Usage and Usability Assessment

Abstract

This article describes Online Information Exchange (ONIX) for Serials, a set of XML-based messages parallel to the ONIX for Books format described in an earlier “Standards Update.” These messages are being developed by a joint working party of National Information Standards Organization (NISO) and EDItEUR, the European EDI organization that oversees ONIX development and maintenance. The article describes the messages, their development, and some of the applications in which it is envisioned the messages will be used.     

Research Learning Attributes of Graduate Students in Social Work,Psychology, and Business

Although research teaching literature suggests that social work students may have different research learning attributes than students in other disciplines, minimal data exist to support this view. This study compared the self-reported research anxiety, computer anxiety, and research orientations of 149 full-time graduate social work, psychology, and business students at a research university. Social work students reported more research and computer anxiety and generally believed that research was less important to their profession than students in the comparison groups. Implications for teaching research to social work graduate students are discussed.     

Leader–member exchange,shared values,and performance: Agreement and levels of analysis do matter

In this study, we first investigate the levels of analysis at which leader–member exchange (LMX) operates; second, we examine the nature of the LMX–performance relationship when a superior and a subordinate agree as compared to disagree concerning the quality of their exchange; third, we test the effect of superior–subordinate agreement about work values on the LMX–performance relationship; and fourth, we simultaneously consider the effects of LMX agreement–disagreement and values agreement–disagreement on the LMX–performance relationship. Our findings indicate that LMX operates primarily at the independent dyad level of analysis. We also found that LMX and performance are most strongly related and display the strongest dyadic-level effects when superior and subordinate assessments of LMX and values are in agreement.     

Photography,cinema and medium as social practice

One of the more interesting aspects of the dialogue between the mediums of the still and moving image that has taken place over recent years has been a concern within fine-art photography for the cinematic. Photographers have turned to the style and iconography of the established genres of cinema as a means of reinventing the pictorial form of the tableau and thereby to explore the possibilities of narrativity within the static image. However, beyond any aesthetic interest the contemporary genre of the ‘cinematic photograph’ may hold, it is argued here that it may be indicative of an important shift in the social, economic and technological bases of fine-art photography. This essay suggests that the significance of the ‘cinematic photograph’ lies in its complex forms of technical production, the mobilisation of skilled labour and professional expertise, and the deployment of substantial economic resources, which are to be found in the film industry. Through an analysis of the work of the American photographer Gregory Crewdson, the authors demonstrate how the formal and iconographic properties of his images are inseparable from his adoption of the cinema's specific modes of production and that the latter is central to a reading of Crewdson's photographs. The consequences this holds for our understanding of the medium of photography are developed with reference to Raymond Williams's concept of ‘medium as social practice’. The authors conclude that the ‘cinematic photograph’ might be regarded as symptomatic of a trend within contemporary art practices to model themselves on cinema as the emblematic form of cultural production of ‘late capitalism’, a trend that has significant implications for the dominant conceptions concerning the nature of the work of art and the role of the artist.     

Nurses' representations of the perceived causes of work-related stress: A network drawing approach

This paper reports a study, involving a network drawing approach, that examined how nurses perceive the interrelationship between causes of workplace stress. Network analysis originated in sociology as a method of examining the relationship between people, objects or events. It has recently been adapted to examine participants' perceptions of the relationships between causes of a phenomenon, either by asking participants to complete a grid rating the strength of all the possible links between causes or by getting them to draw a diagram of the links that they think are important. The network drawing technique, in which participants are asked to draw a diagram indicating perceived causal links between nominated causes of stress and also to indicate the strength of these links, was employed in this study. The causes of stress were taken from a previous study in which nurses kept a diary for one week detailing stressful events and their causes. There were 48 participants in the present study and the main results confirmed the importance of staffing levels and inadequate support as perceived direct causes of stress. The study also revealed the importance of indirect links between staffing levels and other causes of stress. The networks illustrate how direct and mediating causes of stress are connected and lie largely outside nurses' control. The results are discussed in relation to other recent work on the causes and experience of stress by nursing staff.     

Building a youth-led movement to keep young people out of the adult criminal justice system

Through the lens of the Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP), this article explores the impact that the adult criminal justice system has on young people and how young men and women in Philadelphia are organizing to challenge that system. YASP has developed an innovative model for supporting and training young people in Philadelphia's adult jails and recently released from the adult jails to build a youth-led movement to repeal adult transfer laws in Pennsylvania. Through stories of personal experience and collective struggle, this chapter illustrates the power of young people taking back control of their city, their state, and their own destinies.     

Markovian assignment rules

We analyze dynamic assignment problems where agents successively receive different objects (positions, offices, etc.). A finite set of n vertically differentiated indivisible objects are assigned to n agents who live n periods. At each period, a new agent enters society, and the oldest agent retires, leaving his object to be reassigned. We define independent assignment rules (where the assignment of an object to an agent is independent of the way other objects are allocated to other agents), efficient assignment rules (where there does not exist another assignment rule with larger expected surplus), and fair assignment rules (where agents experiencing the same circumstances have identical histories in the long run). When agents are homogenous, we characterize efficient, independent and fair rules as generalizations of the seniority rule. When agents draw their types at random, we prove that independence and efficiency are incompatible, and that efficient and fair rules only exist when there are two types of agents. We characterize two simple rules (type-rank and type-seniority) which satisfy both efficiency and fairness criteria in dichotomous settings.     

Coping Strategies for Victims of Crime: Effects of the Use of Emotion-Focused,Problem-Focused,and Avoidance-Oriented Coping

Assessment of coping strategies of crime victims is an integral function of the ensuing well-being for those victims. This study examines the relationship between coping strategies and levels of distress, social support, and subjective well-being among victims of crime. Interviews were conducted with 175 crime victims. Findings indicate a complex relationship between and among variables. A positive relationship was found between emotion-focused coping and well-being. Additionally, an inverse relationship between avoidance-oriented coping and well-being, social support, and levels of distress was found.     

Results of the Doctoral Faculty Publication Project

Results of this longitudinal study of the 1990s revealed that 12 of 61 doctoral faculties (20%) were responsible for 43% of journal articles published. Publication rates of these faculties appeared to accelerate in the 1990s and correlated positively with measures of program size and longevity. However, when all variables were controlled, the perceived academic quality of MSW programs was the sole correlate of faculty publication. Overwhelmingly, faculties of US News and World Report’s most highly rated MSW programs at the end of the decade were also the most frequently published. Implications of these findings are identified and discussed.