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This paper describes how electronic presentations are currently used by business people. Business people in the United States and Sweden were surveyed to determine how they are using the medium. A questionnaire was mailed to 506 business people in the United States (201 returned) and to 80 business people in Sweden (76 returned). Results are discussed in terms of gender use of the medium; frequency of use; age of electronic presenters; size of companies using the medium; reasons for using electronic presentations; length of presentation; and media preference. More men than women were found to give business presentations and one to five presentations per month was the average response. The major users of electronic presentations in the United States were found to be in the 36-45 age group, while Swedish users were in the 25-35 age group. Electronic presentations were found in both countries to be most heavily used in medium-sized companies. The most popular electronic presentation is shown to an audience of less than 25 people, with a liquid crystal display and an overhead projector, using Microsoft PowerPoint software. The complete questionnaire results are appended. (AEF)

This study measured the impact of electronic presentations on the business presenter. An electronic presentation was defined as a presentation which made use of a computer, presentation graphics software, and a projection device. A questionnaire was sent to 560 subjects (40% returned) randomly selected from a training and development consortium located in State College, Pennsylvania that provides guidance to businesses in the Central Pennsylvania region. The results from the study fall into two major categories: those derived from all of the respondents and those derived from the sub group of respondents that were engaged in making electronic presentations. An examination of all the respondents yielded that 27% reported giving at least one electronic presentation; preferred presentation devices in rank order included overhead projector, flip chart, electronic presentation, and slide projector. Respondents that had reported experience in giving electronic presentations (27%) were then classified into three categories: presenter-oriented, hardware/software-oriented, or audience-oriented responses. Five implications were derived from this study: (1) respondents that used electronic presentations felt they were very effective for delivering a message to an audience; (2) overhead transparencies continue to be judged the most effective medium, but electronic presentations are growing in favor; (3) video projection is not heavily used; (4) the biggest weakness of electronic presentations is that you cannot depend on the various electrical components; and (5) Microsoft's PowerPoint software dominates the electronic presentation medium. Eight figures provide information on study results. (AEF)

The purpose of this study was to measure how well business and professional people from various cultures interpret symbols commonly used in international business presentations. Questionnaires contained 15 black and white symbols, selected from the clip art collection of Harvard Graphics business graphics software. Respondents from the United States, Sweden, Tanzania, and Japan were asked to write free-form responses classifying the symbols. The symbols were divided into three categories--verbal symbols, pictorial symbols, and abstract symbols--each of which is defined. Symbols in the verbal category were either clearly understood or not understood at all by the subjects, with little middle ground. Results concerning pictorial symbols clearly show the following rank order of understanding based on country, with highest rate of understanding first: United States, Sweden, Tanzania, and Japan. This rank order is probably due to the fact that most symbols used in the study were designed for a predominantly U.S. audience. Abstract symbols were the most difficult for all audiences to comprehend, indicating that abstract symbols are culturally dependent. The results offer some guidance to visual designers. It is recommended that when using symbols in presentations, symbols should be used which are designed for the culture, and the use of symbols should be restricted to verbal and pictorial symbols. Data is presented in eight figures. An appendix provides data recorded by symbol and country, shown as percentages. (MAS)

The focus of this study was to measure the communicative power of business symbols with a business audience. A panel of three people selected 15 appropriate business symbols which then appeared on a questionnaire which showed each symbol with a blank space for the respondent to provide a one word or short answer of the symbol's meaning. Eighty-eight first year Master's of Business Administration (MBA) students enrolled at Penn State University were give the questionnaire. The responses were tabulated by one person who classified the answers into five categories: perfect, close, arena, inappropriate, or no response. Implications of this study include: people mistake or do no know the meaning of many symbols; subjects make rapid judgements about the meaning of symbols and, as a result, people should not rely on symbols to convey in-depth or critical meanings as they do not convey accurate meanings; and that image perception is relative to the context in which it is viewed. A next step with this study is to measure recognition of those symbols with international audiences. The questionnaire and responses are included in the appendix. (Contains 7 references.) (JLB)

Increased prevalence of weather related hazards in eastern Africa including drought, floods, hail and frost threatening agricultural productivity. Kenya is heavily dependent on agriculture for economic growth (FAO 2013); (1) Agriculture contributed 23.5% and 21.5% of GDP in 2009 and 2010 respectively, (2) Employment to half a million households of smallholders and 150,000 on large tea estates. Tea growing in Kenya depends on stability of the weather; (1) Weather is unpredictable, (2) Frost has contributed 30% of tea leaf losses, (3) Drought has contributed 14-30%, (4) The losses are experienced between January and march - frost and dry season.

Natural and anthropogenic hazards are frequently responsible for disaster events, leading to damaged physical infrastructure, which can result in loss of electrical power for affected locations. Remotely-sensed, nighttime satellite imagery from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) can monitor power outages in disaster-affected areas through the identification of missing city lights. When combined with locally-relevant geospatial information, these observations can be used to estimate power outages, defined as geographic locations requiring manual intervention to restore power. In this study, we produced a power outage product based on Suomi-NPP VIIRS DNB observations to estimate power outages following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. This product, combined with known power outage data and ambient population estimates, was then used to predict power outages in a layered, feedforward neural network model. We believe this is the first attempt to synergistically combine such data sources to quantitatively estimate power outages. The VIIRS DNB power outage product was able to identify initial loss of light following Hurricane Sandy, as well as the gradual restoration of electrical power. The neural network model predicted power outages with reasonable spatial accuracy, achieving Pearson coefficients (r) between 0.48 and 0.58 across all folds. Our results show promise for producing a continental United States (CONUS)- or global-scale power outage monitoring network using satellite imagery and locally-relevant geospatial data.

There is a great reliance on symbolic messages in our society, but the success of these messages depends on how they are interpreted. The variability of subjects' interpretations of commonly used visual symbols was investigated by comparing the interpretations of a U.S. audience and a Jamaican audience. Responses of 27 executive master's in business administration (MBA) students attending the University of the West Indies in Kingston (Jamaica) were compared with those of 99 MBA students at Pennsylvania State University. Subjects identified 48 commonly used symbols. For both samples, the familiar no smoking symbol was the most recognized. However, Jamaican and U.S. students differed in their interpretation of the majority of symbols. The symbol language was developed, in part, to help international audiences navigate better in a different culture, but they do not appear to be entirely successful. The implications for the design of communicating symbols are discussed. Seven figures illustrate recognized and least recognized symbols. An appendix presents some of the symbols from the study. (SLD)

A one-year study evaluated the Human Development Program, or "Magic Circle," a project (conducted in the Tuscaloosa County (Alabama) School District) designed to explore student concerns and ideas in the areas of awareness, mastery, and social interaction and consisting of daily twenty-minute classroom meetings of teacher and pupils in a circular arrangement. The evaluation was designed to determine "Magic Circle's" effectiveness in the following areas: its ability to bring about significant changes in self-concepts and classroom achievement of elementary students and in teacher behavior; and as a means for introducing information about jobs and the world of work into ongoing classroom activities. Second, fourth, and sixth grade pupils in two schools participated in the study; one school provided treatment subjects, the other served as a control. Treatment subjects experienced daily "Magic Circle" sessions using prescribed curriculums. The control group experienced no such involvement. Pre- and postmeasures of self-concept, academic achievement, and locus of perceived control were obtained, along with periodic measures of classroom behavior and "Magic Circle" behavior. Results showed some students in the experimental group made significantly different gains in some areas, but the control group showed significantly different gains in equally relevant areas. Teacher behavior did not differ significantly in Circle activities and there was no indication that classroom behavior changed substantially from participating in the project. (Author/BL)