Communication Chain Research Articles

Censorship by Proxy: The First Amendment, Internet Intermediaries, and the Problem of the Weakest Link

The rise of the Internet has changed the First Amendment drama, for governments confront technical and political obstacles to sanctioning either speakers or listeners in cyberspace. Faced with these challenges, regulators have fallen back on alternatives, predicated on the fact that, in contrast to the usual free expression scenario, the Internet is not dyadic. The Internet's resistance to direct regulation of speakers and listeners rests on a complex chain of connections, and emerging regulatory mechanisms have begun to focus on the weak links in that chain. Rather than attacking speakers or listeners directly, governments have sought to enlist private actors within the chain as proxy censors to control the flow of information. Some commentators have celebrated such indirect methods of governmental control as salutary responses to threatening cyberanarchy. This Article takes a more jaundiced view of these developments: I begin by mapping the ubiquity of efforts to enlist Internet intermediaries as proxy censors. I emphasize the dangers to free expression that are likely to arise from attempts to target weak links in the chain of Internet communications and cast doubt on the claim that market mechanisms can be relied upon to dispel them. I then proceed to explore the doctrinal resources that can meet those dangers. The gambit of enlisting the private sector to establish a system to control expression is not new in the United States. I argue that the First Amendment doctrines developed in response to the last such focused effort, during the McCarthy era, provide a series of useful starting points for a First Amendment doctrine to protect the weak links of the Internet.

Cultural and communicational traits of oral health care: results of a Finnish case study

This paper aims to describe the cultural and communicational traits of Finnish oral health care. First, employees' views and experiences regarding their organization and their position within it are investigated and, second, relations between different individual and organizational factors are analyzed. Finally, a conceptual framework of organizational coherence is constructed. The paper shows that data collection (n = 58, 84 percent response rate) was carried out in 2002 at a Finnish dental clinic by using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed statistically by using, among other things, non-parametric tests and a structural equation model (LISREL) and qualitatively by using content analysis. The paper finds that the organization was described as role-dependent and task-centered. Unidirectional chain of communication and responsibility for interaction were observed as the descriptive traits of communication, regardless of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the communication. Developmental challenges involved opportunities to exert influence in the organization as well as giving and receiving feedback in leadership relations. It was found that a good sense of one's position in the organization was positively associated with several essential experiences (e.g. confidence, openness and equality), regarding organizational factors. It appears in this paper likely that, by adopting the perspective of organizational coherence, it will be possible to approach the reality of an oral health care organization. As such a new and informative perspective is added.

Impact of the Internet on the services aspect of the STM publishing business

We have heard at this conference many presentations about the tremendous changes in information technology, in navigation across information sources, in archiving, and it is clear that there are many innovative forces and actors in the sector of science information and publishing. I would like to speak with you this afternoon about my own observations as to the impact of these innovations and innovators on traditional science publishers. Although I am a lawyer for a publishing company, I am not going to be speaking about legal issues per se (the other lawyers on this panel no doubt will cover many important legal issues), although of course I am happy to answer questions about the legal implications of what I have to say. One of the most interesting things about the Internet is the way it can revolutionize roles in any information or distribution chain, especially if the “product” is something that can be inherently digital and delivered online (as opposed to selling cars). Equally important is the increasing ability to create online communities and to facilitate direct communications among previously disparate groups. In the STM publishing sector, customer libraries who traditionally bought materials for their local community can create (and are creating) digital collections for access by consumers outside the traditional user group (whether through licenses or sometimes controversially, as with the Google Library project, without licenses!). So customers have become distributors. I have a few examples on the screen of libraries and library organizations involved in such ventures such as the British Library and Subito. Similarly, subscription agents, traditionally distributors of scholarly journals, can provide extensive back-office functions for publishers and have become part of the outsourcing of “business” aspects of publishing. This shot of EBSCO shows some of their capability in this area. Swets and other agents are also providing greater e-resources of many types. Researchers and research institutions are also becoming publishers – actually this is nothing new, most scholarly publishing started at universities and institutions and much is still done directly by those institutions – but the Internet clearly provides greater visibility and inter-connectedness for new journals and new journal-like repositories. We have also seen funding agencies act more like publishers. The DSpace and Southampton projects are good examples of institutional repositories. Stanford’s High Wire Press “spin-off” a good example of a collaborative effort to create a hosting platform. One important strategic question for traditional publishers, in the light of these changing roles of stakeholders in the scholarly communication chain, is whether and to what extent the publishers need to change their roles and provide greater or different value to their communities of users and customers. We have heard during this conference some scholarly publishers describe their own strategic approaches, and my own view is that STM publishing is one of the most innovative sector in all of publishing and in many respects leads the pack of copyright content industries. STM journal publishers have had

WHAT IS “NATIONAL IDENTITY”? DEFINITIONS AND APPLICATIONS IN MODERN BRITISH HISTORIOGRAPHY

“National identity” is one of those concepts, like “political culture”, which historians have somewhat casually borrowed from the social sciences and then used promiscuously for their own purposes. Over twenty years ago Philip Gleason wrote a wise and prescient (yet sadly underappreciated) essay on the origins of the concept of “identity” in the 1950s, warning historians that already then it had two quite distinct—psychological and sociological—meanings that needed to be distinguished to retain any conceptual clarity. Since then our own use of it has proliferated uncontrollably, and the original confusion identified by Gleason has been compounded by many others. The chain of communication between the concept's progenitors and its present-day users is now so long and so fragmentary that our usage may bear little or no relation to the discourse that Gleason described. There may be nothing wrong with this state of affairs; historians may have found their own value in the term, which need not necessarily be validated by social science. Yet social scientists have continued to work with “identity”, and have puzzled much further over its possible meaning and utility with a degree of conceptual rigour that historians do not usually share. And we continue to validate our own use of the term by reference to an increasingly shadowy and distant social science whence it came. Accordingly it may be useful to look more closely at what social scientists think “national identity” is, and how it operates in human minds and societies. This essay attempts a brief exploration of that kind and then applies its findings to the recent historiography of “national identity” in modern Britain.

Serials Industry

ABSTRACT This panel, comprising experts from an academic library, a publisher and two vendor companies, engaged the audience and each other in a series of discussions on the problems and challenges currently facing each of the active members in the scholarly communication chain. The primary topics covered were: the recent flurry of cancellations of e-journal packages by libraries and consortia, evaluating vendor sustainability, jobbing orders (or “where do you put your eggs”), the cri-(c) 2006 by the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Opening Our Doors for All Newborns: Caring for Displaced Neonates: Intrastate

Woman’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, one of the first women’s specialty hospitals in the nation, is a 225-bed, private, not-for-profit organization that delivers more than 8000 infants each year. Sick newborns and infants less than 1 year of age are cared for in the 83-bed Center for Newborn and Infant Care, comprised of a level III-C NICU,1 special care nursery (level II), developmental nursery, infant care center, and neonatal surgery center. A private physician group consisting of 9 neonatologists and 2 neonatal nurse practitioners (NNPs) provide in-house coverage on a 24/7 basis. The hospital employs 4 NNPs to serve as transport NNPs. The Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) designated Woman’s Hospital as the referral center for high-risk obstetrical patients and neonates for both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In a period of 5 days, 87 neonates were transferred to Woman’s Hospital during Hurricane Katrina, and transports were arranged for an additional 34 infants to other facilities. Twenty-one neonates were transferred to Woman’s Hospital during Hurricane Rita. ### Peak Census: 61; Midnight Census: 56* Katrina, still in the Gulf of Mexico, became a category 2 hurricane, and by 11 pm, the landfall forecast was for just east of New Orleans, Louisiana.2 We knew Baton Rouge would experience some type of adverse weather. The Hospital Emergency Incident Command System contains 4 increasing states of storm readiness based on the type of tropical storm/hurricane watches and warnings issued for Baton Rouge. Level 2 was implemented, which included fueling of emergency power generator tanks, establishment of alternate communications, updating departmental emergency call lists, stocking of hospital linen, replenishment of emergency food and drinkable water supplies, battery charging on portable equipment, and an evaluation of current medication supplies in the pharmacy, with procurement of additional needed emergency medications. ### Peak Census: 59; Midnight Census: 54 Katrina became a category 3 hurricane. During the day, the … Address correspondence to Steven B. Spedale, MD, FAAP, PO Box 45171, Baton Rouge, LA 70895-4171. E-mail: steve.spedale{at}infamedics.com

Mediator as a General Transcription Factor

Others have shown that yeast strains bearing a ts mutation in the Srb4 subunit of Mediator cease transcription of all mRNA at the restrictive temperature, in a manner virtually indistinguishable from a strain bearing a ts mutation in the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II. We find that srb4ts Mediator is defective for the stimulation of basal RNA polymerase II transcription at the restrictive temperature in vitro. Taken together, these findings lead to the suggestion that Mediator is required for basal RNA polymerase II transcription in vivo. On this basis, Mediator is identified as a general transcription factor, comparable in importance to RNA polymerase II and other general factors for the initiation of transcription. The possibility that Mediator serves as an anti-inhibitor, opposing the effects of global negative regulators, is largely excluded.

On the adaptive DVB-S2 physical layer: design and performance

The successful DVB standard has now evolved into the DVB-S2 standard, which promises to bring very significant capacity gains. The main DVB-S2 feature is its adaptive air interface, where coding and modulation techniques are varied flexibly to maximize performance and coverage. This article addresses the design of the entire DVB-S2 communication chain, considering practical algorithms for coding, modulation, predistortion, carrier and SNR estimation, frame synchronization, and data recovery. The design complexity is exacerbated by the fact that DVB-S2 foresees 28 different coding/modulation pairs, demanding specific optimization and variable frame length. The performance achieved considering all possible impairments is compared to the ideal performance achievable in the Gaussian channel in terms of integral degradation, which ranges from 0.4 to 2,5 dB in going from QPSK to 32-APSK.

3G telecommunication operators’ challenges and roles: A perspective of mobile commerce value chain

In recent years, in the wake of the bottleneck facing the e-commerce development, mobile commerce is another type of service many expect to utilize and develop. In the past, influenced by the bandwidth limitation, the promotion of mobile commerce was not successful. Now, the 3G technology has broken through the limitation, allowing a higher transmission rate and more complex e-commerce interactions. The mobile commerce value chain is then formed. On this value chain, 3G telecommunication operators are the most crucial members. Moreover, mobile commerce value chain is essentially the aggregation of the conventional mobile communication value chain and Internet value chain. The business models and value chains of the conventional mobile communication and the Internet may not completely apply. Thus, a further investigation into the roles that 3G telecommunication operators play on the mobile commerce value chain is indeed necessary. As a result, based on the value chain, this study attempts to investigate the present and future challenges for 3G telecommunication operators and their advantages, to outline the roles they may play in the future development of mobile commerce.

Communication Networks from the Enron Email Corpus “It's Always About the People. Enron is no Different”

The Enron email corpus is appealing to researchers because it represents a rich temporal record of internal communication within a large, real-world organization facing a severe and survival-threatening crisis. We describe how we enhanced the original corpus database and present findings from our investigation undertaken with a social network analytic perspective. We explore the dynamics of the structure and properties of the organizational communication network, as well as the characteristics and patterns of communicative behavior of the employees from different organizational levels. We found that during the crisis period, communication among employees became more diverse with respect to established contacts and formal roles. Also during the crisis period, previously disconnected employees began to engage in mutual communication, so that interpersonal communication was intensified and spread through the network, bypassing formal chains of communication. The findings of this study provide valuable insight into a real-world organizational crisis, which may be further used for validating or developing theories and dynamic models of organizational crises; thereby leading to a better understanding of the underlying causes of, and response to, organization failure.

Convergence of behaviour change models for AIDS risk reduction in sub‐Saharan Africa

There is increasing programme focus on the impact of HIV and AIDS and the advances in biomedical research that are taking central stage even in sub-Saharan Africa. Perhaps out of frustration, communication and behaviour change efforts are receiving lesser attention. But as long as heterosexual intercourse remains the predominant means of transmission of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, there is the inherent danger of more people getting infected thus mopping up the gains from other approaches. This paper therefore argues for evidence based behaviour change interventions in sub-Saharan Africa, revisits the behaviour change theories and their relevance to the African situation. It proposes an integration of models based on the convergence of three existing theories of social learning, diffusion of innovation and social networks and the author's understanding of some African culture. The beauty of the model is based on the fact that 'social norms are best understood and influenced at the level of social networks'; existing chains of communication and the naturalness of exchange of information. A case is made for application of the 'model' to precipitate sexual behaviour change and HIV reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.

Instantaneous information propagation in a traffic stream through inter-vehicle communication

The advancement of wireless communication technology has made possible the consideration of inter-vehicle communication as a foundation for developing decentralized advanced transportation information systems that would function as a sort of “internet on the road”. In this paper, we discuss the reliability of inter-vehicle communication in a traffic stream, dependent on the distribution of equipped vehicles. With the assumption that information propagation is instantaneous compared to vehicle movements, the reliability is measured by the probability of success for information to travel beyond a location; stochastic models are presented for both uniform and general traffic streams. In the models, the traffic stream is divided into a series of cells based on the transmission range, the structure of possible most-forward-within-range communication chains is clarified, the probabilities for information to travel to and beyond a vehicle at a certain hop are computed regressively, and the lower bound of the absolute success rate for information to travel beyond a point is determined. Based on the models, we examine the performance of information propagation for different penetration rates, transmission ranges, and traffic scenarios that include gaps and shock waves. Finally, some implications and future extensions of this effort are discussed.

Communication Chains: A Methodology for Assessing the Effects of the Internet on Communication and Travel

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments Data collection was funded by the California Department of Transportation Traffic Operations Program, and previous analysis of the data was funded by the Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) program of California. The current analysis was supported through a University of California Transportation Center research fellowship awarded to the first author. This project would not have been possible without the help of the individuals responsible for implementing the Davis Community Network, including Vicki Suter, Russ Hobby, Joan Gargano, and others. David Stanek and Michael Bagley contributed to the design of the data collection instruments, as well as through ongoing discussion. Krishna Varma and Prasuna Reddy provided data entry, initial analysis, and report-writing. Ilan Salomon and Hani Mahmassani also offered their invaluable insights to this study, while Daniel Sperling and Debbie Niemeier provided critical input to the initial Master's thesis that laid the groundwork for this paper. Last but not least, we are grateful to the DCN system users who completed the surveys that provided us with the data used in this study.

The making of mitteldeutschland. on the function of implicit and explicit symbolic features for implementing regions and regional identity

: According to the theory of ‘significative regionalisation’ (Werlen), territorial entities may be understood as products of symbolic practices. However, the assumption that regions are not only made but also continuously performed in acts of communication effects the character of substantial research into ostensible and latent spatial imaginations apparent in communication processes. In this article, the reactivation of Mitteldeutschland (literally the ‘centre of Germany’) in a televisionseries about the region's history is the empirical starting point for conceptualizing contemporary processes of symbolic regionalization. The approach taken covers the entire communication chain from the editorial process to the film material up to everyday language use of the programs target group. Three empirical studies with specific methods of research (hermeneutics, argumentation analysis and semi‐structured interviews) illustrate this interlinked process. As an analytical tool, a fundamental distinction between implicit ‘common places’ of spatial representation and more obvious and thus negotiable explicit features of spatial signification is suggested. The analysis elucidates that — even under conditions of contemporary globalization — the massmedia reproduce traditional practices of spatial representation, as, for instance, a persistent and taken‐for‐granted use of container images indicates. Regarding the explicit features, however, the medias' influence seems to be quite low. Mitteldeutschland's geography, as proposed by the television program, is questioned and negotiated in everyday symbolic practice. Up until now, the region thus remains continuously ‘under construction’.

DVB‐S2 modem algorithms design and performance over typical satellite channels

AbstractIn this paper we propose a design of the main modulation and demodulation units of a modem compliant with the new DVB‐S2 standard (Int. J. Satellite Commun. 2004; 22:249–268). A typical satellite channel model consistent with the targeted applications of the aforementioned standard is assumed. In particular, non‐linear pre‐compensation as well as synchronization techniques are described in detail and their performance assessed by means of analysis and computer simulations. The proposed algorithms are shown to provide a good trade‐off between complexity and performance and they apply to both the broadcast and the unicast profiles, the latter allowing the exploitation of adaptive coding and modulation (ACM) (Proceedings of the 20th AIAA Satellite Communication Systems Conference, Montreal, AIAA‐paper 2002‐1863, May 2002). Finally, end‐to‐end system performances in term of BER versus the signal‐to‐noise ratio are shown as a result of extensive computer simulations. The whole communication chain is modelled in these simulations, including the BCH and LDPC coder, the modulator with the pre‐distortion techniques, the satellite transponder model with its typical impairments, the downlink chain inclusive of the RF‐front‐end phase noise, the demodulator with the synchronization sub‐system units and finally the LDPC and BCH decoders. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organizational Warning Systems: A Probabilistic Approach to Optimal Design

The optimization of warning systems includes the choice of signals to be monitored, the sensitivity of the alert level and the response to these signals. In organizations that design or manage complex, risk-critical systems, the problem is not only the observation of a signal, but also its accurate communication to the appropriate decision maker, and the actions that he or she can take upon receiving the signals given the state of deterioration of the physical system at that time. In this paper, we describe an analytical framework focused on organization performance, based on decision analysis and probability, to design and optimize such a warning system from a management perspective. The probability of failure during the time it takes to observe a signal, decide of its importance, and communicate a warning, and the time elapsed between the occurrence of an accident initiator and the events that follow, including the action taken in response, are computed in parallel, using a dynamic probabilistic risk analysis, assuming a Markov (or semi-Markov) evolution process when appropriate. The analysis then allows optimization of the choice of signals to be observed, the design of the communication chain, the filtering of the information, and the response at the appropriate management level. The questions are thus: What is the value (in terms of risk reduction) of a warning system of given structure and procedures? And what is its optimal configuration? The optimization model presented here reflects the nature of the engineering system to be monitored, the communication structure within the organization that designs or manages it, errors that can occur in the communication phase, the best action(s) of the decision maker once he or she receives a warning signal, and the expected value of the costs, including those of system failure. The schematic example of inspection and maintenance of an airplane is used throughout the paper to illustrate, at a very simplified level, the creation and evaluation of this model.

‘Magic Bits of Paste-board’

‘Magic Bits of Paste-board’

‘Translator‐Centredness’

This article presents a concept of ‘translator‐centredness’ which challenges the theories of the two poles of ‘source text‐centered’ and ‘target text‐centered’ that have predominated in studies of translation. The concept is discussed on the basis of previous translator studies and from different perspectives on such factors as the basic triangle of ‘source text‐translator‐translated text’, differences in translations of the same author or work, and translation practice, etc. By confirming the centredness of translators in the chain of translational communication, the author argues that the translator‐centered concept would not only help legitimize the translator's central status and dominant role in translating, but also serve as a theoretical prop to justify the translator's subjectivity, creativity, and authority in the translation process. This article, therefore, also becomes an exhortation to focus more on the ‘realities’ of translation by positioning the translator central in translating.

Time-Series Designs and Analyses

AbstractThis article describes the way time-series designs are used in research on international negotiation and related processes. Both quantitative and qualitative applications are discussed. One use of the techniques is to predict known outcomes of historical cases of negotiation. Both inductive and deductive approaches have been used in studies that evaluate alternative models of the way that negotiators respond to each other through the course of the talks. Another use of the techniques is to evaluate the impacts of such interventions as mediations or combat (referred to as interruptions) on the dynamics of conflict between nations. A third approach involves probabilistic forecasting with Bayesian analysis. This consists of revising initial probabilities of events (coups, peace agreements) based on current information about indicators that signal the occurrence of the event. Qualitative techniques have also been used to capture changes in conflict processes over time. These include charting changes in typological categories or in the use of influence strategies used by national actors in enduring rivalries. They also include tracing of paths to agreement or stalemate in negotiation, documenting progress in small-group dialogues, and developing chains of communication leading to peace agreements. By combining several of these techniques an analyst can draw conclusions about the likelihood that an event will occur (Bayesian analysis), its impact on a process (interrupted time series), and the way it emerged from prior events (process tracing).

Individual article supply: some strategic directions

Examines the increase in individual article supply and the resultant effects on journal subscriptions and site licensing, noting that pressure on library budgets has resulted in subscription cancellations but an increase in separates ordering, via document delivery and interlibrary loan (ILL). Increasingly sophisticated search and navigation tools enable users to navigate from a variety of primary, secondary and tertiary resources directly to an article – regardless of where the article is hosted or by which vendor it is sold. The implications for all the participants in the scholarly communications chain are examined and some pertinent questions are asked, including: does individual article supply erode existing publisher business; does the big (consortia) deal provide more value; and is ILL the most economical form of individual article supply? Concludes that both publishers and libraries must re‐examine their business models to counteract end‐users seeking freely available Web‐based or e‐print material, which is undermining the traditional, peer‐reviewed, scholarly communications process.