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Recent media choice research has focused on attempts to determine what theory best explains people's choices of communication media. Two within-subject policy-capturing studies support the notion that media richness and social influence theories are complementary rather than competing and that the relative importance of choice factors depends on the medium. A comparison of policy-capturing and survey findings points to policy capturing as a useful research methodology. Results also suggest that rational and social factors should he included in comprehensive models of media choice that address both traditional and new media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketers often take the term "audience" for granted in evaluating advertising campaigns. But Dr. Leo Bogart presents a case against such uncritical use, arguing that the term has been applied to quite different kinds of measurement, some of dubious validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional theory holds that communication in organizations should, and does, move vertically throughout the hierarchy, rather than cutting across the lines of authority. In order to test this assumption, interviews were carried out among supervisors in a textile mill. Communication among first-line foremen was found to be mainly horizontal. A critical variable in the direction of communication is apparently the degree of mechanization of the work process. Some conflicting research findings are discussed, and the author concludes with the hypothesis that mechanization reduces the need for dose supervision and vertical communication since the machines instead of the foreman set the work pace of subordinates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information related to the works of Protester, Gerrard Winstanley. It mentions the brief communication is intended to alert readers to a Dutch manuscript version of Winstanley's book, "The New Law of Righteousnes". It also mentions that the his work was listed in the library catalogue of theologian, Petrus Serrarius.

One of the major challenges for the tourism sector is enacting sustainable behaviours. A key strategy for hoteliers is developing persuasive messages, with the goal of encouraging guests' voluntary participation in green programmes. Through the lens of prospect theory and construal level theory, the present study investigates to what extent a loss or gain-framed message influences recycling of hotel guests via a field and a laboratory experiment. The field experiment tests the moderating effect of message construal level (concrete or abstract) on the message frame that activate pro-environmental behaviour, while the laboratory study delves further into the mechanism by showing that perceived self-efficacy is the mechanism behind the activation of these behaviours. The findings from both studies suggest that hotel guests are more likely to engage in recycling behaviour when a concrete message is paired with a loss-framed message, because of a greater perceived self-efficacy. These results help to understand the theoretical psychological mechanisms and offer managerial implications for operators on how to engage guests to be active partners in sustainable tourism behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have below-age lexical knowledge and lexical representation. Our goal is to examine ways in which difficulties with social communication and language processing that are often associated with ASD may constrain these children's abilities to learn new words and to explore whether minimizing the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation can lead to successful learning. Method: In this narrative review of recent work on lexical development in ASD, we describe key findings on children's acquisition of nouns, pronouns, and verbs and outline our research program currently in progress aimed at further elucidating these issues. Conclusion: Our review of studies that examine lexical development in children with ASD suggests that innovative intervention approaches that take into account both the social communication and processing demands of the learning situation may be particularly beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continued fragmentation of information and the proliferation of communication resources necessitate a shift toward perspectives that situate communication practices in a multilevel ecosystem. The current article offers a method to map and analyze communication ecologies—defined as the networks of communication connections that individuals depend on in order to construct knowledge and achieve goals—as social networks. To demonstrate the potential of communication ecologies as an analytical tool in science communication, we report on the results of a feasibility study (N = 654) in the context of climate science and vaccine safety. The article discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the communication ecology approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation and social learning are fundamental mechanisms that maintain social organisation among animals and humans. Social institutions can be conceptualised abstractly as cooperation games with social learning. In some cases potential cooperation partners may be easily identifiable, while in other cases this is difficult. Real world institutions always operate in uncertain environments. Here we use agent-based simulation to explore the interaction between social learning, cooperation and environmental uncertainty with and without easy to identify cooperation partners. Our agents use a communication language to indicate their cooperation intentions. We discuss the measurement of communication or language complexity metrics, which may be used as correlates of the level of cooperation. The results show that more uncertainty induces more cooperation and that social learning increases the level of cooperation. We show that the positive impact of social learning is bigger in low uncertainty environments than in high uncertainty environments and also in cases where identification of potential cooperation partners is harder. The results suggest that environmental uncertainty, social learning and easy identification of cooperation partners may play alternating roles in the promotion of cooperation in social institutions and the expansion and development of these institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An undergraduate college student’s ability to transition successfully to college has been identified as one of the most pressing concerns for institutions of higher education. To understand the challenges associated with transitioning to college and suggest interventions from a communication perspective, we test a mediational model based on family communication patterns theory (FCP) and the communication apprehension perspective (CA). The model examines the influence of FCP and CA on students’ perceptions of the impact of the college transition on their lives. A survey of 2252 students about to transition to college indicated that conversation orientation was associated with lower CA. Both conversation orientation and conformity orientation were associated with more positive perceptions of the impact of the transition to college. An indirect effect was found from conversation orientation to the perceived impact through CA. Practical implications for college retention specialists and educators, families, and students including a pre-transition visualization intervention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses increasing engagement of family and friends in education of young children. Topics discussed include development of playful, challenging, and engaging curriculum program with children; personalizing event invitations for families to interact with children's interest; and mention about initiatives of developing meaningful communication with families and friends. INSET: Widening the Circles of Community: A Director's Reflection.

Social communication disorder (SCD) is a novel diagnosis listed under the rubric of communication disorders within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) and it is reported to be characterized by impairment in use of verbal and nonverbal communication for social aims. This review attempts to summarize the current understanding of the SCD concept along with its evolution and presents data from previous studies conducted. Suggestions for further research are also delineated. As listed in DSM-5, the criteria for this novel diagnosis are vague, display elevated comorbidity with other neurodevelopmental disorders and other childhood psychopathologies, and show partial overlap with autistic spectrum disorders both in terms of genetics and family histories. Data on cross-cultural presentations and temporal stability are also limited. The social communication model proposed by Catani and Bambini may help integrate the neurobiological findings pertaining to SCD. Valid and reliable assessment methods need to be developed for SCD. This may involve either development of novel instruments capturing the DSM-5 criteria or application of statistical methods such as item response theory to existing instruments. The relationships between broad autism phenotype, pragmatic language impairment, nonverbal learning disorder, learning disorders, autistic spectrum disorders, and SCD should be evaluated with further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the interrelationship between communication, democracy and intelligentsia in Russia and its impact on society. Topics discussed include Gorbachev's reform of Soviet society; the forms of public discourse isolated by philosopher Jürgen Habermas; and the criticism faced by intellectuals trying to challenge the normative assumptions of Russian society. Also mentioned is the encouragement of self-censorship by ultranationalists.

This article presents the methodological strategies, results and a critical analysis of the national research project MapCom "The Research Sphere on Communication Studies Social Practices, Map of Projects, Groups, research objects and methods". We present the results obtained within the first two phases of the research project. The complete sample of objects for analysis was selected within this time span, all doctoral research and research projects were included. We performed a specific analysis of descriptive variables associated to gender, objects of study, funding, more present methodologies, as well as a comparative analysis between research projects and doctoral theses from a perspective of the objects of study and the methodologies implemented. We contextualize the work with a comparative analysis of research in Social Science and Humanities in the same period analysed in Spain. We performed an analysis of the weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities which were detected within the analysis, and we propose recommendations aimed at developing a "Strategic Action Plan for Competitive Research in Communication". The analysis of this research concludes with the observation of similarities between the objects of study, but also of the differences between the objectives of the investigations when we compare doctoral theses and research projects in the analysed period. We also carried out a comparative analysis of the 12 most relevant universities in Spain, in order to identify differences, similarities and research patterns in research teams or groups, associate doctoral programs and universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Información sobre las VI Jornadas Mexicanas de retórica, una conferencia organizada por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México del 25 al 27 de abril de 2018, se presenta. Los temas discutidos incluyen el arte y la sociedad, la comunicación social, la relación entre el arte y la retórica y la ley sobre la filología clásica.

Back burners are desired prospective romantic/sexual partners that people communicate with to establish a future romantic or sexual relationship. We surveyed 658 college students about the extent to which they reported using various positive relationship maintenance strategies (positivity, openness, assurances) during communication with their most important back burner. Consistent with previous research, singles did not differ from those in committed romances in the number of back burners reported; however, singles and casual daters utilized the positive maintenance strategies to a greater extent than did those in committed relationships. Men reported using more assurances than did women, but the sexes did not differ on the other strategies utilized. Implications and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various aspects of the Community Response Team (CRT) initiative involving community leaders in Rochester, New York and an effort to improve communication and trust and provide a non-violent response to issues involving race and racism. It states that CRT is a spin-off of the Unite Rochester collaborative social movement which was launched by the "Rochester Democrat and Chronicle" newspaper. The Rochester Center for Dispute Settlement is assessed.

In this paper, we investigate simulations of transition P systems (TP systems) in evolution-communication P systems with energy (ECPe systems). We only focus on TP systems where an object that triggers a cooperative rule also triggers a non-cooperative rule. In this way, the presence of a rule trigger always implies that a rule will be applied. In our constructed ECPe systems, a transition in the TP system is simulated by a k-step computation where k is a factor of the cardinality of the alphabet in the original system. Also, the maximum energy needed for communication rules depends on the number of copies of a trigger in a cooperative rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenging the dominant framework of culture as development that incorporates culture as a tool for neoliberal growth-driven development, the culture-centered approach (CCA) to social change communication offers an entry point for theorizing and articulating communication for social change that emerges ‘from’ and ‘with’ the margins. Interrogating the fundamental notion of what counts as development, the CCA seeks to re-turn the discursive sites of articulating development into the hands of subaltern communities at the margins. The theorization of culture in social change communication as an instrument for consolidating the hegemony of the power elite is juxtaposed in the backdrop of a radical inversion of social change communication as a constitutive framework for grassroots participation in social movements, activist politics, advocacy processes, and bottom-up community-led dialogues that seek to transform the very meanings and practices of development. The voices of the margins recognized and represented in local-regional-national discursive spaces interrogate the received meanings of development and social change, producing knowledge that decolonizes the dominant articulations of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A closer look at the three areas of action in communication permits us to conclude that the discipline faces a serious crisis. First, an epistemological review shows a fragmented body of theories. Secondly, there is a plurality of separate traditions within academia. Third, the professional field is technologycentered and lacks expertise since there is little connection between theory and practice. Our goal is to analyze the three-fold state of the discipline and to propose a conciliatory model. The Interactive Communication Process (ICP) is based on an interactive process in which a human subsystem (a processor), conditioned by his or her psychological and social and cultural state, interacts with another communicative subsystem (another human or a technological processor) to elaborate or process a message conveyed through some space (channel) in a certain time (synchronous or asynchronous). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of information and communication in establishing and defining world order formed the basis of a comprehensive call for the New World Information and Communication Order. Many strategic and regional blocs of nations and economic forums have been formed over time. BRICS has made a relatively new attempt in the coming together of several politically, economically and culturally diverse countries. Their summits reflect their intention to work together. By positioning the media system, this brief article looks at the patterns of evolution since New World Information and Communication Order and the comparable aspects of media in these countries. China and India, apart from their membership in BRICS also have historical ties, issues and concerns. Connectivity, as intended in the Belt and Road Initiative, is in a bilateral sense a matter of diplomacy and negotiation. An attempt has been made to contextualise this issue as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary piece looks at the implications for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and on communications in general of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and argues that the dimensions of communication and culture are not only vital to these ambitious infrastructure projects but to date have not received the prominence they deserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Mexico composer Michael Mauldin's string quartet, A'ts'ina: Place of Writings on the Rock, was inspired by the ruins of an ancient Zuñi city at El Morro National Monument (USA) and by the surrounding landscape. Like many of Mauldin's works, the quartet aims to communicate "an environmental essence, rather than ... a literal soundscape." "Art is a metaphor for life," the composer maintains. "Though art includes descriptive gestures from our shared physical experience ... I feel [it] should distill and interpret that experience rather than just describe it ... or randomly recreate it." Mauldin's approach to composition points toward a semiotically-nuanced way of thinking about musical meaning that is rooted in our common experience as embodied human organisms. This essay examines the iconic and indexical roles of musical gesture and voicing to convey embodied experience in the context of landscape throughout A'ts'ina. I draw upon Mark Johnson's theory of the bodily grounding of metaphor to show how this work exhibits and enacts a "play of musical signs" that celebrates, in the words of New Mexico author Peggy Pond Church, one of those "certain places in the earth where the great powers that move between earth and sky are closer and more available than others." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Educatio Artis Gymnasticae is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Networked individualism is a critical concept about the transition of the societal shift from geographically bounded local groups to the contemporary network society comprised of sparse, permeable, and dynamic communication networks. An underlying assumption about networked individuals thus far in the literature is that they are at a younger age. There are fears that older adults have been left behind in this transition to networked individualism. In this study, we are the first to inquire to what extent ‒ and in what ways ‒ are older adults networked individuals. Using in-depth interviews with 41 older adults living in the East York area of Toronto, we used a combination of quantitative coding, thematic analysis, and individual profiling to analyze their social network structure, relational autonomy, and digital media use. Our findings render a rather complex and nuanced picture, showing three types of older adults along the spectrum of networked individualism: networked individuals, socially connected but not networked individuals, and socially constrained individuals. Although most participants are socially connected, those who are networked individuals actively manage and navigate multiple, diverse, and non-redundant social networks. Digital media use is neither necessary nor sufficient in qualifying a person as a networked individual as the great majority of East Yorkers ‒ even if not networked individuals ‒ integrate digital media into their everyday lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between the disciplines of communication and sociology has been primarily described as being abandoned by sociologists. This article historicizes the alleged sociological abandonment of communication and media research and centers on media sociology as the key manifestation of an ongoing vibrant relationship between the two disciplines. It has two goals. First, I examine the contours of the abandonment notion since Berelson vs. Schramm, Riesman, and Bauer inPublic Opinion Quarterlyin 1959. I demonstrate the diversity and the depth of media sociology and argue that an US-centric positivist understanding of media sociology has led to the exaggerated and misleading notion of abandonment, which homogenizes theoretical discourse and discounts scholarly contributions from outside of the US. Personal and collective memories have also documented institutional and organizational growth of media sociology. Second, I propose to conceptualize media sociology as a networked transfield driven by questions transcending disciplinary little boxes. Rather than returning to the Lazarsfeldian media effect paradigm, media sociology as a networked transfield driven by questions will allows scholars take advantage of structural holes for synthesis and innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies concerned with illicit drugs vex governments. While the 'evidence-based policy' paradigm argues that governments should be informed by 'what works', in practice policy makers rarely operate this way. Moreover the evidence-based policy paradigm fails to account for democratic participatory processes, particularly how community members and people who use drugs might be included. The aim of this paper is to explore the political science thinking about democratic participation and the potential afforded in 'deliberative democracy' approaches, such as Citizens Juries and other mini-publics for improved drug policy processes. Deliberative democracy, through its focus on inclusion, equality and reasoned discussion, shows potential for drug policy reform and shifts the focus from reliance on and privileging of experts and scientific evidence. But the very nature of this kind of 'deliberation' may delimit participation, notably through its insistence on authorised modes of communication. Other forms of participation beyond reasoned deliberation aligned with the ontological view that participatory processes themselves are constitutive of subject positions and policy problems, may generate opportunities for considering how the deleterious effects of authorised modes of communication might be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For explaining the dispersed extreme right movements that are presently flourishing in the online sphere, British historian and political theorist Roger Griffin has elaborated the concept of groupuscular right. The groupuscular right can be characterized by the non-hierarchic and the rhizomatic structure of intra-groupuscular communication. Our study on Estonian groupuscular right complements it with the ideas of cultural semiotics that help to explicate self-descriptions of particular groupuscular nodes (e.g., blog posts) but also to analyze their relations with other extreme right groupuscules and with the radical online sphere as a whole. Although the extreme right's communication has become more heterogeneous in its form and content, it is still possible to distinguish central and peripheral meanings. Our approach allows us to understand a seemingly paradoxical problem: why, despite of the plurality of different view-points available on the web, are groupuscular communications still dominated by strict and homogeneous ways of modeling information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the message given by Pope Francis on the 52nd Jornada Mundial de las Comunicaciones Sociales. Various topics discussed include peace journalism, meaning of fake news, importance of communication between human beings, how truth is communicated, how to recognize falsehood and conceptual reality.

The study of human communication often focuses on a one-dimensional process of human-to-human interaction through messages. This article presents a five-dimensional model of human communication and argues that human communication can be understood best if we take into account the multidimensionality and the integrated nature of this process as a whole. Looking at the universe of human communication, it is possible through this model to assess some relevant aspects of the individual and the society’s cultural variations and development. In the study of any areas of human communication, and in exploring new avenues and voices of knowledge, we should not be deceived by the illusion of the vastness of the literature; we need to concentrate on the diversity of cultural views in order to make the field more valid, legitimate and challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research project is focused in how to generate learning, social and digital inclusion through Art and Communication. Starting from a fundamental question: how to promote social and digital inclusion within disempowered communities lacking social and technological resources? We observe that is urgent to modify the structure of formal and non-formal educational environments, using the art and communication in order to create different ways of interaction, learning, active participation and the skills that are needed for the 21st Century. Taking a Participatory Action Research methodological approach, the empirical field of the qualitative study is based in different neighborhoods in Portugal, Mexico and Cabo Verde with young people; where was used as data collection and analysis resources the focal group interviews, the products make by the group, field notes and reports. The activities consisted in the creation of videos, community interviews, stories, cartographies, street games, newspapers, digital animations, collective magazines and games with QR codes, among others. This study aims to define principles and guidelines for community work to develop media and information literacy with art, communication, games and collective experiences like alternative strategies to generate knowledge and integration. Create dialogue among young people and with the community is essential to engage them. Build in this way a network of collective learning, is a key to generate current and future social change as well develops a lifelong learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors theorize the communicative logic of ISIS online death videos—from the burning and shooting of individual hostages to mass battleground executions. Drawing on Adriana Cavarero’s reflections on contemporary violence, they demonstrate how ISIS’ digital spectacles of the annihilated body confront Western viewers with horror— or rather with different “regimes of horrorism” (grotesque, abject and sublime horror). These spectacles of horror, the authors argue, mix Western with Islamic aesthetic practices and secular with religious moral claims so as to challenge dominant hierarchies of grievability (who is worthy of our grief) and norms of subjectivity. In so doing, the authors conclude, ISIS introduces into global spaces of publicity a “spectacular thanatopolitics”—a novel form of thanatopolitics that brings the spectacle of the savaged body, banished from display since the 19th century, back to the public stage, thereby turning the pursuit of death into the new norm of heroic subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we analyze 102 case studies of Internet or social media-enabled participatory projects, technologies, platforms and companies in operation between roughly 2005-2015. We assign each case a “signature” representing the degree of presence/absence of seven dimensions of participation and then cluster these signatures to look for patterns of the most common ways of “doing participation” today. Two main clusters become apparent: 1) a “radical-direct” mode that emphasizes direct individual autonomy and influence, commitment to having a voice and setting goals, and individual or collective control over resources thereby produced; and 2) an “experiential-affective” mode that emphasizes the experience of being or becoming part of a collective, and the affective, communicational, and educational features of that experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses impact of digital communication and social media on society. It states that according to findings of a survey by Pew Research Center, the number of use of smartphone among young Americans increased substantially, and mentions that concept of phatic communication used by people like sociologist Vincent Miller. It notes views of Roman Jakobson on metalanguage as a linguistic problem.

The ability to detect biological motion (BM) and decipher the meaning therein is essential to human survival and social interaction. However, at the individual level, we are not equally equipped with this ability. In particular, impaired BM perception and abnormal neural responses to BM have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by devastating social deficits. Here, we examined the underlying sources of individual differences in two abilities fundamental to BM perception (i.e., the abilities to process local kinematic and global configurational information of BM) and explored whether BM perception shares a common genetic origin with autistic traits. Using the classical twin method, we found reliable genetic influences on BM perception and revealed a clear dissociation between its two components-whereas genes account for about 50% of the individual variation in local BM processing, global BM processing is largely shaped by environment. Critically, participant's sensitivity to local BM cues was negatively correlated with their autistic traits through the dimension of social communication, with the covariation largely mediated by shared genetic effects. These findings demonstrate that the ability to process BM, especially with regard to its inherent kinetics, is heritable. They also advance our understanding of the sources of the linkage between autistic symptoms and BM perception deficits, opening up the possibility of treating the ability to process local BM information as a distinct hallmark of social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses topics related to human communication that focuses on rhythmic brain activity or the temporal coordination of neural activity in language and communication.

Social TV viewing is generally understood as a simultaneous act of watching TV and engaging in communication about the TV program with other TV viewers connected online. In response to the increasing popularity of this new TV viewing practice, the current study examined how individuals’ extrovert personality and loneliness influence social TV viewing experiences through the theoretical notion of social presence. An online survey was completed by 330 individuals. Results demonstrated that extrovert personality positively influenced social TV viewing experiences; it is important to note that this relationship was mediated by social presence. Loneliness itself was negatively related to social TV viewing experiences; however, this relationship was moderated by social presence. Specifically, when lonely people felt strong social presence, they enjoyed social TV viewing experiences. The findings provide theoretical implications for social TV research, the dynamic role of social presence, social enhancement model, and social compensation model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The potential of pictorial and verbal metaphors to gain attention and enhance persuasion is considerable. Few scholars, however, have investigated the persuasive effects of metaphor in health messages. We applied a 2 × 2 factorial experiment to examine the effects of metaphor use (metaphor/literal) and message format (verbal/pictorial) on cognitive processing and persuasive outcomes of condom promotion messages. Results showed no significant differences in cognitive processing according to metaphor or format, but there were differences in attitudes and behavioral intentions according to metaphor and format, with literal and verbal messages performing best. Potential explanations for findings and implications for future research and health message design are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Stickiness refers to the set of persuasive message properties: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and stories (SUCCES). Heath and Heath (2007) argue that a sticky message is expected to be more memorable and hence more persuasive than a non-sticky message. A 2 (sticky v. non-sticky message) x 3 (pretest v. posttest v. delayed test) longitudinal experiment is employed to examine the persuasiveness of sticky messages on applying sunscreen. Results of a mixed model analysis of variance show that the sticky message produces attitudes and behaviors more favorable to the message recommendation than the non-sticky message. Specifically, a time × message induction non-additive effect was found, which sustained only in the sticky message condition across time. Despite this interesting effect, its explanation remains elusive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We present a novel study of reliable broadcast in interdependent networks, in which the failures in one network may cascade to another network. In particular, we focus on the interdependency between a communication network and a power grid network, where the power grid depends on the communication network for control and the communication network depends on the grid for power. In this paper, we propose a best effort broadcast algorithm to handle crash failures in the communication network that may cause cascading failures. We guarantee that all the correct nodes, which operate correctly according to the protocol and do not experience any software or hardware or network failures, eventually deliver the message if the sender is correct. We provide a centralized algorithm and a fully distributed algorithm for nodes to analyze and handle cascading failures. At the core of our work is the fully distributed algorithm which enjoys great performance and scalability. Our evaluation results show that the algorithm handles cascading failures with low overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Shenzhen University Humanities & Social Sciences is the property of Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities & Social Sciences) Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

What do humanities bring to the study of communication? What concept of humanities can help us understand communication? Do communication studies belong to the humanities or to the social sciences field? In spite of a recent turn in communication research towards empirical data that seems to be supported by a generation of young researchers, communication sciences have almost always maintained, in their many branches, the existence of critical approaches highlighting a powerful link to the role of language and symbols and their many connections to social structures, placing particular emphasis on the phenomena of meaning and relation. Human life is essentially a life of meaning, of reflexive thought and communication. My hypothesis involves considering this concern with relation as a social phenomenon as what distinguishes it epistemically. I also believe that this distinction involves extensive attention on the nature of the human, helping maintain a productive bridge with humanities and culture. Issues such as the role of symbols in social life are related to the constitution of subjectivity and the transmission of cultural heritage in life-world, bringing questions concerning truth, rationality, the conditions necessary for autonomy of the self and the nature of human agency to an on-going theoretical debate. Following this tradition, attempts are made to establish communication as a discipline which finds its foundations in the concept of mediated interaction and as the discipline that expresses the relational nature of human agency. Following this perspective, the field of communication studies, in a somewhat similar way to cultural studies, has redefined itself by dealing with new cultural approaches, with the help of American cultural studies (particularly James Carey), critical theory, hermeneutics, symbolic interactionism, and critical realism as theoretical keys to unveiling the dialogue between humanities and social sciences that crosses through the communications field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous Mexican immigrants (Mixtecs) from rural Oaxaca, Mexico, experience a high level of isolation and seasonal farm work, but the increasing speed of communication technology stands to overcome these difficulties. For farm workers, the initial experience of landlines and public pay phones was filled with anxiety and missed connections. Despite the benefits of mobile phones, their adoption was delayed among Mixtec in Oxnard, California, because of a combination of legal status, high cost, and seasonal work. This article finds that a surge in mobile phone adoption and use took place during a time where production of labor-intensive crops like strawberries increased throughout California, farm worker settlement patterns matured, and mobile phone plans changed becoming more affordable and easier to understand. The widespread adoption of mobile phones brought more predictability to the informal agricultural job market for farm workers, but this did not necessarily mean higher wages in the strawberry fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]