries. It examines some recent cases and goes on to provide some advice as to practical steps that can be taken to reduce risk associated with making available materials online which relate to individuals.
Enterprise Competencies for Effective Information Systems and Information Management: A Quantitative and Qualitative Study of the SME Sector within Wales - 1
Authors: Jones Paul , Beynon-Davies Paul , Greaves Mike
Published: May 2004

This paper investigates the usage of information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. The study has five main objectives: to investigate levels of IT; identify key factors for the effective utilization of IT; investigate strategic management of the IT/IS function; and gauge whether the management and use of data creates cases of competitive advantage within the SME sector.

The research involved a quantitative survey of over 600 SMEs in Wales, which achieved a response rate of approximately 26%. Thereafter 16 enterprises were interviewed, in order to appreciate fully their usage of the IS/IT function. The study suggests that whilst utilization of IT is increasing, the potential benefits are under exploited by the majority of SMEs as a result of a lack of management direction. Instances of competitive advantage were rare, with those enterprises that are adding value focusing on acquiring knowledge, using their flexibility and reactibility and generating innovative solutions.

In part 1, the authors set out the aims of the survey and present their findings. Part 2 - to be published in the next issue of BIR - will cover the research methodology and details of the sources consulted.
Content Management Software
Authors: White Martin
Published: May 2004

The issues involved in content management software (CMS) are reviewed in the specific context of their application to Web sites and intranets. CMS is used as the overall system for the management of content, involving the technology platforms used business processes, workflows and governance. The key features of CMS include: content creation through templates; content review supported by workflow; content versioning closely managed; content tagged and held in a repository; content repurposed for delivery to specific audiences; site design framework independent of content structure; and comprehensive administration functions (metadata, searching). The four basic technology options available for CMS are: systems developed by an internal IT department or a web agency; open-source CMS products; commercial CMS products; and corporate portal applications. Advice is given regarding the total cost of ownership of CMS and approaches that can be used to select appropriate CMS to suit particularly circumstances and implement the chosen system. Concludes with a discussion of the roll-out options that can be considered, including: the importance to the organization of the business process; size of department; support of a sponsor at senior management level; geographic location; core functionality; benefit visibility; integration with other applications; ease of implementation (staff skills, enthusiasm); and migration of legacy data.
Implementing Customer Relationship Management in JPMorgan
Authors: Marfleet Jackie
Published: May 2004

The company acquisitions of Chase Bank, that resulted in the formation of JPMorgan Chase, brought together companies that each had their own Client Relationship Management (CRM) products, from Lotus Notes databases to sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) software. A priority of the new company was to construct a single CRM tool capable of incorporating the data and functionality held in the existing products. The Relationship Exchange (RX) emerged as the solution, through the joint efforts of JPMorgan and Siebel, to be a global tool accessible by all businesses within the investment bank. Describes the work undertaken to develop the RX system, where the key driver was the need to centralize information currently held in a number ofdisparate sources and to rationalize the CRM tools across the various heritage organizations through a mechanism for leveraging the firm’s contacts and a means to measure performance. Future work to extend the range of RX is likely to involve the addition of new content and new CRM systems whose content needs to be migrated to RX.
Developing Evaluation Practice in the Information Sector: Introduction to the Special Issue
Authors: Cummings Sarah , Mchombu Kingo
Published: May 2004

Introduction to a special issue on ‘Developing Evaluation Practice in the Information Sector’ containing five papers by members of the LEAP IMPACT community of practice of information and evaluation specialists, which aims to improve monitoring and evaluation practices related to information services, information products and information projects. Describes the origins, membership and activities of the LEAP IMPACT community and the challenges it faces in the evaluation of information, including the preparation of manuals and tools, the definition of terminology and concepts and the need for an inventory of frameworks. Summarizes the contents of the five papers.
Libraries and Information in Sustainable Rural Development in Nigeria
Authors: Iwe Josephine I.
Published: May 2004

Examines library and information strategies for Nigerian rural areas. Reinforces the significant role library services can play in securing sustainable development in the rural sector. Surveys what could be the objectives of such libraries and outlines different strategies for satisfying the information needs of rural people through libraries. Merely establishing libraries will not be enough; efforts should be made to disseminate relevant and timely information to the people. A service-oriented scheme is the best way out of the frustrating rural life in Nigeria.
Records Management and Freedom of Information: A Marriage Partnership
Authors: Mnjama Nathan
Published: May 2004

Seeks to demonstrate that successful implementation of Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation is directly linked to effective and efficient records keeping regimes. Where records keeping systems are poor or ineffective, the implementation of FOI will either be problematic or fail to achieve the desired results.
Knowledge Management Problems of Developing Countries, with Special Reference to India
Authors: Malhan I.V. , Gulati Anjali
Published: May 2004

Highlights the value of human resources in knowledge management. Describes the knowledge accessibility problems of developing countries and depicts the Indian scenario of knowledge management problems. The DAISY Consortium, project NOVA and several other initiatives facilitate knowledge access even for disadvantaged people and hence there is no dearth of technologies for knowledge access. Problems of knowledge accessibility arise due to uneven access to technology which leads to the digital divide. Indicates the efforts being made at the international level to overcome such problems and concludes that there is a need to develop ICT infrastructure for tackling knowledge management problems of developing countries.
Distance Education Library Services in Swaziland
Authors: Muswazi Paiki
Published: May 2004

Reports on a study of distance library services at the University of Swaziland. Observes that the user group is young and unemployed. Identifies the access challenges arising from transportation and funding limitations, lack of library and information technology skills, insufficient resources and user support, restrictive policies, poor photocopying, ILL and online search services and competition from on-campus students. Argues that public libraries support distance library services more than the Internet in Swaziland. Recommends a dedicated budget and staffing, relevant user education, liberalization of access policies, provision of more Internet and OPAC terminals, satellite library services and consolidated resource sharing agreements.
Knowledge Management in the Main Library, the University of the West Indies, Trinidad
Authors: Clarke Reginald
Published: May 2004

In an organization such as the Main Library of the Trinidad and Tobago campus of the University of the West Indies, knowledge specifies the expertise acquired by staff in the course of their work. Knowledge management consists of identifying this expertise and transmitting it in the organization by the compilation of manuals and staff training. A detailed description of the Secretariat Manual shows the knowledge needed for the smooth operation of the library’s administrative services. Information technology developments enabled greater effectiveness in knowledge management, underpinning the library’s services to its users.
Information for the Vocational Education and Training Sector in Botswana
Authors: Mutula Stephen M. , Molefe Chedza , Rathapo Shadrack
Published: May 2004

Presents the findings and recommendations of a study commissioned by Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) in 2002 to determine the information needs and extent of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) information infrastructure in Botswana. The results showed that the information infrastructure in the sector is undeveloped with most institutions lacking information resource centres. Stakeholders’ information needs were varied and included information on: training standards, best practices, quality assurance, benchmarking, registration and accreditation, quality inspection, and productivity. Stakeholders supported the need for BOTA to establish a modern resource centre to provide referral services to the sector.
Mutilation and Theft of Library Materials: Perceptions and Reactions of Nigerian Students
Authors: Ajayi N. A. , Omotayo B. O.
Published: May 2004

Mutilation and theft in libraries is a menace that has persisted, and the worsening state of libraries in Nigeria appears to have aggravated its intensity and the consequent detrimental impact. Using a structured questionnaire administered to undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria and a stratified focus group discussion (FGD), information was elicited on their perception of the methods of theft, attitudes to and perceived implications of theft on academic performance and library use. The results reveal that insensitivity to the need of other users, high cost of books, non-detection of previous acts of theft and frequent power outage are some of the factors responsible for mutilation and theft of library materials. It was also revealed that students are aware that mutilation and theft prevent effective use of the library, deprive users of vital information, including from recommended texts, and hence impact negatively on the academic life of the users.
Televising the Public Sphere
Authors: Örnebring Henrik
Published: May 2004

This article presents the results of a study of the history of the genre of current affairs debate programmes on Swedish television, 1956-96. Several different aspects of changes in the genre have been studied: subjects debated, participating actors, the forms of debate and the role of programme host(s). Aspects of the production processes have also been studied. Theoretically, the aim of the article is twofold: (1) to provide a contribution to existing theories about genre change and genre history, and (2) to relate changes in the genre to macro-level societal changes and phenomena, mainly changes in the mediated public sphere (based on the theories and arguments of Habermas), and changes in the practices and forms of journalism over the last 40 years.
Imagining the Fan Democracy
Authors: van Zoonen Liesbet
Published: May 2004

In this article, the author takes issue with the common understanding of television as a medium detrimental to the maintenance and encouragement of political citizenship. Starting from the immense popularity of participatory television genres such as Big Brotherand Pop Idol, she examines in the article whether there is any relevance in these zeniths of audience activity for understanding and advancing political activity and involvement. The author argues that there is a threedimensional similarity between the fan communities around entertainment ‘genres’ (whether they are stars, programmes or styles) and the political constituencies around candidates, parties or ideologies. The analogy between the two is structural to begin with: both come into being as a result of performance. Second, fan communities and political constituencies resemble each other in terms of activity: both are concerned with knowledge, discussion, participation, imagination of alternatives, and implementation. Finally, both rest on similar emotional investments that are intrinsically linked to rationality, and lead – in concert – to ‘affective intelligence’. The representation of politics on television, while generally thought to be dismally and destructively entertaining, can be seen as provoking the ‘affective intelligence’ that is vital to keep political involvement and activity going.
The Challenge of Changing Audiences
Authors: Livingstone Sonia
Published: May 2004

Mediated communication is no longer simply or even mainly mass communication (‘from one to many’) but rather the media now facilitate communication among peers (both ‘one to one’ and ‘many to many’). Does this mean that the concept of the audience is obsolete? Or does the growing talk of ‘users’, instead of audiences, fall into the hyperbolic discourse of ‘the new’, neglecting historical continuities and reinventing the wheel of media and communications research? Undoubtedly, the challenge of a moving target, and hence a changing subject matter, faces us all. This article explores the ways in which, although the argument for the active television audience may have been taken as far as possible, new interactive technologies put ordinary people’s interpretative activities at the very centre of media design and use. Hence, it considers how far existing theories and methods for researching audiences can be extended to new media and how far some significant rethinking is required.
Supplying and Viewing Diversity
Authors: van der Wurff Richard
Published: May 2004

From the late 1980s, the television market in the Netherlands developed in a single decade from a public monopoly to one of the most competitive markets in Europe. As a result, diversity of television supply declined while the absolute number of programmes that viewers could choose from considerably increased. Viewers make use of this increase in viewing opportunities to actively select a diverse combination of programmes from a less diverse supply. Consequently, the Dutch audience views as much diversity in the late 1990s as in the late 1980s.
Social Capital and Self-Employment
Authors: Barbieri Paolo
Published: May 2004

In this article, the author investigates individuals’ social capital, adopting a micro-relational perspective. The definition of social capital adopted is centred on personal contacts and exchanges. Reconstructing individuals’ net-works can precisely depict the network resources utilized by the actors. The study builds on the accumulated knowledge of previous research and literature on social capital, but directs attention to occupational division among the self-employed. The typology of (solo) self-employment that is introduced represents a variety of forms of self-employment activities in advanced economies, ranging from highly educated and profitable professionals to the poorly educated and often precarious unskilled self-employed, and it has been proposed in order to evaluate the role that social capital differentials play in structuring individuals’ work experiences. The article stresses that not ‘any’ network can represent ‘social capital’. It is necessary to single out the important ‘social resources matrix’ that produces effective social capital which can be used by subjects in purposive ways. The article shows how the different amount of social capital among the three types of self-employed workers (professionals/skilled/unskilled) has a strong impact on individuals’ levels of work involvement and psychological distress. By combining the network-operationalization of social capital with a ‘case by variable’ logic of analysis, it is demonstrated that social capital can be quite useful to explain differences in individuals’ well-being. In this sense, the article poses the question about social capital as a factor of social inequality.
Institutional Transition and Cultural Inheritance
Authors: Chung Chi-Nien
Published: May 2004

Business groups are a prominent enterprise system in most East Asian and emerging economies. This article addresses an important but understudied issue – ownership and control of these large conglomerates. Studying the ownership structure of the top 100 Taiwanese business groups sheds light on the debate between the culturalists and the institutionalists. Culturalists claim family domination even in institutional changes while institutionalists suggest more dispersed and open shareholding after economic liberalization. The longitudinal analysis of group ownership across three time periods reveals a mixed structure. Although the family still controls most of the old, core groupmembers, new firms and joint ventures that are owned by multiple family groups rose significantly during the institutional transition of 1987–93. The evidence shows that organizational changes neither completely comply with emerging rules, nor do they hold on to existing cultural logics. Neither the culturalists nor the institutionalists have correctly predicted the metamorphosis. Rather, the concept of compromise strategy, which allows organizations to retain their core interests while at the same time respond to institutional constraints and/or incentives, provides a proper explanation.
Building Environmental States
Authors: Frickel Scott , Davidson Debra J.
Published: May 2004

This article explores the potential for nation-states to become substantial contributors to sustainability governance. This potential resides in the ability of nation-states to make environmental protection a basic goal, in part by committing institutional resources toward the formation and implementation of substantive actions perceived necessary for long-term environmental sustainability. Existing research suggests that nation-states undertake environmental action in order to maintain legitimacy in the face of political pressure. While the maintenance of legitimacy is necessary, we argue that a substantive state role in sustainability governance is also dependent upon the rationalization of state environmental roles. Further, rationalization can be fostered through the enrichment of embedded state-societal networks with two key actors in civil society: environmental justice movements and environmental knowledge professionals. This article develops a conceptual framework that grounds sustainability efforts in rationalization processes and examines the synergistic potential for these two social actors to help build states that institute fundamental environmental reform.
Theory, Narrative, and Discipline at the Intersections of Science and Technology Studies and History
Authors: Croissant Jennifer L.
Published: May 2004

This article is an exploration of the differences between science and technology studies and the history of technology, taken as independent intellectual fields. The differences range from stylistic and professional, to matters of theory, narrative, and inference. These make true interdisciplinarity challenging, although scholars do bridge the disciplines. Both provide important resources for critical technological literacy by promoting historical thinking and by providing tools for exploring reflexivity by the social contextualization of scholarly activities and knowledge production in general.
Reuniting History and Sociology Through Research on Technological Change
Authors: Volti Rudi
Published: May 2004

Scholarly pursuits of the topics encompassed by science, technology, and society (STS) provide many opportunities to combine sociology with history. This article notes some of the reasons why sociology has tended to ignore history but asserts that scholarly explorations of STS topics, and in particular the study of technological change, provide many opportunities for engagements with history. A number of research issues are presented that focus on such topics as the rise of the nation-state, changes in the occupational structure, and recast gender roles. The article concludes that a historically informed study of technology and technological change will add an important dimension to a key sociological insight, that people actively create the forces shaping their lives while also being constrained and molded by these creations.
Flexible Engineers: History, Challenges, and Opportunities for Engineering Education
Authors: Lucena Juan C.
Published: May 2004

Flexibility is a desired characteristic that people must have to adjust to inevitable processes of economic, cultural, and political globalization. Engineering education reform is often used as a justification for changes in curricula, delivery modes, and problem solving that should lead to curriculum integration, modular pedagogies, and systemic reform. Some educators have incorporated the concept in their programs and courses in a variety of ways whereas others have resisted changes to this day. Yet a detailed analysis of the meanings of flexibility, its origins and different forms, along with its challenges and opportunities for engineering education, remains to be done. This article surveys the historical origins of flexibility, identifies different forms of flexibility in engineering education, outlines existing challenges to flexibility-drive educational reform, and provides alternative views to the existing interpretation of flexibility in engineering education.
Assessing Attitudes and Preferred Communication Methods toward Forestry from a Statewide Survey of Mississippi Public School Teachers
Authors: Measells Marcus K. , Grado Stephen C. , Capella Louis M.
Published: May 2004

Forest resources are important economic assets to Mississippi. Therefore, the forestry community needs to maintain viable relationships with key constituency groups such as teachers. The study’s objectives were to use focus groups and mail questionnaires to determine values, attitudes, and educational needs of Mississippi’s public school teachers toward forestry and forest industry. Most teachers had positive or somewhat positive attitudes (70%) toward forest industry. No significant differences were found between prekindergarten through 3rd- and 4th- through 8th-grade teachers (t =0.308, p =0.758), prekindergarten through 3rd- and 9th- through 12th-grade teachers (t = –0.667, p = 0.506), or 4th- through 8th- and 9th-through 12th-grade teachers (t = 0.246, p = 0.806). Preferred communication methods for teachers in general were school visits, educational materials, and partnerships. Preferred topics of interest were the environment, wildlife habitat, and wildlife. This study stresses the importance of tailoring communication and educational activities to address state-specific social and cultural needs of teachers.
George Grant on the Political Economy of Technology
Authors: Andrew Edward
Published: May 2004

George Grant’s bleak assessment of the prospects of technological civilization owed a lot to his reading of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Ellul. However, Grant understood technological development within the context of liberal theory and capitalist practice. Grant explained why liberalism is the doctrine most appropriate to the development of productive forces, or the most complete exploitation of natural and human resources. Unlike most North American conservatives, Grant was not a friend of capitalism but of civil servants who restrain capitalist accumulation in the name of the common good or national community. Grant was what Gad Horowitz called a Red Tory and offered a unique perspective of how American technique has closed us off from love and contemplation, leaving us with the one-dimensional problem-solving mentality of the social engineer.
Nanotechnology: From Feynman to Funding
Authors: Drexler K. Eric
Published: May 2004

The revolutionary Feynman vision of a powerful and general nanotechnology, based on nanomachines that build with atom-by-atom control, promises great opportunities and, if abused, great dangers. This vision made nanotechnology a buzzword and launched the global nanotechnology race. Along the way, however, the meaning of the word has shifted. A vastly broadened definition of nanotechnology (including any technology with nanoscale features) enabled specialists from diverse fields to infuse unrelated research with the Feynman mystique. The resulting nanoscaletechnology funding coalition has obscured the Feynman vision by misunderstanding its basis, distrusting its promise, and fearing that public concern regarding its dangers might interfere with research funding. In response, leaders of a funding coalition have attempted to narrow nanotechnology to exclude one area of nanoscale technology—the Feynman vision itself. Their misdirected arguments against the Feynman vision have needlessly confused public discussion of the objectives and consequences of nanotechnology research.
The Role of Statistics in Management Magic
Authors: Stivers Richard
Published: May 2004

Technology and magic both represent the human will to power—to dominate nature and ultimately humans. In a technological civilization, magic imitates technology. Modern management often entails psychological techniques (the human relations approach) and organizational techniques (the scientific approach). The heart of the latter is statistical measurement and prediction of the future. This article examines the magical use of statistical measurement and prediction of the future. Magic here operates according to the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Because statistical information is perceived to be related to the success of an organization and is invariably collected in abundance, it is given credit for actual success.
Traffic Calming: A Social Issue
Authors: Crouse David W.
Published: May 2004

Substantial urban growth fueled by a strong economy often results in heavy traffic thus making streets less hospitable. Traffic calming is one response to the pervasiveness of the automobile. The issues concern built environments and involve multiple actors reflecting different interests. The issues are rarely technical and involve combinations of behavior, social structure, and differential resources. Traffic calming takes many forms by attempting to serve many purposes. It is complex and confusing and is used by different people with different agendas. Traffic calming is not about applying techniques. It is a mindset. We must change both our perceptions and our behaviors. Instead of focusing on end-of-pipe solutions and on things, we must shift attention to the processes that generate things. Trying to accommodate more and more traffic is not the answer. Transportation is a means, not an end. What we are looking at is more people calming than traffic calming.
The Five-Stage Model of Adult Skill Acquisition
Authors: Dreyfus Stuart E.
Published: May 2004

The following is a summary of the author’s five-stage model of adult skill acquisition, developed in collaboration with Hubert L. Dreyfus. An earlier version of this article appeared in chapter 1 of Mind Over Machine: The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer (1986, Free Press, New York).
What Could Be More Intelligible Than Everyday Intelligibility? Reinterpreting Division I of Being and Time in the Light of Division II
Authors: Dreyfus Hubert L.
Published: May 2004

Martin Heidegger was the first philosopher to see skillful coping as the basis of our understanding of the world and ourselves. But he acknowledges that such average understanding is banal and conceals more than it reveals. He, therefore, holds that, to ground intelligibility, people must conform to everyday practical norms, but that, by acting in the face of anxiety, a person can resist conformism and refine standard ways of acting. His model is Aristotle’s phronimos (man of practical wisdom) who responds with ethical expertise to the demands of the concrete situation. Further, Heidegger suggests that, when a person is fully authentic, he or she can transform everyday practice. Here, his model is Kierkegaard’s reborn individuals whom Heidegger sees as radical world disclosers capable of changing the issue for their age and so of changing history.
How to Understand Skill Acquisition in Sport
Authors: Moe Vegard Fusche
Published: May 2004

A crucial task for sport research is to understand and explain the processes and conditions underlying skillful motor behavior. One way to account for these processes and conditions is to describe and analyze the distinct stages a learner goes through when acquiring a skill. This article starts by elaborating one of the most dominant conceptualizations of motor skills in sport, namely the information-processing approach to skills, and then it briefly recapitulates Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus’s phenomenology of skill acquisition. In a second part, these two distinct perspectives of skills are discussed. The discussion progresses in a dialectical way where the author alternately argues for both perspectives. Emerging from this dialectic, the article presents two arguments for why Dreyfus’s phenomenology of skill acquisition is superior to the information-processing approach.
Changing Relationships, Changing Youth
Authors: Collins W. Andrew , Laursen Brett
Published: May 2004

In the past quarter century, research on adolescence has expanded from a near exclusive focus on intraindividual processes to a concern with individuals in an interpersonal context. Today, studies of the impact of relationships within families, with peers, and with romantic partners account for a large proportion of research in the field. This article outlines three features of this transformation: an increasing focus on the nature of, changes in, and the developmental impact of adolescents’ relationships with significant others; the expansion and diversification of networks of significant others during adolescence; and the recognition of significant interrelations among these relationships. Contemporary studies require research designs that encompass multiple significant relationships and that assess a broad range of relationship properties.
Predicting Friendship Stability During Early Adolescence
Authors: Bowker Anne
Published: May 2004

This study examined the stability of early adolescent best friendships across a school year. Grade 7 students (N = 174) participated in group-testing sessions in the fall and spring of their school year. Participants completed peer-nomination measures, described the quality of their best friendships, their knowledge of their best friend, and their typical conflict-resolution strategies in response to peer conflicts. Approximately 50% of the reciprocated best friendships remained stable across the school year. Friendship quality and knowledge were unrelated to friendship stability. However, stability of boys’ friendships was positively correlated with minimization strategies, whereas stability of girls’ best friendships was negatively correlated with minimization strategies but positively related to greater use of negative (i.e., confrontational) strategies in response to peer conflict. Results are discussed with reference to the rules of friendship and to the conflicting demands for compliance and autonomy within a close relationship.
Accessing Adolescents
Authors: Ladin L’Engle Kelly , Pardun Carol J. , Brown Jane D.
Published: May 2004

This article describes a protocol that was effective in collecting media-use pattern and sensitive health data from young adolescents. Students from three public school districts in the southeastern United States were recruited to participate in a study of the impact of the media on adolescents’ sexual health. Using a 34-page mailed survey, extensive media-use pattern data were gathered from 3,261 7th and 8th graders (a 65% response rate) after students were recruited in schools and parents mailed back consent forms. The media sample included responses from a large number of Black teens and males, sub-groups that have been understudied in media research. A subsample of students who completed the media questionnaire was then recruited to participate in a 45-minute audio computer-assisted self-interview in-home health and sexuality interview. A random sample of 1,074 adolescents (a 90% response rate), stratified into equal Black and White male and female strata, completed the health survey. Both the media and the health samples were representative of the entire school population from which the samples were drawn. Strategies that were effective in recruiting respondents are discussed.
A Comparison of Premenarcheal Expectations and Postmenarcheal Experiences in Chinese Early Adolescents
Authors: Tang Catherine So-Kum , Yeung Dannii Y. L. , Lee Antoinette Marie
Published: May 2004

The present study examined Chinese early adolescents’ expectations and experiences of their first menstruation. It included 952 participants, 476 premenarcheal and 476 postmenarcheal girls matched by age and by grade level. Results showed that compared to experiences of postmenarcheal girls, premenarcheal girls anticipated more negative emotional responses and more severe menstrual symptoms at menarche. Premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls did not differ in levels of self-esteem, gender-role identity, perceived physical attractiveness, and positive emotions to menarche. Compared to those who had their first menstruation on time or later, adolescent girls who reported an early onset of menarche reported more severe menstrual symptoms. However, the timing of menarche was unrelated to postmenarcheal girls’ levels of self-esteem, gender-role identity, perceived physical attractiveness, and emotional experiences of menarche.
Meta-Analysis of 2-Treatment Clinical Trials Including Both Continuous and Dichotomous Results
Authors: Babbs Charles F.
Published: May 2004

To expedite the timely creation of medical practice guidelines, a meta-analytic method was developed to combine both dichotomous survival data and continuous physiologic data from multiple studies of differing experimental design, which compare the same innovative clinical intervention to standard care. An aggregate ratio, R*, of the observed treatment effect to a clinically optimal treatment effect for studies in a series is computed and compared to the 95% confidence limit for R* under the null hypothesis. Input data for continuous variables include sample means, standard errors, and sample sizes. Input data for dichotomous variables include group proportions and sizes. The analysis can be done using a simple, 1-page spreadsheet. It allows one to judge biological significance, to test for statistical significance, to compare subgroups of studies, to test for outliers, and to compute the power of the meta-analysis. These features are demonstrated for studies of interposed abdominal compression-cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Prioritizing Health Care: Is “Health” Always an Appropriate Maximand?
Authors: Oliver Adam
Published: May 2004

In recent years, a few health economists have begun to question the ethical underpinnings of the standard practice of quality-adjusted life year (QALY) maximization as a ubiquitous decision rule in the allocation of health care resources. Prominent among these is Erik Nord, who conjectures that QALY maximization discriminates against the chronically ill and disabled when prioritizing between different individuals (or groups of individuals) for life-extending interventions. Nord has recommended that life years gained should always be given a weight equal to 1 in these circumstances. This article reports an experiment designed as an initial attempt at eliciting some of the thought processes employed by people when they prioritize life-saving health care interventions between patients who differ only in respect to the presence or absence of a disability. The results show that in the priority-setting contexts used, a majority of the respondents perceived the relative health status of the different patients as irrelevant, providing some tentative support for Nord’s argument.
Radiologist Uncertainty and the Interpretation of Screening
Authors: Carney Patricia A. , Elmore Joann G. , Abraham Linn A. , Gerrity Martha S. , Hendrick R. Edward , Taplin Stephen H. , Barlow William E. , Cutter Gary R. , Poplack Steven P. , D’Orsi Carl J.
Published: May 2004

Objective. To determine radiologists’ reactions to uncertainty when interpreting mammography and the extent to which radiologist uncertainty explains variability in interpretive performance. Methods. The authors used a mailed survey to assess demographic and clinical characteristics of radiologists and reactions to uncertainty associated with practice. Responses were linked to radiologists’ actual interpretive performance data obtained from 3 regionally located mammography registries. Results. More than 180 radiologists were eligible to participate, and 139 consented for a response rate of 76.8%. Radiologist gender, more years interpreting, and higher volume were associated with lower uncertainty scores. Positive predictive value, recall rates, and specificity were more affected by reactions to uncertainty than sensitivity or negative predictive value; however, none of these relationships was statistically significant. Conclusion. Certain practice factors, such as gender and years of interpretive experience, affect uncertainty scores. Radiologists’ reactions to uncertainty do not appear to affect interpretive performance.
From Diagnostic Accuracy to Accurate Diagnosis: Interpreting a Test Result with Confidence
Authors: Zou Guangyong
Published: May 2004

Background. The Standard for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy statement promotes the reporting of confidence intervals (CIs) for indices of diagnostic test accuracy. However, these indices must be combined with an estimate of pretest probability to properly interpret the results of such tests, thus yielding positive and negative predictive values. For small sample sizes, CI estimation for predictive values based on the classical logit transformation has been found to be very conservative. A method based on computer simulation has therefore been suggested as an alternative. Methods. ACI procedure for predictive values that yields limits completely contained in those provided by the logit transformation is proposed and evaluated. Results. The proposed approach to CI construction maintains nominal coverage very well even when sample sizes are small. Conclusion. Accurate CIs for positive and negative predictive values can be obtained without using computer simulation.
Over the Wall: Experiences with Multicultural Literacy
Authors: Jones Wesley H.
Published: May 2004

In a multicultural country with businesses operating in global markets, our students need more than just a descriptive exposure to differences in culture. They need practice in acting effectively across different cultural groups in order to develop cultural competency. The first step in helping students develop multicultural competency is for an instructor to develop himself or herself in this area. This is so for the same reason that a diagnostician must be able to see symptoms before he or she can teach students to observe the same signs. This article is a personal account of an instructor moving down a path from cultural myopia toward cultural literacy. An experiential international marketing course is described that has been developed as a direct result of this journey.
Web-Based Cases in Strategic Marketing
Authors: Henson Steve W. , Kennett Pamela A. , Kennedy Karen Norman
Published: May 2004

Case analyses have been widely used in many different settings as a pedagogical tool that provides realistic analogs for encouraging students to develop managerially relevant skills. This article extends the traditional use of published cases and describes the development of Web-based cases for use in marketing courses. Web-based cases require the student to develop a current case by determining relevant company and industry material from Internet sources, identifying a problem, and providing analysis. Through this method, the student becomes more active in the learning process by being, in effect, both case writer and analyzer. This new type of case is compared with traditional cases, and feedback from the instructor and from students is provided. As an adjunct to traditional published cases, Web-based cases offer up-to-date, diverse case material that presents students with challenging, real-word experiences.
Motion Planning and Control of a Swimming Machine
Authors: Saimek Saroj , Li Perry Y.
Published: May 2004

We propose a practical maneuvering control strategy for an aquatic vehicle (AV) that uses an oscillating foil as a propulsor. The challenge of this problem lies in the need to consider the hydrodynamic interaction as well as the underactuated and non-minimum phase natures of the AV system. The control task is decomposed into the off-line step of motion planning and the on-line step of feedback tracking. Optimal control techniques are used to compute a repertoire of time-scalable and concatenable motion primitives. The complete motion plan is obtained by concatenating time-scaled copies of the primitives. The computed optimal motion plans are regulated by a controller that consists of a cascade of linear quadratic regulator, input–output feedback linearization and sliding mode control. Time-varying linear quadratic controllers can also be time-scaled and concatenated. Therefore, they can be computed beforehand. The proposed strategy has been experimentally validated for both constrained longitudinal only maneuvers and unconstrained longitudinal/lateral maneuvers.
Visibility-Based Pursuit-Evasion in an Unknown Planar Environment
Authors: Sachs Shai , LaValle Steven M. , Rajko Stjepan
Published: May 2004

We address an on-line version of the visibility-based pursuit-evasion problem. We take a minimalist approach in modeling the capabilities of a pursuer robot. A point pursuer moves in an unknown, simplyconnected, piecewise-smooth planar environment, and is given the task of locating any unpredictable, moving evaders that have unbounded speed. The evaders are assumed to be points that move continuously. To solve the problem, the pursuer must for each target have an unobstructed view of it at some time during execution. The pursuer is equipped with a range sensor that measures the direction of depth discontinuities, but cannot provide precise depth measurements. All pursuer control is specified either in terms of this sensor or wall-following movements. The pursuer does not have localization capability or perfect control. We present a complete algorithm that enables the limited pursuer to clear the same environments that a pursuer with a complete map, perfect localization, and perfect control can clear (under certain general position assumptions). Theoretical guarantees that the evaders will be found are provided. The resulting algorithm to compute this strategy has been implemented in simulation. Results are shown for several examples. The approach is efficient and simple enough to be useful towards the development of real robot systems that perform visual searching.
Determination of Singularities in Delta-Like Manipulators
Authors: Di Gregorio Raffaele
Published: May 2004

The DELTA robot and the manipulators derived from the DELTA robot are a relevant class of translational manipulators. In this paper, the mobility analysis of these parallel translational manipulators is developed in full. The manufacturing and mounting conditions that guarantee the pure translation of the platform are analytically derived. Moreover, it is demonstrated that these manipulators can assume singular configurations, called rotation singularities, in which they are no longer able to impose the platform translation. Finally, the geometric and analytic conditions that make it possible to find all the singular configurations of these manipulators are provided.