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This report describes the results of automatic processing of a large number of scientific papers according to a rigorously defined criterion of coupling. The population of papers under study was ordered into groups that satisfy the stated criterion of interrelation. An examination of the papers that constitute the groups shows a high degree of logical correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the selected papers from the Council for Exceptional Children International Convention in April 1970. These documents are available through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service. The papers can be reproduced hardcopy and pamphlet forms. The documents have been organized by the ten topic areas including "Workshop: The Team Approach to the Use of Educational Media," by Dolph C. Welch, "Evaluation Theory and Caseload Selection: Diagnosis and Disposition," by Lear Ashmore and "Use of Motor and Language Development Schemes," by Joann Fokes.

A detailed comparison of how 334 papers in Vol. 112 of Physical Review form related groups according to two criteria of relatedness. The criteria are: (1) the Analytic Subject Index as used by the editors of the Physical Review; and (2) the method of Bibliographic Coupling. The similarities and differences between the groups thus formed are illustrated and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents a list of books received on issues related to human resources.

This article presents a list of books received by the periodical "The Journal of human Resources.

This section presents a list of information resources on British labor history for the period 1954-1971.

The article presents a list of conferences, meetings, etc., related to information science. The "Parameters of Information Science: Proceedings of the 1964 Annual Meeting of the American Documentation Institute," was held on October 5-8, 1964. The "Automation and Scientific Communication: Part 3: Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Documentation Institute," was held on October 6-11, 1963. The "Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference, Research & Engineering Council of the Graphic Arts Industry," was held on May 18-20, 1964.

This section of the Quarterly is reserved for brief reports of research in progress, discussions of unsolved problems, methodological studies, and public opinion data not extensively analyzed or interpreted. Succinct case histories are welcomed, as well as hypotheses and insights that may be useful to other students of public opinion. Usually, material in this section will be shorter, more informal, and more tentative than in the preceding pages of the Quarterly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essence of cybernetic organizations is that they are self-controlling, self-maintaining, self-realizing. Indeed, cybernetics has been characterized as the "science of effective organization," in just these terms. But the word "cybernetics" conjures, in the minds of an apparently great number of people, visions of computerized information networks, closed loop systems, and robotized man-surrogates, such as "artorgas" and "cyborgs." Man, the human animal, recoils. Surely this is not the world that Wiener envisaged, where there would at last be a "human use of human beings." But, given the trend of manifest events, is this not the world which is most probably evolving? Those who hold such a view are probably epitomized by the late Amos de Shalit, a nuclear physicist who almost a decade ago contended that we live in a world in which cybernetic applications of computer technology had already progressed to a point at which an autonomous "Turing Machine" or "Uttley Machine" culture is clearly foreshadowed. Thus, in his view, the most man could hope for now is parity with the machine, in terms of domination of the planet. But at the other extreme are those whose view is that the cybernetic vision is largely a mirage, and whose attitude is characterized by the quip "Given enough competent human beings in attendance, any computerized information system can be made to work." The argument of this paper runs in the following termsr (1) That this is a time in human affairs when, in the context of the foregoing analysis, the "radical" point of view is likely to prove to be the "conservative" one: we may well be in the early stages of a "cybernetic revolution" worthy of "1984" and "RUR." Thus, to accept as potential reality what may seem an alarmist view, may turn out to be the only perspective which secures viable options by promoting mankind's welfare. (2) That it is not "too late" to forestall the evolution of a dehumanizing "cybernetic culture," where humans are required to adapt to patterns of organizational efficiency dictated by machine logics. (3) But that we cannot "turn back the clock," nor should we want to. It is only an ameliorative tactic at best to interrupt the orderly utilization of modern technology, especially if there is a socio- economic assessment of impacts made prior to installation. At worst, the arbitrary forestalling of technology utilization may set in motion system dynamics which will prove ultimately counterproductive, even in terms of the value orientations of the human- oriented conservationists. (4) Thus, having both the developed and developing nations in view, the most universally effective social policy is likely that which utilizes to the fullest extent possible the fruits of cybernetic science and system research, in the service of mankind. (5) It follows from this that man's most urgent and pre-emptive need is maximally to utilize cybernetic science and computer technology within a general systems framework, to build a meta- systemic reality which is now only dimly envisaged. Intelligent and purposeful application of rapidly developing telecommunications and teleprocessing technology should make possible a degree of worldwide value consensus heretofore unrealizable. The vision of cybernetic organizations espoused by this paper is therefore that, while we appear to live in a Dicken- sonian "best of times, worst of times" world, cybernetic science, computer technology, and general systems concepts create potential for realization of the former, and elimination of much of what comprises the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents a bibliography of papers on economic relations published in 1965.

The article presents information about marketing research related to farmers. The author presents results of a survey of Iowa farmers about the publications they use to find information on farm problems. Details related to the sample and scope of the area sampling study are presented. A discussion is presented about subjects important to farmers and marketing strategies developed to reach these farmers and their families. A chart ranking information sources for various aspects of running a farm is provided.

[The following is a slightly condensed and consolidated translation of two papers, "Research Journals as a Means of Disseminating Scientific Information" and "Organization of Scientific Information Activities in the Soviet Union and the Methods Used in the Preparation of the Referativnyi Zhurnal (Abstract Journal) at the Institute of Scientific Information of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR" by Professor B. M. Tareev, Chief Editor of Referativnyi Zhurnal- Elektrotekhnika i Energetika (Abstract Journal- Electrical and Power Engineering) of the Institute of Scientific Information of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. These papers were prepared for the Section of Scientific Information of the Tenth Pacific Science Congress, August 1961, Honolulu, Hawaii]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of a request from the City Club of Denver in September, 1924, a study of the newsboys of the city was made by the department of sociology of the University of Denver. The object of the survey was to find the facts, without any preconceived notions, in regard to the newsboys, their ages, nationalities, schools records, incomes, their hours of work, home conditions, delinquencies; the occupations of their parents, their parents attitudes toward their work. The results, while by no means startling, were of sufficient value to warrant their preservation and passing on to other cities. In order to have some basis for study, a schedule was prepared which covered the items mentioned above and several others besides. The work was done by seven students from the department of sociology. Four sources of information were available and the workers were distributed according to the size of the tasks. First, there was the street survey. This included all newsboys under eighteen who sold papers on the streets of Denver. Of course, a few newsboys were missed, but this survey includes all of the regular downtown newsboys who sell in daytime and most of those who sell at night. The next source of information was the homes of the boys. The home visit was prepared for by telling the boy in advance of the workers visit.

The article focuses on the specific criteria applied by the Editorial Board of the "Journal of Research in Science Teaching," in judging and reviewing contributed manuscript. The author has presented guidelines in judging manuscript quality including its originality, generalizability and replicability, bibliography, reliability of methods, internal contradictions, illustrations and tables, clarity, and validity of logic. The significance of a paper's contribution to the field of science education is admittedly a subjective judgment and therefore no paper is rejected unless two or more reviewers find it to be unacceptable.

The article highlights several publications and researches on peace development in the U.S. The series of four lectures entitled "Modern China: Ideology and Diplomacy," by Han-sheng Lin is now available on cassette tapes. Political researcher and author Piet Tommissen is now completing his study "Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Partisan" and woks on guerilla warfare theory. The copies of the paper "The Fate of Postwar Revisionism: Barnes and Tansill" delivers at the Annual Meeting of the Florida Conference of Teachers History are also released.

This article analyzes the treatment of the inputs of accounting. There are various ways of analyzing the accounting function and the steps taken to perform this function. One such way is based on information theory and systems theory. Information systems and environmental action systems are treated analytically as separate systems. Analysis of the literature revealed diverse uses of terms, contradictory statements about the limits of accounting inputs. This paper concludes that transactions, transformations and some types of events are generators of the environmental inputs of extant accounting.

The materials of a library, exemplified by books, have traditionally been viewed as presenting two aspects involving two distinct problems: their description and control as unique items and their treatment as sources of information on various subjects. But this view has tended to overlook a third fundamental aspect: that of the works which are embodied in the materials and in turn embody the information. The paper discusses the meaning of this aspect and its implications in the control of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on several research papers which focus on characteristics of information resources. The paper "Documentation and Dissemination of Research and Development Results" deals with federal scientific and technical information programs, their efforts to achieve efficacy and timeliness, their present scope, prevailing practices, access to and utilization of foreign information, problems that face them, and proposals for dealing with them. Another paper is "Some Prerequisites to Cooperative Cataloging." There is an urgent need for a co-operative cataloguing centre to process current non-American materials. Two alternatives have been suggested: centralized cataloguing, in which libraries would forward acquisitions to the centre for cataloguing; and co-ordinated cataloguing, whereby the centre would act as a clearing-house receiving and distributing requests for cataloguing to be performed by the library first acquiring a given item.

The article presents a bibliography related to information science that appeared in the 1963 issue of the journal "American Documentation." It includes author and corporate source index, documentation, general reference works and sources of information. Some of the documentations include: "Concerning the Probability That a Given Paper Will Be Cited," by M.M. Kessler and F.E. Heart; "Action Plan for Improved Dissemination of Engineering Information," by Eugene Wall; "The Critical Problem of Biological Information," by B. Glass.

The article discusses the application of the microfilm camera to the indexing, reproduction and storage of technical information. The paper specifically describes a method by which catalog cards may be prepared with the aid of a standard 35mm microfilm camera, thus rendering a time catalog cards may be prepared with the aid of a standard 35mm microfilm camera, thus rendering a time saving of about 40% and a corresponding increase in production. This system may also be applied to such cases as stock records and inventory control.

A list of books in various topics is presented, including "Fluoridation Bibliography: Referendums, Public Participation in Decision-Making, and Methodologies for Attitude Perception Studies," by Bruce Mitchell, "Health Systems and Health Planning in International Perspective," and "Hygiene and Food Production," edited by Arnold Fox.

The article provides information about the evolution of the "American Journal of Public Health." It is stated that the establishment of the journal has been decided by the American Public Health Association at their meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1910. It has been emphasized that the journal is not the first journal in the country that is dedicated to public health because, before its publication, there has been already an existing public health journal tilted "The Sanitarian." Making "The Sanitarian" as the basis for the organization's publication, they have started publishing their proceedings including papers and reports presented at their meetings. Other information regarding the journal's development is discussed.

In recent years accountants have increased the emphasis on their role as suppliers of information for management decisions. This is partly a broadening of the scope of accounting and partly a recognition that more and better information can be produced. Accountants and other information producers must play a key role in deciding which information should be produced. However, the methodology for making these decisions is lacking. This article assumes that the criterion for designing information systems is that value should exceed cost. The purpose of the article is to provide a framework for determining the value of a change in the information system. In order to achieve this, the article formally develops individual components that are required to calculate the expected payoff for a particular information system. Relevance has been suggested as an important criterion for selecting information. In fact, many authors consider that a signal can only be called information if it is relevant to some decision by the receiver, i.e., relevant information is a redundant term. These discussions usually imply that a signal is relevant if its receipt changes the decision. Thus, relevance requires specification of both a decision maker and a decision.

The structure of an integrated information system is difficult to define, and practical tests for its boundaries are evidently needed. This paper considers the organizational limits of such a system with- out detailed consideration of mechanization and its effects. One purpose is to make possible some initial decisions as to what systems and what organizational units might be encompassed in an initial plan for integration. The configuration is shown to be irregular and its limits are shown to be decided by pragmatic considerations. No attempt is made to enumerate all possible sub-systems that might be considered, although examples familiar to accountants have been furnished. Criteria are expressed in general terms, due to the varying information needs and problems of individual enterprises. The legal definition of a corporation is not considered to be adequate for defining the area over which an integrated system might be imposed. In addition, an attempt is made to relate sub-systems, and to define requirements for their integration. These requirements essentially are in terms of data processing compatibility (the usual subject of papers on "total" systems) and compatibility of like and unlike sets of data. The latter is obviously important and is frequently overlooked. In analyzing the links between sets of data, a study of intersections is considered to be helpful. The intersections reveal lack of structural compatibility in the organizational dimension (if it exists) and in addition make possible the identification of redundancies in the vertical dimension. Further analysis is required in the latter case, if unwarranted redundancies are to be eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a bibliography of publications on early childhood education in the U.S. including a collection of papers entitled "AAIB National Conference on Preschool Services for Visually Handicapped Children and Their Families," "Language and Learning Disorders of Pre-Academic Child: With Curriculum Guide," by Tina E. Bangs, "Temporal Learning: Dimensions in Early Learning Series," by Barbara D. Bateman, "An Outline of Piaget's Developmental Psychology for Students and Teachers," by Ruth M. Beard and "How to Raise a Brighter Child: The Case for Early Learning," by Joan Beck.

The article announces the availability of the copies of the "Exceptional Child Educational Abstracts," a product of The Council for Exceptional Children Information Center. It is scheduled as a quarterly publication and will contain the abstracts stored on the computer file at the center. The indexes to these documents include an author index and a special general classification index. It also provides basic bibliographies on almost twenty-five special education topics. The periodical also includes data on how to obtain microfiche through reproduction service.

The goal of the article is to explore the role that the decomposition approach plays in information system evaluations, while considering the evidence brought to light in G. Feltham's paper "The Value of Information." The decomposition approach has several variants in regard to sets of phenomena. One suggests that some phenomena be eliminated, another states they phenomena should be treated as one entity, and the third says that the relationships between phenomena should be simplified.The author focuses his efforts on the elimination variant.

The article comments on the article "A New Approach: To an Urban Information Process," by Charles Eastman, Norman J. Johnson, and Kenneth Kortanek, published in this issue. The author agrees with the critiques of the original paper on the current methods of gaining information in studies of social systems, but feels that the criticism was incomplete. Furthermore, he expresses several concerns in the original article's proposal for gathering and processing information. Lastly, he points out the need for the emphasis or goals when gathering and processing information.

The article discusses the characteristics and some aspects of a useless publication. Publication is useless when it neither informs nor entertains, when it solves no old problems or stimulates no new research, when it serves no reference function because the theme is trivial or the information is already present and accessible in the literature. However, the prime cause of useless publication depends on the authors. Also, the administrator contributes to useless publication because he measures the value of his employee not by his true worth as a teacher or as a researcher but through the number of titles published in a certain period.

A decision-making orientation to systems design has been suggested to overcome some of the current deficiencies of computer-based information systems. This paper derives several hypotheses from a decision-making framework proposed by Robert Anthony. These hypotheses are tested with empirical data from a sample of twenty major computer-based information systems drawn from seven Bay Area manufacturing firms. The results indicate that present computer-based information systems follow the descriptive aspects of the Anthony framework, but have had little effect on top management. There is little evidence of common guidelines for systems design which are accepted by the different companies. The data also indicate that users have a strong negative reaction to large numbers of computer-produced reports. The implications of the results for systems design are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of an experimental study of the relationship between the effectiveness of aggregate production planning decisions and the form of the information system used to support the decision making. The experiment, involving twenty-two graduate business administration students devoting an entire weekend to the decision making activity in a simulated, computer based environment, generated results showing significantly different performance according to the form in which information was presented. Decision makers given data summarized through the use of simple descriptive statistics (1) made higher quality decisions than those receiving the same data in standard formats, (2) had less confidence in the quality of their decisions, and (3) took longer to make their decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper emphasizes the importance of communication for the success of technology sharing and information dissemination programs. The concept of the ‘gatekeeper’ is discussed and placed in the organizational perspective. Several characteristics by which this vital individual can be identified are delineated. The flow of information across and within organizations, communities and regions of interest is studied in the context of the gatekeeper, the liasion and the communication isolate-three groups of people identifiable within an organization. Information channels are next explored and a method of evaluating their effectiveness presented. The authors suggest that a technology sharing program needs to deal with certain distinct audiences termed politicians, managers, scientists, technologists and workers. Patterns of communication among these audiences together with a system of communicating with outside expertise needs to be analyzed at the outset of any extension or cooperative endeavor. This basic structure is then applied to a model indicating the role of a hypothetical International Sea Grant effort. The authors suggest that such an international program could best succeed when integrated with existing extension networks. Evaluation, feedback and follow-up are mentioned as areas vital to the success of an extension or sharing program. The paper then proceeds to present some perspectives on communication and change agents and warns against the possible dangers which could plague an extension system. The authors conclude with some thoughts on an extension strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problem of allocating resources among various locations in an information system where phases of a process are carried out. The approach taken combines queueing theory and dynamic programming. As an illustration of this approach, two prototype problems are considered in some detail: the distribution of computer terminals among various functions requiring access to a computer, and the distribution of personnel among the various phases of the process of cataloging a book. The technique is found to be both efficient and flexible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new generalized model for information transfer that has at its heart a machine- readable record. The model points out how the core machine-readable record makes possible interfacing computer typesetting with advanced information technology, the interfacing of primary with secondary publications, and the interfacing of data with document information systems. The model also illustrates how modular information transfer systems can be incrementally enlarged. IMPRINT (IMbricated PRogram for INformation Transfer) is one system based on this modular imbricated (overlapping) model. Some of the modules in IMPRINT, which have been developed by Cognitive Systems Incorporated, are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on reference tools related to documentation. The second edition of the Bureau of Ships "Thesaurus of Descriptive Terms and Code Book," developed for use in conjunction with Project SHARP, contains approximately 4,600 main terms, an increase of nearly 100 new terms. The books and papers listed in the bibliography "An Annotated Bibliography of Publications on Dependency Theory" have in common a concern with the notion that syntax is best described by specifying word-to-word connections, generally called "de pendencies," rather than by segmentations of sentences.

Data were obtained from more than 300 atomic and molecular physicists in the U. S. concerning their use of existing information sources. A discussion of their information needs and preferences is presented. An attempt is made to define the attitude of this group toward a specialized information center in the light of their responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of activity in Information Science and Retrieval, unique in the twentieth century, is plotted by surveying three areas of impingement between professional people and information systems. The first testimony cites the momentum in a major scientific society with respect to the reorganization and automation of publication and retrieval. The second projects the state of the art in the time-sharing of computer programs and files to the degree that the exchange of information is becoming a completely economic and critical tool for education, with man-machine interfaces provided for students and professors alike. The third deals with the rapid progress in the realization of man-interface conversation in nearly natural English format, made possible by sophisticated programs and hardware. The prognostication of the impact of these increasing capabilities on the deepest concerns and activities of mankind is sketched. The immediate availability throughout the world of all information files will engender continual review and evaluation in the scientific spirit that welcomes reexamination of any data without fear. In liberal education, there must be a responsibility to prepare minds for this regimen in the world of scholarship of the 1970's, but there must be a concomitant exhilaration of the young human spirit in the seeking of the total view and of a value system for the individuality in the universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computer program has been written and used which simulates the several-year operation of an information system and computes estimates of the expected operating costs as well as the amount of equipment and personnel required during that time period. The program has been used for the analysis of several large systems and has proven itself to be a useful research tool for the study of systems with so many components and interrelated operations that an equivalent manual analysis would be extremely cumbersome and time consuming, and perhaps even im- practical. This paper describes this program and shows, as an example, some of the results of a simulation of two of several suggested designs for a specific information system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a bibliography of several publications related to the field of documentation. "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework," by D.C. Engelbart is an initial summary report of a project which takes a new and systematic approach to improving the intellectual effectiveness of the individual human being. The publication "Agricultural Documentation: The Responsibilities of Libraries & Information Services" is a report of seven papers and a summary presented at a seminar arranged by the European Productivity Agency, during April 20-23, 1960. "Information Systems Workshop. The Designer's Responsibility and His Methodology" is a collection of 12 papers based on a conference sponsored by the American Documentation Institute and the University of California, at Los Angeles during May 29 to June 1, 1962.