"Family Computing" magazine's Critics Choice Awards for Educational Software Excellence are presented annually. The 35 software programs selected in June of 1986 are listed. (MT)

The author reviews the use of the Apple IIc computer in classrooms, presenting results of trying out 46 program disks. A list of programs that would and would not run on the Apple IIc following dealer instructions is provided. A recommendation for the model is combined with cautions regarding software. (CL)

This is the first of a two-part state-of-the-art review concerning current trends in mental health computing. It deals principally with general mental health information systems, the emerging role of microcomputers and general applications software, computerizing medical records, and computer support for quality assurance programs. (Author)

The utility of educational software is associated with three components: (1) type of learning (cognitive development, individually facilitated acquisition of knowledge, teacher-facilitated acquisition of knowledge, memorization); (2) type of experience (self-directed or purposive environmental experience); and (3) user perception of software…

A nonasymptotic Chi-Square analysis algorithm is presented to investigate r by c contingency tables where small expected cell frequencies render the usual asymptotic analysis inappropriate. A FORTRAN subroutine is provided for analyzing the tables having highly disproportionate or small marginal totals. (Author/GDC)

Reviews characteristics of three computer graphics programs useful to speakers and teachers of public speaking: Chart-Master, Golden Software--Graphics System, and GrafTalk. (PD)

This paper describes a microcomputer program that extracts principal components from a correlation matrix and rotates them to a varimax solution. Eigenvalues, variances associated with each component, unrotated component loadings, and varimax rotated loadings are output by the program. (Author)

J. Frass and I. Newman (2000) proposed a hypothesis testing procedure that incorporated the following three key elements: (1) the establishment of a practical significance value; (2) the construction of a non-nil null hypothesis that incorporated the practical significance value; and (3) statistical testing of the non-nil null hypothesis with a…

This paper provides a brief review of the concepts of confidence intervals, effect sizes, and central and noncentral distributions. The use of confidence intervals around effect sizes is discussed. A demonstration of the Exploratory Software for Confidence Intervals (G. Cuming and S. Finch, 2001; ESCI) is given to illustrate effect size confidence…

Provides an overview of some practical considerations in evaluating high-end record-keeping software products. Emphasis is on the evaluation process and the identification of value-based evaluative criteria. (SLD)

Discusses how, despite many obstacles, open-source software has the potential to strongly influence the future of software development and support in the academic world. (EV)

Presents a history of computer viruses, explains various types of viruses and how they affect software or computer operating systems, and describes examples of specific viruses. Available vaccines are explained, and precautions for protecting programs and disks are given. (nine references) (LRW)

Describes the Constituent Object Parser (COP), a domain independent syntactic parser developed for use in information retrieval and similar applications. The syntactic structure of natural language entities is discussed, and the mechanisms by which COP handles the problems of conjunctions, ellipsis, and discontinuous constituents are explained.…

Discusses reasons for learning to program in BASIC, various versions of BASIC, BASIC compilers, and adherence to proposed standards. Brief reviews of six BASIC software packages are included. (12 references) (MES)

Discusses current laws that can be applied to software piracy and methods to prevent piracy in organizations. Specifically looks at copyright and patent law. (JOW)