WorldWideScience

Sample records for culturally responsive strategies

  1. Urban Teachers' Professed Classroom Management Strategies: Reflections of Culturally Responsive Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Dave F.

    2004-01-01

    Thirteen urban educators teaching from 1st through 12th grade selected from 7 cities across the United States were interviewed in this qualitative research study to determine if the classroom management strategies they use reflect the research on culturally responsive teaching. Participants revealed using several management strategies that reflect…

  2. Enhancing Self-Awareness: A Practical Strategy to Train Culturally Responsive Social Work Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nalini J. Negi

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available A primary goal of social justice educators is to engage students in a process of self-discovery, with the goal of helping them recognize their own biases, develop empathy, and become better prepared for culturally responsive practice. While social work educators are mandated with the important task of training future social workers in culturally responsive practice with diverse populations, practical strategies on how to do so are scant. This article introduces a teaching exercise, the Ethnic Roots Assignment, which has been shown qualitatively to aid students in developing self-awareness, a key component of culturally competent social work practice. Practical suggestions for classroom utilization, common challenges, and past student responses to participating in the exercise are provided. The dissemination of such a teaching exercise can increase the field’s resources for addressing the important goal of cultural competence training.

  3. Response Strategies and Response Styles in Cross-Cultural Surveys

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Morren, M.H.; Gelissen, J.P.T.M.; Vermunt, J.K.

    2012-01-01

    This article addresses the following research questions: Do respondents participating in cross-cultural surveys differ in their response style when responding to attitude statements? If so, are characteristics of the response process associated with their ethnicity and generation of immigration? To

  4. Cultural Relativism: As Strategy for Teaching the "Culturally-Different."

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Cecelia Nails

    "Cultural relativism" exists when individuals can choose the values and responsible life styles that afford the natural and best vehicles of productive and positive expression. This paper suggests a strategy for accomplishing this kind of cultural acceptance in the present educational system. It calls for the transmission of basic, unbiased data…

  5. Organizational culture during the accident response process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shurberg, D.A.; Haber, S.B.

    1992-01-01

    A large volume of literature hypothesizes a direct relationship between organizational culture and organizational effectiveness. Culture data have been collected by the authors and others at nuclear power plants (NPPs) and other organizations that demand high reliability. In this paper, the literature and data are used to explore a critical dimension of the accident response process in an NPP: the transition from an anticipatory strategy to an ad hoc strategy. In particular, the effect of organizational culture on the implementation of each of these strategies is examined

  6. Strategy, culture and innovation performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    do Nascimento Gambi, Lillian; Boer, Harry

    2015-01-01

    Firms strive for improving their performance, and organizational culture has been recognized as an important driver of better performance. In parallel, strategy is viewed as an important contextual variable that influences organizational culture as well as performance. This study has two main goals......: (1) investigating the relationship between strategic practices and innovation performance, and (2) determining if strategy has a direct and/or an indirect, culture-mediated effect on innovation performance, and if this effect varies across strategic practices and culture profiles. The research model...... cultural profile achieve the strongest performance effects....

  7. Adaptive strategies for cumulative cultural learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehn, Micael; Laland, Kevin

    2012-05-21

    The demographic and ecological success of our species is frequently attributed to our capacity for cumulative culture. However, it is not yet known how humans combine social and asocial learning to generate effective strategies for learning in a cumulative cultural context. Here we explore how cumulative culture influences the relative merits of various pure and conditional learning strategies, including pure asocial and social learning, critical social learning, conditional social learning and individual refiner strategies. We replicate the Rogers' paradox in the cumulative setting. However, our analysis suggests that strategies that resolved Rogers' paradox in a non-cumulative setting may not necessarily evolve in a cumulative setting, thus different strategies will optimize cumulative and non-cumulative cultural learning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. CULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGIES IN IRAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fateme Tohidy Ardahaey

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available This article initially deals with the concepts of entrepreneurship, cultural entrepreneurship and its importance in the field of culture. Then, identifying the factors of cultural entrepreneurshipstrategies, it offers some models for assessing cultural entrepreneurship strategies and benchmarking it. Afterwards, it tries to reform and standardize the presented model through questioning experts and elite of the profession. It is concluded that there is a significant difference between the mean ranks of the implementation factors of the entrepreneurship strategy which is detailed through the work.

  9. Developing Culturally Responsive Teaching through Professional Noticing within Teacher Educator Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Averill, Robin; Anderson, Dayle; Drake, Michael

    2015-01-01

    Much evidence exists that culturally responsive and equitable teaching practices are challenging to develop. Evidence exists that in-the-moment coaching of "rehearsals" of practice can help foster mathematics teaching strategies, but how such coaching can assist the development of culturally responsive practice is less clear. Drawn from…

  10. On American Cultural Exportation Strategy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李德俊

    2015-01-01

    American government has been attaching great importance to the role that cultural values plays in international relationships and Culture Exportation has gradually become one of the important parts of American diplomatic strategy. This strategy,which is propelled by a variety of impetuses and conducted by different approaches,is mainly aimed to serve the overall national interests of the United States.

  11. On American Cultural Exportation Strategy

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李德俊

    2015-01-01

    American government has been attaching great importance to the role that cultural values plays in international relationships and Culture Exportation has gradually become one of the important parts of American diplomatic strategy.This strategy,which is propelled by a variety of impetuses and conducted by different approaches,is mainly aimed to serve the overall national interests of the United States.

  12. A mixed methods study of culturally responsive teaching in science and math classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holocker, Angela Y.

    Through the dawn of education, student achievement has always been the primary focus of educators. The United States has not changed the structure of their educational institutions since the Industrial Revolution. With the achievement gap between mainstream and non-mainstream students continually growing, it is the responsibility of every educator to contribute to student success. However, teachers cannot be held accountable for teaching what they do not know. This study investigates the correlation between Culturally Responsive Teaching professional development and the effects on minority students. The yearlong professional development models as well as culturally responsive strategies are discussed in great length. The study reflects the attitudes of teachers before and after participation in the culturally responsive professional development. Student growth was tracked over the school year as well as teacher implementation of the culturally responsive strategies. The final teacher survey and overall student growth was analyzed for correlation.

  13. Culturally Responsive Pedagogies in the Classroom: Indigenous Student Experiences across the Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savage, Catherine; Hindle, Rawiri; Meyer, Luanna H.; Hynds, Anne; Penetito, Wally; Sleeter, Christine E.

    2011-01-01

    There is agreement that teaching practices should be responsive to the cultural identities of their students, but less clarity regarding both the specifics of culturally responsive pedagogies and effective strategies for implementing them in classrooms across the curriculum. A mixed-methods research approach evaluated the impact of teacher…

  14. Culture moderates the cardiovascular consequences of anger regulation strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Ting; Bishop, George D

    2012-12-01

    This research examined cultural differences in experiential and cardiovascular outcomes of three anger regulation strategies (expression, suppression and reappraisal). Forty-five Chinese and 45 Caucasian females participated in a laboratory experiment in which role play was used to induce anger. During this role play participants were instructed to either express or suppress their feelings or engage in cognitive reappraisal. Emotional experience was measured before and after the role play. Cardiovascular indices were measured continuously during the experiment. Significant interactions were obtained such that Caucasians showed stronger cardiovascular responses to suppression than expression of anger whereas the opposite was true for Chinese. These results demonstrate that physiological consequences of emotion regulation strategies vary by cultural background. Possible reasons as well as implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. The strategies of mass screen culture

    OpenAIRE

    Vorozheikin Yevhen Petrovich

    2015-01-01

    The article deals with strategies of mass screen culture aimed at manipulation with images of death and violence. The author highlights the main ways of implementation of these strategies, their relationship with contemporary cultural trends. Also the article observes negative consequences of such strategy as screen “anesthesia” of human feelings through transformation of images of death and violence in a way of exception of moral evaluation of the act of violence and death deprivation in met...

  16. The strategies of mass screen culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vorozheikin Yevhen Petrovich

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with strategies of mass screen culture aimed at manipulation with images of death and violence. The author highlights the main ways of implementation of these strategies, their relationship with contemporary cultural trends. Also the article observes negative consequences of such strategy as screen “anesthesia” of human feelings through transformation of images of death and violence in a way of exception of moral evaluation of the act of violence and death deprivation in metaphysical and existential sense.

  17. Culturally divergent responses to mortality salience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma-Kellams, Christine; Blascovich, Jim

    2011-08-01

    Two experiments compared the effects of death thoughts, or mortality salience, on European and Asian Americans. Research on terror management theory has demonstrated that in Western cultural groups, individuals typically employ self-protective strategies in the face of death-related thoughts. Given fundamental East-West differences in self-construal (i.e., the independent vs. interdependent self), we predicted that members of Eastern cultural groups would affirm other people, rather than defend and affirm the self, after encountering conditions of mortality salience. We primed European Americans and Asian Americans with either a death or a control prime and examined the effect of this manipulation on attitudes about a person who violates cultural norms (Study 1) and on attributions about the plight of an innocent victim (Study 2). Mortality salience promoted culturally divergent responses, leading European Americans to defend the self and Asian Americans to defend other people.

  18. Culturally and linguistically diverse students in speech-language pathology courses: A platform for culturally responsive services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attrill, Stacie; Lincoln, Michelle; McAllister, Sue

    2017-06-01

    Increasing the proportion of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students and providing intercultural learning opportunities for all students are two strategies identified to facilitate greater access to culturally responsive speech-language pathology services. To enact these strategies, more information is needed about student diversity. This study collected descriptive information about CALD speech-language pathology students in Australia. Cultural and linguistic background information was collected through surveying 854 domestic and international speech-language pathology students from three Australian universities. Students were categorised according to defined or perceived CALD status, international student status, speaking English as an Additional Language (EAL), or speaking a Language Other than English at Home (LOTEH). Overall, 32.1% of students were either defined or perceived CALD. A total of 14.9% spoke EAL and 25.7% identified speaking a LOTEH. CALD students were more likely to speak EAL or a LOTEH than non-CALD students, were prominently from Southern and South-Eastern Asian backgrounds and spoke related languages. Many students reported direct or indirect connections with their cultural heritage and/or contributed linguistic diversity. These students may represent broader acculturative experiences in communities. The sociocultural knowledge and experience of these students may provide intercultural learning opportunities for all students and promote culturally responsive practices.

  19. Organizational culture during the accident response process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shurberg, D.A.; Haber, S.B.

    1992-01-01

    The ability of an organization to effectively move from an anticipatory to an ad hoc strategy may well depend on the organization having the ability to balance these two apparently dichotomous cultural styles. The organization which is most capable of making the necessary transition in an optimal manner may well exhibit some aspects of both cultural styles during normal operations. Data collected at one NPP does exhibit this pattern of results, with the organization exhibiting a clear hierarchical chain of command and perceived conventional behavioral expectations as well as exhibiting a more decentralized and collegial approach to decisionmaking, a team work orientation, and informal communications. Thus, it is expected that this organization possesses the capabilities to make a successful transition from an anticipatory to an ad hoc strategy. Data collected at a second NPP more strongly exhibits the traditional style suggested as being important during the anticipatory strategy, with more formal communications and bureaucratically controlled decision-making. This organization may experience difficulty if faced with the need to make a transition from an anticipatory to an ad hoc strategy. These conclusions are further validated based on observation of Emergency Preparedness Exercise Inspections, which suggest that the more anticipatory types of behaviors actually inhibit successful performance during an ad hoc response. The final validation of these hypotheses needs to be demonstrated with cultural data collected during emergency simulations. The mechanism to obtain such data during these types of situations is an area for future research

  20. Culture Elements in Intercultural Communication:Phenomena and Strategies%Culture Elements in Intercultural Communication: Phenomena and Strategies

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    刘永安

    2017-01-01

    With the advancement of globalization and the"the one-belt and one-road"initiative, there is greater-than-ever need for intercultural communication in many fields. With distinguished cultures, there will be conflicts of all kinds in intercultur-al communication, which greatly hinder the intercultural communication. The research to explore the culture elements and the cultural interference is of great significance for intercultural communication. Herein, culture elements and culture interference are to be explored, and strategies and techniques to minimize cultural interference are put forward, so as to promote intercultural communication.

  1. Management Culture as Part of Organizational Culture in the Context of Corporate Social Responsibility Implementation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jolita Vveinhardt

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article is theoretically based on management culture as part of the formal organizational culture, separately reviewing some of its elements. Expert evaluation organization, process and results of the instrument shaped by the authors and meant for qualitative research are briefly presented. The structure of the instrument is detailed by presenting its component parts and explanations. The research was carried out by interviewing the top managers of two big manufacturing company groups consisting of six enterprises. The article presents passages of an interview with the top managers of the six companies, revealing management culture as part of the formal organizational culture expression aiming to implement corporate social responsibility. It should be emphasized that the companies of both groups are preparing to become socially responsible and this results in the timeliness and importance of the research. Structured interviewing method was applied for the research, and the substantive content of the interview included strategy, organizational structure, rules and regulations, technologies, processes, information systems, control and incentive issues. The results of the research show that in both groups of the manufacturing companies management culture and corporate social responsibility, analysing them in terms of formal organizational culture, are perceived in very narrow aspects and their development is not part of the organizations’ strategic goals. The results of the study suggest that the ideas of corporate social responsibility cannot be implemented in a consistent way unless they are integrated into the formal part of organisational culture which plays an instrumental role.

  2. Corporate antifraud strategies – Ethics culture and occupational integrity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Monica SABĂU

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Anti-fraud strategy deployment in organization has a positive impact, demonstrated by reducing the probability of occurrence, detection time and materiality for fraud, however protecting corporate reputation, brand, management credibility, and business itself. Involving accounting profession in corporate governance processes, to ensure compliance, to present a true and fair view the financial statements of an organization, to minimize risks, including the fraud one, involves assigning new responsibilities and expanding its area of ​​deployment of the assurance engagement. The article identifies the main conductors of an anti-fraud strategy for success - work environment with high integrity, ethical organizational culture - being analyzed in terms of composition, development, implementation and qualitative analysis of efficiency and performance. The main factor influencing the occurrence of fraud is the ethics culture and business integrity developed in the company. Its evaluation and its continuous improvement are the corporate governance requirements and prerequisites for the development of an ethic, uncorrupted occupational environment, with a proactive attitude in the fight against fraud. The final chapter summarizes the necessary documentation to be used in developing and implementing anti-fraud strategy within the organization.

  3. FOREIGNIZATION AND DOMESTICATION STRATEGIES IN CULTURAL TERM TRANSLATION OF TOURISM BROCHURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Choirul Fuadi

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available In translating brochure, a translator has to make a decision on the basis of the message and purpose. The translator is faced by two strategies of translation – foreignization and domestication. The purpose of the study is to examine how the interrelationship between cultural term translation and foreignization or domestication strategy in the cultural term translation of tourism brochure from Indonesian into English. This study used qualitative descriptive with discourse analysis strategy. The note-taking technique is used to identify and classify the data. The objects of the study are tourism brochures from Province of Special Region of Yogyakarta and Central Java in 2015. The findings show that the translation strategies used depend on the translation process. When the cultural terms are familiar, translator tends to use domestication strategy and consider the target text. Translator chooses domestication strategy because try to make tourist understand the text and produce communicative and natural translation. On the other hand, when cultural terms are foreign, translator using foreignization strategy and consider source text. Using foreignization strategy, translator tends to introduce traditional cultural term.Keywords: discourse analysis, foreignization, domestication, cultural category, tourism brochure

  4. Do Culture-based Segments Predict Selection of Market Strategy?

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    Veronika Jadczaková

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Academists and practitioners have already acknowledged the importance of unobservable segmentation bases (such as psychographics yet still focusing on how well these bases are capable of describing relevant segments (the identifiability criterion rather than on how precisely these segments can predict (the predictability criterion. Therefore, this paper intends to add a debate to this topic by exploring whether culture-based segments do account for a selection of market strategy. To do so, a set of market strategy variables over a sample of 251 manufacturing firms was first regressed on a set of 19 cultural variables using canonical correlation analysis. Having found significant relationship in the first canonical function, it was further examined by means of correspondence analysis which cultural segments – if any – are linked to which market strategies. However, as correspondence analysis failed to find a significant relationship, it may be concluded that business culture might relate to the adoption of market strategy but not to the cultural groupings presented in the paper.

  5. Measuring organisational-level Aboriginal cultural climate to tailor cultural safety strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gladman, Justin; Ryder, Courtney; Walters, Lucie K

    2015-01-01

    Australian medical schools have taken on a social accountability mandate to provide culturally safe contexts in order to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to engage in medical education and to ensure that present and future clinicians provide health services that contribute to improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Many programs have sought to improve cultural safety through training at an individual level; however, it is well recognised that learners tend to internalise the patterns of behaviour to which they are commonly exposed. This project aimed to measure and reflect on the cultural climate of an Australian rural clinical school (RCS) as a whole and the collective attitudes of three different professional groups: clinicians, clinical academics and professional staff. The project then drew on Mezirow's Transformative Learning theory to design strategies to build on the cultural safety of the organisation. Clinicians, academic and professional staff at an Australian RCS were invited to participate in an online survey expressing their views on Aboriginal health using part of a previously validated tool. Survey response rate was 63%. All three groups saw Aboriginal health as a social priority. All groups recognised the fundamental role of community control in Aboriginal health; however, clinical academics were considerably more likely to disagree that the Western medical model suited the health needs of Aboriginal people. Clinicians were more likely to perceive that they treated Aboriginal patients the same as other patients. There was only weak evidence of future commitments to Aboriginal health. Importantly, clinicians, academics and professional staff demonstrated differences in their cultural safety profile which indicated the need for a tailored approach to cultural safety learning in the future. Through tailored approaches to cross-cultural training opportunities we are likely to ensure

  6. Culturally Responsive Leadership for Community Empowerment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Lauri

    2014-01-01

    Culturally responsive leadership, derived from the concept of culturally responsive pedagogy, incorporates those leadership philosophies, practices, and policies that create inclusive schooling environments for students and families from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds. In this essay I extend the tenets of culturally responsive…

  7. Emergency response strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrilo, D.; Dias de la Cruz, F.

    1984-01-01

    In the present study is estimated, on the basis of a release category (PWR4) and several accident scenarios previously set up, the emergency response efficacy obtained in the application of different response strategies on each of the above mentioned scenarios. The studied strategies contemplate the following protective measures: evacuation, shelter and relocation. The radiological response has been obtained by means of CRAC2 (Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences) code, and calculated in terms of absorbed dose equivalent (Whole body and thyroid), as well as early and latent biological effects. (author)

  8. An experimental strategy validated to design cost-effective culture media based on response surface methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarrete-Bolaños, J L; Téllez-Martínez, M G; Miranda-López, R; Jiménez-Islas, H

    2017-07-03

    For any fermentation process, the production cost depends on several factors, such as the genetics of the microorganism, the process condition, and the culture medium composition. In this work, a guideline for the design of cost-efficient culture media using a sequential approach based on response surface methodology is described. The procedure was applied to analyze and optimize a culture medium of registered trademark and a base culture medium obtained as a result of the screening analysis from different culture media used to grow the same strain according to the literature. During the experiments, the procedure quantitatively identified an appropriate array of micronutrients to obtain a significant yield and find a minimum number of culture medium ingredients without limiting the process efficiency. The resultant culture medium showed an efficiency that compares favorably with the registered trademark medium at a 95% lower cost as well as reduced the number of ingredients in the base culture medium by 60% without limiting the process efficiency. These results demonstrated that, aside from satisfying the qualitative requirements, an optimum quantity of each constituent is needed to obtain a cost-effective culture medium. Study process variables for optimized culture medium and scaling-up production for the optimal values are desirable.

  9. Reconsidering the culture and violence connection: strategies of action in the rural South.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Matthew R; Ousey, Graham C

    2011-03-01

    Crime scholars have long conceptualized culture as a set of values that violence is used to defend or reinforce (i.e., honor). This analysis moves beyond this framework by conceptualizing culture as a toolkit providing strategies of action that individuals use to negotiate social situations. Qualitative data obtained from participant responses to vignettes describing potential conflict situations are analyzed to explore the merit of the cultural toolkit framework as it pertains to the "southern culture of violence" thesis. Contrary to the traditional culture as values model, these data indicate that interpersonal violence is a situationally viable response for diverse groups of people, including males and females, Blacks and Whites, the young and the older. The interplay between culture and social structure is also apparent. Although culture provides individuals with a toolkit, structural factors provide situations in which individuals must decide which cultural tools are most appropriately used. Violence is most viable when individuals feel that the police cannot be relied on and when they perceive that there is an imminent or potentially recurring threat to their family or themselves. Rarely is violent action justified to achieve overarching values, although values are clearly part of the toolkit that informs social action. Participants also frequently report that some segments of their community would consider violence to be an appropriate response even when they personally disagree with that assessment. This highlights the role of agency, where individual lines of action may be constructed independently from perceived community expectations, another major point of departure from the values model.

  10. Socio-Cultural Perspectives on Causes and Intervention Strategies

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    AJRH Managing Editor

    Ngezi exclusively rely on socio-cultural intervention strategies to solve the problem of male infertility. ... infertility which integrates the socio-cultural perspectives in policy and programming, if ..... out that the concept of using traditional medicine.

  11. Aligning the Culture and Strategy for Success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tosti, Donald T.

    2007-01-01

    One way to define culture is "the way a group of people prefer to behave." The trick for organizational leaders is to find ways to ensure that the company culture, that is the way their people prefer to behave, is supportive of what is needed to successfully deliver the company strategy. Using a criteron-referenced approach, we can first examine…

  12. Strategies and Problems in the Promotion of Taal as a Culture and Religious Destination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmy Shayne A. Buena

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available - Taal as a Culture heritage has been discovered as an important marketing tool to attract those travelers with special interest in heritage and arts. Taal reigns as one of the most culturally preserved sites of the country’s four-century Spanish and forty year American colonial eras. It conforms to the old town layout combining municipal, hall, school, church and market. Taal heritage town is a fine example of a sustainable development as well as responsible and ethical promotion of culture tourism in the Philippines. The study aimed to determine the strategies and problems in the promotion of Taal as a Culture and Religious Destination. More specifically, it identifies the current number of tourists visiting Taal, to determine the best promotional strategy in promoting taal and to identify the problems encountered by the tourists of Taal. The descriptive method was used in order to determine the needed information. A modified questionnaire was constructed to obtain the data for the study. The researchers conclude that the commonly visited tourist attraction in Taal were Escuela Pia, White House and Basilica of St. Martins of Tours. Based on the survey, the respondents agreed that historical sites were considered the most effective promotional strategies used in Taal. Lastly, the respondents for this research agreed that presence of beggars was the common problem encountered by the tourists.

  13. Defining culturally responsive teaching: The case of mathematics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenni L. Harding-DeKam

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Elementary classroom teachers in eight school districts across Colorado, United States, share the knowledge of their students’ home and community life, define culturally responsive mathematics based on the children they instruct, and give examples of how students learn math through culture in their classrooms. Findings from two interviews, classroom observations, and student artifacts reveal that teachers have an intimate cultural knowledge of the students in their classrooms, define culturally responsive mathematical practices consistent with research, use culturally responsive mathematics teaching for authentic learning, and express a need for additional professional development and curriculum support for culturally responsive mathematics instruction. Culturally responsive mathematics is important in elementary classrooms because it allows students to make personal connections to mathematics content.

  14. Culture as metaphor: company culture and business strategy at Raleigh Industries, c. 1945-60.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lloyd-Jones, R; Lewis, M J; Eason, M

    1999-01-01

    This study of Raleigh Industries, one of the leading bicycle manufactures in the world in the immediate post-war years, argues that its business strategy was in part shaped by a managerial commitment to a dominant company culture which was deeply embedded in Raleigh's history. Using the notion of culture as metaphor, the paper examines the way that core values in the company acted as a guide in the setting of organisational goals and, intended or unintended, impinged upon company performance. In many respects, the culture guided the company well, but our study shows a number of ambiguities, tensions and contradictions between culture and strategy which had negative effects on company behaviour. Thus, Raleigh's attachment to personal capitalism constrained its capacity expansion programme, and, while it adopted what appeared to be a progressive education and training policy, it in effect trained workers for the past rather than the future.

  15. The Art and Skill of Delivering Culturally Responsive TF-CBT in Tanzania and Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kava, Christine M.; Akiba, Christopher F.; Lucid, Leah; Dorsey, Shannon

    2016-01-01

    Objective This study explored the facilitators, barriers, and strategies used to deliver a child mental health evidence-based treatment (EBT), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), in a culturally responsive manner. In low- and middle-income countries most individuals with mental health problems do not receive treatment due to a shortage of mental health professionals. One approach to addressing this problem is task-sharing, in which lay counselors are trained to deliver mental health treatment. Combining this approach with a focus on EBT provides a strategy for bridging the mental health treatment gap. However, little is known how about western-developed EBTs are delivered in a culturally responsive manner. Method Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 TF-CBT lay counselors involved in a large randomized controlled trial of TF-CBT in Kenya and Tanzania. An inductive approach was used to analyze the data. Results Lay counselors described the importance of being responsive to TF-CBT participants’ customs, beliefs, and socioeconomic conditions and highlighted the value of TF-CBT for their community. They also discussed the importance of partnering with other organizations to address unmet socioeconomic needs. Conclusion The findings from this study provide support for the acceptability and appropriateness of TF-CBT as a treatment approach for improving child mental health. Having a better understanding of the strategies used by lay counselors to ensure that treatment is relevant to the cultural and socioeconomic context of participants can help to inform the implementation of future EBTs. PMID:27414470

  16. Language Learning Strategies of Turkish and Arabic Students: A Cross-Cultural Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köksal, Dinçay; Ulum, Ömer Gökhan

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the language learning strategy use of Turkish and Arabic students enrolled in middle schools and having different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Using a strategy inventory for language learning, the study examines the cross-cultural differences in strategy use of the mentioned students while learning English as a…

  17. Stages of Formation of the Strategy of Social Responsibility of Business

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zatieyshchykova Olha O.

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The article studies existing approaches to formulation of stages of the strategy, according to which a list of stages of formation of the strategy of social responsibility (SSR is formed, including: identification of the mission and vision of SSR, formation of the system of goals of SSR, assessment of influence of factors of external environment, assessment of the level of social responsibility, analysis of alternatives and selection of strategies. The article identifies SSR mission for Ukrainian enterprises, which lies in increase of the quality of life of employees, local society and society in general. SSR vision – improvement of effectiveness of business and profitability indicators on the basis of creation of trustworthy relations between business, society and state. The article develops the goals tree of SSR that has goals of three levels. It identifies a list of factors of external environment, including: growing anxiety about the state of environment and demographic situation, level of education and culture, growing intensity of competition, level of income and wellbeing, active participation of the state policy in the use of principles of social responsibility, propaganda of social responsibility within the impact area, fast change of technologies, fair marketing practice, informing and executing agreements. The article offers to assess the level of social responsibility on the basis of calculation of indicators of social investments both by quantitative and qualitative methods and calculation of indicators of voluntary social responsibility of business. It also offers main components of the essence of the SSR strategy.

  18. Guidelines and Strategies for Cross-Cultural Counseling with Korean American Clients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yea Sun Eum

    2005-01-01

    The 3 major topics discussed begin with a recommendation of family counseling as the primary therapeutic modality for Korean Americans. Second, the article recommends various culturally congruent joining strategies, presented in 5 general groups. The 3rd major section of the article offers the cross-cultural counselor strategies for therapeutic…

  19. Culturally Responsive Leadership in School Libraries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Summers, Laura L.

    2010-01-01

    Students need culturally responsive teacher-librarians who focus on 21st century skills for all students. Basic principles for culturally responsive leadership in school libraries are articulated by multicultural educators who know that social equity is more important than ever, as the number of diverse and underserved students increase each year.…

  20. Should we learn culture in chemistry classroom? Integration ethnochemistry in culturally responsive teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahmawati, Yuli; Ridwan, Achmad; Nurbaity

    2017-08-01

    The papers report the first year of two-year longitudinal study of ethnochemistry integration in culturally responsive teaching in chemistry classrooms. The teaching approach is focusing on exploring the culture and indigenous knowledge in Indonesia from chemistry perspectives. Ethnochemistry looks at the culture from chemistry perspectives integrated into culturally responsive teaching has developed students' cultural identity and students' engagement in chemistry learning. There are limited research and data in exploring Indonesia culture, which has around 300 ethics, from chemistry perspectives. Students come to the chemistry classrooms from a different background; however, their chemistry learning disconnected with their background which leads to students' disengagement in chemistry learning. Therefore this approach focused on students' engagement within their differences. This research was conducted with year 10 and 11 from four classrooms in two secondary schools through qualitative methodology with observation, interviews, and reflective journals as data collection. The results showed that the integration of ethnochemistry in culturally responsive teaching approach can be implemented by involving 5 principles which are content integration, facilitating knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, social justice, and academic development. The culturally responsive teaching has engaged students in their chemistry learning and developed their cultural identity and soft skills. Students found that the learning experiences has helped to develop their chemistry knowledge and understand the culture from chemistry perspectives. The students developed the ability to work together, responsibility, curiosity, social awareness, creativity, empathy communication, and self-confidence which categorized into collaboration skills, student engagement, social and cultural awareness, and high order thinking skills. The ethnochemistry has helped them to develop the critical self

  1. The Comparison of Politeness Strategies in Chinese Culture and in Eng-lish Speaking Context

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李庆龄

    2015-01-01

    In contemporary society, as the development of globalization a growing tendency of how to communication effective⁃ly between different culture and languages has becoming a matter of fact. Even though a great number of communication strate⁃gies used to reduce the culture shock, obstacles in cultural exchanges still remains due to the culture differences. Politeness theory, as an important communication strategy, is still the most important and influential theory for cross-cultural communication. While there still has a few controversial arguments being conducted. It results in the issue of this article:Is there different compar⁃ing Chinese culture with English Speaking Culture in Terms of Politeness Strategies? In this paper, I will present a general review of classic politeness theories including Brown&Levinson, Leech’s research in English speaking culture and Gu and Xu’s findings in Chinese culture. Among their theories some specific politeness strategies such as face-saving strategy, politeness principle and its maxims will be used to give an image of the difference between Chinese culture and English speaking culture in terms of po⁃liteness strategies. In the definition of‘politeness’, two characteristics are worth mentioning:universality as well as culture-specif⁃ic. Therefore the article concludes by the arguing that, in spite of a few similarities, there are differences between in Chinese cul⁃ture and in English speaking context in politeness.

  2. The Human-Computer Interaction of Cross-Cultural Gaming Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Joyram; Norcio, Anthony F.; Van Der Veer, Jacob J.; Andre, Charles F.; Miller, Zachary; Regelsberger, Alexander

    2015-01-01

    This article explores the cultural dimensions of the human-computer interaction that underlies gaming strategies. The article is a desktop study of existing literature and is organized into five sections. The first examines the cultural aspects of knowledge processing. The social constructs technology interaction is discussed. Following this, the…

  3. Blackboxing: social learning strategies and cultural evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyes, Cecilia

    2016-05-05

    Social learning strategies (SLSs) enable humans, non-human animals, and artificial agents to make adaptive decisions aboutwhenthey should copy other agents, andwhothey should copy. Behavioural ecologists and economists have discovered an impressive range of SLSs, and explored their likely impact on behavioural efficiency and reproductive fitness while using the 'phenotypic gambit'; ignoring, or remaining deliberately agnostic about, the nature and origins of the cognitive processes that implement SLSs. Here I argue that this 'blackboxing' of SLSs is no longer a viable scientific strategy. It has contributed, through the 'social learning strategies tournament', to the premature conclusion that social learning is generally better than asocial learning, and to a deep puzzle about the relationship between SLSs and cultural evolution. The puzzle can be solved by recognizing that whereas most SLSs are 'planetary'--they depend on domain-general cognitive processes--some SLSs, found only in humans, are 'cook-like'--they depend on explicit, metacognitive rules, such ascopy digital natives. These metacognitive SLSs contribute to cultural evolution by fostering the development of processes that enhance the exclusivity, specificity, and accuracy of social learning. © 2016 The Author(s).

  4. Blackboxing: social learning strategies and cultural evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyes, Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    Social learning strategies (SLSs) enable humans, non-human animals, and artificial agents to make adaptive decisions about when they should copy other agents, and who they should copy. Behavioural ecologists and economists have discovered an impressive range of SLSs, and explored their likely impact on behavioural efficiency and reproductive fitness while using the ‘phenotypic gambit’; ignoring, or remaining deliberately agnostic about, the nature and origins of the cognitive processes that implement SLSs. Here I argue that this ‘blackboxing' of SLSs is no longer a viable scientific strategy. It has contributed, through the ‘social learning strategies tournament', to the premature conclusion that social learning is generally better than asocial learning, and to a deep puzzle about the relationship between SLSs and cultural evolution. The puzzle can be solved by recognizing that whereas most SLSs are ‘planetary'—they depend on domain-general cognitive processes—some SLSs, found only in humans, are ‘cook-like'—they depend on explicit, metacognitive rules, such as copy digital natives. These metacognitive SLSs contribute to cultural evolution by fostering the development of processes that enhance the exclusivity, specificity, and accuracy of social learning. PMID:27069046

  5. Culturally Responsive Positive Behavior Supports: Considerations for Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banks, Tachelle; Obiakor, Festus E.

    2015-01-01

    Classrooms are not culturally neutral terrains, but rather are constructed around sets of norms, values, and expected behaviors that are culturally bound. Low tolerance levels and expectations are an indication of the incongruence between the education strategies utilized by teachers and the cultural and linguistic differences of students that are…

  6. Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: a 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, David P

    2005-04-01

    The Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI; Simpson & Gangestad 1991) is a self-report measure of individual differences in human mating strategies. Low SOI scores signify that a person is sociosexually restricted, or follows a more monogamous mating strategy. High SOI scores indicate that an individual is unrestricted, or has a more promiscuous mating strategy. As part of the International Sexuality Description Project (ISDP), the SOI was translated from English into 25 additional languages and administered to a total sample of 14,059 people across 48 nations. Responses to the SOI were used to address four main issues. First, the psychometric properties of the SOI were examined in cross-cultural perspective. The SOI possessed adequate reliability and validity both within and across a diverse range of modem cultures. Second, theories concerning the systematic distribution of sociosexuality across cultures were evaluated. Both operational sex ratios and reproductively demanding environments related in evolutionary-predicted ways to national levels of sociosexuality. Third, sex differences in sociosexuality were generally large and demonstrated cross-cultural universality across the 48 nations of the ISDP, confirming several evolutionary theories of human mating. Fourth, sex differences in sociosexuality were significantly larger when reproductive environments were demanding but were reduced to more moderate levels in cultures with more political and economic gender equality. Implications for evolutionary and social role theories of human sexuality are discussed.

  7. Toward a More Culturally Responsive General Music Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abril, Carlos R.

    2013-01-01

    This article seeks to characterize culturally responsive teaching; consider how it differs from other pedagogical approaches in music education informed by culture, such as multicultural music education; and offer ideas for making the general music classroom more culturally responsive.

  8. Organizational models as configurations of structure, culture, leadership, control, and change strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janićijević Nebojša

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Starting from the axioms of consistency, stability, contingency, and configuration, research on organizational structure, culture, control, leadership, and change management strategy has shown that their typical configurations, or models, can be differentiated according to the same two criteria: distribution of power and dominant organizational dimension. On the one hand there are models of structure, culture, control, leadership, and change management strategy that are based on an unequal, or authoritarian, distribution of power within organizations, while on the other hand there are models that are based on democratic, or equal, distribution of power. Also, on the one hand there are models of structure, culture, control, leadership, and change strategy that are based on work structure and tasks, while on the other hand there are models of these organizational components that are based on social structure, people, and their relationships. Harmonization of typical configurations of organizational structure, culture, control, leadership, and change strategy occurs due to the harmonization of the differentiation criteria. Based on this harmonization, four organizational models have been identified as typical configurations of structure, culture, control, leadership, and change strategy: the autocratic, bureaucratic, innovative, and task models. Each of these models is effective in a different environmental contingency.

  9. Teaching Critical Thinking: Cultural Challenges and Strategies in Singapore

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Charlene

    2017-01-01

    Among the challenges faced by educators in promoting critical thinking is that of cultural compatibility. Using Singapore as an illustrative case study, this paper explores the cultural challenges and recommended strategies for the teaching of critical thinking in schools. The research for this study is based on a theoretical framework that…

  10. A critical review of cell culture strategies for modelling intracortical brain implant material reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilmour, A D; Woolley, A J; Poole-Warren, L A; Thomson, C E; Green, R A

    2016-06-01

    The capacity to predict in vivo responses to medical devices in humans currently relies greatly on implantation in animal models. Researchers have been striving to develop in vitro techniques that can overcome the limitations associated with in vivo approaches. This review focuses on a critical analysis of the major in vitro strategies being utilized in laboratories around the world to improve understanding of the biological performance of intracortical, brain-implanted microdevices. Of particular interest to the current review are in vitro models for studying cell responses to penetrating intracortical devices and their materials, such as electrode arrays used for brain computer interface (BCI) and deep brain stimulation electrode probes implanted through the cortex. A background on the neural interface challenge is presented, followed by discussion of relevant in vitro culture strategies and their advantages and disadvantages. Future development of 2D culture models that exhibit developmental changes capable of mimicking normal, postnatal development will form the basis for more complex accurate predictive models in the future. Although not within the scope of this review, innovations in 3D scaffold technologies and microfluidic constructs will further improve the utility of in vitro approaches. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Using Culturally Responsive Stories in Mathematics: Responses from the Target Audience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corp, Amy

    2017-01-01

    This study examined how Black students responded to the utilization of culturally responsive stories in their mathematics class. All students in the two classes participated in mathematics lessons that began with an African American story (culturally responsive to this population), followed by mathematical discussion and concluded with solving…

  12. The effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture to improve healthcare performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parmelli, Elena; Flodgren, Gerd; Schaafsma, Mary Ellen; Baillie, Nick; Beyer, Fiona R; Eccles, Martin P

    2011-01-19

    Organisational culture is an anthropological metaphor used to inform research and consultancy and to explain organisational environments. Great emphasis has been placed during the last years on the need to change organisational culture in order to pursue effective improvement of healthcare performance. However, the precise nature of organisational culture in healthcare policy often remains underspecified and the desirability and feasibility of strategies to be adopted has been called into question. To determine the effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance.To examine the effectiveness of these strategies according to different patterns of organisational culture. We searched the following electronic databases for primary studies: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Business and Management, EThOS, Index to Theses, Intute, HMIC, SIGLE, and Scopus until October 2009. The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) was searched for related reviews. We also searched the reference lists of all papers and relevant reviews identified, and we contacted experts in the field for advice on further potential studies. We considered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or well designed quasi-experimental studies, controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs) and interrupted time series analyses (ITS) meeting the quality criteria used by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group (EPOC). Studies should be set in any type of healthcare organisation in which strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance were applied. Our main outcomes were objective measures of professional performance and patient outcome. At least two review authors independently applied the criteria for inclusion and exclusion criteria to scan titles and

  13. Cultural Development Strategies and Urban Gay Tourism Revitalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose M Prat Forga

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Municipal governments increasingly turn to cultural and leisure activities to promote and revitalize their cities. This study analysed the development of gay tourism in Barcelona (Spain by means of music festivals. While a significant body of literature has examined revitalization strategies that focus primarily around entertainment and commerce, this paper focuses on strategies in the development of cultural and leisure activities around this specific tourism population. It presents findings from a local survey distributed to key stakeholders in the promotion and development of this tourism (local agents and gay tourists. The survey data indicate that although most agents are guided by a varied set of goals, marketing objectives (“image city” and “brand city” guide the development and support of urban gay tourism in Barcelona.

  14. Corporate Social Responsibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kampf, Constance

    2007-01-01

    Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as having explicit policies and implicit norms situated in cultural systems highlights the connections between institutional and cultural structures of nation states and business' commitment to CSR as reflected in the strategies used to communic......Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as having explicit policies and implicit norms situated in cultural systems highlights the connections between institutional and cultural structures of nation states and business' commitment to CSR as reflected in the strategies used...

  15. Strategies for Demand Response in Commercial Buildings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Watson, David S.; Kiliccote, Sila; Motegi, Naoya; Piette, Mary Ann

    2006-06-20

    This paper describes strategies that can be used in commercial buildings to temporarily reduce electric load in response to electric grid emergencies in which supplies are limited or in response to high prices that would be incurred if these strategies were not employed. The demand response strategies discussed herein are based on the results of three years of automated demand response field tests in which 28 commercial facilities with an occupied area totaling over 11 million ft{sup 2} were tested. Although the demand response events in the field tests were initiated remotely and performed automatically, the strategies used could also be initiated by on-site building operators and performed manually, if desired. While energy efficiency measures can be used during normal building operations, demand response measures are transient; they are employed to produce a temporary reduction in demand. Demand response strategies achieve reductions in electric demand by temporarily reducing the level of service in facilities. Heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting are the systems most commonly adjusted for demand response in commercial buildings. The goal of demand response strategies is to meet the electric shed savings targets while minimizing any negative impacts on the occupants of the buildings or the processes that they perform. Occupant complaints were minimal in the field tests. In some cases, ''reductions'' in service level actually improved occupant comfort or productivity. In other cases, permanent improvements in efficiency were discovered through the planning and implementation of ''temporary'' demand response strategies. The DR strategies that are available to a given facility are based on factors such as the type of HVAC, lighting and energy management and control systems (EMCS) installed at the site.

  16. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Teachers of Color

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gist, Conra D.

    2017-01-01

    This study utilizes the conceptual framework of culturally responsive pedagogy and theoretical suppositions about the culturally responsive teacher educator to examine the learning experiences of teacher candidates of color. Findings from the case study of a teacher educator's and teacher candidates' of color teaching and learning experiences in a…

  17. Innovation, Corporate Strategy, and Cultural Context: What Is the Mission for International Business Communication?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulijn, Jan; O'Hair, Dan; Weggeman, Mathieu; Ledlow, Gerald; Hall, H. Thomas

    2000-01-01

    Reviews relevant literature in the areas of communication and innovation and explores how efforts toward innovative practices are directly related to globalism and business strategy. Focuses on issues associated with national culture, corporate culture, and professional culture that are relevant to strategies for researching business communication…

  18. Oil sands and organizational cultures: strategy and stakeholder dynamics in an environmental public consultation process (Alberta)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rouse, M.J.

    2000-07-01

    The demand for corporate responsiveness to environmental and social concerns, more specifically the requirement for public participation/consultation with stakeholders is, according to industry insiders, one of the most pressing changes for the oil industry. For this study, data on a public consultation process involving Syncrude Canada Limited, Alberta Environmental Protection, and the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board was collected through a combination of public hearing transcripts, participant observation, interview methodologies and reports. >From the perspective of organizational strategy, stakeholder relations, institutional theory and organizational cultures, the author investigated the public consultation process. Strategic action was the central theme to emerge through the findings. Positioning strategies influenced by stakeholder status from the organization's viewpoint and stakeholder relationships informed by the network of stakeholder relationships are included in stakeholder dynamics. The management of organizational culture and the creation of an institutional field to generate and maintain values across the relational field of focal organizations, and reduce costs and conflicts, are included in strategic outcomes. The elaboration and extension of components of stakeholder and institutional theories are part of further results, as well as an integrated understanding of the dynamic interconnectedness of organizational cultures, strategies and stakeholders in an environmental public consultation process.

  19. INTEGRATING COUNTRY-SPECIFIC CULTURE IN THE BRANDING STRATEGY FOR BUILDING GLOBAL SUCCESS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandra IOANID

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available A strong brand is the one that integrates its cultural origins and values with the cultural values of the countries where it operates, building relationships based on trust with the local consumers. The chances for a company to gain share market when starting operations in a new country grows a lot if the management allows enough regional flexibility on how the brands are marketed, according to the cultural characteristics of the potential local customers. In the actual globalized business environment, the brand marketer has the choice to adopt a global or a local approach in the marketing strategy, that most of the times determines the success or the failure of the business in a specific country. An important challenge for any marketer is the integration of the brand-culture with the country-culture and in this context, the paper analyses different cultures and offers some branding strategies valid for both products and services. This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of the country-specific culture integration in the marketing strategy of a company for growing the effectiveness of all its operations. The ideas mentioned in this paper are based on literature research and also on authors’ experience with multicultural environments.

  20. Competitive Strategy and Total Quality Management Culture in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper discusses the elements of competitive strategy, total quality management culture and productivity improvement and their relationship in producing better outputs of goods and services and individual and organizational performance. Production remains fundamental to the sustenance of human existence.

  1. SOME INTERCULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - CASE STUDY: ROMANIA AND HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

    OpenAIRE

    BALTADOR Lia; BUDAC Camelia; BELASCU Lucian

    2013-01-01

    Globalization is creating the need for new ways of understanding, managing and coping with culture differences. Corporations should take into account these differences when fundamenting their international strategies, even in regard to their business ethic and social responsibility goals. In this article we try to indicate some of the implications that intercultural factors can have on the companies actions regarding CSR.

  2. ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN TEACHING CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING FOR ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ikke Dewi Pratama

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU is one of required courses in English Language Teaching which aims at connecting language and culture so that language learners can use foreign language appropriately, i.e. appropriate forms of language for appropriate context of situation. However, some obstacles usually occur during the course, for examples: students’ lack of understanding that lead to opinions stating that this is a boring and useless course, and large number of students within a class where lecturer must teach more than 40 students in one class. Considering the importance of CCU course as well as the needs to overcome the problems during this course, this paper proposes some particular teaching strategies to help students in apprehending CCU materials through students’ active participations. Active learning strategies are preferred by means of raising students’ participation and critical thinking so that the class would run more effectively. Other consideration in composing the strategies is to prepare English Education students to be future English language teachers by training their ability in teaching performance as well as connecting language and culture in English Language Teaching (ELT.   Keywords: language, culture, strategies, media, ELT

  3. Science knowledge and cognitive strategy use among culturally and linguistically diverse students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Okhee; Fradd, Sandra H.; Sutman, Frank X.

    Science performance is determined, to a large extent, by what students already know about science (i.e., science knowledge) and what techniques or methods students use in performing science tasks (i.e., cognitive strategies). This study describes and compares science knowledge, science vocabulary, and cognitive strategy use among four diverse groups of elementary students: (a) monolingual English Caucasian, (b) African-American, (c) bilingual Spanish, and (d) bilingual Haitian Creole. To facilitate science performance in culturally and linguistically congruent settings, the study included student dyads and teachers of the same language, culture, and gender. Science performance was observed using three science tasks: weather phenomena, simple machines, and buoyancy. Data analysis involved a range of qualitative methods focusing on major themes and patterns, and quantitative methods using coding systems to summarize frequencies and total scores. The findings reveal distinct patterns of science knowledge, science vocabulary, and cognitive strategy use among the four language and culture groups. The findings also indicate relationships among science knowledge, science vocabulary, and cognitive strategy use. These findings raise important issues about science instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse groups of students.Received: 3 January 1995;

  4. Supportive Care: Communication Strategies to Improve Cultural Competence in Shared Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Edwina A; Bekker, Hilary L; Davison, Sara N; Koffman, Jonathan; Schell, Jane O

    2016-10-07

    Historic migration and the ever-increasing current migration into Western countries have greatly changed the ethnic and cultural patterns of patient populations. Because health care beliefs of minority groups may follow their religion and country of origin, inevitable conflict can arise with decision making at the end of life. The principles of truth telling and patient autonomy are embedded in the framework of Anglo-American medical ethics. In contrast, in many parts of the world, the cultural norm is protection of the patient from the truth, decision making by the family, and a tradition of familial piety, where it is dishonorable not to do as much as possible for parents. The challenge for health care professionals is to understand how culture has enormous potential to influence patients' responses to medical issues, such as healing and suffering, as well as the physician-patient relationship. Our paper provides a framework of communication strategies that enhance crosscultural competency within nephrology teams. Shared decision making also enables clinicians to be culturally competent communicators by providing a model where clinicians and patients jointly consider best clinical evidence in light of a patient's specific health characteristics and values when choosing health care. The development of decision aids to include cultural awareness could avoid conflict proactively, more productively address it when it occurs, and enable decision making within the framework of the patient and family cultural beliefs. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Nephrology.

  5. Establishment of an immortalized mouse dermal papilla cell strain with optimized culture strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haiying Guo

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Dermal papilla (DP plays important roles in hair follicle regeneration. Long-term culture of mouse DP cells can provide enough cells for research and application of DP cells. We optimized the culture strategy for DP cells from three dimensions: stepwise dissection, collagen I coating, and optimized culture medium. Based on the optimized culture strategy, we immortalized primary DP cells with SV40 large T antigen, and established several immortalized DP cell strains. By comparing molecular expression and morphologic characteristics with primary DP cells, we found one cell strain named iDP6 was similar with primary DP cells. Further identifications illustrate that iDP6 expresses FGF7 and α-SMA, and has activity of alkaline phosphatase. During the process of characterization of immortalized DP cell strains, we also found that cells in DP were heterogeneous. We successfully optimized culture strategy for DP cells, and established an immortalized DP cell strain suitable for research and application of DP cells.

  6. Didactic strategy for the interdisciplinary formation of the Physical culture graduate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacinto Enrique Mendoza-Díaz

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In the Physical Culture and Sports sciences University of Santiago de Cuba are developed different scientific research projects, one of them is named Professional's Formati on, in which are registered the results of the research that is proposing. The investigative task that is the study object is conceived a didactic methodological strategy that promote a teaching learning process from a holistic approach of knowledge, skill s, values, methodologies and ways of thinking that point to interdisciplinary. In essence, the present work proposes a didactic strategy for the interdisciplinary formation of the Physical Culture graduate; it has as objective to develop the interdisciplin ary formation that favors a coherent performance in the academic, working and investigative activities they do. The didactic strategy presents necessary important aspects for the teachers and students in its structural conception, it is structured in three stages with a system of actions that in the educative practice lead to the Physical Culture graduate interdisciplinary formation.

  7. Promoting Culturally Responsive Standards-Based Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saifer, Steffen; Barton, Rhonda

    2007-01-01

    Culturally responsive standards-based (CRSB) teaching can help bring diverse school communities together and make learning meaningful. Unlike multicultural education--which is an important way to incorporate the world's cultural and ethnic diversity into lessons--CRSB teaching draws on the experiences, understanding, views, concepts, and ways of…

  8. Culturally Responsive Physics Teaching: Content or Conveyance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Taquan Seth

    2011-12-01

    This study, in response to the achievement gap in science and the lack of significant numbers of ethnic minorities in science fields, examined the effects of a Cultural Responsiveness Workshop and intervention on teacher practice, teacher discourse, and student perceptions and connectedness to physics. The sample was comprised of three high school physics teachers---2 teaching five 12th grade sections and one teaching five 9th grade sections of physics---in two separate urban schools in the same section of South Los Angeles. My research design was qualitative and examined eight culturally responsive indicators that, when applied, may increase student engagement and level of connectedness in urban high school physics classrooms: (1) proximity to students, (2) the ways in which they encouraged students, (3) positive reinforcement techniques, (4) modifications for individual learning types, (5) use of children's strengths, (6) scaffolding, (7) displaying an understanding of diverse cultures, and (8) displaying a personal regard for students of diverse cultures. When the study was completed and data was collected, I identified trends in the change in teacher discourse, behaviors, instructional practice, and perceptions of student engagement. My findings, discovered through classroom observations and focus groups, indicated a positive shift in each. Accompanying these shifts were positive shifts in level of student engagement and level of connectedness. There were also the unexpected findings of the need for teachers to receive feedback in a safe collaborative space and the use of culturally responsive teaching as a tool for behavioral management. My study found that there is a definite relationship between the use of the culturally responsive indicators observed, student engagement and student level of connectedness to physics when implemented in urban high school science classrooms.

  9. Literacy Acquisition and Cultural Awareness: Folksongs as Strategy ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper examines Yoruba folksongs in the context of performance for the purpose of entertainment, and more important, as an educational strategy essentially geared towards moral and cultural development. It discusses how folksongs have remained a vigorous aspect of the dissemi nation of knowledge about popular ...

  10. Challenges, Strategies and Techniques for International Training in Technology for Cultural Heritage Conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eppich, R.; Almagro Vidal, A.

    2013-07-01

    Technology to document and investigate cultural heritage sites is rapidly advancing - multispectral and high dynamic range imaging, spherical high resolution photography, three-dimensional laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicles are only a few of the new technologies available to heritage conservation professionals to record monuments, buildings, city centres and landscapes. These advanced tools are giving architects, engineers and conservation professionals' new insights and additional information which helps to make better informed decisions. But this technology and the knowledge about its correct use are extremely unevenly distributed across the world. The Digital Divide is present and growing in the field of cultural heritage preservation (Letellier, 2001). Many of those responsible for the management, maintenance and care of some of the world's most significant cultural heritage sites do not have access to or information about the latest technologies. They are also confronted with an overwhelming assortment of new technologies and consultants or developers that promote them and therefore must allocate their limited budgets with limited information. What is to be done about bridging this gap? Obviously cost and accessibility are issues. However one of the most important challenges to be addressed is education. As the base knowledge of these technologies is very uneven this leads to further questions: Are there strategies or methodologies for teaching this technology? How to combine and balance different professional backgrounds from different and so unevenly distributed places around the world and provide them all with useful information to make good documentation and conservation decisions? This paper will describe the methodology developed over the last ten years in teaching documentation technologies to diverse groups of cultural heritage professionals and students from Côte d'Ivoire, Germany, Belgium, Kosovo, Albania, Nigeria, Egypt, Japan, Iraq

  11. Comparing Evolutionary Strategies on a Biobjective Cultural Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Lagos

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Evolutionary algorithms have been widely used to solve large and complex optimisation problems. Cultural algorithms (CAs are evolutionary algorithms that have been used to solve both single and, to a less extent, multiobjective optimisation problems. In order to solve these optimisation problems, CAs make use of different strategies such as normative knowledge, historical knowledge, circumstantial knowledge, and among others. In this paper we present a comparison among CAs that make use of different evolutionary strategies; the first one implements a historical knowledge, the second one considers a circumstantial knowledge, and the third one implements a normative knowledge. These CAs are applied on a biobjective uncapacitated facility location problem (BOUFLP, the biobjective version of the well-known uncapacitated facility location problem. To the best of our knowledge, only few articles have applied evolutionary multiobjective algorithms on the BOUFLP and none of those has focused on the impact of the evolutionary strategy on the algorithm performance. Our biobjective cultural algorithm, called BOCA, obtains important improvements when compared to other well-known evolutionary biobjective optimisation algorithms such as PAES and NSGA-II. The conflicting objective functions considered in this study are cost minimisation and coverage maximisation. Solutions obtained by each algorithm are compared using a hypervolume S metric.

  12. Strategy and Culture: Hidden Secrets and Soft Skills in Supply Chain Best Practices from Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esther Kibuka-Sebitosi

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper identifies strategy and cultural hidden secrets and soft skills pertaining to supply chain management in African contexts that are pertinent to supply chain and operations management. Africa is increasingly becoming attractive for not only multi-nationals but supply chain businesses that either want to diversify or expand their foot print. The market is complex, turbulent and highly competitive (Porter, 1986 and requires significant knowledge and understanding of the local context but also culture (Johnson, 1987; 1992; 2000, diversity and institutional dynamics (Ogbonna et al., 2002. Due to the complex nature of the emerging markets, the paper draws from multiple-disciplines (Sociology, Business, Management and theoretical approaches namely: culture and strategy; Ubuntu, stakeholder theory and systems thinking, to elicit best practices. Utilizing qualitative methods comprising case study, interviews, focus group discussions and extensive document analysis, the study covers a variety of management practices ranging from strategy, culture to hyper market management. This paper highlights lessons from successful supermarket chains in Africa particularly the hidden secrets and soft skills that are often ignored in mainstream operations and supply chain management or strategy research. Findings underscore the lessons of understanding strategy and culture implementation through practicing cultural values, treating the customer as a queen/king, knowing political skills, being a learning organisation and implementing continuous improvement. It contributes to management theory for academics, researchers & managers through strategy and culture, proposing inclusion of the cultural diversity into strategy implementation as a critical force affecting the behaviour of people inside the organization. Managers should take into account the cultural context and use it to promote organizational business excellence. These lessons for business excellence

  13. Acculturation Strategies, Social Support, and Cross-Cultural Adaptation: A Mediation Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Ting Kin; Tsang, Kwok Kuen; Lian, Yi

    2013-01-01

    Previous acculturation research has established the influences of acculturation strategies and social support on cross-cultural adaptation. The present study attempted to elaborate these direct associations by proposing that social support and the use of the integration and marginalization strategies might affect psychological adaptation…

  14. What is served for breakfast? : An empirical analysis of CRE strategies and organizational culture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nase, I.; Arkesteijn, M.H.

    2017-01-01

    The quote Culture eats strategy for breakfast was made famous by Mark Field, president at Ford, in 2006 and has ever since been a guiding principle in management practice of corporations operating across the globe. General management profession has widely embraced culture as a key factor in strategy

  15. The extent to which Latina/o preservice teachers demonstrate culturally responsive teaching practices during science and mathematics instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, Cecilia M.

    2011-12-01

    Complex social, racial, economic, and political issues involved in the practice of teaching today require beginning teachers to be informed, skilled, and culturally responsive when entering the classroom. Teacher educators must educate future teachers in ways that will help them teach all children regardless of language, cultural background, or prior knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) novice teachers described and demonstrated culturally responsive teaching strategies using their students' cultural and academic profiles to inform practice in science and mathematics instruction. This qualitative exploratory case study considered the culturally responsive teaching practices of 12, non-traditional, Latina/o students as they progressed through a distance-based collaborative teacher education program. Qualitative techniques used throughout this exploratory case study investigated cultural responsiveness of these student teachers as they demonstrated their abilities to: a) integrate content and facilitate knowledge construction; b) illustrate social justice and prejudice reduction; and c) develop students academically. In conclusion, student teachers participating in this study demonstrated their ability to integrate content by: (1) including content from other cultures, (2) building positive teacher-student relationships, and (3) holding high expectations for all students. They also demonstrated their ability to facilitate knowledge construction by building on what students knew. Since there is not sufficient data to support the student teachers' abilities to assist students in learning to be critical, independent thinkers who are open to other ways of knowing, no conclusions regarding this subcategory could be drawn. Student teachers in this study illustrated prejudice reduction by: (1) using native language support to assist students in learning and understanding science and math content

  16. Translation Strategies from Target Culture Perspective: An Analysis of English and Chinese Brands Names

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong Shi

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available As a crucial communication material, the brand name exhibits its growing importance in the worldwide communication. It is a special text with a strong function and a clear persuasive purpose. This paper aims to explore the translation strategy and methods of English brand names from the perspective of culture. According to Skopostheorie, the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose of the overall translational action. The translation methods should be based on the text’s function and the target culture. This paper is a tentative study of the guiding strategy and possible methods used in English brand names translation by analyzing the Chinese and English brand names, and how they fulfill the function of promoting products and enhancing the cultural exchange in the hope of offering a new perspective in the brand name translation practice. The study used the Skopostheorie as the guiding theory and strategy to analyze English brand names, which were selected from the brand names database “brandirectory”. It is found that the translation should follow the target-culture oriented strategy to conform to the habitual use of target language, social culture and aesthetics in target market.

  17. 3D culture of Her2+ breast cancer cells promotes AKT to MAPK switching and a loss of therapeutic response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gangadhara, Sharath; Smith, Chris; Barrett-Lee, Peter; Hiscox, Stephen

    2016-06-01

    The Her2 receptor is overexpressed in up to 25 % of breast cancers and is associated with a poor prognosis. Around half of Her2+ breast cancers also express the estrogen receptor and treatment for such tumours can involve both endocrine and Her2-targeted therapies. However, despite preclinical data supporting the effectiveness of these agents, responses can vary widely in the clinical setting. In light of the increasing evidence pointing to the interplay between the tumour and its extracellular microenvironment as a significant determinant of therapeutic sensitivity and response here we investigated the impact of 3D matrix culture of breast cancer cells on their therapeutic sensitivity. A 3D Matrigel-based culture system was established and optimized for the growth of ER+/Her2+ breast cancer cell models. Growth of cells in response to trastuzumab and endocrine agents in 3D culture versus routine monolayer culture were assessed using cell counting and Ki67 staining. Endogenous and trastuzumab-modulated signalling pathway activity in 2D and 3D cultures were assessed using Western blotting. Breast cancer cells in 3D culture displayed an attenuated response to both endocrine agents and trastuzumab compared with cells cultured in traditional 2D monolayers. Underlying this phenomenon was an apparent matrix-induced shift from AKT to MAPK signalling; consequently, suppression of MAPK in 3D cultures restores therapeutic response. These data suggest that breast cancer cells in 3D culture display a reduced sensitivity to therapeutic agents which may be mediated by internal MAPK-mediated signalling. Targeting of adaptive pathways that maintain growth in 3D culture may represent an effective strategy to improve therapeutic response clinically.

  18. Culturally Responsive Social Skills Instruction for Adolescent Black Males

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson-Ervin, Porsha; Cartledge, Gwendolyn; Keyes, Starr

    2011-01-01

    The cultural disconnect between black males and the school environment has been correlated with poor academic achievement and high discipline rates for Black males. Instructional strategies that draw upon the learner?s cultural background hold promise as one means for intervention. This paper addresses the social skills needs of black adolescent…

  19. Individual and culture-level components of survey response styles: A multi-level analysis using cultural models of selfhood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Peter B; Vignoles, Vivian L; Becker, Maja; Owe, Ellinor; Easterbrook, Matthew J; Brown, Rupert; Bourguignon, David; Garðarsdóttir, Ragna B; Kreuzbauer, Robert; Cendales Ayala, Boris; Yuki, Masaki; Zhang, Jianxin; Lv, Shaobo; Chobthamkit, Phatthanakit; Jaafar, Jas Laile; Fischer, Ronald; Milfont, Taciano L; Gavreliuc, Alin; Baguma, Peter; Bond, Michael Harris; Martin, Mariana; Gausel, Nicolay; Schwartz, Seth J; Des Rosiers, Sabrina E; Tatarko, Alexander; González, Roberto; Didier, Nicolas; Carrasco, Diego; Lay, Siugmin; Nizharadze, George; Torres, Ana; Camino, Leoncio; Abuhamdeh, Sami; Macapagal, Ma Elizabeth J; Koller, Silvia H; Herman, Ginette; Courtois, Marie; Fritsche, Immo; Espinosa, Agustín; Villamar, Juan A; Regalia, Camillo; Manzi, Claudia; Brambilla, Maria; Zinkeng, Martina; Jalal, Baland; Kusdil, Ersin; Amponsah, Benjamin; Çağlar, Selinay; Mekonnen, Kassahun Habtamu; Möller, Bettina; Zhang, Xiao; Schweiger Gallo, Inge; Prieto Gil, Paula; Lorente Clemares, Raquel; Campara, Gabriella; Aldhafri, Said; Fülöp, Márta; Pyszczynski, Tom; Kesebir, Pelin; Harb, Charles

    2016-12-01

    Variations in acquiescence and extremity pose substantial threats to the validity of cross-cultural research that relies on survey methods. Individual and cultural correlates of response styles when using 2 contrasting types of response mode were investigated, drawing on data from 55 cultural groups across 33 nations. Using 7 dimensions of self-other relatedness that have often been confounded within the broader distinction between independence and interdependence, our analysis yields more specific understandings of both individual- and culture-level variations in response style. When using a Likert-scale response format, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as similar to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour harmony, similarity with others and receptiveness to influence. However, when using Schwartz's (2007) portrait-comparison response procedure, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant but also connected to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour self-reliance and self-consistency. Extreme responding varies less between the two types of response modes, and is most prevalent among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant, and in cultures favouring self-reliance. As both types of response mode elicit distinctive styles of response, it remains important to estimate and control for style effects to ensure valid comparisons. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

  20. THE IMPACT OF THE CULTURE ON THE STRATEGIES OF THE COUNTY MEHEDINTI ORGANISATIONS

    OpenAIRE

    Doina Rosca; Adriana Schiopoiu Burlea; Marioara Avram; Mirela Sîrbu; Laurentiu Constantin Dragomir; Mihail Cristian Negulescu; Irina Morarasu; Viorina Judeu

    2010-01-01

    The aim of the paper is to evaluate the influence of the strategies and culture on the social behaviour of County Mehedinti organizations. Starting from the reference literature on strategies management and culture, this article is an investigation of the impact that short/long term orientation has on the behaviour of the employees in organizations. Our research underpins quantitative and qualitative methodology based on the outcomes of the COMOR project

  1. Mass culture strategy for bacterial yeast co-culture for degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in marine environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Priya, Anchal; Mandal, Ajoy K; Ball, Andrew S; Manefield, Mike; Lal, Banwari; Sarma, Priyangshu M

    2015-11-15

    In the present study a metabolically versatile co-culture with two Bacilli and one yeast strain was developed using enrichment culture techniques. The developed co-culture had affinity to degrade both aliphatic and aromatic fractions of petroleum crude oil. Degradation kinetics was established for designing the fermentation protocol of the co-culture. The developed mass culture strategy led to achieve the reduction in surface tension (26dynescm(-1) from 69 dynescm(-1)) and degradation of 67% in bench scale experiments. The total crude oil degradation of 96% was achieved in 4000l of natural seawater after 28days without adding any nutrients. The survival of the augmented co-culture was maintained (10(9)cellsml(-1)) in contaminated marine environment. The mass culture protocol devised for the bioaugmentation was a key breakthrough that was subsequently used for pilot scale studies with 100l and 4000l of natural seawater for potential application in marine oil spills. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Customization of ¹³C-MFA strategy according to cell culture system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quek, Lake-Ee; Nielsen, Lars K

    2014-01-01

    (13)C-MFA is far from being a simple assay for quantifying metabolic activity. It requires considerable up-front experimental planning and familiarity with the cell culture system in question, as well as optimized analytics and adequate computation frameworks. The success of a (13)C-MFA experiment is ultimately rated by the ability to accurately quantify the flux of one or more reactions of interest. In this chapter, we describe the different (13)C-MFA strategies that have been developed for the various fermentation or cell culture systems, as well as the limitations of the respective strategies. The strategies are affected by many factors and the (13)C-MFA modeling and experimental strategy must be tailored to conditions. The prevailing philosophy in the computation process is that any metabolic processes that produce significant systematic bias in the labeling pattern of the metabolites being measured must be described in the model. It is equally important to plan a labeling strategy by analytical screening or by heuristics.

  3. Maternal coping strategies in response to a child’s chronic and oncological disease: a cross-cultural study in Italy and Portugal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanna Perricone

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available A child’s oncological or chronic disease is a stressful situation for parents. This stress may make it difficult for appropriate management strategies aimed at promoting the child’s well-being and helping him or her cope with a disease to be adopted. In particular, this study focuses on the possible connections between the variable national cultural influences and the parental strategies used to cope with a child’s severe disease by comparing the experiences of Italian and Portuguese mothers. The study investigates differences and cross-cultural elements among the coping strategies used by Italian and Portuguese mothers of children with oncological or chronic disease. Two groups of mothers took part: 59 Italian mothers (average age 37.7 years; SD=4.5 and 36 Portuguese mothers (average age 39.3 years; SD=4.6. The tool used was the Italian and the Portuguese versions of the COPE inventory that measures five coping strategies: Social Support, Avoidance Coping, Positive Aptitude, Religious Faith and Humor, Active Coping. There were statistically significant differences between Portuguese and Italian mothers regarding Social Support (F(3, 94=6.32, P=0.014, η2=0.065, Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94=20.06, P=0.001, η2=0.18, higher values for Portuguese mothers and Avoidance Coping (F(3, 94=3.30, P=0.06, η2=0.035, higher values for Italian mothers. Regarding child’s disease, the only statistically significant difference was in Religious Faith and Humor (F(3, 94=7.49, P=0.007, η2=0.076, higher values for mothers of children with chronic disease. The findings of specific cultural transversalities provide the basis for reflection on important factors emerging on the relationship between physicians and parents. In fact, mothers’ coping abilities may allow health workers involved in a child’s care not only to understand how parents face a distressful event, but also to provide them with professional support.

  4. Neuromyelitis optica IgG stimulates an immunological response in rat astrocyte cultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Charles L; Kaptzan, Tatiana; Magaña, Setty M; Ayers-Ringler, Jennifer R; LaFrance-Corey, Reghann G; Lucchinetti, Claudia F

    2014-05-01

    Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a primary astrocyte disease associated with central nervous system inflammation, demyelination, and tissue injury. Brain lesions are frequently observed in regions enriched in expression of the aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channel, an antigenic target of the NMO IgG serologic marker. Based on observations of disease reversibility and careful characterization of NMO lesion development, we propose that the NMO IgG may induce a dynamic immunological response in astrocytes. Using primary rat astrocyte-enriched cultures and treatment with NMO patient-derived serum or purified IgG, we observed a robust pattern of gene expression changes consistent with the induction of a reactive and inflammatory phenotype in astrocytes. The reactive astrocyte factor lipocalin-2 and a broad spectrum of chemokines, cytokines, and stress response factors were induced by either NMO patient serum or purified IgG. Treatment with IgG from healthy controls had no effect. The effect is disease-specific, as serum from patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, Sjögren's, or systemic lupus erythematosus did not induce a response in the cultures. We hypothesize that binding of the NMO IgG to AQP4 induces a cellular response that results in transcriptional and translational events within the astrocyte that are consistent with a reactive and inflammatory phenotype. Strategies aimed at reducing the inflammatory response of astrocytes may short circuit an amplification loop associated with NMO lesion development. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. Temperament trait of sensory processing sensitivity moderates cultural differences in neural response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aron, Arthur; Ketay, Sarah; Hedden, Trey; Aron, Elaine N; Rose Markus, Hazel; Gabrieli, John D E

    2010-06-01

    This study focused on a possible temperament-by-culture interaction. Specifically, it explored whether a basic temperament/personality trait (sensory processing sensitivity; SPS), perhaps having a genetic component, might moderate a previously established cultural difference in neural responses when making context-dependent vs context-independent judgments of simple visual stimuli. SPS has been hypothesized to underlie what has been called inhibitedness or reactivity in infants, introversion in adults, and reactivity or responsivness in diverse animal species. Some biologists view the trait as one of two innate strategies-observing carefully before acting vs being first to act. Thus the central characteristic of SPS is hypothesized to be a deep processing of information. Here, 10 European-Americans and 10 East Asians underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing simple visuospatial tasks emphasizing judgments that were either context independent (typically easier for Americans) or context dependent (typically easier for Asians). As reported elsewhere, each group exhibited greater activation for the culturally non-preferred task in frontal and parietal regions associated with greater effort in attention and working memory. However, further analyses, reported here for the first time, provided preliminary support for moderation by SPS. Consistent with the careful-processing theory, high-SPS individuals showed little cultural difference; low-SPS, strong culture differences.

  6. Data analysis strategies for reducing the influence of the bias in cross-cultural research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sindik, Josko

    2012-03-01

    In cross-cultural research, researchers have to adjust the constructs and associated measurement instruments that have been developed in one culture and then imported for use in another culture. Importing concepts from other cultures is often simply reduced to language adjustment of the content in the items of the measurement instruments that define a certain (psychological) construct. In the context of cross-cultural research, test bias can be defined as a generic term for all nuisance factors that threaten the validity of cross-cultural comparisons. Bias can be an indicator that instrument scores based on the same items measure different traits and characteristics across different cultural groups. To reduce construct, method and item bias,the researcher can consider these strategies: (1) simply comparing average results in certain measuring instruments; (2) comparing only the reliability of certain dimensions of the measurement instruments, applied to the "target" and "source" samples of participants, i.e. from different cultures; (3) comparing the "framed" factor structure (fixed number of factors) of the measurement instruments, applied to the samples from the "target" and "source" cultures, using explorative factor analysis strategy on separate samples; (4) comparing the complete constructs ("unframed" factor analysis, i.e. unlimited number of factors) in relation to their best psychometric properties and the possibility of interpreting (best suited to certain cultures, applying explorative strategy of factor analysis); or (5) checking the similarity of the constructs in the samples from different cultures (using structural equation modeling approach). Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages and lacks of each approach are discussed.

  7. Counter-storying the grand narrative of science (teacher) education: towards culturally responsive teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Peter Charles

    2011-12-01

    John Settlage's article— Counterstories from White Mainstream Preservice Teachers: Resisting the Master Narrative of Deficit by Default—outlines his endeavour to enable pre-service teachers to develop culturally responsive science teaching identities for resisting the master narrative of deficit thinking when confronted by the culturally different `other.' Case study results are presented of the role of counterstories in enabling five pre-service teachers to overcome deficit thinking. In this forum, Philip Moore, a cultural anthropologist and university professor, deepens our understanding of the power and significance of counterstories as an educational tool for enabling students to deconstruct oppressive master narratives. Jill Slay, dean of a science faculty, examines her own master narrative about the compatibility of culturally similar academics and graduate students, and finds it lacking. But first, I introduce this scholarship with background notes on the critical paradigm and its adversary, the grand narrative of science education, following which I give an appreciative understanding of John's pedagogical use of counterstories as a transformative strategy for multi-worldview science teacher education.

  8. Implementing the Integrated Strategy for the Cultural Adaptation of Evidence-Based Interventions: An Illustration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidani, Souraya; Ibrahim, Sarah; Lok, Jana; Fan, Lifeng; Fox, Mary

    2018-01-01

    Background Persons' cultural beliefs about a health problem can affect their perceived acceptability of evidence-based interventions, undermining evidence-based interventions' adherence, and uptake to manage the problem. Cultural adaptation has the potential to enhance the acceptability, uptake, and adherence to evidence-based interventions. Purpose To illustrate the implementation of the first two phases of the integrated strategy for cultural adaptation by examining Chinese Canadians' perceptions of chronic insomnia and evidence-based behavioral therapies for insomnia. Methods Chinese Canadians ( n = 14) with chronic insomnia attended a group session during which they completed established instruments measuring beliefs about sleep and insomnia, and their perceptions of factors that contribute to chronic insomnia. Participants rated the acceptability of evidence-based behavioral therapies and discussed their cultural perspectives regarding chronic insomnia and its treatment. Results Participants actively engaged in the activities planned for the first two phases of the integrated strategy and identified the most significant factor contributing to chronic insomnia and the evidence-based intervention most acceptable for their cultural group. Conclusions The protocol for implementing the two phases of the integrated strategy for cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions was feasible, acceptable, and useful in identifying culturally relevant evidence-based interventions.

  9. Implementing a learning technology strategy: top–down strategy meets bottom–up culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernard Lisewski

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Using interview-based ‘insider case study' research, this paper outlines why the University of Salford has adopted a Learning Technologies Strategy and examines the factors which are likely to lead to its successful implementation. External reasons for the adoption focused on the need to: respond to ‘increased Higher Education (HE competition', meet student expectations of learning technology use, provide more flexibility and access to the curriculum, address the possible determining effect of technology and establish a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE presence in this ‘particular area of the HE landscape'. Internal drivers centred on the need to: continue a ‘bottom– up' e-learning pilot project initiative, particularly given that a VLE is a ‘complex tool' which requires effective strategic implementation, and promote the idea that learning technology will play an important role in determining the type of HE institution that the University of Salford wishes to become. Likely success factors highlighted the need to: create ‘time and space' for innovation, maintain effective communication and consultation at all levels of the organization, emphasize the operational aspects of the strategy, establish a variety of staff development processes and recognize the negotiatory processes involved in understanding the term ‘web presence' in local teaching cultures. Fundamentally, the paper argues that policy makers should acknowledge the correct ‘cultural configuration' of HE institutions when seeking to manage and achieve organizational change. Thus, it is not just a question of establishing ‘success factors' per se but also whether they are contextualized appropriately within a ‘correct' characterization of the organizational culture.

  10. Culturally Responsive: Art Education in a Global Era

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Alice

    2012-01-01

    Facing the era of globalization, culturally responsive art teachers must recognize that students' home culture, including local artistic expression, is inevitably influenced by global forces. They should strive to engage with students systems and issues of globalization and its impact on their community culture and art. In this article, the author…

  11. Managing strategic change--strategy, culture and action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, G

    1992-02-01

    One of the major problems facing senior executives is that of effecting significant strategic change in their organizations. This paper develops a number of explanatory frameworks which address the links between the development of strategy in organizations, dimensions of corporate culture and managerial action. In considering such linkages, and by illustrating them with examples from work undertaken in companies, the paper also seeks to advance our understanding of the problems and means of managing strategic change.

  12. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Reflections on Mentoring by Educational Leadership Candidates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genao, Soribel

    2016-01-01

    Authentic field experience is an important component in educational leadership programs. This article revisits the literature examining the cultural gap that exists in public education, while taking a closer look at what it means to be a culturally responsive leader and teacher. The need to integrate culturally responsive practices to connect and…

  13. Cross-Cultural Pedagogy: Practical Strategies for a Successful Interprofessional Study Abroad Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Jieru; Larimer, Susan; Riner, Mary Beth

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses some practical strategies for designing and implementing a cross-cultural interprofessional study abroad course, including pre-departure preparation, facilitating small groups with local students, establishing a weekly theme, utilizing role-play and reflective assignments, and implementing meaningful evaluation strategies.…

  14. Comparison of Teaching Strategies for Cultural Humility in Physical Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paparella-Pitzel, Susan; Eubanks, Robin; Kaplan, Sandra L

    2016-01-01

    Cultural competence and cultural humility are ongoing processes that healthcare professionals should continually strive for in order to provide effective and comprehensive plans of care for patients. This 2-year, longitudinal, educational pilot study describes the levels of competency in second-year entry-level physical therapy students and compares the outcomes of three teaching strategies for cultural competence and cultural humility. All students received a standard 2-hour lecture; study volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two enriched educational groups, involving a standardized patient or a paper case enrichment. Students shifted from initial levels of "culturally incompetent" and/or "culturally aware" to "culturally competent" as measured by the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals-Revised. This shift was maintained after 1.5 yrs following the exposure. Because the enriched educational groups were underpowered, preliminary quantitative data are inconclusive, but qualitative feedback from students is strongly positive. A minimal dose of a structured 2-hr lecture with a skilled instructor, who creates a safe environment for cultural learning, produced positive shifts toward greater cultural competence. Five processes emerged for teaching cultural humility that may assist in designing comprehensive educational experiences on this topic. A framework for organizing course content is presented.

  15. Coping strategies, social support and responsibility in chemical intolerance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordin, Maria; Andersson, Linus; Nordin, Steven

    2010-08-01

    To study coping strategies, social support and responsibility for improvement in chemical intolerance (CI). Limited knowledge of CI among health professionals and lay persons places demands on the chemically intolerant individual's coping strategies and perception of social support and ability to take responsibility for improvement. However, there is sparse literature on these issues in CI. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, quasi-experimental study. Fifty-nine persons with mild, 92 with moderate and 31 with severe CI participated by rating (i) usage and effectiveness of six problem- and six emotion-focused coping strategies, (ii) emotional, instrumental and informative support provided by various sources and (iii) society's and the inflicted individual's responsibility for improvement. The participants reported that the most commonly used and effective coping strategies were avoiding odorous/pungent environments and asking persons to limit their use of odorous/pungent substances (problem-focused strategies) as well as accepting the situation and reprioritising (emotion-focused strategies). High intolerance severity was associated with problem-focused coping strategies and relatively low intolerance with emotion-focused strategies. More emotional than instrumental and informative support was perceived, predominantly from the partner and other family members. Responsibility attributed to society was also found to increase from mild to moderate/severe intolerance. Certain coping strategies are more commonly used and perceived as more effective than others in CI. However, intolerance severity plays a role regarding both coping strategies and responsibility. Emotional support appears to be the most available type of support. For improved care, certain coping strategies may be suggested by nurses, the healthcare system needs to provide better social support to these patients and the issue of responsibility for improvement may be discussed with the patient.

  16. Dealing with Difference: Building Culturally Responsive Classrooms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Burridge

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Australia continues to develop as a multicultural society with levels of immigration increasing significantly over recent years as a result of government policies. More recently, the new period of financial turmoil, continuing threats from terrorism and environmental concerns, have all exacerbated the challenges of dealing with difference in our society. In response, schools continue to face the challenges of the impact of a range of different cultures, languages and religions among their student and school communities. How effectively schools deal with difference and how well they are supported in their endeavours to build culturally response classrooms is a perennial issue for both teachers and educators. A major challenge for teachers is to at a minimum, understand cultural differences as they manifest in their particular school settings and to draw on approaches that support student learning in culturally appropriate ways so to assist them to better realise their full potential. In this paper we will consider cultural diversity in the context of recent school policies, highlight a number of frameworks for addressing cultural diversity in the classroom, in particular the approaches by Kalantzis and Cope’s (1999 and Hickling-Hudson (2003. We also draw on the findings from a recent qualitative study of representations of cultural diversity in a number of Sydney metropolitan schools to discuss the need for more greater resource and policy support for progressive teaching approaches that support the development of a more tolerant and inclusive multicultural society. Key words: cultural diversity, schools, teacher education, classroom practice, social inclusion

  17. Australian Businesses in China: Strategies to Overcome the Cultural Gap

    OpenAIRE

    Mona Chung; Jane Menzies

    2010-01-01

    This paper indentifies a main barrier when doing business with China, the cultural gap, and provides the strategies that companies can use when entering the Chinese market. This empirical study examined 40 Australian organisations in their activities when entering the Chinese market. Alarmingly after 30 years of attempting to do business in China, companies are still not addressing the issue of cultural differences. Companies are also caught by surprises due to lack of preparation how large t...

  18. Towards a Culturally Situated Reader Response Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Wanda; Browne, Susan

    2012-01-01

    This article describes a theory of how culture enables literary interpretations of texts. We begin with a brief overview of the reader response field. From there, we introduce the theory and provide illustrative participant data examples. These data examples illustrate the four cultural positions middle grade students in our research assumed when…

  19. Development Strategies and Cultural Policies in Romania. The Case of Cluj-Napoca

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anamaria TOMIUC

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Once with Romania’s integration in the EU, a long series of structural reforms have been at the core of the national, regional and local policies. There are three major aims of this paper. The first is to investigate the culture-oriented policies that have been envisaged in post-communist Romania, before and after joining the EU, in order to point out the correlation with the European cultural agenda, and to observe the transition towards a decentralized vision on culture that would redirect the cities’ contributions to their urban development. The second is to analyze what types of development strategies and cultural policies have been developed and implemented in Cluj-Napoca (Romania that frame a new vision on the city and propose the concepts of ‘participation, creativity and university’ at the core of its transformation. The third is to question the role of the festival use (as a cultural form involving large participation and to discuss the specificity of the city of Cluj-Napoca where the enthusiastic support from the local authorities for this type of actions is balanced by a more reasonable consideration within the cultural strategy. The research is based on document analyses and interviews with decision-makers and stakeholders’ representatives

  20. Strategy for selecting disposable bags for cell culture media applications based on a root-cause investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Joseph; Mahajan, Ekta; Shiratori, Masaru

    2013-01-01

    The use of disposable bags for cell culture media storage has grown significantly in the past decade. Some of the key advantages of using disposable bags relative to non-disposable containers include increased product throughput, decreased cleaning validation costs, reduced risk of cross contamination and lower facility costs. As the scope of use of disposable bags for cell culture applications increases, problematic bags and scenarios should be identified and addressed to continue improving disposables technologies and meet the biotech industry's needs. In this article, we examine a cell culture application wherein media stored in disposable bags is warmed at 37°C before use for cell culture operations. A problematic bag film was identified through a prospective and retrospective cell culture investigation. The investigation provided information on the scope and variation of the issue with respect to different Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines, cell culture media, and application-specific parameters. It also led to the development of application-specific test methods and enabled a strategy for disposable bag film testing. The strategy was implemented for qualifying an alternative bag film for use in our processes. In this test strategy, multiple lots of 13 bag film types, encompassing eight vendors were evaluated using a three round, cell culture-based test strategy. The test strategy resulted in the determination of four viable bag film options based on the technical data. The results of this evaluation were used to conclude that a volatile or air-quenched compound, likely generated by gamma irradiation of the problematic bag film, negatively impacted cell culture performance. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

  1. Cultural responses to climate change during the late Holocene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    deMenocal, P B

    2001-04-27

    Modern complex societies exhibit marked resilience to interannual-to- decadal droughts, but cultural responses to multidecadal-to-multicentury droughts can only be addressed by integrating detailed archaeological and paleoclimatic records. Four case studies drawn from New and Old World civilizations document societal responses to prolonged drought, including population dislocations, urban abandonment, and state collapse. Further study of past cultural adaptations to persistent climate change may provide valuable perspective on possible responses of modern societies to future climate change.

  2. Thermo-responsive cell culture carrier: Effects on macrophage functionality and detachment efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rennert, Knut; Nitschke, Mirko; Wallert, Maria; Keune, Natalie; Raasch, Martin; Lorkowski, Stefan; Mosig, Alexander S

    2017-01-01

    Harvesting cultivated macrophages for tissue engineering purposes by enzymatic digestion of cell adhesion molecules can potentially result in unintended activation, altered function, or behavior of these cells. Thermo-responsive polymer is a promising tool that allows for gentle macrophage detachment without artificial activation prior to subculture within engineered tissue constructs. We therefore characterized different species of thermo-responsive polymers for their suitability as cell substrate and to mediate gentle macrophage detachment by temperature shift. Primary human monocyte- and THP-1-derived macrophages were cultured on thermo-responsive polymers and characterized for phagocytosis and cytokine secretion in response to lipopolysaccharide stimulation. We found that both cell types differentially respond in dependence of culture and stimulation on thermo-responsive polymers. In contrast to THP-1 macrophages, primary monocyte-derived macrophages showed no signs of impaired viability, artificial activation, or altered functionality due to culture on thermo-responsive polymers compared to conventional cell culture. Our study demonstrates that along with commercially available UpCell carriers, two other thermo-responsive polymers based on poly(vinyl methyl ether) blends are attractive candidates for differentiation and gentle detachment of primary monocyte-derived macrophages. In summary, we observed similar functionality and viability of primary monocyte-derived macrophages cultured on thermo-responsive polymers compared to standard cell culture surfaces. While this first generation of custom-made thermo-responsive polymers does not yet outperform standard culture approaches, our results are very promising and provide the basis for exploiting the unique advantages offered by custom-made thermo-responsive polymers to further improve macrophage culture and recovery in the future, including the covalent binding of signaling molecules and the reduction of

  3. Building a Culture of Support: Strategies for School Leaders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caposey, PJ

    2013-01-01

    Written in a down-to-earth and people-first style, this book is for principals and aspiring school leaders. Caposey shares insightful advice and meaningful examples for building a healthy school culture. Learn the essential strategies that will help you transform and improve your school by embodying a service mindset and focusing on supporting the…

  4. A Dynamic Simulation Model of Organizational Culture and Business Strategy Effects on Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trivellas, Panagiotis; Reklitis, Panagiotis; Konstantopoulos, Nikolaos

    2007-12-01

    In the past two decades, organizational culture literature has gained tremendous interest for both academic and practitioners. This is based not only on the suggestion that culture is related to performance, but also on the view that it is subject of direct managerial control and manipulation to the desired direction. In the present paper, we adopt Competing Values Framework (CVF) to operationalise organizational culture and Porter's typology to conceptualize business strategy (cost leadership, innovative and marketing differentiation, and focus). Although simulation of social events is a quite difficult task, since there are so many considerations (not all well understood) involved, in the present study we developed a dynamic model to simulate the organizational culture and strategy effects on financial performance. Data obtained from a six-year survey in the banking sector of a European developing economy was used for the proposed dynamic model development.

  5. Addressing Cultural Responsiveness in Consultation: An Empirical Demonstration

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenney, Elizabeth L. W.; Mann, Kacee A.; Brown, Danice L.; Jewell, Jeremy D.

    2017-01-01

    This study explored whether and to what extent consultation practices specifically focused on culturally responsive instruction provided additive benefit, after establishing strong classroom management. Three teachers leading culturally diverse classrooms participated in two phases of consultation. The first was a traditional, classroom-management…

  6. The effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture to improve healthcare performance: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parmelli, Elena; Flodgren, Gerd; Beyer, Fiona; Baillie, Nick; Schaafsma, Mary Ellen; Eccles, Martin P

    2011-04-03

    Organisational culture is an anthropological metaphor used to inform research and consultancy and to explain organisational environments. In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the need to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance. However, the precise function of organisational culture in healthcare policy often remains underspecified and the desirability and feasibility of strategies to be adopted have been called into question. The objective of this review was to determine the effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance. We searched the following electronic databases: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Business and Management, EThOS, Index to Theses, Intute, HMIC, SIGLE, and Scopus until October 2009. The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) was searched for related reviews. We also searched the reference lists of all papers and relevant reviews identified, and we contacted experts in the field for advice on further potential studies. We considered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or well designed quasi-experimental studies (controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs), and interrupted time series (ITS) analyses). Studies could be set in any type of healthcare organisation in which strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance were applied. Our main outcomes were objective measures of professional performance and patient outcome. The search strategy yielded 4,239 records. After the full text assessment, two CBA studies were included in the review. They both assessed the impact of interventions aimed at changing organisational culture, but one evaluated the impact on work-related and personal outcomes while the other measured clinical outcomes. Both were at high risk of

  7. Branding, subvertising and markets of experience Culture, counterculture and globalised advertising strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    César San Nicolás Romera

    2004-10-01

    Full Text Available In the current sociocultural and commercial context, transnational companies base their communication policies on a phenomenon of expansive branding of their own brand names, converted into products of symbolic consumption. In the face of these policies, founded on the use of cultural and countercultural elements as circulation strategies, a whole series of cultural resistance movements attempt to counteract the actions of the large multinationals with strategies similar to those that these companies employ. In this article, the author analyses this game of attack-counterattack, calling attention to the “reversible” nature of such actions, founded on the commercial exploitation of the expressive experiences of their social targets.

  8. Immediate response strategy and shift to place strategy in submerged T-maze.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asem, Judith S A; Holland, Peter C

    2013-12-01

    A considerable amount of research has demonstrated that animals can use different strategies when learning about, and navigating within, their environment. Since the influential research of Packard and McGaugh (1996), it has been widely accepted that, early in learning, rats use a flexible dorsal hippocampal-dependent place strategy. As learning progresses, they switch to a less effortful and more automatic dorsolateral caudate-dependent response strategy. However, supporting literature is dominated by the use of appetitively motivated tasks, using food reward. Because motivation often plays a crucial role in guiding learning, memory, and behavior, we examined spatial learning strategies of rats in an escape-motivated submerged T-maze. In Experiment 1, we observed rapid learning and the opposite pattern as that reported in appetitively motivated tasks. Rats exhibited a response strategy early in learning before switching to a place strategy, which persisted over extensive training. In Experiment 2, we replicated Packard and McGaugh's (1996) observations, using the apparatus and procedures as in Experiment 1, but with food reward instead of water escape. Mechanisms for, and implications of, this motivational modulation of spatial learning strategy are considered.

  9. Culture and Listeners' Gaze Responses to Stuttering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jianliang; Kalinowski, Joseph

    2012-01-01

    Background: It is frequently observed that listeners demonstrate gaze aversion to stuttering. This response may have profound social/communicative implications for both fluent and stuttering individuals. However, there is a lack of empirical examination of listeners' eye gaze responses to stuttering, and it is unclear whether cultural background…

  10. Social Responsibility of Business: Strategy and Innovations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. N. Illina

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article social practicians of large Russian corporations, conditions of creation of social strategy by them are analyzed. The ambiguous treatment of the corporate social responsibility (CSR of subjects of interaction in system "business-society-state', a big range of economic, social, cultural problems which corporations need to consider at adoption of business solutions, is the soil for the conflict of interests and limits possibilities of development of business. New trends in practice of CSR of the Russian corporations concern change of character and essence of their social activity that reflects more adequate level of reflexivity business community of requirements of the changed society. Dynamics in approach of the Russian corporations to a choice of spheres of application of social investments, change of motivation of social and responsible behavior and interaction forms with authorities, public groups and movements is revealed. The most effective, from the point of view of business, model of interaction of business and the state is joint definition of priorities of social policy and those areas in which business can take active part. Large corporations start acting as initiators of dialogue and partner interaction with representatives of authorities and local communities, there are the social innovations initiated by business community and directed on increase of efficiency of social investments, development of social partnership and social business.

  11. Transformation Strategies for the Operation and Management of Local Cultural Museums in Nantou County

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kuo-Wei Hsu

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Affected by economic recession, reductions in government subsidies, and changes in visitors’ needs and contributions, museums in Taiwan have begun to strengthen their recreational and economic functions. Nantou, which has 13 museums that showcase local cultural industries, is the county most obviously affected by declining tourist numbers and reduced cultural consumption and cultural tourism. Through surveys and interviews, this study examines the current conditions of operational management of these venues and proposes feasible strategies for their future development. Specifically, it reveals that the operation and management of Nantou’s local cultural museums are negatively impacted by the lack of (1 relevant management experience, (2 inter-museum coordination and integration, and (3 financing mechanisms. The recommended development strategies include the establishment of cross-disciplinary value-added platforms.

  12. The relationship between business strategy and organisational culture.

    OpenAIRE

    2008-01-01

    This study has been undertaken with the specific objective of acquiring an insight into the concept “organisational culture” within a business strategic management context, as well as the role played by the organisation in the formulation and implementation of organisational strategy and culture. In this study an integrated approach is followed in order to describe and analyse the concepts within the context of business strategic management. The study confirms the importance of organisational...

  13. How negotiators get to yes: predicting the constellation of strategies used across cultures to negotiate conflict.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tinsley, C H

    2001-08-01

    Individualism, hierarchy, polychronicity, and explicit-contracting values explain why managers from Germany, Japan, and the United States use a different mix of strategies to negotiate workplace conflict. Hypotheses extend prior research in showing that conflict behavior is multiply determined and that each culture uses a variety of interests, regulations, and power-based conflict management strategies. Results of actual (rather than survey-based) conflict resolution behavior suggest several fruitful avenues for future research, including examining the inferred meaning of negotiation arguments, analyzing interaction effects of cultural value dimensions, studying the effectiveness of different strategies across cultures, and examining whether strategic adjustments are made during intercultural conflict management.

  14. Culturally Responsive Social Skill Instruction for Latino Male Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo, Ya-yu; Correa, Vivian I.; Anderson, Adrienne L.

    2015-01-01

    Cross-cultural friendships and peer interactions are important skills for Latino students to become socially adjusted in U.S. schools. Culturally responsive social skill instruction allows educators to teach essential social skills while attending to the native culture and personal experiences of the students. The present study examined the…

  15. Transformation and communication research strategies: language - society – culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. M. Forkosh

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Main research strategies in the humanitarian sphere, connected with the transformation-communicative approach by K.-O. Apel, have been studied in the article. This approach is based on I. Kant’s classic transcendental method, but has much wider sphere of application. Syncretic tendencies in humanitarian sciences cause the search of criteria or generalizing principles, which would allow not only combining basic research strategies, but also covering variable forms of the social-dynamics. Language in its various forms becomes the common ground, where it is possible not only to describe, but to explain disparate elements of the society’s functioning. These elements, when developed, cause the formation of culture. The basis for the analysis of the interdisciplinary communication features are relevant branches of philosophy. Specific realities of the research activity are understood by the methodologist as the deep interrelation of language tools and specific features of scientific knowledge’s changes. In fact, the researcher simultaneously performs double task: interprets scientific texts, improves his/her understanding of their structural characteristics, and also studies social, cultural, humanistic priorities of the available practices. Based on the characteristics of the modern culture (rapidity of development, lack of self-awareness and «maturation» vector, non-manifestation of methodological tools, sociological and linguistic sciences become to be a model in the humanitarian area. At the same time, awareness of the structural maturation of such knowledge is low. The development of linguistic sciences has more advanced conceptual design and it resonates with the evolution of the language philosophy. That’s why, considering the socio-cultural transformations of the globalization era, grounds of clarification of the specific methodological potential, which are accumulated in the contemporary linguistics, should be considered. In this

  16. Corporate culture and motivation of employees as a part of corporate strategy increasing company’s competitiveness

    OpenAIRE

    Chlupová, Petra

    2012-01-01

    This master thesis combines corporate culture, corporate strategy, motivation and education of employees. Furthermore, there is also a focus on their interconnections. A real company Unicorn a.s. is presented in the second part -- owner's (Vladimír Kovář's) vision, goals and strategies. Moreover, there is introduced Unicorn's corporate culture, education of employees and human resources management. To check if the culture seems to be friendly and motivational to employees there was used a que...

  17. An Empirical Perspective on the Culture - Corporate Social Responsibility Relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dumitru ZAIȚ

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Business competition and pressure of European directives put Romanian company in a position to find answers to issues related to long-term survival and development. In this context we believe it is necessary to analyze some of the most important components that should be taken into consideration at the strategic level: national and organizational culture. The results indicate that corporate social responsibility is supported by learning and change-oriented organizational culture, but also by a favorable cultural and national economic framework. Based on these theoretical considerations we intent to emphasize the relationships between national culture / corporate culture and corporate social responsibility (CSR, elaborating an empirical argument by analyzing the results provided by Global 100, an annual project initiated by Corporate Knights Inc. (Davos. Starting with 2005, it has the largest database in the world and an appropriate evaluation methodology that provides a ranking of the top 100 most responsible companies in the world.

  18. The Development of Novice Teachers' Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patish, Yelena

    2016-01-01

    While extensive research has been conducted on classroom management little research exists on culturally responsive classroom management. The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how four novice teachers developed their culturally responsive management practice (CRCM) to better meet the needs of their students. My analysis was…

  19. [Patient safety culture based on a non-punitive response to error and freedom of expression of healthcare professionals].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahjoub, Mohamed; Bouafia, Nabiha; Cheikh, Asma Ben; Ezzi, Olfa; Njah, Mansour

    2016-11-25

    This study provided an overview of healthcare professionals’ perception of patient safety based on analysis of the concept of freedom of expression and non-punitive response in order to identify and correct errors in our health system. This concept is a cornerstone of the patient safety culture among healthcare professionals and plays a central role in the quality improvement strategy..

  20. Innovation Strategy Research of Yunnan Image in Modern Entertainment Channels based on Regression and Inheritance of Culture

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Yang Shao[1

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we conduct innovation strategy research of the Yunnan image in the modern entertainment channels based on regression and inheritance of culture. The concept of culture and complicated contents as simply includes material culture and spiritual culture. Cultural inheritance is the process of acculturation a nation it not only is the transmission of national culture, the inheritance and development that also can be refl ected by many indexes. Multicultural education theory formed in the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. Multicultural education theory is that, when the mainstream national culture and the minority subculture in contact, every culture shall be entitled to retain their own cultural traits. Our research integrate the regression and inheritance of culture to then propose the innovation strategy research of the Yunnan image that will promote further development of the corresponding and related industry.

  1. Innovative Culture of the Organization and Its Role in the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility ‒ Czech Republic Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hana Mohelska

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Rivalry among companies is increasing nowadays. Companies try to gain every possible advantage over their rivals and this very often means using a creative approach, for example, drawing from such resources as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR. The CSR strategy is based on three fundamental pillars - economic, social and environmental (triplebottom-line, which express the key themes, programs, through which the strategy is implemented. Although, the key corporate responsibility is profit making, the CSR implementation in corporate vision contributes to company’s development. CSR can help increase business credibility, but it can also have significant internal effects due to innovation, readiness for future customer demands, employee motivation and loyalty. The primary objective of the paper is to explore organizational culture in connection with the implementation of the Corporate Social Responsibility concept in companies in the Czech Republic. The outputs are supported by the results of an extensive studies conducted in 2013 and 2015, exploring the organizational culture of companies in the Czech Republic. The results obtained are interpreted and compared in the context of development trends described in domestic and foreign scientific publications.

  2. Cultural Capital and the Consumption of Cultural Goods: Strategies Used for Status Consumption Among New Middle Class Brazilian Women.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucivânia Filomeno Ponte

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Holt (1998 investigated the application of  the concept of consumption of cultural products as a means of acquiring status by conducting research in the United States and Turkey (Üstüner & Holt, 2010. This present research was based on this latest study and aimed to study the relationship between the consumption of cultural products and the consumption of status among Brazilian women in the new middle class. It was concluded that the cultural capital acts as a determining factor in the consumption of status, being converted in tastes and consumption practices. The consumption of cultural products is critical to the building of the status strategies, however, the cultural products used may vary according to the greater or lesser cultural capital of the interviewees.

  3. Increasing the Writing Performance of Urban Seniors Placed At-Risk through Goal-Setting in a Culturally Responsive and Creativity-Centered Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estrada, Brittany; Warren, Susan

    2014-01-01

    Efforts to support marginalized students require not only identifying systemic inequities, but providing a classroom infrastructure that supports the academic achievement of all students. This action research study examined the effects of implementing goal-setting strategies and emphasizing creativity in a culturally responsive classroom (CRC) on…

  4. How Language Supports Adaptive Teaching through a Responsive Learning Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, Peter; Dozier, Cheryl; Smit, Julie

    2016-01-01

    For students to learn optimally, teachers must design classrooms that are responsive to the full range of student development. The teacher must be adaptive, but so must each student and the learning culture itself. In other words, adaptive teaching means constructing a responsive learning culture that accommodates and even capitalizes on diversity…

  5. Cultures differ in the ability to enhance affective neural responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varnum, Michael E W; Hampton, Ryan S

    2017-10-01

    The present study (N = 55) used an event-related potential paradigm to investigate whether cultures differ in the ability to upregulate affective responses. Using stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System, we found that European-Americans (N = 29) enhanced central-parietal late positive potential (LPP) (400-800 ms post-stimulus) responses to affective stimuli when instructed to do so, whereas East Asians (N = 26) did not. We observed cultural differences in the ability to enhance central-parietal LPP responses for both positively and negativelyvalenced stimuli, and the ability to enhance these two types of responses was positively correlated for Americans but negatively for East Asians. These results are consistent with the notion that cultural variations in norms and values regarding affective expression and experiences shape how the brain regulates emotions.

  6. A Blueprint for Developing Culturally Proficient/Responsive School Administrators in Special Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakken, Jeffrey P.; Smith, Beverly A.

    2011-01-01

    This article addresses the important topic of culturally proficient/responsive school administrators for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with learning disabilities (LD). Culturally proficient/responsive school administrators with knowledge and strong leadership skills in multicultural education are essential to impact school…

  7. Alitalia Response Strategies to its Organizational Crisis - A situational analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Romenti, Stefania; Valentini, Chiara

    2009-01-01

    This study intends to explore Alitalia's crisis response strategies implemented in 2008 to understand Alitalia's approach in communicating with stakeholders as a way to preserve the company's image and reputation. Our intent is to explain Alitalia's crisis response strategies by using an integrated...... model of crisis response strategies based on categories as identified by Benoit's, Sturges's, Coombs's, Bradford and Garret's and Huang's studies. This integrated model was used to perform qualitative content analyses of 77 press releases published by Alitalia's Media Department and by the Italian...... government. The findings show that Alitalia and the Italian government adopted a crisis communication strategy not completely suitable for Alitalia's crisis scenario. They, in fact, focused more on providing information and corrective action strategies rather than applying an authentic adaptive strategy...

  8. Strategies in Danish film culture – and the Case of Susanne Bier

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Agger, Gunhild

    2015-01-01

    Dialogues between national and transnational film cultures take place incessantly. The question is: which kinds of dialogue? The principal lines in the history of encounters and exchanges between Danish and international cinematic cultures since the mid-1980s display different attitudes and exper......Dialogues between national and transnational film cultures take place incessantly. The question is: which kinds of dialogue? The principal lines in the history of encounters and exchanges between Danish and international cinematic cultures since the mid-1980s display different attitudes...... and experiments. On that background five main strategies in Danish film culture can be discerned. Taking the films of Susanne Bier as an example, the aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding of the complex patterns which have developed in Danish film culture as a result of the processes...

  9. Cultural Consensus Theory: Aggregating Continuous Responses in a Finite Interval

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batchelder, William H.; Strashny, Alex; Romney, A. Kimball

    Cultural consensus theory (CCT) consists of cognitive models for aggregating responses of "informants" to test items about some domain of their shared cultural knowledge. This paper develops a CCT model for items requiring bounded numerical responses, e.g. probability estimates, confidence judgments, or similarity judgments. The model assumes that each item generates a latent random representation in each informant, with mean equal to the consensus answer and variance depending jointly on the informant and the location of the consensus answer. The manifest responses may reflect biases of the informants. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods were used to estimate the model, and simulation studies validated the approach. The model was applied to an existing cross-cultural dataset involving native Japanese and English speakers judging the similarity of emotion terms. The results sharpened earlier studies that showed that both cultures appear to have very similar cognitive representations of emotion terms.

  10. Creating cultures of excellence: Strategies and outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Mintrom

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Research findings on effective support for learning, the development of expertise, and the psychology of success suggest that the pursuit of excellence is teachable. Within the emerging field of research and practice termed “the scholarship of teaching and learning,” considerable effort has been made to document the practices of teachers who, by various measures, have been deemed excellent. In contrast, no effort has been made to codify how students can be trained to self-consciously build behaviors that generate excellent outcomes. This article reports on a multi-year effort to create cultures of excellence among cohorts of graduate students. A statistical analysis of subsequent student performance on a significant, related task indicates that explicitly promoting a culture of excellence among course participants can have a positive and sustained impact on their individual practices. Comments from subsequent student reflections further support this claim. The teaching strategies reported here could be refined, replicated, and reinvented to good effect across higher education. They are also of special relevance to those delivering professional development training to early- and mid-career professionals.

  11. The importance of the Danube strategy for tourism and culture development of the Croatian Danube region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Demonja Damir

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The Danube Region consists of various countries that are determined by geographic, economic, cultural and socio-demographic characteristics. Certain regions show different trends of development with increasing regional differences. Regarding that the importance gets newly formed EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the Danube Strategy, which represents a new approach to the European Union's macro-regions, and is focused on four main directions of cooperation in the Danube Region: linking macro-regions, environmental protection, building prosperity and strengthening macro-region. Croatia, as a Danube country, accepted the idea of creating a unified European international space, as suggested in the Danube Strategy, and it is actively engaged in the process. The Croatian Danube Region includes two easternmost counties, Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem. The rich cultural and natu­ral heritage of the two counties can be further exploited in the improved tourist offer, advocated by the Strategy. Croatian Danube Region has tourism potentials and with the appropriate measures and incentives this region could become one of the leading regions in continental tourism in Croatia. This article presents and analyzes the Danube Strategy and its importance for Croatia, the tourist and cultural potentials of the Croatian Danube Region with regard to their greater recognition and utilization as crucial for sustainable development of this, in terms of tourism, still insufficiently developed parts of Croatia, and the possibilities of tourism and culture in the Croatian Danube Region within the framework of the Danube Strategy.

  12. In response to community violence: coping strategies and involuntary stress responses among Latino adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein-Ngo, Quyen; Maurizi, Laura K; Bregman, Allyson; Ceballo, Rosario

    2013-01-01

    Among poor, urban adolescents, high rates of community violence are a pressing public health concern. This study relies on a contextual framework of stress and coping to investigate how coping strategies and involuntary stress responses may both mediate and moderate the relation between exposure to community violence and psychological well-being. Our sample consists of 223 ninth grade Latino adolescents from poor, urban families. In response to community violence, these adolescents reported using an array of coping strategies as well as experiencing a number of involuntary stress responses; the most frequent coping responses were turning to religion and seeking social support. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that involuntary stress responses mediated the relations between both witnessing or being victimized by violence and poorer psychological functioning, while coping strategies moderated these relations. These findings suggest that the negative psychological effects of exposure to community violence may, in part, be explained by involuntary stress responses, while religious-based coping may serve as a protective factor.

  13. PENGEMBANGAN BUDAYA RELIGIUS (RELIGIOUS CULTURE DI MADRASAH: Strategi Membentuk Karakter Bangsa Peserta Didik

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Prim Masrokan Mutohar

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The article proposes strategies to build the nation character of students. It follows three stages. The first is socializing the accepted religious values to be implemented in the school. The second is implementing the values systematically for all components in the school. The third is giving rewards for those successfully implementing them. The strategies are done by education practitioners through providing examples, forming good habits, encouraging, and rewarding. In addition, forming religious values at school can be conducted through power strategy, persuasive strategy, normative re-educative strategy.   Key words: Religious culture, Nation character

  14. Diallel analysis of anther culture response in wheat ( Triticum ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The four wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes differing in their ability to produce embryogenic callus from anther culture were reciprocally crossed and inheritance of anther culture response [callus induction frequency (CIF, %), embryogenic callus induction frequency (ECIF, %), regeneration capacity of callus (RCC, %) ...

  15. Consequences of 'tiger' parenting: a cross-cultural study of maternal psychological control and children's cortisol stress response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doan, Stacey N; Tardif, Twila; Miller, Alison; Olson, Sheryl; Kessler, Daniel; Felt, Barbara; Wang, Li

    2017-05-01

    Parenting strategies involving psychological control are associated with increased adjustment problems in children. However, no research has examined the extent to which culture and psychological control predict children's stress physiology. We examine cultural differences in maternal psychological control and its associations with children's cortisol. Chinese (N = 59) and American (N = 45) mother-child dyads participated in the study. Mothers reported on psychological control. Children's cortisol was collected during a stressor and two indices of Area Under the Curve (AUC) were computed: AUCg which accounts for total output, and AUCi, which captures reactivity. Results indicate that Chinese mothers reported higher levels of psychological control and Chinese children had higher levels of AUCg than their American counterparts. Across both cultures, psychological control was significantly associated with increased cortisol levels as indexed by AUCg. There were no associations for AUCi. Finally, mediation analyses demonstrated that psychological control fully explained cultural differences in children's cortisol stress response as indexed by AUCg. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. Teaching Strategies and Practices that Promote a Culturally Sensitive Nursing Education: A Delphi Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewald, Robin J.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore teaching strategies that promote a culturally sensitive nursing education and culturally sensitive nursing. The diversity of Americans has increased. Thus, the nursing student population and patient population have both become more diverse. Nursing education programs, therefore, need to know the best…

  17. Educational Leaders' Doctoral Research That Informed Strategies to Steer Their Organizations towards Cultural Alignment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taysum, Alison

    2016-01-01

    This research generates new knowledge about how 24 educational leaders in the USA and England used their doctoral research to build narrative capital to inform strategies to steer their organizations towards cultural alignment. Cultural alignment prevents forms of segregation rooted in nation-states' wider historiography of education segregation…

  18. Early Child Care Teachers' Socialization Goals and Preferred Behavioral Strategies: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gernhardt, Ariane; Lamm, Bettina; Keller, Heidi; Döge, Paula

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated early child care teachers' culturally shaped socialization goals and preferred behavioral strategies. The participants were 183 female teachers and trainees, 93 from Osnabrück, Germany, representing an urban Western context, which can be characterized by a primary cultural orientation toward psychological autonomy and a…

  19. How copying affects the amount, evenness and persistence of cultural knowledge: insights from the social learning strategies tournament.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rendell, L; Boyd, R; Enquist, M; Feldman, M W; Fogarty, L; Laland, K N

    2011-04-12

    Darwinian processes should favour those individuals that deploy the most effective strategies for acquiring information about their environment. We organized a computer-based tournament to investigate which learning strategies would perform well in a changing environment. The most successful strategies relied almost exclusively on social learning (here, learning a behaviour performed by another individual) rather than asocial learning, even when environments were changing rapidly; moreover, successful strategies focused learning effort on periods of environmental change. Here, we use data from tournament simulations to examine how these strategies might affect cultural evolution, as reflected in the amount of culture (i.e. number of cultural traits) in the population, the distribution of cultural traits across individuals, and their persistence through time. We found that high levels of social learning are associated with a larger amount of more persistent knowledge, but a smaller amount of less persistent expressed behaviour, as well as more uneven distributions of behaviour, as individuals concentrated on exploiting a smaller subset of behaviour patterns. Increased rates of environmental change generated increases in the amount and evenness of behaviour. These observations suggest that copying confers on cultural populations an adaptive plasticity, allowing them to respond to changing environments rapidly by drawing on a wider knowledge base.

  20. How copying affects the amount, evenness and persistence of cultural knowledge: insights from the social learning strategies tournament

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rendell, L.; Boyd, R.; Enquist, M.; Feldman, M. W.; Fogarty, L.; Laland, K. N.

    2011-01-01

    Darwinian processes should favour those individuals that deploy the most effective strategies for acquiring information about their environment. We organized a computer-based tournament to investigate which learning strategies would perform well in a changing environment. The most successful strategies relied almost exclusively on social learning (here, learning a behaviour performed by another individual) rather than asocial learning, even when environments were changing rapidly; moreover, successful strategies focused learning effort on periods of environmental change. Here, we use data from tournament simulations to examine how these strategies might affect cultural evolution, as reflected in the amount of culture (i.e. number of cultural traits) in the population, the distribution of cultural traits across individuals, and their persistence through time. We found that high levels of social learning are associated with a larger amount of more persistent knowledge, but a smaller amount of less persistent expressed behaviour, as well as more uneven distributions of behaviour, as individuals concentrated on exploiting a smaller subset of behaviour patterns. Increased rates of environmental change generated increases in the amount and evenness of behaviour. These observations suggest that copying confers on cultural populations an adaptive plasticity, allowing them to respond to changing environments rapidly by drawing on a wider knowledge base. PMID:21357234

  1. The Development of a Model of Culturally Responsive Science and Mathematics Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, Cecilia M.; Morales, Amanda R.; Shroyer, M. Gail

    2013-01-01

    This qualitative theoretical study was conducted in response to the current need for an inclusive and comprehensive model to guide the preparation and assessment of teacher candidates for culturally responsive teaching. The process of developing a model of culturally responsive teaching involved three steps: a comprehensive review of the…

  2. Registered indians and tobacco taxation: a culturally-appropriate strategy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wardman, A E Dennis; Khan, Nadia A

    2005-01-01

    Taxation of tobacco is a widely-used strategy that prompts smoking cessation among adults and reduces cigarette consumption among continuing smokers. Registered Indian tobacco use prevalence is at least double that of the rest of Canadians and is in part due to the lower cost of tobacco products purchased on reserve by Registered Indians (RIs) as they are tax exempt. Although registered Indian communities have the ability to collect tax on tobacco products and direct the use of these revenues, this strategy is rarely utilized. Tobacco taxation could have substantial health and economic benefits to RI communities, but perhaps is not culturally-appropriate. In order to better support RI communities, governments and other organizations need to examine this policy instrument in the context of RI populations.

  3. Strategies Used by Foreign-Born Family Therapists to Connect Across Cultural Differences: A Thematic Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niño, Alba; Kissil, Karni; Davey, Maureen P

    2016-01-01

    With the growing diversity in the United States among both clinicians and clients, many therapeutic encounters are cross-cultural, requiring providers to connect across cultural differences. Foreign-born therapists have many areas of differences to work through. Thus, exploring how foreign-born family therapists in the United States connect to their clients can uncover helpful strategies that all therapists can use to establish stronger cross-cultural therapeutic connections. A thematic analysis was conducted to understand strategies 13 foreign-born therapists used during therapeutic encounters. Four themes were identified: making therapy a human-to-human connection, dealing with stereotypes, what really matters, and flexibility. Findings suggest that developing a deep therapeutic connection using emotional attunement and human-to-human engagement is crucial for successful cross-cultural therapy. Clinical and training implications are provided. © 2015 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

  4. Developing an explicit strategy towards social responsibility in the NHS: a case for including NHS managers in this strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merali, Faruk

    2006-01-01

    To explore the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the UK National Health Service (NHS) and to examine how it may be developed to positively influence the psyche, behaviour and performance of NHS managers. Primary research based upon semi-structured individual face to face interviews with 20 NHS managers. Theoretical frameworks and concepts relating to organisational culture and CSR are drawn upon to discuss the findings. The NHS managers see themselves as being driven by altruistic core values. However, they feel that the public does not believe that they share the altruistic NHS value system. The study is based on a relatively small sample of NHS managers working exclusively in London and may not necessarily represent the views of managers either London-wide or nation-wide. It is suggested that an explicit recognition by the NHS of the socially responsible commitment of its managers within its CSR strategy would help challenge the existing negative public image of NHS managers and in turn improve the managers' self esteem and morale. This paper addresses the relative lacunae in research relating to public sector organisations (such as the NHS) explicitly including the role and commitment of its staff within the way it publicises its CSR strategy. This paper would be of interest to a wide readership including public sector and NHS policy formulators, NHS practitioners, academics and students.

  5. Strategy for integration of coastal culture in learning process of mathematics in junior high school

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suyitno, H.; Zaenuri; Florentinus, T. S.; Zakaria, E.

    2018-03-01

    Traditional life in the fishing family is part of the local culture. Many School-age children in the fishing family drop-outs due to lack of parents motivation and the environment was less supportive. The problems were: (1) How the strategy of integration of local culture in learning process of mathematics in Junior High School (JHS)? (2) How to prepare the Mathematics Student’s Book for grade 7 of JHS that based on coastal culture, that has an ISBN, has international level, applicable, and in accordance with the current curriculum? The purposes of this research were: (1) to obtain the strategy of integration of local culture in learning process of mathematics in JHS, through FGD between UNNES and UKM; (2) to obtain the experts validation, through Focus Group Discussion (FGD) between UNNES and UKM toward the draft of the Mathematics Student’s Book for grade 7 of JHS that based on coastal culture; (3) produces Mathematics Student’s Book for grade 7 SMP which based on coastal culture and has an ISBN, international, applicable, and in accordance with the curriculum. The research activity was a qualitative research, so that the research methods include: (1) data reduction, (2) display data, (3) data interpretation, and (4) conclusion/verification. The main activities of this research: drafting the Mathematics Student’s Book of Grade 7 which based on coastal culture; get the validation from international partners;conducting FGD at Education Faculty of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia through the program of visiting lecturers for getting the Mathematics Student’s Book of grade 7 which based on coastal culture, registering for ISBN, and publishing the reasearch results in International seminar and International Journals. The results of this research were as follows. (1) Getting a good strategy for integration of local culture in learning process of mathematics in JHS. (2) Getting the Mathematics Student’s Book for grade 7 of JHS that based on coastal culture

  6. Entrepreneurship and response strategies to challenges in engineering and design education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Ulrik; Pineda, Andres Felipe Valderrama

    2012-01-01

    Entrepreneurship is one of the contemporary expectations to engineers and their training at engineering schools. But what is entrepreneurship? We propose three different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship in engineering and design programs. They are: (1) the technology-driven promotion response...... centered in technological development; (2) the business selection response strategy centered in business skills (which should be additional to the technical skills); and (3) the design intervention response strategy focused on a network approach to technology, business and society. These conceptualizations...... are response strategies from engineering communities, professors and institutions to perceived challenges. We argue that all engineering educators deal in one way or another with the three response strategies when approaching issues of curricular design, academicreform and the international accreditation...

  7. Self-Regulated Strategies for School Writing Tasks: A Cross-Cultural Report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malpique Anabela

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available We investigated cross-cultural differences in ninth-grade students’ reported use of self-regulated strategies for writing. We assessed 12 self-regulated strategies for writing tapping environmental, behavioural, and personal self-regulated processes. Seven hundred and thirty-two Portuguese and Brazilian students in transition to high school (Mage = 14.3; 372 male and 306 female from mainstream urban schools reported on their use of the strategies. Statistical analyses included a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA with 12 dependent variables (self-regulated strategies for writing and 2 between-subjects variables (country and gender. There were significant main effects for country with medium effect sizes and statistically significant small effect sizes for gender main effects. All-male and all-female comparisons indicated significant differences and medium effect sizes within gender groups. The majority of the differences tapped personal self-regulated strategies. Taken together, these findings suggest that initiating and controlling writing may be a contextualised bounded process.

  8. Re-thinking the role of the dorsal striatum in egocentric/response strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Botreau, Fanny; Gisquet-Verrier, Pascale

    2010-01-01

    Rats trained in a dual-solution cross-maze task, which can be solved by place and response strategies, predominantly used a response strategy after extensive training. This paper examines the involvement of the medial and lateral dorsal striatum (mDS and lDS) in the choice of these strategies after partial and extensive training. Our results show that rats with lDS and mDS lesions used mainly a response strategy from the early phase of training. We replicated these unexpected data in rats with lDS lesions and confirmed their tendency to use the response strategy in a modified cross-maze task. When trained in a dual-solution water-maze task, however, control and lesioned rats consistently used a place strategy, demonstrating that lDS and mDS lesioned rats can use a place strategy and that the shift towards a response strategy did not systematically result from extensive training. The present data did not show any clear dissociation between the mDS and lDS in dual solution tasks. They further indicate that the dorsal striatum seems to determine the strategies adopted in a particular context but cannot be considered as a neural support for the response memory system. Accordingly, the role of the lateral and medial part of the dorsal striatum in egocentric/response memory should be reconsidered.

  9. Mechanisms of Change in the ARC Organizational Strategy: Increasing Mental Health Clinicians' EBP Adoption Through Improved Organizational Culture and Capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Nathaniel J; Glisson, Charles; Hemmelgarn, Anthony; Green, Philip

    2017-03-01

    The development of efficient and scalable implementation strategies in mental health is restricted by poor understanding of the change mechanisms that increase clinicians' evidence-based practice (EBP) adoption. This study tests the cross-level change mechanisms that link an empirically-supported organizational strategy for supporting implementation (labeled ARC for Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity) to mental health clinicians' EBP adoption and use. Four hundred seventy-five mental health clinicians in 14 children's mental health agencies were randomly assigned to the ARC intervention or a control condition. Measures of organizational culture, clinicians' intentions to adopt EBPs, and job-related EBP barriers were collected before, during, and upon completion of the three-year ARC intervention. EBP adoption and use were assessed at 12-month follow-up. Multilevel mediation analyses tested changes in organizational culture, clinicians' intentions to adopt EBPs, and job-related EBP barriers as linking mechanisms explaining the effects of ARC on clinicians' EBP adoption and use. ARC increased clinicians' EBP adoption (OR = 3.19, p = .003) and use (81 vs. 56 %, d = .79, p = .003) at 12-month follow-up. These effects were mediated by improvement in organizational proficiency culture leading to increased clinician intentions to adopt EBPs and by reduced job-related EBP barriers. A combined mediation analysis indicated the organizational culture-EBP intentions mechanism was the primary carrier of ARC's effects on clinicians' EBP adoption and use. ARC increases clinicians' EBP adoption and use by creating proficient organizational cultures that increase clinicians' intentions to adopt EBPs.

  10. Mechanisms of change in the ARC organizational strategy: Increasing mental health clinicians’ EBP adoption through improved organizational culture and capacity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Nathaniel J.; Glisson, Charles; Hemmelgarn, Anthony; Green, Philip

    2016-01-01

    Background The development of efficient and scalable implementation strategies in mental health is restricted by poor understanding of the change mechanisms that increase clinicians’ evidence-based practice (EBP) adoption. This study tests the cross-level change mechanisms that link an empirically-supported organizational strategy for supporting implementation (labeled ARC for Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity) to mental health clinicians’ EBP adoption and use. Method Four hundred seventy five mental health clinicians in 14 children’s mental health agencies were randomly assigned to the ARC intervention or a control condition. Measures of organizational culture, clinicians’ intentions to adopt EBPs, and job-related EBP barriers were collected before, during, and upon completion of the three-year ARC intervention. EBP adoption and use were assessed at 12-month follow-up. Multilevel mediation analyses tested changes in organizational culture, clinicians’ intentions to adopt EBPs, and job-related EBP barriers as linking mechanisms explaining the effects of ARC on clinicians’ EBP adoption and use. Results ARC increased clinicians’ EBP adoption (OR = 3.19, p = .003) and use (81% vs. 56%, d = .79, p = .003) at 12-month follow-up. These effects were mediated by improvement in organizational proficiency culture leading to increased clinician intentions to adopt EBPs and by reduced job-related EBP barriers. A combined mediation analysis indicated the organizational culture-EBP intentions mechanism was the primary carrier of ARC’s effects on clinicians’ EBP adoption and use. Conclusions ARC increases clinicians’ EBP adoption and use by creating proficient organizational cultures that increase clinicians’ intentions to adopt EBPs. PMID:27236457

  11. DIGITAL PRESERVATION OF PRINTED CULTURAL HERITAGE IN ESTONIA. STRATEGY. METHODOLOGY. PRACTICE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reimo, Tiiu

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Preservation of national cultural heritage has been during the last years actively discussed both on institutional and state levels. In October 2003 the working group on digital preservation by theMinistry of Culture elaborated preservation guidelines Strategy of digital preservation of Estonian cultural heritage for years 2004–2007. The strategy is based on the principles of eEurope 2002Action Plan (2000 and Lund Principles (2001.The state strategy is aimed to achieve collaboration of different memory institutions in order to elaborate an unified view on cultural heritage and its digitisation as well as to preservation of digitally created cultural heritage. It is also important to guarantee preservation of cultural heritage and to make it accessible to the public use through the contemporary possibilities of informationand communication technologies. Digitisation and preservation of digitized heritage will be coordinated by the state. The main coordinators are the Ministry of Culture, The Ministry of Educationand Science, the State Chancellery and the National Archive.The methodology of decision making for digital preservation is based on the principles of the UNESCO programme Memory of the World. The choice of objects for digitisation is based on need and expediency that can be evaluated on the ground of acultural value of an object, conservation risks, physical condition of an object and necessity of use.In 2004–2005 metadata requirements for digital preservation were elaborated. The guidelines foresee that digitized objects will be described by four categories of metadata: administrative andtechnical metadata, metadata on access inhibitors and restrictions of use and descriptive metadata. Estonian documentary heritage is located today in different memory institutions: in state or public institutions like archives, libraries and museums, in private possession, in religious and scientific institutions and in possession of the third sector

  12. Educations of Vision - relational strategies in visual culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Illeris, Helene

    2004-01-01

    redescriptions? employs poststructuralist and feminist thinking about visual culture in an attempt to explore alternative understandings of visual education. In the final part ?Educations of vision in late modernity? socialization and self creation are proposed as two different, but supplementary, educational......The article is divided into three parts. Through examples from twentieth century Scandinavian visual arts education the first part ?Epistemological inquiries? discusses how the historical and social construction of dominant modern strategies of vision has occurred. The second part ?Experimentalist...... functions which contemporary visual education inspired by epistemological and experimentalist approaches should aim to fulfill....

  13. The Dispositions for Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitaker, Manya C.; Valtierra, Kristina Marie

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the dispositions for culturally responsive pedagogy scale (DCRPS). Design/methodology/approach: Scale development consisted of a six-step process including item development, expert review, exploratory factor analysis, factor interpretation, confirmatory factor analysis and convergent…

  14. Geoethics and geological culture: awareness, responsibility and challenges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia Peppoloni

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The international debate in the field of geoethics focuses on some of the most important environmental emergencies, while highlighting the great responsibilities of geoscientists, whatever field they work in, and the important social, cultural and economic repercussions that their choices can have on society. The GeoItalia 2009 and 2011 conferences that were held in Rimini and Turin, respectively, and were organized by the Italian Federation of Earth Science, were two important moments for the promotion of geoethics in Italy. They were devoted to the highlighting of how, and with what tools and contents, can the geosciences contribute to the cultural renewal of society. They also covered the active roles of geoscientists in the dissemination of scientific information, contributing in this way to the correct construction of social knowledge. Geology is culture, and as such it can help to dispel misconceptions and cultural stereotypes that concern natural phenomena, disasters, resources, and land management. Geological culture consists of methods, goals, values, history, ways of thinking about nature, and specific sensitivity for approaching problems and their solutions. So geology has to fix referenced values, as indispensable prerequisites for geoethics. Together, geological culture and geoethics can strengthen the bond that joins people to their territory, and can help to find solutions and answers to some important challenges in the coming years regarding natural risks, resources, and climate change. Starting from these considerations, we stress the importance of establishing an ethical criterion for Earth scientists, to focus attention on the issue of the responsibility of geoscientists, and the need to more clearly define their scientific identity and the value of their specificities.

  15. Strategies for diversity: medical clowns in dementia care - an ethnographic study

    OpenAIRE

    R?mg?rd, Margareta; Carlson, Elisabeth; Mangrio, Elisabeth

    2016-01-01

    Background As nursing homes become increasingly diverse, dementia care needs a wider range of culturally responsive strategies for individual and collective social interactions. While previous studies conclude that medical clowns have positive effects on verbal and non verbal social interactions, research is lacking from the perspective of residents' cultural background. The aim of this study was to identify interaction strategies employed by medical clowns in culturally diverse dementia care...

  16. Preparing teachers for ambitious and culturally responsive science teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seiler, Gale

    2013-03-01

    Communities, schools and classrooms across North America are becoming more ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse, particularly in urban areas. Against this backdrop, underrepresentation of certain groups in science continues. Much attention has been devoted to multicultural education and the preparation of teachers for student diversity. In science education, much research has focused on classrooms as cultural spaces and the need for teachers to value and build upon students' everyday science knowledge and ways of sense-making. However it remains unclear how best to prepare science teachers for this kind of culturally responsive teaching. In attempting to envision how to prepare science teachers with cross-cultural competency, we can draw from a parallel line of research on preparing teachers for ambitious science instruction. In ambitious science instruction, students solve authentic problems and generate evidence and models to develop explanations of scientific phenomenon, an approach that necessitates great attention to students' thinking and sense-making, thus making it applicable to cultural relevance aims. In addition, this line of research on teacher preparation has developed specific tools and engages teachers in cycles of reflection and rehearsal as they develop instructional skills. While not addressing cross-cultural teaching specifically, this research provides insights into specific ways through which to prepare teachers for culturally responsive practices. In my presentation, I will report on efforts to join these two areas of research, that is, to combine ideas about multicultural science teacher preparation with what has been learned about how to develop ambitious science instruction. This research suggests a new model for urban science teacher preparation--one that focuses on developing specific teaching practices that elicit and build on student thinking, and doing so through cycles of individual and collective planning, rehearsal

  17. Biological and cultural diversity in the context of botanic garden conservation strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher P. Dunn

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Impacts of global climate change, habitat loss, and other environmental changes on the world's biota and peoples continue to increase, especially on islands and in high elevation areas. Just as floristic diversity is affected by environmental change, so too are cultural and linguistic diversity. Of the approximately 7000 extant languages in the world, fully 50% are considered to be at risk of extinction, which is considerably higher than most estimates of extinction risks to plants and animals. To maintain the integrity of plant life, it is not enough for botanic gardens to consider solely the effects of environmental change on plants within the context of major conservation strategies such as the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Rather, botanic gardens should actively engage in understanding and communicating the broader impacts of environmental change to biological and cultural diversity.

  18. 77 FR 76034 - National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-26

    ... Strategy: Response to Climate Change AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of... Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change'' (2012 Strategy). The Strategy describes a set of long-term visions and goals for the management of water resources in light of climate change and charts key...

  19. Bridging Culture On-Line: Strategies for Teaching Cultural Sensitivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wendler, M. Cecilia; Struthers, Roxanne

    2002-01-01

    An online cross-cultural health course for nurses sought to provide access to cultural experiences by culturally congruent use of a minority visiting scholar and required participation in cultural enrichment activities. Course and faculty evaluations were designed to be appropriate for the asynchronous environment. (Contains 25 references.) (SK)

  20. Statistical optimization of cultural conditions by response surface ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2009-08-04

    Aug 4, 2009 ... Full Length Research Paper. Statistical optimization of cultural conditions by response surface methodology for phenol degradation by a novel ... Phenol is a hydrocarbon compound that is highly toxic, ... Microorganism.

  1. Cultural differences in survey responding: Issues and insights in the study of response biases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemmelmeier, Markus

    2016-12-01

    This paper introduces the special section "Cultural differences in questionnaire responding" and discusses central topics in the research on response biases in cross-cultural survey research. Based on current conceptions of acquiescent, extreme, and socially desirable responding, the author considers current data on the correlated nature of response biases and the conditions under which different response styles they emerge. Based on evidence relating different response styles to the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism, the paper explores how research presented as part of this special section might help resolves some tensions in this literature. The paper concludes by arguing that response styles should not be treated merely as measurement error, but as cultural behaviors in themselves. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

  2. A Comparative Study of Cross-Cultural Gratitude Strategies among Hausa, the Case of Arab and Chinese Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isyaku, Hassan; Yuepeng, Ma; Mahdi, Qusay; Sarhan, Gassan; Salih, Nahid; Paramasivan, Shamala

    2016-01-01

    The research investigated the thanking/gratitude strategies of three distinct cultures; Hausa, Chinese and Arabic languages with the aim of finding out the different strategies used by them and how different they are in their use of such strategies. The study employs Cheng (2005) Taxonomy of gratitude strategies in analyzing the data which was…

  3. The response strategy and the place strategy in a plus-maze have different sensitivities to devaluation of expected outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosaki, Yutaka; Pearce, John M; McGregor, Anthony

    2018-04-10

    Previous studies have suggested that spatial navigation can be achieved with at least two distinct learning processes, involving either cognitive map-like representations of the local environment, referred to as the "place strategy", or simple stimulus-response (S-R) associations, the "response strategy". A similar distinction between cognitive/behavioral processes has been made in the context of non-spatial, instrumental conditioning, with the definition of two processes concerning the sensitivity of a given behavior to the expected value of its outcome as well as to the response-outcome contingency ("goal-directed action" and "S-R habit"). Here we investigated whether these two versions of dichotomist definitions of learned behavior, one spatial and the other non-spatial, correspond to each other in a formal way. Specifically, we assessed the goal-directed nature of two navigational strategies, using a combination of an outcome devaluation procedure and a spatial probe trial frequently used to dissociate the two navigational strategies. In Experiment 1, rats trained in a dual-solution T-maze task were subjected to an extinction probe trial from the opposite start arm, with or without prefeeding-induced devaluation of the expected outcome. We found that a non-significant preference for the place strategy in the non-devalued condition was completely reversed after devaluation, such that significantly more animals displayed the use of the response strategy. The result suggests that the place strategy is sensitive to the expected value of the outcome, while the response strategy is not. In Experiment 2, rats with hippocampal lesions showed significant reliance on the response strategy, regardless of whether the expected outcome was devalued or not. The result thus offers further evidence that the response strategy conforms to the definition of an outcome-insensitive, habitual form of instrumental behavior. These results together attest a formal correspondence between

  4. Human place and response learning: navigation strategy selection, pupil size and gaze behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Condappa, Olivier; Wiener, Jan M

    2016-01-01

    In this study, we examined the cognitive processes and ocular behavior associated with on-going navigation strategy choice using a route learning paradigm that distinguishes between three different wayfinding strategies: an allocentric place strategy, and the egocentric associative cue and beacon response strategies. Participants approached intersections of a known route from a variety of directions, and were asked to indicate the direction in which the original route continued. Their responses in a subset of these test trials allowed the assessment of strategy choice over the course of six experimental blocks. The behavioral data revealed an initial maladaptive bias for a beacon response strategy, with shifts in favor of the optimal configuration place strategy occurring over the course of the experiment. Response time analysis suggests that the configuration strategy relied on spatial transformations applied to a viewpoint-dependent spatial representation, rather than direct access to an allocentric representation. Furthermore, pupillary measures reflected the employment of place and response strategies throughout the experiment, with increasing use of the more cognitively demanding configuration strategy associated with increases in pupil dilation. During test trials in which known intersections were approached from different directions, visual attention was directed to the landmark encoded during learning as well as the intended movement direction. Interestingly, the encoded landmark did not differ between the three navigation strategies, which is discussed in the context of initial strategy choice and the parallel acquisition of place and response knowledge.

  5. Evaluating the effect of organization culture on the successful execution of strategies: Case study of Payam-e-Noor university

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Babak Monzavi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available In this research, we use Hofstede method and Noble’s framework in strategy execution to evaluate the effect of organization culture on the successful implementation of strategies in a case study of Payam-e-Noor University of Iran. Data Collection is performed with the standard Hofstede survey, an evaluation tool for organization culture, and researchers’ survey tool to evaluate the effective implementation of strategies. The reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.846 using the Cronbach alpha. The target population includes 600 senior managers of Payam-e-Noor university of Iran at the time of data collection Cochran formula was used to calculate the required sample number of 120 individuals. The results show that according to the Hofstede dimensions, the dominant cultural aspects of high power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and femininity were identified. The first two have a direct influence on effectiveness of strategies. While individualism is known to have an invert effect on effectiveness of strategies, no connection was identified between masculinity and effectiveness of strategies, and thus, this theory was not confirmed in this research.

  6. Mitigating Product Harm Crises and Making Markets Sustainable: How does National Culture Matter?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ganganee C. Samaraweera

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Product harm crisis has become a serious issue in the business world today irrespective of the crisis mitigating strategies adopted to remedy the harm. The purpose of the study is to determine whether national culture shapes consumer reactions to crisis response strategies as a result of variation of consumers’ perceptions the affected firm’s moral responsibility. The study considers a comparison of 303 marketing-based Chinese and Sri Lankan students. Findings of independent sample t tests and Analysis of variance (ANOVA suggested that consumers’ moral perceptions vary significantly between China and Sri Lanka in response to crisis response strategies revealing a new insight in the crisis mitigating literature. A wounded company has to launch a super effort response in Sri Lanka whereas the voluntary recall response in China is sufficient in a crisis in order to maintain moral reputation. Moreover, the study reveals that implementation of an inappropriate strategy leads to significant financial and moral reputational loss to a company. Therefore, the study recommends companies choosing culture-specific response strategies in order to protect moral reputational status and to make the market sustainable.

  7. Electric Water Heater Modeling and Control Strategies for Demand Response

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Diao, Ruisheng; Lu, Shuai; Elizondo, Marcelo A.; Mayhorn, Ebony T.; Zhang, Yu; Samaan, Nader A.

    2012-07-22

    Abstract— Demand response (DR) has a great potential to provide balancing services at normal operating conditions and emergency support when a power system is subject to disturbances. Effective control strategies can significantly relieve the balancing burden of conventional generators and reduce investment on generation and transmission expansion. This paper is aimed at modeling electric water heaters (EWH) in households and tests their response to control strategies to implement DR. The open-loop response of EWH to a centralized signal is studied by adjusting temperature settings to provide regulation services; and two types of decentralized controllers are tested to provide frequency support following generator trips. EWH models are included in a simulation platform in DIgSILENT to perform electromechanical simulation, which contains 147 households in a distribution feeder. Simulation results show the dependence of EWH response on water heater usage . These results provide insight suggestions on the need of control strategies to achieve better performance for demand response implementation. Index Terms— Centralized control, decentralized control, demand response, electrical water heater, smart grid

  8. Assessing the ERP-SAP implementation strategy from cultural perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Gunawan; Syaiful, Bakhri; Sfenrianto; Nurul, Fajar Ahmad

    2017-09-01

    Implementing ERP-SAP projects in Indonesian large enterprises frequently create headaches for the consultants, since there are always be a large gap between the outcomes of the SAP with the expected results. Indonesian enterprises have experience with a huge amount of investments and ended up with minor benefits. Despite its unprecedented benefits, the SAP strategy is still considered as a mandatory enterprise system for every enterprise to compete in the marketplaces. The article examines the SAP implementation from cultural perspectives to present new horizon that commonly ignored by major Indonesian enterprises. The article applies the multiple case studies with three large Indonesia enterprises, such as KS, the largest steel producer; GEM, a subsidiary of conglomerate enterprise operates in the mining industry, and HS, a subsidiary of the largest retailer in Asia with more than 700 stores in Indonesia. The outcome of the article is expected to provide a comprehensive analysis from cultural perspectives regarding to common problems faced by SAP consultants.

  9. An examination of acquiescent response styles in cross-cultural research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fischer, R.; Fontaine, J.R.J.; van de Vijver, F.J.R.; van Hemert, D.A.; Gari, A.; Mylonas, K.

    2009-01-01

    Response styles constitute a formidable challenge for cross-cultural research. In this article, three different response styles are discussed (acquiescence, extremity scoring, and social desirability). Acquiescence responding (ARS) is then integrated into a larger classical test theoretical

  10. Emotion regulation strategies: procedure modeling of J. Gross and cultural activity approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena I. Pervichko

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The first part of this paper argued the desirability of structural-dynamic model of emotion regulation in the theoretical and methodological framework of cultural activity paradigm with the construction of a psychologically-based typology of emotion regulation strategies in norm and pathology, and also psychological mechanisms enabling the regulation of emotions. This conclusion was based on the analysis of the basic concepts and paradigms in which the issue of emotion regulation is studied: cognitive and psychoanalytic approaches, concept and emotional development of emotional intelligence, cultural activity approach. The paper considers the procedure model of emotion regulation by J. Gross, identifies emotion regulation strategies and evaluates their effectiveness. The possibilities and limitations of the model. Based on the review of the today research the conclusion is arrived at that the existing labels on a wide range of regulatory strategies remain an open issue.The author’s definition of emotion regulation is drawn. Emotion regulation is deemed as a set of mental processes, psychological mechanisms and regulatory strategies that people use to preserve the capacity for productive activities in a situation of emotional stress; to ensure optimal impulse control and emotions; to maintain the excitement at the optimum level. The second part of this paper provides the general description of emotion regulation strategies, the approach to their typology, the psychological mechanisms of emotion regulation that lie in the basis of this typology, i.e. the main elements of the structural-dynamic model of emotion regulation. The work shows theoretical and methodological efficacy of empirical significance of signs and symbols and also personal reflection. The diagnostic system to allow empirically identify a wide range of emotion regulation strategies is suggested. The psychological mechanisms used by the subject to solve the problem of emotional

  11. Evaluating U.S. and Chinese Cyber Security Strategies Within a Cultural Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    analysis of Chinese culture in warfare studies. They find that Chinese convention “respects inaction”28 and the teachings of Sun Tzu , thus favoring the...15 Bibliography ...AY16 16 Bibliography Ehsan Ahrari. “Transformation of America’s Military and Asymmetric War.” Comparative Strategy 29, no. 3 (2010): 223-244

  12. Strategies for Improved Hospital Response to Mass Casualty Incidents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    TariVerdi, Mersedeh; Miller-Hooks, Elise; Kirsch, Thomas

    2018-03-19

    Mass casualty incidents are a concern in many urban areas. A community's ability to cope with such events depends on the capacities and capabilities of its hospitals for handling a sudden surge in demand of patients with resource-intensive and specialized medical needs. This paper uses a whole-hospital simulation model to replicate medical staff, resources, and space for the purpose of investigating hospital responsiveness to mass casualty incidents. It provides details of probable demand patterns of different mass casualty incident types in terms of patient categories and arrival patterns, and accounts for related transient system behavior over the response period. Using the layout of a typical urban hospital, it investigates a hospital's capacity and capability to handle mass casualty incidents of various sizes with various characteristics, and assesses the effectiveness of designed demand management and capacity-expansion strategies. Average performance improvements gained through capacity-expansion strategies are quantified and best response actions are identified. Capacity-expansion strategies were found to have superadditive benefits when combined. In fact, an acceptable service level could be achieved by implementing only 2 to 3 of the 9 studied enhancement strategies. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 13).

  13. Response to Marie Paz Morales' ``Influence of culture and language sensitive physics on science attitude achievement''

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Mikel Walker

    2015-12-01

    This response to Marie Paz Morales' "Influence of culture and language sensitive physics on science attitude achievement" explores the ideas of culturally responsive pedagogy and critical literacy to examine some implications for culturally responsive science instruction implicit in the original manuscript.

  14. Treatment strategies for high resveratrol induction in Vitis vinifera L. cell suspension culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thu V. Vuong

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Bioprocesses capable of producing large scales of resveratrol at nutraceutical grade are in demand. This study herein investigated treatment strategies to induce the production of resveratrol in Vitis vinifera L. cell suspension cultures. Among seven investigated elicitors, jasmonic acid (JA, salicylic acid, β-glucan (GLU, and chitosan enhanced the production of intracellular resveratrol manyfold. The combined treatment of JA and GLU increased extracellular resveratrol production by up to tenfold. The application of Amberlite XAD-7 resin for in situ removal and artificial storage of secreted resveratrol further increased resveratrol production by up to four orders of magnitude. The level of resveratrol produced in response to the combined treatment with 200 g/L XAD-7, 10 μM JA and 1 mg/mL GLU was approximately 2400 mg/L, allowing the production of resveratrol at an industrial scale. The high yield of resveratrol is due to the involvement of a number of mechanisms working in concert.

  15. A Configuration Model of Organizational Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Dauber

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The article proposes a configuration model of organizational culture, which explores dynamic relationships between organizational culture, strategy, structure, and operations of an organization (internal environment and maps interactions with the external environment (task and legitimization environment. A major feature of the configuration model constitutes its well-defined processes, which connect the elements of the model systematically to each other, such as single- and double-loop learning, operationalization of strategies, legitimization management, and so on. The model is grounded in a large review of literature in different research areas and builds on widely recognized models in the field of organization and culture theory. It constitutes a response to the call for new models, which are able to explain and facilitate the exploration of the empirical complexity that organizations face today. The configuration model of organizational culture is of particular interest to scholars who investigate into cultural phenomena and change over time.

  16. U.S. Strategy for Bioterrorism Emergency Medical Preparedness and Response

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Lugo, Angel

    2003-01-01

    ... diseases and mass casualty dangers. The 2002 National Strategy for Homeland Security includes numerous emergency preparedness and response initiatives as part of the overall homeland security strategy...

  17. Developments in weather responsive traffic management strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-01

    This report provides a comprehensive overview of weather-responsive traffic management practices. It focuses on what WRTM strategies exist, where they have been used, the benefits realized, what improvements are needed, and how to implement and evalu...

  18. A response strategy predicts acquisition of schedule-induced polydipsia in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory, James Gardner; Hawken, Emily R; Banasikowski, Tomek J; Dumont, Eric C; Beninger, Richard J

    2015-08-03

    Schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) is excessive, non-regulatory drinking. We aimed to identify phenotypic learning traits representative of neural circuitry that underlies SIP and hypothesized that rats that are response-learners will be more susceptible in developing compulsive water drinking. Using the Y-maze, the rats were characterized as either place- or response-learners. They were exposed to the SIP protocol for a period of 21days. Subsequent histological staining for FosB/ΔFosB examined neuronal activation associated with SIP in several brain regions. The rats with a preference for a response-learning strategy were more likely to develop SIP than the rats using a place-learning strategy. Furthermore amphetamine sensitization, observed to increase SIP, also shifted learning strategy to a response-learning strategy. No differences were observed in FosB/ΔFosB expression between SIP and non-SIP rats in the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) and CA1 region of the hippocampus. However, SIP rats had greater FosB/ΔFosB expression in prefrontal cortex regions. The rats that develop SIP have a preference for response-learning strategies and increased neuronal activation in frontal cortical regions associated with habit formation and compulsion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Teachers' Inclusive Strategies to Accommodate 5th Grade Pupils' Crossing of Cultural Borders in Two Greek Multicultural Science Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piliouras, Panagiotis; Evangelou, Odysseas

    2012-04-01

    The demographic changes in Greek schools underline the need for reconsidering the way in which migrant pupils move from their everyday culture into the culture of school science (a process known as "cultural border crossing"). Migrant pupils might face difficulties when they attempt to transcend cultural borders and this may influence their progress in science as well as the construction of suitable academic identities as a means of promoting scientific literacy. In the research we present in this paper, adopting the socioculturally driven thesis that learning can be viewed and studied as a meaning-making, collaborative inquiry process, we implemented an action research program (school year 2008-2009) in cooperation with two teachers, in a primary school of Athens with 85% migrant pupils. We examined whether the two teachers, who became gradually acquainted with cross-cultural pedagogy during the project, act towards accommodating the crossing of cultural borders by implementing a variety of inclusive strategies in science teaching. Our findings reveal that both teachers utilized suitable cross-border strategies (strategies concerning the establishment of a collaborative inquiry learning environment, and strategies that were in accordance with a cross-border pedagogy) to help students cross smoothly from their "world" to the "world of science". A crucial key to the teachers' expertise was their previous participation in collaborative action research (school years 2004-2006), in which they analyzed their own discourse practices during science lessons in order to establish more collaborative inquiry environments.

  20. Response to Marie Paz Morales' "Influence of Culture and Language Sensitive Physics on Science Attitude Achievement"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Mikel Walker

    2015-01-01

    This response to Marie Paz Morales' "Influence of culture and language sensitive physics on science attitude achievement" explores the ideas of culturally responsive pedagogy and critical literacy to examine some implications for culturally responsive science instruction implicit in the original manuscript. [For "Influence of…

  1. Examining Perceptions of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Teacher Preparation and Teacher Leadership Candidates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuels, Amy J.; Samuels, Gregory L.; Cook, Tammy M.

    2017-01-01

    The study examined a multi-tiered approach for facilitating learning and examining perceptions about culturally responsive pedagogy in teacher preparation and teacher leadership programs. The study aligned with a learning unit we designed to (1) increase understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy and (2) investigate perceptions of cultural…

  2. Co-cultures and cell sheet engineering as relevant tools to improve the outcome of bone tissue engineering strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Pirraco, Rogério

    2011-01-01

    Taking into consideration the complex biology of bone tissue it is quite clear that the understanding of the cellular interactions that regulate the homeostasis and regeneration of this remarkable tissue is essential for a successful Tissue Engineering strategy. The in vitro study of these cellular interactions relies on co-culture systems, a tremendously useful methodology where two or more cell types are cultured at the same time. Such strategy increases the complexity of typ...

  3. Materializing Culture - Culturizing Material. On the Status, Responsibilities and Function of Cultural Property Repositories within the Framework of a "Transformative Scholarship"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markus Hilgert

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Certain theoretical streams in the cultural and social sciences that are occasionally subsumed under the term “New Materialism” 2 (see Witzgall, as well as recent social, political, cultural and media technology developments require a theoretical and research-political repositioning of academic object repositories. For it is obvious that under the influence of these multi-layered, partly interwoven processes, the status, responsibilities, as well as the function and spheres of activity of these object or cultural property repositories with research commitment (on the term see section 2 below are currently undergoing long-lasting change. For the respective institutions, these changes not only result in complex challenges regarding contents and structure, but also present extraordinary opportunities for the fulfillment of their academic, social and political responsibilities. The appropriate handling of these challenges and opportunities can substantially contribute to the sharpening of the academic and social profile of these institutions and increase their visibility on both a national and international level.

  4. Corporate social responsibility, a strategy to create and consolidate sustainable businesses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariana Cristina GANESCU

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available To highlight the strategic importance of CSR, this paper starts with a study of specialized literature in order to identify the role of these strategies in the creation and strengthening of sustainable business. Using Dunphy's model as a start point, we attempted to draft typologies for social responsibility strategies that support organizations in creating and strengthening sustainable business. An empirical study of the European automobile industry has sought to highlight the impact CSR strategies have on sustainable business. Selection and implementation of appropriate social responsibility strategies are important in achieving added value through the creation and strengthening of sustainable business.

  5. Company Strategies for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): A Conceptual Model

    OpenAIRE

    Klaassen, P.; van de Poel, Ibo; Asveld, Lotte; Flipse, Steven; Scholten, Victor; Yaghmaei, Emad

    2017-01-01

    Responsible research and innovation (RRI) has become an important topic in the academic community and in policy circles, but it has not yet been systematically included in the innovation process of companies. We discuss how companies can integrate RRI into their corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and business strategy. To this end, we developed a conceptual model that links a company’s RRI strategy to its context, and that helps to translate the RRI strategy into activities that r...

  6. Company strategies for responsible research and innovation (RRI): A conceptual model

    OpenAIRE

    van de Poel, I.R.; Asveld, L.; Flipse, S.M.; Klaassen, Pim; Scholten, V.E.; Yaghmaei, E.

    2017-01-01

    Responsible research and innovation (RRI) has become an important topic in the academic community and in policy circles, but it has not yet been systematically included in the innovation process of companies. We discuss how companies can integrate RRI into their corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and business strategy. To this end, we developed a conceptual model that links a company's RRI strategy to its context, and that helps to translate the RRI strategy into activities that r...

  7. Exploring corporate culture and strategy: Sainsbury at home and abroad during the early to mid 1990s

    OpenAIRE

    R Shackleton

    1998-01-01

    In this paper the UK food retailer, J Sainsbury plc, is used as anexample to illustrate the intimate power relationship between corporate culture and corporate strategy, and it is argued that corporate culture plays a key role in determining the economic performance of firms. Specifically, it is shown how corporate culture can concurrently be advantageous and burdensome within the same firm. Indeed, it is argued that the strength of Sainsbury's corporate culture prevented it from reacting to ...

  8. Cultural Responsive Teaching Readiness Scale Validity and Reliability Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kasım KARATAŞ

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this research is to develop a measurement instrument that will determine the cultural responsive teaching readiness level of teacher candidates. The study group consisted of a total of 231 candidate teachers, of which 83 were males and 148 were females, who were attending their final year of class teacher education programs at various Turkish universities during the 2016-2017 education year. In the first phase, a 33-item draft form was presented to experts to be reviewed. Based on the feedback received, revisions were made and the final scale was applied to a group of 231 candidate teachers. In the analysis of the data obtained as the result of the application, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA was performed. The EFA produced 21 items within a two-factor structure as, “Personal Readiness” and “Professional Readiness.” It was observed that the sub-factors were components of the “cultural responsive teaching readiness” dimension, and that the goodness of fit measures obtained as a result of the First and Second Level Confirmatory Factor Analyzes (CFA were high. In addition, reliability coefficients were found to be high as a result of reliability measurements. With the help of these findings, this study concludes that the Cultural Responsive Teaching Readiness scale is both valid and reliable.

  9. Variation in Second Language Learners' Strategies among Non-Native English Speakers from Three Language/Culture Backgrounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein; Tang, Frank Lixing; Razavi, Nikta; Aiello, Jacqueline

    2014-01-01

    This study explored the effects of cultural and linguistic background, L2 proficiency, and gender on language learning strategies for 263 college-level learners from Chinese, Russian, and Latino backgrounds. Data based on the SILL (Oxford, 2001) revealed that Russian students used significantly more strategies than the Chinese students in three…

  10. Culturally responsive engineering education: A case study of a pre-college introductory engineering course at Tibetan Children's Village School of Selakui

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santiago, Marisol Mercado

    Culturally responsive teaching has been argued to be effective in the education of Indigenous youth. This approach emphasizes the legitimacy of a group's cultural heritage, helps to associate abstract academic knowledge with the group's sociocultural context, seeks to incorporate a variety of strategies to engage students who have different learning styles, and strives to integrate multicultural information in the educational contents, among other considerations. In this work, I explore the outcomes of a culturally responsive introductory engineering short course that I developed and taught to Tibetan students at Tibetan Children's Village of Selakui (in Uttarakhand, India). Based on my ethnographic research in Tibetan communities in northern India, I examine two research questions: (a) What are the processes to develop and implement a pre-college culturally responsive introductory engineering course? and (b) How do Tibetan culture and Buddhism influence the engineering design and teamwork of the pre-college Tibetan students who took the course? I designed then taught the course that featured elementary lectures on sustainability, introductory engineering design, energy alternatives, and manufacturing engineering. The course also included a pre-college engineering design project through which Tibetan high school students investigated a problem at the school and designed a possible solution to it. Drawing from postcolonial studies, engineering studies, engineering and social justice, Buddhist studies, and Tibetan studies, I provide an analysis of my findings. Based on my findings, I conclude that my culturally responsive approach of teaching was an effective method to help students feel that their cultural background was respected and included in a pre-college engineering course; however, some students felt resistance toward the teaching approach. In addition, the culturally relevant content that connected with their ways of living in their school, Tibetan

  11. Strategies for North American Missionaries' Relational Language-Culture Learning in the Japanese Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manabe-Kim, Rie

    2012-01-01

    This study focused on presenting the fieldwork findings derived from studying North-American missionaries' relational dynamics with the Japanese people, and the strategies that impacted their language-culture learning. This study also focused on applying the fieldwork findings towards the creation of a coaching model designed to help missionaries…

  12. Culturally Responsive Teaching. Second Edition. Multicultural Education Series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gay, Geneva

    2010-01-01

    The achievement of students of color continues to be disproportionately low at all levels of education. More than ever, Geneva Gay's foundational book on culturally responsive teaching is essential reading in addressing the needs of today's diverse student population. Combining insights from multicultural education theory and research with…

  13. Survey Response Styles, Acculturation, and Culture Among a Sample of Mexican American Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Rachel E; Resnicow, Ken; Couper, Mick P

    2011-10-01

    A number of studies have investigated use of extreme (ERS) and acquiescent (ARS) response styles across cultural groups. However, due to within-group heterogeneity, it is important to also examine use of response styles, acculturation, and endorsement of cultural variables at the individual level. This study explores relationships between acculturation, six Mexican cultural factors, ERS, and ARS among a sample of 288 Mexican American telephone survey respondents. Three aspects of acculturation were assessed: Spanish use, the importance of preserving Mexican culture, and interaction with Mexican Americans versus Anglos. These variables were hypothesized to positively associate with ERS and ARS. Participants with higher Spanish use did utilize more ERS and ARS; however, value for preserving Mexican culture and interaction with Mexican Americans were not associated with response style use. In analyses of cultural factors, endorsement of familismo and simpatia were related to more frequent ERS and ARS, machismo was associated with lower ERS among men, and la mujer was related to higher ERS among women. Caballerismo was marginally associated with utilization of ERS among men. No association was found between la mujer abnegada and ERS among women. Relationships between male gender roles and ARS were nonsignificant. Relationships between female gender roles and ARS were mixed but trended in the positive direction. Overall, these findings suggest that Mexican American respondents vary in their use of response styles by acculturation and cultural factors. This usage may be specifically influenced by participants' valuing of and engagement with constructs directly associated with social behavior.

  14. Culture shapes 7-month-olds' perceptual strategies in discriminating facial expressions of emotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geangu, Elena; Ichikawa, Hiroko; Lao, Junpeng; Kanazawa, So; Yamaguchi, Masami K; Caldara, Roberto; Turati, Chiara

    2016-07-25

    Emotional facial expressions are thought to have evolved because they play a crucial role in species' survival. From infancy, humans develop dedicated neural circuits [1] to exhibit and recognize a variety of facial expressions [2]. But there is increasing evidence that culture specifies when and how certain emotions can be expressed - social norms - and that the mature perceptual mechanisms used to transmit and decode the visual information from emotional signals differ between Western and Eastern adults [3-5]. Specifically, the mouth is more informative for transmitting emotional signals in Westerners and the eye region for Easterners [4], generating culture-specific fixation biases towards these features [5]. During development, it is recognized that cultural differences can be observed at the level of emotional reactivity and regulation [6], and to the culturally dominant modes of attention [7]. Nonetheless, to our knowledge no study has explored whether culture shapes the processing of facial emotional signals early in development. The data we report here show that, by 7 months, infants from both cultures visually discriminate facial expressions of emotion by relying on culturally distinct fixation strategies, resembling those used by the adults from the environment in which they develop [5]. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The interactive role of organizational strategy and culture : a strategic management approach

    OpenAIRE

    2015-01-01

    M.Com. This study has been undertaken with the specific objective of acquiring an insight into the concept "organizational culture" within a strategic management context, as well as the role played by the concept in the formulation and implementation of organizational strategy. Researchers from within various disciplines, such as anthropology, industrial psychology and strategic management, have analysed various aspects of the concept ...

  16. "Because That's Who I Am": Extending Theories of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy to Consider Religious Identity, Belief, and Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dallavis, Christian

    2011-01-01

    In this conceptual article the author explores the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy and religious school contexts. He extends theories of culturally responsive pedagogy to consider how religion, a dimension of student culture that has largely been overlooked in the literature surrounding culturally responsive pedagogy, can inflect…

  17. Two-stage heterotrophic and phototrophic culture strategy for algal biomass and lipid production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yubin; Chi, Zhanyou; Lucker, Ben; Chen, Shulin

    2012-01-01

    A two-stage heterotrophic and phototrophic culture strategy for algal biomass and lipid production was studied, wherein high density heterotrophic cultures of Chlorellasorokiniana serve as seed for subsequent phototrophic growth. The data showed growth rate, cell density and productivity of heterotrophic C.sorokiniana were 3.0, 3.3 and 7.4 times higher than phototrophic counterpart, respectively. Hetero- and phototrophic algal seeds had similar biomass/lipid production and fatty acid profile when inoculated into phototrophic culture system. To expand the application, food waste and wastewater were tested as feedstock for heterotrophic growth, and supported cell growth successfully. These results demonstrated the advantages of using heterotrophic algae cells as seeds for open algae culture system. Additionally, high inoculation rate of heterotrophic algal seed can be utilized as an effective method for contamination control. This two-stage heterotrophic phototrophic process is promising to provide a more efficient way for large scale production of algal biomass and biofuels. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Cultural adaptation of preschool PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) curriculum for Pakistani children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inam, Ayesha; Tariq, Pervaiz N; Zaman, Sahira

    2015-06-01

    Cultural adaptation of evidence-based programmes has gained importance primarily owing to its perceived impact on the established effectiveness of a programme. To date, many researchers have proposed different frameworks for systematic adaptation process. This article presents the cultural adaptation of preschool Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum for Pakistani children using the heuristic framework of adaptation (Barrera & Castro, 2006). The study was completed in four steps: information gathering, preliminary adaptation design, preliminary adaptation test and adaptation refinement. Feedbacks on programme content suggested universality of the core programme components. Suggested changes were mostly surface structure: language, presentation of materials, conceptual equivalence of concepts, training needs of implementation staff and frequency of programme delivery. In-depth analysis was done to acquire cultural equivalence. Pilot testing of the outcome measures showed strong internal consistency. The results were further discussed with reference to similar work undertaken in other cultures. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

  19. Cultural Responsiveness and Routines: When Center and Home Don't Match

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez-Mena, Janet

    2010-01-01

    This article discusses cultural responsiveness and routines of child care centers that do not match what families are accustomed to at home. It can be difficult to discuss cultural differences in some routine caregiving activities because of the standards, rules, regulations, best practices, and health concerns that those trained in early…

  20. Effects of Culture and Gender on Judgments of Intent and Responsibility.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jason E Plaks

    Full Text Available Do different cultures hold different views of intentionality? In four studies, participants read scenarios in which the actor's distal intent (a focus on a broader goal and proximal intent (a focus on the mechanics of the act were manipulated. In Studies 1-2, when distal intent was more prominent in the actor's mind, North Americans rated the actor more responsible than did Chinese and South Asian participants. When proximal intent was more prominent, Chinese and South Asian participants, if anything, rated the actor more responsible. In Studies 3-4, when distal intent was more prominent, male Americans rated the actor more responsible than did female Americans. When proximal intent was more prominent, females rated the actor more responsible. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the literatures on moral reasoning and cultural psychology.

  1. Effects of Culture and Gender on Judgments of Intent and Responsibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plaks, Jason E.; Fortune, Jennifer L.; Liang, Lindie H.; Robinson, Jeffrey S.

    2016-01-01

    Do different cultures hold different views of intentionality? In four studies, participants read scenarios in which the actor’s distal intent (a focus on a broader goal) and proximal intent (a focus on the mechanics of the act) were manipulated. In Studies 1–2, when distal intent was more prominent in the actor’s mind, North Americans rated the actor more responsible than did Chinese and South Asian participants. When proximal intent was more prominent, Chinese and South Asian participants, if anything, rated the actor more responsible. In Studies 3–4, when distal intent was more prominent, male Americans rated the actor more responsible than did female Americans. When proximal intent was more prominent, females rated the actor more responsible. The authors discuss these findings in relation to the literatures on moral reasoning and cultural psychology. PMID:27123858

  2. Strategies and challenges for communicating the diagnosis of cancer in cross-cultural clinical settings-Perspectives from South African healthcare professionals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Ottilia; Goliath, Veonna; van Rooyen, Dalena R M; Aldous, Colleen; Marais, Leonard Charles

    2017-01-01

    Communicating the diagnosis of cancer in cross-cultural clinical settings is a complex task. This qualitative research article describes the content and process of informing Zulu patients in South Africa of the diagnosis of cancer, using osteosarcoma as the index diagnosis. We used a descriptive research design with census sampling and focus group interviews. We used an iterative thematic data analysis process and Guba's model of trustworthiness to ensure scientific rigor. Our results reinforced the use of well-accepted strategies for communicating the diagnosis of cancer. In addition, new strategies emerged which may be useful in other cross-cultural settings. These strategies included using the stages of cancer to explain the disease and its progression and instilling hope using a multidisciplinary team care model. We identified several patients, professionals, and organizational factors that complicate cross-cultural communication. We conclude by recommending the development of protocols for communication in these cross-cultural clinical settings.

  3. The relationships among business strategies, organisational performance and organisational culture in the tourism industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mong-Mei Lin

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available As societies develop, the tourism industry has become one of the most powerful and largest industries in the global economy. The industrial status and economic function of the tourism industry have increased in the economic development of cities. The tourism industry has helped to drive the city economy, create employment, and facilitate culture and the environment The tourism industry, as one of the supporting industries for economic development in China, presents diverse services that are not only competitive within the industry, but could also increase national consumption. In addition to the professional service items and quality, the adjustment of business strategies aimed at the changeable environment are considered as key success factors in the tourism industry. This study analyzes the effect of business strategies on organisational performance in the tourism industry. Owners, managers, and employees from the top ten travel agencies in Taiwan were selected as the research subjects and a total of 600 questionnaires were distributed. Within the retrieved 438 surveys, 43 were incomplete and removed to yield a total of 395 valid questionnaires. Within the empirical analyses business strategies appear to have significant positive correlations with job satisfaction, organisational objective and job performance in organisational performance. Moreover, organisational culture presents a partially moderating effect for the relations between business strategies and organisational performance.

  4. Assertiveness and tolerance in cross-cultural interaction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pochebut L.G.

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The article is devoted to the theoretical analysis of the concepts of tolerance and assertiveness. Problem of contemporary cross-cultural interaction is the need to shift strategy of tolerance on strategy of assertiveness. Considered the practice of multiculturalism based on the idea of tolerance. Six barriers to cross-cultural communication. Comparison of understanding tolerance in European, Arab, Eastern cultures and in Russia. Boundaries are considered manifestations of tolerance. Developed rules of tolerant behavior. Proposed in scientific analysis and in actual practice, intercultural strategy move to assertiveness. Tolerance is respect for the views of another person, provided that he respects your opinion. Assertiveness is the respect for the rights of another person, provided that it also respects your rights. Describes the ways in assertive behavior: the willingness to cooperate, the openness of conduct, allocation of responsibilities, defend their rights and interests, defining the way forward. Tactics developed in assertive behavior: “interests”, “anti-discrimination”, “achievement”, “standards”, “activity”, “goodwill”.

  5. Cultural responsiveness in EFL teaching: reflections from native instructors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinarbas H. Ibrahim

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, many international students from different parts of the world have been studying at Turkish universities, which creates a multicultural educational setting. Due to the multicultural educational setting, English has become the most widely used language for exchanging and sharing knowledge, therefore many international universities in Turkey put a great emphasis on English language education and offer English preparatory courses to students. In order to succeed at better language education, universities employ native English instructors to provide a richer language experience with cultural components embedded in language content. In this qualitative case study, cultural reflections of native English instructors at a Turkish university were investigated. Individual and focus group interviews were data sources for the study. Findings indicated that cultural responsiveness was considered to be constructed through time, and a necessity of orientation process was emphasized. However, the native instructors’ presumptions cause intolerance and underestimation of the host culture. In addition, educational issues and students’ misbehaviors, such as cheating and calling their instructors by their first name, were attributed to cultural background of the students.

  6. The Contribution of Earth Observation Technologies to Monitoring Strategies of Cultural Landscapes and Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuca, B.

    2017-08-01

    Coupling of Climate change effects with management and protection of cultural and natural heritage has been brought to the attention of policy makers since several years. On the worldwide level, UNESCO has identified several phenomena as the major geo-hazards possibly induced by climate change and their possible hazardous impact to natural and cultural heritage: Hurricane, storms; Sea-level rise; Erosion; Flooding; Rainfall increase; Drought; Desertification and Rise in temperature. The same document further referrers to satellite Remote Sensing (EO) as one of the valuable tools, useful for development of "professional monitoring strategies". More recently, other studies have highlighted on the impact of climate change effects on tourism, an economic sector related to build environment and traditionally linked to heritage. The results suggest that, in case of emergency the concrete threat could be given by the hazardous event itself; in case of ordinary administration, however, the threat seems to be a "hazardous attitude" towards cultural assets that could lead to inadequate maintenance and thus to a risk of an improper management of cultural heritage sites. This paper aims to illustrate potential benefits that advancements of Earth Observation technologies can bring to the domain of monitoring landscape heritage and to the management strategies, including practices of preventive maintenance. The attempt here is to raise awareness on the importance of integrating satellite remote sensing imagery and the deriving products with other geospatial information (even geo-referenced historic maps) for a more complete insight on the environmental dynamics of landscapes.

  7. Social responsibility and sustainable development: a strategy to be practice; Responsabilidade social e desenvolvimento sustentavel - estrategias que conduzem a pratica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, Marcia Amaral Estevao dos [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Said, Nagib Albuquerque [Fundacao Gorceix, Ouro Preto, MG (Brazil)

    2004-07-01

    This work presents the strategy adopted by the Research and Development Center of PETROBRAS - CENPES to disseminate the culture of social responsibility and sustainable development. It is associated to the strategic objectives of the company and is based on the integration of diagnosis, sensibility and training actions of CENPES manpower. The objective is to promote appropriate postures toward sustainability which will be manifested from individual attitudes in daily actions inside the company - as for instance the responsible consumption of paper and water - until the election of sustainability criteria, with emphasis in the social and environmental variables that will contribute to research and basic engineer projects evaluation. The diagnosis phase considers two fundamental actions: to check the 'state of the art' of the internal culture and to map the several relationship groups or stakeholders. In the sensibility stage, the objective is to offer knowledge and information about the theme using different approaches some times continued, other times segmented, through specific and appropriate media. Finally, the training of the researchers and sustainability concepts promoter and multiplier agents will close the virtuous cycle that will lead to practice the values proposed in the social responsibility and sustainable development agenda. (author)

  8. Neo Strategy to Use Fixed-Whiteboard Based on Student’s Thinking Process and Cultural Ethicaly in Learning Physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wahyu Hari Kristiyanto

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Old guidelines to use the whiteboard stated that teachers were not allowed to write on the whiteboard while talking, because unethical if speak while back facing students. Findings about thinking process profile in information processing were presented with a whiteboard showed that the assimilation process is going to be supported, and audio-visual stimulants. This paper aims to describe the implementation of the latest strategies to use fixed-whiteboard based on student’s thinking process in learning physics with maximum the optimal thought processes and also maintain cultural ethics. This research was conducted through the use of guideline development assessment implementation fixed-slates based on the findings of the process of thinking and ethical culture in physics learning. The results showed that the latest strategy the use of fixed-whiteboard based on the thought process students and ethical culture in learning physics are (1 the assimilation process so that the display contents whiteboard is a material that is correct and does not cause cognitive conflict, (2 they are mutually reinforcing a combination of visual and audio so that the need to write while spelling, and (3 the thinking process to the stage of internalization that stage of the emergence of good information text / image / formula can be seen intact by all students by writing not cover impressions. The implementation results show the subject has been able to implement the latest strategies use fixed-whiteboard with both categories. The conclusions of this study that the use of the latest strategies fixed-whiteboard can be used for the presentation of information which is more than usual for students according to their thinking process and also maintain cultural ethics. The implication of this research is for Workforce Education Institutions need to equip student teachers with the skills to use the whiteboard based on the latest strategy. How to CiteKristiyanto, W. H

  9. Radiation adaptive response for the growth of cultured glial cells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suzuki, S.; Miura, Y.; Kano, M.; Toda, T.; Urano, S.

    2003-01-01

    Full text: To examine the molecular mechanism of radiation adaptive response (RAR) for the growth of cultured glial cells and to investigate the influence of aging on the response, glial cells were cultured from young and aged rats (1 month and 24 months old). RAR for the growth of glial cells conditioned with a low dose of X-rays and subsequently exposed to a high dose of X-rays was examined for cell number and BrdU incorporation. Involvement of the subcellular signaling pathway factors in RAR was investigated using their inhibitors, activators and mutated glial cells. RAR was observed in cells cultured from young rats, but was not in cells from aged rats. The inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC) and DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) suppressed RAR. The activators of PKC instead of low dose irradiation also caused RAR. Moreover, glial cells cultured from severe combined immunodeficiency (scid) mice (CB-17 scid) and ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) cells from AT patients showed no RAR. These results indicated that PKC, ATM, DNAPK and/or PI3K were involved in RAR for growth and BrdU incorporation of cultured glial cells and RAR decreased with aging. Proteomics data of glial cells exposed to severe stress of H 2 O 2 or X-rays also will be presented in the conference since little or no difference has not been observed with slight stress yet

  10. Variation in Second Language Learners' Strategies among Non-Native English Speakers from Three Language/Culture Backgrounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein; Tang, Frank Lixing; Razavi, Nikta; Aiello, Jacqueline

    2014-01-01

    This study explored the effects of cultural and linguistic background, L2 proficiency, and gender on language learning strategies for 263 college-level learners from Chinese, Russian, and Latino backgrounds. Data based on the SILL (Oxford, 2001) revealed that Russian students used significantly more strategies than the Chinese students in three…

  11. [Organisational responsibility versus individual responsibility: safety culture? About the relationship between patient safety and medical malpractice law].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, Dieter

    2009-01-01

    The contribution is concerned with the correlations between risk information, patient safety, responsibility and liability, in particular in terms of liability law. These correlations have an impact on safety culture in healthcare, which can be evaluated positively if--in addition to good quality of medical care--as many sources of error as possible can be identified, analysed, and minimised or eliminated by corresponding measures (safety or risk management). Liability influences the conduct of individuals and enterprises; safety is (probably) also a function of liability; this should also apply to safety culture. The standard of safety culture does not only depend on individual liability for damages, but first of all on strict enterprise liability (system responsibility) and its preventive effects. Patient safety through quality and risk management is therefore also an organisational programme of considerable relevance in terms of liability law.

  12. Using Response Cards in Teacher Education--A Case Example in Taiwan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hui-Ting

    2016-01-01

    Using response cards is one strategy to increase active student response. This approach may also satisfy a unique cultural learning need in some cultures like Taiwan where students are hesitant to speak in class. This paper provides a case example of using personal writing boards (PWBs) as an alternative response option to improve student…

  13. Organizational culture: the critical link between strategy and results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vestal, K W; Fralicx, R D; Spreier, S W

    1997-01-01

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is undertaking a massive reorganization to transform itself into a more efficient, patient-focused healthcare system. It has developed a new strategy and structure. But if it is to achieve the rapid, sustainable transformation needed to succeed in today's environment, it must also change its culture. The rigid, functionally focused, command-and-control culture that has long been a hallmark of VA must be replaced by one that values speed, flexibility, and the processes for delivering high-quality, cost-effective patient care. Such a change will not come easily. In addition to the normal hurdles, several barriers are unique to VA. They include ingrained bureaucratic traditions and behaviors, constraints imposed by the federal government, close scrutiny by powerful service organizations, and a Civil Service employee base that makes the hiring, promoting, and removing of employees a slow, unwieldy, and procedurally complex exercise. In a climate that does not encourage change, successful transformation must be well orchestrated. To drive the change, the leadership must be mobilized as a team, new work processes must be developed, and a full range of human resource processes must be established.

  14. Corporate Social Responsibility and Managing Ethical Culture

    OpenAIRE

    Yeney Widya Prihatiningtias

    2012-01-01

    This essay argues that the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ethical business conduct is very important. CSR nowadays has become crucial issue as major companies are expected to demonstrate their commitment to society’s values through actions. The current article explains, evaluates, and applies to relevant examples of the narrow, broader socio-economic, as well as broad maximal view of CSR. It also critically describes how organizations can develop ethical cultures and c...

  15. Sex-Specific Response Strategies in Mental Rotation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirnstein, Marco; Bayer, Ulrike; Hausmann, Markus

    2009-01-01

    The present study investigated whether the marked sex difference in the original mental rotation test (MRT) is simply a result of sex differences in response strategies. Thirty-four participants (17 males, 17 females) completed the revised Vandenberg and Kuse MRT [Peters, M., Laeng, B., Latham, K., Jackson, M., Zaiyouna, R., & Richardson, C.…

  16. Modifiers of radiation response in tumor therapy: strategies and expectations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elkind, M.M.

    1982-01-01

    The administration of two (or more) cytotoxic agents to widen the differential between the responses of tumor and normal tissues depends upon the biological properties of the agents in the cells and tissues, their interactive potential, and the strategy employed in their administration. Assuming that one agent is ionizing radiation, and considering response modification in broad terms, the qualitative features of various strategies are developed for physical as well as chemical modifies. The heterogeneity of human tumor cells and the compensatory mechanisms of normal tissues following injury are identified as topical areas requiring sustained research effort. Finally, estimates are developed for the degree of improvement required from a response modifier to effect significant improvements in tumor cure rates

  17. Modifiers of radiation response in tumor therapy: strategies and expectations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elkind, M.M.

    1982-01-01

    The administration of two (or more) cytotoxic agents to widen the differential between the responses of tumor and normal tissues depends upon the biological properties of the agents in the cells and tissues, their interactive potential, and the strategy employed in their administration. Assuming that one agent is ionizing radiation, and considering response modification in broad terms, the qualitative features of various strategies are developed for physical as well as chemical modifiers. The heterogeneity of human tumor cells and the compensatory mechanisms of normal tissues following injury are identified as topical areas requiring sustained research effort. Finally, estimates are developed for the degree of improvement from a response modifier to effect significant improvements in tumor cure rates

  18. A Framework Approach to Evaluate Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Public Engagement Strategies for Radioactive Waste Management - 13430

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hermann, Laura

    2013-01-01

    The complex interplay of politics, economics and culture undermines attempts to define universal best practices for public engagement in the management of nuclear materials. In the international context, communicators must rely on careful adaptation and creative execution to make standard communication techniques succeed in their local communities. Nuclear professionals need an approach to assess and adapt culturally specific public engagement strategies to meet the demands of their particular political, economic and social structures. Using participant interviews and public sources, the Potomac Communications Group reviewed country-specific examples of nuclear-related communication efforts to provide insight into a proposed approach. The review considered a spectrum of cultural dimensions related to diversity, authority, conformity, proximity and time. Comparisons help to identify cross-cultural influences of various public engagement tactics and to inform a framework for communicators. While not prescriptive in its application, the framework offers a way for communicators to assess the salience of outreach tactics in specific situations. The approach can guide communicators to evaluate and tailor engagement strategies to achieve localized public outreach goals. (authors)

  19. A Framework Approach to Evaluate Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Public Engagement Strategies for Radioactive Waste Management - 13430

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hermann, Laura [Potomac Communications Group, 1133 20th St NW Washington DC 20035 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    The complex interplay of politics, economics and culture undermines attempts to define universal best practices for public engagement in the management of nuclear materials. In the international context, communicators must rely on careful adaptation and creative execution to make standard communication techniques succeed in their local communities. Nuclear professionals need an approach to assess and adapt culturally specific public engagement strategies to meet the demands of their particular political, economic and social structures. Using participant interviews and public sources, the Potomac Communications Group reviewed country-specific examples of nuclear-related communication efforts to provide insight into a proposed approach. The review considered a spectrum of cultural dimensions related to diversity, authority, conformity, proximity and time. Comparisons help to identify cross-cultural influences of various public engagement tactics and to inform a framework for communicators. While not prescriptive in its application, the framework offers a way for communicators to assess the salience of outreach tactics in specific situations. The approach can guide communicators to evaluate and tailor engagement strategies to achieve localized public outreach goals. (authors)

  20. An Empirical Perspective on the Culture - Corporate Social Responsibility Relationship

    OpenAIRE

    Dumitru ZAIȚ; Angelica-Nicoleta ONEA; Ruxandra CIULU; Maria TĂTĂRUȘANU

    2013-01-01

    Business competition and pressure of European directives put Romanian company in a position to find answers to issues related to long-term survival and development. In this context we believe it is necessary to analyze some of the most important components that should be taken into consideration at the strategic level: national and organizational culture. The results indicate that corporate social responsibility is supported by learning and change-oriented organizational culture, but also by ...

  1. Stage-specific and culture-specific coping strategies used by mainland Chinese immigrants during resettlement in Hong Kong: a qualitative analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wong, Daniel Fu Keung

    2002-01-01

    A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the stage-specific and culture-specific coping strategies used by Mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong to handle psychosocial stressors experienced during the resettlement stage of the migration process. While direct action coping strategies of problem-solving and compromise were used by immigrants to deal with recurring, daily resettlement difficulties, cognitive strategies of positive comparisons and positive and optimistic thinking were utilized to change the meanings of these difficulties. Emotion-focused coping of acceptance and avoidance strategies were culture-specific, and were useful in reducing the stress associated with the resettlement difficulties encountered. It was also found that strategies such as acceptance, compromise and avoidance might have deleterious effects on the longer-term adjustment of immigrants. Implications for services and counseling for the immigrants were suggested.

  2. Patient Safety Culture and the Second Victim Phenomenon: Connecting Culture to Staff Distress in Nurses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quillivan, Rebecca R.; Burlison, Jonathan D.; Browne, Emily K.; Scott, Susan D.; Hoffman, James M.

    2017-01-01

    Background Second victim experiences can affect the well-being of healthcare providers and compromise patient safety. Many factors associated with improved coping afer patient safety event involvement are also components of a strong patient safety culture, so that supportive patient safety cultures may reduce second victim–related trauma. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted to assess the influence of patient safety culture on second victim–related distress, in which associations among patient safety culture dimensions, organizational support, and second victim distress were investigated. Methods The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) and the Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (SVEST), which was developed to assess organizational support and personal and professional distress after involvement in a patient safety event, were administered to nurses involved in direct patient care. Results Of 358 nurses, 155 (41%) responded, of whom 144 completed both surveys. Hierarchical linear regression demonstrated that the patient safety culture survey dimension nonpunitive response to errors was significantly associated with reductions in the second victim survey dimensions psychological, physical, and professional distress (p patient safety event by encouraging supportive interactions. Also, perceptions of second victim–related distress may be less severe when hospital cultures are characterized by nonpunitive response to errors. Reducing punitive response to error and encouraging supportive coworker, supervisor, and institutional interactions may be useful strategies to manage the severity of second victim experiences. PMID:27456420

  3. Social experience does not abolish cultural diversity in eye movements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David J Kelly

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Adults from Eastern (e.g., China and Western (e.g., USA cultural groups display pronounced differences in a range of visual processing tasks. For example, the eye movement strategies used for information extraction during a variety of face processing tasks (e.g., identification and facial expressions of emotion categorization differs across cultural groups. Currently, many of the differences reported in previous studies have asserted that culture itself is responsible for shaping the way we process visual information, yet this has never been directly investigated. In the current study, we assessed the relative contribution of genetic and cultural factors by testing face processing in a population of British Born Chinese (BBC adults using face recognition and expression classification tasks. Contrary to predictions made by the cultural differences framework, the majority of BBC adults deployed ‘Eastern’ eye movement strategies, while approximately 25% of participants displayed ‘Western’ strategies. Furthermore, the cultural eye movement strategies used by individuals were consistent across recognition and expression tasks. These findings suggest that ‘culture’ alone cannot straightforwardly account for diversity in eye movement patterns. Instead a more complex understanding of how the environment and individual experiences can influence the mechanisms that govern visual processing is required.

  4. Analysis on Strategy of Tea Culture Marketing%茶叶文化营销的策略分析

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    陈东灵; 郑振伟

    2012-01-01

    Tea culture marketing is in line with the new trend of tea consumption, it is benefit for increasing the added value of tea products, expanding the popularity of tea brand, enhancing the international competitiveness of tea brand, and it is an effective means for tea enterprises to implement the Blue Ocean Strategy. This paper has considered the characteristics of tea culture marketing, based on that, analyzed the four strategies of tea culture marketing, and they are product strategy, brand strategy, pricing strategy and promotion strategy. Product strategy contains product positioning, product development, product mix, product innovation; brand strategy contains tea regional public brand and tea corporate brand; pricing strategy contains competition-oriented pricing and customer-oriented pricing; promotion strategy contains advertising and public relations.%茶叶文化营销符合茶叶消费的新趋势,有利于增加茶叶产品的附加值,扩大茶叶品牌的知名度,提升茶叶品牌的国际竞争力,是茶企实施蓝海战略的有效手段。本文在考虑茶叶文化营销自身特点的基础上,重点分析了茶叶文化营销的四种策略,分别是产品策略、品牌策略、价格策略与促销策略。产品策略包括产品定位、产品开发、产品组合、产品创新等;品牌策略包括茶叶区域公用品牌和茶企品牌;价格策略包括竞争导向定价法和顾客导向定价法:促销策略包括广告和公共关系。

  5. Strategy of National Cultural Security and Modern Russia «Soft Force»

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G J Filimonov

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Today one of the key factors needed for preservation of the state sovereignty, territorial integrity of the country, consolidation of a society, creation of conditions for the successful decision of internal problems and accordingly occurrence of possibility for conducting by the state of active foreign policy necessity of formation of own strategy of maintenance of national cultural safety and potentials so-called «soft force» appears.

  6. Dose response of tracheal epithelial cells to ionizing radiation in air-liquid interface cultures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fukutsu, K.; Yamada, Y.; Shimo, M.

    2002-01-01

    The dose-response relationships of tracheal epithelial cells to ionizing radiation was examined in air-liquid interface cultures, which were developed for the purpose of simulating in vivo conditions. The cultures investigated in this study were expected to be advantageous for the performance of irradiation experiments using short-range α rays. The level of dose response of air-liquid interface cultures to ionizing radiation proved to be the same as that for in vivo conditions. This result indicates that air-liquid interface cultures will prove most useful, to facilitate future studies for the investigation of the biological effects induced in tracheal epithelial cells by ionizing radiation, especially by α-rays. (orig.)

  7. German financial media's responsiveness to Deutsche Bank's cultural change

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Strauß, N.

    2015-01-01

    Based on first-order and second-order agenda building theory, this study analyzes the responsiveness of German financial media to frames of the "cultural change" proclaimed in the banking industry, exemplified by Deutsche Bank. Findings suggest a difference between the two major German financial

  8. Cross-cultural differences in categorical memory errors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Aliza J; Boduroglu, Aysecan; Gutchess, Angela H

    2014-06-01

    Cultural differences occur in the use of categories to aid accurate recall of information. This study investigated whether culture also contributed to false (erroneous) memories, and extended cross-cultural memory research to Turkish culture, which is shaped by Eastern and Western influences. Americans and Turks viewed word pairs, half of which were categorically related and half unrelated. Participants then attempted to recall the second word from the pair in response to the first word cue. Responses were coded as correct, as blanks, or as different types of errors. Americans committed more categorical errors than did Turks, and Turks mistakenly recalled more non-categorically related list words than did Americans. These results support the idea that Americans use categories either to organize information in memory or to support retrieval strategies to a greater extent than Turks and suggest that culture shapes not only accurate recall but also erroneous distortions of memory. © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  9. Adaptive response of yeast cultures (Saccharomyces Cerevisiae) exposed to low dose of gamma radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kulcsar, Agnes; Savu, D.; Petcu, I.; Gherasim, Raluca

    2003-01-01

    The present study was planned as follows: (i) setting up of standard experimental conditions for investigation of radio-induced adaptive response in lower Eucaryotes; (ii) developing of procedures for synchronizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae X 310 D cell cultures and cell cycle stages monitoring; (iii) investigation of gamma (Co-60) and UV irradiation effects on the viability of synchronized and non-synchronized cell cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae; the effects were correlated with the cell density and cell cycle stage; (iv) study of the adaptive response induced by irradiation and setting up of the experimental conditions for which this response is optimized. The irradiations were performed by using a Co-60 with doses of 10 2 - 10 4 Gy and dose rates ranging from 2.2 x 10 2 Gy/h to 8.7 x 10 3 Gy/h. The study of radioinduced adaptive response was performed by applying a pre-irradiation treatment of 100-500 Gy, followed by challenge doses of 2-4 kGy delivered at different time intervals, ranging from 1 h to 4 h. The survival rate of synchronized and non-synchronized cultures as a function of exposure dose shows an exponential decay shape. No difference in viability of the cells occurred between synchronized and non-synchronized cultures. The pre-irradiation of cells with 100 and 200 Gy were most efficient to induce an adaptive response for the yeast cells. In this stage of work we proved the occurrence of the adaptive response in the case of synchronized yeast cultures exposed to gamma radiation. The results will be used in the future to investigate the dependence of this response on the cell cycle and the possibility to induce such a response by a low level electromagnetic field. (authors)

  10. Literature and Lives: A Response-Based, Cultural Studies Approach to Teaching English.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carey-Webb, Allen

    Telling stories from secondary and college English classrooms, this book explores the new possibilities for teaching and learning generated by bringing together reader-response and cultural-studies approaches. The book connects William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and other canonical figures to multicultural writers, popular culture,…

  11. Command Resiliency: An Adaptive Response Strategy for Complex Incidents

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Pfeifer, Joseph W

    2005-01-01

    .... Unless organizations develop a resilient response strategy that can adapt organizational and operational elements to respond to new terrorist incidents, they will find themselves with the same...

  12. Company Strategies for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI: A Conceptual Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibo van de Poel

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Responsible research and innovation (RRI has become an important topic in the academic community and in policy circles, but it has not yet been systematically included in the innovation process of companies. We discuss how companies can integrate RRI into their corporate social responsibility (CSR policies and business strategy. To this end, we developed a conceptual model that links a company’s RRI strategy to its context, and that helps to translate the RRI strategy into activities that result in RRI outcomes. We also propose a process for developing company-specific RRI key performance indicators (KPIs that can support companies to measure RRI outcomes.

  13. Universities' Responses to Globalisation: The Influence of Organisational Culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burnett, Sally-Ann; Huisman, Jeroen

    2010-01-01

    This study sought to assess how and why some higher education institutions have responded to aspects of globalisation and, in particular how organisational culture influences universities' responses to globalisation. Using a predominantly qualitative, mixed-methods approach, empirical research was used to explore the impact of globalisation at…

  14. Culturally Responsive Education in Music Education: A Literature Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bond, Vanessa L.

    2017-01-01

    Demographic shifts in public school enrollment within the United States necessitate preparing preservice teachers to teach students with backgrounds that differ from their own ethnically, linguistically, racially, and economically. Culturally responsive education (CRE) is a pedagogy used to validate students' varied experiences, and to teach to…

  15. Responses to stress of Caenorhabditis elegans populations with different reproductive strategies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alda Alvarez, O.; Jager, T.; Kooijman, S.A.L.M.; Kammenga, J.E.

    2005-01-01

    Hermaphroditic and gonochoric reproduction are essentially different reproductive strategies that may lead to diverging population responses to adverse environmental conditions. Each strategy implies different physiological mechanisms, which affect life-history traits and represent different ways of

  16. Responses to stress of Caenorhabditis elegans populations with different reproductive strategies.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Alda Alvarez, O.; Jager, D.T.; Kooijman, S.A.L.M.; Kammenga, J.E.

    2005-01-01

    1. Hermaphroditic and gonochoric reproduction are essentially different reproductive strategies that may lead to diverging population responses to adverse environmental conditions. Each strategy implies different physiological mechanisms, which affect life-history traits and represent different ways

  17. THE ROLE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY EUROPEAN AUTOMOTIVE CORPORATIONS IN DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Gănescu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Corporate social responsibility strategies are a topic of great interest for both researchers and practitioners, and require the development of interdisciplinary approaches: economic, ethical and social. The paper analyses the social responsibility strategies employed by European automotive businesses and highlights their impact on business sustainability. From a theoretical perspective, applying the content analysis method on sustainability or social responsibility reports revealed a variety of social responsibility strategies. The utility of the research is supported by formulating a typology of social responsibility strategies, based on objectives of sustainable development and by establishing arguments concerning the impact of these strategies on automotive businesses’ sustainability in the following areas: social and societal, ecological and environmental, distribution chains and suppliers, corporate image, position in relation to competitors and financial performance.

  18. Affect, Reason, and Persuasion: Advertising Strategies That Predict Affective and Analytic-Cognitive Responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhuri, Arjun; Buck, Ross

    1995-01-01

    Develops and tests hypotheses concerning the relationship of specific advertising strategies to affective and analytic cognitive responses of the audience. Analyses undergraduate students' responses to 240 advertisements. Demonstrates that advertising strategy variables accounted substantially for the variance in affective and analytic cognition.…

  19. Cell Culture Assay for Human Noroviruses [response

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Straub, Tim M.; Honer Zu Bentrup, Kerstin; Orosz Coghlan, Patricia; Dohnalkova, Alice; Mayer, Brooke K.; Bartholomew, Rachel A.; Valdez, Catherine O.; Bruckner-Lea, Cindy J.; Gerba, Charles P.; Abbaszadegan, Morteza A.; Nickerson, Cheryl A.

    2007-07-01

    We appreciate the comments provided by Leung et al., in response to our recently published article “In Vitro Cell Culture Infectivity Assay for Human Noroviruses” by Straub et al. (1). The specific aim of our project was to develop an in vitro cell culture infectivity assay for human noroviruses (hNoV) to enhance risk assessments when they are detected in water supplies. Reverse transcription (RT) qualitative or quantitative PCR are the primary assays for waterborne NoV monitoring. However, these assays cannot distinguish between infectious vs. non-infectious virions. When hNoV is detected in water supplies, information provided by our infectivity assay will significantly improve risk assessment models and protect human health, regardless of whether we are propagating NoV. Indeed, in vitro cell culture infectivity assays for the waterborne pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum that supplement approved fluorescent microscopy assays, do not result in amplification of the environmentally resistant hard-walled oocysts (2). However, identification of life cycle stages in cell culture provides evidence of infectious oocysts in a water supply. Nonetheless, Leung et al.’s assertion regarding the suitability of our method for the in vitro propagation of high titers of NoV is valid for the medical research community. In this case, well-characterized challenge pools of virus would be useful for developing and testing diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. As further validation of our published findings, we have now optimized RT quantitative PCR to assess the level of viral production in cell culture, where we are indeed finding significant increases in viral titer. The magnitude and time course of these increases is dependent on both virus strain and multiplicity of infection. We are currently preparing a manuscript that will discuss these findings in greater detail, and the implications this may have for creating viral challenge pools

  20. Examining Preservice Teachers' Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Doubts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siwatu, Kamau Oginga; Chesnut, Steven Randall; Alejandro, Angela Ybarra; Young, Haeni Alecia

    2016-01-01

    This study was designed to add to the research on teachers' self-efficacy beliefs by examining preservice teachers' culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy doubts. We examined the tasks that preservice teachers felt least efficacious to successfully execute and explored the reasoning behind these self-efficacy doubts. Consequently, we were…

  1. Corporate Social Responsibility and Managing Ethical Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yeney Widya Prihatiningtias

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available This essay argues that the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR and ethical business conduct is very important. CSR nowadays has become crucial issue as major companies are expected to demonstrate their commitment to society’s values through actions. The current article explains, evaluates, and applies to relevant examples of the narrow, broader socio-economic, as well as broad maximal view of CSR. It also critically describes how organizations can develop ethical cultures and corporate ethics programs for CSR.

  2. SUSTAINABILITY AS A STRATEGY OF RESPONSIBLE AND COMPETITIVE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José G. Vargas-Hernández

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to analyze a competitiveness strategy based on sustainability to lead the way to a model of responsible and competitive development. The analysis takes as its starting point the assumption that the maturity of a sustainable business strategy positively affects competitiveness. The used method is the critical analysis. Among other results of this analysis concludes that the current business strategy seeks a system ecologically appropriate, economically viable and socially fair to reach sustainable equilibrium. This strategy based on sustainability must be promoted by the institutions and strengthened by the capabilities and resources that each company counts on to develop advantages to foster the overall development and achieve the maximization of benefits from the tangible and intangible perspectives

  3. Responses of herbage and browse production to six range management strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    H. Reed Sanderson; Thomas M. Quigley; Arthur R. Tiedemann

    1990-01-01

    From 1977 through 1986, herbage and browse production was sampled on 619 sites representing 10 ecosystems and 51 resource units on the Oregon Range Evaluation study area. We determined the effects of six range management strategies and cultural treatments on combined herbage and browse production. Mean herbage and browse production on the forest ecosystems was 145...

  4. A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Anatomy Learning: Learning Styles and Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Barry S.; Xu, Qin; Jin, Lixian; Patten, Debra; Gouldsborough, Ingrid

    2009-01-01

    Cultural influences on anatomy teaching and learning have been investigated by application of a questionnaire to medical students in British and Chinese Medical Schools. Results from the responses from students of the two countries were analyzed. Both groups found it easier to understand anatomy in a clinical context, and in both countries,…

  5. The Impact of Learning Culture on Worker Response to New Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reardon, Robert F.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of this paper is to provide a framework to measure the response of blue-collar workers to new technology in manufacturing and to establish the relationship between learning culture and that response. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected with a survey questionnaire from 12 manufacturing sites that were implementing…

  6. A Brief Analysis on Cross-cultural Communication Strategy of Chinese Films under the Context of Globalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cao Zhiyong

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available With the development of globalization waves, the cross-cultural communication becomes more and more common nowadays. Chinese films, as a kind of mass media and the carrier of ideology, must meet the challenge in the world with active attitudes and take part in cross-cultural communication worldwide extensively. The context of globalization is not only a challenge but also an opportunity for Chinese films and if Chinese films want to be successful in the process of cross-cultural communication, it must find out a conjoint point between globalization and location to implement dual-coding of them. With the objective of consensus but different for the cultural demands of cross-cultural communication, the communicational strategies in culture,subject,art and operation must extensively use for reference and boldly create to renew the situation of Chinese films.

  7. Cross-Cultural Effects of Cannabis Use Disorder: Evidence to Support a Cultural Neuroscience Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prashad, Shikha; Milligan, Amber L; Cousijn, Janna; Filbey, Francesca M

    2017-06-01

    Cannabis use disorders (CUDs) are prevalent worldwide. Current epidemiological studies underscore differences in behaviors that contribute to cannabis use across cultures that can be leveraged towards prevention and treatment of CUDs. This review proposes a framework for understanding the effects of cross-cultural differences on psychological, neural, and genomic processes underlying CUDs that has the potential to inform global policies and impact global public health. We found that cultural factors may influence (1) the willingness to acknowledge CUD-related symptoms among populations of different countries, and (2) neural responses related to the sense of self, perception, emotion, and attention. These findings leverage the potential effects of culture on neural mechanisms underlying CUDs. As the number of individuals seeking treatment for CUDs increases globally, it is imperative to incorporate cultural considerations to better understand and serve differing populations and develop more targeted treatment strategies and interventions.

  8. A culture of safety: a business strategy for medical practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saxton, James W; Finkelstein, Maggie M; Marles, Adam F

    2012-01-01

    Physician practices can enhance their economics by taking patient safety to a new level within their practices. Patient safety has a lot to do with systems and processes that occur not only at the hospital but also within a physician's practice. Historically, patient safety measures have been hospital-focused and -driven, largely due to available resources; however, physician practices can impact patient safety, efficiently and effectively, with a methodical plan involving assessment, prioritization, and compliance. With the ever-increasing focus of reimbursement on quality and patient safety, physician practices that implement a true culture of safety now could see future economic benefits using this business strategy.

  9. Comparative Analysis of Strategies Applied in Persian and English Translations of Quranic-Arabic Culture Bound Term “Jilbab” (33:59

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatemeh Zahra Nazari Robati

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Today TS focus has altered from linguistics to cultural studies. Culture is the way of life; as such every text is culture-bound and includes items that are culture-specific. Translating these cultural-specific items (henceforth CSI has made translation a complicated task. Hijab, one of the controversial issues of the present day of Islam in the world is defined in one way through presenting terms for women clothing such as “Jilbab” in Quran. Using Davies' (2003 strategies of translating CSIs, as the theoretical framework, taking the Quranic-Arabic culture bound term “Jilbab” (33:59 as the object of the study, this corpus-based comparative descriptive research was an attempt to compare totally 64 Persian and English (54 in Persian and 12 in English translations of this term with two concerns regarding the adopted translation strategies: a linguistic (Persian and English concern, and b translators' gender concern (male and female. The analysis of data showed that the most adopted strategy in both Persian and English corpus was localization (in Persian 35.71%, and in English 46.66%. Male translators in Persian had more tendency to use localization (36.53% and female translators to addition and globalization (each 50%. Male translators in English were more inclined to localization (45.83%, and the female have used preservation, addition, globalization and localization with the same frequency (25%. Totally male translators were inclined to localization (39.47%, while the female to globalization and addition (33.33%.

  10. Developing a Scale for Culturally Responsive Practice: Validation, Relationship with School Organizational Factors, and Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Jae-Bum

    2017-01-01

    The primary goal of this dissertation is to develop and provide preliminary validation for a new measure of culturally responsive practice. This instrument, which is called the Culturally Responsive Practice Scale (CRPS), includes items that reflect ways that teachers teach multicultural students in their classrooms. To accomplish the goal, three…

  11. Military Force and Culture Change: Systems, Narratives, and the Social Transmission of Behavior in Counter-Terrorism Strategy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Casebeer, William D

    2006-01-01

    .... In particular, this thesis explores the narrative and storytelling dimensions of culture, offering a theory of story that can be used to drive innovative counter-terrorism strategies and structure...

  12. Qualitative process evaluation of an Australian alcohol media literacy study: recommendations for designing culturally responsive school-based programs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chloe S. Gordon

    2017-02-01

    -elementary school classrooms were identified. These included topic sensitivities, classroom management challenges, and fitting new programs into already busy school schedules. Conclusion Overall, the program content and individual lessons were well received by the teachers and students. The lessons learned from the development, implementation and evaluation of this program can provide health professionals with key pedagogical strategies for designing culturally responsive educational programs. Culturally responsive programs are critical for ensuring interventions are effective for their specific context.

  13. Qualitative process evaluation of an Australian alcohol media literacy study: recommendations for designing culturally responsive school-based programs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordon, Chloe S; Kervin, Lisa K; Jones, Sandra C; Howard, Steven J

    2017-02-02

    sensitivities, classroom management challenges, and fitting new programs into already busy school schedules. Overall, the program content and individual lessons were well received by the teachers and students. The lessons learned from the development, implementation and evaluation of this program can provide health professionals with key pedagogical strategies for designing culturally responsive educational programs. Culturally responsive programs are critical for ensuring interventions are effective for their specific context.

  14. A tool for assessing cultural competence training in dental education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holyfield, Lavern J; Miller, Barbara H

    2013-08-01

    Policies exist to promote fairness and equal access to opportunities and services that address basic human needs of all U.S. citizens. Nonetheless, health disparities continue to persist among certain subpopulations, including those of racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic, and other cultural identity groups. The Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) has added standards to address this concern. According to the most recent standards, adopted in 2010 for implementation in July 2013, CODA stipulates that "students should learn about factors and practices associated with disparities in health." Thus, it is imperative that dental schools develop strategies to comply with this addition. One key strategy for compliance is the inclusion of cultural competence training in the dental curriculum. A survey, the Dental Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (D-TACCT), based on the Association of American Medical Colleges' Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT), was sent to the academic deans at seventy-one U.S. and Canadian dental schools to determine best practices for cultural competence training. The survey was completed by thirty-seven individuals, for a 52 percent response rate. This article describes the use of this survey as a guide for developing culturally competent strategies and enhancing cultural competence training in dental schools.

  15. Conflict between place and response navigation strategies: effects on vicarious trial and error (VTE) behaviors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Brandy; Papale, Andrew; Redish, A David; Markus, Etan J

    2013-02-15

    Navigation can be accomplished through multiple decision-making strategies, using different information-processing computations. A well-studied dichotomy in these decision-making strategies compares hippocampal-dependent "place" and dorsal-lateral striatal-dependent "response" strategies. A place strategy depends on the ability to flexibly respond to environmental cues, while a response strategy depends on the ability to quickly recognize and react to situations with well-learned action-outcome relationships. When rats reach decision points, they sometimes pause and orient toward the potential routes of travel, a process termed vicarious trial and error (VTE). VTE co-occurs with neurophysiological information processing, including sweeps of representation ahead of the animal in the hippocampus and transient representations of reward in the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex. To examine the relationship between VTE and the place/response strategy dichotomy, we analyzed data in which rats were cued to switch between place and response strategies on a plus maze. The configuration of the maze allowed for place and response strategies to work competitively or cooperatively. Animals showed increased VTE on trials entailing competition between navigational systems, linking VTE with deliberative decision-making. Even in a well-learned task, VTE was preferentially exhibited when a spatial selection was required, further linking VTE behavior with decision-making associated with hippocampal processing.

  16. A Cross-Cultural Comparison of College Students' Learning Strategies for Academic Achievement between South Korea and the USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hye-Jung; Lee, Jihyun; Makara, Kara A.; Fishman, Barry J.; Teasley, Stephanie D.

    2017-01-01

    This study explores how the relationship between college students' learning strategies and their grade point average (GPA) differs across two culturally different institutions. Surveys of 621 students at a South Korean university and 824 students at a university in the USA were used to assess four types of learning strategies: motivation-related,…

  17. Cultural and ethnic differences in content validation responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Bronwynne C

    2004-04-01

    Eight instruments to evaluate grant interventions aimed at increasing recruitment and retention of Hispanic/Latino and American Indian nurses were developed for a Nursing Workforce Diversity Grant. This article compares expert reviewer responses during content validation of these instruments with (a) current literature and (b) seven filmed intervals of Hispanic/Latino and American Indian nurses speaking about their educational experiences. White reviewers responded differently to certain items than did Hispanic/Latino and American Indian reviewers (or reviewers closely affiliated with such persons). Responses of Hispanic/Latino and American Indian experts were aligned with one another but not aligned with the responses of White experts, who also agreed with one another, prompting literature and film comparisons with their responses. Faculty development may be needed to help teachers uncover their assumptions about students of color, acquire knowledge about cultural perspectives, recognize institutional racism, and attain the skills necessary to develop and implement a curriculum of inclusion.

  18. Toward a Culturally Responsive Model of Mental Health Literacy: Facilitating Help-Seeking Among East Asian Immigrants to North America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Na, Sumin; Ryder, Andrew G; Kirmayer, Laurence J

    2016-09-01

    Studies have consistently found that East Asian immigrants in North America are less likely to use mental health services even when they experience levels of distress comparable to Euro-Americans. Although cultural factors that may prevent East Asian immigrants from seeking mental health care have been identified, few studies have explored ways to foster appropriate help-seeking and use of mental health services. Recent work on mental health literacy provides a potential framework for strategies to increase appropriate help-seeking and use of services. This paper reviews the literature on help-seeking for mental health problems among East Asian immigrants living in Western countries to critically assess the relevance of the mental health literacy approach as a framework for interventions to improve appropriate use of services. Modifications needed to develop a culturally responsive framework for mental health literacy are identified. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

  19. Synthesis strategy: building a culturally sensitive mid-range theory of risk perception using literary, quantitative, and qualitative methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siaki, Leilani A; Loescher, Lois J; Trego, Lori L

    2013-03-01

    This article presents a discussion of development of a mid-range theory of risk perception. Unhealthy behaviours contribute to the development of health inequalities worldwide. The link between perceived risk and successful health behaviour change is inconclusive, particularly in vulnerable populations. This may be attributed to inattention to culture. The synthesis strategy of theory building guided the process using three methods: (1) a systematic review of literature published between 2000-2011 targeting perceived risk in vulnerable populations; (2) qualitative and (3) quantitative data from a study of Samoan Pacific Islanders at high risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Main concepts of this theory include risk attention, appraisal processes, cognition, and affect. Overarching these concepts is health-world view: cultural ways of knowing, beliefs, values, images, and ideas. This theory proposes the following: (1) risk attention varies based on knowledge of the health risk in the context of health-world views; (2) risk appraisals are influenced by affect, health-world views, cultural customs, and protocols that intersect with the health risk; (3) strength of cultural beliefs, values, and images (cultural identity) mediate risk attention and risk appraisal influencing the likelihood that persons will engage in health-promoting behaviours that may contradict cultural customs/protocols. Interventions guided by a culturally sensitive mid-range theory may improve behaviour-related health inequalities in vulnerable populations. The synthesis strategy is an intensive process for developing a culturally sensitive mid-range theory. Testing of the theory will ascertain its usefulness for reducing health inequalities in vulnerable groups. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  20. Customer Responses to Channel Migration Strategies Toward the E-channel

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trampe, Debra; Konus, Umut; Verhoef, Peter C.

    2014-01-01

    Many firms stimulate customers to use the E-channel for services, which provokes various consumer responses to such limits on their freedom of choice. In a study on bank customers, we examine the extent of customer reactance in response to various E-channel migration strategies, the potential of

  1. Crossing Cultures with Multi-Voiced Journals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Styslinger, Mary E.; Whisenant, Alison

    2004-01-01

    In this article, the authors discuss the benefits of using multi-voiced journals as a teaching strategy in reading instruction. Multi-voiced journals, an adaptation of dual-voiced journals, encourage responses to reading in varied, cultured voices of characters. It is similar to reading journals in that they prod students to connect to the lives…

  2. Incentivizing around the Globe: Educating for the Challenge of Developing Culturally Considerate Work Motivation Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mills, Maura J.

    2017-01-01

    Work motivation has long been considered a driving force behind optimal employee management. However, as the workscape continues its path toward increased globalization, today's managers must consider cultural influences on employee motivation to implement the most appropriate human capital management strategies within any given context. The…

  3. Selective deficit in spatial memory strategies contrast to intact response strategies in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders tested in a virtual navigation task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkins, Leanne K; Girard, Todd A; Konishi, Kyoko; King, Matthew; Herdman, Katherine A; King, Jelena; Christensen, Bruce; Bohbot, Veronique D

    2013-11-01

    Spatial memory is impaired among persons with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, different strategies may be used to solve most spatial memory and navigation tasks. This study investigated the hypothesis that participants with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) would demonstrate differential impairment during acquisition and retrieval of target locations when using a hippocampal-dependent spatial strategy, but not a response strategy, which is more associated with caudate function. Healthy control (CON) and SSD participants were tested using the 4-on-8 virtual maze (4/8VM), a virtual navigation task designed to differentiate between participants' use of spatial and response strategies. Consistent with our predictions, SSD participants demonstrated a differential deficit such that those who navigated using a spatial strategy made more errors and took longer to locate targets. In contrast, SSD participants who spontaneously used a response strategy performed as well as CON participants. The differential pattern of spatial-memory impairment in SSD provides only indirect support for underlying hippocampal dysfunction. These findings emphasize the importance of considering individual strategies when investigating SSD-related memory and navigation performance. Future cognitive intervention protocols may harness SSD participants' intact ability to navigate using a response strategy and/or train the deficient ability to navigate using a spatial strategy to improve navigation and memory abilities in participants with SSD. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. Strategies for diversity: medical clowns in dementia care - an ethnographic study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rämgård, Margareta; Carlson, Elisabeth; Mangrio, Elisabeth

    2016-08-18

    As nursing homes become increasingly diverse, dementia care needs a wider range of culturally responsive strategies for individual and collective social interactions. While previous studies conclude that medical clowns have positive effects on verbal and non verbal social interactions, research is lacking from the perspective of residents' cultural background. The aim of this study was to identify interaction strategies employed by medical clowns in culturally diverse dementia care settings. An ethnographic approach was used and data were collected through observation of interactions between medical clowns and residents with dementia in two nursing homes during a ten week period. The observations showed that the medical clowns interacted with residents by being tuned in and attentive to the residents as individuals with a unique life-history, confirming each person´s sense of self. The clowns used sensory triggers, encouragement and confirmation in culturally responsive ways to bond socially with the residents in their personal spaces. The clowns involved objects in the daily environment that were meaningful for the residents, and paid attention to significant places and habits in the past. The clowns further contributed to joint interaction in the common spaces in the nursing homes, using music and drama. The strategies employed by medical clowns in activities with older people with dementia appear to support social interaction. The medical clowns used the social and material environment in culturally responsive ways to strengthen individuals' sense of self, while contributing to a sense of togetherness and interaction among residents in the common spaces. Findings suggest that both verbal and non-verbal cultural content affected social interaction. The non-demanding encouraging way the clowns tuned in to the residents as individuals could help nurses and staff members improve ways of communication in social activities inside the nursing home.

  5. Preparing culturally responsive teachers of science, technology, engineering, and math using the Geophysical Institute Framework for Professional Development in Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berry Bertram, Kathryn

    2011-12-01

    The Geophysical Institute (GI) Framework for Professional Development was designed to prepare culturally responsive teachers of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Professional development programs based on the framework are created for rural Alaskan teachers who instruct diverse classrooms that include indigenous students. This dissertation was written in response to the question, "Under what circumstances is the GI Framework for Professional Development effective in preparing culturally responsive teachers of science, technology, engineering, and math?" Research was conducted on two professional development programs based on the GI Framework: the Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) and the Science Teacher Education Program (STEP). Both programs were created by backward design to student learning goals aligned with Alaska standards and rooted in principles of indigenous ideology. Both were created with input from Alaska Native cultural knowledge bearers, Arctic scientists, education researchers, school administrators, and master teachers with extensive instructional experience. Both provide integrated instruction reflective of authentic Arctic research practices, and training in diverse methods shown to increase indigenous student STEM engagement. While based on the same framework, these programs were chosen for research because they offer distinctly different training venues for K-12 teachers. STEP offered two-week summer institutes on the UAF campus for more than 175 teachers from 33 Alaska school districts. By contrast, ACMP served 165 teachers from one rural Alaska school district along the Bering Strait. Due to challenges in making professional development opportunities accessible to all teachers in this geographically isolated district, ACMP offered a year-round mix of in-person, long-distance, online, and local training. Discussion centers on a comparison of the strategies used by each program to address GI Framework cornerstones, on

  6. Longitudinal Association between Child Emotion Regulation and Aggression, and the Role of Parenting: A Comparison of Three Cultures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozicevic, Laura; De Pascalis, Leonardo; Schuitmaker, Nicole; Tomlinson, Mark; Cooper, Peter J; Murray, Lynne

    The ability to regulate emotions is a key developmental achievement acquired during social interactions and associated with better behavioral and social outcomes. We examined the influence of culture on child emotion regulation (ER) and aggression and on early parenting practices, and the role of parenting in child ER. We assessed 48 mother-infant dyads from three cultures (1 UK, 2 South African) at infant age of 3 months for maternal sensitivity during face-to-face interactions and responses to infant distress during daily life, and at 2 years for child ER strategies and maternally reported aggression. There were cultural differences in child ER, and these were associated with differences in levels of aggression. Maternal strategies in response to early infant distress also differed by culture and predicted later child ER. Maternal sensitivity during face-to-face interactions was not associated with culture and showed no clear relationship with child ER. Cultural differences in maternal responses to infant distress mediated differences in child ER that are, in turn, related to differences in child aggression. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  7. Higher frequency of social learning in China than in the West shows cultural variation in the dynamics of cultural evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesoudi, Alex; Chang, Lei; Murray, Keelin; Lu, Hui Jing

    2015-01-07

    Cultural evolutionary models have identified a range of conditions under which social learning (copying others) is predicted to be adaptive relative to asocial learning (learning on one's own), particularly in humans where socially learned information can accumulate over successive generations. However, cultural evolution and behavioural economics experiments have consistently shown apparently maladaptive under-utilization of social information in Western populations. Here we provide experimental evidence of cultural variation in people's use of social learning, potentially explaining this mismatch. People in mainland China showed significantly more social learning than British people in an artefact-design task designed to assess the adaptiveness of social information use. People in Hong Kong, and Chinese immigrants in the UK, resembled British people in their social information use, suggesting a recent shift in these groups from social to asocial learning due to exposure to Western culture. Finally, Chinese mainland participants responded less than other participants to increased environmental change within the task. Our results suggest that learning strategies in humans are culturally variable and not genetically fixed, necessitating the study of the 'social learning of social learning strategies' whereby the dynamics of cultural evolution are responsive to social processes, such as migration, education and globalization.

  8. Non-native english speaking elementary ell teachers’ culturally responsive leadership profile in an ESL context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Ekiaka Nzai

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Culturally responsive instruction has been suggested as quality education (Edwards, 2003 for minority students in subtractive and additivebilingualism settings. However, analytical curriculum development of several official English programs revealed that the gender-centric (malecentricand Ethno-centric (Euro/Western-centric approaches were deeply embedded in most English textbooks of curriculum development.The intent of partial mixed methods paper consisted of exploring some non-native English speaking teachers English teachers’ culturallyresponsive leadership profile in order to further the discussion on not only how to promote English curriculum transformation in English assecond language (ESL and English as foreign language (EFL settings, but also to effectively train culturally responsive non-native Englishspeaking (NNES English pre-service teachers. Comparative data analysis suggested that there were no causal relationship between NNESEnglish teachers’ culturally responsive leadership styles and their abilities to perform multicultural transformation of English curriculums. To behighly effective in transforming English curriculum, NNES English teachers needed to be systematically trained on how to do so. Implicationsfor NNES English pre-service teacher education are framed from the culturally responsive and anti-oppressive education approaches.

  9. An Assessment of risk response strategies practiced in software projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanita Bhoola

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Risk management and success in projects are highly intertwined – better approaches to project risk management tend to increase chances of project success in terms of achieving scope & quality, schedule and cost targets. The process of responding to risk factors during a project’s life cycle is a crucial aspect of risk management referred to as risk response strategies, in this paper. The current research explores the status of risk response strategies applied in the software development projects in India. India provides a young IT-savvy English-speaking population, which is also cost effective. Other than the workforce, the environment for implementation of software projects in India is different from the matured economies. Risk management process is a commonly discussed theme, though its implementation in practice has a huge scope for improvement in India. The paper talks about four fundamental treatments to risk response – Avoidance, Transference, Mitigation and Acceptance (ATMA. From a primary data of 302 project managers, the paper attempts to address the risk response factors that lead to successful achievement of project scope & quality, schedule and cost targets, by using a series of regressions followed with Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equations (SURE modelling. Mitigation emerged as the most significant risk response strategy to achieve project targets. Acceptance, transference, and avoidance of risk were mostly manifested in the forms of transparency in communication across stakeholders, careful study of the nature of risks and close coordination between project team, customers/end-users and top management.

  10. Assessment of (Fouquieria splendens ssp. breviflora Cell Cultures Response Under to Water Stress

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonor Angélica Guerrero Zúñiga

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Plant cell cultures are homogenous experimental systems, highly controllable that allow the study of short and large water stress adaptations without the interference of the different tissues and development of plants. An approach to understand these adaptations is through the presence of induced proteins; as a result of changes in genetic expression. This work analyze the response of Fouquieria splendens ssp. breviflora cell cultures exposed to abscisic acid (ABA, through the electrophoretic characterization of quantity and quality of stress induced proteins. There were recorded low molecular weight polypeptides (< 35kDa, common in experiments under ABA 10mM, followed by the association with 20 and 30mM ABA conditions, with a particularly response of cell cultures without the stress agent.

  11. Critical Analysis of Nike and Nike's Marketing Strategies ---------------------From the US to China on Cultural Basis

    OpenAIRE

    Miao, Jinyan

    2011-01-01

    Nike as the world biggest athletic brand, it has expanded abroad for many years. During its international business in the overseas markets, it drew many experiences from the initial failures. There are many different factors that influence Nike's expansion outside the US, and cultural differences are main of them. Therefore, a research was carried out to seek out how Nike made its marketing strategy based on cultural gaps between the US and China. Three main questions were asked to relevant s...

  12. Effects of cortisol on the primary response of mouse spleen cell cultures to heterologous erythrocytes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dracott, B.N.

    1974-01-01

    Cell viability and the production of direct PFC were studied in mouse spleen cell cultures after cortisol treatment in vivo or in vitro at various times relative to primary stimulation with SRBC in vitro. Cortisol treatment in vivo reduced spleen cell numbers by 88 percent after 48 hr, but cultures of the remaining cells produced as many PFC in vitro as did cultures of equal numbers of normal spleen cells. In normal spleen cell cultures incubated with cortisol for 4 hr prior to the addition of antigen, peak responses of PFC/culture and PFC/10 6 cells occurred 24 hr later than in controls and averaged, respectively, 27 and 141 percent of control values. Minimum viable cell numbers were observed in cortisol-treated cultures after 3 days; thereafter cell numbers gradually increased. These results were not significantly altered when cultures were treated simultaneously with cortisol and antigen. The response was not suppressed if the addition of antigen preceded that of cortisol by more than 4 hr. Suppression was also considerably reduced if fetal calf serum was used when preparing cells for culture

  13. Strategies on process engineering of chondrocyte culture for cartilage tissue regeneration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mallick, Sarada Prasanna; Rastogi, Amit; Tripathi, Satyavrat; Srivastava, Pradeep

    2017-04-01

    The current work is an attempt to study the strategies for cartilage tissue regeneration using porous scaffold in wavy walled airlift bioreactor (ALBR). Novel chitosan, poly (L-lactide) and hyaluronic acid based composite scaffold were prepared. The scaffolds were cross-linked with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide, N-hydroxysuccinimide and chondroitin sulfate to obtain interconnected 3D microstructure showing excellent biocompatibility, higher cellular differentiation and increased stability. The surface morphology and porosity of the scaffolds were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimeter and optimized for chondrocyte regeneration. The study shows that the scaffolds were highly porous with pore size ranging from 48 to 180 µm and the porosities in the range 80-92%. Swelling and in vitro degradation studies were performed for the composite scaffolds; by increasing the chitosan: HA ratio in the composite scaffolds, the swelling property increases and stabilizes after 24 h. There was controlled degradation of composite scaffolds for 4 weeks. The uniform chondrocyte distribution in the scaffold using various growth modes in the shake flask and ALBR was studied by glycosaminoglycans (GAG) quantification, MTT assay and mixing time evaluation. The cell culture studies demonstrated that efficient designing of ALBR increases the cartilage regeneration as compared to using a shake flask. The free chondrocyte microscopy and cell attachment were performed by inverted microscope and SEM, and from the study it was confirmed that the cells uniformly attached to the scaffold. This study focuses on optimizing strategies for the culture of chondrocyte using suitable scaffold for improved cartilage tissue regeneration.

  14. Translation of Culture-Specific Items in Self-Help Literature: A Study on Domestication and Foreignization Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volga Yılmaz-Gümüş

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The last two decades have witnessed a boom in self-help materials in both global and local markets. This self-help trend, growing rapidly in our modern day, should be an area of interest for Translation Studies as an increasing number of self-help materials have been translated particularly from English every year. Self-help books involve a great deal of references to the material and social culture of the original country. One of the key issues in the translation of self-help books is the choice between foreignizing and domesticating these culture-specific items. This paper aims to discuss the procedures used for the translation of culture-specific items with regard to the particular function that these books assume in the target society. The analysis on the example of Outliers, a self-help book of sorts written by Malcolm Gladwell, has shown that the translator mostly adopted foreignizing strategies in translating the text into Turkish. The study also discusses whether these foreignizing strategies contribute to the fulfillment of target-text function, which is to provide quick-fix remedies to people struggling with modern-day challenges and demands.

  15. Influence of encoding instructions and response bias on cross-cultural differences in specific recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paige, Laura E; Amado, Selen; Gutchess, Angela H

    2017-10-01

    Prior cross-cultural research has reported cultural variations in memory. One study revealed that Americans remembered images with more perceptual detail than East Asians (Millar et al. in Cult Brain 1(2-4):138-157, 2013). However, in a later study, this expected pattern was not replicated, possibly due to differences in encoding instructions (Paige et al. in Cortex 91:250-261, 2017). The present study sought to examine when cultural variation in memory-related decisions occur and the role of instructions. American and East Asian participants viewed images of objects while making a Purchase decision or an Approach decision and later completed a surprise recognition test. Results revealed Americans had higher hit rates for specific memory, regardless of instruction type, and a less stringent response criterion relative to East Asians. Additionally, a pattern emerged where the Approach decision enhanced hit rates for specific memory relative to the Purchase decision only when administered first; this pattern did not differ across cultures. Results suggest encoding instructions do not magnify cross-cultural differences in memory. Ultimately, cross-cultural differences in response bias, rather than memory sensitivity per se, may account for findings of cultural differences in memory specificity.

  16. Cytogenetic adaptive response of cultured fish cells to low doses of X-rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kurihara, Yasuyuki; Etoh, Hisami; Rienkjkarn, M.

    1992-01-01

    The adaptive response was examining chromosomal aberrations and micronucleus in cultured fish cells, ULF-23 (mudminnow) and CAF-31 (gold fish). When cultured fish cells were first irradiated with small doses of X-rays, they became less sensitive to subsequent exposures to high doses. The effective adaptive dose was 4.8 cGy-9.5 cGy. Adaptive doses given cells in the G1 phase were more effective than when given in the S phase. The adaptive response was maximal at 5 hours and disappeared at 10 hours after the adaptive dose. The expression of the response was inhibited by treatment with 3-aminobenzamide, as reported for mammalian cells, and with arabinofuranoside cytosine, an inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha. Caffeine, an inhibitor of post-replicational repair, had no effect on the response. (author)

  17. Cytogenetic adaptive response of cultured fish cells to low doses of X-rays

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kurihara, Yasuyuki; Etoh, Hisami (National Inst. of Radiological Sciences, Chiba (Japan)); Rienkjkarn, M.

    1992-12-01

    The adaptive response was examining chromosomal aberrations and micronucleus in cultured fish cells, ULF-23 (mudminnow) and CAF-31 (gold fish). When cultured fish cells were first irradiated with small doses of X-rays, they became less sensitive to subsequent exposures to high doses. The effective adaptive dose was 4.8 cGy-9.5 cGy. Adaptive doses given cells in the G1 phase were more effective than when given in the S phase. The adaptive response was maximal at 5 hours and disappeared at 10 hours after the adaptive dose. The expression of the response was inhibited by treatment with 3-aminobenzamide, as reported for mammalian cells, and with arabinofuranoside cytosine, an inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha. Caffeine, an inhibitor of post-replicational repair, had no effect on the response. (author).

  18. Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scherer, K R; Wallbott, H G

    1994-02-01

    The major controversy concerning psychobiological universality of differential emotion patterning versus cultural relativity of emotional experience is briefly reviewed. Data from a series of cross-cultural questionnaire studies in 37 countries on 5 continents are reported and used to evaluate the respective claims of the proponents in the debate. Results show highly significant main effects and strong effect sizes for the response differences across 7 major emotions (joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, and guilt). Profiles of cross-culturally stable differences among the emotions with respect to subjective feeling, physiological symptoms, and expressive behavior are also reported. The empirical evidence is interpreted as supporting theories that postulate both a high degree of universality of differential emotion patterning and important cultural differences in emotion elicitation, regulation, symbolic representation, and social sharing.

  19. Cross-Cultural Effects of Cannabis Use Disorder: Evidence to Support a Cultural Neuroscience Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prashad, Shikha; Milligan, Amber L.; Cousijn, Janna; Filbey, Francesca M.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose of review Cannabis use disorders (CUDs) are prevalent worldwide. Current epidemiological studies underscore differences in behaviors that contribute to cannabis use across cultures that can be leveraged towards prevention and treatment of CUDs. This review proposes a framework for understanding the effects of cross-cultural differences on psychological, neural, and genomic processes underlying CUDs that has the potential to inform global policies and impact global public health. Recent findings We found that cultural factors may influence (1) the willingness to acknowledge CUD-related symptoms among populations of different countries, and (2) neural responses related to the sense of self, perception, emotion, and attention. These findings leverage the potential effects of culture on neural mechanisms underlying CUDs. Summary As the number of individuals seeking treatment for CUDs increases globally, it is imperative to incorporate cultural considerations to better understand and serve differing populations and develop more targeted treatment strategies and interventions. PMID:29062679

  20. Using Culturally Informed Strategies to Enhance Recruitment of African Americans in Dementia Research: A Nurse Researcher's Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fayron Recha Epps

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Decreased research participation hinders advancement in the understanding and treatment of dementia in African Americans. This article describes the experience of a nurse researcher using culturally informed strategies to enhance recruitment in the African American population in southern Louisiana, as part of a study on family involvement in health promotion activities for older adults with dementia. Strategies went beyond having minority recruiters and recruiting from churches to becoming familiar with the context and culture of southern Louisiana through engagement with the community and attaining buy-in from formal and informal contacts. The researcher kept field notes, journals, and a record of recruitment activities to assure accountability during recruitment. An analysis of the field notes revealed the salience of six themes, namely Gaining Trust, Visibility, Networking, Follow-up, Purposeful Activity, and Community Engagement. Barriers that were overcome included knowledge deficit about dementia in the target community and the cultural unsuitability of the terminology linked to dementia. Benefits included community awareness and development of community and family partnerships, and of course, the recruitment of adequate number of research participants.

  1. A Systemic Approach to Culturally Responsive Assessment Practices and Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slee, June

    2010-01-01

    In an earlier paper, Slee and Keenan demonstrated that it was possible for tertiary education institutions to design culturally responsive assessment procedures that complied with standardised assessment policy. The authors' paper described "Growing Our Own," an initiative between Charles Darwin University and Northern Territory Catholic…

  2. Acculturation Theory and the Practical Approaches to Cross-cultural Inclusiveness in International Cooperation

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Huang Kaisheng; Zhou Xinping

    2017-01-01

    Harmony and cultural inclusiveness are two basic principles highly advocated by the Silk Road Spirit.In response to the urgent appeal to cultivating cross-cultural adaptation,essential concepts and models of acculturation theory have been discussed and possible strategies proposed.It is concluded that integration contributes to implementing positive adaptation to the host culture,whilst multiculturalism helps to facilitate mutual exchange between Chinese and foreign cultures.Specific suggestions are further documented in order to mimmize misunderstanding and conflicts in cross-cultural communication.

  3. Bereavement, silence and culture within a peer-led HIV/AIDS-prevention strategy for vulnerable children in South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van der Heijden, Ingrid; Swartz, Sharlene

    2010-04-01

    In addressing the psychosocial effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic among vulnerable children, the issue of bereavement appears inadequately addressed. Amid the global discourse on children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS, this paper explores how cultural contexts and social environments in South Africa shape children's experience of grief. The argument draws on a number of qualitative studies and uses empirical evidence from an evaluation of a peer-led HIV/AIDS-prevention strategy aimed at providing psychosocial support for 10- to 13-year-old South African children living in resource-poor communities. The paper reveals a central paradox regarding how the intervention's objective of talking about death and eliciting memories of deceased loved ones with young children is confounded by cultural practices located in notions of silence and the need to protect children. The paper acknowledges the 'culture of silence' surrounding death in some African contexts, but concludes that peer-led strategies have the potential to naturally circumvent these cultural taboos, simultaneously creating a much-needed space for young children to cry and talk among themselves, even if remaining silent at home in the presence of adults.

  4. Sustainable tourism as a strategy for the preservation of the cultural landscape in Caparaó’s region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aline Vargas da Silveira

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Gleaming tourism as one of the fastest growing economic activities in the world market and recognizing the importance of promoting the preservation of heritage and cultural landscape, this paper aims to discuss the importance of tourism as a strategy to preserve the region Caparao Capixaba. So at first be submitted to the region Caparao the Espirito Santo and its historical heritage, then we will address the concept of sustainable tourism, as well as its relationship to preservation. Later will be shown the influence of this tool in fostering the preservation of historical and cultural landscape. Expected to create an interesting discussion with a view that cultural tourism, among othergoals, serves to broaden and diversify the knowledge of the visitor, and increase their appreciation of local culture in all aspects. Another relevant feature is its ability to generate revenue for the site visit, allowing its maintenance. However, when Tourism is not well planned, its expansion can become predatory, depleting attractive, changing landscapes and turning them into consumer goods. Under this perspective Tourism can be a strategy for preservation of historical heritage.

  5. Lessons learned from measuring safety culture: an Australian case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Suellen; Chiarella, Mary; Homer, Caroline S E

    2010-10-01

    adverse events in maternity care are relatively common but often avoidable. International patient safety strategies advocate measuring safety culture as a strategy to improve patient safety. Evidence suggests it is necessary to fully understand the safety culture of an organisation to make improvements to patient safety. this paper reports a case study examining the safety culture in one maternity service in Australia and considers the benefits of using surveys and interviews to understand safety culture as an approach to identify possible strategies to improve patient safety in this setting. the study took place in one maternity service in two public hospitals in NSW, Australia. Concurrently, both hospitals were undergoing an organisational restructure which was part of a major health reform agenda. The priorities of the reform included improving the quality of care and patient safety; and, creating a more efficient health system by reducing administration inefficiencies and duplication. a descriptive case study using three approaches: the safety culture was identified to warrant improvement across all six safety culture domains. There was reduced infrastructure and capacity to support incident management activities required to improve safety, which was influenced by instability from the organisational restructure. There was a perceived lack of leadership at all levels to drive safety and quality and improving the safety culture was neither a key priority nor was it valued by the organisation. the safety culture was complex as was undertaking this study. We were unable to achieve a desired 60% response rate highlighting the limitations of using safety culture surveys in isolation as a strategy to improve safety culture. Qualitative interviews provided greater insight into the factors influencing the safety culture. The findings of this study provide evidence of the benefits of including qualitative methods with quantitative surveys when examining safety culture

  6. CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS AS AN ADAPTATION STRATEGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    И И Подойницына

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article considers methodological and empirical aspects of cross-cultural communica-tions under the economic and cultural globalization that determined the free movement of labor migrants around the world though this process is accompanied by certain difficulties. The authors believe that even a theoretically prepared person that knows about the influence of cultural differences on the organizational management in different countries will experience a cultural shock when working abroad. The cultural shock is a discomfort, frustration and even depression caused by getting into an unfamiliar environment. At the applied level, the authors analyze the so-called ‘cross-cultural experiments’ - attempts of an individual (a working specialist of a certain nation to test one’s strength, skills, and professional competencies in a foreign company. The authors’ sociological study of a cultural benchmarking type consisted of two stages. At the first stage, foreigners working in the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia were inter-viewed; at the second stage, the Russians working abroad, mainly in the USA, were interviewed. The migra-tion flows from China have recently intensified in Yakutia, but the overwhelming majority of labor migrants are still from West and Central Asia, mainly from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia. The foreigners working in Yakutia and Russians working abroad experience same difficulties of adaptation in a new col-lective. Friends, relatives, members of the ethnic community, but not specially trained cross-cultural coaches and mentors, help them with adaptation. Such a personnel technology as selection, recruitment and headhunt-ing works reasonably well, while other HR technologies of cross-cultural management (motivation, feedback, etc. are still lagging behind. The authors insist on introducing courses on cross-cultural adaptation in interna-tional groups both in Russia and abroad together with a system of the so

  7. Culture modulates the brain response to human expressions of emotion: electrophysiological evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Pan; Rigoulot, Simon; Pell, Marc D

    2015-01-01

    To understand how culture modulates on-line neural responses to social information, this study compared how individuals from two distinct cultural groups, English-speaking North Americans and Chinese, process emotional meanings of multi-sensory stimuli as indexed by both behaviour (accuracy) and event-related potential (N400) measures. In an emotional Stroop-like task, participants were presented face-voice pairs expressing congruent or incongruent emotions in conditions where they judged the emotion of one modality while ignoring the other (face or voice focus task). Results indicated that while both groups were sensitive to emotional differences between channels (with lower accuracy and higher N400 amplitudes for incongruent face-voice pairs), there were marked group differences in how intruding facial or vocal cues affected accuracy and N400 amplitudes, with English participants showing greater interference from irrelevant faces than Chinese. Our data illuminate distinct biases in how adults from East Asian versus Western cultures process socio-emotional cues, supplying new evidence that cultural learning modulates not only behaviour, but the neurocognitive response to different features of multi-channel emotion expressions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Radiation safety culture in the UK medical sector: a top to bottom strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chapple, Claire-Louise; Bradley, Andy; Murray, Maria; Orr, Phil; Reay, Jill; Riley, Peter; Rogers, Andy; Sandhu, Navneet; Thurston, Jim

    2017-01-01

    UK professional bodies have established a number of sectorial working parties to provide guidance on the improvement of radiation safety (RS) culture in the workplace. The medical sector provides unique challenges in this regard, and the remit of the medical group was to review the current state of RS culture and to develop a framework for improvement. The review of current RS culture was based on measurable indicators, including data from regulatory inspections, personal monitoring data and incident data. An online survey to capture the RS-related views and experience of hospital staff at all levels was carried out, and the responses provided a wealth of information on RS awareness and implementation across the country. The framework for improving RS culture includes both 'top-down' initiatives to engage management and regulators, and 'bottom-up' initiatives relating to engagement and training of different staff groups. A 'Ten-point Assessment' on what constitutes a good approach to medical RS culture has been proposed, which provides a tool for management to assess RS culture in the workplace and has potential use in regulatory inspections in the UK. (authors)

  9. Anatomy learning styles and strategies among Jordanian and Malaysian medical students: the impact of culture on learning anatomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mustafa, Ayman G; Allouh, Mohammed Z; Mustafa, Intisar G; Hoja, Ibrahim M

    2013-07-01

    The study aims to investigate anatomy learning styles and strategies of Jordanian and Malaysian medical students at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. The study is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Students' responses for the questionnaire were numerically coded, and the results were analyzed to reveal statistically significant differences between Jordanian and Malaysian students. The results showed that Jordanian medical students were less interested in using cadavers in learning anatomy than Malaysian medical students. However, similar to their Malaysian counterparts, they prefer to employ other tools to learn anatomy like plastinated models and Internet-based resources. In addition to the aforementioned tools, Malaysian students were more interested in using cross-sectional images and making their own revision cards. Both Jordanian and Malaysian medical students were more interested in learning anatomy through clinical cases, and by system rather than by region. Moreover, it was revealed that Jordanian medical students learn anatomy more efficiently when they formulate a general view of a particular topic. Both Jordanian and Malaysian medical students also relied on reciting definitions and memorizing facts to learn anatomy. The study also reported significant differences between Jordanian and Malaysian students' perspectives on learning anatomy. The findings of the study suggest that Jordanian and Malaysian medical students posses different cultures of learning. Jordanian anatomy instructors need to consider these different learning cultures when they prepare their instructional methods and teaching materials to fulfill the educational needs of their culturally diverse students.

  10. Investigating the effectiveness of response strategies for vulnerabilities to corruption in the chinese public construction sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shan, Ming; Chan, Albert P C; Le, Yun; Hu, Yi

    2015-06-01

    Response strategy is a key for preventing widespread corruption vulnerabilities in the public construction sector. Although several studies have been devoted to this area, the effectiveness of response strategies has seldom been evaluated in China. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the effectiveness of response strategies for corruption vulnerabilities through a survey in the Chinese public construction sector. Survey data obtained from selected experts involved in the Chinese public construction sector were analyzed by factor analysis and partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Analysis results showed that four response strategies of leadership, rules and regulations, training, and sanctions, only achieved an acceptable level in preventing corruption vulnerabilities in the Chinese public construction sector. This study contributes to knowledge by improving the understanding of the effectiveness of response strategies for corruption vulnerabilities in the public construction sector of developing countries.

  11. STRATEGIES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

    OpenAIRE

    Iamandi Irina Eugenia; Joldes Cosmin

    2009-01-01

    The present paper emphasizes the corporate social responsibility (CSR) state and development strategies in the European Union and at the level of the Romanian business environment. The aim of the paper is to present the similarities and differences in the

  12. Enhancing Georgetown’s Heritage Boutique Hotel Marketing Strategies: The Case of 1881 Chong Tian Cultural Hotel, Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noor N Kader Ali

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Organizations has longed been searching for an effective problem identification tool. This study provides an improved method to root-cause analysis tool for practitioners, integrating mixed method research with problems identification technique. It also discovers the primary causes to  unfavorable performance for heritage boutique hoteliers. 1881 Chong Tian Cultural Hotel, one of the 18 heritage boutique hotels in Penang, reported a 23% financial loss in 2010, recovered in 2011, yield some profits in 2012 and 2013. However, growth in boutique hotel industry has been a challenge over the years. The sequential approach methodology, begins with sem-structured interviews, quantitative surveys on 100 general public and 56 hotel guests,  and analysis on unpublished company data, were summarized using a root-cause analysis tool called the Symptoms Versus Problems (SVP Framework that questioned on the occurance of the symptoms for the first three Tiers of the framework. The remaining symptoms and core problems are identified based on findings from all the three methods above plus field observations, concurrently. Two major symptoms are identified, specifically, unfavorable cultural service quality and ineffective marketing strategies. The unfavorable cultural service quality is due to ineffective cultural ambiance; unproductive display of heritage, cultural artifacts and infrastructure; as well as, unfavorable cultural related services. The ineffective marketing strategies are due to low technology adoption of websites and social media; and ineffective customer relationship management (CRM implementation. Thus, the recommended solutions bring to life the practices of Qing Dynasty cultural ambiance, ceremonies, historical shows and the royale reception. Information on artifacts and infrastructure is readily available. Website development and social media updates on latest Chong Tian Hotel activities are being developed. Embracing delegates using Qing

  13. Please Ask Gently: Using Culturally Targeted Communication Strategies to Initiate End-of-Life Care Discussions With Older Chinese Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Han-Lin; Cataldo, Janine; Ho, Evelyn Y; Rehm, Roberta S

    2018-01-01

    Health-care providers (HCPs) find facilitating end-of-life (EOL) care discussions challenging, especially with patients whose ethnicities differ from their own. Currently, there is little guidance on how to initiate and facilitate such discussions with older Chinese Americans (≥55 years) and their families. To explore communication strategies for HCPs to initiate EOL care discussions with older Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. This qualitative (focused) ethnographic study included field observations and individual semistructured interviews with 14 community-dwelling older Chinese Americans who lived independently at home, 9 adult children, and 7 HCPs. Responses were analyzed using open coding, memos, and comparison across participants. The study participants emphasized the importance of assessing readiness for early EOL care discussions. All recommended using indirect communication approaches to determine older Chinese Americans' readiness. Indirect communication can be culturally targeted and applied at both system-wide (ie, health-care system) and individual (ie, HCP) levels. To institutionalize the practice, health-care facilities should implement EOL care discussion inquiries as part of routine during check-in or intake questionnaires. In individual practice, using depersonalized communication strategies to initiate the discussion was recommended to determine older Chinese Americans' readiness. Assessing readiness should be an essential and necessary action for early EOL care discussions. Culturally targeted assessment of older Chinese Americans includes using indirect communication approaches to initiate an EOL care discussion to determine their readiness. In addition to health-care system integration, providers should implement and evaluate proposed EOL discussion initiation prompts with their older Chinese American patients.

  14. The evolution of cognitive mechanisms in response to cultural innovations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lotem, Arnon; Halpern, Joseph Y; Edelman, Shimon; Kolodny, Oren

    2017-07-24

    When humans and other animals make cultural innovations, they also change their environment, thereby imposing new selective pressures that can modify their biological traits. For example, there is evidence that dairy farming by humans favored alleles for adult lactose tolerance. Similarly, the invention of cooking possibly affected the evolution of jaw and tooth morphology. However, when it comes to cognitive traits and learning mechanisms, it is much more difficult to determine whether and how their evolution was affected by culture or by their use in cultural transmission. Here we argue that, excluding very recent cultural innovations, the assumption that culture shaped the evolution of cognition is both more parsimonious and more productive than assuming the opposite. In considering how culture shapes cognition, we suggest that a process-level model of cognitive evolution is necessary and offer such a model. The model employs relatively simple coevolving mechanisms of learning and data acquisition that jointly construct a complex network of a type previously shown to be capable of supporting a range of cognitive abilities. The evolution of cognition, and thus the effect of culture on cognitive evolution, is captured through small modifications of these coevolving learning and data-acquisition mechanisms, whose coordinated action is critical for building an effective network. We use the model to show how these mechanisms are likely to evolve in response to cultural phenomena, such as language and tool-making, which are associated with major changes in data patterns and with new computational and statistical challenges.

  15. Strategies Towards Effective Management of Higher Education for Building a Culture of Peace in Nigeria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asiyai, Romina Ifeoma

    2015-01-01

    This study was aimed at investigating strategies for effective management of higher education for building a culture of peace in Nigeria. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the investigation. The study is a survey research which adopted the ex-post-facto design. The respondents comprised of one thousand four hundred and eighty…

  16. Efficacy of ACA strategies in biography-driven science teaching: an investigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald, Grizelda L.; Miller, Stuart S.; Murry, Kevin; Herrera, Socorro; Spears, Jacqueline D.

    2013-12-01

    This study explored the biography-driven approach to teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students in science education. Biography-driven instruction (BDI) embraces student diversity by incorporating students' sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, and academic dimensions of their biographies into the learning process (Herrera in Biography-driven culturally responsive teaching. Teachers College Press, New York, 2010). Strategies have been developed (Herrera, Kavimandan and Holmes in Crossing the vocabulary bridge: differentiated strategies for diverse secondary classrooms. Teachers College Press, New York, 2011) that provide teachers with instructional routines that facilitate BDI. Using systematic classroom observations we empirically demonstrate that these activate, connect, affirm, strategies are likely to be effective in increasing teachers' biography-driven practices. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

  17. Cultural Interchangeability? Culture-Specific Items in Translation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ajtony Zsuzsanna

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper summarizes the results of the translation work carried out within an international project aiming to develop the language skills of staff working in hotel and catering services. As the topics touched upon in the English source texts are related to several European cultures, these cultural differences bring about several challenges related to the translation of realia, or culture-specific items (CSIs. In the first part of the paper, a series of translation strategies for rendering source-language CSIs into the target language are enlisted, while the second part presents the main strategies employed in the prepared translations.

  18. Assessing the Impact of the National Cultural Framework on Responsible Corporate Behaviour towards Consumers: an Application of Geert Hofstede`s Cultural Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina Gănescu

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to define and measure responsible corporate behaviour towards consumers in EU countries by defining an index of responsible corporate behaviour towards consumers and to establish the impact of Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions on the responsible behaviour of organisations towards consumers. The index uses a specific measurement methodology based on three major components of responsible corporate behaviour towards customers and on content analysis of the Eurostat databases, the RAPEX 2012 Annual Report, the 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Report and the Global Reporting Initiative database. We used the multifactorial regression and the Wald significance test to demonstrate that organisations operating in countries characterised by low power distance, individualism, femininity, tolerance of unknown and long-term orientation pay more attention to responsible corporate behaviour towards customers. The study highlights theoretical considerations that support the influence of the national cultural framework on responsible corporate behaviour towards consumers. The methodology for calculating the index of responsible corporate behaviour towards consumers can become a basis of analysis of responsible corporate behaviour towards local consumers or other stakeholders.

  19. Identifying Multi-Level Culturally Appropriate Smoking Cessation Strategies for Aboriginal Health Staff: A Concept Mapping Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, Anna P.; Cargo, Margaret; Stewart, Harold; Chong, Alwin; Daniel, Mark

    2013-01-01

    Aboriginal Australians, including Aboriginal Health Workers (AHWs), smoke at rates double the non-Aboriginal population. This study utilized concept mapping methodology to identify and prioritize culturally relevant strategies to promote smoking cessation in AHWs. Stakeholder participants included AHWs, other health service employees and tobacco…

  20. STRATEGIES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iamandi Irina Eugenia

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available The present paper emphasizes the corporate social responsibility (CSR state and development strategies in the European Union and at the level of the Romanian business environment. The aim of the paper is to present the similarities and differences in the

  1. Culture, Personality, Health, and Family Dynamics: Cultural Competence in the Selection of Culturally Sensitive Treatments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sperry, Len

    2010-01-01

    Cultural sensitivity and cultural competence in the selection of culturally sensitive treatments is a requisite for effective counseling practice in working with diverse clients and their families, particularly when clients present with health issues or medical problems. Described here is a strategy for selecting culturally sensitive treatments…

  2. Faculty Perspectives on Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices in Developmental Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raney, Kristen A.

    2013-01-01

    This mixed methods study examined the perspectives of developmental math faculty at a two-year technical college regarding culturally responsive beliefs and instructional practices. Thirteen faculty who taught the developmental class Elementary Algebra with Applications were surveyed. Nine of the 13 faculty responded. One section of Wisconsin's…

  3. Affordances of the Cultural Inquiry Process in Building Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Capacity for Cultural Responsiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Frieda; Bartell, Tonya; Novak, Jodie D.

    2017-01-01

    Over the last couple of decades, there has been a growing call for teachers to become more responsive to the increasing cultural diversity of students as a means of improving students' experiences in school and their learning outcomes. Challenges exist in working with secondary mathematics teachers due to the common belief that math is…

  4. Social responsibility: a double corporative strategy?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raquel da Silva Pereira

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available This study, eminently theoretical and based on specific literature review, presents a brief historical approach on the corporative social responsibility, besides offering an updated view of the main norms, existing certifications and awardings in the area, searching, in a wider context, to understand both the original strategical meaning of these actions and this new clipping of observation and analysis, which points to a new niche market, with the trading of products and services that aim to support the companies in the socio-environmental issues. Would this new market assumed the corporative strategy condition?

  5. Strategies to enhance biologically active-secondary metabolites in cell cultures of Artemisia - current trends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Mohammad; Abbasi, Bilal Haider; Ahmad, Nisar; Khan, Haji; Ali, Gul Shad

    2017-11-01

    The genus Artemisia has been utilized worldwide due to its immense potential for protection against various diseases, especially malaria. Artemisia absinthium, previously renowned for its utilization in the popular beverage absinthe, is gaining resurgence due to its extensive pharmacological activities. Like A. annua, this species exhibits strong biological activities like antimalarial, anticancer and antioxidant. Although artemisinin was found to be the major metabolite for its antimalarial effects, several flavonoids and terpenoids are considered to possess biological activities when used alone and also to synergistically boost the bioavailability of artemisinin. However, due to the limited quantities of these metabolites in wild plants, in vitro cultures were established and strategies have been adopted to enhance medicinally important secondary metabolites in these cultures. This review elaborates on the traditional medicinal uses of Artemisia species and explains current trends to establish cell cultures of A. annua and A. absinthium for enhanced production of medicinally important secondary metabolites.

  6. Culturally Targeted Strategies for Diabetes Prevention in Minority Populations: A Systematic Review and Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagisetty, Pooja A.; Priyadarshini, Shubadra; Terrell, Stephanie; Hamati, Mary; Landgraf, Jessica; Chopra, Vineet; Heisler, Michele

    2017-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this study is to (a) assess the effectiveness of culturally tailored diabetes prevention interventions in minority populations and (b) develop a novel framework to characterize four key domains of culturally tailored interventions. Prevention strategies specifically tailored to the culture of ethnic minority patients may help reduce the incidence of diabetes. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL for English-language, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-experimental (QE) trials testing culturally tailored interventions to prevent diabetes in minority populations. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias. Inductive thematic analysis was used to develop a framework with four domains (FiLLM: Facilitating [i.e., delivering] Interventions through Language, Location and Message). The framework was used to assess the overall effectiveness of culturally tailored interventions. Results Thirty-four trials met eligibility criteria. Twelve studies were randomized controlled trials, and 22 were quasi-experimental trials. Twenty-five out of 34 studies (74%) that used cultural tailoring demonstrated significantly improved Hemoglobin A1C, fasting glucose, and/or weight loss. Of the 25 successful interventions, 21 (84%) incorporated at least three culturally targeted domains. Seven studies used all four domains and were all successful. The least utilized domain was delivery (4/34) of the intervention’s key educational message. Conclusions Culturally tailoring interventions across the four domains of facilitators, language, location, and messaging can be effective in improving risk factors for progression to diabetes among ethnic minority groups. Future studies should evaluate how specific tailoring approaches work compared to usual care as well as comparative effectiveness of each tailoring domain. Registration (PROSPERO registration: CRD42015016914) PMID:28118127

  7. How Cultural Differences Affect Written and Oral Communication: The Case of Peer Response Groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Gayle L.

    1997-01-01

    Peer response groups contribute to students' effectiveness as writers in any field, but cultural differences in communication affect interactions within the group. Culture-based dimensions on which communication may differ include individualism/collectivism, power distance, concept of "face," and communication style. Recommendations are…

  8. The effects of corporate social responsibility on employees' affective commitment: a cross-cultural investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller, Karsten; Hattrup, Kate; Spiess, Sven-Oliver; Lin-Hi, Nick

    2012-11-01

    This study investigated the moderating effects of several Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) cultural value dimensions on the relationship between employees' perceptions of their organization's social responsibility and their affective organizational commitment. Based on data from a sample of 1,084 employees from 17 countries, results showed that perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) was positively related to employees' affective commitment (AC), after controlling for individual job satisfaction and gender as well as for nation-level differences in unemployment rates. In addition, several GLOBE value dimensions moderated the effects of CSR on AC. In particular, perceptions of CSR were more positively related to AC in cultures higher in humane orientation, institutional collectivism, ingroup collectivism, and future orientation and in cultures lower in power distance. Implications for future CSR research and cross-cultural human resources management are discussed. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  9. An assessment of cultural values and resident-centered culture change in U.S. nursing facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banaszak-Holl, Jane; Castle, Nicholas G; Lin, Michael; Spreitzer, Gretchen

    2013-01-01

    Culture change initiatives propose to improve care by addressing the lack of managerial supports and prevalent stressful work environments in the industry; however, little is known about how culture change facilities differ from facilities in the industry that have not chosen to affiliate with the resident-centered care movements. The aim of this study was to evaluate representation of organizational culture values within a random sample of U.S. nursing home facilities using the competing values framework and to determine whether organizational values are related to membership in resident-centered culture change initiatives. We collected reports of cultural values using a well-established competing values framework instrument in a random survey of facility administrators and directors of nursing within all states. We received responses from 57% of the facilities that were mailed the survey. Directors of nursing and administrators did not differ significantly in their reports of culture and facility measures combined their responses. Nursing facilities favored market-focused cultural values on average, and developmental values, key to innovation, were the least common across all nursing homes. Approximately 17% of the facilities reported that all cultural values were strong within their facilities. Only high developmental cultural values were linked to participation in culture change initiatives. Culture change facilities were not different from non-culture change facilities in the promotion of employee focus as organizational culture, as emphasized in group culture values. Likewise, culture change facilities were also not more likely to have hierarchical or market foci than non-culture change facilities. Our results counter the argument that culture change facilities have a stronger internal employee focus than facilities more generally but do show that culture change facilities report stronger developmental cultures than non-culture change facilities, which

  10. Biotechnological interventions in sugarcane improvement: strategies, methods and progress

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suprasanna, P.

    2010-01-01

    Work has been conducted towards employing in vitro culture system combined with radiation induced mutagenesis in the improvement of sugarcane. Several radiation induced mutants with agronomically desirable traits were isolated and evaluated under field conditions, besides studying abiotic stress responses using biochemical, physiological and molecular tools. This article describes the developments in the in vitro culture systems and related biotechnologies that are evolving as novel strategies in the recent years for use in sugarcane improvement

  11. Enhanced visual memory during hypnosis as mediated by hypnotic responsiveness and cognitive strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawford, H J; Allen, S N

    1983-12-01

    To investigate the hypothesis that hypnosis has an enhancing effect on imagery processing, as mediated by hypnotic responsiveness and cognitive strategies, four experiments compared performance of low and high, or low, medium, and high, hypnotically responsive subjects in waking and hypnosis conditions on a successive visual memory discrimination task that required detecting differences between successively presented picture pairs in which one member of the pair was slightly altered. Consistently, hypnotically responsive individuals showed enhanced performance during hypnosis, whereas nonresponsive ones did not. Hypnotic responsiveness correlated .52 (p less than .001) with enhanced performance during hypnosis, but it was uncorrelated with waking performance (Experiment 3). Reaction time was not affected by hypnosis, although high hypnotizables were faster than lows in their responses (Experiments 1 and 2). Subjects reported enhanced imagery vividness on the self-report Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire during hypnosis. The differential effect between lows and highs was in the anticipated direction but not significant (Experiments 1 and 2). As anticipated, hypnosis had no significant effect on a discrimination task that required determining whether there were differences between pairs of simultaneously presented pictures. Two cognitive strategies that appeared to mediate visual memory performance were reported: (a) detail strategy, which involved the memorization and rehearsal of individual details for memory, and (b) holistic strategy, which involved looking at and remembering the whole picture with accompanying imagery. Both lows and highs reported similar predominantly detail-oriented strategies during waking; only highs shifted to a significantly more holistic strategy during hypnosis. These findings suggest that high hypnotizables have a greater capacity for cognitive flexibility (Batting, 1979) than do lows. Results are discussed in terms of several

  12. Stream chemistry responses to four range management strategies in eastern Oregon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    A.R. Tiedemann; D.A. Higgins; T.M. Quigley; H.R. Sanderson

    1989-01-01

    Responses of stream chemistry parameters, nitrate-N (NO3-N), phosphate (PO4), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), sodium (Na), and hydrogen ion activity (pH) were measured on 13 wildland watersheds managed at four different grazing strategies. Range management strategies tested were (A) no grazing, (B) grazing without control of livestock distribution (8.2 ha/...

  13. The impact of societal cultural values and individual social beliefs on the perceived effectiveness of managerial influence strategies: a meso approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fu, P.P.; Kennedy, J.C.; Tata, J.; Yukl, G.; Bond, M.H.; Peng, T.K.; Srinivas, E.S.; Howell, J.P.; Prieto, L.; Koopman, P.L.; Boonstra, J.J.; Pasa, S.; Lacassagne, M.F.; Higashide, H.; Cheosakul, A.

    2004-01-01

    This paper reports the findings of a 12-nation study designed to test empirically the relationships between societal cultural values, individual social beliefs, and the perceived effectiveness of different influence strategies. The relationships between three types of broad influence strategy

  14. A "community as resource" strategy for disaster response.

    OpenAIRE

    Lichterman, J D

    2000-01-01

    Natural and technological disasters present significant threats to the public's health. The emergency response capabilities of government and private relief organizations are limited. With a strategy in which residents of urban areas are trained in search and rescue, first aid, fire suppression, care and shelter, emergency communications, and disaster mental health, the community becomes a "resource" rather than a "victim."

  15. The What, Why, and How of Culturally Responsive Teaching: International Mandates, Challenges, and Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gay, Geneva

    2015-01-01

    This discussion acknowledges that culturally responsive teaching is relevant for international contexts. However, it needs to be nuanced to fit the specific characteristics and needs of these different settings, relative to societal dynamics, and student ethnic, cultural, racial, immigration/migration, economic, and linguistic demographics.…

  16. Radiation Safety Culture in the UK Medical Sector: A Top to Bottom Strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapple, Claire-Louise; Bradley, Andy; Murray, Maria; Orr, Phil; Reay, Jill; Riley, Peter; Rogers, Andy; Sandhu, Navneet; Thurston, Jim

    2017-04-01

    UK professional bodies have established a number of sectorial working parties to provide guidance on the improvement of radiation safety (RS) culture in the workplace. The medical sector provides unique challenges in this regard, and the remit of the medical group was to review the current state of RS culture and to develop a framework for improvement. The review of current RS culture was based on measurable indicators, including data from regulatory inspections, personal monitoring data and incident data. An online survey to capture the RS-related views and experience of hospital staff at all levels was carried out, and the responses provided a wealth of information on RS awareness and implementation across the country. The framework for improving RS culture includes both 'top-down' initiatives to engage management and regulators, and 'bottom-up' initiatives relating to engagement and training of different staff groups. A 'Ten-point Assessment' on what constitutes a good approach to medical RS culture has been proposed, which provides a tool for management to assess RS culture in the workplace and has potential use in regulatory inspections in the UK. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  17. Physiological Responses of Water-Polo Players Under Different Tactical Strategie

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petros G. Botonis, Argyris G. Toubekis

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of defense tactical strategy on physiological responses characterizing playing intensity in water-polo game. In the first part of the study, fourteen players were assigned to defending (n = 7 and offending (n = 7 groups and participated in nine 4-min plays applying three different defending systems: press, static-zone and zone-press, in front of the defense court of one goalpost. In the second part, 18 players participated in nine different real full court water-polo games consisting of 3X15min of live-time playing periods. Both in defense court plays and real games, the three defense systems were played in a counterbalanced order and heart rate (HR was continuously recorded. Additionally, in defense court plays, blood lactate concentration (La was measured at the end of each 4-min period. Mean HR within defense court plays was higher in press (153 ± 10 beats.min-1 than in static-zone (140 ± 11 beats.min-1 and zone-press (143 ± 16 beats.min-1, p 0.05. Defenders and offenders showed similar HR and La responses across the tactical modes. In conclusion, defense tactical strategies affect physiological responses within a part of the game but do not affect the overall playing intensity of a real water-polo game. Tactical strategies similarly affect offenders and defenders.

  18. Developing environmental marketing strategies in the framework of forest sector enterprises social responsibility

    OpenAIRE

    V.T. Polovska

    2012-01-01

    The approaches and methods of social responsibility implementation for developing environmental marketing strategies are examined, environmental marketing objectives for adopting social responsibility in forest sector are determined, principles of socially responsible environmental marketing are formulated.

  19. Asian cultural values gap, cognitive flexibility, coping strategies, and parent-child conflicts among Korean Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, Annie J; Kim, Bryan S K; Park, Yong S

    2008-10-01

    The study examined Korean American college students' perceived Asian cultural values gap between themselves and their parents, cognitive flexibility, and coping strategies. The relationships between these factors were studied with the intensities and types of parent-child conflicts. The results indicated that the participants adhered less strongly to Asian values than their parents. When faced with conflicts, the participants reported using problem solving coping strategy to the greatest extent, followed by social support coping strategy, and then avoidance coping strategy. Simultaneous regression analyses revealed a positive relationship between the participant-perceived parent-child values gap and the intensity of conflicts, particularly in the area of dating and marriage. There were inverse relationships between cognitive flexibility and the intensity of conflicts, specifically in the area of dating and marriage. A positive relationship was observed between the use of social support coping strategy and intensity of conflicts. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a significant interaction effect in which participant-perceived parent-child values gap and cognitive flexibility were related to increased frequency of dating and marriage conflicts.

  20. Balancing Act: Addressing Culture and Gender in ESL Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Michelle A.; Chang, Debbie

    2012-01-01

    ESL educators find themselves teaching a diverse group of students in today's classroom. This study investigated how ESL instructors address diversity in their teaching. The literature review revealed research on the experiences of teachers using culturally responsive teaching strategies. Using qualitative research methods, this study explores the…

  1. A Cross-Cultural Study of Students' Behaviors and Classroom Management Strategies in the USA and Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Sunwoo; Koh, Myung-sook

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this cross-cultural study is to investigate comparative students' problem behaviors and classroom behavior management strategies for students in urban public schools between teachers in the United States and Korea. This study incorporated data collected from two different teacher self-reported survey questionnaires, the Student…

  2. Behavioral Theory and Culture Special Issue: Authors' Response to Commentaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasick, Rena J.; Burke, Nancy J.; Joseph, Galen

    2009-01-01

    This article presents the authors' response to commentaries that focus on the "Behavioral Constructs and Culture in Cancer Screening" (3Cs) study. The 3Cs study had an unremarkable beginning, with two colleagues discussing their frustration over the narrow range of behavioral theories and the limited guidance the theories offered for a study…

  3. Culture shapes a mesolimbic response to signals of dominance and subordination that associates with behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Jonathan B; Rule, Nicholas O; Adams, Reginald B; Ambady, Nalini

    2009-08-01

    It has long been understood that culture shapes individuals' behavior, but how this is accomplished in the human brain has remained largely unknown. To examine this, we made use of a well-established cross-cultural difference in behavior: American culture tends to reinforce dominant behavior whereas, conversely, Japanese culture tends to reinforce subordinate behavior. In 17 Americans and 17 Japanese individuals, we assessed behavioral tendencies towards dominance versus subordination and measured neural responses using fMRI during the passive viewing of stimuli related to dominance and subordination. In Americans, dominant stimuli selectively engaged the caudate nucleus, bilaterally, and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), whereas these were selectively engaged by subordinate stimuli in Japanese. Correspondingly, Americans self-reported a tendency towards more dominant behavior whereas Japanese self-reported a tendency towards more subordinate behavior. Moreover, activity in the right caudate and mPFC correlated with behavioral tendencies towards dominance versus subordination, such that stronger responses in the caudate and mPFC to dominant stimuli were associated with more dominant behavior and stronger responses in the caudate and mPFC to subordinate stimuli were associated with more subordinate behavior. The findings provide a first demonstration that culture can flexibly shape functional activity in the mesolimbic reward system, which in turn may guide behavior.

  4. The Role of Cultural Transformation in Telco Strategy

    OpenAIRE

    F. Amin; S. Feizi

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes the complex nature of organizational culture and its role in telecom organizations. To set the stage for culture change, the literature is reviewed for perspective on the role and function of culture in organizations. Organizational the­orists as well as business consultants report that a strong organizational culture is essential for success because the shared assumptions, values and culture of an organization influence the behavior of its individual members.

  5. Responsibility and Social Solidarity as Values of Organizational Culture in Venezuelan Schools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Pasek De Pinto

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The controversial and even hostile climate of coexistence of many schools formed a culture where prevailing values contrary to the stated vision and mission. Therefore, the objective of the study was to describe the responsibility and social solidarity as values of organizational culture in Venezuelan schools. Methodologically, it was a descriptive research with field design. The population was 200 subjects and sample of 74 members of staff managerial, teaching, administrative and environmental support of three schools. To gather information about the variables responsibility and social solidarity a valid and reliable questionnaire was applied (79.7%, alpha of Cronbach. As result it was found empirical evidence that 69% of the staff is responsible and 40% is solidarity. In conclusion, the practice of organizational values is not ideal or generalized because only some of its aspects are practiced in addition that not all the staff practice them. Low solidarity makes it difficult the coexistence, for the success and excellence of institutions.

  6. Translation Strategy of Chinese Culture-loaded Lexes and the Dissemina-tion of Chinese Culture

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    WU Li-li

    2016-01-01

    Lexes are the most important and basic element of a language. Chinese culture-loaded lexes are those words or expres-sions that are greatly rich in Chinese culture. They can reflect the characteristics of Chinese culture and Chinese nation. There-fore, it is of great significance to pay attention to the translation of Chinese culture-loaded lexes as they play a decisive role in disseminating Chinese culture. It can help promote Chinese culture worldwide, improve China’s cultural exchanges and commu-nication with other nations and strengthen China’s status in the world. This paper focuses on the Chinese culture-loaded words and proposes some possible means of translation with the purpose of spreading Chinese culture.

  7. Differential reproductive responses to stress reveal the role of life-history strategies within a species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultner, J; Kitaysky, A S; Gabrielsen, G W; Hatch, S A; Bech, C

    2013-11-22

    Life-history strategies describe that 'slow'- in contrast to 'fast'-living species allocate resources cautiously towards reproduction to enhance survival. Recent evidence suggests that variation in strategies exists not only among species but also among populations of the same species. Here, we examined the effect of experimentally induced stress on resource allocation of breeding seabirds in two populations with contrasting life-history strategies: slow-living Pacific and fast-living Atlantic black-legged kittiwakes. We tested the hypothesis that reproductive responses in kittiwakes under stress reflect their life-history strategies. We predicted that in response to stress, Pacific kittiwakes reduce investment in reproduction compared with Atlantic kittiwakes. We exposed chick-rearing kittiwakes to a short-term (3-day) period of increased exogenous corticosterone (CORT), a hormone that is released during food shortages. We examined changes in baseline CORT levels, parental care and effects on offspring. We found that kittiwakes from the two populations invested differently in offspring when facing stress. In response to elevated CORT, Pacific kittiwakes reduced nest attendance and deserted offspring more readily than Atlantic kittiwakes. We observed lower chick growth, a higher stress response in offspring and lower reproductive success in response to CORT implantation in Pacific kittiwakes, whereas the opposite occurred in the Atlantic. Our findings support the hypothesis that life-history strategies predict short-term responses of individuals to stress within a species. We conclude that behaviour and physiology under stress are consistent with trade-off priorities as predicted by life-history theory. We encourage future studies to consider the pivotal role of life-history strategies when interpreting inter-population differences of animal responses to stressful environmental events.

  8. Coping strategies of soccer players | Plaatjie | South African Journal ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study focused on coping strategies used by soccer (football) players by exploring the role of the environment, ethnicity and culture in players' response to stressful situations. An interpretive-qualitative research methodology was applied with a sample of 33 professional soccer players. The subjects were representative ...

  9. Global low-carbon transition and China's response strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian-Kun He

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The Paris Agreement establishes a new mechanism for post-2020 global climate governance, and sets long-term goals for global response to climate change, which will accelerate worldwide low-carbon transformation of economic development pattern, promote the revolutionary reform of energy system, boost a fundamental change in the mode of social production and consumption, and further the civilization of human society from industrial civilization to eco-civilization. The urgency of global low-carbon transition will reshape the competition situation of world's economy, trade and technology. Taking the construction of eco-civilization as a guide, China explores green and low-carbon development paths, establishes ambitious intended nationally determined contribution (INDC targets and action plans, advances energy production and consumption revolution, and speeds up the transformation of economic development pattern. These strategies and actions not only confirm to the trend of the world low-carbon transition, but also meet the intrinsic requirements for easing the domestic resources and environment constraints and realizing sustainable development. They are multi-win-win strategies for promotion of economic development and environmental protection and mitigation of carbon emissions. China should take the global long-term emission reduction targets as a guide, and formulate medium and long-term low-carbon development strategy, build the core competitiveness of low-carbon advanced technology and development pattern, and take an in-depth part in global governance so as to reflect the responsibility of China as a great power in constructing a community of common destiny for all mankind and addressing global ecological crisis.

  10. Changes in microfilament and focal adhesion distribution with loss of androgen responsiveness in cultured mammary tumor cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Couchman, J R; Yates, J; King, R J

    1981-01-01

    of the cells to grow in suspension culture. All these parameters were documented for androgen-responsive and -unresponsive cells grown in culture, as well as the transition of androgen-responsive to -unresponsive cells when deprived of androgen. The androgen-unresponsive cells had extensive and prominent...... microfilament bundles together with focal adhesions on the lower cell surface and also showed strict anchorage dependence for growth. In contrast, microfilament bundles and focal adhesions were absent from androgen-responsive cells, which furthermore had the ability to grow in suspension culture. Differences......, characteristics of both cell types were visible in the cell populations. However, at the stage where all androgen-responsive characteristics were lost, the cells were no longer androgen sensitive. The loss of androgen responsiveness in Shionogi 115 mouse mammary tumor cells is correlated with changes at the cell...

  11. Examining How Proactive Management and Culturally Responsive Teaching Relate to Student Behavior: Implications for Measurement and Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Kristine E.; Pas, Elise T.; Bradshaw, Catherine P.; Rosenberg, Michael S.; Day-Vines, Norma L.

    2018-01-01

    The discipline gap between White students and African American students has increased demand for teacher training in culturally responsive and behavior management practices. Extant research, however, is inconclusive about how culturally responsive teaching practices relate to student behavior or how to assess using such practices in the classroom.…

  12. A strategy to reduce cross-cultural miscommunication and increase the likelihood of improving health outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kagawa-Singer, Marjorie; Kassim-Lakha, Shaheen

    2003-06-01

    Encounters between physicians and patients from different cultural backgrounds are becoming commonplace. Physicians strive to improve health outcomes and increase quality of life for every patient, yet these discordant encounters appear to be a significant factor, beyond socioeconomic barriers, in creating the unequal and avoidable excess burden of disease borne by members of ethnic minority populations in the United States. Most clinicians lack the information to understand how culture influences the clinical encounter and the skills to effectively bridge potential differences. New strategies are required to expand medical training to adequately address culturally discordant encounters among the physicians, their patients, and the families, for all three may have different concepts regarding the nature of the disease, expectations about treatment, and modes of appropriate communication beyond language. The authors provide an anthropological perspective of the fundamental relationship between culture and health, and outline systemic changes needed within the social and legal structures of the health care system to reduce the risk of cross-cultural miscommunication and increase the likelihood of improving health outcomes for all populations within the multicultural U.S. society. The authors define the strengths inherent within every culture, provide a guideline for the clinician to evaluate disease and illness within its cultural context, and outline the clinical skills required to negotiate among potential differences to reach mutually desired goals for care. Last, they indicate the structural changes required in the health care setting to enable and support such practice.

  13. Creating Spaces for Urban Youth: The Emergence of Culturally Responsive (Hip-Hop) School Leadership and Pedagogy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalifa, Muhammad

    2013-01-01

    Ladson-Billings, Gay and among others have demonstrated the strong need for educational curriculum and practice to respond to the specific academic, cultural, and social needs of culturally unique, minoritized students. This article focuses on culturally responsive leadership practices for students with Hip-Hop identity performatives. This…

  14. A Culturally Responsive Alternative to "Drill and Kill" Literacy Strategies: Deep Roots, Civil Rights

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Deborah S.

    2014-01-01

    This article describes two approaches to improving literacy in a high poverty, diverse urban high school. One curriculum program, "Striving Readers," included a prescribed course of study for students reading below grade level along with schoolwide strategies. This approach did not improve targeted students' reading scores or motivation…

  15. Managing the culturally diverse medical practice team: twenty-five strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hills, Laura

    2014-01-01

    A common misconception is that the phrase workplace diversity means meeting certain quotas in employee race or gender categories. In fact, diversity is much more than that. This article explores the unique benefits and challenges of managing a culturally diverse medical practice team and offers practice managers 25 practical strategies. It describes the two types of diversity training that are beneficial to practice managers and the kinds of policies, practices, and procedures that foster and promote diversity. This article also explores ethnocentrism, racism, ageism, sexism, stereotyping, and other potentially divisive issues among a diverse medical practice team. It provides an assessment instrument practice managers can use to evaluate their own diversity management skills. Finally, this article defines specifically what is meant by the term diversity and explores the top 10 diversity issues in workplaces today.

  16. An Investigation of a Culturally Responsive Approach to Science Education in a Summer Program for Marginalized Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garvin, Brittany A.

    There have been numerous calls and efforts made to provide states, school districts, and communities needed financial support to increase and enhance access to and opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) related disciplines for marginalized populations (Tyson, Lee, & Hanson, 2007; Caldwell & Siwatu, 2003). As the challenge to better educate students of color and poor students intensifies, the need to provide equitable science learning experiences for all students aimed at scientific literacy and STEM also becomes critical. Thus the need to provide summer science enrichment programs where students engage in scientific experimentation, investigation, and critical thinking are vital to helping students who have been traditionally marginalized achieve success in school science and enter the science career pipeline. This mixed methods study examined the impact of a culturally responsive approach on student attitudes, interests in science education and STEM careers, and basic science content knowledge before and after participation in an upward bound summer program. Quantitative results indicated using a culturally responsive approach to teach science in an informal learning space significantly increases student achievement. Students receiving culturally responsive science instruction exhibited statistically significant increases in their posttest science scores compared to pretest science scores, M = 0.376, 95% CI [0.266, 0.487], t (10) = 7.610, p < 0.001. Likewise, students receiving culturally responsive science instruction had a significantly higher interest in science (M = 1.740, SD = 0.548) and STEM careers, M = 0.597, 95% CI [0.276, 0.919], p = 0.001. The qualitative data obtained in this study sought to gain a more in-depth understanding of the impact of a culturally responsive approach on students' attitudes, interests in science and STEM careers. Findings suggest providing students the opportunity to do and learn science utilizing a

  17. Baby, you light-up my face: culture-general physiological responses to infants and culture-specific cognitive judgements of adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianluca Esposito

    Full Text Available Infants universally elicit in adults a set of solicitous behaviors that are evolutionarily important for the survival of the species. However, exposure, experience, and prejudice appear to govern adults' social choice and ingroup attitudes towards other adults. In the current study, physiological arousal and behavioral judgments were assessed while adults processed unfamiliar infant and adult faces of ingroup vs. outgroup members in two contrasting cultures, Japan and Italy. Physiological arousal was investigated using the novel technique of infrared thermography and behavioral judgments using ratings. We uncovered a dissociation between physiological and behavioral responses. At the physiological level, both Japanese and Italian adults showed significant activation (increase of facial temperature for both ingroup and outgroup infant faces. At the behavioral level, both Japanese and Italian adults showed significant preferences for ingroup adults. Arousal responses to infants appear to be mediated by the autonomic nervous system and are not dependent on direct caregiving exposure, but behavioral responses appear to be mediated by higher-order cognitive processing based on social acceptance and cultural exposure.

  18. New Trends of Development of Beer Industry in Lithuania – Diversification and Social Responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladislavas Petraškevičius

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this article is to outline the current challenges of beer industry in Lithuania and provide suggestions for future development of organizations in this industry, by focusing on diversification strategy and social responsibility. The main challenges of Lithuanian beer industry are related to finding ways of future development in a constantly contracting market, as well as to find a competitive strategy of market penetration. In connection of these challenges, product differentiation creates new benefits for the consumers. However this strategy proves itself not being sufficient to reach the desired goals. Diversification of portfolio, being more risky, gives opportunity to target new customer groups and increase market presence. However, both strategies are less effective without changing the culture of drinking and consumer perceptions of beer. These issues will be addressed through the lenses of social responsibility, by emphasizing the promotion of responsible alcohol consumption and responsible behaviour of beer industry. As a result, the customers have to be ready to pay higher price for new products and develop a more responsible culture of beer consumption. To overcome outlined challenges, organizations in Lithuanian beer industry, must rethink their existing strategies and operations. Based on proposed future directions, the paper provides suggestions for business practices, how to implement differentiation strategy and actions in order to increase the level of social responsibility of various stakeholders.

  19. The livelihood strategies of women fish traders in adapting to cultural and institutional constraints in Ibaka, Nigeria

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Udong, E.; Niehof, Anke; Tilburg, van A.

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents findings from a study of women fish traders in Ibaka,
    Nigeria, which investigated their livelihood strategies, assets and resources, and
    how institutions and culture mediate their choices. Case studies were conducted
    on eleven fish traders purposively selected in

  20. Physiological Response of In Vitro Cultured MAGNOLIA SP. to Nutrient Medium Composition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Sokolov Rossen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to assess the regeneration response of in vitro cultured Magnolia × soulangeana ‘Alexandrina’ and Magnolia liliiflora ‘Nigra’ to nutrient medium composition. In the primary culture (initiated from dormant axillary buds combinations of Murashige and Skoog (MS basal salts with 6-benzylaminopurine and α-naphthaleneacetic acid were tested. The primary explants of cv. ‘Alexandrina’ expressed higher regeneration rate than cv. ‘Nigra’. For both species, the regen eration was most strongly potentiated at addition of 0.25 mg dm−3 of the cytokinin alone. The auxin exerted undesir–able effects. Several basal salts media were applied in proliferation stage and their physiological effects were evaluated in reference to traditionally used MS. At culturing on Chée & Pool C2d Vitis Medium (VM that is for the first time introduced to magnolia and on MS, M. liliiflora formed more but less elongated shoots than M. soulangeana. However, on VM, substantial increase (25-30% of the number of axillary shoots and leaves, shoot length and fresh and dry weights over MS was established for both species. This suggested VM as promising composition of nutrients in multiplication stage. Microshoots obtained on MS, VM, Rugini Olive Medium and DKW Juglans Medium were successfully rooted in vitro and subsequently established ex vitro. The findings expand the information on magnolia response to culture conditions and contribute to elaboration of innovative elements of protocols for establishing tissue cultures with high regeneration capacity.

  1. Rising Company’s Performance through Leadership Role: Culture, Strategies, and Management System as a Marine State

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wardi, Jeni; Yandra, Alexsander

    2018-05-01

    This research aims to learn the direct influence of transformational and transactional leaderships on Indonesian company’s performance through company’s culture, strategy, management accounting and control system as a marine state. This research involves descriptive and inferential designs in solving the research problem. To test the model and the hypothesis, SEM analysis is used. The populations of this research are companies registered in Indonesian stock exchange in 2012. The sampling technique uses purposive sampling. The data of the research are obtained from questionnaires distributed to respondents. The respondents are companies’ managers represented by accounting and finance managers with the positions 1 and 2 levels below top management team who have direct communication with the top management. The results of the research show that transformational leadership influences company’s performance directly, but not the transactional leadership. The company’s culture is not the mediation variable in indirect influence on the company’s performance, either in transformational or transactional leadership. On the other hand, management control system proves to be the mediation in transactional leadership on the performance but not for transformational leadership. Meanwhile, management accounting system proves to be the mediation variable in the influence of transformational and transactional leaderships. Except the variables of company’s culture, strategy, management accounting system and management control system, each directly influences the performance.

  2. Simulation-based Strategies for Smart Demand Response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ines Leobner

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Demand Response can be seen as one effective way to harmonize demand and supply in order to achieve high self-coverage of energy consumption by means of renewable energy sources. This paper presents two different simulation-based concepts to integrate demand-response strategies into energy management systems in the customer domain of the Smart Grid. The first approach is a Model Predictive Control of the heating and cooling system of a low-energy office building. The second concept aims at industrial Demand Side Management by integrating energy use optimization into industrial automation systems. Both approaches are targeted at day-ahead planning. Furthermore, insights gained into the implications of the concepts onto the design of the model, simulation and optimization will be discussed. While both approaches share a similar architecture, different modelling and simulation approaches were required by the use cases.

  3. Autobiographies in Preservice Teacher Education: A Snapshot Tool for Building a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunn, AnnMarie Alberton; Bennett, Susan V.; Evans, Linda Shuford; Peterson, Barbara J.; Welsh, James L.

    2013-01-01

    Many scholars have made the call for teacher educators to provide experiences that can lead preservice teachers to embrace a culturally responsive pedagogy. We investigated the use of brief autobiographies during an internship as a tool (a) for preservice teachers to examine their multidimensional culture; and (b) for teacher educators to assess…

  4. Conflict between Place and Response Navigation Strategies: Effects on Vicarious Trial and Error (VTE) Behaviors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Brandy; Papale, Andrew; Redish, A. David; Markus, Etan J.

    2013-01-01

    Navigation can be accomplished through multiple decision-making strategies, using different information-processing computations. A well-studied dichotomy in these decision-making strategies compares hippocampal-dependent "place" and dorsal-lateral striatal dependent "response" strategies. A place strategy depends on the ability to flexibly respond…

  5. Associations between Culturally Relevant Recruitment Strategies and Participant Interest, Enrollment and Generalizability in a Weight-loss Intervention for African American Families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huffman, Lauren E; Wilson, Dawn K; Kitzman-Ulrich, Heather; Lyerly, Jordan E; Gause, Haylee M; Resnicow, Ken

    2016-07-21

    Culturally relevant recruitment strategies may be an important approach for recruiting ethnic minorities for interventions. Previous research has examined associations between recruitment strategies and enrollment of African Americans (AA), but has not explored more deeply the role of incorporating sociocultural values into recruitment strategies. Our current study explores whether sociocultural recruitment mediums were associated with demographics, interest and enrollment in a weight-loss intervention. Sociocultural mediums included community partnerships, culturally relevant ads, sociocultural events, or word-of-mouth. Non-sociocultural mediums included community/school events that did not specifically target AAs. Analyses examined whether demographics of enrolled families differed by recruitment strategy and if recruitment strategy predicted scheduling a baseline visit, enrolling in a run-in phase, and enrolling in the intervention program. Families recruited from culturally relevant ads, sociocultural events, or word-of-mouth were 1.96 times more likely to schedule a baseline visit (OR=1.96, 95% CI=1.05, 3.68) than families recruited from non-sociocultural mediums. No differences were found for sociocultural mediums on enrolling in the run-in phase or the intervention. However, among enrolled families, those recruited from sociocultural mediums were less likely to be employed (X(2) [1, N=142] =5.53, P<.05) and more likely to have lower income (X(2) [1, N=142] =13.57, P<.05). Sociocultural mediums were associated with scheduling a baseline visit, but not enrollment. They were, however, effective in recruiting a more generalizable sample among enrolled participants based on demographic characteristics. Integrating sociocultural values into recruitment methods may be a valuable strategy for increasing interest in participation among underrepresented AA families.

  6. Dealing with extreme response style in cross-cultural research: A restricted latent class factor approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Morren, M.H.; Gelissen, J.P.T.M.; Vermunt, J.K.

    2011-01-01

    Cross-cultural comparison of attitudes using rating scales may be seriously biased by response styles. This paper deals with statistical methods for detection of and correction for extreme response style (ERS), which is one of the well-documented response styles. After providing an overview of

  7. Refrigerated Warehouse Demand Response Strategy Guide

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scott, Doug [VaCom Technologies, San Luis Obispo, CA (United States); Castillo, Rafael [VaCom Technologies, San Luis Obispo, CA (United States); Larson, Kyle [VaCom Technologies, San Luis Obispo, CA (United States); Dobbs, Brian [VaCom Technologies, San Luis Obispo, CA (United States); Olsen, Daniel [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

    2015-11-01

    This guide summarizes demand response measures that can be implemented in refrigerated warehouses. In an appendix, it also addresses related energy efficiency opportunities. Reducing overall grid demand during peak periods and energy consumption has benefits for facility operators, grid operators, utility companies, and society. State wide demand response potential for the refrigerated warehouse sector in California is estimated to be over 22.1 Megawatts. Two categories of demand response strategies are described in this guide: load shifting and load shedding. Load shifting can be accomplished via pre-cooling, capacity limiting, and battery charger load management. Load shedding can be achieved by lighting reduction, demand defrost and defrost termination, infiltration reduction, and shutting down miscellaneous equipment. Estimation of the costs and benefits of demand response participation yields simple payback periods of 2-4 years. To improve demand response performance, it’s suggested to install air curtains and another form of infiltration barrier, such as a rollup door, for the passageways. Further modifications to increase efficiency of the refrigeration unit are also analyzed. A larger condenser can maintain the minimum saturated condensing temperature (SCT) for more hours of the day. Lowering the SCT reduces the compressor lift, which results in an overall increase in refrigeration system capacity and energy efficiency. Another way of saving energy in refrigerated warehouses is eliminating the use of under-floor resistance heaters. A more energy efficient alternative to resistance heaters is to utilize the heat that is being rejected from the condenser through a heat exchanger. These energy efficiency measures improve efficiency either by reducing the required electric energy input for the refrigeration system, by helping to curtail the refrigeration load on the system, or by reducing both the load and required energy input.

  8. INNOVATIVE INTEGRATION OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN BUSINESS STRATEGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ALBU MĂDĂLINA

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Innovative integration of social responsibility in the decision making in companies and other organizations, is an activity that causes immediate positive effect on those directly involved, on local communities and society as a whole. Setting up a framework to promote and implement the concept of social responsibility is an important factor for promoting economic development and sustainable development of local communities and society in general. The paper presents aspects of how McDonald's Romania treated with the utmost seriousness social responsibilities under its leadership, using all resources to contribute to a better world. The company must be continuously aware of its impact on the environment and the community, including these issues in its future strategy. Synergy between social responsibility activities of companies and their goals of business is a sure way to be successful on the market, this can be highlighted in the case study conducted at McDonald's Romania, a company that wants to use his position leadership to ensure that benefit ethical, environmental and economic.

  9. Beyond individualism: professional culture and its influence on feedback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watling, Christopher; Driessen, Erik; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Vanstone, Meredith; Lingard, Lorelei

    2013-06-01

    Although feedback is widely considered essential to learning, its actual influence on learners is variable. Research on responsivity to feedback has tended to focus on individual rather than social or cultural influences on learning. In this study, we explored how feedback is handled within different professional cultures, and how the characteristics and values of a profession shape learners' responses to feedback. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted 12 focus groups and nine individual interviews (with a total of 50 participants) across three cultures of professional training in, respectively, music, teacher training and medicine. Constant comparative analysis for recurring themes was conducted iteratively. Each of the three professional cultures created a distinct context for learning that influenced how feedback was handled. Despite these contextual differences, credibility and constructiveness emerged as critical constants, identified by learners across cultures as essential for feedback to be perceived as meaningful. However, the definitions of credibility and constructiveness were distinct to each professional culture and the cultures varied considerably in how effectively they supported the occurrence of feedback with these critical characteristics. Professions define credibility and constructiveness in culturally specific ways and create contexts for learning that may either facilitate or constrain the provision of meaningful feedback. Comparison with other professional cultures may offer strategies for creating a productive feedback culture within medical education. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Strategy for improved frequency response of electric double-layer capacitors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wada, Yoshifumi; Pu, Jiang; Takenobu, Taishi

    2015-10-01

    We propose a strategy for improving the response speed of electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) and electric double-layer transistors (EDLTs), based on an asymmetric structure with differently sized active materials and gate electrodes. We validate the strategy analytically by a classical calculation and experimentally by fabricating EDLCs with asymmetric Au electrodes (1:50 area ratio and 7.5 μm gap distance). The performance of the EDLCs is compared with that of conventional symmetric EDLCs. Our strategy dramatically improved the cut-off frequency from 14 to 93 kHz and this improvement is explained by fast charging of smaller electrodes. Therefore, this approach is particularly suitable to EDLTs, potentially expanding the applicability to medium speed (kHz-MHz) devices.

  11. A Cross-Cultural Study on Environmental Risk Perception and Educational Strategies: Implications for Environmental Education in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Hongxia; Fortner, Rosanne

    2010-01-01

    This cross-cultural study examined college students' environmental risk perception and their preference in terms of risk communication and educational strategies in China and the United States. The results indicated that the Chinese respondents were more concerned about environmental risk, and they perceived the environmental issues to be more…

  12. RESPONSE STYLES IN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH – EVIDENCE FROM HISTORICAL REGIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricea Elena BERTEA

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The study aims to identify differences in response styles between regions which belong to Romania, but have previously been under foreign occupation. To do that, we employ data from the European Social Survey, the 2006 round. We investigate extreme response styles as this is known as a common problem in cross-cultural research. Extreme response styles increase reliability, but affect the validity as all correlation specific methods can be biased in this case. We compare response styles across regions and inside regions using language as a factor variable to identify ethnic groups. Results show that in some cases there are significant differences between regions of the same country, whereas there are none for neighbouring regions belonging to different countries.

  13. Pushing the boundaries of cultural congruence pedagogy in science education towards a third space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quigley, Cassie

    2011-09-01

    This review explores Meyers and Crawford's "Teaching science as a cultural way of knowing: Merging authentic inquiry, nature of science, and multicultural strategies" by examining how they combine the use of inquiry-based science instruction with multicultural strategies. In this conversation, I point to the need of specific discourse strategies to help teachers and students create hybrid spaces to push the boundaries of cultural congruence as described in this article. These strategies include a reflective component to the explicit instruction that encourages an integration of home and science discourses. My response to this work expands on their use of multicultural strategies to push toward a congruent Third space that asks not only what happens to the students who do not participate in science, but also what happens to science when a diverse group of people does not participate?

  14. Fabrication of thermo-responsive PNIPAAm-g-ETFE for cell culture dishes by pre-irradiation grafting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamahara, Yumi; Nagasawa, Naotsugu; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Oshima, Akihiro; Washio, Masakazu

    2018-01-01

    Thermo-responsive templates for the cell cultivation based on Poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-ethylene) (ETFE) were fabricated by pre-irradiation grafting of N-isoproplyacrylamide (NIPAAm) monomer by electron beam (EB) irradiation under nitrogen gas atmosphere at room temperature, and their characteristic properties were studied. The detachment of cultured HeLa cells from fabricated thermo-responsive templates were attempted. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism is proposed using ESR spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy. It is confirmed that the cultured HeLa cells were detached from fabricated thermo-responsive templates at 20 °C. Water contact angle analysis indicated that obtained templates had thermo-response around 30 °C. It is suggested that the grafted polymer chains would mainly react with peroxy radicals (-CF2-CF(OO・)-) on tetrafluoroethylene unit in ETFE.

  15. The Impact of an In-Service Workshop on Cooperating Teachers' Perceptions of Culturally Responsive Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKoy, Constance L.; MacLeod, Rebecca B.; Walter, Jennifer S.; Nolker, D. Brett

    2017-01-01

    Culturally responsive teaching values students' identities, backgrounds, and cultural references as key tools for building meaningful learning environments. It has been adopted by many educators globally, but has not been incorporated consistently by music educators. Few researchers in music education have investigated the impact of culturally…

  16. Initiating Culturally Responsive Teaching for Identity Construction in the Malaysian Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Idrus, Faizah

    2014-01-01

    This article presents evidence to the need for Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) to construct students' identity in the Malaysian classrooms. Since an important objective of education is to prepare individuals to exercise efficaciously in their environment, all students in multicultural society could benefit from exposure to CRT (Gay, 2000). In…

  17. Biochemical response of hybrid black poplar tissue culture (Populus × canadensis) on water stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popović, B M; Štajner, D; Ždero-Pavlović, R; Tari, I; Csiszár, J; Gallé, Á; Poór, P; Galović, V; Trudić, B; Orlović, S

    2017-05-01

    In this study, poplar tissue culture (hybrid black poplar, M1 genotype) was subjected to water stress influenced by polyethyleneglycol 6000 (100 and 200 mOsm PEG 6000). The aim of the research was to investigate the biochemical response of poplar tissue culture on water deficit regime. Antioxidant status was analyzed including antioxidant enzymes, superoxide-dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), guiacol-peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione-reductase, reduced glutathione, total phenol content, Ferric reducing antioxidant power and DPPH radical antioxidant power. Polyphenol oxidase and phenylalanine-ammonium-lyase were determined as enzymatic markers of polyphenol metabolism. Among oxidative stress parameters lipid peroxidation, carbonyl-proteins, hydrogen-peroxide, reactive oxygen species, nitric-oxide and peroxynitrite were determined. Proline, proline-dehydrogenase and glycinebetaine were measured also as parameters of water stress. Cell viability is finally determined as a biological indicator of osmotic stress. It was found that water stress induced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species and lipid peroxidation in leaves of hybrid black poplar and reduced cell viability. Antioxidant enzymes including SOD, GPx, CAT and GSH-Px were induced but total phenol content and antioxidant capacity were reduced by PEG 6000 mediated osmotic stress. The highest biochemical response and adaptive reaction was the increase of proline and GB especially by 200 mOsm PEG. While long term molecular analysis will be necessary to fully address the poplar potentials for water stress adaptation, our results on hybrid black poplar suggest that glycine-betaine, proline and PDH enzyme might be the most important markers of poplar on water stress and that future efforts should be focused on these markers and strategies to enhance their concentration in poplar.

  18. Creating organizational cultures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mouton, Nicolaas T.O.; Just, Sine Nørholm; Gabrielsen, Jonas

    2012-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to re-conceptualize the relations between rhetorical strategies and material practices in the processes whereby leaders create or change organizational cultures. Design/methodology/approach – The authors compare and contrast two broad perspectives on cultural...... insights. The authors propose an integrated perspective in which material practices and rhetorical strategies are seen as two analytical sides of the same ontological coin. This enables a fuller and more detailed explanation of how organizational cultures are created or changed. A brief illustration...

  19. Culturally compelling strategies for behaviour change: a social ecology model and case study in malaria prevention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panter-Brick, Catherine; Clarke, Sian E; Lomas, Heather; Pinder, Margaret; Lindsay, Steve W

    2006-06-01

    Behaviour change is notoriously difficult to initiate and sustain, and the reasons why efforts to promote healthy behaviours fail are coming under increasing scrutiny. To be successful, health interventions should build on existing practices, skills and priorities, recognise the constraints on human behaviour, and either feature community mobilisation or target those most receptive to change. Furthermore, interventions should strive to be culturally compelling, not merely culturally appropriate: they must engage local communities and nestle within social and ecological landscapes. In this paper, we propose a social ecology perspective to make explicit the links between intention to change, actual behaviour change, and subsequent health impact, as relating to both theory-based models and practical strategies for triggering behaviour change. A social ecology model focuses attention on the contexts of behaviour when designing, implementing or critically evaluating interventions. As a case study, we reflect on a community-directed intervention in rural Gambia designed to reduce malaria by promoting a relatively simple and low-cost behaviour: repairing holes in mosquito bednets. In phase 1, contextual information on bednet usage, transactions and repairs (the 'social lives' of nets) was documented. In phase 2 (intervention), songs were composed and posters displayed by community members to encourage repairs, creating a sense of ownership and a compelling medium for the transmission of health messages. In phase 3 (evaluation), qualitative and quantitative data showed that household responses were particularly rapid and extensive, with significant increase in bednet repairs (psocial ecology-of behaviour practices that are the bedrock of health interventions.

  20. [The effectiveness of error reporting promoting strategy on nurse's attitude, patient safety culture, intention to report and reporting rate].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Myoungsoo

    2010-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of strategies to promote reporting of errors on nurses' attitude to reporting errors, organizational culture related to patient safety, intention to report and reporting rate in hospital nurses. A nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design was used for this study. The program was developed and then administered to the experimental group for 12 weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, X(2)-test, t-test, and ANCOVA with the SPSS 12.0 program. After the intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher scores for nurses' attitude to reporting errors (experimental: 20.73 vs control: 20.52, F=5.483, p=.021) and reporting rate (experimental: 3.40 vs control: 1.33, F=1998.083, porganizational culture and intention to report. The study findings indicate that strategies that promote reporting of errors play an important role in producing positive attitudes to reporting errors and improving behavior of reporting. Further advanced strategies for reporting errors that can lead to improved patient safety should be developed and applied in a broad range of hospitals.

  1. The Culture of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Academic Framework: Some Literary Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Sandhya Rao

    2011-01-01

    Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is swiftly emerging as an integral part of corporate culture and discourse. Associated with notions of responsibility, accountability and community involvement, it remains privileged with concerns that increasingly define the new millennium. Less developed, however, is the relevance of CSR ideas to academic…

  2. The global challenge of type 2 diabetes and the strategies for response in ethnic minority groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lirussi, Flavio

    2010-09-01

    Ethnic minorities living in high-income countries usually exhibit a greater risk of developing diabetes along with higher morbidity and mortality rates. We evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to improve glycaemic control in ethnic minority groups. Results of major controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses were included in the review. Only 1/47 studies addressing diet and exercise interventions reported details on the ethnicity of the studied population. Self-management education was successful if associated with increased self-efficacy; delivered over a longer period; of high intensity; culturally tailored; and when using community educators. Strategies adopted in community-gathering places, family-based, multifaceted, and those tackling the social context were likely to be more effective. A positive relationship was found between social support and self-management behaviour as well as quality of life, but there is little evidence about the impact of organizational changes within health-care services on diabetes control. More research is needed to strengthen the evidence on effective strategies for response to diabetes in ethnic minorities. Also, there is a need to take into account diabetes beliefs and communication difficulties, as well as potential protective factors. Globally, many health-care systems are inadequately equipped to improve diabetes prevention and disease outcomes in these communities. 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  3. Guidelines for deploying connected vehicle-enabled weather responsive traffic management strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-11-01

    State and local Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are interested in providing effective traffic management and operations strategies to mitigate the roadway mobility and safety problems due to adverse weather. Weather Responsive Traffic Management...

  4. Extensive training and hippocampus or striatum lesions: effect on place and response strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobson, Tara K; Gruenbaum, Benjamin F; Markus, Etan J

    2012-02-01

    The hippocampus has been linked to spatial navigation and the striatum to response learning. The current study focuses on how these brain regions continue to interact when an animal is very familiar with the task and the environment and must continuously switch between navigation strategies. Rats were trained to solve a plus maze using a place or a response strategy on different trials within a testing session. A room cue (illumination) was used to indicate which strategy should be used on a given trial. After extensive training, animals underwent dorsal hippocampus, dorsal lateral striatum or sham lesions. As expected hippocampal lesions predominantly caused impairment on place but not response trials. Striatal lesions increased errors on both place and response trials. Competition between systems was assessed by determining error type. Pre-lesion and sham animals primarily made errors to arms associated with the wrong (alternative) strategy, this was not found after lesions. The data suggest a qualitative change in the relationship between hippocampal and striatal systems as a task is well learned. During acquisition the two systems work in parallel, competing with each other. After task acquisition, the two systems become more integrated and interdependent. The fact that with extensive training (as something becomes a "habit"), behaviors become dependent upon the dorsal lateral striatum has been previously shown. The current findings indicate that dorsal lateral striatum involvement occurs even when the behavior is spatial and continues to require hippocampal processing. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Investigating Apology Response Strategies in Australian English and Bahasa Indonesia: Gender and Cultural Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adrefiza; Jones, Jeremy F.

    2013-01-01

    Studies on apologies have proliferated in pragmatics research, but little research has been conducted on apology responses (ARs). The present inquiry contributes to filling the gap in the literature, and it does so by examining such responses in two languages, Australian English (AE) and Bahasa Indonesia (BI). The study ultimately focuses on two…

  6. Strategi Starbucks Corporations Dalam Membawa Pengaruh Waves of Coffee Culture Di Jepang Tahun 2005

    OpenAIRE

    Nizmi, Yusnarida Eka; Hadane, Fijria Putri

    2015-01-01

    This research exexplains about starbucks corporation strategy to bring the influence of waves of coffee culture in Japan. Starbucks is a Multinational Corporations (MNCs) of the United States which has 1,034 outlets across Japan. Starbucks entered Japan in 1995 and took a local Japanese company that is Sazaby Inc. in their efforts to enter the Japanese market and to determine the market appetite in Japan. Starbucks set up many stores in major urban centers in Japan as an attempt to facilitate...

  7. Social competence of elementary-school children: relationships to maternal authoritativeness, supportive maternal responses and children's coping strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, S M

    2011-07-01

    Although the influences of parenting on children's development of social competence have been well established, research on the underlying mechanisms of this link is relatively limited. The present study examined children's coping strategies as a mediator of the effects of maternal authoritativeness and maternal inductive responses on their social competence. The mothers of 183 Hong Kong Chinese children aged 6 to 8 years (89 girls and 94 boys) reported on their adoption of authoritative parenting and their responses to their children's expressions of emotion, and rated their children's adoption of constructive coping strategies. The children's teachers reported on the children's prosocial behaviour, and rated their level of peer acceptance at school. A model of maternal authoritativeness and supportive maternal responses affecting children's social competence is presented. The study results show that the effects of authoritative parenting on children's adoption of constructive coping strategies were mediated by supportive maternal responses to children's expression of emotion, and that the effects of maternal authoritativeness and maternal responses on children's social competence were mediated by children's coping strategies. These results suggest that school personnel should organize training programmes on emotion-coping strategies for both parents and children. The findings imply that positive parenting facilitates children's acquisition of constructive emotion-coping strategies. Programmes on emotion-coping strategies should be introduced for both parents and school children. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  8. Why does Safety Culture Matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dahlgren-Persson, Kerstin

    2008-01-01

    Dr. Kerstin Dahlgren-Persson, from the IAEA presented a plenary paper on 'Why does safety culture matter?'. The paper discussed the main conclusions of a 1998 IAEA conference on shortcomings in safety management. The conference included case studies of TVA, Cooper, Peach Bottom, Millstone, Ontario Hydro, Barsebaeck and Oskarshamn. Common symptoms included insularity; disproportionate focus on technical issues, high initial performance, lack of corporate oversight, changing management direction and cost cutting, repeat problems, and regulatory dissatisfaction. Behind these symptoms was lack of senior utility leadership with the insight, knowledge and ability to manage the unique interaction between the technology, economics, human factors and safety in a changing nuclear environment. Shortcomings relating to the regulator included lack of criteria for when regulatory actions should be taken in response to degradations in safety management, and the inability of some regulators to influence at the senior utility management level. The paper also made the following key points: - Human error is not always symptomatic of a poor safety culture. Effective root cause analysis (such as that carried out for the Columbia accident investigation) is essential to correctly differentiate between situational issues at a point in time and those rooted in organizational culture. - Leaders change culture by holding different assumptions and by making them visible through their words and action. - Regulators should consider how their regulatory strategy influences licensees. For example, a prescriptive strategy can foster a compliance based approach

  9. Enhancing Organizational Survivability in a Crisis: Perceived Organizational Crisis Responsibility, Stance, and Strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JiYeon Jeong

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available For the purpose of enhancing organizational sustainability during a crisis, an organization takes a position in decision-making, how to respond toward its public, and that is supposed to determine which stance or tactic to employ. This study aims to examine whether publics’ perceptions of organizational crisis responsibility affect their expectations that an organization should choose certain stances and strategies toward the public in a crisis. To address these concerns, an experiment was conducted. As the specific public of this research, health journalists were selected, since they affect public perceptions significantly and public opinion can ultimately put pressure on an organization. Results from an analysis of the experimental data with health journalists confirm that they expect a more accommodative stance/strategy when they perceive that the organization is highly responsible for a health-related crisis. Conversely, when the journalists perceive that an organization has a low level of responsibility for a crisis, they expect a more advocative stance/strategy. By taking into account the health journalists’ expectations along with the needs of the organization, public relations practitioners are better able to make optimal decisions regarding their client organizations’ adopted stance and strategy, and finally, enhance organizational sustainability in a crisis.

  10. Reinscribing the Goddess into the Culturally Relative Minutiae of Tantric Texts and Practices: A Perennialist Response to Tantric Visual Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeffrey S. Lidke

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available A celebration and critical evaluation of Sthaneshwar Timalsina’s brilliant book, Tantric Visual Culture: A Cognitive Approach. In this groundbreaking work, Timalsina utilizes the lens of cognitive studies to shed interpretive light on the Tantric visualization practices that he knows both as a scholar and lifetime practitioner. Timalsina argues that mastery of Tantric practice requires immersion in the culturally relative metonymic and holographic logic framed by the Tantric ritual texts. The conclusion that arises from his analysis is that Tantric “truths” are bound to the linguistic and cultural systems that frame them. In response, I herewith offer a perennialist critique and argument for a more nuanced consideration of the transcendent “truth” or “being” that is the stated aim of Tantric practice.

  11. The Cultural Responsiveness of Teacher Candidates Towards Roma Pupils in Serbia and Slovenia--Case Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pecek, Mojca; Macura-Milovanovic, Suncica; Vujisic-Živkovic, Nataša

    2014-01-01

    In many countries, there is a growing need for teacher awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences, what is often called culturally responsive teaching. This is why teacher education institutions are making significant efforts to require student teachers to enrol in courses that focus on understanding, tolerance and acceptance of differences…

  12. Pricing Strategy and Quick Response Adoption System with Strategic Customers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junfeng Dong

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study determined the competitive advantage of a quick response (QR system when a firm faces forward-looking customers with heterogeneous and uncertain valuations for a product, uncertain demand, and two selling periods. We identify two classes of pricing strategies, namely, no-price commitment strategy and price commitment strategy. Interestingly, the unique equilibrium is proven to exist if and only if most customers have high tastes on a product’s value. We also prove that when customers possess beliefs about the markdown in the second period being smaller enough, a firm obtains a high profit with price commitment; otherwise he obtains a high profit without price commitment. Moreover, we distinguish the competitive advantage of a QR system from two strategies. When a firm uses no-price commitment strategy, the value of QR system in the first period decreases and in the second period increases with customer’s strategic behavior. When a firm provides price commitment, the value of QR system in the first period may increase, decrease, or decrease first and then increase with customer’s strategic behavior. And the value of QR in the second period under price commitment strategy decreases or rises first and then decreases with customer’s strategic behavior.

  13. DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE CULTURE FOLLOWING THE CHANGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elenko Zahariev

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Corporate culture more sensibly makes additions to the economic knowledge, accompanies the strategy and tactics in management. It feels in manners and overall activity of the organization - it is empathy and tolerance, respect and responsibility. The new corporate culture transforms each participant, changes his/her mind in the general collaborations and working habits. The new corporate culture requires improving the management style. It is no longer necessary the leader only to rule, to administer and control, but to lead and inspire. The leader sets challenging targets, optimizes the performance of the teams, fuels an optimistic mood and faith, gains agreement between workers, monitors and evaluate the work in a fair way. Current study raises the problem of interpreting cultural profiles in modern organizations and analyzes corporate culture after the changes during the transition period in Bulgaria. The descriptive analysis of corporate culture allows the relatively precise identification of its various types based on the accepted classification signs.

  14. Culture Conditions Affect Expression of DUX4 in FSHD Myoblasts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sachchida Nand Pandey

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD is believed to be caused by aberrant expression of double homeobox 4 (DUX4 due to epigenetic changes of the D4Z4 region at chromosome 4q35. Detecting DUX4 is challenging due to its stochastic expression pattern and low transcription level. In this study, we examined different cDNA synthesis strategies and the sensitivity for DUX4 detection. In addition, we investigated the effects of dexamethasone and knockout serum replacement (KOSR on DUX4 expression in culture. Our data showed that DUX4 was consistently detected in cDNA samples synthesized using Superscript III. The sensitivity of DUX4 detection was higher in the samples synthesized using oligo(dT primers compared to random hexamers. Adding dexamethasone to the culture media significantly suppressed DUX4 expression in immortalized (1.3 fold, p < 0.01 and primary (4.7 fold, p < 0.01 FSHD myoblasts, respectively. Culture medium with KOSR increased DUX4 expression and the response is concentration dependent. The findings suggest that detection strategies and culture conditions should be carefully considered when studying DUX4 in cultured cells.

  15. Culture Affects our Beliefs about Firearms, But Data are Also Important

    OpenAIRE

    David B. Mustard

    2005-01-01

    Dan Kahan and Donald Braman’s provocative analysis contends that because people’s beliefs about firearms are primarily formed by cultural values, empirical data are unlikely to have much effect on the gun debate. Their proposed solution to this quandary is that scholars who want to help resolve the gun controversy should identify precisely the cultural visions that generate this dispute and formulate appropriate strategies for enabling those visions to be reconciled in law. In response to Kah...

  16. Linguistic and Cultural Strategies in ELT Dictionaries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corrius, Montse; Pujol, Didac

    2010-01-01

    There are three main types of ELT dictionaries: monolingual, bilingual, and bilingualized. Each type of dictionary, while having its own advantages, also hinders the learning of English as a foreign language and culture in so far as it is written from a homogenizing (linguistic- and culture-centric) perspective. This paper presents a new type of…

  17. Global Perspectives: Making the Shift from Multiculturalism to Culturally Responsive Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walter, Jennifer S.

    2018-01-01

    In the early part of the 1970s, multicultural music education began in earnest and was focused primarily on the curriculum used for music: textbooks, method books, and repertoire. At the turn of the 21th century, however, culturally responsive teaching emerged as the predominant pedagogy for relating to students. It was considered a…

  18. Synchronized mammalian cell culture: part I--a physical strategy for synchronized cultivation under physiological conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barradas, Oscar Platas; Jandt, Uwe; Becker, Max; Bahnemann, Janina; Pörtner, Ralf; Zeng, An-Ping

    2015-01-01

    Conventional analysis and optimization procedures of mammalian cell culture processes mostly treat the culture as a homogeneous population. Hence, the focus is on cell physiology and metabolism, cell line development, and process control strategy. Impact on cultivations caused by potential variations in cellular properties between different subpopulations, however, has not yet been evaluated systematically. One main cause for the formation of such subpopulations is the progress of all cells through the cell cycle. The interaction of potential cell cycle specific variations in the cell behavior with large-scale process conditions can be optimally determined by means of (partially) synchronized cultivations, with subsequent population resolved model analysis. Therefore, it is desirable to synchronize a culture with minimal perturbation, which is possible with different yield and quality using physical selection methods, but not with frequently used chemical or whole-culture methods. Conventional nonsynchronizing methods with subsequent cell-specific, for example, flow cytometric analysis, can only resolve cell-limited effects of the cell cycle. In this work, we demonstrate countercurrent-flow centrifugal elutriation as a useful physical method to enrich mammalian cell populations within different phases of a cell cycle, which can be further cultivated for synchronized growth in bioreactors under physiological conditions. The presented combined approach contrasts with other physical selection methods especially with respect to the achievable yield, which makes it suitable for bioreactor scale cultivations. As shown with two industrial cell lines (CHO-K1 and human AGE1.HN), synchronous inocula can be obtained with overall synchrony degrees of up to 82% in the G1 phase, 53% in the S phase and 60% in the G2/M phase, with enrichment factors (Ysync) of 1.71, 1.79, and 4.24 respectively. Cells are able to grow with synchrony in bioreactors over several cell cycles. This

  19. Symptom and Problem Focused Coping Strategies of Business Women Expatriates and their Socio-Cultural Adjustment in Hong Kong

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Selmer, Jan; Leung, Alicia S.M.

    2007-01-01

    strategies may make them less well adjusted to a host location. Originality/value - Women still represent a relatively untapped source for expatriation and the research on female business expatriates is still inadequate in many respects.  An important issue examined by this study is how women cope......Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore coping strategies of female business expatriates and to examine how these strategies are associated with the women's international adjustment. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected through mail surveys to Western female business...... in Hong Kong could have contributed to the unanticipated findings that there was no association between problem focused coping strategies and any type of adjustment studied. Through cross-cultural training, female business expatriates could benefit from being informed that applying symptom focused coping...

  20. A review of studies on children's goals and strategies in response to conflicts

    OpenAIRE

    Guo, Ying

    2007-01-01

    This paper reviewed research about children's goals and strategies in response to conflicts. The issues of definitions, research methods, causes, and solution strategies of interpersonal conflicts were outlined. The focus of this review was the factors that would affect children's solution strategies. In addition to personal characteristics of children such as age and sex, various social-contextual factors such as intimacy of the children, the other's hostility, and the possession of target o...

  1. A Good IDS Response Protocol of MANET Containment Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Bo-Chao; Chen, Huan; Tseng, Ryh-Yuh

    Much recent research concentrates on designing an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to detect the misbehaviors of the malicious node in MANET with ad-hoc and mobility natures. However, without rapid and appropriate IDS response mechanisms performing follow-up management services, even the best IDS cannot achieve the desired primary goal of the incident response. A competent containment strategy is needed to limit the extent of an attack in the Incident Response Life Cycle. Inspired by the T-cell mechanisms in the human immune system, we propose an efficient MANET IDS response protocol (T-SecAODV) that can rapidly and accurately disseminate alerts of the malicious node attacks to other nodes so as to modify their AODV routing tables to isolate the malicious nodes. Simulations are conducted by the network simulator (Qualnet), and the experiment results indicate that T-SecAODV is able to spread alerts steadily while greatly reduce faulty rumors under simultaneous multiple malicious node attacks.

  2. Strategies for efficiently selecting PHA producing mixed microbial cultures using complex feedstocks: Feast and famine regime and uncoupled carbon and nitrogen availabilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Catarina S S; Silva, Carlos E; Carvalho, Gilda; Reis, Maria A

    2017-07-25

    Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by open mixed microbial cultures (MMCs) has been attracting increasing interest as an alternative technology to PHA production by pure cultures, due to the potential for lower costs associated with the use of open systems (eliminating the requirement for sterile conditions) and the utilisation of cheap feedstock (industrial and agricultural wastes). Such technology relies on the efficient selection of an MMC enriched in PHA-accumulating organisms. Fermented cheese whey, a protein-rich complex feedstock, has been used previously to produce PHA using the feast and famine regime for selection of PHA accumulating cultures. While this selection strategy was found efficient when operated at relatively low organic loading rate (OLR, 2g-CODL -1 d -1 ), great instability and low selection efficiency of PHA accumulating organisms were observed when higher OLR (ca. 6g-CODL -1 d -1 ) was applied. High organic loading is desirable as a means to enhance PHA productivity. In the present study, a new selection strategy was tested with the aim of improving selection for high OLR. It was based on uncoupling carbon and nitrogen supply and was implemented and compared with the conventional feast and famine strategy. For this, two selection reactors were fed with fermented cheese whey applying an OLR of ca. 8.5g-CODL -1 (with 3.8g-CODL -1 resulting from organic acids and ethanol), and operated in parallel under similar conditions, except for the timing of nitrogen supplementation. Whereas in the conventional strategy nitrogen and carbon substrates were added simultaneously at the beginning of the cycle, in the uncoupled substrates strategy, nitrogen addition was delayed to the end of the feast phase (i.e. after exogenous carbon was exhausted). The two different strategies selected different PHA-storing microbial communities, dominated by Corynebacterium and a Xantomonadaceae, respectively with the conventional and the new approaches. The new

  3. Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy. PMID:29064451

  4. Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin; Tsai, Sang-Bing

    2017-10-24

    This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy.

  5. Doing Good Again? A Multilevel Institutional Perspective on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Philanthropic Strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Liu

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy.

  6. Developing Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teachers: Secondary Teachers' Evolving Conceptions of Knowing Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Frieda; Bartell, Tonya Gau; Novak, Jodie D.

    2017-01-01

    Research advances in teaching, learning, curriculum, and assessment have not changed the continued underperformance of marginalized students in mathematics education. Culturally responsive teaching is a means of addressing the needs of these students. It is sometimes challenging, however, to convince secondary mathematics teachers about the…

  7. Understanding Campus Culture and Student Coping Strategies for Mental Health Issues in Five Canadian Colleges and Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giamos, Dimitris; Lee, Alex Young Soo; Suleiman, Amanda; Stuart, Heather; Chen, Shu-Ping

    2017-01-01

    This study aimed to better understand campus mental health culture and student mental health coping strategies, and to identify the mental health needs of students as well as gaps in mental health services within postsecondary education. A videovoice method was used to identify and document health-related issues and advocate for change. Forty-one…

  8. Home Culture, Science, School and Science Learning: Is Reconciliation Possible?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Aik-Ling

    2011-01-01

    In response to Meyer and Crawford's article on how nature of science and authentic science inquiry strategies can be used to support the learning of science for underrepresented students, I explore the possibly of reconciliation between the cultures of school, science, school science as well as home. Such reconciliation is only possible when…

  9. Lean Six Sigma implementation and organizational culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knapp, Susan

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between four organizational cultural types defined by the Competing Values Framework and three Lean Six Sigma implementation components - management involvement, use of Lean Six Sigma methods and Lean Six Sigma infrastructure. The study involved surveying 446 human resource and quality managers from 223 hospitals located in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument. Findings - In total, 104 completed responses were received and analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Follow-up analysis of variances showed management support was significant, F(3, 100)=4.89, p cultures having significant interactions with management support. The relationship between organizational culture and Lean Six Sigma in hospitals provides information on how specific cultural characteristics impact the Lean Six Sigma initiative key components. This information assists hospital staff who are considering implementing quality initiatives by providing an understanding of what cultural values correspond to effective Lean Six Sigma implementation. Managers understanding the quality initiative cultural underpinnings, are attentive to the culture-shared values and norm's influence can utilize strategies to better implement Lean Six Sigma.

  10. Culturally Responsive Peace Education: A Case Study at One Urban Latino K-8 Catholic School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, Brandon

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a case study of a yearlong research-based peace education program at one urban K-8 private Catholic school situated in a community plagued by structural violence in an enclave of a large Midwestern city. To frame the analysis, the author employs concepts central to culturally responsive pedagogy (including cultural competence,…

  11. Development of Safety Culture Assessment Strategy for Korean NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Jung Hwan; Kim, Jong Hyun

    2014-01-01

    This paper aims at developing the requirements for a method to evaluate the operational safety culture, evaluating currently available methods based on the requirements, and suggesting a method to evaluate and improve the operational safety culture for Korean nuclear power plants. This paper reviews the widely-used methods to assess safety culture for NPPs and their basis. Then, this paper develops the requirements for the method to evaluate operational safety culture for Korean NPPs. Based on these requirements, Korean Safety Culture Indicators (KSCI) and evaluation measures are also suggested. Finally this paper proposes the guidelines to develop improvements to safety culture from the evaluation results

  12. Development of Safety Culture Assessment Strategy for Korean NPP

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Jung Hwan; Kim, Jong Hyun [KEPCO, Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-08-15

    This paper aims at developing the requirements for a method to evaluate the operational safety culture, evaluating currently available methods based on the requirements, and suggesting a method to evaluate and improve the operational safety culture for Korean nuclear power plants. This paper reviews the widely-used methods to assess safety culture for NPPs and their basis. Then, this paper develops the requirements for the method to evaluate operational safety culture for Korean NPPs. Based on these requirements, Korean Safety Culture Indicators (KSCI) and evaluation measures are also suggested. Finally this paper proposes the guidelines to develop improvements to safety culture from the evaluation results.

  13. Logo design: examining consumer response to figurativeness across cultures

    OpenAIRE

    Machado, Joana César; Vacas de Carvalho, Leonor; Torres, Anna; Van de Velden, Michel; Costa, Patrício

    2014-01-01

    Literature concerned with logo strategy suggests that the aesthetic appeal of brand logo significantly influences consumer reactions. The main purpose of this research is to study the influence of the different categories of figurative logo designs on consumer response. Through two studies in three countries, this research sheds light on consumer logo preferences, by investigating the psychological properties of the figurativeness of logo design. Results showed that figurativeness is an essen...

  14. Dam owner floodplain management: responsibility, consequences and strategies in a competitive environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joyner, J.B.; Lence, B.J.

    1999-01-01

    Dam owners responsibilities regarding dam construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning, as imposed by various statutes in British Columbia, are discussed. The discussion includes consideration of consequences of failure to meet mandated responsibilities, and technical, legal and educational strategies to avoid exposure to risk. Recent court decisions are examined to identify common areas of risk. 9 refs., 1 fig

  15. Engaging High School Girls in Native American Culturally Responsive STEAM Enrichment Activities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kant, Joanita M.; Burckhard, Suzette R.; Meyers, Richard T.

    2018-01-01

    Providing science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) culturally responsive enrichment activities is one way of promoting more interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies and careers among indigenous students. The purpose of the study was to explore the impact, if any, of STEAM culturally…

  16. COMPUGIRLS' Standpoint: Culturally Responsive Computing and Its Effect on Girls of Color

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Kimberly A.; White, Mary Aleta

    2013-01-01

    This article investigates the motivations of African American and Latino girls ("N" = 41) who navigate urban Southwest school districts during the day, but voluntarily attend a 2-year, culturally responsive multimedia program after school and into the summer. Understanding that girls from economically disadvantaged settings are indeed…

  17. Magnet status as a competitive strategy of hospital organizations: marketing a culture of excellence in nursing services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tropello, Paula Grace Dunn

    2003-01-01

    With issues of patient safety, the nursing shortage, and managed care fiscal constraints, hospital organizations can strategically capture market share, while insuring best care practices, if they adopt the "Magnet Status" accreditation model. This quality indicator signifies to the consumer a culture of excellence in nursing services and fulfills the priority of customer satisfaction as a marketing strategy objective.

  18. TOURISM AND CULTURAL REVIVAL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George NICULESCU

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the tourism and the cultural revival. Cultural change is a recurrent concern in tourism studies. Host societies frequently remodel their culture following the creation of a tourist resort. But, that does not necessarily imply an acculturating process, since what actually takes place is pragmatic cultural production work in response to the touristic demands that offer consolidated economic alternatives and livelihood. Culture change has been a concern in tourism anthropology studies ever since this field of research established itself, particularly concerning the changes host societies undergo. But that does not necessarily imply the phenomenon is to be analyzed exclusively under the focus of the acculturation paradigm, since researchers often come across the production of new cultural elements of a traditional character among host populations in their attempt to occupy new spaces from which to address the world. in fact, that applies to various social situations where local actors seek to display certain lifestyles and cultural traits in order to draw attention to their ethnic, regional, or national features. Therefore, the object of study no longer focuses on the gradual loss of local and cultural (or ethnic substance, but rather on the relative ethnicity triggered by and among translocal flows that may lead to the deliberate turnaround of different cultural aspects of the host populations. Based on those premises, this article deals with the investigation of a cultural change process, making use of the historic perspective that includes an analysis of the “strategies of cultural mobilization” activated by the social subjects that are constantly recreating themselves in the tourism areas.

  19. Cross-cultural Context and Politeness

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    朱芬

    2012-01-01

    In social interaction,politeness is a universal phenomenon existing in all languages.However,for social,ethnographic and even historical reasons,politeness strategies in a specific cultural context may vary from one to another.And for most time it is not language itself but different politeness strategies that lead to cross-cultural communicative failure.Knowing about these differences will help to overcome pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication.

  20. Corporate environmental responsiveness strategies and competitiveness in the North American oil and gas industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sharma, S.

    1996-12-31

    An exploratory study was conducted in the Canadian oil and gas industries to build a perspective on the environmental responsive strategies employed by the industry. Based on this study and a detailed review of the literature, hypotheses were formulated regarding organizational determinants of environmental responsiveness strategies and the impact of these strategies on firm performance. The hypotheses were tested through a questionnaire-based comparative survey of multiple informants in the Canadian and U.S. oil and gas industries. Results revealed that environmental responsiveness was influenced by management interpretation of environmental issues as threats or opportunities. Other significant factors noted were company size and resources, and collaborative problem-solving relationships with stockholders seen as spokespersons for the natural environment. Managerial interpretations of environmental issues appeared to be affected by leadership styles, organization design factors such as managerial discretion in decisions on the business/ natural environment interface, and the use of environmental performance indicators in employee control systems. refs., figs.

  1. Corporate environmental responsiveness strategies and competitiveness in the North American oil and gas industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, S.

    1996-01-01

    An exploratory study was conducted in the Canadian oil and gas industries to build a perspective on the environmental responsive strategies employed by the industry. Based on this study and a detailed review of the literature, hypotheses were formulated regarding organizational determinants of environmental responsiveness strategies and the impact of these strategies on firm performance. The hypotheses were tested through a questionnaire-based comparative survey of multiple informants in the Canadian and U.S. oil and gas industries. Results revealed that environmental responsiveness was influenced by management interpretation of environmental issues as threats or opportunities. Other significant factors noted were company size and resources, and collaborative problem-solving relationships with stockholders seen as spokespersons for the natural environment. Managerial interpretations of environmental issues appeared to be affected by leadership styles, organization design factors such as managerial discretion in decisions on the business/ natural environment interface, and the use of environmental performance indicators in employee control systems. refs., figs

  2. Cultural sensitivity and supportive expressive psychotherapy: an integrative approach to treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Tracela M; Gibbons, Mary Beth Connolly; Schamberger, Megan

    2006-01-01

    Cultural sensitivity is a concept that has become increasingly important in psychotherapy research and practice. In response to the growing ethnic minority population and the increased demand for psychological services among minority clients, many therapists and researchers have attempted to identify competencies and guidelines for providing culturally sensitive approaches to treatment. However, many cultural sensitivity concepts are theoretical and have rarely been integrated into an established psychotherapeutic framework. The purpose of this manuscript is to operationalize the concepts of cultural sensitivity into specific therapeutic techniques using a manual-guided Supportive Expressive Psychotherapy approach. Developing these strategies may serve to further assist therapists with the delivery of mental health services to ethnic minority clients.

  3. How Overall Logistics Strategy Mediates The Influence Of Market Attractiveness And Dynamic Capability On Strategic Competitive Response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Febriyanto

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This research is conducted to examine the influence of market attractiveness and dynamic capability on strategic competitive response through overall logistics strategies of logistics service providers LSPs. Involving 266 LSPs SEM-LISREL is applied to test the hypotheses. The findings reveal that the market attractiveness and the dynamic capability positively affect the overall logistics strategy. Additionally the market attractiveness and the dynamic capability positively affect the strategic competitive response. Indirectly the market attractiveness and the dynamic capability positively affect the performance through strategic competitive response of LSPs. Obviously overall logistics strategy strengthen the influence of both market attractiveness and dynamic capability on strategic competitive response. There are five alternatives to optimize the overall logistics strategy of LSPs market intensification integration focus collaboration and strengthening value proposition. The involvement of overall logistics strategy as mediating variable is new paradigm in the strategic management discourses especially in logistics industry. Further research needs to be performed by involving the size of business as control variable and LSPs perception on Governments policies.

  4. A Conventional Flexible Response Strategy for the Western Pacific

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-15

    Finlandized,“ falling into Beijing’s sphere of influence. Whichever combination of balancing and bandwagoning strategies by regional states occurs...stakes that exist in many possible conflicts with China. US responses must be credible reactions to provocations if they are to be effective ...hold major US air bases in Guam and Okinawa at risk through heavy missile barrages will make air-based power projection less effective .39 These

  5. They Have "Verve": Preservice Teachers' Perceptions about Culturally Relevant/Responsive Pedagogy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nash, Kindel

    2018-01-01

    Based on concerns about the permanence of racism in our society and its impact on opportunities for children's equitable education, this empirical study used narrative inquiry to explore four preservice teachers' developing dispositions as they studied and implemented culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy (CR/RP) in an early literacy education…

  6. Teaching about Refugees: Developing Culturally Responsive Educators in Contexts of Politicised Transnationalism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gagné, Antoinette; Schmidt, Clea; Markus, Paula

    2017-01-01

    This article addresses issues of teaching about refugees in initial teacher education and professional development for practicing teachers. We respond to the who, what, where, when, why and how of teaching about refugees and developing culturally responsive pedagogy in contexts of politicised transnationalism, where the wider politics around…

  7. Investigating the Use of Compliments and Compliment Responses in Persian: Effect of Educational Background

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vahid Shahidi Pour

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed at investigating the effect of the social variable of education on the use of compliments and compliment responses in Persian. To this end, a Discourse Completion Task (DCT was administered to 200 native Persian speakers from different educational backgrounds. In general, the results revealed that participants tended to use explicit unbound semantic formula as well as non-compliment strategies to give compliments the most. However, they used future reference, contrast, request, and 'other' strategies the least. Furthermore, they followed accept, reject, and evade trend when replying to compliments. Surprisingly, the most common subcategory of compliment response strategy used by participants was downgrade. Return and appreciation tokens were the second and third most frequently used strategies. However, they never used reassignment and topic shift to respond to compliments. In particular, the results suggested the effect of education on determining compliments and compliment responses patterns. While lower educated people preferred non-compliment strategies, higher educated people preferred explicit semantic formula strategies to give compliments the most. In replying to compliments, downgrade occurred most frequently across different educational levels except PhD/MD level. PhD/MD holders used appreciation token the most. The second most frequently used compliment response strategy by all educational levels was return. However, despite minor differences, no marked difference was found among educational levels regarding the least frequent compliments and compliment responses. The findings can provide valuable insight into the cultural and socio-cultural factors affecting the way people compliment, perceive the compliments, and respond to the compliments made on them.

  8. Cultural resource management and the necessity of cultural and natural resource collaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roderick Kevin Donald; Kara Kusche; Collin Gaines

    2005-01-01

    Cultural Resource Specialists function as interpreters of past and present human behavior through the analysis of cultural/natural resources vital to human ecological sustainability. When developing short and long-term preservation strategies for cultural resources, it is more current and innovative for Cultural Resource Specialists to think of past human populations...

  9. A Comparison of the Policy Response to Cultural Diversity in China and India

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    宋丽娜

    2015-01-01

    This essay attempts to explore the current cultural diversity in China and India with the comparison of policy responses, especially the multiculturalism and language policies, as well as the policies on the workplace. Results show that India enriched and deepened its multiculturalism through the recognition of languages diversity, while China weakened its cultural diversity by popularizing one official language, Mandarin. However, both China and India should do more in practice to make different ethnic groups live and participant as equal partners in the social life.

  10. STUDENTS POSITIVE RESPONSE THROUGH THINK PAIR SHARE STRATEGY ON ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iin Baroroh Ma’arif

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Harmonious communication has an important role in teaching and learning process, especially in encouraging the success of teaching and learning process in the classroom. This research was conducted to know the student's response to the implementation of Think Pair Share strategy in Speaking course. This strategy emphasizes how students are more active in communicating using English in the classroom. The purpose of this research is 1 how the implementation of Think Pair Share strategy in class; 2 how students respond to the Think Pair Share strategy in the classroom; The design of this study is descriptive-qualitative to answer these questions. In this study, researchers themselves are the main instrument. In collecting data, researchers used observation sheets, and field notes.

  11. Revisiting life strategy concepts in environmental microbial ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Adrian; Di Lonardo, D Paolo; Bodelier, Paul L E

    2017-03-01

    Microorganisms are physiologically diverse, possessing disparate genomic features and mechanisms for adaptation (functional traits), which reflect on their associated life strategies and determine at least to some extent their prevalence and distribution in the environment. Unlike animals and plants, there is an unprecedented diversity and intractable metabolic versatility among bacteria, making classification or grouping these microorganisms based on their functional traits as has been done in animal and plant ecology challenging. Nevertheless, based on representative pure cultures, microbial traits distinguishing different life strategies had been proposed, and had been the focus of previous reviews. In the environment, however, the vast majority of naturally occurring microorganisms have yet to be isolated, restricting the association of life strategies to broad phylogenetic groups and/or physiological characteristics. Here, we reviewed the literature to determine how microbial life strategy concepts (i.e. copio- and oligotrophic strategists, and competitor-stress tolerator-ruderals framework) are applied in complex microbial communities. Because of the scarcity of direct empirical evidence elucidating the associated life strategies in complex communities, we rely heavily on observational studies determining the response of microorganisms to (a)biotic cues (e.g. resource availability) to infer microbial life strategies. Although our focus is on the life strategies of bacteria, parallels were drawn from the fungal community. Our literature search showed inconsistency in the community response of proposed copiotrophic- and oligotrophic-associated microorganisms (phyla level) to changing environmental conditions. This suggests that tracking microorganisms at finer phylogenetic and taxonomic resolution (e.g. family level or lower) may be more effective to capture changes in community response and/or that edaphic factors exert a stronger effect in community response

  12. A qualitative investigation into key cultural factors that support abstinence or responsible drinking amongst some Pacific youth living in New Zealand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suaalii-Sauni Tamasailau

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Abstinence and responsible drinking are not typically associated with youth drinking culture. Amongst Pacific youth in New Zealand there are high numbers, compared to the general New Zealand population, who choose not to consume alcohol. The Pacific youth population is made up of several ethnic groups; their ethno-cultural values are largely Polynesian and heavily influenced by the socio-economic realities of living in New Zealand. This paper explores factors that support abstinence or responsible drinking amongst Pacific youth living in Auckland. Methods A qualitative study comprised of a series of ethnically-, age-, and gender-matched semi-structured focus group discussions with 69 Pacific youth, aged 15-25 years from a university and selected high-schools. Participants were purposively sampled. Results Key cultural factors that contributed to whether Pacific youth participants were abstinent or responsible drinkers were: significant experiences within Pacific family environments (e.g. young person directly links their decision about alcohol consumption to a positive or negative role model; awareness of the belief that their actions as children of Pacific parents affects the reputation and standing of their Pacific family and community (e.g. church; awareness of traditional Pacific values of respect, reciprocity and cultural taboos (e.g. male–female socialising; commitment to no-alcohol teachings of church or religious faith; having peer support and experiences that force them to consider negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption; and personal awareness that being part of an (excessive drinking culture may seriously affect health or impede career aspirations. Conclusions The narratives offered by Pacific young people highlighted three key communities of influence: family (immediate and extended, but especially siblings, peers and church. Young people negotiated through these communities of influence their

  13. Practitioners' Perceptions of Culturally Responsive School-Based Mental Health Services for Low-Income African American Girls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harper, Erin; Kruger, Ann Cale; Hamilton, Chela; Meyers, Joel; Truscott, Stephen D.; Varjas, Kris

    2016-01-01

    School-based mental health practitioners are positioned to address low-income urban African American girls' mental health needs through culturally responsive services. Despite the importance of culturally reflective practice, it is understudied. We asked school-based mental health practitioners (N = 7) to reflect on barriers and facilitators to…

  14. Educational strategies to reduce risk: a choice of social responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Federica La Longa

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This study develops the critical reflections of the activities for information, training and education that have been conducted by a group of researchers of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in recent years. In particular, from an epistemological point of view, our analysis involves: (i science outreach, the link between science and the world; (ii science teaching and its role in the contact between science and schools; and (iii risk education, seen as a process that can develop a culture of risk in relation to the territory in which we live. These issues are critically analyzed on the basis of experience gained since 1995. The educational methodologies tested in ‘peacetime’ (in the absence of seismic events with the EDURISK Project are compared with those experienced during an emergency in Abruzzo, Italy. Today, we increasingly refer to prevention as the primary strategy of defense against risk. However, very often the responsibility of prevention falls on others, such as the government, institutions and/or local authorities. The citizens then perceive themselves as powerless against the inevitability of natural events, and they refer to these ‘rulers’ for the implementation of effective prevention policies. So, as researchers, what are the most effective actions we can take to influence risk reduction and to motivate the choices of the people? Must the effectiveness of our interventions be based on scientific information or on specific training, or must it be reached through the development of values, actions and awareness? Must our interventions be oriented and developed to inform, to train or to educate?

  15. "Can't Nobody Sleep" and Other Characteristics of Culturally Responsive English Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adkins, Theresa A.

    2012-01-01

    In this article the author presents a collective case study of two English teachers identified as particularly successful with Black students. Through the use of ethnographic techniques, the study provides a snapshot of how these teachers facilitated academic gains in urban high schools through their use of culturally responsive English…

  16. Traditional Coping Strategies and Disaster Response: Examples from the South Pacific Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie M. Fletcher

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The Pacific Islands are vulnerable to climate change and increased risk of disasters not only because of their isolated and often low lying geographical setting but because of their economic status which renders them reliant on donor support. In a qualitative study exploring the adaptive capacity of Pacific Island Countries (PICs across four countries, Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu, it was clear that traditional coping strategies are consistently being applied as part of response to disasters and climate changes. This paper describes five common strategies employed in PICs as understood through this research: recognition of traditional methods; faith and religious beliefs; traditional governance and leadership; family and community involvement; and agriculture and food security. While this study does not trial the efficacy of these methods, it provides an indication of what methods are being used and therefore a starting point for further research into which of these traditional strategies are beneficial. These findings also provide important impetus for Pacific Island governments to recognise traditional approaches in their disaster preparedness and response processes.

  17. Evaluating research recruitment strategies to improve response rates amongst South African nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natasha Khamisa

    2014-03-01

    Research purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate three research recruitment methods for their impact on recruitment and participation rates amongst South African nurses. Motivation for the study: A limited number of studies exist that formally evaluates different recruitment strategies to improve participation in research amongst nurses within developing contexts, especially South Africa. Research approach, design and method: Participants were recruited using three different methods. Of the 250 nurses randomly selected and invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey, 201 agreed and 162 (81% returned the questionnaires. Main findings: Nursing management participation in the recruitment and data collection process produces more favourable response rates. Reminders and the use of shorter questionnaires also aid higher response rates. Practical/managerial implications: Reminders as well as face-to-face recruitment strategies (especially by a familiar person successfully improved participation rates amongst South African nurses in this study. Contribution/value-add: This study identifies some strategies that could be used more widely to increase the recruitment and participation of South African nurses in research whilst potentially improving their work situation.

  18. Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Context of Mathematics: A Grounded Theory Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonner, Emily P.; Adams, Thomasenia L.

    2012-01-01

    In this grounded theory case study, four interconnected, foundational cornerstones of culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT), communication, knowledge, trust/relationships, and constant reflection/revision, were systematically unearthed to develop an initial working theory of CRMT that directly informs classroom practice. These…

  19. A Cross-Cultural Examination of Preschool Teacher Cognitions and Responses to Child Aggression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pochtar, Randi; Del Vecchio, Tamara

    2014-01-01

    The associations among preschool teachers' attributions about child responsibility, intentionality, knowledge, and the seriousness of hypothetical displays of children's aggressive behavior are examined in United States ("N"?=?82) and Vietnamese ("N"?=?91) preschool teachers. The results suggest cross-cultural differences as…

  20. Response of cultured human airway epithelial cells to X-rays and energetic α-particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, T.C.; Holley, W.R.; Curtis, S.B.; Gruenert, D.C.; California Univ., San Francisco, CA

    1990-01-01

    Radon and its progeny, which emit α-particles during decay, may play an important role in inducing human lung cancer. To gain a better understanding of the biological effects of α-particles in human lung we studied the response of cultured human airway epithelial cells to X-rays and monoenergetic helium ions. Experimental results indicated that the radiation response of primary cultures was similar to that for airway epithelial cells that were transformed with a plasmid containing an origin-defective SV40 virus. The RBE for cell inactivation determined by the ratio of D 0 for X-rays to that for 8 MeV helium ions was 1.8-2.2. The cross-section for helium ions, calculated from the D 0 value, was about 24 μm 2 for cells of the primary culture. This cross-section is significantly smaller than the average geometric nuclear area (∼ 180 μm 2 ), suggesting that an average of 7.5 α-particles (8 MeV helium ions) per cell nucleus are needed to induce a lethal lesion. (author)

  1. Climate adaptation in NVE's areas of responsibility - Strategy 2010 - 2014; Klimatilpasning innen NVEs ansvarsomraader - Strategi 2010 - 2014

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hamarsland, Arne T. (ed.)

    2010-09-15

    NVE has developed a comprehensive climate change strategies within their areas of responsibility. There is a systematic review of how a future climate change will affect NVE management areas; how to meet challenges, vulnerabilities, opportunities and proposals for adaptation measures. Climate adaptation is a dynamic process. It is therefore necessary to follow up the work continuously and correct direction at regular intervals. Climate change adaptation strategy of adaptation measures is a foundation and a direction sensor in NVE's business planning. (AG)

  2. Sharpening the lens of culturally responsive science teaching: a call for liberatory education for oppressed student groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Codrington, Jamila

    2014-12-01

    Wallace and Brand's framing of culturally responsive science teaching through the lens of critical race theory honors the role of social justice in science education. In this article, I extend the discussion through reflections on the particular learning needs of students from oppressed cultural groups, specifically African Americans. Understanding the political nature of education, I explore the importance of transforming science education so that it has the capacity to provide African American students with tools for their own liberation. I discuss Wallace and Brand's research findings in relation to the goal of liberatory education, and offer ideas for how science educators might push forward this agenda as they strive for culturally responsive teaching with oppressed student groups.

  3. Cell-cycle distributions and radiation responses of Chinese hamster cells cultured continuously under hypoxic conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tokita, N.; Carpenter, S.G.; Raju, M.R.

    1984-01-01

    Cell-cycle distributions were measured by flow cytometry for Chinese hamster (CHO) cells cultured continuously under hypoxic conditions. DNA histograms showed an accumulation of cells in the early S phase followed by a traverse delay through the S phase, and a G 2 block. During hypoxic culturing, cell viability decreased rapidly to less than 0.1% at 120 h. Radiation responses for cells cultured under these conditions showed an extreme radioresistance at 72 h. Results suggest that hypoxia induces a condition similar to cell synchrony which itself changes the radioresistance of hypoxic cells. (author)

  4. A versatile, non genetically modified organism (GMO)-based strategy for controlling low-producer mutants in Bordetella pertussis cultures using antigenic modulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goffin, Philippe; Slock, Thomas; Smessaert, Vincent; De Rop, Philippe; Dehottay, Philippe

    2015-08-01

    The uncontrolled presence of non-producer mutants negatively affects bioprocesses. In Bordetella pertussis cultures, avirulent mutants emerge spontaneously and accumulate. We characterized the dynamics of accumulation using high-throughput growth assays and competition experiments between virulent and avirulent (bvg(-) ) isolates. A fitness advantage of bvg(-) cells was identified as the main driver for bvg(-) accumulation under conditions of high virulence factor production. Conversely, under conditions that reduce their expression (antigenic modulation), bvg(-) takeover could be avoided. A control strategy was derived, which consists in applying modulating conditions whenever virulence factor production is not required. It has a wide range of applications, from routine laboratory operations to vaccine manufacturing, where pertussis toxin yields were increased 1.4-fold by performing early pre-culture steps in modulating conditions. Because it only requires subtle modifications of the culture medium and does not involve genetic modifications, this strategy is applicable to any B. pertussis isolate, and should facilitate regulatory acceptance of process changes for vaccine production. Strategies based on the same concept, could be derived for other industrially relevant micro-organisms. This study illustrates how a sound scientific understanding of physiological principles can be turned into a practical application for the bioprocess industry, in alignment with Quality by Design principles. Copyright © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  5. [Patient safety culture in family and community medicine residents in Aragon].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Cogollo, R; Paredes-Alvarado, I R; Galicia-Flores, T; Barrasa-Villar, J I; Castán-Ruiz, S

    2014-01-01

    having an appropriate patient safety culture is the first recommendation to improve it. The aim of this article is to determine the safety culture in family medicine residents and then to identify improvement strategies. an online cross-sectional survey of residents in family medicine teaching units of Aragon using the translated, validated and adapted to Spanish, Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (MOSPS) questionnaire. The results were grouped in 12-dimensional responses for analysis, and the mean value of each dimension was calculated. Perceptions were described by Percentages of Positive (PRP) and Negative Responses (PRN) to each dimension. positive results were seen in «the Patient Care Tracking/Follow-up». There were significant differences in the «Information Exchange With Other Settings», «Staff Training» and «Overall Perceptions of Patient Safety and Quality». Study participants viewed «Work Pressure and Pace» negatively. the institutions providing health services, as well as their staff, are increasingly aware of the importance of improving Patient Safety, and the results of this study allowed us to present information that helps identify weaknesses, and to design initiatives and strategies to improve care practices. Copyright © 2013 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  6. Strategies to promote a climate of academic integrity and minimize student cheating and plagiarism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scanlan, Craig L

    2006-01-01

    Student academic misconduct is a growing problem for colleges and universities, including those responsible for preparing health professionals. Although the implementation of honor codes has had a positive impact on this problem, further reduction in student cheating and plagiarism can be achieved only via a comprehensive strategy that promotes an institutional culture of academic integrity. Such a strategy must combine efforts both to deter and detect academic misconduct, along with fair but rigorous application of sanctions against such behaviors. Methods useful in preventing or deterring dishonest behaviors among students include early integrity training complemented with course-level reinforcement, faculty role-modeling, and the application of selected testing/assignment preventive strategies, including honor pledges and honesty declarations. Giving students more responsibility for oversight of academic integrity also may help address this problem and better promote the culture needed to uphold its principles. Successful enforcement requires that academic administration provide strong and visible support for upholding academic integrity standards, including the provision of a clear and fair process and the consistent application of appropriate sanctions against those whose conduct is found to violate these standards.

  7. Cultural tourism and tourism cultures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ooi, Can-Seng

    Presenting a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of cultural tourism, this volume examines cultural mediators and how they help tourists appreciate foreign cultures. It also shows how tourism experiences are strategically crafted by mediators, the complexity of the mediation process, and how...... various products are mediated differently. A number of different products are investigated, including destination brand identities, "living" cultures and everyday life, art and history. The author illustrates his arguments by comparing the tourism strategies of Copenhagen and Singapore, and demonstrates...... how tourism is an agent for social change. The author also offers an original and refreshing way of understanding tourist behaviour through the concept of the "versatile tourist". The book's empirical cases and dialogic framework provide new and deep insights into tourism activities. In his...

  8. Learning by Leading: Dynamic Mentoring to Support Culturally Responsive Mathematical Inquiry Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Roberta; Hunter, Jodie; Bills, Trevor; Thompson, Zain

    2016-01-01

    While there is widespread agreement that "all" learners of the 21st century need to be numerate and literate, reforming pedagogical practices to achieve such an outcome is challenging for many teachers. This is a report of one aspect of a project which aims to integrate a culturally responsive pedagogical mathematics practice within…

  9. Research on improvement strategies of elite culture, mass culture and the comprehensive quality of undergraduates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Hongling

    2011-10-01

    This article, placed the comprehensive quality improvement of undergraduates under the background of elite culture and mass culture, analyzed the influences and challenges brought by elite culture and mass culture on the undergraduate education from multiple perspectives of philosophy, ethics, economics, education, sociology and etc. and combing some foreign developed countries' experiences proposed the principles should be insisted by high schools in the context of elite culture and mass culture. With the development of times, undergraduate education should also constantly develop into new historical starting points and thoroughly reform the undergraduate education from content to essence, perception to format with a globalized horizon, so as to be able to reflect the time characteristics and better promote the overall development of undergraduates. Exactly based on such a view, this article, on the premise of full recognition that the flourishing and development of elite culture and mass culture has promoted China into a multicultural situation, proposed the principles for university moral education, such as education should promote the integration of undergraduate multi-values, sticking to the integration of unary guidance with diverse development, insisting on seeking common points while reserving differences and harmony but with differences, and etc.

  10. THE CONTRIBUTION OF EARTH OBSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES TO MONITORING STRATEGIES OF CULTURAL LANDSCAPES AND SITES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Cuca

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Coupling of Climate change effects with management and protection of cultural and natural heritage has been brought to the attention of policy makers since several years. On the worldwide level, UNESCO has identified several phenomena as the major geo-hazards possibly induced by climate change and their possible hazardous impact to natural and cultural heritage: Hurricane, storms; Sea-level rise; Erosion; Flooding; Rainfall increase; Drought; Desertification and Rise in temperature. The same document further referrers to satellite Remote Sensing (EO as one of the valuable tools, useful for development of “professional monitoring strategies”. More recently, other studies have highlighted on the impact of climate change effects on tourism, an economic sector related to build environment and traditionally linked to heritage. The results suggest that, in case of emergency the concrete threat could be given by the hazardous event itself; in case of ordinary administration, however, the threat seems to be a “hazardous attitude” towards cultural assets that could lead to inadequate maintenance and thus to a risk of an improper management of cultural heritage sites. This paper aims to illustrate potential benefits that advancements of Earth Observation technologies can bring to the domain of monitoring landscape heritage and to the management strategies, including practices of preventive maintenance. The attempt here is to raise awareness on the importance of integrating satellite remote sensing imagery and the deriving products with other geospatial information (even geo-referenced historic maps for a more complete insight on the environmental dynamics of landscapes.

  11. Concentration-dependent gene expression responses to flusilazole in embryonic stem cell differentiation cultures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dartel, Dorien A.M. van; Pennings, Jeroen L.A.; Fonteyne, Liset J.J. de la; Brauers, Karen J.J.; Claessen, Sandra; Delft, Joost H. van; Kleinjans, Jos C.S.; Piersma, Aldert H.

    2011-01-01

    The murine embryonic stem cell test (EST) is designed to evaluate developmental toxicity based on compound-induced inhibition of embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation into cardiomyocytes. The addition of transcriptomic evaluation within the EST may result in enhanced predictability and improved characterization of the applicability domain, therefore improving usage of the EST for regulatory testing strategies. Transcriptomic analyses assessing factors critical for risk assessment (i.e. dose) are needed to determine the value of transcriptomic evaluation in the EST. Here, using the developmentally toxic compound, flusilazole, we investigated the effect of compound concentration on gene expression regulation and toxicity prediction in ESC differentiation cultures. Cultures were exposed for 24 h to multiple concentrations of flusilazole (0.54-54 μM) and RNA was isolated. In addition, we sampled control cultures 0, 24, and 48 h to evaluate the transcriptomic status of the cultures across differentiation. Transcriptomic profiling identified a higher sensitivity of development-related processes as compared to cell division-related processes in flusilazole-exposed differentiation cultures. Furthermore, the sterol synthesis-related mode of action of flusilazole toxicity was detected. Principal component analysis using gene sets related to normal ESC differentiation was used to describe the dynamics of ESC differentiation, defined as the 'differentiation track'. The concentration-dependent effects on development were reflected in the significance of deviation of flusilazole-exposed cultures from this transcriptomic-based differentiation track. Thus, the detection of developmental toxicity in EST using transcriptomics was shown to be compound concentration-dependent. This study provides further insight into the possible application of transcriptomics in the EST as an improved alternative model system for developmental toxicity testing.

  12. Cognitive and Neural Determinants of Response Strategy in the Dual-Solution Plus-Maze Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Leonibus, Elvira; Costantini, Vivian J. A.; Massaro, Antonio; Mandolesi, Georgia; Vanni, Valentina; Luvisetto, Siro; Pavone, Flaminia; Oliverio, Alberto; Mele, Andrea

    2011-01-01

    Response strategy in the dual-solution plus maze is regarded as a form of stimulus-response learning. In this study, by using an outcome devaluation procedure, we show that it can be based on both action-outcome and stimulus-response habit learning, depending on the amount of training that the animals receive. Furthermore, we show that…

  13. Writing the Male Abuser in Cultural Responses to Domestic Violence in Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godsland, Shelley

    2012-01-01

    The article analyzes the portrayal of the male perpetrator of heterosexual domestic violence in a selection of contemporary Spanish texts (novel, drama, and autobiography) that form part of a clearly discernible cultural response to the issue of intimate partner violence in Spain today. It reads the figure of the abuser in conjunction with a range…

  14. Positioning of sponsorships on the cultural events market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lukić-Krstanović Miroslava

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the relationship between cultural events and financial possession through which a complex web of communication can be discerned, in positions of social responsibility and consumerism. In the first part of the paper, sponsorship is described in its historical context in order to point out its key features and transformations over time, especially in the socialist and post-socialist period. By contextualizing sponsorship strategies and messages, one can accurately track the representations and values attached to the positioning of cultural products in the zone of national and global policies. Musical spectacles (concerts, festivals, assemblies etc. are attractive and useful products in the sponsorship market. The EXIT festival, Jelen beer, Guča, Telenor, Alpha Bank, Bogoljub Karić, Zepter, Beer Fest, Tuborg, Kustendorf are just some examples - patents of sponsorship of cultural manifestations in the transitional period. This paper constructs three forms of sponsorship strategies in the domain of cultural festival scenes: ownership, leadership and partnership. In the domain of partnership between collective and private property, sponsorship strategies are based on an ethical mimicry of old/new rules and their enforcers within a gift economy, thus creating arbitrary spaces for action adjusted for crises (the grey economy, money laundering, unstable economic policies etc.. Leadership is a sponsorship strategy which entails complete domination in the sphere of decision making, utilization and spending, without the possibility of outside control. In leadership there is no opposition between owners and sponsors, and everything is subject to the authority of the individual as the one and only, inviolable self-sponsor. Partnership is based on the power of choice in the domain of competition and opposition as bipolar ownership. The tandems of spectacle - sponsor and enjoyment - monopoly, are viable projectors of various strategies

  15. On (mis-)conceptions of culture as a vehicle of business succes: Singapore Chinese investment strategies after failing in China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dahles, H.

    2007-01-01

    The focus of this paper is on the strategies applied by Singapore Chinese businesses upon failing in their China business ventures. It has been argued that both the increase in Singapore ventures into China and the failures are due to either cultural issues (misconceptions of 'shared ethnicity') or

  16. The presence of a culturally similar or dissimilar social partner affects neural responses to emotional stimuli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate A. Woodcock

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Emotional responding is sensitive to social context; however, little emphasis has been placed on the mechanisms by which social context effects changes in emotional responding. Objective: We aimed to investigate the effects of social context on neural responses to emotional stimuli to inform on the mechanisms underpinning context-linked changes in emotional responding. Design: We measured event-related potential (ERP components known to index specific emotion processes and self-reports of explicit emotion regulation strategies and emotional arousal. Female Chinese university students observed positive, negative, and neutral photographs, whilst alone or accompanied by a culturally similar (Chinese or dissimilar researcher (British. Results: There was a reduction in the positive versus neutral differential N1 amplitude (indexing attentional capture by positive stimuli in the dissimilar relative to alone context. In this context, there was also a corresponding increase in amplitude of a frontal late positive potential (LPP component (indexing engagement of cognitive control resources. In the similar relative to alone context, these effects on differential N1 and frontal LPP amplitudes were less pronounced, but there was an additional decrease in the amplitude of a parietal LPP component (indexing motivational relevance in response to positive stimuli. In response to negative stimuli, the differential N1 component was increased in the similar relative to dissimilar and alone (trend context. Conclusion: These data suggest that neural processes engaged in response to emotional stimuli are modulated by social context. Possible mechanisms for the social-context-linked changes in attentional capture by emotional stimuli include a context-directed modulation of the focus of attention, or an altered interpretation of the emotional stimuli based on additional information proportioned by the context.

  17. Developing cultural competence and social responsibility in preclinical dental students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubin, Richard W

    2004-04-01

    Dental student development of cultural competence and social responsibility is recognized by educators as an important element in the overall shaping of minds and attitudes of modem dental practitioners. Yet training modalities to achieve these competencies are not clearly defined, and outcome measurements are elusive. This article shows an effective method to meet these desired outcomes. Sixty-one freshmen (class of 2005) participated in forty hours of nondental community service, and reflective journals were completed by the end of second year. Competency outcomes were measured by selecting key words and phrases found in the individual journals. Key phrases were related to compassion, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Also, phrases had to be accompanied by written indications of direct program causation. The combination of active-learning (based upon service learning models) in public health settings outside of the dental realm, accompanied by reflective journaling, enhanced cultural understanding and community spirit in the majority of students.

  18. Cultural Differences and Similarities in Responses to the Silver Drawing Test in the USA, Brazil, Russia, Estonia, Thailand, and Australia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silver, Rawley

    2003-01-01

    Summarizes cross-cultural studies of cognitive skills, emotions, and self-images found in responses to drawing tasks by children, adolescents, and adults. Its aim is to find out whether cultural differences in scores on the Silver Drawing Test can illuminate cultural preferences and contribute to cultural practices. (Contains 21 references.) (GCP)

  19. 75 FR 76997 - Public Consultation on Personnel Reliability and Culture of Responsibility Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-12-10

    ... recommendations in this regard and to develop specific guidance that reflects broad input from the scientific... institutional leadership for promoting biosecurity, personnel reliability, and a culture of responsibility; (2... on the meeting agenda, which can be accessed at http://www.biosecurityboard.gov . The meeting is open...

  20. Making sense of climate change risks and responses at the community level: A cultural-political lens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ainka A. Granderson

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available How to better assess, communicate and respond to risks from climate change at the community level have emerged as key questions within climate risk management. Recent research to address these questions centres largely on psychological factors, exploring how cognition and emotion lead to biases in risk assessment. Yet, making sense of climate change and its responses at the community level demands attention to the cultural and political processes that shape how risk is conceived, prioritized and managed. I review the emergent literature on risk perceptions and responses to climate change using a cultural-political lens. This lens highlights how knowledge, meaning and power are produced and negotiated across multiple stakeholders at the community level. It draws attention to the different ways of constructing climate change risks and suggests an array of responses at the community level. It further illustrates how different constructions of risk intersect with agency and power to shape the capacity for response and collective action. What matters are whose constructions of risk, and whose responses, count in decision-making. I argue for greater engagement with the interpretive social sciences in research, practice and policy. The interpretive social sciences offer theories and tools for capturing and problematising the ways of knowing, sense-making and mobilising around risks from climate change. I also highlight the importance of participatory approaches in incorporating the multiplicity of interests at the community level into climate risk management in fair, transparent and culturally appropriate ways.

  1. Dehistoricized Cultural Identity and Cultural Othering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiguo, Qu

    2013-01-01

    The assumption that each culture has its own distinctive identity has been generally accepted in the discussion of cultural identities. Quite often identity formation is not perceived as a dynamic and interactive ongoing process that engages other cultures and involves change in its responses to different challenges at different times. I will…

  2. National institute for Food and Agriculture: novel and changing funding strategies and mechanisms in response to changes in budgets, legislative authorities and scientific culture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavallaro, N.; Melnick, R.

    2017-12-01

    Farm Bill legislation establishes different funding mechanisms managed by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which have changed over the years through reauthorization. Other legislation and executive initiatives, as well as recognition by both funders, funding recipients, private organizations, and non-government organizations have stressed the need for multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary research and outreach. This presentation will discuss how changes to NIFA legislative authority as well as changing needs and culture in the government and the scientific research community have led to new mechanisms and strategies for types of funded projects, eligibility for NIFA funding, interagency funding, and iterative changes in direction in research solicitations. For example, limited funding for important topics has prompted a need for interagency collaborations in research funding solicitations and jointly funded projects. New legislative authorities and requirements have led to new modes of collaboration with private industry, NGOs and commodity boards along with international alliances. Unlike most funding agencies, NIFA funds education and extension or outreach projects in addition to research projects. New authorities together with increased recognition of scientific research needed to inform societal challenges has led to new thinking and greater flexibility in funding for long-term research projects and larger regional, multi-institutional and multi-national projects. This, in addition to a shifting culture among researchers and research institutions, has aided in new policies, requirements and initiatives among research institutions and government agencies involving information, data sharing and public access. Examples of new mechanisms and programs and their successes along with their drawbacks will be presented.

  3. Condom Use Negotiation in Heterosexual African-American Adults: Responses to Types of Social Power-Based Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otto-Salaj, Laura L.; Reed, Barbara; Brondino, Michael J.; Gore-Felton, Cheryl; Kelly, Jeffrey A.; Stevenson, L. Yvonne

    2009-01-01

    Little research has been performed on how people respond to different strategies to negotiate condom use in sexual situations, and whether certain strategies tend to be perceived as more or less effective in condom use negotiation. This study examined gender differences and preferences in the use of and response to six different styles of condom use negotiation with a hypothetical sexual partner of the opposite gender. Participants were 51 heterosexually-active African-American men and women between the ages of 18 and 35, attending an inner-city community center. Study participants completed a semi-structured qualitative interview in which they were presented with six negotiation strategies —coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent, and informational--based on Raven’s 1992 Power/Interaction Model of Interpersonal Influence. Results showed that women participants responded best to referent, reward, and legitimate strategies, and worst to informational tactics. Men participants responded best to reward strategies, and worst to coercion to use condoms. Further, responses given by a subset of both women—and, to a greater extent, men--indicated that use of negotiation tactics involving coercion to use condoms may result in negative or angry reactions. Finally, response to strategies may vary with the value of the relationship as viewed by the target of negotiation. Implications for HIV prevention programs and media campaigns are discussed. PMID:18569536

  4. Strategi Komunikasi Corporate Social Responsibility di PT Pertamina (Persero Region IV Wilayah Jawa Tengah dan DIY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shoraya Octaviana

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Corporate social responsibility has become a global issue in the community and the company. CSR programs implemented by PT Pertamina (Persero Region IV Regional Central Java and Yogyakarta in the areas of Education, Health, Environmental Conservation, Community Empowerment has been right on target. Corporate Social Responsibility program targeted, among others, so that more people know and use products - products Pertamina, as well as for good imaging Pertamina eyes of society. The communication strategy to the public (external strategies used in the dissemination using print media such as newspapers and magazines nationally and locally. Electronic media using television and radio in Central Java and Yogyakarta as well as nationally. Communication strategies used in the dissemination to all employees of Pertamina, the media used in the form of intranet Pertamina, Energia magazine and TV Display. Theoretical basis used in this study is adopted from (Kottler, 2005 which states social initiatives of companies that can be taken for the implementation of CSR there are six forms of Cause Promotion, Cause Related Marketing, Corporate Social Marketing, Corporate Philanthropy, Community Volunteering and Socially Responsible Business Practices. The question in this research is how the Communication Strategy Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR to PT Pertamina (Persero Region IV Regional Central Java and Yogyakarta.

  5. Exposing primary rat retina cell cultures to γ-rays: An in vitro model for evaluating radiation responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaddini, Lucia; Balduzzi, Maria; Campa, Alessandro; Esposito, Giuseppe; Malchiodi-Albedi, Fiorella; Patrono, Clarice; Matteucci, Andrea

    2018-01-01

    Retinal tissue can receive incidental γ-rays exposure during radiotherapy either of tumors of the eye and optic nerve or of head-and-neck tumors, and during medical diagnostic procedures. Healthy retina is therefore at risk of suffering radiation-related side effects and the knowledge of pathophysiological response of retinal cells to ionizing radiations could be useful to design possible strategies of prevention and management of radiotoxicity. In this study, we have exploited an in vitro model (primary rat retinal cell culture) to study an array of biological effects induced on retinal neurons by γ-rays. Most of the different cell types present in retinal tissue - either of the neuronal or glial lineages - are preserved in primary rat retinal cultures. Similar to the retina in situ, neuronal cells undergo in vitro a maturational development shown by the formation of polarized neuritic trees and operating synapses. Since 2 Gy is the incidental dose received by the healthy retina per fraction when the standard treatment is delivered to the brain, retina cell cultures have been exposed to 1 or 2 Gy of γ-rays at different level of neuronal differentiation in vitro: days in vitro (DIV)2 or DIV8. At DIV9, retinal cultures were analyzed in terms of viability, apoptosis and characterized by immunocytochemistry to identify alterations in neuronal differentiation. After irradiation at DIV2, MTT assay revealed an evident loss of cell viability and βIII-tubulin immunostaining highlighted a marked neuritic damage, indicating that survived neurons showed an impaired differentiation. Differentiated cultures (DIV8) appeared to be more resistant with respect to undifferentiated, DIV2 cultures, both in terms of cell viability and differentiation. Apoptosis evaluated with TUNEL assay showed that irradiation at both DIV2 and DIV8 induced a significant increase in the apoptotic rate. To further investigate the effects of γ-rays on retinal neurons, we evaluated the

  6. Conditions and Strategies of Creating Company Value on the Basis of Corporate Social Responsibility – Synthetic Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Doś

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of an enterprise is to increase its value. This growth can be achieved if initiated socially responsible activities improve the value drivers. The company’s specificity, type of its environment and their mutual reactions create conditions conducive to improvement of the driving forces of value by being socially responsible. Bearing this observation in mind we can formulate five strategies of creating value based on social responsibility. These are strategies of perfection, positive selection, surroundings modification, transformation and transposition.

  7. Culture, gender and health care stigma: Practitioners' response to facial masking experienced by people with Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tickle-Degnen, Linda; Zebrowitz, Leslie A; Ma, Hui-ing

    2011-07-01

    Facial masking in Parkinson's disease is the reduction of automatic and controlled expressive movement of facial musculature, creating an appearance of apathy, social disengagement or compromised cognitive status. Research in western cultures demonstrates that practitioners form negatively biased impressions associated with patient masking. Socio-cultural norms about facial expressivity vary according to culture and gender, yet little research has studied the effect of these factors on practitioners' responses toward patients who vary in facial expressivity. This study evaluated the effect of masking, culture and gender on practitioners' impressions of patient psychological attributes. Practitioners (N = 284) in the United States and Taiwan judged 12 Caucasian American and 12 Asian Taiwanese women and men patients in video clips from interviews. Half of each patient group had a moderate degree of facial masking and the other half had near-normal expressivity. Practitioners in both countries judged patients with higher masking to be more depressed and less sociable, less socially supportive, and less cognitively competent than patients with lower masking. Practitioners were more biased by masking when judging the sociability of the American patients, and American practitioners' judgments of patient sociability were more negatively biased in response to masking than were those of Taiwanese practitioners. Practitioners were more biased by masking when judging the cognitive competence and social supportiveness of the Taiwanese patients, and Taiwanese practitioners' judgments of patient cognitive competence were more negatively biased in response to masking than were those of American practitioners. The negative response to higher masking was stronger in practitioner judgments of women than men patients, particularly American patients. The findings suggest local cultural values as well as ethnic and gender stereotypes operate on practitioners' use of facial

  8. Cultural and Social Interpretation of Chinese Addressing Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Yahui

    2010-01-01

    This paper examines the influence of Chinese cultural factors on the addressing terms, together with the history of their use, the social dynamics involved in their use. Through the examination of exact terms, the author demonstrates to the reader, the deeply rooted cultural factors behind it and different ways that these terms can be used,…

  9. A responsive evaluation of mental health treatment in Cambodia: Intentionally addressing poverty to increase cultural responsiveness in therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seponski, Desiree M; Lewis, Denise C; Megginson, Maegan C

    2014-01-01

    Mental health issues are significant contributors to the global burden of disease with the highest incidence in resource poor countries; 90% of those in need of mental health treatment reside in low resource countries but receive only 10% of the world's resources. Cambodia, the eighth least developed country in the world, serves as one example of the need to address mental health concerns in low-income, resource poor countries. The current study utilises responsive evaluation methodology to explore how poverty-stricken Cambodian clients, therapists and supervisors experience Western models of therapy as culturally responsive to their unique needs. Quantitative and qualitative data were triangulated across multiple stakeholders using numerous methods including a focus group, interviews, surveys, case illustrations and live supervision observation and analysed using constant comparative analysis. Emerging findings suggest that poverty, material needs, therapy location and financial situations greatly impact the daily lives and mental health conditions of Cambodians and hinder clients' therapeutic progress. The local community needs and context of poverty greatly hinder clients' therapeutic progress in therapy treatment and when therapy does not directly address the culture of poverty, clients did not experience therapy as valuable despite some temporary decreases in mental health symptoms.

  10. Different and Similar at the Same Time. Cultural Competence through the Leans of Healthcare Providers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dell'Aversana, Giuseppina; Bruno, Andreina

    2017-01-01

    Cultural competence (CC) for professionals and organizations has been recognized as a key strategy to reduce health care inequalities for migrants and to promote responsiveness to diversity. For decades its main aim has been matching health services to the cultural needs of migrant users. Otherwise literature highlighted the need to find a pragmatic middle way between the 'static' and the 'dynamic' views of culture that are recognizable in CC approaches. A pragmatic middle way to CC will be proposed as the way to respect diversity, even responding to cultural issues, without stereotyping or discriminating. To understand conditions that favor this pragmatic middle way this study aims to explore: (1) perceptions of healthcare providers in managing diversity; (2) strategies used to meet health needs at a professional and organizational level. A qualitative case study was conducted in a healthcare service renowned for its engagement in migrant sensitive care. Four different professional figures involved in CC strategies at different levels, both managerial and non-managerial, were interviewed. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that dealing with diversity poses challenges for healthcare providers, by confronting them with multilevel barriers to quality of care. A pragmatic middle way to CC seems to rely on complex understanding of the interaction between patients social conditions and the capacity of the institutional system to promote equity. Professional and organizational strategies, such as inter-professional and intersectional collaboration, cultural food adaptation and professional training can enhance quality of care, patient compliance responding to social and cultural needs.

  11. Current and past strategies for bacterial culture in clinical microbiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagier, Jean-Christophe; Edouard, Sophie; Pagnier, Isabelle; Mediannikov, Oleg; Drancourt, Michel; Raoult, Didier

    2015-01-01

    A pure bacterial culture remains essential for the study of its virulence, its antibiotic susceptibility, and its genome sequence in order to facilitate the understanding and treatment of caused diseases. The first culture conditions empirically varied incubation time, nutrients, atmosphere, and temperature; culture was then gradually abandoned in favor of molecular methods. The rebirth of culture in clinical microbiology was prompted by microbiologists specializing in intracellular bacteria. The shell vial procedure allowed the culture of new species of Rickettsia. The design of axenic media for growing fastidious bacteria such as Tropheryma whipplei and Coxiella burnetii and the ability of amoebal coculture to discover new bacteria constituted major advances. Strong efforts associating optimized culture media, detection methods, and a microaerophilic atmosphere allowed a dramatic decrease of the time of Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture. The use of a new versatile medium allowed an extension of the repertoire of archaea. Finally, to optimize the culture of anaerobes in routine bacteriology laboratories, the addition of antioxidants in culture media under an aerobic atmosphere allowed the growth of strictly anaerobic species. Nevertheless, among usual bacterial pathogens, the development of axenic media for the culture of Treponema pallidum or Mycobacterium leprae remains an important challenge that the patience and innovations of cultivators will enable them to overcome. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  12. Research culture in a regional allied health setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borkowski, Donna; McKinstry, Carol; Cotchett, Matthew

    2017-07-01

    Research evidence is required to guide best practice, inform policy and improve the health of communities. Current indicators consider allied health research culture to be low. This study aimed to measure the allied health research culture and capacity in a Victorian regional health service. The Research Capacity and Culture tool was used to evaluate research capacity and culture across individual, team and organisation domains. One-way ANOVA was used to determine differences between allied health professions, whereas responses to open-ended questions were themed using open coding. One hundred thirty-six allied health professionals completed the survey. There were statistically significant differences in the organisation domain between social work, physiotherapy and occupational therapy professions; in the team domain, between social work and all other professions. Motivators for conducting research included providing a high-quality service, developing skills and increasing job satisfaction. Barriers included other work roles taking priority, a lack of time and limited research skills. Multi-layered strategies including establishing conjoint research positions are recommended to increase allied health research culture in this regional area.

  13. Regional Development Strategy of Cultural Industry in China%中国文化产业的区域发展战略

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    花建

    2014-01-01

    实施中国文化产业的区域发展战略,是建设社会主义文化强国的重要内容。我们要针对中国各区域文化产业发展的问题,吸取各国的有益经验,研究和推动中国文化产业的区域发展战略,包括总体理念、阶段目标和创新路径。在宏观上,要加强顶层设计,探索区域文化产业的多样化发展模式;在微观上,要鼓励创新创业,促进产业要素集聚,加快培育产业主体,完善公共服务平台体系,把对内对外两个大局结合起来。%In order to construct a socialist country with cultural strength, it is important to implencent the regional development strategy of the cultural industry.We should absorb useful experience from all over the world to research and promote the strategy for regional development of China’s cultural industry,including general conception,stage goal and innovation path.At the macro level,we should pay attention to top design and explore the diversity of regional development models. At the micro level,we should encourage innovation and business startups,integrate industrial factors,foster industry subjects and improve public service platform system.And we also should combine domestic strategy with international strategy.

  14. Children's Everyday Learning by Assuming Responsibility for Others: Indigenous Practices as a Cultural Heritage Across Generations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández, David Lorente

    2015-01-01

    This chapter uses a comparative approach to examine the maintenance of Indigenous practices related with Learning by Observing and Pitching In in two generations--parent generation and current child generation--in a Central Mexican Nahua community. In spite of cultural changes and the increase of Western schooling experience, these practices persist, to different degrees, as a Nahua cultural heritage with close historical relations to the key value of cuidado (stewardship). The chapter explores how children learn the value of cuidado in a variety of everyday activities, which include assuming responsibility in many social situations, primarily in cultivating corn, raising and protecting domestic animals, health practices, and participating in family ceremonial life. The chapter focuses on three main points: (1) Cuidado (assuming responsibility for), in the Nahua socio-cultural context, refers to the concepts of protection and "raising" as well as fostering other beings, whether humans, plants, or animals, to reach their potential and fulfill their development. (2) Children learn cuidado by contributing to family endeavors: They develop attention and self-motivation; they are capable of responsible actions; and they are able to transform participation to achieve the status of a competent member of local society. (3) This collaborative participation allows children to continue the cultural tradition and to preserve a Nahua heritage at a deeper level in a community in which Nahuatl language and dress have disappeared, and people do not identify themselves as Indigenous. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Cultural and leadership predictors of corporate social responsibility values of top management: A GLOBE study of 15 countries.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waldman, D.A.; Sully De Luque, M.; Washburn, N.; House, R.J.; de Hoogh, A.H.B.; Koopman, P.L.

    2007-01-01

    This paper examines cultural and leadership variables associated with corporate social responsibility values that managers apply to their decision-making. In this longitudinal study, we analyze data from 561 firms located in 15 countries on five continents to illustrate how the cultural dimensions

  16. Cultural and leadership predictors of corporate social responsibility values of top management: A GLOBE study of 15 countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waldman, D.A.; Sully De Luque, M.; Washburn, N.; House, R.J.; GLOBE Country Co-investigators, incl. De Hoogh, A.H.B.

    2006-01-01

    This paper examines cultural and leadership variables associated with corporate social responsibility values that managers apply to their decision-making. In this longitudinal study, we analyze data from 561 firms located in 15 countries on five continents to illustrate how the cultural dimensions

  17. A Study of Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices of Adult ESOL and EAP Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rhodes, Christy M.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine how frequently adult education English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teachers in Florida used specific culturally responsive teaching practices and how important they believed those practices were to their teaching. Using Ginsberg and Wlodkowski's…

  18. Culture independent PCR: an alternative enzyme discovery strategy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jacobsen, Jonas; Lydolph, Magnus; Lange, Lene

    2005-01-01

    Degenerate primers were designed for use in a culture-independent PCR screening of DNA from composite fungal communities, inhabiting residues of corn stovers and leaves. According to similarity searches and alignments amplified clone sequences affiliated with glycosyl hydrolase family 7 and glyco...... the value of culture-independent PCR in microbial diversity studies and could add to development of a new enzyme screening technology....

  19. THE NEED OF CONNECTING THE TECHNOLOGY, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marija Merdzhanovska

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper explores the need of connecting the technology, political and cultural system in the right way to achieve the companies’ goals in terms of globalization and changes. The leaders have the main role in realizing the company’s strategy. They must be strategy focused and they are responsible for connecting the employees, processes and technologies. In the beginning of the paper, the characteristics of strategy focused leadership are analyzed. The available tools of strategy focused leadership through the model are presented. The matrix of strategy management can be used like a manual which helps the management in connecting systems with managerial instruments: mission and strategy, organization structure and management of human resources. The goal of the paper is to show that with professional approach, the strategy focused leaders play the main role in connecting and changing the existing systems in companies. This is the way of reaching the best performance of companies and surviving at the global world market.

  20. Visual culture as a strategy of reflection in education

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buhl, Mie

    2004-01-01

    Visual culture is an issue in the current research field of visual arts education. this article investigates how the emergence of the concept of visual culture comes about and how it is usable in an educational contekxt. From at system theory approach, the author investigates how the concept...... of visual culture articulates af phase of art and visual arts education. This phase makes it possible to reconsider the concept of aesthetics as a mode of cognition. Likewise, the phase reflexivly constitutes a viewing on visual phenomena. This viewing requires a reconsidering of the notions of what art...... education means and how visual culture can be performed as a special approach to all areas of education....

  1. Culture-dependent and culture-independent characterization of potentially functional biphenyl-degrading bacterial community in response to extracellular organic matter from Micrococcus luteus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Xiao-Mei; Liu, Yin-Dong; Hashmi, Muhammad Zaffar; Ding, Lin-Xian; Shen, Chao-Feng

    2015-05-01

    Biphenyl (BP)-degrading bacteria were identified to degrade various polychlorinated BP (PCB) congers in long-term PCB-contaminated sites. Exploring BP-degrading capability of potentially useful bacteria was performed for enhancing PCB bioremediation. In the present study, the bacterial composition of the PCB-contaminated sediment sample was first investigated. Then extracellular organic matter (EOM) from Micrococcus luteus was used to enhance BP biodegradation. The effect of the EOM on the composition of bacterial community was investigated by combining with culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. The obtained results indicate that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were predominant community in the PCB-contaminated sediment. EOM from M. luteus could stimulate the activity of some potentially difficult-to-culture BP degraders, which contribute to significant enhancement of BP biodegradation. The potentially difficult-to-culture bacteria in response to EOM addition were mainly Rhodococcus and Pseudomonas belonging to Gammaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria respectively. This study provides new insights into exploration of functional difficult-to-culture bacteria with EOM addition and points out broader BP/PCB degrading, which could be employed for enhancing PCB-bioremediation processes. © 2015 The Authors. Microbial Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.

  2. Heterogeneous response to X-ray and ultraviolet light irradiations of cultured skin fibroblasts in two families with Gardner's Syndrome

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kinsella, T.J.; Little, J.B.; Nove, J.; Weichselbaum, R.R.; Li, F.P.; Meyer, R.J.; Marchetto, D.J.; Patterson, W.B.

    1982-01-01

    A heterogeneous response to X-ray and far UV (254 nm) light irradiations was found in cultured skin fibroblast lines from 2 separate families with Gardner's syndrome. When compared to 2 normal control cultures and cultures from 2 patients with nonfamilial colon cancer, cultures from 4 clinically affected members of family 1 showed increased sensitivity to the lethal effects of both X-ray and UV light irradiations. These cells also showed a delayed pattern of X-ray potentially lethal damage repair (PLDR) and absent UV PLDR. In contrast, cultures from 3 members of family 2 (2 of whom were clinically affected) showed a normal response of survival and PLDR to both X-ray and UV light irradiations. Thus increased sensitivity of cultured skin fibroblasts to X-ray and UV light irradiations was not a consistent in vitro finding in patients with Gardner's syndrome. However, in families with Gardner's syndrome who demonstrate in vitro radiosensitivity, additional studies are needed to assess the usefulness of these techniques in detecting affected individuals prior to the development of colon carcinoma and other manifestations

  3. The nature of culturally responsive pedagogy in two urban African American middle school science classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bondima, Michelle Harris

    This ethnographic in nature study explores how two middle school science teachers who have classes populated by urban African Americans teach their students and how their students perceive their teaching. Since urban African American students continue to perform lower than desired on measures of science achievement, there is an urgent need to understand what pedagogical methodologies assist and hinder urban African American students in achieving higher levels of success in science. A pedagogical methodology that theorists posit assists subordinated school populations is culturally responsive pedagogy. Culturally responsive pedagogy is defined as a teaching methodology concerned with preparing students to question inequality, racism, and injustice. Teachers who use culturally responsive pedagogy respect the culture students bring to the class, and require that the teachers willingly do whatever is necessary to educate students (Nieto, 2000). The teacher participants were two female African Americans who were identified by their school supervisors as being highly effective with urban African American students. The researcher presented the teachers in separate case studies conducted over a data collection period of nine months. Data were collected by participant observation, interviews, and artifact collection. Data were analyzed by application of grounded theory techniques. Findings of the teachers' (and the students') beliefs about pedagogy that both assisted and hindered the students' performance in science were reported in a rich and nuanced storytelling manner based on multiple perspectives (teachers', students', and the researcher's). Pedagogical methodologies that the teachers used that assisted their students were the use of cultural metaphors and images in science and applications of motivational techniques that encouraged a nurturing relationship between the teacher and her students. Pedagogical methodologies that hindered students varied by teacher

  4. KEEPING CULTURAL GENES ALIVE

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Bai Shi

    2012-01-01

    China's contemporary culture and the protection of its diverse cultural heritage have become some of the most talked about issues today.Cultural prosperity was put forward as an important objective of the Central Government's national development strategy last year.However,the industrialization and commercialization of China's culture have been both criticized and celebrated.Many scholars believe industrialization and enormous government investment may not be the best means to protect intangible cultural heritage (ICH).

  5. A Cross-Cultural Study on Environmental Risk Perception and Educational Strategies: Implications for Environmental Education in China

    OpenAIRE

    Duan, Hongxia; Fortner, Rosanne

    2010-01-01

    This cross-cultural study examined college students’ environmental risk perception and their preference in terms of risk communication and educational strategies in China and the U.S. The results indicated that the Chinese respondents were more concerned about environmental risk, and they perceived the environmental issues to be more harmful to health, to the environment, and to social economic development of the nation than did the American respondents. Both groups desired transpar...

  6. Language policy and cultural strategy: joint task of the main social patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Delia Barrera Jiménez

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The individual and social need to preserve and defend our mother tongue as part of a holistic culture, requires as an essential condition to learn about the responsibility for society as a whole and particularly for each speaking subject, which presupposes a language policy to disseminate whose essence is not there behind the doors of the Royal Academy of Language, voice of the rapid development of communication as a linguistic phenomenon par excellence. In this regard, this study focuses, with the certainty that in the hands of all is "to secure" the part that corresponds to each one.

  7. Responsible Adult Culture (RAC): Cognitive and Behavioral Changes at a Community-Based Correctional Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devlin, Renee S.; Gibbs, John C.

    2010-01-01

    This article examined cognitive and behavioral changes among participants in Responsible Adult Culture (RAC), a cognitive-behavioral (especially, cognitive restructuring) treatment program in use at the Franklin County Community-Based Correctional Facility (CBCF). Participants were adult felony offenders (approximately three-fourths male). A…

  8. Application of item response theory to achieve cross-cultural comparability of occupational stress measurement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tsutsumi, A.; Iwata, N.; Watanabe, N.; Jonge, de J.; Pikhart, H.; Férnandez-López, J.A.; Xu, Liying; Peter, R.; Knutsson, A.; Niedhammer, I.; Kawakami, N.; Siegrist, J.

    2009-01-01

    Our objective was to examine cross-cultural comparability of standard scales of the Effort-Reward Imbalance occupational stress scales by item response theory (IRT) analyses. Data were from 20,256 Japanese employees, 1464 Dutch nurses and nurses' aides, 2128 representative employees from

  9. INFLUENCE OF PROBIOTIC CULTURE LACTOBACILLUS RHAMNOSUS GG (LGG) ON IMMUNE RESPONSE OF ORGANISM

    OpenAIRE

    A.V. Surzhik

    2009-01-01

    This article presents review of data of influence of probiotic culture Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG on intestinal biocenosis. Main attention was given to influence of L. rhamnosus GG on functions of immune system.Key words: probiotics, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, immune response.(Voprosy sovremennoi pediatrii — Current Pediatrics. 2009;8(2):54-58)

  10. Cultural Approach to HIV/AIDS Harm Reduction in Muslim Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hasnain Memoona

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Muslim countries, previously considered protected from HIV/AIDS due to religious and cultural norms, are facing a rapidly rising threat. Despite the evidence of an advancing epidemic, the usual response from the policy makers in Muslim countries, for protection against HIV infection, is a major focus on propagating abstention from illicit drug and sexual practices. Sexuality, considered a private matter, is a taboo topic for discussion. Harm reduction, a pragmatic approach for HIV prevention, is underutilized. The social stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, that exists in all societies is much more pronounced in Muslim cultures. This stigma prevents those at risk from coming forward for appropriate counseling, testing, and treatment, as it involves disclosure of risky practices. The purpose of this paper is to define the extent of the HIV/AIDS problem in Muslim countries, outline the major challenges to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and discuss the concept of harm reduction, with a cultural approach, as a strategy to prevent further spread of the disease. Recommendations include integrating HIV prevention and treatment strategies within existing social, cultural and religious frameworks, working with religious leaders as key collaborators, and provision of appropriate healthcare resources and infrastructure for successful HIV prevention and treatment programs in Muslim countries.

  11. Assessing the relationship between patient safety culture and EHR strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Eric W; Silvera, Geoffrey A; Kazley, Abby S; Diana, Mark L; Huerta, Timothy R

    2016-07-11

    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between hospitals' electronic health record (EHR) adoption characteristics and their patient safety cultures. The "Meaningful Use" (MU) program is designed to increase hospitals' adoption of EHR, which will lead to better care quality, reduce medical errors, avoid unnecessary cost, and promote a patient safety culture. To reduce medical errors, hospital leaders have been encouraged to promote safety cultures common to high-reliability organizations. Expecting a positive relationship between EHR adoption and improved patient safety cultures appears sound in theory, but it has yet to be empirically demonstrated. Design/methodology/approach - Providers' perceptions of patient safety culture and counts of patient safety incidents are explored in relationship to hospital EHR adoption patterns. Multi-level modeling is employed to data drawn from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's surveys on patient safety culture (level 1) and the American Hospital Association's survey and healthcare information technology supplement (level 2). Findings - The findings suggest that the early adoption of EHR capabilities hold a negative association to the number of patient safety events reported. However, this relationship was not present in providers' perceptions of overall patient safety cultures. These mixed results suggest that the understanding of the EHR-patient safety culture relationship needs further research. Originality/value - Relating EHR MU and providers' care quality attitudes is an important leading indicator for improved patient safety cultures. For healthcare facility managers and providers, the ability to effectively quantify the impact of new technologies on efforts to change organizational cultures is important for pinpointing clinical areas for process improvements.

  12. Leiomyoma Cells in 3-Dimensional Cultures Demonstrate an Attenuated Response to Fasudil, a Rho-Kinase Inhibitor, When Compared to 2-Dimensional Cultures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malik, Minnie; Britten, Joy; Segars, James

    2014-01-01

    Uterine leiomyomata are common benign tumors in women of reproductive age and demonstrate an attenuated response to mechanical signaling that involves Rho and integrins. To further characterize the impairment in Rho signaling, we studied the effect of Rho-kinase inhibitor, fasudil, on extracellular matrix production, in 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) cultures of leiomyoma and myometrial cells. Leiomyoma 2D cultures demonstrated a rapid decrease in gene transcripts and protein for fibronectin, procollagen 1A, and versican. In 3D cultures, fibronectin and procollagen 1A proteins demonstrated increased levels at lower concentrations of fasudil, followed by a concentration-dependent decrease. Versican protein increased up to 3-fold, whereas fibromodulin demonstrated a significant decrease of 1.92-fold. Myometrial 2D or 3D cultures demonstrated a decrease in all proteins after 72 hours of treatment. The 3D leiomyoma cultures demonstrated a significant increase in active RhoA, followed by a concentration-dependent decrease at higher concentrations. A concentration-dependent increase in phospho-extracellular regulated signal kinase and proapoptotic protein Bax was observed in 3D leiomyoma cultures. Fasudil relaxed the contraction of the 3D collagen gels caused by myometrium and leiomyoma cell growth. These findings indicate that the altered state of Rho signaling in leiomyoma was more clearly observed in 3D cultures. The results also suggest that fasudil may have clinical applicability for treatment of uterine leiomyoma. PMID:25084783

  13. The Linguistic and Cultural Interpretation of Dissonant Heritage: the ATRIUM Cultural Route

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra Nauert

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The European Cultural Route ATRIUM (Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes in Europe's Urban Memory deals with dissonant heritage, referring to a contrast of meaning and value systems between the past and the present. The route will be examined within the framework of a set of communication strategies for cultural routes. This short paper will look at some linguistic aspects related to the ATRIUM route and its ‘dissonant heritage’. By analysing some examples of existing promotional approaches related to this particular heritage, it will outline some considerations for a communicative strategy appropriate to the overall narrative structure of the ATRIUM cultural route, with special regard to a bottom-up constructivist approach.

  14. Advertising execution styles as a reflection of culture : Cross-cultural analysis of messaging app advertising preferences in South Korea and China

    OpenAIRE

    Kivinen, Sofia

    2014-01-01

    Increased globalization and the thought of converging values has lead marketing practitioners and academics to consider more standardized approaches to marketing and advertising strategies. Even though cultures seem to evolve closer to each other, cultural diversity still exists. Advertising reflects and influences our cultural values and therefore it cannot be ignored when building effective advertising. Results show that culture impacts execution more than creative strategy (Wei & Jiang...

  15. Linking response strategies adopted by construction firms during the 2007 economic recession to Porter’s generic strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Tansey, Paul; Spillane, John P.; Meng, Xianhai

    2014-01-01

    The time period bridging the years 2007 to 2012 will be remembered as one characterised by dramatic changes in the Irish and UK construction industries. Construction companies witnessed unprecedented changes in the environment, namely the coincidence of a sharp economic downturn, the significant decline of public works, a reduction in lending, increased competition, and structural changes in the marketplace. Nevertheless, little has been documented on what response strategies construction com...

  16. Organizational Culture and Its Implementation in the Choice of Strategic Option - Case Study Montenegro

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gordana NIKČEVIĆ

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The topic of this paper is to examine the influence of organizational culture on determination and implementation of the appropriate strategy within the company. Specifically, the author has tested the hypothesis about the influence of organizational culture on determination of strategy in Montenegrin companies. Firstly, in the theoretical part of the paper, the author defined organizational culture and business strategy and then analyzed the nature and manner of influence of organizational culture on formulation and implementation of strategy, as well as influence of implemented strategy on organizational culture. Organizational culture affects formulation of strategy determining information gathering, perception and interpretation of the environment. Namely, culture can facilitate or prevent implementation of the strategy through legitimization process. In the same way, the application of chosen strategy may, through its institutionalization process, reinforce or change the existing organizational culture. The empirical part of the paper refers to research results and testing of hypotheses about the influence of organizational culture on strategy of companies in Montenegro carried out on sample of 16 companies (324 respondents in Montenegro.

  17. Determination of loblolly pine response to cultural treatments based on soil class, base productivity, and competition level

    Science.gov (United States)

    David Garrett; Michael Kane; Daniel Markewitz; Dehai Zhao

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this research is to better understand what factors drive loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) growth response to intensive culture in the University of Georgia Plantation Management Research Cooperative’s Culture x Density study in the Piedmont and Upper Coastal Plain. Twenty study sites were established ranging from southern Alabama to South Carolina in...

  18. Organotypic Cultures of Intervertebral Disc Cells: Responses to Growth Factors and Signaling Pathways Involved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harris Pratsinis

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Intervertebral disc (IVD degeneration is strongly associated with low back pain, a major cause of disability worldwide. An in-depth understanding of IVD cell physiology is required for the design of novel regenerative therapies. Accordingly, aim of this work was the study of IVD cell responses to mitogenic growth factors in a three-dimensional (3D organotypic milieu, comprising characteristic molecules of IVD’s extracellular matrix. In particular, annulus fibrosus (AF cells were cultured inside collagen type-I gels, while nucleus pulposus (NP cells in chondroitin sulfate A (CSA supplemented collagen gels, and the effects of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor (PDGF, basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF, and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I (IGF-I were assessed. All three growth factors stimulated DNA synthesis in both AF and NP 3D cell cultures, with potencies similar to those observed previously in monolayers. CSA supplementation inhibited basal DNA synthesis rates, without affecting the response to growth factors. ERK and Akt were found to be phosphorylated following growth factor stimulation. Blockade of these two signaling pathways using pharmacologic inhibitors significantly, though not completely, inhibited growth factor-induced DNA synthesis. The proposed culture systems may prove useful for further in vitro studies aiming at future interventions for IVD regeneration.

  19. Culturally Responsive Education: Developing Lesson Plans for Vietnamese Students in the American Diaspora

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Cynthia M.

    2015-01-01

    This article focuses on the application of the philosophical principles of John Dewey and Culturally Responsive Education in the creation of lesson plans for Vietnamese students in the American Diaspora. Through a Fulbright-Hayes Program a group of teachers from the New York City Public School System and Long Island spent six weeks in Vietnam…

  20. The Coconut Wireless Project: Sharing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy through the World Wide Web.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson-Barber, Sharon; Trumbull, Elise; Wenn, Richard

    Beginning in the 1997-98 school year, WestEd staff, with the support of the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), worked intensively with a group of five Chamorro teachers from Rota Elementary School (Hawaii) to develop culturally responsive, standards-based science units. The larger goal was to develop Web-based case examples of…

  1. Creating a Culture by Governance: Issues in Managing Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ma. Victoria T. Herrera

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available The management of culture involves a network of agencies, institutions and entities both from the public and private sectors. This is part of a collective process by which objects acwuire cultural significance. We create images of our nations, tell stories, and construct experiences for other people through exhibitions, festivals and other cultural activities. Our role is never neutral and it is important to recognize this power and the implications of our actions.In the Philippines, government has taken an active role in the production and management of culture. In spite of the relatively small percentage of funding spent on culture and the arts, it has extended support through various institutions and agencies that, at present, comprise a complex network. Through their respective programs, government has defined paths of cultural production-- from the larger policy framework for organizations to specific commemorative programs. Given this range of involvement, how has the state empowered people and organizations shape culture? What strategies has it taken to extend to support the production and distribution of culture?This paper focuses on two case studies that represent strategies the state has taken in cultural management. At a macro level, the changes the Cultural Center of the Philippines underwent reflect shifting policies and priorities. As products of changing political administrations, this institution went through a re-orientation of its mission. This came with an abrupt expansion in scale but without the necessary resources to support the CCP's new programs. At a micro level, the second evaluates the refurbished Rizal Shrine, Fort Santiago, one of the major projects of the now defunct National Centennial Commission. This underscores the need for a more transparent decision-making process, prioritizing the interest of the museum's public and not just that of the specialists who control the production of knowledge.

  2. Trust and responsible eco managing. The case of state controlled repacking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rittenhofer, Iris

    systems. It takes a postmodern stance and discusses the case from the perspective of trust, responsible management, cosmopolitanization, the ‘transparent society’ and ‘green growth’ strategies. In the concluding section, the implications for the further development of a concept ‘responsible management......The paper is concerned with a case of local management of eco certification. With outset in a case study, the paper explores the relation of eco certification to economy, society and culture. The paper emphasizes the multidimensional quality of local eco management of global organic agrifood......’ are discussed and suggestions for future research are made. The paper draws on multidisciplinary research from management and business studies, intercultural and cross-cultural communication, trust research, cultural studies, philosophy and discourse studies....

  3. Pain and sensory detection threshold response to acupuncture is modulated by coping strategy and acupuncture sensation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jeungchan; Napadow, Vitaly; Park, Kyungmo

    2014-09-01

    Acupuncture has been shown to reduce pain, and acupuncture-induced sensation may be important for this analgesia. In addition, cognitive coping strategies can influence sensory perception. However, the role of coping strategy on acupuncture modulation of pain and sensory thresholds, and the association between acupuncture sensation and these modulatory effects, is currently unknown. Electroacupuncture (EA) was applied at acupoints ST36 and GB39 of 61 healthy adults. Different coping conditions were experimentally designed to form an active coping strategy group (AC group), who thought they could control EA stimulation intensity, and a passive coping strategy group (PC group), who did not think they had such control. Importantly, neither group was actually able to control EA stimulus intensity. Quantitative sensory testing was performed before and after EA, and consisted of vibration (VDT), mechanical (MDT), warm (WDT), and cold (CDT) detection thresholds, and pressure (PPT), mechanical (MPT), heat (HPT) and cold (CPT) pain thresholds. Autonomic measures (e.g. skin conductance response, SCR) were also acquired to quantify physiological response to EA under different coping conditions. Subjects also reported the intensity of any acupuncture-induced sensations. Coping strategy was induced with successful blinding in 58% of AC subjects. Compared to PC, AC showed greater SCR to EA. Under AC, EA reduced PPT and CPT. In the AC group, improved pain and sensory thresholds were correlated with acupuncture sensation (VDTchange vs. MI: r=0.58, CDTchange vs. tingling: r=0.53, CPTchange vs. tingling; r=0.55, CPTchange vs. dull; r=0.55). However, in the PC group, improved sensory thresholds were negatively correlated with acupuncture sensation (CDTchange vs. intensity sensitization: r=-0.52, WDTchange vs. fullness: r=-0.57). Our novel approach was able to successfully induce AC and PC strategies to EA stimulation. The interaction between psychological coping strategy and

  4. Culture, but more than culture: an exploratory study of the HIV vulnerability of Indian immigrants in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yanqiu Rachel; Majumdar, Basanti; Vattikonda, Natasha

    2016-09-01

    Explanations of immigrant health that ascribe to culture a fundamental causal role neglect the broader structural and contextual factors with which culture intersects. Based on a qualitative study of Indian immigrants' vulnerability to HIV in Canada, this paper presents a contextualised understanding of these individuals' understanding of, perceptions about, and responses to the HIV risk in their post-immigration lives. The study reveals that although culture - both traditional values and the norms of the diaspora community - appears to have constrained Indian immigrants' capacities to respond to the risk, this effect can be properly understood only by situating such constraint in the context of the settlement process that has shaped participants' living conditions, including their relationship with the diasporic community in Canada. We argue that HIV vulnerability should be conceptualised as a health inequality associated with broader systems of power relations (eg socio-economic marginalisation, gender inequality, discrimination, and racism). This more holistic conceptualisation of the intersection of culture, integration, and HIV vulnerability will facilitate exploration of HIV prevention strategies, through which interconnected inequalities of gender, race, and access to knowledge and resources can be challenged.

  5. Crisis strategies in BP's Deepwater Horizon response : An image repair and situational crisis communication study

    OpenAIRE

    Johansson, Mikael

    2017-01-01

    The BP Deepwater Horizon crisis in 2010 was one the largest catastrophes in the history of the oil industry. BP was sued over the disaster, and lost several billion dollars. This study examines the crisis response strategies and/or image repair strategies, which can be found in BP's press releases following the Deepwater Horizon crisis. In particular, the study looks closer at what established crisis communication strategies could be discerned in the material, and how they are used discursive...

  6. Occupational therapy in Oman: the impact of cultural dissonance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Busaidy, Najat Saif Mohammed; Borthwick, Alan

    2012-09-01

    Occupational therapy theory and philosophy are broadly considered to be based on Western cultural values. In contrast, the application of theory and practice in the Sultanate of Oman, historically based on traditional Middle Eastern and Islamic cultural values, provides a case exemplar, which highlights both paradigmatic differences and cultural dissonance. Drawing on the experiences of occupational therapists working in Oman, this study found that the application of therapeutic goals aimed at patient independence and autonomy were difficult to achieve in an environment where family duty and responsibility for care were highly prized. Dressing and cooking assessments were challenging, and issues related to gender proved problematic. Therapists found the need to adapt practice to acknowledge these differences, and to adopt pragmatic problem-solving strategies, without resolving the underpinning philosophical contradictions. Occupational therapy in Oman is under-researched; further work is needed to confirm the cross-cultural validity of specific assessments and practice models. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Listening strategies instruction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nogueroles López, Marta

    2017-01-01

    , who presented similar level of Spanish, needs, educational and cultural background, but did not receive such a training. The listening strategies instruction consisted in integrating the development of listening strategies into a regular course of Spanish as a foreign language. Data referring...

  8. Temporal metabolomic responses of cultured HepG2 liver cells to high fructose and high glucose exposures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meissen, John K; Hirahatake, Kristin M; Adams, Sean H; Fiehn, Oliver

    2015-06-01

    High fructose consumption has been implicated with deleterious effects on human health, including hyperlipidemia elicited through de novo lipogenesis. However, more global effects of fructose on cellular metabolism have not been elucidated. In order to explore the metabolic impact of fructose-containing nutrients, we applied both GC-TOF and HILIC-QTOF mass spectrometry metabolomic strategies using extracts from cultured HepG2 cells exposed to fructose, glucose, or fructose + glucose. Cellular responses were analyzed in a time-dependent manner, incubated in media containing 5.5 mM glucose + 5.0 mM fructose in comparison to controls incubated in media containing either 5.5 mM glucose or 10.5 mM glucose. Mass spectrometry identified 156 unique known metabolites and a large number of unknown compounds, which revealed metabolite changes due to both utilization of fructose and high-carbohydrate loads independent of hexose structure. Fructose was shown to be partially converted to sorbitol, and generated higher levels of fructose-1-phosphate as a precursor for glycolytic intermediates. Differentially regulated ratios of 3-phosphoglycerate to serine pathway intermediates in high fructose media indicated a diversion of carbon backbones away from energy metabolism. Additionally, high fructose conditions changed levels of complex lipids toward phosphatidylethanolamines. Patterns of acylcarnitines in response to high hexose exposure (10.5 mM glucose or glucose/fructose combination) suggested a reduction in mitochondrial beta-oxidation.

  9. Organizational Culture and Entrepreneurial Performance in Business Administration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Loredana Narcisa POSTEUCĂ

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available In the market economy an overview is visible, according to which organizational culture is correlated with the entrepreneurial performance. Therefore, the economic actors’ behaviour is an essential component in the formation and development of entrepreneurial performance, and also is evident the correlation between the theoretic field and practices, regarding the relationship between an organizational culture and the entrepreneurial performance Moreover, methodological openings towards the new paradigms reflect different ways of approaching the knowable contents. It is about the objective analysis of the contextual situations, analysis which reflects the transmission and reception of entrepreneurial typologies that are effective on the social level. Furthermore, adopting a consensual methodology to the level of entrepreneurial dimensions legitimize precisely those social responsibilities designed to support efficiency and educational performance. For this purpose, we consider that it should be granted an important role to the connection between entrepreneurship methodology and knowledge system, depending on which the strategies initiated are operationalized. Therefore, such connections depend on the strategies assumed in the process of materialize the business performance.

  10. CHALLENGES IN CROSS CULTURAL ADVERTISING

    OpenAIRE

    Yuni Retnowati

    2016-01-01

    At first, marketing practitioners and academics consider standardized approaches to marketing and advertising strategies in globalization, and then some studies proved that the standardization of advertising across culture is not valid. Therefore, cross cultural advertising takes local culture into account when conveying messages in advertisements. Cross cultural understanding is very important in order to produce successful localized advertising that would reflect the cultural values and nor...

  11. The response rate in postal epidemiological studies in the context of national cultural behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Angelova, Radostina A.; Naydenov, Kiril; Hägerhed-Engman, Linda

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyse the effect of national cultural differences on the response rate, obtained in questionnaire based epidemiological studies on allergy and asthma, performed in Sweden (DBH) and Bulgaria (ALLHOME). The two studies used one and the same methodology, but the ob...

  12. An Analysis of Mongolian Culture-Loaded Words and Their Translation Strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Jian-Jun; He, Long

    2014-01-01

    With massive cultural exchanges in the world, the translation of culture-loaded words is drawing the attention of translators. Because of different cultural backgrounds and mentalities, the translation of culture-loaded words may lead to misunderstanding or confusion to target readers. Thus, a good mastery of culture-loaded words is a must for…

  13. Women-Centered and Culturally Responsive Heart Health Promotion Among Indigenous Women in Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziabakhsh, Shabnam; Pederson, Ann; Prodan-Bhalla, Natasha; Middagh, Diane; Jinkerson-Brass, Sharon

    2016-11-01

    Most women in Canada confront a combination of bio-psychosocial factors that put them at risk for cardiovascular disease. The challenge for health planners is to address these factors while contextualizing interventions that meet the specific needs of particular social and cultural groupings. The article will discuss a women-centered, group-based heart health pilot initiative designed to engage with indigenous approaches to healing. The nurse practitioners co-led the group with a representative from the indigenous community to balance women-centered practices with more traditional and culturally appropriate ones. In particular, indigenous processes, such as a Talking Circle, combined with indigenous knowledge/content were integrated into the pilot program. The project was evaluated to investigate its outcomes (how the intervention impacted the participants) and processes (how participants perceived the intervention). Evaluation involved analysis of the Talking Circle's content, a focus group, field observations, and self-completed surveys. Most women made changes regarding their diet, some began physical activities, and others focused on better managing their emotional health. Women viewed the group as successful because it embraced both women-centered and culturally appropriate health promotion practices. The intervention created a culturally safe space for learning and transformation. The findings confirm the need for employing culturally relevant, gender-specific approaches to heart health promotion that are situated in and responsive to community needs. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.

  14. Culture medium type affects endocytosis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in BEAS-2B cells and subsequent biological response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haniu, Hisao; Saito, Naoto; Matsuda, Yoshikazu; Tsukahara, Tamotsu; Maruyama, Kayo; Usui, Yuki; Aoki, Kaoru; Takanashi, Seiji; Kobayashi, Shinsuke; Nomura, Hiroki; Okamoto, Masanori; Shimizu, Masayuki; Kato, Hiroyuki

    2013-09-01

    We examined the cytotoxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and the resulting cytokine secretion in BEAS-2B cells or normal human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEpCs) in two types of culture media (Ham's F12 containing 10% FBS [Ham's F12] and serum-free growth medium [SFGM]). Cellular uptake of MWCNT was observed by fluorescent microscopy and analyzed using flow cytometry. Moreover, we evaluated whether MWCNT uptake was suppressed by 2 types of endocytosis inhibitors. We found that BEAS-2B cells cultured in Ham's F12 and HBEpCs cultured in SFGM showed similar biological responses, but BEAS-2B cells cultured in SFGM did not internalize MWCNTs, and the 50% inhibitory concentration value, i.e., the cytotoxicity, was increased by more than 10-fold. MWCNT uptake was suppressed by a clathrin-mediated endocytosis inhibitor and a caveolae-mediated endocytosis inhibitor in BEAS-2B cells cultured in Ham's F12 and HBEpCs cultured in SFGM. In conclusion, we suggest that BEAS-2B cells cultured in a medium containing serum should be used for the safety evaluation of nanomaterials as a model of normal human bronchial epithelial cells. However, the culture medium composition may affect the proteins that are expressed on the cytoplasmic membrane, which may influence the biological response to MWCNTs. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  15. Responsible Mining: A Human Resources Strategy for Mine Development Project

    OpenAIRE

    Sampathkumar, Sriram (Ram)

    2012-01-01

    Mining is a global industry. Most mining companies operate internationally, often in remote, challenging environments and consequently frequently have respond to unusual and demanding Human Resource (HR) requirements. It is my opinion that the strategic imperative behind success in mining industry is responsible mining. The purpose of this paper is to examine how an effective HR strategy can be a competitive advantage that contributes to the success of a mining project in the global mining in...

  16. Cultural Diversity and Multicultural Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gay, Geneva

    2013-01-01

    This discussion examines some of the major issues and attributes of culturally responsive teaching. It begins with explaining my views of culturally responsive teaching and how I incorporate cultural responsiveness in my writing to teach readers what it means. These general conceptual frameworks are followed by a discussion of some specific…

  17. Culture, Gender and Health Care Stigma: Practitioners’ Response to Facial Masking Experienced by People with Parkinson’s Disease

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tickle-Degnen, Linda; Zebrowitz, Leslie A.; Ma, Hui-ing

    2011-01-01

    Facial masking in Parkinson’s disease is the reduction of automatic and controlled expressive movement of facial musculature, creating an appearance of apathy, social disengagement or compromised cognitive status. Research in western cultures demonstrates that practitioners form negatively biased impressions associated with patient masking. Socio-cultural norms about facial expressivity vary according to culture and gender, yet little research has studied the effect of these factors on practitioners’ responses toward patients who vary in facial expressivity. This study evaluated the effect of masking, culture and gender on practitioners’ impressions of patient psychological attributes. Practitioners (N=284) in the United States and Taiwan judged 12 Caucasian American and 12 Asian Taiwanese women and men patients in video clips from interviews. Half of each patient group had a moderate degree of facial masking and the other half had near-normal expressivity. Practitioners in both countries judged patients with higher masking to be more depressed and less sociable, less socially supportive, and less cognitively competent than patients with lower masking. Practitioners were more biased by masking when judging the sociability of the American patients, and American practitioners’ judgments of patient sociability were more negatively biased in response to masking than were those of Taiwanese practitioners. Practitioners were more biased by masking when judging the cognitive competence and social supportiveness of the Taiwanese patients, and Taiwanese practitioners’ judgments of patient cognitive competence were more negatively biased in response to masking than were those of American practitioners. The negative response to higher masking was stronger in practitioner judgments of women than men patients, particularly American patients. The findings suggest local cultural values as well as ethnic and gender stereotypes operate on practitioners’ use of facial

  18. Addressing Challenges in Urban Teaching, Learning and Math Using Model-Strategy-Application with Reasoning Approach in Lingustically and Culturally Diverse Classrooms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zhonghe; An, Shuhua

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the effects of using the Model-Strategy-Application with Reasoning Approach (MSAR) in teaching and learning mathematics in linguistically and culturally diverse elementary classrooms. Through learning mathematics via the MSAR, students from different language ability groups gained an understanding of mathematics from creating…

  19. Hemopoietic cell precursor responses to erythropoietin in plasma clot cultures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kennedy, W.L.

    1979-01-01

    The time dependence of the response of mouse bone marrow cells to erythropoietin (Ep) in vitro was studied. Experiments include studies on the Ep response of marrow cells from normal, plethoric, or bled mice. Results with normal marrow reveal: (1) Not all erythroid precursors (CFU-E) are alike in their response to Ep. A significant number of the precursors develop to a mature erythroid colony after very short Ep exposures, but they account for only approx. 13% of the total colonies generated when Ep is active for 48 hrs. If Ep is active more than 6 hrs, a second population of erythroid colonies emerges at a nearly constant rate until the end of the culture. Full erythroid colony production requires prolonged exposure to erythropoietin. (2) The longer erythropoietin is actively present, the larger the number of erythroid colonies that reach 17 cells or more. Two distinct populations of immediate erythroid precursors are also present in marrow from plethoric mice. In these mice, total colony numbers are equal to or below those obtained from normal mice. However, the population of fast-responding CFU-E is consistently decreased to 10 to 20% of that found in normal marrow. The remaining colonies are formed from plethoric marrow at a rate equal to normal marrow. With increasing Ep exposures, the number of large colonies produced increases. From the marrow of bled mice, total erythroid colony production is equal to or above that of normal marrow. Two populations of colony-forming cells are again evident, with the fast-responding CFU-E being below normal levels. The lack of colonies from this group was compensated in bled mice by rapid colony production in the second population. A real increase in numbers of precursors present in this pool increased the rate of colony production in culture to twice that of normal marrow. The number of large colonies obtained from bled mice was again increased as the Ep exposure was lengthened. (ERB)

  20. Cultural Humility and Hospital Safety Culture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hook, Joshua N; Boan, David; Davis, Don E; Aten, Jamie D; Ruiz, John M; Maryon, Thomas

    2016-12-01

    Hospital safety culture is an integral part of providing high quality care for patients, as well as promoting a safe and healthy environment for healthcare workers. In this article, we explore the extent to which cultural humility, which involves openness to cultural diverse individuals and groups, is related to hospital safety culture. A sample of 2011 hospital employees from four hospitals completed measures of organizational cultural humility and hospital safety culture. Higher perceptions of organizational cultural humility were associated with higher levels of general perceptions of hospital safety, as well as more positive ratings on non-punitive response to error (i.e., mistakes of staff are not held against them), handoffs and transitions, and organizational learning. The cultural humility of one's organization may be an important factor to help improve hospital safety culture. We conclude by discussing potential directions for future research.