A Life of Scholarship and Service to the Communication Discipline: Celebrating Lawrence W. Hugenberg

A tribute to the Basic Communication Course Annual\u27s founding editor, Lawrence W. Hugenberg, who died on August 11, 2008

The Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Fishery Conservation and Management Act: The Need for Balance

This article presents an analysis of those provisions of the MMPA which may impede the achievement of FCMA objectives. It is important that these possible conflicts be resolved because while the United States controls off the coast of Alaska what may be the world\u27s largest resources of fish, these same waters contain enormous numbers of marine mammals. These fishery resources, if managed rationally, can make a large contribution to the economy of the United States and to the protein needs of the world. A reasonable accommodation between the MMPA and the FCMA must be found in order to achieve that possibility

Conceptualization and operationalization: utility of communication privacy management theory

Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory explains one of the most important, yet challenging social processes in everyday life, that is, managing disclosing and protecting private information. The CPM privacy management system offers researchers, students, and the public a comprehensive approach to the complex and fluid character of privacy management in action. Following an overview of Communication Privacy Management framework, this review focuses on recent research utilizing CPM concepts that cross a growing number of contexts and illustrates the way people navigate privacy in action. Researchers operationalize the use of privacy rules and other core concepts that help describe and explain the ups and downs of privacy management people encounter

The Influence of Biological Sex, Previous Experience, and Preparation Time on Classroom Public Speaking Grades

How does biological sex affect public speaking grades? Students completed journal entries over the course of the semester. Hierarchical multiple regression incrementally examined competency measures (previous experience and overall preparation time) then biological sex on public speaking grade averages. Competency measures predicted higher speech grade averages, but women still earned higher speech grades even after the effects of competency had been removed. Among the explanations offered are that women may be more competent than men, a combination of competence and compliance explains women’s higher grades, or public speaking classrooms perpetuate a female competency bias

Perspectives on Teaching the Family Communication Course

This article discusses what undergraduate students enrolled in a family communication course should learn. It is intended to provide readers with a general direction on how to design or teach a family communication course so that students understand a communication-centered approach to family. This article highlightssome of the foundational theories and concepts grounding most family communication courses, content areas typically addressed when considering the family communication course, possible assignments that might be useful in teaching the course, and relevant issues related to teaching family communication. If instructors thoughtfully consider content and assignment decisions in the family communication course, they have the potential to help students think about family communication in more nuanced and informed ways as they navigate family bonds as scholars and practitioners

Competent Public Speaking: Assessing Skill Development in the Basic Course

Effective public speaking skills are essential for a successful life. The authors provide an overall assessment of the basic public speaking course by examining fifteen student attributes divided into three categories (course engagement characteristics, dispositions, and demographics) hypothesized to affect learning and public speaking skill development in the basic course. A four-step hierarchical multiple regression tested two research questions (N = 709). Course engagement characteristics improved students’ public-speaking grade averages, but dispositions did not. The effects of demographic characteristics, particularly biological sex, were not eliminated after controlling for course engagement and dispositional factors (twelve variables). Implications and limitations of the study are addressed

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is associated with a variant in low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality and has a significant heritability. We carried out a genome-wide association discovery study of 1866 patients with AAA and 5435 controls and replication of promising signals (lead SNP with a p value < 1 × 10-5) in 2871 additional cases and 32,687 controls and performed further follow-up in 1491 AAA and 11,060 controls. In the discovery study, nine loci demonstrated association with AAA (p < 1 × 10-5). In the replication sample, the lead SNP at one of these loci, rs1466535, located within intron 1 of low-density-lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) demonstrated significant association (p = 0.0042). We confirmed the association of rs1466535 and AAA in our follow-up study (p = 0.035). In a combined analysis (6228 AAA and 49182 controls), rs1466535 had a consistent effect size and direction in all sample sets (combined p = 4.52 × 10-10, odds ratio 1.15 [1.10-1.21]). No associations were seen for either rs1466535 or the 12q13.3 locus in independent association studies of coronary artery disease, blood pressure, diabetes, or hyperlipidaemia, suggesting that this locus is specific to AAA. Gene-expression studies demonstrated a trend toward increased LRP1 expression for the rs1466535 CC genotype in arterial tissues; there was a significant (p = 0.029) 1.19-fold (1.04-1.36) increase in LRP1 expression in CC homozygotes compared to TT homozygotes in aortic adventitia. Functional studies demonstrated that rs1466535 might alter a SREBP-1 binding site and influence enhancer activity at the locus. In conclusion, this study has identified a biologically plausible genetic variant associated specifically with AAA, and we suggest that this variant has a possible functional role in LRP1 expression

Mortality Surveillance Methods to Identify and Characterize Deaths in Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Network Sites

Despite reductions over the past 2 decades, childhood mortality remains high in low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In these settings, children often die at home, without contact with the health system, and are neither accounted for, nor attributed with a cause of death. In addition, when cause of death determinations occur, they often use nonspecific methods. Consequently, findings from models currently utilized to build national and global estimates of causes of death are associated with substantial uncertainty. Higher-quality data would enable stakeholders to effectively target interventions for the leading causes of childhood mortality, a critical component to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by eliminating preventable perinatal and childhood deaths. The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network tracks the causes of under-5 mortality and stillbirths at sites in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through comprehensive mortality surveillance, utilizing minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS), postmortem laboratory and pathology testing, verbal autopsy, and clinical and demographic data. CHAMPS sites have established facility- and community-based mortality notification systems, which aim to report potentially eligible deaths, defined as under-5 deaths and stillbirths within a defined catchment area, within 24-36 hours so that MITS can be conducted quickly after death. Where MITS has been conducted, a final cause of death is determined by an expert review panel. Data on cause of death will be provided to local, national, and global stakeholders to inform strategies to reduce perinatal and childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia