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Any attempt to study the cassette recorder as an educational tool will inevitably involve a comparison with the more traditional reel-to-reel tape-recorder on both a functional and performance level.

This ethogram of the fighting and sexual behaviour of European wild hogs is supposed to serve as a basis for further research on the social behaviour of Sus scrofa L. The observations were recorded in writing respectively on cassette recorder as well as photographed and filmed. Behaviour patterns of the European wild hogs which were wrongly interpreted or not yet described could be documented. Being comparatively original, omnivorous social Artiodactyla, Suidae are well comparable with other Artiodactyla, with Perissodactyla, Carnivora and their domesticated types. There might also be references to the origin and development of behaviour patterns in various zoological categories or on reductions of social behaviour in domestication.

A semi-automated system is described for use in research in biofeedback-assisted muscular relaxation therapy. The system employs a cassette tape recorder for presentation of instructions and for program control signals, programming modules for timing and gating EMG feedback and EMG recording intervals, a Kodak Carousel programmer to interface the cassette recorder with the programming system, and an EMG processor wired for external timing of feedback and counting of averaged EMG activity. A description of the current functioning of the system is presented, along with possible extensions.

The application of a magnetic cassette recorder and a simple solid state circuit as a programmer for cryopreservation equipment is described. Advantages of this system include: (1) ease and flexibility in programming complex time/temperature relationships; (2) incorporation of many experimental variations into single programs.

Language laboratory programmes have most regretabbly come to be regarde as media solely for laboratory use, and the potentialities of the audio-visually equipped classroom have been widely neglected. Furthermore, progress in materials development has had much greater didactic relevance than technical advances in laboratory equipment. The language laboratory has in many schools merely provided an alibi of modernity, while teaching methods have continued unchanged. Timetabling problems are avoided and consequently integration of taped materials with other teaching facilitated if each language classroom is equipped with at least a properly installed tape-recorder, allowing short training sessions to be interposed at will. The type of recorder used is of secondary importance, but the cassette recorder or cassette laboratory has many advantages, being cheap, easy to operate, very flexible, light in weight, and independent of power circuit. Also most pupils already own cassette recorder — 73% of a sample of 750 secondary school students — and can take home practice tapes recorded at school. The alternation of teacher-centered and learner-centred instruction, the latter especially in groups of 2–6 pupils, is thus simplified. Types of group work possible with minimum equipment are described. The small group also has psychological advantages over individual laboratory work and encourages communication, which is the purpose of language instruction. NFD

Cassette tapes are cheap, and they offer a greater compactness and more foolproof method of recording than any other recording device available. The average cassette recorder weighs a mere three pounds and is thus highly portable. Of the eight instructors assigned to teach the course, several also taught other courses, and all had at least four semesters of experience in teaching composition. All instructors cassette graded the Minor Report at the midpoint of the course. Individual techniques in actual practice varied as instructors attempted to develop a system best suited to themselves, and nearly everyone experienced the predictable difficulties encountered in working with a new medium. Instructors also cassette critiqued the 3000-word Major Reports and significantly reported an average grading time of forty minutes. Modest pilot programs may be set up cheaply. With increasing interest in cassette recorders, a quick survey will probably show a considerable availability of both recorders and cassettes.

FOR many years teachers have found filmstrips useful in their classrooms. Now, through the commercial availability of "U" Film, the teacher can design and prepare his own filmstrips ; he is no longer limited to catalog listings. Accompanied by an audiotape, a homemade filmstrip can enhance both group presentations and individualized instruction ; it offers endless opportunities for enriching learning. Filmstrips provide one way to indi vidualize instruction in any class. Some classrooms have a listening center where a single student or a small group of students can use both the filmstrip and the tape without disturbing others. If a listening center is not available, one student or a group of students can assemble in a corner of the classroom and use the recorder and projector (with the volume set at "low"), while other activities continue to take place undisturbed. To design and prepare a filmstrip is very simple. First, lay out a series of frames on paper. To confirm that the series is clear, you may wish to seek editorial help from another teacher. If your filmstrip is to be accompanied by an audiotape, the script too should be de signed and edited on paper. When you are ready to prepare the filmstrip, consult the instruction booklet available in a "U" Film Kit (this kit is the product of Hud son Photographic Industries, 2 S. Buckhout St., Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y. 10533). To prepare the accompanying audiotape, it is best to use a cassette tape and re corder. Students are less likely to damage the tape when using the cassette recorder. A small bell will serve well to indicate the time for changing from one frame to the next. Experience in using these two media simultaneously will enable a teacher to program instruction for individualization. By posing questions and presenting prob lems in the frames, the teacher can evalu ate learning. The audiotape allows time for the student's reply or instructs the stu dent to stop the recorder until he has com pleted the problem. An example of just such a coordinated filmstrip and audiotape is included here. "Introduction to Logic" contains a se quence of 32 frames and a script. The article "Some Elementary Concepts of Logic/'1 appearing in a Houghton Mifflin newsletter, provided the basis from which the following filmstrip and audiotape evolved.2

A 4-channel cassette recorder capable of continuously recording the EEG for 24 h on a C-120 cassette is currently in use at the Montreal Neurological Institute. We have done a limited study on 20 patients with over 2000 h of recording to evaluate the recording system, its limitations and its capabilities, and to develop methodology for its operations. The use of preamplifiers enables one to record the background EEG with a noise level of 3–5 μVpp on 4 channels continuously for 1 day. The electrodes can be hidden in the hair and the preamplifier under the collar, to allow the patient to carry on his normal activities at home and at work. Since the cassette and the batteries can be easily changed, the patient himself can prolong the recording for several days. The cassettes can be played back as fast as 60 times on a Mingograf EEG machine for compressed analysis or 20 times for more detailed write-out, to obtain a record equivalent to standard EEG recordings. The system was not designed to replace or compete with standard EEG recordings but when used on well defined clinical problems, or in specific research projects, it can enhance the diagnostic or research value of the EEG.

Sixty-nine 24-hour electrocardiographic monitoring sessions were conducted in 54 ambulatory subjects. Thirty-one had coronary heart disease (CHD); 11 had miscellaneous heart ailments; and 12 were free of any heart disease. Monitoring was accomplished with a miniaturized cassette recorder and ventricular premature beats (VPBs) were analyzed as to incidence and grade. The occurrence of VPBs during sleep hours was compared to the awake state. In 22 patients, the incidence of VPBs was reduced by at least 50% during sleep. An additional 13 patients showed a reduction of 25 to 50%. If patients free of ectopic activity during 24-hour monitoring sessions are excluded from analysis, then in 35 of 45 patients, or in 78%, sleep was associated with a lowered occurrence of ventricular extrasystoles. During sleep the VPB grade was likewise lowered. Thus the mean grade for 45 patients changed from 2.75 while awake to 1.78 while asleep. It is of interest that in a number of these patients, trials of various antiarrhythmic drugs were less effective than sleep in reducing the incidence and grade of VPBs. It is concluded that treatment of sporadically occurring ventricular ectopic activity in some patients may require attention to the neurophysiologic trigger rather than the cardiac target.

The cassette recorder, now well established in the home-entertainment and dictating-machine fields, is beginning to make a significant impact in digital data recording. Within the next few years, tape cassette recorders should take over a large part of the market at present served by punched paper tape.