This study was an attempt to determine if cognitive style could be used as a predictor of mediated information sources. The study posed the general question: are individual preferences for different media as information sources related to an individual's "cognitive style?" The purpose of the study was to extend theories on predicting the use of mediated messages through the application of cognitive style research. Specifically this study attempts to determine whether cognitive style variables are related to individuals' uses of mass media news sources. To test this question, cognitive style was compared to current predictors of media use (demographics and psychographics) to determine if cognitive style explained variance beyond that accounted for by the currently accepted constructs. / The subjects for this study consisted of 510 undergraduate and graduate students at Auburn University. All participants were given the Witkin Group Embedded Figures Test and a media questionnaire. The data analysis included: binomial probability statistics, chi square, factor analysis and multiple regression, and discriminate analysis. / Major findings were: (1) Cognitive style accounted for only 0.12 percent of the variance in predicting media use for information. This small amount of variance accounted for was not statistically significant and may be due to chance. (2) Highly field-dependent subjects were more likely to use television for news than newspapers. However, in this study, all subjects generally used television more for news than newspapers. (3) Post hoc analysis indicated that cognitive style was statistically significant in predicting local media behavior (university town newspaper and local television station newscasts). / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1571. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 32-03, Section: A, page: 1544. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1971.

The following thesis is a discussion of the radical activist Abbie Hoffman's theatrical work to revolutionize the United States. What the author does is explain the historical uniqueness of Hoffman's theatrical techniques as tools for social change. What made Abbie Hoffman such a unique character from that already bizarre and devastating time in the United States known as The Sixties was his ability to infuse pot with politics, fun with social activism and cultural change with his contemporary means of communication. He was able to excite and activate a whole generation of people who would otherwise drop out of society rather than become involved by walking a thin line between being a revolutionary and being a clown. The thesis begins by focusing on Hoffman's early guerrilla theater performances and proceeds to his larger, nationally focused demonstrations in Washington D.C. and Chicago. Each chapter extrapolates from the descriptions of the performances the theories which influenced the subsequent performance. The culmination of Abbie's work is his highly publicized trial (with seven other defendants) in Chicago for the riots that took place there the previous year. What we are made to understand is that while Abbie and most of the other radicals of the time are often brushed off as stoned freaks with nothing to offer in the way of social improvement, it is exactly their ability to volley between being taken seriously and being overlooked which allowed them to get away with saying and doing so much.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Dan C. Boger, Erik Jansen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-77). Also available online.

Television news plays an increasingly important role in the interpretation of political events for most Americans, particularly when negative outcomes demand responsibility. The aim of this study was to assess if the major networks attributed more blame to the Republican Congress than to the President in their broadcast coverage of the 1995-1996 federal government shutdowns, to examine the news framing of this event, and to examine the characteristics of the audiovisual messages. Findings suggest that the Republican Congress was blamed more for the shutdowns and received more negative audio and visual attributions than the President. Findings suggest that while the networks presented the shutdowns through more strategy than issue frames, a human-interest frame was identified as a dominant theme throughout the coverage. Results did not support the hypothesized relationship between frames and visual images. Theoretical, methodological and applied implications for political media and suggestions for future research are advanced.

This article discusses how the accessibility of information through the Internet and other communication means can help improve life quality, especially the quality of health care in developing areas.

This thesis describes the measurement of the selectivity factors and radiation resistances of resonant circuits consisting of sections of open parallel-wire transmission line terminated at each end by equal diameter transverse metallic discs. Selectivity factors of 2,000 to 3,500 are easily obtained with these circuits. These high Q's occur for resonant sections, only a few half-wavelengths in length, when the diameters of the discs are in the broad region of 2.5 lambda to 3.5 lambda.

The principles involved in determining the frequency-time distribution of energy in gliding tones are described. Particular attention is paid to whistling atmospherics. Part I is intended as a guide to the practicability of designing high-speed automatic equipment for producing a graphical record of such a distribution.

Marcel Duchamp's speech "The Creative Act" and the context of its delivery at the American Federation of Arts (A.F.A.) convention in Houston, Texas, in 1957 reveal the manifold nature of American art discourse during the second half of the 1950s. In contrast to overly-simplified histories of the period which maintain that formal concerns and artist-centered criticism predominated, this paper determines that Duchamp's speech and its acknowledgment of the spectator are not unusual for 1957. Nor is Duchamp as author completely consistent with the ideas of critical "indifference" said to be present in the speech. On the contrary, the artist, his speech, and the 1957 A.F.A. convention are reflective of their complex history: of the political and economic climate of the mid 1950s, of both American and French aesthetic philosophy, of a growing popular interest in the arts, and of the growing media presence within American art discourse.

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