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This paper reports on an examination of why information searchers find search tasks difficult and the specific reasons they feel difficult. Data was collected through a controlled laboratory experiment with 32 participants, each working with 4 search tasks. They were asked in questionnaires, both before and after the tasks, for task difficulty ratings and their reasoning for giving those ratings. We developed a coding scheme based on the difficulty reasons users gave, which covered various aspects of task, user, and user-task interaction. This helps us understand search task difficulty, as well as provides a scheme for task difficulty control in experiment task design.

Research and training in atmospheric lidar remote sensing requires highly versatile software environments for both experimentation and analysis. Experimentation and analysis may be conducted either directly on site at the location of the lidar equipment and/or institutional computer center or remotely from a distant location. The requirements for lidar software environments depend not only on type of user access (remote or onsite) but also on the nature of the teaching or research missions they support and the characteristics of the lidar systems for which they are used. The software environments discussed in this paper have been used to support lidar aerosol studies in settings ranging from urban locations to a remote atmospheric baseline station. Experiments and data analysis studies have been conducted for two different ground-based lidar systems, a monostatic Micro Pulse Lidar system and a bistatic imaging lidar system. © 2013 IEEE.

We consider the problem of propagating an update to nodes in a distributed system using two gossiping protocols. The first is an idealized algorithm with static and dynamic knowledge of the system, and the second is a simple randomized algorithm. We construct a theoretical model that allows us to derive work and completion time statistics under varying transmission delay distributions. Numerical results are obtained for both exponential and nonexponential transmission times using linear-algebraic queueing theory techniques. Additionally, we present the results of simulation experiments showing that under node churn assumptions, the randomized algorithm's performance is qualitatively different than in a fault-free system. © 2010 IEEE.

Despite a substantial body of research in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs, what is missing from the existing discussion on the risk disclosure in DTCA is a focus on the roles of individual motivation and ability to process risk information. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the Motivation-Ability-Opportunity framework, the current study examines the roles of the consumer's optimism bias and subjective health literacy in responding to the risk disclosure in DTCA. By analyzing survey data (N = 404), the study reveals that: (1) consumers who show a tendency to believe that they are at less risk of experiencing adverse reactions to prescription drugs than their peers are less likely to pay attention to the risk disclosure or intend to seek further information about the health risks of drugs, (2) the relationship between optimism bias and information-seeking intentions is stronger for consumers with high subjective health literacy than for those with low health literacy. Implications and recommendations are provided.

Based on a survey with members of an online consumer panel (N= 699), this study revealed that: (a) a substantial percentage of consumers held misperceptions about the chemical imbalance theory of depression; (b) personal and interpersonal experiences with depression positively related to such misperceptions; (c) overall, exposure to direct-to-consumer (DTC) antidepressant advertising did not significantly relate to misperceptions; and (d) DTC exposure magnified misperceptions when consumers were highly trustful of DTC advertising, whereas exposure diluted misperceptions when consumers were highly skeptical. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed, especially in light of the social responsibility of DTC advertising. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Using Taylor's six-segment message strategy wheel as a theoretical framework, this study examines the communication approach (transmission or ritual) and message strategy (ego, social, sensory, routine, acute need, or ration) of cosmetic surgery websites. A content analysis revealed a fairly even division between transmission and ritual approaches. Ration strategy was the exclusive strategy in the websites adopting a transmission approach. No routine or acute need strategies were observed. Websites incorporating the ritual approach used ego, social, and sensory strategies. Human female models and natural objects were incorporated to deliver emotional persuasion. Implications for cosmetic surgery web marketers are discussed.

Out-of-class communication between faculty and students is linked to student learning, engagement, and success. As the source for mentoring, advising, and supplemental instruction, out-of-class communication and its barriers require explicit attention. Using a faculty-student collaborative research approach, we interviewed a diverse group of thirty-three undergraduates regarding behaviors, statements, and practices that contributed to or discouraged out-of-class communication. We found that in-class communication sets the stage for whether students approach faculty outside class and that faculty misbehaviors and disconfirming communication in class almost inevitably lead to out-of-class avoidance.

In 1951, prolific radio producer Harry Alan Towers created The Lives of Harry Lime, a 52-episode series starring Orson Welles. It was based on the character Welles made famous in the popular Carol Reed film, The Third Man. Its success was the result of Towers's aptitude for seeing the untapped marketing potential of an existing fictional character, combined with his facility at working through the legal restrictions, and his ability to convince a reluctant Welles to participate. This article traces the genesis, production, and distribution of the only radio series on which Welles played a recurring dramatic role, and examines Welles's limited involvement in his temporary return to radio well after becoming a filmmaker. © 2010 Broadcast Education Association.

Aphasia is a general language disorder resulting from brain damage, and alexia and agraphia are specific impairments in reading and writing, respectively. This article describes the symptoms associated with each disorder, the subtypes of each impairment, and the common causes. Assessment and management approaches consistent with the World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning (WHO-ICF) are briefly reviewed. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Background: Clinicians often teach persons with aphasia (PWA) non-verbal strategies to compensate for reduced verbal communication. The manner in which they teach the strategies may have an impact on how well PWA generalise and use the strategies. Previously, multimodal communication treatment (MCT) taught multiple modalities simultaneously. While participants demonstrated some increase in the flexible use of strategies, many communication breakdowns continued to occur. Recent research suggests that intensive treatment protocols result in the greatest increase in skills.Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine whether intensive (2-3hours/day, 5 days/week, for 2 weeks) multimodality communication training for aphasia resulted in increased successful use of verbal and non-verbal communication modalities as well as increased successful communicative repairs during structured communication tasks.Methods & Procedures: Three participants with chronic aphasia completed four baseline sessions, 10 treatment sessions across two phases (i.e., five sessions per phase), and three post-treatment sessions.Outcomes & Results: Two of the three participants demonstrated gains in the acquisition of non-verbal strategies during training and increased use of strategies on a referential communication task.Conclusions: Although MCT delivered intensely resulted in increased use of non-verbal modalities for two out of three participants, the results were similar to that achieved through the use of a non-intensive treatment protocol. Therefore, future research is needed to examine other potential modifications to maximise the gains people with aphasia receive from multimodal interventions.

Children with speech sound disorders may perceive speech differently than children with typical speech development. The nature of these speech differences is reviewed with an emphasis on assessing phoneme-specific perception for speech sounds that are produced in error. Category goodness judgment, or the ability to judge accurate and inaccurate tokens of speech sounds, plays an important role in phonological development. The software Speech Assessment and Interactive Learning System, which has been effectively used to assess preschoolers' ability to perform goodness judgments, is explored for school-aged children with residual speech errors (RSEs). However, data suggest that this particular, task may not be sensitive to perceptual differences in school-aged children. The need for the development of clinical tools for assessment of speech perception in school-aged children with RSE is highlighted, and clinical suggestions are provided.

To develop a framework for further study of pragmatic behavior in young children from African American English (AAE) speaking backgrounds, one aspect of pragmatic behavior is explored in this article, specifically, speech acts. The aims of this article are to (1) examine examples of how external taxonomies (i.e., an “etic” or “outside-in” approach) have been applied to the speech act behavior of AAE child speakers and to note that etic approaches alone do not identify cultural characteristics that influence the presentation of speech acts in this population; (2) conceptualize a culture-sensitive framework where components of AAE speech act behaviors can be identified as gleaned from existing linguistic research; and (3) explain the utility of analyses of speech act behavior using taxonomies that have emerged from the cultural language style of AAE speakers, that is, an “emic” or “inside-out” approach.

Purpose: A systematic review and synthesis was performed on published articles and dissertations produced between 1970 and 2013 that focused on selected pragmatic language behaviors of African American children and adolescents. Methods: Electronic databases and hand searches of articles located in the databases were used to identify the published articles and dissertations. Each article or dissertation was reviewed by at least 2 of the authors to determine whether it met the criteria for inclusion in this study. Selected observations of the documents that met criteria for inclusion were recorded on the Primary Research Appraisal Tool (PRAT; DeJarnette, Hyter, & Rivers, 2012), a data gathering and analysis framework developed by the authors specifically for this systematic synthesis. Results: The literature search resulted in 92 research articles and dissertations, 37 of which were eliminated because they did not meet all of the inclusion criteria. The documents that met our inclusion criteria focused primarily on the structure and/or content of narrative discourse rather than speech acts, other forms of discourse (e.g., conversation, expository), and presupposition/perspective taking skills. Six major themes identified in the major findings are used to summarize studies reviewed for this systematic synthesis. Conclusions: We (a) explain the current state of knowledge about African American pragmatic language behaviors, (b) explain major findings and implications of the extant literature in this topical area and how it may inform speech-language pathology practice, and (c) identify directions for future research on pragmatic language of African American children and adolescents.