Search

Whether agenda-setting effects occur and how strong they are appear to be strongly context-dependent. The baseline public and media salience of an issue and the extent of abrupt changes in salience have been mentioned as potential contingent conditions, but without any empirical follow-ups. First, this study demonstrates how agenda-setting effects unfold on a day-to-day basis, finding that only one fourth of the results (p <.05) are in line with the original agenda-setting hypothesis. Second, it tests how (a) the baseline intensity of public and media salience and (b) strong temporary increases ("spikes") in public and media salience impact the likelihood and strength of agenda-setting effects. Higher baseline public salience and stronger spikes in media salience systematically influence the likelihood and strength of agenda-setting effects. Agenda-setting scholars should systematically check, report, and possibly control for baseline intensity and spike momentum of media and public salience, which is also easy to implement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some people hold beliefs that are opposed to overwhelming scientific evidence. Such misperceptions can be harmful to both personal and societal well-being. Communicating scientific consensus has been found to be effective in eliciting scientifically accurate beliefs, but it is unclear whether it is also effective in correcting false beliefs. Here, we show that a strategy that boosts people's understanding of and ability to identify scientific consensus can help to correct misperceptions. In three experiments with more than 1,500 U.S. adults who held false beliefs, participants first learned the value of scientific consensus and how to identify it. Subsequently, they read a news article with information about a scientific consensus opposing their beliefs. We found strong evidence that in the domain of genetically engineered food, this two-step communication strategy was more successful in correcting misperceptions than merely communicating scientific consensus. The data suggest that the current approach may not work for misperceptions about climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study of the Smarter Crowdsourcing project the International Development Bank and Governance Lab cohosted to cope with the emerging Zika outbreaks in Latin America countries. Using the lenses of intercultural communication methodologies, user-centered design, and global cultural flow, I examine the exclusion of at-risk populations as marginalized end users of the project. I also examine the impacts of this oversight on the effectiveness of the technocratic solutions. I then conclude by discussing the implications this case has for international health intervention, global technical communication, and community-based research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the concept of myth and question the crystallisation of the discipline. It mentions counter-reading of the disciplinary history of international relations that revolves not around truth but rather a vocation common to both idealist and realist like pluralism and also mentions the role of academics to engage in critique of society and of the political forces.

This article examines the boundary work of frames and the methodological significance of understanding this work when conducting rhetorical framing analysis. While the boundary properties of frames have been theorized by scholars, there remains a lack of clear engagement with how to effectively address these discursive boundaries methodically. I argue that agenda-dismissal, which makes use of both prolepses and blind spots, ought to be addressed in addition to agenda-setting and agenda-extension when conducting rhetorical framing analysis. A case study is provided in which the rhetorical framing of vegan parenting in online news media is analyzed and critiqued for confining the issue within a dominant health-based frame. Strategies for dismantling discursive boundaries and reframing public issues are also considered within the context of the case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals often modify speech characteristics to accommodate their listeners. In the present study, we investigate how speakers modify their speech in a dictation task and what this says about their beliefs with respect to the listener’s information processing limitations. To do so, we asked participants to either read a set of numbers aloud, or dictate numbers so that another person could write them down. Our results suggest that speech modification in this task was not related to individual differences in working memory capacity, and could represent speakers’ attempt to minimize working memory demands of the listener. This account is similar to minimal memory strategies, whereby individuals often try to minimize memory demands in cognitive tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent theories postulate communicative functions for cognitive mechanisms previously thought to have individualistic functions--in particular, reasoning and metacognition. These theories join older theories suggesting that many of our behaviors have communicative functions, for instance to communicate emotions or to influence how people perceive us. Using the framework of the evolution of communication, we offer a series of questions to test these hypotheses. The first question is whether the mechanism enables effective communication. The second question takes into account the different strategic incentives between agents who send signals and those who receive them, asking whether receivers can discriminate beneficial from harmful signals. However, serving a function well is not sufficient evidence that a mechanism evolved to this end in particular. Accordingly, the third question bears on whether the mechanism serves other purported functions well and the fourth on whether some of its features can be explained as specifically serving a communicative function. An overview of the literature suggests that these questions have been experimentally addressed for some cognitive mechanisms (reasoning in particular) but not others. This framework thus opens up avenues for further research that will enable researchers to better test hypotheses regarding the communicative functions of cognitive mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a rapid growth of academic research and publishing in non-Western countries. However, academic journal articles in these peripheral countries suffer from low citation impact and limited global recognition. This critical review systematically analyzed 1,096 education research journal articles that were published in China in a 10-year span using a multistage stratified cluster and random sampling method and a validated rubric for assessing research quality. Our findings reveal that the vast majority of the articles lacked rigor, with insufficient or nonsystematic literature reviews, incomplete descriptions of research design, and inadequately grounded recommendations for translating research into practice. Acknowledging the differences in publishing cultures in the center-periphery divide, we argue that education research publications in non-Western countries should try to meet Western publishing standards in order to participate in global knowledge production and research vitality. Implications for emerging countries that strive to transform their research scholarship are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how a piece of information flows in social media–based public forums, whether opinion leaders emerge from this flow of information, and what characteristics opinion leaders have in such forums. Using network analysis and statistical measures to examine two Twitter-based discussion groups centered on political discussions in South Korea, we found that the discussion network was concentrated but relatively inclusive and that the two-step flow of communication model still had explanatory power in online public forums. Opinion leaders were found to be influentials but not content creators. These findings provide implications for the dynamic of a public sphere, two-step flow of communication model, and structural approach to online public forums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a globalization and glocalization lens, this article has examined two interdependent communication traditions (socio-cultural and rhetorical), outlined by Robert Craig in his magnum opus 'Communication theory as a field' published in Communication Theory in 1999; and how African thought and, to an extent, emotion can be repositioned through the local and international legal system, more specifically in the popular Bhe Case in South Africa. African thought can effectively and efficiently be explained through a theoretical binocular of what Molefi Asante has aptly called 'Afrocentricity.' The African thought on which this article is anchored is what Karenga also called 'Maat,' which means 'rightness in the spiritual and the moral sense in three realms: the divine, the natural and the social.' We conclude that yoking globalization influences on the socio-cultural and rhetorical traditions of the African and Black people can create uncomfortable bedmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present experiment investigated (a) if exposure to a high profile politician’s Twitter page (vs. newspaper interview) affects the participants’ evaluations of him and his policies and (b) how their proclivity to get deeply immersed in a narrative and identify with the story characters (i.e., transportability) moderates such effects. Even though the messages were identical, exposure to the candidate’s Twitter page heightened the sense of direct conversation with him (i.e., social presence), which in turn induced more favorable impressions of and a stronger intention to vote for him among those high in transportability. Increased social presence also led to stronger agreement with the candidate’s policy statements among those espousing favorable attitudes toward him. However, those presented with the newspaper interview better recognized the issues mentioned and had fewer thoughts about the candidate, suggesting that people adopt medium-specific processing strategies, focusing more or less on the source (vs. issue). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reviews literature to provide context for a reflective narrative on a collaborative research project undertaken by disabled people, practitioners and academics. This approach required reconsidering many aspects of methodology and practice as the research relationships are altered. The article reflects on how the collaborative and participatory approach was developed and sustained and how it impacted on the research process and its outcomes. The article explores how the group of people worked together on a complex large-scale research project to bring the voices of service users and other key players together in a discussion about social care. The article is written by one of the academic partners and draws on consortium documents and reflections from other consortium members provided for the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young children frequently tell visual stories, drawing pictures to record and share their thoughts, feelings and understanding. How and what young children describe through art, especially when written language is not an option, is the focus of this interpretive analysis. A series of pictures by John, a 6-year-old boy, were drawn across the academic year at challenging moments when he exhibited distressing and/or alienating behaviour. We studied John’s drawings of his misbehaviour, as depicted in these action plans, over the course of 8 months, how they appeared and evolved over the year, and what we learned by doing a close analysis of these visual texts. Specifically, as teacher educators thinking back upon our own experiences as novice teachers, we wanted to know what kinds of practices, such as this discipline action plan, implemented in schools and in our classrooms use literacy practices in a punitive way? Drawing from visual discourse analysis which includes visual design, we attended to how John used colours, the intensity with which they were applied; how he used shape and line (curved, sharp), the size and volume of objects, the relationship among and between objects in the pictures, and the discourses around which he identified. We also looked across these pictures to see how certain objects (teacher, himself, other students) shifted and were retranslated across images and time, and how, collectively, these pictures wrote an ongoing narrative, one that tells a not-so-pretty story of John’s representation of self in these moments. This analysis forces us to problematize the use of multi-modal literacy practices as a punitive endeavour. Encouraging teachers to evaluate critically what ‘behaviour interventions’ actually do to and for students can provide a powerful platform for meaningful change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates mothers’ responses to infant communication among infants at heightened genetic risk (high risk) of autism spectrum disorder compared to infants with no such risk (low risk). A total of 26 infants, 12 of whom had an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder, were observed during naturalistic in-home interaction and semistructured play with their mothers at 13 and 18 months of age. Results indicate that overall, mothers of low-risk and high-risk infants were highly and similarly responsive to their infants’ communicative behaviors. However, examination of infant vocal and gestural communication development together with maternal verbal responses and translations (i.e. verbally labeling a gesture referent) suggests that delays in early communication development observed among high-risk infants may alter the input that these infants receive; this in turn may have cascading effects on the subsequent development of communication and language. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study assesses two key types of knowledge assessments, factual and perceived knowledge, in the study of knowledge gaps. In addition, we distinguish between communication channels in exploring the phenomenon, examining nanotechnology knowledge gaps based on levels of attention to traditional media, science blog use, and the frequency of interpersonal discussion. Using regression analysis, we find that how researchers measure knowledge can significantly affect the discovery of gaps. We also find differential effects based on communication channels, including evidence that the direction of perceived gaps in knowledge can be reversed as media consumption increases. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article draws attention to the walking and running of young children as a key element of their multimodal communicative practices. In addition, the article argues that the walking and running of young children can be seen as a place-making activity, acknowledging the power of young children to create meaning in their world. Drawing on ethnographic data from ongoing research with young children and their families in museums, I present some examples of ways in which young children move during museum visits as a powerful, intentional and communicative practice. Focusing on young children’s perspectives of the museum as a place of primary importance enables us to understand the walking and running of young children in the context of their communicative practices in an embodied, emplaced and experienced world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Individuals with autism often face barriers to social interaction. Residing in a rural environment can compound these difficulties for individuals diagnosed with autism. Some of the reasons include transportation problems and small social networks, in addition to the characteristics of autism. This article discusses a promising practice for supporting the communication and social opportunities for individuals with autism. The authors examined how Facebook supported the social interaction of Jacob, a 28-year old with High Functioning Autism. The findings suggested that, through Facebook, Jacob increased the quantity and quality of social ties he had with others. The authors argue that although online social networking has limitations, with supervision, tools such as Facebook hold potential for developing and increasing social interaction for individuals with High Functioning Autism /Asperger Syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the progress made by the National Center for HIV/AIDS Viral Hepatitis, sexually-transmitted disease (STD), and tuberculosis (TB) Prevention (NCHHSTP) in integrating a social determinants of health (SDH) approach using different areas including public health policy, data systems, and agency partnerships and capacity building. It discusses the progress in recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) SDH consultation.

Data from 365 college students were used to assess young adults' communicative responses to older persons' painful self-disclosures (PSDs). Coupland, Coupland, and Giles (1991) proposed that recipients of PSD may respond to such disclosures via a variety of "next moves." These responses may broadly be considered to reflect forms of pro-social engagement, passive disengagement, and active disengagement. We investigated whether young adults' tendency to use certain responses to PSD were influenced by their affective reactions to PSD, their communicative background and characteristics, and the sociorelational context of the encounter in which PSD occurred. Results are discussed with respect to their implications for intergenerational interaction, and interpreted through the lens of communication accommodation theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a six-dimensional model of communication styles is proposed and operationalized using the Communication Styles Inventory (CSI). The CSI distinguishes between six domain-level communicative behavior scales, Expressiveness, Preciseness, Verbal Aggressiveness, Questioningness, Emotionality, and Impression Manipulativeness, each consisting of four facet-level scales. Based on factor and item analyses, the CSI is shown to be an adequate instrument, with all reliabilities of the domain-level scales surpassing the .80 level. Consistent with the behavioral view espoused in this study, the CSI scales showed medium to high levels of convergent validity with lexical communication marker scales and behavior-oriented communication scales and discriminant validity with nonbehavioral intrapersonal cognitions and feelings vis-à-vis communication. In addition, personality, as operationalized using the HEXACO Personality Inventory—Revised (HEXACO-PI-R) and Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), was found to have medium to strong associations with communication styles, supporting the integration of the trait and communication styles perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this longitudinal and naturalistic study was to compare aspects of imitative exchanges in dyadic grandmother-infant and mother-infant interactions. Sixteen Cretan Greek infants were video-recorded in the course of spontaneous dyadic interactions with maternal grandmothers or with mothers at home from the 2nd to the 10th month of their life (N = 48). The present study provides evidence that in interaction between grandmothers and infant grandchildren and between mothers and infants, there is similarity in the frequency, the structure, the direction of imitation, the kind of imitated acts, and the temporal patterns of the components of imitation. Infants' age was found to affect the developmental curve of grandmothers', but not mothers', imitative behavior. In the frame of the theory of innate intersubjectivity, we assume that similarity in these aspects of imitation may be related to invariant fundamental dimensions of Significant Other-infant communication ("kinematics" (temporal patterns), "physiognomics" (forms) and "energetics" (effort)). These similarities may have implications for both grandmothers' and infants' ability to regulate interpersonal challenges within an extended-family interactional context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores agenda setting, framing, and the concepts of media advocacy and mobilizing information through content analysis of The New York Times and The Washington Post news coverage of autism from 1996 to 2006, the year the Combating Autism Act was passed. Findings revealed that science frames decreased over time, while policy frames increased. Medical, government, family, and nonprofit sources were most common in news coverage. Solutions were mentioned more frequently than causes; however, mobilizing information was limited. Theoretical implications and practical applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives. Recognizing the need to work with all partners who have an interest in addressing sexual health issues, we explored values held by diverse stakeholders in the United States. Based on these findings, we developed a framework for use in communicating about sexual health issues and potential solutions. Methods. Our methods included an environmental scan, small-group metaphor elicitation and message framing assessments, interviews, and online surveys with diverse members of the public and health professionals. Results. Of four overarching value-based themes, two were best accepted across audiences: the first theme emphasized the importance of protecting health along the road of life through enabling good choices, and the second called for adding health promotion approaches to traditional disease prevention control. Nearly all supporting statements evaluated were effective and can be used to support either of the two best accepted overarching themes. Conclusions. Although there is a great diversity of opinion regarding how to address sexual health issues in the U.S., among diverse stakeholders we found some common values in our exploratory work. These common values were translated into message frameworks. In particular, the idea of broadening sexual health programs to include wellness-related approaches to help expand disease control and prevention efforts resonated with stakeholders across the political spectrum. These findings show promise for improved sexual health communication and a foundation on which to build support across various audiences, key opinion leaders, and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether teachers' communicator style relates to student engagement, teacher-student relationships, student perceptions of teacher immediacy, as well as observer ratings of delivery skills during the implementation of All Stars, a middle school-based substance use prevention program. Data from 48 teachers who taught All Stars up to 3 consecutive years and their respective seventh-grade students (n = 2,240) indicate that having an authoritative communication style is negatively related to student engagement with the curriculum and the quality of the student-teacher relationship, while having an expressive communicator style improves teachers' immediacy to student needs. Adaptations made by a subsample of teachers (n = 27) reveal that those who were more expressive asked students more questions, used more motivational techniques, and introduced more new concepts than authoritarian teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to understand the ways that adult daughters and their parents make sense of the older adult’s aging and one another’s changing roles within the context of the decision to move a parent to a care-related facility. In particular, the decision to move a parent to a care-related facility provides a context for the study of uncertainty, ambivalence, and other concerns connected with role transitions and decision-making difficulties. How older parents and adult daughters communicate about and cope with these challenges was compared. Babrow’s problematic integration theory provides a framework for this research. A qualitative study employing in-depth interviews with 44 residents at continuum-of-care facilities and 12 adult daughters of residents was conducted. Findings indicate that both parents and daughters experience significant problematic integration. However, their attempts to cope are in marked contrast to one another. These differences, along with theoretical and practical implications, are discussed further. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Shortly after the influenza A (H1N1) 2009 pandemic began, the U.S. government provided guidance to state and local authorities to assist decision-making for the use of nonpharmaceutical strategies to minimize influenza spread. This guidance included recommendations for flexible decision-making based on outbreak severity, and it allowed for uncertainty and course correction as the pandemic progressed. These recommendations build on a foundation of local, collaborative planning and posit a series of questions regarding epidemiology, the impact on the health-care system, and locally determined feasibility and acceptability of nonpharmaceutical strategies. This article describes recommendations and key questions for decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article engages with recent methodological debates in political theory concerning the role of political theory and in particular the criticism that ideal normative theorising is too abstracted from the real-world circumstances that it hopes to change. These debates raise questions concerning the proper relationship between normative political theory and empirical inquiry. We suggest that feminist research has an important contribution to make to these questions, which has tended to be under-recognised within mainstream debates. Specifically, feminist critical theory points to important limitations within both ideal political theory and orthodox empirical social science. Rather than trying to combine these two approaches, feminist critical theory offers an alternative approach to standard political research methods. The central concerns of critical feminists with the social conditions of inclusion and democratic participation, the forms of power that can invade theory and practice in politics, and the need to create an 'undistorted space' in which the voice of those subjected to injustice can be heard, predispose it towards an applied approach to normative theory, while at the same time remaining highly attuned to the possible conservative implications of such a move. This dual focus has led many feminist critical theorists to endorse a dialogical approach. In this article, we detail this approach and recommend it as a resource to mainstream political theorists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Despite the difficulties, there is a moral responsibility to provide the public with the best estimates of benefits and harms of breast cancer screening. Methods In this paper we review the issues in communication of benefits and harms of medical interventions and discuss these in terms of the principles of the balance sheet proposed in this supplement. Results The balance sheet can be seen as a tool to convey estimates based on the best available evidence and addressed to a readership wider than just potential screening participants. It reflects a re-assessment of screening efficacy, showing again that screening is effective and brings more benefits than harms. It can be viewed as an opportunity to re-affirm some basic principles of good evidence-based communication. Further research is needed to improve communication strategy, to assess the impact of this communication on women's awareness and to evaluate its utility in the informed decision-making process. Conclusion The balance sheet could be a starting point for a broader vision of informed decision-making in screening, which should also recognize the role played by 'non-numerical' factors on women's choice of participating in breast cancer screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En este trabajo se estudian los vínculos entre calidad comunicativa y habla privada en una situación comunicativa referencial espacial. La calidad comunicativa se analiza en base a los mensajes enunciados. El habla privada se analiza al modo vygotskiano como habla cuyo rol cognitivo permite la autorregulación de una tarea. Se realiza un estudio longitudinal con 10 parejas de niñas y niños a los cuatro, seis y ocho años, y empleando una metodología observacional. A los cuatro años los mensajes tienen baja calidad y el habla privada fluctúa pudiéndose afirmar sólo parcialmente su rol cognitivo. A los seis y ocho años este rol cognitivo queda claramente perfilado: el habla privada aparece no sólo en relación a la dificultad del referente sino también en el intento de dominio de las relaciones espaciales. Como conclusión se apunta que la identificación del habla privada en función de la calidad de los mensajes permite hacer visibles los procesos de toma de conciencia sobre las necesidades informativas de la tarea y del interlocutor/a.The present study analyses the relationships between communicative quality and private speech in a communicative situation involving spatial reference. Communicative quality is analysed on the basis of the messages formulated, and private speech is analysed from a Vygotskyan perspective, that is, as speech whose cognitive role allows the self-regulation of a task. We conducted a longitudinal study using an observational methodology with ten pairs of children at the ages of four, six and eight years. At the age of four, the quality of the messages is poor, and private speech fluctuates; its cognitive role can be affirmed only partially. At the ages of six and eight, the cognitive role is clearly established: private speech appears not only in relation to the difficulty of the referent, but also in the attempt to master spatial relationships. We conclude that by identifying private speech as a function of the quality of messages, the processes by which children become aware of the informative needs of the task and the interlocutor are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, health communication is “the study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health.” The purpose of this article is to look at how health educators can use communication theory to create messages that are innovative, relatable, and motivating to intended audiences. Three specific communication theories are presented, along with examples of how they have been successfully used in behavior change initiatives. These three theories are offered in an effort to stimulate further investigation into how theory supports the creation of targeted, tailored, and effective communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: Cognitive neurophysiologic synchronies (NS) are low-level data streams derived from electroencephalography (EEG) measurements that can be collected and analyzed in near real time and in realistic settings. The objective of this study was to relate the expression of NS for engagement to the frequency of conversation between team members during Submarine Piloting and Navigation (SPAN) simulations. Background: If the expression of different NS patterns is sensitive to changes in the behavior of teams, they may be a useful tool for studying team cognition. Method: EEG-derived measures of engagement (EEG-E) from SPAN team members were normalized and pattern classified by self-organizing artificial neural networks and hidden Markov models. The temporal expression of these patterns was mapped onto team events and related to the frequency of team members’ speech. Standardized models were created with pooled data from multiple teams to facilitate comparisons across teams and levels of expertise and to provide a framework for rapid monitoring of team performance. Results: The NS expression for engagement shifted across task segments and internal and external task changes. These changes occurred within seconds and were affected more by changes in the task than by the person speaking. Shannon entropy measures of the NS data stream showed decreases associated with periods when the team was stressed and speaker entropy was high. Conclusion: These studies indicate that expression of neurophysiologic indicators measured by EEG may complement rather than duplicate communication metrics as measures of team cognition. Application: Neurophysiologic approaches may facilitate the rapid determination of the cognitive status of a team and support the development of novel adaptive approaches to optimize team function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Recurrence-based measures of communication determinism and pattern information are described and validated using previously collected team interaction data. Background: Team coordination dynamics has revealed that “mixing” team membership can lead to flexible interaction processes, but keeping a team “intact” can lead to rigid interaction processes. We hypothesized that communication of intact teams would have greater determinism and higher pattern information compared to that of mixed teams. Method: Determinism and pattern information were measured from three-person Uninhabited Air Vehicle team communication sequences over a series of 40-minute missions. Because team members communicated using push-to-talk buttons, communication sequences were automatically generated during each mission. Results: The Composition × Mission determinism effect was significant. Intact teams’ determinism increased over missions, whereas mixed teams’ determinism did not change. Intact teams had significantly higher maximum pattern information than mixed teams. Conclusion: Results from these new communication analysis methods converge with content-based methods and support our hypotheses. Application: Because they are not content based, and because they are automatic and fast, these new methods may be amenable to real-time communication pattern analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the intercandidate agenda-setting hypothesis in the setting of proxy contests that featured dueling public relations efforts between corporate actors to garner stakeholder support. Through a series of content analyses, this study analyzed news releases and shareholder letters issued by competing candidates in the twenty-five largest contests held in US markets from 2005 to 2009. After controlling for the influence of media coverage, significant support was found for issue and stakeholder intercandidate agenda-setting linkages, thereby extending this research from political elections into corporate elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Children with CHARGE syndrome often experience significantly delayed motor development, which affects their performance in many motor skills and physical activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the status of physical education provided to children with CHARGE syndrome. There were five main areas of focus: (1) physical education setting, (2) modes of communication, (3) modifications, (4) successful units, and (5) difficult units in physical education. Methods: A validated questionnaire was completed by 26 parents of children aged 6-19 with CHARGE syndrome who were attending an international CHARGE conference for families. The questionnaire was used as the primary source to obtain parents' perspectives on the physical education experiences of their children with CHARGE syndrome. The results of the feedback from parents were used to offer practical suggestions for physical education programming. Results: The results revealed that the physical education placement affects children's success and parents' satisfaction with regard to physical education. Also, children who had support staff, such as a teacher's aide, paraeducator, or intervenor in physical education had a more successful experience. A variety of communication methods were used with children with CHARGE syndrome. The physical education units that the parents documented as being successful were swimming, scooters, bowling, fencing, T-ball, dancing, rock climbing, floor hockey, field hockey, and gymnastics. The units that the children struggled with the most were fundamental motor skills, such as skipping, running, hopping, and any sports unit with a fast-moving ball. Discussion: Physical education placements, communication, and modifications must be individualized for each child with CHARGE syndrome. In addition, support staff must be trained specifically for the unique needs of a child and the core curricular area of physical education. Implications for Practitioners: Suggestions for improving the physical education program are included to increase children's involvement in class and success in the specific units that are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We developed a prediction tool to assist in evaluation of pediatric candidates for cochlear implantation (CI) and to help plan for preoperative and postoperative support. Methods: Between 1995 and 2005,277 patients underwent CI at Children's Hospital Boston. Of these 277 patients, 250 had at least 2 years of post-CI follow-up and adequate pre-CI information for rating by our prediction tool. Of the 250, 106 were randomly selected for inclusion. The patients were divided into group A (auditory/oral communicator); group B (auditory/oral communicator with visual assistance), group C (visual/manual communicator with auditory/oral skills assistance), and group D (will not derive communicative benefit from implant). Predictions were performed with clinical assessment and two statistical techniques: regression modeling and classification and regression tree (CART) analysis. Results: Among patients who became auditory/oral communicators (group A), clinical assessment predicted that outcome accurately 65% of the time, CART analysis had intermediate sensitivity (79%), and regression modeling was the most sensitive (95%). Groups B through D were predicted 45% of the time by regression modeling, 90% of the time by clinical assessment, and 100% of the time by CART analysis. Conclusions: A combination of speech-language, medical, and educational constructs can provide a reliable prediction of the communication outcome. Our goal for the prognosis tool is to make it part of the overall candidacy process in supporting decision-making about CI and planning for post-CI therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of the impact of party conventions on opinion regarding presidential candidates is based largely on aggregate-level analysis. Extant individual-level investigation has been limited by the assumption that conventions are monolithic information events that exercise uniform effects. Using panel data, we show for the first time that conventions exercise two independent effects, which can counteract or reinforce each other depending on individual characteristics and information consumption. First, we demonstrate how exposure to speeches exercises a persuasive effect that benefits the convening candidate, even when partisanship is controlled. Second, we demonstrate how conventions exercise an atmospheric effect that activates general partisan bias. We find that observed postconvention changes are attributable to the combination of these separate but simultaneous effects. We also explore how individual partisanship conditions speech effects and find evidence that partisanship influences the decision to listen but is unlikely to influence the impact of a message already heard. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a rapidly progressive neuromuscular disease, has a devastating impact not only on individuals diagnosed with ALS but also their spouses. Speech intelligibility, often compromised as a result of dysarthria, affects the couple’s ability to maintain effective, intimate communication. The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the association between the deteriorating speech of persons with ALS (PALS) and couples’ perceptions of marital communication. There were two participant groups: (a) persons with ALS (PALS) and (b) their spouses. Data were collected over a 12-month period through the administration of objective and subjective measures. A review of the findings suggested a positive relation between declining speech intelligibility and a couple’s perception of marital communication. A holistic approach to communication intervention should be adopted for PALS, as communication as a means of facilitating and maintaining intimacy in the marital relationship is particularly pertinent to this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) has emerged as the augmentative communication intervention of choice for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with a supporting body of single-participant studies. This report describes a meta-analysis of 16 single-participant studies on PECS with percentage of nonoverlapping data (PND) as the metric of effect size. Results suggest that PECS was moderately effective in establishing mands (PND = 80.1) for 41 participants up to Phase IV of the system. Higher levels of manding were found when PECS was taught to individuals without ASD diagnoses versus those with ASD diagnoses and in single settings versus multiple settings; however, these differences were not statistically significant. For a smaller subset of participants for whom vocalizations were recorded, PECS appeared to facilitate speech, though considerable variability in speech acquisition was evident. While these results support PECS as an evidenced-based communication intervention, they indicate that more research is needed on speech with PECS, to establish the efficacy of PECS when implemented across settings and communicative partners, and to confirm efficacy of Phases IV, V, and VI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concept of networks has become synonymous with terrorism in recent years. Despite the abundance of material engaging the concept of terrorist networks, there is a paucity of research that applies analytic network methods to the empirical study of observed data. This article fills that void by comparing two arguments about terror network structure using a newly released attack network data set. One account suggests that terrorists purposefully structure their networks to maximize operational security (OPSEC) by minimizing connections, while an alternate proposition relies on findings in network sciences showing that many networks have a few well-connected individuals (referred to as scale-free structure). Empirical analysis of six evolving attack networks produces results contradicting both assertions. This article then looks beyond structure to examine whether there are any causal relationships between network characteristics and output, specifically attack casualties. The article concludes by examining possible drivers of network structure and pertinent policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To prepare for pandemics, countries are creating pandemic preparedness plans. These plans frequently include crisis communication strategies that recommend conducting pre-crisis audience research to increase the effectiveness and relevance of communication with the public. To begin understanding the communication needs of the public and health care workers, 11 focus groups were conducted in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006 and 2007 to identify what information people want to receive and how they want to receive it. In the event of a pandemic, participants want to know their risk of infection and how sick they could become if infected. To make decisions about using vaccines and drugs, they want information that enables them to assess the risks of using the products. The public prefers to receive this information from family doctors, the Internet, and schools. Health care workers prefer to receive information in e-mails and in-services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Argued from the perspective of a Social Semiotic Multimodal theory the article asks whether and in what ways ‘Ethnography’ and ‘Social Semiotics’ can or should be brought together to mutual advantage. It suggests that such an enterprise is ‘of its time’: the world as mirrored in existing disciplines has changed and the disciplines that co-constituted and co-evolved with that world can no longer do the job they once did in a now differently constituted world, which poses problems that may need the complementary capacities of related theories and methodologies. This is not an argument for ‘triangulation of data’. Drawing on examples from empirical research, the article points to the gaps which may emerge between research aims and the capacities of specific theories and methodologies to provide, or not, adequate and full answers to aims and questions. Through exemplifications the article raises questions about ‘epistemological compatibility’ of theories and methodologies that are brought into conjunction and asks to what extent we can expect descriptive and analytic complementarity in outcomes if two approaches are epistemologically incompatible? In this, the article opens the new issue of the ‘reach of a theory’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Providing effective interventions for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) continues to challenge educators, speech-language pathologists, and other allied health professionals.This article reviews recommended intervention practices that have emerged over the past 30 years and illustrates their use through an evidenced-based case example. The article concludes with remarks specific to the case and a charge to those involved with communication interventions for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the need to investigate the nature and content of teleconsultation communication using interaction analysis techniques. Comprehensive investigations of actual medical encounter behaviour include verbal content analysis, which uses interaction analysis systems (IAS) to describe and categorize the communication that has taken place.

The article explains the use of the fingerbraille system for individuals who are deaf-blind. It discusses the development of fingerbraille, which began in Japan in 1981, and its process in which the interpreter faces the deaf-blind person from the side and applies touch-writing. The method involves tapping, which follows the traditional system in Japanese braille of hiragana and katakana characters. However, interpreters face the challenges of understanding the fundamental need of individuals with deaf-blindness for both physical and intellectual information and the issue of transparency for the individuals as no one involved in the conversation or in the surroundings know what is being communicated between persons with deaf-blindness and their interpreters.

The Dialogic Inclusion Contract (DIC) consists in an agreement between the scientific community and social agents to define successful actions aimed at overcoming social exclusion in highly underprivileged areas. Taking the case of a Spanish neighborhood that is generating important transformations, this article explores the process of defining these successful actions by the means of contrasting the scientific community knowledge and the one arising from the experiences of the people living and working in that particular neighborhood. The contrast is analyzed through three principles that are part of the Critical Communicative Methodology (CCM): communicative rationality, elimination of the interpretative hierarchy, and considering people as transformative social agents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]