‘Getting tested is almost like going to the Salem witch trials’: Discordant discourses between western public health messages and sociocultural expectations surrounding HIV testing among East African immigrant women

Science.gov (United States)

DE JESUS, Maria; CARRETE, Claudia; MAINE, Cathleen; NALLS, Patricia

2015-01-01

Washington, DC has the highest AIDS diagnosis rate in the United States and Black women are disproportionately affected. Although HIV testing is the first entryway into vital treatment services, evidence reveals that foreign-born blacks have a lower rate of recent HIV testing than U.S.-born blacks. To date, however, there are no studies that examine the culture-specific perceptions of HIV testing among East African immigrant women (who comprise a large share of Black Africans in DC) to better understand their potential barriers to testing. Adopting the PEN-3 cultural model as our theoretical framework, the main objective of this study was to examine East African women’s HIV testing perceptions and partner communication norms. Between October 2012 and March 2013, trained interviewers conducted a total of 25 interviews with East African women in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. For triangulation purposes, data collection consisted of both in-depth, semi-structured interviews and cognitive interviews, in which participants were administered a quantitative survey and assessed on how they interpreted items. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed a systematic pattern of discordant responses across participants. While they were aware of messages related to western public health discourse surrounding HIV testing (e.g., Everyone should get tested for HIV; One should talk to one’s spouse about HIV testing), divergent sociocultural expectations rooted in cultural and religious beliefs prevailed (e.g., Getting an HIV test brings shame to the person who got tested and to one’s family; it implies one is engaging in immoral behavior; One should not talk with one’s spouse about HIV testing; doing so breaks cultural norms). Implications of using a culture-centered model to examine the role of sociocultural expectations in HIV prevention research and to develop culturally responsive prevention strategies are discussed. PMID:25616443

Prolonged sexual abstinence after childbirth: gendered norms and perceived family health risks. Focus group discussions in a Tanzanian suburb.

Science.gov (United States)

Mbekenga, Columba K; Pembe, Andrea B; Darj, Elisabeth; Christensson, Kyllike; Olsson, Pia

2013-01-15

Prolonged sexual abstinence after childbirth is a socio-cultural practice with health implications, and is described in several African countries, including Tanzania. This study explored discourses on prolonged postpartum sexual abstinence in relation to family health after childbirth in low-income suburbs of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Data for the discourse analysis were collected through focus group discussions with first-time mothers and fathers and their support people in Ilala, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In this setting, prolonged sexual abstinence intended at promoting child health was the dominant discourse in the period after childbirth. Sexual relations after childbirth involved the control of sexuality for ensuring family health and avoiding the social implications of non-adherence to sexual abstinence norms. Both abstinence and control were emphasised more with regard to women than to men. Although the traditional discourse on prolonged sexual abstinence for protecting child health was reproduced in Ilala, some modern aspects such as the use of condoms and other contraceptives prevailed in the discussion. Discourses on sexuality after childbirth are instrumental in reproducing gender-power inequalities, with women being subjected to more restrictions and control than men are. Thus, interventions that create openness in discussing sexual relations and health-related matters after childbirth and mitigate gendered norms suppressing women and perpetuating harmful behaviours are needed. The involvement of males in the interventions would benefit men, women, and children through improving the gender relations that promote family health.

A meta-analysis of the relations between three types of peer norms and adolescent sexual behavior

Science.gov (United States)

van de Bongardt, Daphne; Reitz, Ellen; Sandfort, Theo; Deković, Maja

2018-01-01

The aim of the present meta-analysis was to investigate the associations between three types of peer norms–descriptive norms (peer sexual behaviors), injunctive norms (peer sexual attitudes), and peer pressure to have sex–and two adolescent sexual behavior outcomes (sexual activity and sexual risk behavior). Adolescent sexual activity was more strongly associated with descriptive norms (ESrfixed = .40) than with injunctive norms (ESrfixed = .22) or peer pressure (ESrfixed = .10). Compared with the sexual activity outcome, the effect size for descriptive norms (peer sexual risk behavior) for sexual risk behavior was smaller (ESrfixed = .11). Age, gender, peer type, and socio-cultural context significantly moderated these associations. Additional analyses of longitudinal studies suggested that selection effects were stronger than socialization effects. These findings offer empirical support for the conceptual distinction between three types of peer norms and hold important implications for theory, research, and intervention strategies. PMID:25217363

Norm enforcement among the Ju/'hoansi Bushmen : A case of strong reciprocity?

Science.gov (United States)

Wiessner, Polly

2005-06-01

The concept of cooperative communities that enforce norm conformity through reward, as well as shaming, ridicule, and ostracism, has been central to anthropology since the work of Durkheim. Prevailing approaches from evolutionary theory explain the willingness to exert sanctions to enforce norms as self-interested behavior, while recent experimental studies suggest that altruistic rewarding and punishing-"strong reciprocity"-play an important role in promoting cooperation. This paper will use data from 308 conversations among the Ju/'hoansi (!Kung) Bushmen (a) to examine the dynamics of norm enforcement, (b) to evaluate the costs of punishment in a forager society and understand how they are reduced, and (c) to determine whether hypotheses that center on individual self-interest provide sufficient explanations for bearing the costs of norm enforcement, or whether there is evidence for strong reciprocity.

Analyse linguistique, normes scolaires et differenciations socio-culturelles (Linguistic Analysis, Educational Standards, and Socio-Cultural Differentiation).

Science.gov (United States)

Francois, Frederic

1980-01-01

Questions the validity of some child language studies that measure cognitive ability by the degree of complexity of the linguistic expression. Claims that these studies ignore many facets of the children's sociocultural experience as well as the influence of situational factors on their choice of linguistic codes, perpetuating socially biased…

The Chinese experience of rapid modernization: sociocultural changes, psychological consequences?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiahong eSun

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Mainland China has undergone profound changes dating back to the nineteenth century, including a contemporary period of rapid modernization that began in the 1980s. The result has been dramatic social, cultural, and economic shifts impacting the daily lives of Chinese people. In this paper, we explore the psychological implications of sociocultural transformation in China, emphasizing two central themes. First, rising individualism: findings from social and developmental psychology suggest that China’s rapid development has been accompanied by ever-increasing adherence to individualistic values. Second, rising rates of depression: findings from psychiatric epidemiology point to increasing prevalence of depression over this same time period, particularly in rural settings. We argue that links between sociocultural and psychological shifts in China can be usefully studied through a cultural psychology lens, emphasizing the mutual constitution of culture, mind, and brain. In particular, we note that the link between social change, individualism, and rising mental illness deserves careful attention. Our review suggests that shifting values and socialization practices shape emotion norms of concealment and display, with implications for depressive symptom presentation. The challenge comes with interpretation. Increasing prevalence rates of depression may indeed be a general response to the rapidity of sociocultural change, or a specific consequence of rising individualism—but may also result from increasingly ‘Western’ patterns of symptom presentation, or improvements in diagnostic practice. We conclude by considering the challenges posed to standard universal models of psychological phenomena.

The Chinese Experience of Rapid Modernization: Sociocultural Changes, Psychological Consequences?

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jiahong; Ryder, Andrew G.

2016-01-01

Mainland China has undergone profound changes dating back to the nineteenth century, including a contemporary period of rapid modernization that began in the 1980s. The result has been dramatic social, cultural, and economic shifts impacting the daily lives of Chinese people. In this paper, we explore the psychological implications of sociocultural transformation in China, emphasizing two central themes. First, rising individualism: findings from social and developmental psychology suggest that China’s rapid development has been accompanied by ever-increasing adherence to individualistic values. Second, rising rates of depression: findings from psychiatric epidemiology point to increasing prevalence of depression over this same time period, particularly in rural settings. We argue that links between sociocultural and psychological shifts in China can be usefully studied through a cultural psychology lens, emphasizing the mutual constitution of culture, mind, and brain. In particular, we note that the link between social change, individualism, and rising mental illness deserves careful attention. Our review suggests that shifting values and socialization practices shape emotion norms of concealment and display, with implications for depressive symptom presentation. The challenge comes with interpretation. Increasing prevalence rates of depression may indeed be a general response to the rapidity of sociocultural change, or a specific consequence of rising individualism—but may also result from increasingly ‘Western’ patterns of symptom presentation, or improvements in diagnostic practice. We conclude by considering the challenges posed to standard universal models of psychological phenomena. PMID:27092093

The influence of sociocultural factors on the eating attitudes of Lebanese and Cypriot students: a cross-cultural study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeeni, N; Gharibeh, N; Katsounari, I

2013-07-01

The present comparative cross-cultural study aimed to explore the relationship between eating behaviour and sociocultural influences with respect to appearance and body image in female university students from two cultural contexts, namely Cyprus and Lebanon. The Dutch Eating Behavior questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Perceived Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Body Change Questionnaire were used to assess sociocultural influences and body image, respectively, in 200 students from each country. The results indicated that the Lebanese students were more likely to engage in emotional and external eating and their body image was impacted to a larger extent by sociocultural agents, including media influences, compared to the Cypriot students. Also, a positive relationship was found between emotional and external eating in both cultures. Finally, sociocultural influences correlated positively with external eating only in the Cypriot sample. Culture-specific factors, such as the societal values and norms, as well as the Westernisation history of each country, are discussed as underpinnings for the differences found. These findings are significant for understanding the rise of eating pathology in these two cultures and provide evidence for a need to consider cultural environment when designing public health policies addressing the negative aspects of nutrition transition. © 2013 The Authors Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics © 2013 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

Abordagem sociocultural: algumas vertentes e autores Sociocultural approach: some perspectives and authors

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Adriana Ferreira Paes Ribas

2006-04-01

Full Text Available A necessidade de enfocar aspectos socioculturais nas investigações em psicologia tem sido destacada por diferentes autores, em diferentes épocas, e a abordagem sociocultural representa uma fonte conceitual proveitosa neste sentido. Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar e discutir algumas idéias centrais da abordagem sociocultural, mudanças pelas quais esta abordagem passou nas últimas décadas, algumas de suas vertentes e autores. Os conceitos aqui discutidos não esgotam o tema, mas podem ser úteis para tentativas de articular investigações de diferentes temas em psicologia à abordagem sociocultural. As considerações finais apontam no sentido da necessidade de incluir as investigações em psicologia em um cenário conceitual que considere a cultura e o contexto social como elementos centrais, articulando as contribuições da psicologia transcultural e da cultura.The need to approach sociocultural aspects in psychological investigations has been emphasized by different authors in different times, and the sociocultural approach represents a profitable conceptual source in this sense. The purpose of this article was to discuss some concepts of the sociocultural approach, changes by which this approach went through last decades, some of their perspectives and authors. The concepts here discussed can be useful in the attempts to articulate psychological investigations in a sociocultural approach. The conclusions point to the need of including the investigations in psychology into a conceptual approach that considers the culture and the social context as central elements, articulating the contributions of the cross-cultural psychology, and of the culture.

?As soon as the umbilical cord gets off, the child ceases to be called a newborn?: sociocultural beliefs and newborn referral in rural Uganda

OpenAIRE

Nalwadda, Christine K.; Waiswa, Peter; Guwatudde, David; Kerber, Kate; Peterson, Stefan; Kiguli, Juliet

2015-01-01

Background: The first week of life is the time of greatest risk of death and disability, and is also associated with many traditional beliefs and practices. Identifying sick newborns in the community and referring them to health facilities is a key strategy to reduce deaths. Although a growing area of interest, there remains a lack of data on the role of sociocultural norms and practices on newborn healthcare-seeking in sub-Saharan Africa and the extent to which these norms can be modified.Ob...

12 CFR 747.603 - Prevailing party.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Prevailing party. 747.603 Section 747.603 Banks... in NCUA Board Adjudications § 747.603 Prevailing party. An eligible applicant may be a “prevailing... dismissed. In appropriate situations an applicant may also have prevailed if the outcome of the proceeding...

$q$-norms are really norms

OpenAIRE

Belbachir, H.; Mirzavaziri, M.; Moslehian, M. S.

2005-01-01

Replacing the triangle inequality, in the definition of a norm, by $|x + y| ^{q}\\leq 2^{q-1}(|x| ^{q} + |y| ^{q}) $, we introduce the notion of a q-norm. We establish that every q-norm is a norm in the usual sense, and that the converse is true as well.

12 CFR 263.102 - Prevailing party.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Prevailing party. 263.102 Section 263.102 Banks and Banking FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (CONTINUED) BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM RULES... Prevailing party. Only an eligible applicant that prevailed on the merits of an adversary proceeding may...

12 CFR 308.173 - Prevailing party.

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2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Prevailing party. 308.173 Section 308.173 Banks....173 Prevailing party. (a) General rule. An eligible applicant who, following an adversary adjudication has gained victory on the merits in the proceeding is a “prevailing party”. An eligible applicant may...

Financing Educational Facility Construction: Prevailing Wage Litigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldblatt, Steven M.; Wood, R. Craig

This chapter presents an up-to-date analysis of prevailing state wage laws that affect educational facility construction or renovation and highlights relevant prevailing wage litigation in many states. Currently, 13 states have no prevailing wage laws for public works. The other 37 states and the District of Columbia do have prevailing wage laws…

Exploring the potential for changing gender norms among cricket coaches and athletes in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Elizabeth; Das, Madhumita; Verma, Ravi; O'Connor, Brian; Ghosh, Sancheeta; Jaime, Maria Catrina D; McCauley, Heather L

2015-02-01

This study explored gender norms with cricket coaches and athletes in India to adapt a coach-delivered gender violence prevention program from the United States for the urban Indian context. Interviews and focus groups conducted among coaches and adolescent cricketers highlight the extent to which coaches and athletes articulate prevailing inequitable notions about gender and recognition of the power coaches wield. Adapting a violence prevention program that emphasizes gender norms change may be feasible with Indian cricket coaches but is likely to require attention to defining gender equity and challenging cultural assumptions with coaches prior to implementing the program with athletes. © The Author(s) 2014.

Socio-Cultural Animation as Inspiration for the Life of the Society- Linking of the Social and Cultural in the Heart of the New Civilization

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Dušana Findeisen

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Initially, the author discusses the formats of passing on culture and knowledge that were used in the past, the formats of the times of creation of national States, the formats belonging to the enlightenment initiatives. Dušana Findeisen goes on to emphasize that all national States had their »englighteners« involved in inspiring, bonding and educating people of various professions, from various social groups, thus rendering the society alive and dynamic. Socio-cultural animation is a French concept, not as new as it may seem, stemming from popular education. After the Second World War the adjective popular started being omitted and the term socio-cultural animation slowly replaced it. Socio-cultural animation can be found wherever people are, regardless of their educational or social background, striving to bring improvement to individuals and society. Next, the author presents and discusses several definitions of socio-cultural animation, occasionally illustrating them by presenting examples of good practice. In addition to that, she identifies the prevailing criteria used when classifying formats of socio cultural animation, drawing the reader's attention to the great variety of actors in this field. Dušana Findeisen presents various functions of this subsystem of the French national cultural policy. Owing to them, socio-cultural animation can be clearly differentiated from community education.

Exploration of Food Culture in Kisumu: A Socio-Cultural Perspective

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Fredrick Argwenge Odede

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Increasingly food culture in the context of socio-cultural dimension is becoming important for sustainable urban development. In the last four years food festivals have been held in Kisumu attracting several interests both from within and without the City. The Kisumu fish night event of 2013 marked the melting point of food culture in Kisumu. This paper thus explores the noble intention of integrating food culture in Kisumu as a socio-cultural capital for the advancement of City sustainable development agenda. To an agrarian society, life is about food from its production, the processing/preservation up to the consumption or the sharing. People connect to their cultural or ethnic background through similar food patterns.  People from different cultural backgrounds eat different foods leading to the question: Are Luos in Kisumu defined by their own food culture? This study further investigated the mode of production, and storage of food resources, examined food cuisines of the Luo community in Kisumu, and assessed the food habits, practices and beliefs associated with food cuisines, as well as, the nutritional and socio-cultural values of Luo cuisines. The research employed qualitative methods of data collection such as interviews, observation, focused group discussion and photography using purposive and snowball sampling technique. Content analysis was used to draw general universal statements in thematic areas with respect to the research objectives. The study revealed that Luo community in Kisumu has a food culture laced with rich cultural practices, rituals and societal norms that defines them as a distinct cultural identity but interacts with other cultural groups in the metropolitan city of Kisumu. Further, the study confirms that indeed food culture is vital for sustainable development of urban centre granted that Kisumu largely evolved as urban centre for exchange of goods for food.

Perspectives on domestic violence: case study from Karachi, Pakistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabbani, F; Qureshi, F; Rizvi, N

2008-01-01

There is no adequate profile of domestic violence in Pakistan although this issue is frequently highlighted by the media. This case study used qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the nature and forms of domestic violence, circumstances, impact and coping mechanisms amongst selected women victims in Karachi. Violence was a continuum: all the women reported verbal abuse, often escalating into physical, emotional, sexual and economic abuse. The husband was the most common perpetrator. Women suffered in silence due to sociocultural norms, misinterpretation of religious beliefs, subordinate status, economic dependence and lack of legal redress. Besides short-term local measures, public policy informed by correct interpretation of religion can bring about a change in prevailing societal norms.

Alcohol makes you macho and helps you make friends: the role of masculine norms and peer pressure in adolescent boys' and girls' alcohol use.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwamoto, Derek K; Smiler, Andrew P

2013-04-01

Peer pressure and general conformity to adult norms have been found to be strongly associated with alcohol use among adolescents; however there is limited knowledge about the sociocultural factors that might influence this relationship. Theory and research suggest that masculine norms might directly and indirectly contribute to alcohol use through peer pressure and general conformity to adult norms. Whereas being male is typically identified as a risk factor for alcohol use, masculine norms provide greater specificity than sex alone in explaining why some boys drink more than others. There is growing evidence that girls who endorse masculine norms may be at heightened risk of engaging in risky behaviors including alcohol use. Data were provided by adolescents living in a rural area in the Northeastern United States and were collected in 2006. This study demonstrated that masculine norms were associated with peer pressure and general conformity and alcohol use for both adolescent girls (n = 124) and boys (n = 138), though the relationship between masculine norms and alcohol use was stronger for boys. The study's limitations are noted and theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Epistaxis: Prevailing Factors and Treatment

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Secchi, Myrian Marajó Dal

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The epistaxis is one the most frequent otorhinolaryngologic emergencies in the medical practice. It is a benign affection, but the refractory cases require hospital admission. Objective: To evaluate prevailing factors in patients with epistaxis and treatment. Form of study: Retrospective study. Method: 60 patients with diagnosis of epistaxis were evaluated and they needed hospital admission between 2005 and 2006. Results: The main prevailing factors were: Systemic arterial hypertension 36% (n= 22, trauma 16% (n=10 and coagulopathy 5% (n=3. The treatment was the use of nasal splint: anterior 58% (n=35 and antero-posterior 27% (n=16, the electrocauterization of the identified bloody point 7% (n=4, endoscopic arterial bandage 8% (n=5 in severe epistaxis. For the patients with antero-posterior splint with recurrence of bleeding in the first 24 hours (five patients, after clinical stabilization, an arterial bandage was indicated by endoscopic means; four patients had systemic arterial hypertension and in one patient no prevailing factor was identified. Conclusion: The main associated prevailing factors were systemic arterial hypertension, trauma and coagulopathy. The treatment depends on the type, severity and cause of bleeding, initially the anterior and antero-posterior splint for bleeding control. The early endoscopic arterial bandage is indicated in patients with severe epistaxis and prevailing factors, and prolonged admission and morbidities associated with nasal splint should be avoided.

29 CFR 505.3 - Prevailing minimum compensation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Prevailing minimum compensation. 505.3 Section 505.3 Labor... HUMANITIES § 505.3 Prevailing minimum compensation. (a)(1) In the absence of an alternative determination...)(2) of this section, the prevailing minimum compensation required to be paid under the Act to the...

26 CFR 301.7430-5 - Prevailing party.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 18 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Prevailing party. 301.7430-5 Section 301.7430-5... Prevailing party. (a) In general. For purposes of an award of reasonable administrative costs under section... prevailing party only if— (1) The position of the Internal Revenue Service was not substantially justified...

An exploratory study of the socio-cultural risk influences for cigarette smoking among Southern Nigerian youth.

Science.gov (United States)

Egbe, Catherine O; Petersen, Inge; Meyer-Weitz, Anna; Oppong Asante, Kwaku

2014-11-22

The increase in smoking prevalence in developing countries including Nigeria has been mainly blamed on the aggressive marketing strategies of big tobacco companies. There is a paucity of research on other socio-cultural risk factors for smoking among the youth. The main objective of this study is to explore and describe socio-cultural risk factors influencing cigarette smoking among the youth in Southern Nigeria. A total of 27 respondents (5 community leaders, 4 political analysts and 18 young cigarette smokers) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data. Social-cultural practices fuelling early usage and exposure of children to cigarettes and the promotional activities of tobacco companies were identified as possible factors influencing youth's smoking behaviour in Southern Nigeria. Tobacco control policies should include cultural interventions to modify current traditional practices and social norms which fuel the use of tobacco in the society. Such interventions must target specific groups, subpopulations and subcultures more exposed to the cultural risk influences for smoking.

Alcohol Makes You Macho and Helps You Make Friends: The Role of Masculine Norms and Peer Pressure in Adolescent Boys’ and Girls’ Alcohol Use

Science.gov (United States)

Iwamoto, Derek K.; Smiler, Andrew P.

2014-01-01

Peer pressure and general conformity to adult norms have been found to be strongly associated with alcohol use among adolescents; however there is limited knowledge about the sociocultural factors that might influence this relationship. Theory and research suggest that masculine norms might directly and indirectly contribute to alcohol use through peer pressure and general conformity to adult norms. Whereas being male is typically identified as a risk factor for alcohol use, masculine norms provide greater specificity than sex alone in explaining why some boys drinkmore than others. There is growing evidence that girls who endorse masculine norms may be at heightened risk of engaging in risky behaviors including alcohol use. Data were provided by adolescents living in a rural area in the Northeastern United States and were collected in 2006. This study demonstrated that masculine norms were associated with peer pressure and general conformity and alcohol use for both adolescent girls (n = 124) and boys (n = 138), though the relationship between masculine norms and alcohol use was stronger for boys. The study’s limitations are noted and theoretical and practical implications are discussed. PMID:23421386

From Norm Adoption to Norm Internalization

Science.gov (United States)

Conte, Rosaria; Andrighetto, Giulia; Villatoro, Daniel

In this presentation, advances in modeling the mental dynamics of norms will be presented. In particular, the process from norm-adoption, possibly yielding new normative goals, to different forms of norm compliance will be focused upon, including norm internalization, which is at study in social-behavioral sciences and moral philosophy since long. Of late, the debate was revamped within the rationality approach pointing to the role of norm internalization as a less costly and more reliable enforcement system than social control. So far, poor attention was paid to the mental underpinnings of internalization. In this presentation, a rich cognitive model of different types, degrees and factors of internalization is shown. The initial implementation of this model on EMIL-A, a normative agent architecture developed and applied to the.

Amemiya norm equals Orlicz norm in general

OpenAIRE

Hudzik, Henryk; Maligranda, Lech

2000-01-01

The authors present a proof that in Orlicz spaces the Amemiya norm and the Orlicz norm coincide for any Orlicz function $\\varphi$. This gives the answer for an open problem. They also give a description of the Amemiya type for the Mazur-Orlicz $F$-norm.

The wetlands of Magdalena medio Antioqueno from a physical and socio-cultural perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caballero Acosta, Humberto; Durango Lopez, Consuelo; Giraldo Castro, Carlos Augusto

2001-01-01

Wetlands are ecosystems with environmental and ecological importance that require of a new methodological and legal focus that allows developing conservation policies in agreement with the natural and socio-cultural conditions. In the Magdalena Medio Antioqueno, CORANTIOQUIA region, were recognized 362 wetlands, divided in two main groups; in Puerto Nare and Puerto Berrio to the south prevails herbaceous wetlands without permanent surface water, locally known as Bajos. In Yondo the wetlands have permanent surface water. The environmental dynamic depends from the geomorphologic and hydrological conditions and are affected in a differential way by the human action. The region is the result of a long occupation process that begins in prehistoric times and had changed depending on the different historical moments. This complex social configuration has given origin to diverse perceptions and types of appropriation of the wetlands what explains the identified environmental circumstances

A norm knockout method on indirect reciprocity to reveal indispensable norms

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, Hitoshi; Okada, Isamu; Uchida, Satoshi; Sasaki, Tatsuya

2017-03-01

Although various norms for reciprocity-based cooperation have been suggested that are evolutionarily stable against invasion from free riders, the process of alternation of norms and the role of diversified norms remain unclear in the evolution of cooperation. We clarify the co-evolutionary dynamics of norms and cooperation in indirect reciprocity and also identify the indispensable norms for the evolution of cooperation. Inspired by the gene knockout method, a genetic engineering technique, we developed the norm knockout method and clarified the norms necessary for the establishment of cooperation. The results of numerical investigations revealed that the majority of norms gradually transitioned to tolerant norms after defectors are eliminated by strict norms. Furthermore, no cooperation emerges when specific norms that are intolerant to defectors are knocked out.

Complex and Conflicting Social Norms: Implications for Implementation of Future HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP Interventions in Vancouver, Canada.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rod Knight

Full Text Available HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP has been found to be efficacious in preventing HIV acquisition among seronegative individuals in a variety of risk groups, including men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs. To date, however, it remains unclear how socio-cultural norms (e.g., attitudes towards HIV; social understandings regarding HIV risk practices may influence the scalability of future PrEP interventions. The objective of this study is to assess how socio-cultural norms may influence the implementation and scalability of future HIV PrEP interventions in Vancouver, Canada.We conducted 50 interviews with young men (ages 18-24 with a variety of HIV risk behavioural profiles (e.g., young men who inject drugs; MSM. Interviews focused on participants' experiences and perceptions with various HIV interventions and policies, including PrEP.While awareness of PrEP was generally low, perceptions about the potential personal and public health gains associated with PrEP were interconnected with expressions of complex and sometimes conflicting social norms. Some accounts characterized PrEP as a convenient form of reliable protection against HIV, likening it to the female birth control pill. Other accounts cast PrEP as a means to facilitate 'socially unacceptable' behaviour (e.g., promiscuity. Stigmatizing rhetoric was used to position PrEP as a tool that could promote some groups' proclivities to take 'risks'.Stigma regarding 'risky' behaviour and PrEP should not be underestimated as a serious implementation challenge. Pre-implementation strategies that concomitantly aim to improve knowledge about PrEP, while addressing associated social prejudices, may be key to effective implementation and scale-up.

Extending Sociocultural Theory to Group Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Sawyer, Keith

2012-01-01

Sociocultural theory focuses on group processes through time, and argues that group phenomena cannot be reduced to explanation in terms of the mental states or actions of the participating individuals. This makes sociocultural theory particularly useful in the analysis of group creativity and group learning, because both group creativity and group…

29 CFR 525.10 - Prevailing wage rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Prevailing wage rates. 525.10 Section 525.10 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR REGULATIONS EMPLOYMENT OF WORKERS WITH DISABILITIES UNDER SPECIAL CERTIFICATES § 525.10 Prevailing wage rates. (a) A...

Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) Annual Reports

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Office of Personnel Management — Annual reports of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), which studies the prevailing (market) rate system for wages and other matters pertinent to...

29 CFR 4.51 - Prevailing in the locality determinations.

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2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Prevailing in the locality determinations. 4.51 Section 4.51... Procedures § 4.51 Prevailing in the locality determinations. (a) Information considered. The minimum monetary... benefits contained in collective bargaining agreements where they have been determined to prevail in a...

'As soon as the umbilical cord gets off, the child ceases to be called a newborn': sociocultural beliefs and newborn referral in rural Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Nalwadda, Christine K; Waiswa, Peter; Guwatudde, David; Kerber, Kate; Peterson, Stefan; Kiguli, Juliet

2015-01-01

The first week of life is the time of greatest risk of death and disability, and is also associated with many traditional beliefs and practices. Identifying sick newborns in the community and referring them to health facilities is a key strategy to reduce deaths. Although a growing area of interest, there remains a lack of data on the role of sociocultural norms and practices on newborn healthcare-seeking in sub-Saharan Africa and the extent to which these norms can be modified. This study aimed to understand the community's perspective of potential sociocultural barriers and facilitators to compliance with newborn referral. In this qualitative study, focus group discussions (n=12) were conducted with mothers and fathers of babies aged less than 3 months. In addition, in-depth interviews (n=11) were also held with traditional birth attendants and mothers who had been referred by community health workers to seek health-facility-based care. Participants were purposively selected from peri-urban and rural communities in two districts in eastern Uganda. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. The community definition of a newborn varied, but this was most commonly defined by the period between birth and the umbilical cord stump falling off. During this period, newborns are perceived to be vulnerable to the environment and many mothers and their babies are kept in seclusion, although this practice may be changing. Sociocultural factors that influence compliance with newborn referrals to seek care emerged along three sub-themes: community understanding of the newborn period and cultural expectations; the role of community health actors; and caretaker knowledge, experience, and decision-making autonomy. In this setting, there is discrepancy between biomedical and community definitions of the newborn period. There were a number of sociocultural factors that could potentially affect compliance to newborn referral. The widely practised cultural seclusion period

Influencia del contexto sociocultural en la percepción del riesgo y la negociación de protección en hombres homosexuales pobres de la costa peruana Influence of socio-cultural context on risk perception and negotiation of protection among poor homosexual males on the Peruvian coast

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ximena Salazar

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Este trabajo utiliza un enfoque del riesgo concebido, no como una acción individual, sino tomando su dimensión social. Busca analizar las diferentes formas en que el contexto sociocultural, relacionado a la homofobia internalizada y a las normas de género hegemónicas, permite la construcción de barreras en la percepción del riesgo. Estas barreras impiden la negociación de protección entre hombres homosexuales que han asumido una identidad de género femenina y habitan en barrios pobres de Lima y Trujillo, Peru. El análisis de la percepción del riesgo desde el plano sociocultural, nos va a permitir explicar las razones por las cuales la capacidad de negociación en esta población se ve restringida, no obstante, posee, más que otras, un mayor conocimiento del VIH/SIDA y sus consecuencias.This paper focuses on risk, conceived not as an individual action, but considering its social dimension, analyzing the various forms in the socio-cultural context related to internalized homophobia and hegemonic gender norms that allow barriers to be constructed in risk perception. Such barriers hinder negotiation and protection among homosexual men that have adopted a female gender identity, living in low-income barrios of Lima and Trujillo, Peru. Risk perception is analyzed on the socio-cultural plane, allowing one to explain the limited negotiating capacity of this population, even though they have extensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS and its consequences.

NORM - practical guide; NORM - guia pratico

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reis, Rocio dos (ed.)

2016-07-01

The experience of the authors and a literature review on the evaluation of national and international regulatory guides are presented. The objective is to help understand the need to implement the best practices for NORM management in the industries that produce the NORM wastes. The book should act as a reference point, basic, friendly and useful to assist the reader in NORM management activities. The reader should be warned that management requires consultation and involvement of a significant number of stakeholders, in addition to the approval of competent authorities. A list and the technical biography of the authors are also described.

THE WORLD VIEW, IDENTITY AND SOCIOCULTUR HOMEOSTASIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina Yur’evna Neronova

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the relationship between the phenomenon of world view and sociocultural identity both individuals and the community as a whole. The research is being carried out in the context of current crisis of world view accepted in so-called art Nouveau era. This paper also presents the identity crisis typical for modern civilized societies. A new notion of sociocultural homeostasis is introduced in connection with analyzable phenomena and their mutual relations.Purpose. Study of the relationship between the phenomenon of the world view and sociocultural identity as a structural and functional mechanism.Methodology. Phenomenological and systematic methods with the elements of historical method were employed. Cultural analysis is based on using both axiological and phenomenological approach, and also the elements of semiotic approach.Results. The dependence of identity on the world view is revealed (or is being revealed?, the phenomenon of sociocultural homeostasis is singled out (or is being singled out in the capacity of the mechanism setting up the correspondence in the contradictory unity between the world view as a subjective image and concrete reality as an objective part of this contradictory. The analysis of sociocultural homeostasis is carried out (or is being carried out and the conclusion is being drown that instability of the latter leads to serious problems in the identification of both individuals and communities as a whole. Besides, (moreover the relationship between the legitimacy level of the world view and stability of sociocultural homeostasis is established. (is being established.Practical implications: the system of education.

Blending genetics and sociocultural historical inquiry: ethics, culture, and human subjects protection in international cross cultural research.

Science.gov (United States)

Sampson, Deborah A; Caldwell, Dennis; Taylor, Andre D; Taylor, Jacquelyn Y

2013-03-01

In this paper, we examine the implementation and difficulties when conducting genetics research in a rural, traditional West African culture within the frame of the United States' grounded research ethics. Research challenges are highlighted by Western researchers following U.S. Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines and practices in a non-Western country. IRB concepts are culture bound in Western ideals that may not have synchronicity and compatibility with non-Western cultures. Differences in sociocultural norms, traditions, language, and geography were influencing factors that can affect application of IRB principles. Suggestions for change are offered, which will potentially aid researchers considering application of IRB requirements when conducting research in non-Westernized, non-industrialized countries.

Extending the Mertonian Norms: Scientists' Subscription to Norms of Research

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Melissa S.; Ronning, Emily A.; De Vries, Raymond; Martinson, Brian C.

2010-01-01

This analysis, based on focus groups and a national survey, assesses scientists' subscription to the Mertonian norms of science and associated counternorms. It also supports extension of these norms to governance (as opposed to administration), as a norm of decision-making, and quality (as opposed to quantity), as an evaluative norm. (Contains 1…

‘As soon as the umbilical cord gets off, the child ceases to be called a newborn’: sociocultural beliefs and newborn referral in rural Uganda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine K. Nalwadda

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Background: The first week of life is the time of greatest risk of death and disability, and is also associated with many traditional beliefs and practices. Identifying sick newborns in the community and referring them to health facilities is a key strategy to reduce deaths. Although a growing area of interest, there remains a lack of data on the role of sociocultural norms and practices on newborn healthcare-seeking in sub-Saharan Africa and the extent to which these norms can be modified. Objective: This study aimed to understand the community's perspective of potential sociocultural barriers and facilitators to compliance with newborn referral. Method: In this qualitative study, focus group discussions (n=12 were conducted with mothers and fathers of babies aged less than 3 months. In addition, in-depth interviews (n=11 were also held with traditional birth attendants and mothers who had been referred by community health workers to seek health-facility-based care. Participants were purposively selected from peri-urban and rural communities in two districts in eastern Uganda. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. Results: The community definition of a newborn varied, but this was most commonly defined by the period between birth and the umbilical cord stump falling off. During this period, newborns are perceived to be vulnerable to the environment and many mothers and their babies are kept in seclusion, although this practice may be changing. Sociocultural factors that influence compliance with newborn referrals to seek care emerged along three sub-themes: community understanding of the newborn period and cultural expectations; the role of community health actors; and caretaker knowledge, experience, and decision-making autonomy. Conclusion: In this setting, there is discrepancy between biomedical and community definitions of the newborn period. There were a number of sociocultural factors that could potentially affect compliance

Social Norms: Do We Love Norms Too Much?

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, David C; Cox, Mary L

2015-03-01

Social norms are often cited as the cause of many social phenomena, especially as an explanation for prosocial family and relationship behaviors. And yet maybe we love the idea of social norms too much, as suggested by our failure to subject them to rigorous test. Compared to the detail in social norms theoretical orientations, there is very little detail in tests of normative theories. To provide guidance to researchers who invoke social norms as explanations, we catalog normative orientations that have been proposed to account for consistent patterns of action. We call on researchers to conduct tests of normative theories and the processes such theories assert.

Residents’ Attitude toward Tourism Development: A Sociocultural Perspective

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Sajad Ebrahimi Meimand

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Host population support for tourism development has attracted the attention of researchers in tourism studies. Given the importance of understanding local community support for tourism development, limitations in understanding their priority and lack of a socio-cultural model of support for tourism, this study attempted to model locals’ support for tourism development based on socio-cultural factors in Malaysian Homestay program. Using extensive literature review, a tourism support model was proposed including several hypothesized paths. The proposed socio-cultural research framework predicted the impact of Islamic religiosity, locals’ knowledge about tourism, intrinsic motivation factors and community attachment on locals support for tourism development through mediating variables of perceived socio-cultural benefits and costs in Malaysian Homestays. , the model and paths were tested using structural equation modelling and partial least square algorithm (PLS-SEM with the aid of SmartPLS software. Findings reveal that locals’ support for tourism development in Homestay program is a function of perceived socio-cultural benefits and costs perceived by local community and four independent variables of Islamic religiosity, knowledge about tourism, intrinsic motivations, and community attachment.

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.

Quotient normed cones

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

general setting of the space CL(X, Y ) of all continuous linear mappings from a normed cone (X, p) to a normed cone (Y, q), extending several well-known results related to open continuous linear mappings between normed linear spaces. Keywords. Normed cone; extended quasi-metric; continuous linear mapping; bicom-.

Manger hors norme, respecter les normes

OpenAIRE

Régnier, Faustine

2007-01-01

Fondée sur un corpus de près de 10 000 recettes de cuisine de la presse féminine française et allemande (1930‑2000), cette contribution met en évidence la façon dont l’exotisme permet de manger hors norme tout en restant dans les normes. Les pratiques culinaires étrangères ne peuvent être adoptées qu’au terme d’un travail de normalisation. Elles sont modifiées de manière à ce que soient respectées les normes du pays d’accueil, par là même mises en œuvre. Elles sont donc conçues comme un ensem...

Age and size at maturity: a quantitative review of diet-induced reaction norms in insects.

Science.gov (United States)

Teder, Tiit; Vellau, Helen; Tammaru, Toomas

2014-11-01

Optimality models predict that diet-induced bivariate reaction norms for age and size at maturity can have diverse shapes, with the slope varying from negative to positive. To evaluate these predictions, we perform a quantitative review of relevant data, using a literature-derived database of body sizes and development times for over 200 insect species. We show that bivariate reaction norms with a negative slope prevail in nearly all taxonomic and ecological categories of insects as well as in some other ectotherm taxa with comparable life histories (arachnids and amphibians). In insects, positive slopes are largely limited to species, which feed on discrete resource items, parasitoids in particular. By contrast, with virtually no meaningful exceptions, herbivorous and predatory insects display reaction norms with a negative slope. This is consistent with the idea that predictable resource depletion, a scenario selecting for positively sloped reaction norms, is not frequent for these insects. Another source of such selection-a positive correlation between resource levels and juvenile mortality rates-should similarly be rare among insects. Positive slopes can also be predicted by models which integrate life-history evolution and population dynamics. As bottom-up regulation is not common in most insect groups, such models may not be most appropriate for insects. © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution © 2014 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

"Boys Should Have the Courage to Ask a Girl Out": Gender Norms in Early Adolescent Romantic Relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

De Meyer, Sara; Kågesten, Anna; Mmari, Kristin; McEachran, Juliet; Chilet-Rosell, Elisa; Kabiru, Caroline W; Maina, Beatrice; Jerves, Elena M; Currie, Candace; Michielsen, Kristien

2017-10-01

The purpose of the study is to explore how gender norms emerge in romantic relationships among early adolescents (EAs) living in five poor urban areas. Data were collected as part of the Global Early Adolescent Study. The current research analyzed data from interviews with 30 EAs (aged 11-13 years) living in five poor urban sites: Baltimore, Cuenca, Edinburgh, Ghent, and Nairobi. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed in English using Atlas.ti, focusing on how EAs experience and perceive gender norms in romantic relationships. Across the five sites, only a few respondents described having been in love, the majority of whom were boys. Findings indicate that stereotypical gender norms about romantic relationships prevail across these cultural settings, depicting boys as romantically/sexually active and dominant, and girls as innocent with less (romantic) agency. In spite of the similarities, Nairobi was unique in that respondents referred to how sexual behavior and violence can occur within EA relationships. In all countries, heterosexuality was perceived to be the norm. Nevertheless, there were examples of EAs accepting homosexuality and expressing supportive attitudes toward equality between the sexes. While EAs across five different cultural settings seem to endorse stereotypical gender norms in romantic relationships, a few stories also illustrate more gender-equal attitudes. As stereotypical gender norms have a demonstrated negative effect on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and well-being, additional research is needed to understand which factors-at the interpersonal and structural level-contribute to the construction of these norms among EAs. Copyright © 2017 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Regulation of NORM industries and NORM residues in Belgium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Biermans, G.; Dehandschutter, B.; Pepin, S.; Sonck, M. [Federal Agency for Nuclear Control - FANC (Belgium)

2014-07-01

In the Belgian Royal Decree of 20 July 2001, which transposed the EU Directive 96/26/EURATOM (BSS) into national legislation regarding radiation protection regulations, a list of 'work activities involving natural radiation sources' (i.e. NORM industries) was defined based on the concept described in Article 40 of the Directive. These activities are subject to declaration to the Belgian radiation protection authority (Federal Agency for Nuclear Control - FANC). The initial list was subsequently modified by a FANC decree in 2012 to reflect the increased knowledge about NORM in other industrial sectors, most of which have also been added in the recently published New Basic Safety Standards (Directive 2013/53/EURATOM). In March 2013, an additional decree was published by FANC regulating the acceptance of NORM residues by non-radioactive waste treatment facilities. This regulation was fitted within the framework described above by introducing NORM residue treatment into the existing NORM industry list. It introduces generic exemption levels above which the processing or disposal of NORM residues will be considered as a 'work activity' and submitted to declaration according to the Belgian radiation protection regulations. On basis of this declaration, specific acceptance criteria are assigned to the disposal or processing facility. FANC has published technical and methodological guides for the operators of the concerned facilities and industries to facilitate the declaration process, and has recently organized a round-table gathering both NORM industries and waste processing industries to identify the needs, uncertainties and concerns regarding the regulatory control of NORM in Belgium. Document available in abstract form only. (authors)

Students’ Socio-cultural Competence Development, Using English and Russian Phraseological Units

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umit I. Kopzhasarova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of socio-cultural competence development on the basis of using English and Russian phraseological units. The authors specify the essence of the socio-cultural competence, define socio-cultural component of foreign language teaching. The authors justify their viewpoint that phraseological units, being the most valuable source of cultural information, exposing background knowledge and culture specific vocabulary, are the effective means of socio-cultural competence development. The set of exercises on socio-cultural competence development on the material of English and Russian phraseological units, developed by authors, include language and speech tasks; tasks based on project and creative research activity methods, which are the basis of development of the main socio-cultural skills that are necessary in intercultural communication

Marching to a Different Drummer: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Young Adolescents Who Challenge Gender Norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Chunyan; Zuo, Xiayun; Blum, Robert W; Tolman, Deborah L; Kågesten, Anna; Mmari, Kristin; De Meyer, Sara; Michielsen, Kristien; Basu, Sharmistha; Acharya, Rajib; Lian, Qiguo; Lou, Chaohua

2017-10-01

Little is known about how gender norms regulate adolescents' lives across different cultural settings. This study aims to illustrate what is considered as violating gender norms for boys and girls in four urban poor sites as well as the consequences that follow the challenging of gender norms. Data were collected as part of the Global Early Adolescent Study, a 15-country collaboration to explore gender norms and health in early adolescence. The current study analyzed narrative and in-depth interviews conducted in urban poor sites in two middle-income (Shanghai, China; and New Delhi, India) and two high-income countries (Baltimore, U.S.; and Ghent, Belgium). A total of 238 participants, 59 boys and 70 girls aged 11-13 years old and 109 of their parents/guardians (28 male adults and 81 female adults), were interviewed. A thematic analysis was conducted across sites using Atlas.Ti 7.5 software. Findings revealed that although most perceptions and expressions about gender were regulated by stereotypical norms, there was a growing acceptability for girls to wear boyish clothes and engage in stereotypical masculine activities such as playing soccer/football. However, there was no comparable acceptance of boys engaging in traditional feminine behaviors. Across all sites, challenging gender norms was often found to lead to verbal, physical, and/or psychological retribution. While it is sometimes acceptable for young adolescents to cross gender boundaries, once it becomes clear that a behavior is socially defined as typical for the other sex, and the adolescent will face more resistance. Researchers, programmers, and clinicians working in the field of adolescent health need not only attend to those who are facing the consequences of challenging prevailing gender norms, but also to address the environment that fosters exclusion and underscores differences. Copyright © 2017 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Connecting sociocultural theory and educational practice : Galperin's approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arievitch, I.M.; Haenen, J.P.P.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/070566135

2005-01-01

Learning and instruction have always been important topics in the sociocultural school of thought founded by Vygotsky and further developed by his followers. Taking sociocultural ideas as a starting point, Piotr Galperin developed an original conceptual system and a new method of investigation that

The Sociocultural Contexts of Learning in the Workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Bierema, Laura L.

2002-01-01

Outlines demographic dimensions of the work force: aging, gender, race, sexual orientation, immigration, language, religion. Suggests a workplace pedagogy that is sensitive to sociocultural context and includes the concept of workplace learning as a lifelong process, socioculturally sensitive policies, equal opportunity development, and diversity…

Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

OpenAIRE

Abdul Hameed Panhwar; Sanaullah Ansari; Komal Ansari

2016-01-01

This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the literature on the socio-cultural theory suggests that the theory has potential for forming new context-oriented language teaching-learning pedagogies which c...

Norm Change in Genetic Services. How the Discourse of Choice Replaced the Discourse of Prevention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane B. Paul

Full Text Available Abstract In the 1960s and '70s, it was generally assumed that reproductive choices have social consequences and thus are a matter of social concern. Socially-responsible reproductive behavior, in turn, was assumed to entail minimizing the risk of transmitting grave genetic diseases. Over time, such a view came increasingly to be labelled "eugenics," a term that would in much of the world acquire strongly negative connotations. By the 1990s, the old view had been largely replaced in the West by the tenet that procreation is a private matter, and that there are no right or wrong reproductive decisions. The primary aim of this essay is to explain and interpret this transformation, which was largely a product of the 1980s. Drawing on social-norms theory, which assumes that norms are always to some degree contested, it asks how those with an interest in changing prevailing attitudes were able to achieve such apparent rapid success.

PROSPECTIVE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE SOCIOCULTURAL COMPETENCE: MONITORING PRINCIPLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olena Ishutina

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The paper substantiates the necessity and importance of the organization of prospective primary school teachers’ foreign language sociocultural competence monitoring in the educational process of high school. The author notes that prospective primary school teachers’ foreign language sociocultural competence is inseparably linked with linguomethodological competence. It is proved that the measurement of foreign language sociocultural competence of primary school foreign language teachers should be performed in the process of lingvomethodological training of the students as lingvomethodological competence occupies a dominant place and is a unifying and a backbone for other competencies of the future teacher’s professiogram. In this regard, the concept of “foreign language sociocultural competence of prospective primary school teacher” is clarified, the essence of lingvomethodological monitoring of foreign language sociocultural competence is revealed. It is emphasized that linguistic disciplines (“The practice of oral and written language”, “Practical grammar of a foreign language”, “Practical phonetics of a foreign language”, etc. and linguomethodological courses (“Methods of teaching English at primary school”, “ICT in learning foreign languages”, “Innovative technologies of learning foreign languages”, etc. play very important role in forming “foreign language sociocultural competence of prospective primary school teacher”. Specific principles of lingvomethodological monitoring of foreign language sociocultural competence are identified and characterized. They are complexity, lingvomethodological orientation, validity, multi-vector monitoring procedures.

Socio-cultural impacts of construction and regulation of the waterway of Oulujoki river

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruotsala, H.

1992-01-01

The purpose of study was to clarify the socio-cultural impacts of the regulation and construction of Oulujoki river on the everyday life of people. Changes in work and livelihood, living and living satisfaction, and leisure time and recreation are considered as variables. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined in the study. The principal study material is composed of answers to a questionnaire and of 109 thematic interviews on the topic. The hold of the study is phenomenological-hermeneutical, with the intention to interpret the matter from the viewpoint of the attitudes and requirements of the waterway users. The theoretical frame of reference was culture-ecological point of view and adaptive process. The emphasis of the study is on sociocultural adaptation. The attitude towards waterway construction and regulation was dependent on the background of the person interviewed. The attitude was considered e.g. by various interest groups and professional groups, such as farmers, inhabitants on the shore, recreation users, fishermen, municipal elected officials. Other important variables were age, family stage and sex. Big local differences in the attitudes could also be found. While prevailing values in society and peoples' modes of living are changing, also the attitude towards waterway and changes caused by waterway construction has changed in the region studied. The impacts on the sources of livelihood are minor for the moment, the impacts on living satisfaction and recreations are significant. While leisure time is increasing the recreation value of waterway increases, too. At the construction stage of the river, the economical and productional advantages took priority, and then no attention was paid to recreational use

The PREVAIL Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Evans, Christopher P; Higano, Celestia S; Keane, Thomas

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Enzalutamide, an oral androgen receptor inhibitor, significantly improved overall survival (OS) and radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) versus placebo in the PREVAIL trial of men with chemotherapy-naïve metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. OBJECTIVE: To assess...... in men with chemotherapy-naïve metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, with or without visceral disease, low- or high-volume bone disease, or lymph node only disease. PATIENT SUMMARY: Patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer-including those with or without visceral disease...

Norm-Aware Socio-Technical Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Savarimuthu, Bastin Tony Roy; Ghose, Aditya

The following sections are included: * Introduction * The Need for Norm-Aware Systems * Norms in human societies * Why should software systems be norm-aware? * Case Studies of Norm-Aware Socio-Technical Systems * Human-computer interactions * Virtual environments and multi-player online games * Extracting norms from big data and software repositories * Norms and Sustainability * Sustainability and green ICT * Norm awareness through software systems * Where To, From Here? * Conclusions

Contests versus Norms: Implications of Contest-Based and Norm-Based Intervention Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergquist, Magnus; Nilsson, Andreas; Hansla, André

2017-01-01

Interventions using either contests or norms can promote environmental behavioral change. Yet research on the implications of contest-based and norm-based interventions is lacking. Based on Goal-framing theory, we suggest that a contest-based intervention frames a gain goal promoting intensive but instrumental behavioral engagement. In contrast, the norm-based intervention was expected to frame a normative goal activating normative obligations for targeted and non-targeted behavior and motivation to engage in pro-environmental behaviors in the future. In two studies participants ( n = 347) were randomly assigned to either a contest- or a norm-based intervention technique. Participants in the contest showed more intensive engagement in both studies. Participants in the norm-based intervention tended to report higher intentions for future energy conservation (Study 1) and higher personal norms for non-targeted pro-environmental behaviors (Study 2). These findings suggest that contest-based intervention technique frames a gain goal, while norm-based intervention frames a normative goal.

Contests versus Norms: Implications of Contest-Based and Norm-Based Intervention Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magnus Bergquist

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Interventions using either contests or norms can promote environmental behavioral change. Yet research on the implications of contest-based and norm-based interventions is lacking. Based on Goal-framing theory, we suggest that a contest-based intervention frames a gain goal promoting intensive but instrumental behavioral engagement. In contrast, the norm-based intervention was expected to frame a normative goal activating normative obligations for targeted and non-targeted behavior and motivation to engage in pro-environmental behaviors in the future. In two studies participants (n = 347 were randomly assigned to either a contest- or a norm-based intervention technique. Participants in the contest showed more intensive engagement in both studies. Participants in the norm-based intervention tended to report higher intentions for future energy conservation (Study 1 and higher personal norms for non-targeted pro-environmental behaviors (Study 2. These findings suggest that contest-based intervention technique frames a gain goal, while norm-based intervention frames a normative goal.

Sociocultural Theory and Its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Panhwar, Abdul Hameed; Ansari, Sanaullah; Ansari, Komal

2016-01-01

This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the…

48 CFR 22.1002-2 - Wage determinations based on prevailing rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... on prevailing rates. 22.1002-2 Section 22.1002-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Contract Act of 1965, as Amended 22.1002-2 Wage determinations based on prevailing rates. Contractors... Department of Labor to prevail in the locality or, in the absence of a wage determination, the minimum wage...

Negotiating Gender Norms to Support Men in Psychological Distress.

Science.gov (United States)

Keohane, Aisling; Richardson, Noel

2018-01-01

Underpinning a general pattern of higher suicide rates in men is the assumption that men do not ask for help or utilize the health-care system during times of psychological distress. There has been a failure to grapple with the dynamic of when, how and from whom men might ask for help during times of psychological distress, and what key barriers or enabling factors are likely to influence potential help-givers' capacity or willingness to offer help to men in psychological distress. The aim of this study was to investigate how masculine norms impact men's help-seeking as well as care givers' behaviors and willingness to support men in need of psychological help or perceived to be at risk of suicide. Focus groups ( n = 13) were used with "high-risk suicide" groups of men and community gatekeepers. The principles of grounded theory were used for data analysis. Three themes emerged: "negotiating ways to ask for, offer and accept help without compromising masculinity"; "making and sustaining contact with men in psychological distress"; and "navigating roles responsibilities and boundaries to support men in psychological distress." Approaches to suicide prevention need to take account of how masculine norms shape men's willingness to ask for and accept help during times of psychological distress as well as care givers willingness to offer help. The findings address a gap in the literature by looking beyond men's help-seeking as a passive, one dimensional construct, to a more dynamic triad of help-seeking/giving/taking behaviors that are embedded in the sociocultural context of men's lives.

Main industries generating NORM; Principais industrias geradoras de NORM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lauria, Dejanira da Costa; Mazzilli, Barbara Paci; Feliciano, Vanusa Maria Delage; Borges, Flavia Luiza Soares; Cruz, Paulo Roberto; Matta, Luiz Ernesto Santos de Carvalho

2016-07-01

This chapter 5 the industrial activities related to NORM question is presented. Besides, some industries that in Brazil have higher probability of occurrence de NORM are covered. Economic activities related to mining and its processing are listed.

Waardes as norme en as meta-norme/beginsels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. J. Van Niekerk

1987-03-01

Full Text Available The fruitfulness and the necessity of the distinction between values and norms and as principles are investigated by way of the theory of political development, the legal philosophical issue surrounding natural law and positivism and the views of Habermas. In political developmental theory questions centring on value gained legitimate relevancy under the influ­ ence of the post-behaviorist approach. The quest for cultural universalia or values as principles became important in this sphere because it seems to be the only way to escape from the syndrome of modernity. Through the rejection of the oppositions and one-sidedness of legal positivism and natural law and with the aid of the distinction between values, norms and principles the productive contribution of this spurious dilemma is high­ lighted and a clearer delineation is given of the concepts legal develop­ ment and structural violence. In conclusion Habermas's distinction between norms and meta-norms is investigated critically and immanent contradictions in his views are pointed out. The central place which this issue has in his thought can be seen as a confirmation of the importance of this distinction. It is relevant for all the normative disciplines which - in contrast to the natural sciences - focus on the role of linguistic, social, ethical, legal and artistic norms valid for human societies.

Sun-related behaviours among young Australians with Asian ethnic background: differences according to sociocultural norms and skin tone perceptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Day, A K; Wilson, C J; Hutchinson, A D; Roberts, R M

2015-07-01

Deliberate tanning, poor sun protection and sun exposure increase an individual's risk for skin cancer. Recent evidence suggests that individuals of Asian heritage have lower incidence of skin cancer than Caucasians but that their post-diagnosis outcomes are often worse. In Western cultures tanning behaviours are often motivated by a desire for 'attractive' tanned skin. Conversely, a light complexion is desired in a number of Asian cultures and may consequently serve to protect this group from excessive and risky sun exposure behaviours. This possibility is yet to be tested, with little known about the sun-related behaviours of Asian people residing in Australia. The present study involves 140 South Australian young adults who report having Asian heritage. Results show that the majority of female participants, and significantly fewer males, reported participating in deliberate outdoor tanning behaviour. Perceptions of family, peer and media tanning norms influenced behaviour, with peer norms being the strongest predictor. The desire for a lighter skin tone was associated with increased sun-protective behaviour and a lower number of previous severe sunburns. As a significant proportion of participants engaged in deliberate tanning behaviour, it is recommended that future research continue to explore factors associated with tanning, including an explicit measure of culture. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Hameed Panhwar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the literature on the socio-cultural theory suggests that the theory has potential for forming new context-oriented language teaching-learning pedagogies which can help teachers in maximising the effectiveness of their teaching and their student’s learning. The review further suggests that the language pedagogies and activities developed from the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky may not only improve students’ language skills, but it also has potential to develop students’ cognition. Since theory promotes more and more communication of students with each other through scaffolding, that is, the Zone of Proximal development (ZPD in Vygotsky’s language. Thus, the theory directly points towards the promotion of student-centred learning by establishing learner autonomy. Keywords: socio-cultural theory, language, constructivism, pedagogies, students

Adaptation and perceptual norms

Science.gov (United States)

Webster, Michael A.; Yasuda, Maiko; Haber, Sara; Leonard, Deanne; Ballardini, Nicole

2007-02-01

We used adaptation to examine the relationship between perceptual norms--the stimuli observers describe as psychologically neutral, and response norms--the stimulus levels that leave visual sensitivity in a neutral or balanced state. Adapting to stimuli on opposite sides of a neutral point (e.g. redder or greener than white) biases appearance in opposite ways. Thus the adapting stimulus can be titrated to find the unique adapting level that does not bias appearance. We compared these response norms to subjectively defined neutral points both within the same observer (at different retinal eccentricities) and between observers. These comparisons were made for visual judgments of color, image focus, and human faces, stimuli that are very different and may depend on very different levels of processing, yet which share the property that for each there is a well defined and perceptually salient norm. In each case the adaptation aftereffects were consistent with an underlying sensitivity basis for the perceptual norm. Specifically, response norms were similar to and thus covaried with the perceptual norm, and under common adaptation differences between subjectively defined norms were reduced. These results are consistent with models of norm-based codes and suggest that these codes underlie an important link between visual coding and visual experience.

Socio-cultural impacts of contemporary tourism.

Science.gov (United States)

Jovicić, Dobrica

2011-06-01

The topic of the paper is devoted to analysis of socio-cultural impacts of tourism, as effects on the people of host communities resulting from their direct and indirect associations with tourists. The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behavior, family structure and relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, traditional ceremonies and community organizations. Special attention is devoted to considering complexity of tourists/host interrelationships and discussing the techniques for appraisal of quality and quantity of socio-cultural changes which tourism provokes in local communities.

75 FR 34182 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of Upcoming Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-16

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is issuing this notice to cancel the June 17, 2010, public [email protected] ; or FAX: (202) 606-4264. Sheldon Friedman, Chairman, Federal Prevailing Rate...

Prevailing Torque Locking Feature in Threaded Fasteners Using Anaerobic Adhesive

Science.gov (United States)

Hernandez, Alan; Hess, Daniel P.

2016-01-01

This paper presents results from tests to assess the use of anaerobic adhesive for providing a prevailing torque locking feature in threaded fasteners. Test procedures are developed and tests are performed on three fastener materials, four anaerobic adhesives, and both unseated assembly conditions. Five to ten samples are tested for each combination. Tests for initial use, reuse without additional adhesive, and reuse with additional adhesive are performed for all samples. A 48-hour cure time was used for all initial use and reuse tests. Test data are presented as removal torque versus removal angle with the specification required prevailing torque range added for performance assessment. Percent specification pass rates for the all combinations of fastener material, adhesive, and assembly condition are tabulated and reveal use of anaerobic adhesive as a prevailing torque locking feature is viable. Although not every possible fastener material and anaerobic adhesive combination provides prevailing torque values within specification, any combination can be assessed using the test procedures presented. Reuse without additional anaerobic adhesive generally provides some prevailing torque, and in some cases within specification. Reuse with additional adhesive often provides comparable removal torque data as in initial use.

Norms as Group-Level Constructs: Investigating School-Level Teen Pregnancy Norms and Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Mollborn, Stefanie; Domingue, Benjamin W; Boardman, Jason D

2014-09-01

Social norms are a group-level phenomenon, but past quantitative research has rarely measured them in the aggregate or considered their group-level properties. We used the school-based design of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to measure normative climates regarding teen pregnancy across 75 U.S. high schools. We distinguished between the strength of a school's norm against teen pregnancy and the consensus around that norm. School-level norm strength and dissensus were strongly (r = -0.65) and moderately (r = 0.34) associated with pregnancy prevalence within schools, respectively. Normative climate partially accounted for observed racial differences in school pregnancy prevalence, but norms were a stronger predictor than racial composition. As hypothesized, schools with both a stronger average norm against teen pregnancy and greater consensus around the norm had the lowest pregnancy prevalence. Results highlight the importance of group-level normative processes and of considering the local school environment when designing policies to reduce teen pregnancy.

Norms for environmentally responsible behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

The currently used concept of personal or moral norms is ambiguous with regard to its motivational content. Therefore, a revision of the norm taxonomy is suggested, implying a distinction between three types of personal norms, called introjected, identified, and integrated norms. A preliminary as...... is also supported, with the reservation that the different behavioural references are more than just different methods of measuring the same latent construct(s). People evidently hold different norms for different environmentally responsible behaviours.......The currently used concept of personal or moral norms is ambiguous with regard to its motivational content. Therefore, a revision of the norm taxonomy is suggested, implying a distinction between three types of personal norms, called introjected, identified, and integrated norms. A preliminary...... assessment of the taxonomy is carried out based of a survey of a random sample of Danish residents 18 years or older. A range of norm constructs were measured with regard to four environmentally relevant behaviours: buying organic milk, buying energy saving light bulbs, source-separating compostable kitchen...

76 FR 12769 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of Upcoming Meeting

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2011-03-08

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is issuing this notice to cancel the March 17, 2011, public meeting..., Chairman, Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. [FR Doc. 2011-5266 Filed 3-7-11; 8:45 am] BILLING...

78 FR 20359 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of Upcoming Meeting

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2013-04-04

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is issuing this notice to cancel the April 18, 2013, public meeting... Officer, Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. [FR Doc. 2013-07875 Filed 4-3-13; 8:45 am] BILLING...

76 FR 70512 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of Upcoming Meeting

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2011-11-14

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is issuing this notice to cancel the November 17, 2011, public meeting..., Chairman, Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. [FR Doc. 2011-29274 Filed 11-10-11; 8:45 am] BILLING...

Sociocultural Behavior Research and Engineering in the Department of Defense Context

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

sponsored by the Incisive Analysis Office is Socio-cultural Content in Language ( SCIL ). SCIL explores and develops novel designs, algorithms, methods...to meet the grand challenge of shaping the future force. DLO and programs such as IARPA’s SCIL are important for addressing persisting gaps in...programs conducting research relevant to building defense-related capabilities in sociocultural behavior. The Socio-Cultural Content in Language ( SCIL

78 FR 41962 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of Upcoming Meeting

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2013-07-12

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is issuing this notice to cancel the July 18, 2013, public meeting... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. [FR Doc. 2013-16763 Filed 7-11-13; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325-49-P ...

77 FR 28640 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of Upcoming Meeting

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2012-05-15

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Cancellation of... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is issuing this notice to cancel the May 24, 2012, public meeting..., Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. [FR Doc. 2012-11728 Filed 5-14-12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325...

Residents’ Attitude toward Tourism Development: A Sociocultural Perspective

OpenAIRE

Sajad Ebrahimi Meimand; Zainab Khalifah; Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas; Abbas Mardani; Amir Abbas Najafipour; Ungku Norulkamar Ungku Ahmad

2017-01-01

Host population support for tourism development has attracted the attention of researchers in tourism studies. Given the importance of understanding local community support for tourism development, limitations in understanding their priority and lack of a socio-cultural model of support for tourism, this study attempted to model locals’ support for tourism development based on socio-cultural factors in Malaysian Homestay program. Using extensive literature review, a tourism support model was ...

PREVAIL: IBM's e-beam technology for next generation lithography

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeiffer, Hans C.

2000-07-01

PREVAIL - Projection Reduction Exposure with Variable Axis Immersion Lenses represents the high throughput e-beam projection approach to NGL which IBM is pursuing in cooperation with Nikon Corporation as alliance partner. This paper discusses the challenges and accomplishments of the PREVAIL project. The supreme challenge facing all e-beam lithography approaches has been and still is throughput. Since the throughput of e-beam projection systems is severely limited by the available optical field size, the key to success is the ability to overcome this limitation. The PREVAIL technique overcomes field-limiting off-axis aberrations through the use of variable axis lenses, which electronically shift the optical axis simultaneously with the deflected beam so that the beam effectively remains on axis. The resist images obtained with the Proof-of-Concept (POC) system demonstrate that PREVAIL effectively eliminates off- axis aberrations affecting both resolution and placement accuracy of pixels. As part of the POC system a high emittance gun has been developed to provide uniform illumination of the patterned subfield and to fill the large numerical aperture projection optics designed to significantly reduce beam blur caused by Coulomb interaction.

29 CFR 2704.202 - Contents of application-where the applicant has prevailed.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Contents of application-where the applicant has prevailed... Information Required From Applicants § 2704.202 Contents of application—where the applicant has prevailed. (a) An application for an award under § 2704.105(a) shall show that the applicant has prevailed in a...

Overview of NORM and activities by a NORM licensed permanent decontamination and waste processing facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mirro, G.A. [Growth Resources, Inc., Lafayette, LA (United States)

1997-02-01

This paper presents an overview of issues related to handling NORM materials, and provides a description of a facility designed for the processing of NORM contaminated equipment. With regard to handling NORM materials the author discusses sources of NORM, problems, regulations and disposal options, potential hazards, safety equipment, and issues related to personnel protection. For the facility, the author discusses: description of the permanent facility; the operations of the facility; the license it has for handling specific radioactive material; operating and safety procedures; decontamination facilities on site; NORM waste processing capabilities; and offsite NORM services which are available.

FEMALE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT: AN INTERNATIONAL ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Urbano Pulido

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this article we analyse the socio-cultural factors that influence the likelihood of women becoming social entrepreneurs, using institutional economics. Binary logistic regression has been applied as the statistical method to test the hypotheses proposed, using data (40 countries and 56,875 individuals from the World Value Survey (WVS and the World Bank (WB. The main findings of the study reaffirm the relevance of socio-cultural factors to social entrepreneurship. Particularly, we have found that altruistic attitudes and being a member of a social organization are the most relevant socio-cultural factors for social female entrepreneurship.

The Effectiveness of Urban Green Spaces and Socio-Cultural Facilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehmet Faruk Altunkasa

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to develop a theoretical approach for mapping and determining the effectiveness of green spaces and socio-cultural facilities as providers of urban ecosystem services and urban services in the case of Adana, Turkey. Firstly, green spaces and socio-cultural facilities per capita have been determined and indexed for the neighbourhoods in the city. Then, a distance-based method for estimating the effectiveness of these facilities was used. The distances between the various neighbourhoods and between a given facility and the farthest threshold have been measured and these values have been used to determine the facility effectiveness change value for each neighbourhood. Then, effective values have been calculated and indexed by incorporating the green space and socio-cultural facility values and the effectiveness change values for the neighbourhoods. Finally, point-based effective green spaces and socio-cultural facilities index values have been converted to continuous surface values in a GIS (geographic information system environment in order to utilize as a base map for urban physical planning purposes. According to the outcomes of this study, the distribution of green spaces and socio-cultural facilities of the neighbourhoods are imbalanced and index values of these facilities range in between 45 and 84 out of 100.

Beyond Normativity in Sociocultural Reproduction and Sociocultural Transformation: Curriculum Work--Leadership within an Evolving Context

Science.gov (United States)

Ylimaki, Rose M.; Fetman, Lisa J.; Matyjasik, Erin; Brunderman, Lynnette; Uljens, Michael

2017-01-01

Background: The purpose of this article is to examine the contributions, gaps, and normativity problems in mainstream sociocultural theories, curriculum theory, and educational leadership studies, considering reflective education theories that provide a less normative alternative. Framework: Our framework introduces reflective education for social…

Environmental Argumentation as Sociocultural Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Akerson, Valarie L.; Oldfield, Martha

2012-01-01

While environmental argumentation has recently received much attention from science educators, little consideration has been given to how personal identities and social relationships can either support or constrain student argumentation. This study attends to this issue by examining environmental argumentation as a sociocultural activity (how…

Economic culture of the Tuvans within the scope of the sociocultural approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuri V. Popkov

2018-06-01

Full Text Available In this article, the authors argue that for the periods of social turmoil, understanding culture as a set of norms controlling social behavior is limited and insufficient. A more adequate approach would involve interpreting culture as a specific historical version of the society’s existence in its qualitative form. This hearkens back to the sociocultural approach which postulates the culture as an ensemble, and the sociocultural construed as the social in the cultural variety. In this context, economic culture might be seen as a set of qualitative features of a specific economic entity shaped by the local conditions of development. With all its peculiarities, an economic culture appears an element of this sociocultural diversity. Studying the economic culture of Tuvans through the lens of the sociocultural approach and the notion of this diversity allows us to outline several important aspects of this issue, rarely addressed by the existing academic discourse. A focus should be made, for instance, not only on the dominant nomadic culture, but also on subdominant economic cultures which helped shape a number of skills and techniques. While nomadism helped develop unhurried and contemplative attitude to life, hunting demanded dynamic change, and agriculture and crafts called for diligence and meticulousness. A brief glance at the economic history of Tuvans allowed the authors to conclude that economic diversity both provides stability to the economic culture of Tuvan society and expresses its variegation, its capacity to develop through numerous modifications. This polymorphism acts as an important resource which helps launch the alternate routes of ethnic development. These routes rarely appear self-evident under the dominant type of economic culture which had been shaping the traditional life of Tuvan society. Tapping into this alternative potential can prove an important reserve for future development. An overview of ethnographic data helps

75 FR 37445 - Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-29

... Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of... HIV testing, socio-cultural norms, and perceived behavioral control factors that influence HIV testing... identify variables for a survey that will examine attitudes towards HIV testing, socio-cultural norms, and...

Sociocultural adjustment among sojourning Malaysian students in Britain: a replication and path analytic extension.

Science.gov (United States)

Swami, Viren; Arteche, Adriane; Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas; Furnham, Adrian

2010-01-01

The present study examined the sociocultural adjustment of 249 sojourning Malaysian undergraduates in Britain. One-hundred and ten Malay and 139 Chinese students enrolled in various courses answered a self-report questionnaire that examined various aspects of sociocultural adjustment and socio-demographics. Overall, Malay students reported significantly poorer sociocultural adjustment than Chinese students, as well as more negative outcomes on a range of predictors. Path analysis for the total sample showed that higher family income led to greater sociocultural adjustment, but partially because it led to more contact with host and conationals, better language proficiency, lower perceived cultural differences and less perceived discrimination. Moreover, participants with higher English proficiency were better adapted, but partially because they perceived less cultural differences as well as having more contact with host nationals. Additionally, individuals reporting better sociocultural adjustment also reported better health statuses. The same model was equally useful at predicting sociocultural adjustment for both Malay and Chinese participants. These results are discussed in terms of the role played by income in buffering against the negative aspects of sociocultural adjustment.

Traditional & Socio-Cultural Barriers to EFL Learning: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Jameel

2015-01-01

This research tends to ascertain several traditional and socio-cultural barriers to English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to explore more ways than before for making teaching and learning more effective. The findings of four quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted in this regard reveal a unique traditional and socio-cultural milieu,…

SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON EFFECTIVE ENGLISH ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

JONATHAN

Consequently, challenges abound in the teaching and learning of ... English in tertiary institutions in contemporary Nigeria, the influence of socio-cultural factors ... The English Language has been a crucial issue in the Nigerian education.

Socio-cultural sustainability of pig production: Citizen perceptions in the Netherlands and Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boogaard, B.K.; boekhorst, L.J.S.; Oosting, S.J.

2011-01-01

positive and six negative aspects on the farms for which they had to write a motivation. The qualitative analysis resulted in seven socio-cultural themes (SCT) of pig production namely: 1) meat production, 2) farm activities, 3) farm income, 4) animals, 5) housing system, 6) environment and nature, and 7......Many sustainability studies of animal production consider three pillars: the economic, environmental and socio-cultural. Farmers and animal scientists tend to put most emphasis on the economic and environmental pillar and largely ignore the socio-cultural pillar. Socio-cultural sustainability...... to gain further insights into socio-cultural sustainability of pig production. Many citizens may not know what contemporary pig production actually entails. To give people a real life experience with pig production, we conducted farm visits with citizen panels with 18 respondents in the Netherlands and 8...

The personal norm of reciprocity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Perugini, M.; Gallucci, M.; Presaghi, F.; Ercolani, A.P.

2002-01-01

Reciprocity is here considered as an internalized social norm, and a questionnaire to measure individual differences in the internalized norm of reciprocity is presented. The questionnaire, Personal Norm of Reciprocity (PNR), measures three aspects of reciprocity: positive reciprocity, negative

Jakarta socio-cultural ecology: a sustainable architecture concept in urban neighbourhood

Science.gov (United States)

Wijaksono, Sigit; Sasmoko; Indrianti, Y.; Widhoyoko, SA

2017-12-01

As a metropolitan city with densely populated and fast residential development Jakarta should be able to implement a concept that is Jakarta socio-cultural ecology Architecture as the basis of settlement development. The concept of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology architecture is characterized by residential development capabilities that reflect and express the indigenous culture, the settlements built by linking the social and economic activities of the people of Jakarta and the settlements built by maintaining the building with the value of existing heritage. The objectives of this research are 1) to find a relevant construct to housing condition in Jakarta which then called Jakarta socio-cultural ecology, and 2) to see the tendency of complex condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology settlement. This research uses Neuroresearch method, which is one of mix-method research method as a mixture research method between qualitative research (exploration) and quantitative research method (explanatory and confirmatory). The population of research as well as unit analysis are all settlements in Jakarta. Sampling technique using probability sampling that is with multistage sampling. The results show that nowadays the Jakarta residential complex tends to lead to socio-cultural ecology and rather reflects and expresses the indigenous culture, the residential complex in Jakarta tends to form the building has been linked fully with the social and economic activities of Jakarta society but tends to occasionally maintain buildings with existing heritage values. This study also found that indigenous culture is a significant determinant of the formation of the condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology.

Dutch taboo norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Roest, Sander A; Visser, Tessa A; Zeelenberg, René

2018-04-01

This article provides norms for general taboo, personal taboo, insult, valence, and arousal for 672 Dutch words, including 202 taboo words. Norms were collected using a 7-point Likert scale and based on ratings by psychology students from the Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The sample consisted of 87 psychology students (58 females, 29 males). We obtained high reliability based on split-half analyses. Our norms show high correlations with arousal and valence ratings collected by another Dutch word-norms study (Moors et al.,, Behavior Research Methods, 45, 169-177, 2013). Our results show that the previously found quadratic relation (i.e., U-shaped pattern) between valence and arousal also holds when only taboo words are considered. Additionally, words rated high on taboo tended to be rated low on valence, but some words related to sex rated high on both taboo and valence. Words that rated high on taboo rated high on insult, again with the exception of words related to sex many of which rated low on insult. Finally, words rated high on taboo and insult rated high on arousal. The Dutch Taboo Norms (DTN) database is a useful tool for researchers interested in the effects of taboo words on cognitive processing. The data associated with this paper can be accessed via the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/vk782/ ).

Evolutionary change in continuous reaction norms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Murren, Courtney J; Maclean, Heidi J; Diamond, Sarah E

2014-01-01

Understanding the evolution of reaction norms remains a major challenge in ecology and evolution. Investigating evolutionary divergence in reaction norm shapes between populations and closely related species is one approach to providing insights. Here we use a meta-analytic approach to compare...... divergence in reaction norms of closely related species or populations of animals and plants across types of traits and environments. We quantified mean-standardized differences in overall trait means (Offset) and reaction norm shape (including both Slope and Curvature). These analyses revealed...... contributed to the best-fitting models, especially for Offset, Curvature, and the total differences (Total) between reaction norms. Congeneric species had greater differences in reaction norms than populations, and novel environmental conditions increased the differences in reaction norms between populations...

75 FR 18552 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Open Committee Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-12

... of Personnel Management Building, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC. The Federal Prevailing Rate... business. Therefore, these caucuses will be closed to the public because of a determination made by the..., Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, Room 5H27, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20415, (202) 606...

What's in a norm? Sources and processes of norm change.

Science.gov (United States)

Paluck, Elizabeth Levy

2009-03-01

This reply to the commentary by E. Staub and L. A. Pearlman (2009) revisits the field experimental results of E. L. Paluck (2009). It introduces further evidence and theoretical elaboration supporting Paluck's conclusion that exposure to a reconciliation-themed radio soap opera changed perceptions of social norms and behaviors, not beliefs. Experimental and longitudinal survey evidence reinforces the finding that the radio program affected socially shared perceptions of typical or prescribed behavior-that is, social norms. Specifically, measurements of perceptions of social norms called into question by Staub and Pearlman are shown to correlate with perceptions of public opinion and public, not private, behaviors. Although measurement issues and the mechanisms of the radio program's influence merit further testing, theory and evidence point to social interactions and emotional engagement, not individual education, as the likely mechanisms of change. The present exchange makes salient what is at stake in this debate: a model of change based on learning and personal beliefs versus a model based on group influence and social norms. These theoretical models recommend very different strategies for prejudice and conflict reduction. Future field experiments should attempt to adjudicate between these models by testing relevant policies in real-world settings.

How norm violations shape social hierarchies : Those who stand on top block norm violators from rising up

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stamkou, E.; van Kleef, G.A.; Homan, A.C.; Galinsky, A.D.

2016-01-01

Norm violations engender both negative reactions and perceptions of power from observers. We addressed this paradox by examining whether observers’ tendency to grant power to norm followers versus norm violators is moderated by the observer’s position in the hierarchy. Because norm violations

Combining norms to prove termination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Genaim, S.; Codish, M.; Gallagher, John Patrick

2002-01-01

Automatic termination analysers typically measure the size of terms applying norms which are mappings from terms to the natural numbers. This paper illustrates howt o enable the use of size functions defined as tuples of these simpler norm functions. This approach enables us to simplify the probl...... of the recursive data-types in the program, is often a suitable choice. We first demonstrate the power of combining norm functions and then the adequacy of combining norms based on regular types....

7 CFR 27.35 - Lower class of two samples to prevail.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Lower class of two samples to prevail. 27.35 Section 27.35 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE... Micronaire Determinations § 27.35 Lower class of two samples to prevail. In case a sample drawn from one...

Effects of Prevailing Winds on Turbidity of a Shallow Estuary

OpenAIRE

Cho, Hyun Jung

2007-01-01

Estuarine waters are generally more turbid than lakes or marine waters due to greater algal mass and continual re-suspension of sediments. The varying effects of diurnal and seasonal prevailing winds on the turbidity condition of a wind-dominated estuary were investigated by spatial and statistical analyses of wind direction, water level, turbidity, chlorophyll a, and PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) collected in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, USA. The prolonged prevailing winds were...

Educating for Financial Literacy: A Case Study with a Sociocultural Lens

Science.gov (United States)

Sprow Forte, Karin

2013-01-01

This study explored the teaching and learning in an adult financial literacy education program aimed specifically at Latina single mothers to understand the influence of sociocultural factors in this setting. Informed by critical and Latina feminist sociocultural adult learning perspectives and the transtheoretical model of behavior change,…

Risks in socio-cultural perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwee, S.L.

1981-01-01

An exposition is presented of the principles of a socio-cultural risk theory based on the statement 'Risk is structured uncertainty'. It deals with hazards of human behaviour, risk as a challenge, hazards in nature and in culture, in science and enterprise, to close with a few words on today's crisis and uncertainty. (Auth.)

Translation Norms in Gabriel García Márquez's Cien años de soledad Translations into English, German, French, Portuguese, and Russian Normas de traducción en las versiones inglesa, alemana, francesa, portuguesa y rusa de Cien años de soledad de Gabriel García Márquez

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Bolaños Cuéllar

2010-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper I have attempted to review the general translation norms that were applied in the translations of Cien años de soledad into English, German, French, Portuguese, and Russian. First I have discussed the concept of norms from a socio-cultural perspective in order to propose a definition of translation norms that could be used as a guiding concept in the analysis of the different translated texts. The discussion takes place within the framework of modern empirical Translation Studies that is based on the actual textual comparison of original and translations. Finally, some conclusions are drawn accordinglyEn este artículo propongo revisar las normas generales de traducción que se emplearon en las traducciones inglesa, alemana, francesa, portuguesa y rusa de Cien años de soledad. En primer lugar, discuto la noción de normas desde un enfoque socio-cultural con el fin de proponer una definición de normas de traducción que pueda servir de concepto central en el análisis de las diversas traducciones. La discusión se lleva a cabo en el marco de los Estudios de la Traducción Modernos, con carácter empírico, que se basan en la comparación textual del original y las traducciones. Por último, se presentan las conclusiones respectivas

Radioactive waste management / NORM wastes; Gerenciamento de residuos / rejeitos NORM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schenato, Flavia; Ruperti Junior, Nerbe Jose Ruperti

2016-07-01

The chapter 8 presents the waste management of the mineral industries as the main problem pointed out by the inspections, due to the the inadequate deposition with consequences to the human populations and the environment. The concepts about the criteria of exemption and the related legislation are also presented. Several different technical solutions for de NORM waste deposition are mentioned. Finally, the reutilization and recycling of NORM are covered.

Children are sensitive to norms of giving.

Science.gov (United States)

McAuliffe, Katherine; Raihani, Nichola J; Dunham, Yarrow

2017-10-01

People across societies engage in costly sharing, but the extent of such sharing shows striking cultural variation, highlighting the importance of local norms in shaping generosity. Despite this acknowledged role for norms, it is unclear when they begin to exert their influence in development. Here we use a Dictator Game to investigate the extent to which 4- to 9-year-old children are sensitive to selfish (give 20%) and generous (give 80%) norms. Additionally, we varied whether children were told how much other children give (descriptive norm) or what they should give according to an adult (injunctive norm). Results showed that children generally gave more when they were exposed to a generous norm. However, patterns of compliance varied with age. Younger children were more likely to comply with the selfish norm, suggesting a licensing effect. By contrast, older children were more influenced by the generous norm, yet capped their donations at 50%, perhaps adhering to a pre-existing norm of equality. Children were not differentially influenced by descriptive or injunctive norms, suggesting a primacy of norm content over norm format. Together, our findings indicate that while generosity is malleable in children, normative information does not completely override pre-existing biases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

New approaches for the asessment and education of children under socio-cultural disadvantages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alegría Majluf

2003-06-01

Full Text Available The present paper describes the traditional psychometric parameters thal don 't fit by workingwith children who suffer socio-cultural deprivation (or who are living under socio-cultural disadvantagesand the new assessment and education strategies for this population. Vygotsky's socio-cultural approach, that emphasizes the Zone of Proximal Development, and the Dynamic Assessment and the Mediated Learning developed by Feucrstein and complemented by Coll relatedwith the Significative Learning are stressed.

Taking an active stance: How urban elementary students connect sociocultural experiences in learning science

Science.gov (United States)

Upadhyay, Bhaskar; Maruyama, Geoffrey; Albrecht, Nancy

2017-12-01

In this interpretive case study, we draw from sociocultural theory of learning and culturally relevant pedagogy to understand how urban students from nondominant groups leverage their sociocultural experiences. These experiences allow them to gain an empowering voice in influencing science content and activities and to work towards self-determining the sciences that are personally meaningful. Furthermore, tying sociocultural experiences with science learning helps generate sociopolitical awareness among students. We collected interview and observation data in an urban elementary classroom over one academic year to understand the value of urban students' sociocultural experiences in learning science and choosing science activities.

Norm waste management in Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muhamat Omar

2000-01-01

There are a number of industries generating NORM wastes in Malaysia. These include oil and gas and minerals/ores processing industries. A safe management of radioactive wastes is required. The existing guidelines are insufficient to help the management of oil and gas wastes. More guidelines are required to deal with NORM wastes from minerals/ores processing industries. To ensure that radioactive wastes are safely managed and disposed of, a National Policy on the Safe Management of Radioactive Waste is being developed which also include NORM waste. This paper describes the current status of NORM waste management in Malaysia. (author)

Muscle Dysmorphia, Gender Role Stress, and Sociocultural Influences: An Exploratory Study

Science.gov (United States)

Readdy, Tucker; Watkins, Patti Lou; Cardinal, Bradley J.

2011-01-01

Our study explored the contribution of gender role stress (GRS) and sociocultural appearance demands to symptoms of muscle dysmorphia (MD) in a college sample of 219 women and 154 men. For women, five GRS subscales, sociocultural appearance demands, age, and frequency of aerobic exercise predicted MD symptoms (model R[superscript 2] = 0.33;…

Socio-cultural context of eating disorders in Poland.

Science.gov (United States)

Pilecki, Maciej Wojciech; Sałapa, Kinga; Józefik, Barbara

2016-01-01

The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between sociocultural factors and clinical eating disorders during the intensive process of Westernisation in Poland that occurred after 1989. The study population included girls diagnosed with an eating disorder according to DSM-IV criteria (n = 47 anorexia nervosa restrictive type [ANR], n = 16 anorexia binge/purge type [ANBP], n = 34 bulimia nervosa [BN], n = 19 eating disorder not otherwise specified [EDNOS]) who received consultation for the first time between 2002 and 2004 in the Department of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital, Kraków, Poland. The study included an age-matched normal control group [NOR] of 85 schoolgirls from Kraków. Relationships between two given qualitative features were investigated using the chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Correspondence analysis was applied to graphically explore the relationship. The Kruskal-Wallis test with the Bonferroni was performed to compare quantitative results across groups. Objective sociodemographic variables and responses to the 62-item Questionnaire of Socio-cultural Context were measured. The mothers of ANBP and BN patients were less professionally active than mothers of ANR patients and NOR subjects. Subjective socio-cultural factors were more relevant for the BN group than the ANR group. Questionnaire responses in the ANBP group were more similar to those in the BN group than to those in the ANR group. The most unambiguous and specific characteristic of the ANR group was a sense of belonging to the middle class. Variables that differentiated the BN group from the NOR group included the importance attached to thinness treated as an expression of power and control over one's self, as well as a multifaceted negative evaluation of one's own family, including a negative assessment of the position of women and parental lack of concern for appearance and principles of nutrition. All patients, regardless

Information Literacy in the 21st Century Multicultural Classroom: Using Sociocultural Literacy

Science.gov (United States)

Blas, Elise A.

2014-01-01

Sociocultural literacy guides an instructor's pedagogy in the multicultural university classroom. By employing sociocultural literacy in the information literacy classroom, the instruction librarian can better teach students from all cultures including international students, first generation students, or students from a wide array of…

PREVAIL-EPL alpha tool electron optics subsystem

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeiffer, Hans C.; Dhaliwal, Rajinder S.; Golladay, Steven D.; Doran, Samuel K.; Gordon, Michael S.; Kendall, Rodney A.; Lieberman, Jon E.; Pinckney, David J.; Quickle, Robert J.; Robinson, Christopher F.; Rockrohr, James D.; Stickel, Werner; Tressler, Eileen V.

2001-08-01

The IBM/Nikon alliance is continuing pursuit of an EPL stepper alpha tool based on the PREVAIL technology. This paper provides a status report of the alliance activity with particular focus on the Electron Optical Subsystem developed at IBM. We have previously reported on design features of the PREVAIL alpha system. The new state-of-the-art e-beam lithography concepts have since been reduced to practice and turned into functional building blocks of a production level lithography tool. The electron optical alpha tool subsystem has been designed, build, assembled and tested at IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center (SRDC) in East Fishkill, New York. After demonstrating subsystem functionality, the electron optical column and all associated control electronics hardware and software have been shipped during January 2001 to Nikon's facility in Kumagaya, Japan, for integration into the Nikon commercial e-beam stepper alpha tool. Early pre-shipment results obtained with this electron optical subsystem are presented.

Social norms and prejudice against homosexuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Annelyse; Monteiro, Maria Benedicta; Camino, Leoncio

2009-11-01

Different studies regarding the role of norms on the expression of prejudice have shown that the anti-prejudice norm influences people to inhibit prejudice expressions. However, if norm pressure has led to a substantial decrease in the public expression of prejudice against certain targets (e.g., blacks, women, blind people), little theoretical and empirical attention has been paid to the role of this general norm regarding sexual minorities (e.g., prostitutes, lesbians and gays). In this sense, the issue we want to address is whether general anti-prejudice norms can reduce the expression of prejudice against homosexual individuals. In this research we investigate the effect of activating an anti-prejudice norm against homosexuals on blatant and subtle expressions of prejudice. The anti-prejudice norm was experimentally manipulated and its effects were observed on rejection to intimacy (blatant prejudice) and on positive-negative emotions (subtle prejudice) regarding homosexuals. 136 university students were randomly allocated to activated-norm and control conditions and completed a questionnaire that included norm manipulation and the dependent variables. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) as well as subsequent ANOVAS showed that only in the high normative pressure condition participants expressed less rejection to intimacy and less negative emotions against homosexuals, when compared to the simple norm-activation and the control conditions. Positive emotions, however, were similar both in the high normative pressure and the control conditions. We concluded that a high anti-prejudice pressure regarding homosexuals could reduce blatant prejudice but not subtle prejudice, considering that the expression of negative emotions decreased while the expression of positive emotions remained stable.

Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio-cultural Change and Fraud in Uganda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ponte, Stefano

2017-01-01

Book review of: Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio-Cultural Change & Fraud in Uganda by Jörg Wiegratz. London and New York, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, 375 pp. ISBN 9781783488537.......Book review of: Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio-Cultural Change & Fraud in Uganda by Jörg Wiegratz. London and New York, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, 375 pp. ISBN 9781783488537....

Out of our minds: a review of sociocultural cognition theory

Science.gov (United States)

Tenenberg, Josh; Knobelsdorf, Maria

2014-01-01

Theories of mind are implicitly embedded in educational research. The predominant theory of mind during the latter half of the twentieth century has focused primarily on the individual mind in isolation, context-free problem-solving and mental representations and reasoning, what we refer to as cognitivism. Over the last two decades, CS Education researchers have begun to incorporate recent research that extends, elaborates and sometimes challenges cognitivism. These theories, which we refer to collectively as sociocultural cognition theory, view minds as cultural products, biologically evolved to be extended by tools, social interaction and embodied interaction in the world. Learning, under this perspective, is viewed as tool-mediated participation in the ongoing practices of cultural communities. In this paper, we pursue three goals. First, we provide a summary of the key principles in sociocultural cognition theory, placing this theory within a historical context with respect to the cognitive theories that it extends and challenges. Second, we integrate across different but related research efforts that all fall under the sociocultural cognition umbrella, using a uniform terminology for describing ideas represented within different discourse communities. And third, we reference a number of canonical sources in sociocultural cognition theory so as to serve as an index into this diverse literature for those wanting to explore further.

Local Residents’ Perceptions of Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism in Mangochi, Malawi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felix G. BELLO

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to examine residents’ perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Mangochi, Malawi. This paper is based on results of a survey of 196 households together with ten key informant interviews. A concurrent triangulation mixed method was used to ensure well-validated and substantiated findings. The study findings indicate that local residents perceive specific positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism in their community. Some of the positive sociocultural impacts of tourism include the provision of jobs; improved personal incomes; stimulation of the local economy and improved security in the destination area. However, the study also revealed two major negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism: the migration of people to the area in search of jobs; and the influence of Western visitors on local culture and “the way of life” of local people due to the demonstration effect. The paper indicates the degree to which local residents perceive different socio-cultural impacts of tourism development in an African local community setting. Therefore, the paper will assist tourism planners and local government in the planning and implementation of tourism development strategies for the area aiming at consolidating local residents’ support for tourism.

Tensor norms and operator ideals

CERN Document Server

Defant, A; Floret, K

1992-01-01

The three chapters of this book are entitled Basic Concepts, Tensor Norms, and Special Topics. The first may serve as part of an introductory course in Functional Analysis since it shows the powerful use of the projective and injective tensor norms, as well as the basics of the theory of operator ideals. The second chapter is the main part of the book: it presents the theory of tensor norms as designed by Grothendieck in the Resumé and deals with the relation between tensor norms and operator ideals. The last chapter deals with special questions. Each section is accompanied by a series of exer

76 FR 9694 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Northeastern Arizona and Colorado Appropriated Fund...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-22

... 3206-AM33 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Northeastern Arizona and Colorado Appropriated... changes are based on recent consensus recommendations of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee to... Northeastern Arizona wage area. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national labor...

Convex sets in probabilistic normed spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aghajani, Asadollah; Nourouzi, Kourosh

2008-01-01

In this paper we obtain some results on convexity in a probabilistic normed space. We also investigate the concept of CSN-closedness and CSN-compactness in a probabilistic normed space and generalize the corresponding results of normed spaces

How do women at risk of HIV/AIDS in Iran perceive gender norms and gendered power relations in the context of safe sex negotiations?

Science.gov (United States)

Lotfi, Razieh; Ramezani Tehrani, Fahimeh; Merghati Khoei, Effat; Yaghmaei, Farideh; Dworkin, Shari L

2013-07-01

Sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS among women is growing in the Middle East region. Despite the fact that there are numerous gender-related sociocultural factors influencing HIV/AIDS protective behaviors, little gender-specificity is carried out in HIV prevention in Iran. In order to close this gap, we aimed to provide preliminary work that explored the perceptions that women at risk of HIV had about gender norms and gendered power and their ability to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS. Twenty-five semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with women at risk of HIV/AIDS, aged 21-49 years, at Voluntary Counseling and Testing Centers or Drop in Centers in Tehran, Iran. Results showed that perceived gender norms were essential barriers of protective behavior through sexual socialization, male control over condom use and sexual decision-making, male pleasure predominating in sexual encounters and sexual double standards, and economic dependencies. In the conclusions, we consider how HIV/AIDS preventive programs can be structured to be gender-sensitive and empowering in Iran.

76 FR 70321 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Northern Mississippi and Memphis, TN, Appropriated...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-14

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AM37 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition... on a consensus recommendation of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) to best match... which OPM received no comments. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national...

Anorexia Nervosa: Sociocultural Factors and Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Jennifer

This paper examines how the epidemiological findings of anorexia nervosa lead theorists to speculate a correlation between sociocultural factors and the development of anorexia nervosa. A section on the essential features of anorexia nervosa identifies five primary characteristics of anorexia: (1) severe weight loss; (2) a disturbance of body…

Constructivism, Socioculturalism, and Popper's World 3.

Science.gov (United States)

Bereiter, Carl

1994-01-01

Examines the concept of learning from both constructivist and sociocultural perspectives and introduces a third perspective based on K. R. Popper's philosophy of science. It is argued that constructivism cannot adequately account for the immaterial objects that Popper located in his World 3--abstract mathematical and scientific objects. (GLR)

78 FR 18252 - Prevailing Rate Systems; North American Industry Classification System Based Federal Wage System...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-26

...-AM78 Prevailing Rate Systems; North American Industry Classification System Based Federal Wage System... applicable sections. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, the national labor- management committee... proposing to amend 5 CFR part 532 as follows: PART 532--PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS 0 1. The authority citation...

76 FR 31885 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Northern Mississippi and Memphis, TN, Appropriated...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-02

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AM37 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) to best match the county proposed for redefinition to a nearby FWS... Memphis wage area. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national labor-management...

Disordered eating, socio-cultural media influencers, body image, and psychological factors among a racially/ethnically diverse population of college women.

Science.gov (United States)

Quick, Virginia M; Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol

2014-01-01

This study examined disordered eating, socio-cultural media influencers, body image, and psychological factors among a large, racially/ethnically diverse sample of college women (n=1445; 58% White, 21% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 11% Black) who completed an online survey. Black women were significantly more satisfied with their weight and shape and had lower eating concerns, disinhibited eating, and emotional eating than all other racial/ethnic groups. Black women tended to have significantly higher levels of self-esteem, were less likely to compare their body to those of people in the media, felt less pressured to attain the physical appearance standard set by the media, and had less awareness of the societal appearance norms set by the media than other racial groups. Findings suggest that Black college women, independent of weight status, may be protected from disordered eating, negative body image, and societal media pressures. © 2013.

Sociocultural Factors and Bureaucratic Practices in Universities in Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SOLOMON KOFI AMOAH

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Max Weber, one of the pioneers in bureaucratic organisational studies believes in the ultimate triumph of bureaucracy over the collegial culture of universities. This paper argues that rather than ultimate triumph of bureaucracy over the collegial culture of universities (Weber 1947, the interests of universities would be better served when the bureaucratic culture is designed to accommodate some core socio-cultural expectations of organizational members, without compromising productivity.  The research examined the implications of some selected sociocultural factors for bureaucratic practices in selected universities in Ghana through a mix method approach. The findings show that, the authority structures of the two universities typify the Weberian Ideal type bureaucracy with   hierarchical culture and standardized rules and procedures for carrying out every task. This notwithstanding, the societal culture was found to be influential in shaping the bureaucratic behaviour and conducts of organizations’ members. The paper aims at bringing to the fore the strength of the informal structures in reshaping bureaucratic culture and work behaviour, and the need to consider socio-cultural contexts in designing bureaucratic organizations.

All-Norm Approximation Algorithms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Azar, Yossi; Epstein, Leah; Richter, Yossi; Woeginger, Gerhard J.; Penttonen, Martti; Meineche Schmidt, Erik

2002-01-01

A major drawback in optimization problems and in particular in scheduling problems is that for every measure there may be a different optimal solution. In many cases the various measures are different ℓ p norms. We address this problem by introducing the concept of an All-norm ρ-approximation

SOCIO-CULTURAL AND MEDICAL INDICATORS OF THE SCHOOLCHILDREN'S QUALITY OF LIFE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slobodanka Bašić

2003-01-01

Full Text Available An estimate of life quality is based upon medical, psychological and social indicators. It increasingly engages the attention of doctors of medicine, sociologists and psychologists.The aim of this research is to headlight some more relevant socio-cultural parametres in order to determine the quality of life of schoolchildren, that is, to determine whether the crisis in which our society has found itself has produced such socio-cultural conditions that could have induced changes in the children's quality of life and, if they have, to what extent the crisis has been reflected upon their health. The research has comprised 398 schoolchildren and their parents, three elementary schools from Nish and one in Sokobanja.The research of the socio-cultural and medical indicators of their quality of life has shown that the parent's education and ther material position have had an important influence upon the children's life quality.Since there has been no significant presence of any disease recorded in the observed children's sample, it can be concluded that the socio-cultural features have affected the children's life but they have not any significant impact upon their health.

Grace under Fire: Sociocultural Competency Training.

Science.gov (United States)

Avery, Wayne W.; Bawtenheimer, Pat; Pearson, Hilary; Westwood, Dianne

2001-01-01

Employers want employees who can communicate effectively, work as part of a team, and think on their feet. To help students acquire these qualities, the faculty of health sciences and counseling at Vancouver Community College integrated a sociocultural training model into their human relations programs. Evaluations indicate that students'…

Sociocultural Paradoxes and Issues in E-Learning Use in Higher Education Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Njenga, James Kariuki

2018-01-01

Sociocultural issues are major contributing factors in mass acceptance and effective use of technology. These issues are often perceived to contradict the benefits the technology brings about. E-learning use in higher education in Africa, as a technology, faces some sociocultural barriers that contradict its promise and benefits. This paper…

NORM regulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gray, P. [ed.

1997-02-01

The author reviews the question of regulation for naturally occuring radioactive material (NORM), and the factors that have made this a more prominent concern today. Past practices have been very relaxed, and have often involved very poor records, the involvment of contractors, and the disposition of contaminated equipment back into commercial service. The rationale behind the establishment of regulations is to provide worker protection, to exempt low risk materials, to aid in scrap recycling, to provide direction for remediation and to examine disposal options. The author reviews existing regulations at federal and state levels, impending legislation, and touches on the issue of site remediation and potential liabilities affecting the release of sites contaminated by NORM.

Socio-cultural Issues for Sustainable Development in Africa ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-cultural Issues for Sustainable Development in Africa. ... focal areas of sustainable development – social, economic and environmental factors. ... that designed a Sustainable Integrated Rural Development in Africa (SIRDA) programme.

Sociocultural mediators of remembering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wagoner, Brady; Gillespie, Alex

2014-01-01

, questioning and deferring contribute to the transformation and conventionalization of the material. These diverse sociocultural mediators are integrated into a partially coherent recollection by participants self-reflecting, or as Bartlett termed it, turning around upon their schemas. We demonstrate...... that this self-reflection is both a social and a psychological process, occurring because participants are responding to their own utterances in the same way that they respond to the utterances of other people. These empirical findings are used to make a case for using discursive data to look not only...

Sociocultural and Demographic Risk Factors for the Development of Multiple Sclerosis in Kuwait: A Case - Control Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suhail N Al-Shammri

Full Text Available Immunological, genetic and environmental factors are believed to play important roles in the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS. There have been many studies on risk factors for MS but these have been mainly in Caucasian populations; robust studies in Arab populations remain relatively uncommon. This study therefore aimed to identify behavioral, socio-cultural, and demographic factors associated with development of MS in Kuwait, a high income Arab country, currently undergoing a demographic transition.In this case- control study, 195 Kuwaiti MS patients and 146 healthy age and sex-matched controls were recruited. Both groups of subjects were interviewed using a structured questionnaire, in relation to anthropometric, socio-cultural and demographic data, residence during the 1990/91 Gulf War and current and past medical history, including medications. We also clinically evaluated, and retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients to derive appropriate clinical information, including associated chronic medical illness requiring long-term treatment.On multiple logistic regression analysis after adjustment for potential confounders including age, gender and BMI, in all the subjects, a positive associations prevail with presence of MS and some sociocultural and demographic factors, which included non-Bedouin ethnicity (AOR 2, 95% CI 1.0-3.9, p 0.049, positive family history of MS (AOR 10.6, 95% CI 3.0-36.9, p < 0.001, and low daily sunlight exposure of < 15min/day (AOR 5.3, 95% CI 2.7-10.5 p < 0.001. In addition, while 41.8% of MS patients indicated at least one comorbidity, only 26.8% of the controls reported any associated physical illness, with the suggestion that presence of certain comorbidities might increase MS risk (AOR 2.4, 95% CI 1.3-4.7, p < 0.001. Other risk variables such as smoking status and mode of routine outdoor dressing were not significant in all the MS subjects taken as a whole, but demonstrated variably positive

Economic impact of potential NORM regulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, G.E.; Fitzgibbon, T.; Karp, S.

1995-01-01

Oil and gas field wastes and sites contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) have quickly become a focus of substantial attention by regulators both at the state and federal level. Although currently regulated in a number of states, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has indicated a desire to develop federal regulations to address management and disposal of NORM-contaminated wastes. This paper provides a brief overview of current state NORM regulations, currently available technologies for managing and disposing NORM wastes, and the cost of employing these techniques. Based on these characterizations and alternative assumptions about the volume of NORM wastes, four alternative scenarios have been developed to bracket potential future NORM requirements. These scenarios have been used is the basis for an analysis of the potential economic and supply impacts of NORM requirements on the U.S. oil and gas industry. The results illustrate that a reasonable approach to regulation that focuses only on those NORM wastes that pose a risk and allows producers to use safe, low cost disposal methods (downhole or other) would have minimal economic impacts on the oil and gas industry. A very stringent regulatory approach that covered large volumes of wastes, required the use of higher cost disposal techniques, and required extensive site clean-up activities could have a substantial economic impact, resulting in a loss of up to 20 percent of U.S. oil production and 8 percent of U.S. gas production by 2000. The costs of compliance with these alternative approaches could range from $71 million to over $14 billion annually. Between these two cases lies the opportunity for regulators to develop requirements for management and disposal of NORM wastes that will address any environmental and human health risks posed at industry sites without imposing unnecessarily costly regulations on the U.S. oil and gas E ampersand P industry

75 FR 58339 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Shreveport, LA; Texarkana, TX; Milwaukee, WI; and...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-24

... 3206-AM28 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Shreveport, LA; Texarkana, TX; Milwaukee, WI... area. These changes are based on recent consensus recommendations of the Federal Prevailing Rate... below. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national labor-management committee...

The Evolution of Wikipedia’s Norm Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bradi Heaberlin

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Social norms have traditionally been difficult to quantify. In any particular society, their sheer number and complex interdependencies often limit a system-level analysis. One exception is that of the network of norms that sustain the online Wikipedia community. We study the fifteen-year evolution of this network using the interconnected set of pages that establish, describe, and interpret the community’s norms. Despite Wikipedia’s reputation for ad hoc governance, we find that its normative evolution is highly conservative. The earliest users create norms that both dominate the network and persist over time. These core norms govern both content and interpersonal interactions using abstract principles such as neutrality, verifiability, and assume good faith. As the network grows, norm neighborhoods decouple topologically from each other, while increasing in semantic coherence. Taken together, these results suggest that the evolution of Wikipedia’s norm network is akin to bureaucratic systems that predate the information age.

Norms for environmentally responsible behaviour: An extended taxonomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

2006-01-01

and shopping. Also the frequency of the four behaviours was measured. The revised taxonomy has content, discriminant, predictive, and nomological validity and satisfactory test-retest reliability. The most internalized of the new norm constructs, integrated norms, is most strongly correlated with conventional...... measures of personal and moral norms. However, other constructs in the proposed taxonomy still contribute significantly to predicting conventional norm measures after controlling for integrated norms. This documents the motivational ambiguity of the conventional personal norm construct. The patterns...

Energizing and de-motivating effects of norm-conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, Rachel I; Fielding, Kelly S; Louis, Winnifred R

2013-01-01

Norms have a pervasive influence on behavior, yet previous research has not addressed that people often face conflicting norms from multiple ingroups. The current research addresses this gap in the context of proenvironmental behavior and demonstrates two effects predicted by the novel theoretical position we offer: People can be de-motivated by norm-conflict, or conversely, norm-conflict can encourage people to take action. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that norm-conflict is associated with increased perceived effectiveness for those with positive attitudes to the issue and reduced perceived effectiveness for those with moderate attitudes, and effectiveness perceptions mediated an indirect effect on behavioral intentions. Study 3 found that perceived effectiveness also moderates the effects of norm-conflict such that norm-conflict only influences intentions when perceived effectiveness is high. Norm-conflict is both positively and negatively related to behavioral decision making, suggesting additional considerations in the design of social norms-based interventions.

NORM management in the oil and gas industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cowie, Michael; Mously, Khalid; Fageeha, Osama; Nassar, Rafat

2008-01-01

It has been established that Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) may accumulate at various locations along the oil/gas production process. Components such as wellheads, separation vessels, pumps, and other processing equipment can become NORM contaminated, and NORM can accumulate in the form of sludge, scale, scrapings and other waste media. This can create a potential radiation hazard to workers, general public and the environment if certain controls are not established. Saudi Aramco has developed NORM management guidelines and is implementing a comprehensive strategy to address all aspects of NORM management which aim towards enhancing: NORM monitoring; Control of NORM contaminated equipment; Control over NORM waste handling and disposal; Workers protection, awareness, and training. The benefits of shared knowledge, best practice and, experience across the oil and gas industry are seen as key to the establishment of common guidance. This paper outlines Saudi Aramco's experience in the development of a NORM management strategy and its goals of establishing common guidance throughout the oil and gas industry. (author)

5 CFR 532.205 - The use of Federal, State, and local minimum wage requirements in determining prevailing rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... minimum wage requirements in determining prevailing rates. 532.205 Section 532.205 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS Prevailing Rate Determinations § 532.205 The use of Federal, State, and local minimum wage requirements in determining prevailing...

Modeling exogenous moral norms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ross A. Tippit

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the possibility of a robust and general formulation of a model of choice for the representation of a variety of moral norms. It starts by reviewing several recent models of deontological (or rule-based norms that retain the basic elements of the economic model of choice. It briefly examines the achievements and drawbacks of each model, and while no model is identified as the most accurate or robust, the most appealing aspects of each model contribute to the construction of a tout-ensemble utility function proposed in the final section. This representation of preferences aims to incorporate the most common qualities of both consequentialist and deontological moral norms in order to represent decision making under their influence.

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, P.

1997-01-01

This paper discusses the broad problems presented by Naturally Occuring Radioactive Materials (NORM). Technologically Enhanced naturally occuring radioactive material includes any radionuclides whose physical, chemical, radiological properties or radionuclide concentration have been altered from their natural state. With regard to NORM in particular, radioactive contamination is radioactive material in an undesired location. This is a concern in a range of industries: petroleum; uranium mining; phosphorus and phosphates; fertilizers; fossil fuels; forestry products; water treatment; metal mining and processing; geothermal energy. The author discusses in more detail the problem in the petroleum industry, including the isotopes of concern, the hazards they present, the contamination which they cause, ways to dispose of contaminated materials, and regulatory issues. He points out there are three key programs to reduce legal exposure and problems due to these contaminants: waste minimization; NORM assesment (surveys); NORM compliance (training)

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gray, P. [ed.

1997-02-01

This paper discusses the broad problems presented by Naturally Occuring Radioactive Materials (NORM). Technologically Enhanced naturally occuring radioactive material includes any radionuclides whose physical, chemical, radiological properties or radionuclide concentration have been altered from their natural state. With regard to NORM in particular, radioactive contamination is radioactive material in an undesired location. This is a concern in a range of industries: petroleum; uranium mining; phosphorus and phosphates; fertilizers; fossil fuels; forestry products; water treatment; metal mining and processing; geothermal energy. The author discusses in more detail the problem in the petroleum industry, including the isotopes of concern, the hazards they present, the contamination which they cause, ways to dispose of contaminated materials, and regulatory issues. He points out there are three key programs to reduce legal exposure and problems due to these contaminants: waste minimization; NORM assesment (surveys); NORM compliance (training).

Impact of Norm Perceptions and Guilt on Audience Response to Anti-Smoking Norm PSAs: The Case of Korean Male Smokers

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Hyegyu; Paek, Hye-Jin

2013-01-01

Objective: To examine how norm appeals and guilt influence smokers' behavioural intention. Design: Quasi-experimental design. Setting: South Korea. Method: Two hundred and fifty-five male smokers were randomly assigned to descriptive, injunctive, or subjective anti-smoking norm messages. After they viewed the norm messages, their norm perceptions,…

Sociocultural predictors of motor development of athletes from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sociocultural predictors of motor development of athletes from Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. ... variables as they influenced the athletes' motor skill development. The social situations, family and the schools were found to significantly ...

Norm in Some Industries and Its Measurement Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Syarbaini; Wahyudi

2001-01-01

NORM as a by product of some industries activity must be monitored and handled in such a way because this product is radioactive material. By using nuclear technology and instrumentation, NORM can be monitored and analyzed its radionuclides content qualitatively and/or quantitatively. This paper describe the measurement method and analysis used for radionuclides in NORM or in the environmental component contaminated by NORM. By monitoring and handling NORM in industries, the radiology impact of NORM to the industrial workers, the member of the public and the surrounding environment could be controlled. (author)

78 FR 60182 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Definition of Broward County, Florida, to a Nonappropriated Fund Federal...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-01

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AM83 Prevailing Rate Systems; Definition of... wage area. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, the national labor-management committee... follows: PART 532--PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS 0 1. The authority citation for part 532 continues to read as...

78 FR 29658 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Definition of Broward County, Florida, to a Nonappropriated Fund Federal...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-21

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AM83 Prevailing Rate Systems; Definition of... and Palm Beach Counties, FL. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, the national labor... 532--PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS 0 1. The authority citation for part 532 continues to read as follows...

Distributed Controllers for Norm Enforcement

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Testerink, B.J.G.; Dastani, M.M.; Bulling, Nils

2016-01-01

This paper focuses on computational mechanisms that control the behavior of autonomous systems at runtime without necessarily restricting their autonomy. We build on existing approaches from runtime verification, control automata, and norm-based systems, and define norm-based controllers that

Partner dependency and intimate partner abuse: A sociocultural grounding of spousal abuse in Ghana

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adjei, Stephen Baffour

2015-01-01

While sociocultural scholarship has attempted an ecological explanation of intimate partner violence, it has largely been criticized for ignoring dispositional factors of both perpetrators and victims. Dependent personality and attachment-related emotional problems have been implicated in the ext......While sociocultural scholarship has attempted an ecological explanation of intimate partner violence, it has largely been criticized for ignoring dispositional factors of both perpetrators and victims. Dependent personality and attachment-related emotional problems have been implicated...... of dependency and attachment-related spousal violence as a form of a psychopathology. This article discusses partner dependency and jealousy-motivated spousal violence as socioculturally situated, dependent on contextual and relational conditions of meaning embedded in the communal society of Ghana....... It highlights Ghanaian communal personality, gendered socialization and meaning systems of marriage as salient sociocultural features for conceptualizing partner dependency and emotional-related spousal violence....

Socio-cultural factors impacting male involvement in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-cultural factors impacting male involvement in the management of infertile couples at the Kenyatta National Hospital. ... that may influence male participation in the management of the infertile couples attending the KNH Infertility Clinic.

Concept "Medical Museum" as a Sociocultural Phenomenon

Science.gov (United States)

Chizh, Nina V.; Slyshkin, Gennady G.; Zheltukhina, Marina R.; Privalova, Irina V.; Kravchenko, Olga A.

2016-01-01

The article examines the concept "medical museum" as a sociocultural phenomenon. The register of medical museums in Russia makes the material of research. The complex methods of analysis of the concept "medical museum" are used. The philosophical, historical, cultural, structural, communicative and semantic analysis is carried…

Socio-Cultural Impacts of Educational Tourism on the Residents of Famagusta

OpenAIRE

Rezapouraghdam, Hamed

2013-01-01

Apart from palpable and potent effects of the tourism on the economy and the physical environment, it can be contributed to the socio-cultural vicissitudes in the host communities. Educational tourism as one of the most influential segments of tourism both from the economic and socio-cultural standpoints has an accelerating pace of development in the whole globe. Previous studies mostly have focused on the economic impacts of educational tourism and slightly have gone through the social an...

Impacts of geographical locations and sociocultural traits on the Vietnamese entrepreneurship.

Science.gov (United States)

Vuong, Quan Hoang

2016-01-01

This paper presents new results obtained from investigating the data from a 2015 Vietnamese entrepreneurs' survey, containing 3071 observations. Evidence from the estimations using multinomial logits was found to support relationships between several sociocultural factors and entrepreneurship-related performance or traits. Specifically, those relationships include: (a) Active participation in entrepreneurs' social networks and reported value of creativity; (b) CSR-willingness and reported entrepreneurs' perseverance; (c) Transforming of sociocultural values and entrepreneurs' decisiveness; and, (d) Lessons learned from others' failures and perceived chance of success. Using geographical locations as the control variate, evaluations of the baseline-category logits models indicate their varying effects on the outcomes when combined with the sociocultural factors that are found to be statistically significant. Empirical probabilities that give further detail about behavioral patterns are provided; and toward the end, the paper offers some conclusions with some striking insights and useful explanations on the Vietnamese entrepreneurship processes.

Traditional Values, Socio-Cultural Factors and Human Resource ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... Values, Socio-Cultural Factors and Human Resource Management Practices in ... Ghanaian worker in general and the HR manager in particular is influenced ... face -to-face interview methods were used to obtain information for the study.

76 FR 9640 - Prevailing Rate Systems: Santa Clara, CA, Tulsa County, OK, and Angelina County, TX

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-22

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AM22 Prevailing Rate Systems: Santa Clara... County, Texas, as an area of application to the Dallas, TX, NAF FWS wage area. The Federal Prevailing.... Accordingly, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management amends 5 CFR part 532 as follows: PART 532--PREVAILING...

NORM and radon in Austria. Status and strategy; Norm und Radon in Oesterreich. Status und Strategie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maringer, F.J. [Bundesamt fuer Eich- und Vermessungswesen, Wien (Austria)

2013-07-01

The author reviews the actual radiation protection practice in Austria for NORM and radon, including possible strategies and developments. Specific topics are radiation protection technologies, metrological resources for NORM in Austria, civil engineering standards (OeNORM) for radon measurement, radon prevention for new buildings and radon cleansing for existing buildings, future assessment and legal regulation of radioactivity in construction materials. The strategic development in Austria considers the current European standard projects (EU standards) and European and international research programs.

A Review of Norms and Normative Multiagent Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmoud, Moamin A.; Ahmad, Mohd Sharifuddin; Mustapha, Aida

2014-01-01

Norms and normative multiagent systems have become the subjects of interest for many researchers. Such interest is caused by the need for agents to exploit the norms in enhancing their performance in a community. The term norm is used to characterize the behaviours of community members. The concept of normative multiagent systems is used to facilitate collaboration and coordination among social groups of agents. Many researches have been conducted on norms that investigate the fundamental concepts, definitions, classification, and types of norms and normative multiagent systems including normative architectures and normative processes. However, very few researches have been found to comprehensively study and analyze the literature in advancing the current state of norms and normative multiagent systems. Consequently, this paper attempts to present the current state of research on norms and normative multiagent systems and propose a norm's life cycle model based on the review of the literature. Subsequently, this paper highlights the significant areas for future work. PMID:25110739

A review of norms and normative multiagent systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmoud, Moamin A; Ahmad, Mohd Sharifuddin; Yusoff, Mohd Zaliman Mohd; Mustapha, Aida

2014-01-01

Norms and normative multiagent systems have become the subjects of interest for many researchers. Such interest is caused by the need for agents to exploit the norms in enhancing their performance in a community. The term norm is used to characterize the behaviours of community members. The concept of normative multiagent systems is used to facilitate collaboration and coordination among social groups of agents. Many researches have been conducted on norms that investigate the fundamental concepts, definitions, classification, and types of norms and normative multiagent systems including normative architectures and normative processes. However, very few researches have been found to comprehensively study and analyze the literature in advancing the current state of norms and normative multiagent systems. Consequently, this paper attempts to present the current state of research on norms and normative multiagent systems and propose a norm's life cycle model based on the review of the literature. Subsequently, this paper highlights the significant areas for future work.

Incorporation of Socio-Cultural Values in Damage Assessment Valuations of Contaminated Lands in the Niger Delta

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor A. Akujuru

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Damages on contaminated land have been mostly assessed for developments subsisting on the land, neglecting the goods and services derived from the land which possess only socio-cultural values. This paper aims to ascertain the importance of socio-cultural values in the total economic value of contaminated land, drawing from the experience of a coastal community oil spillage in the Niger Delta. The paper examines what constitutes a valuable interest on contaminated land and how socio-cultural factors are valued in the damage assessment process. After reviewing the literature and decided cases, a questionnaire survey was conducted and a sample valuation report was analysed. It is concluded that there exists a socio-cultural interest on contaminated land which professional valuers do not reflect in damage assessment claims. It is recommended that any comprehensive damage assessment requires the incorporation of socio-cultural values in the valuations.

Interconnection of socio-cultural adaptation and identity in the socialization process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L Y Rakhmanova

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article considers the influence of the socio-cultural adaptation of an individual on his personality and identity structure; analyzes the processes of primary and secondary socialization in comparison with subsequent adaptation processes, as well as the possibility of a compromise between the unchanging, rigid identity and the ability to adapt flexibly to the changing context. The author identifies positive and negative aspects of adaptation in the contemporary society while testing the hypothesis that if the adaptation is successful and proceeds within the normal range, it helps to preserve the stability of social structures, but does not contribute to their development for the maladaptive behavior of individuals and groups stimulates social transformations. In the second part of the article, the author shows the relationship of the socio-cultural identity and the individual status in various social communities and tries to answer the question whether the existence and functioning of the social community as a pure ‘form’ without individuals (its members is possible. The author describes the identity phenomenon in the context of the opposition of the universal and unique, similarities and differences. The article also introduces the concept of the involvement in the socio-cultural context as one of the indicators of the completeness and depth of individual socio-cultural adaptation to a certain environment, which is quite important for the internal hierarchy of individual identity.

RxNorm

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — RxNorm provides normalized names for clinical drugs and links its names to many of the drug vocabularies commonly used in pharmacy management and drug interaction...

Regulation of positive and negative emotion: Effects of sociocultural context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara A. Snyder

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Previous research has demonstrated that the use of emotion regulation strategies can vary by sociocultural context. In a previous study, we reported changes in the use of two different emotion regulation strategies at an annual alternative cultural event, Burning Man (McRae, Heller, John, & Gross, 2011. In this sociocultural context, as compared to home, participants reported less use of expressive suppression (a strategy generally associated with maladaptive outcomes, and greater use of cognitive reappraisal (a strategy associated with adaptive outcomes. What remained unclear was whether these changes in self-reported emotion regulation strategy use were characterized by changes in the regulation of positive emotion, negative emotion, or both. We addressed this issue in the current study by asking Burning Man participants separate questions about positive and negative emotion. Using multiple datasets, we not only replicated our previous findings, but also found that the decreased use of suppression is primarily driven by reports of decreased suppression of positive emotion at Burning Man. By contrast, the reported increased use of reappraisal is not characterized by differential reappraisal of positive and negative emotion at Burning Man. Moreover, we observed novel individual differences in the magnitude of these effects. The contextual changes in self-reported suppression that we report are strongest for men and younger participants. For those who had previously attended Burning Man, we observed lower levels of self-reported suppression in both sociocultural contexts: Burning Man and home. These findings have implications for understanding the ways in which certain sociocultural contexts may decrease suppression, and possibly minimize its associated maladaptive effects.

Parent-Pressure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Helle Strandgaard

2016-01-01

of parents as co-consumers prevailed despite radical changes in views on children’s media consumption. In particular, I examine the shared inter-Scandinavian socio-cultural contexts that structured the changing professional and political groups’ pressure on parents to perform according to their norms......In this article, I examine change and continuity in conceptions of parental agency in public debates about children’s media consumption in Scandinavia, 1945-1975. During this period, public debates about the various kinds of media products children consumed were dominated by different groups....... However, a strong continuity in the debates was the negative influence parents were seen as having on children’s media consumption due to their lack of insight and interest in the topic. Drawing upon recent works on children’s media, consumption and enculturation, I analyse why the negative description...

Socio-Cultural Dynamics of Education in the Context of the Post-Non-Classical Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. A. Ignatova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the interrelations between society, education and culture. Using the comparative analysis of classical approaches to defining the above spheres, the author comes to conclusion that the nature of socio-cultural processes can be explored and described most consistently by applying comprehensive models of the post-non-classical science and considering civilization, education and culture in the context of the unified dynamic flow of socio-cultural genesis. The research investigates the dialectics of socio-cultural processes in the light of systematic synergetic approach, the advancing role of education in socio-cultural dynamics being revealed and substantiated. The author emphasizes its inevitably rising priority due to sustained development of civilization bringing about the new environmentally-oriented meta-culture.The obtained results can be used in pedagogic research methodology, designing and modeling the educational process, its content, technology and organization. 

Quality of decision making and group norms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Postmes, T; Spears, R; Cihangir, S

Two studies investigated the impact of group norms for maintaining consensus versus norms for critical thought on group decisions in a modification of the biased sampling paradigm (G. Stasser & W. Titus, 1985). Both studies showed that critical norms improved the quality of decisions, whereas

Quality of decision making and group norms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Postmes, T.; Spears, R.; Cihangir, S.

2001-01-01

Two studies investigated the impact of group norms for maintaining consensus versus norms for critical thought on group decisions in a modification of the biased sampling paradigm (G. Stasser & W. Titus, 1985). Both studies showed that critical norms improved the quality of decisions, whereas

Articulating cultures: socio-cultural experiences of black female ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Articulating cultures: socio-cultural experiences of black female immigrant students in South African schools 1. ... Gender and Behaviour ... and worrisome issue is that of the erosion of the social and cultural mores of Black3 immigrant students.

Human health and stoic moral norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, Lawrence C

2003-04-01

For the philosophy of medicine, there are two things of interest about the stoic account of moral norms, quite apart from whether the rest of stoic ethical theory is compelling. One is the stoic version of naturalism: its account of practical reasoning, its solution to the is/ought problem, and its contention that norms for creating, sustaining, or restoring human health are tantamount to moral norms. The other is the stoic account of human agency: its description of the intimate connections between human health, rational agency, and moral norms. There is practical guidance to be gained from exploring those connections, whether or not one is ready to follow stoic moral theory all the way to its austere end.

Predicting Eating Disorder Group Membership: An Examination and Extension of the Sociocultural Model

Science.gov (United States)

Engler, Patricia A.; Crowther, Janis H.; Dalton, Ginnie; Sanftner, Jennifer L.

2006-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine and extend portions of the sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa (Stice, E. (1994). Review of the evidence for a sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa and an exploration of the mechanisms of action. "Clinical Psychology Review," 14, 633-661; Stice, E., & Agras, W. S. (1998). Predicting onset and…

Sociocultural determinants of induced abortion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korejo, R.; Noorani, K.J.; Bhutta, S.

2003-01-01

Objective: To determine the frequency of induced abortion and identity the role of sociocultural factors contributing to termination of pregnancy and associated morbidity and mortality in hospital setting. Subjects and Methods: The patients who were admitted for induced abortion were interviewed in privacy. On condition of anonymity they were asked about the age, parity, family setup and relationships, with particular emphasis on sociocultural reasons and factors contributing to induction of abortion. Details of status of abortionist and methods used for termination of pregnancy, the resulting complications and their severity were recorded. Results: Out of total admissions, 57(2.35%) gave history of induced abortion. All women belonged to low socioeconomic class and 59.6% of them were illiterate. Forty-three (75.5%) of these women had never practiced concentration. Twenty-four (42%) were grandmultiparae and did not want more children. In 29 women (50.9%) the decision for abortion had been supported by the husband. In 25 (43.8%) abortion was carried out by Daiyan (traditional midwives). Serious complications like uterine perforation with or without bowel injury were encouraged in 25 (43.8%) of these women. During the study period illegally induced abortion accounted for 6 (10.5%) maternal deaths. Conclusion: Prevalence of poverty, illiteracy, grand multiparity and non-practice of contraception are strong determinants of induced abortion. (author)

La promoción sociocultural como habilidad profesional en la carrera Estudios Socioculturales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yousy Baby Ramírez

2017-04-01

Full Text Available La formación de habilidades profesionales deviene actualmente en tema que exige una respuesta desde la ciencia. La promoción sociocultural es concebida como metodología para el trabajo comunitario, sistema de acciones y proceso sociocultural; la presente investigación la asume como habilidad profesional en la formación académica del graduado de la carrera Estudios Socioculturales a través de una invariante funcional desarrollada desde el trabajo científico metodológico. El objetivo es elaborar una invariante funcional que contribuya a la preparación de los docentes para el desarrollo de la promoción sociocultural como habilidad profesional en la carrera Estudios Socioculturales.

Smoothing-Norm Preconditioning for Regularizing Minimum-Residual Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Per Christian; Jensen, Toke Koldborg

2006-01-01

take into account a smoothing norm for the solution. This technique is well established for CGLS, but it does not immediately carry over to minimum-residual methods when the smoothing norm is a seminorm or a Sobolev norm. We develop a new technique which works for any smoothing norm of the form $\\|L...

A Sociocultural Analysis of Social Interaction and Collaboration within the Cooking Practices of Children

Science.gov (United States)

Bligh, Caroline Adele; Fathima, Monalisa

2017-01-01

This article applies sociocultural theorizing as a tool to analyze children's collaborative cooking practices through the key sociocultural concepts of social interaction and collaboration within a school cooking club. The "everyday" activity of cooking is examined using field notes gathered through participant observations, diary…

Characterisation of NORM Contaminated Objects: Reliable and Efficient

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breddam, Kresten; Hou, Xiaolin; Koufakis, Markos

The predominant contributors to the production of Technologically En-hanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) and NORM-waste in the Nordic countries are the on- and offshore oil and gas produc-ers. In oil and gas production processes, host rock formation water con-taining low...... concentrations of NORM is mixed with seawater containing high concentrations of sulphate. This leads to precipitation of NORM (Ra, Pb, Po)SO4, which is deposited as either scale or sludge in the production equipment. NORM contaminated pipes, tubes, pumps and tanks, etc. are therefore subject to radiological...... characterization in order to ensure safe reuse or recycling as well as safe NORM waste handling.The procedures and measurement techniques may significantly affect the amount of mate-rial that is categorized as NORM contaminated equipment and NORM waste. At present, different procedures are used for categorization...

Management of NORM Residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-06-01

The IAEA attaches great importance to the dissemination of information that can assist Member States in the development, implementation, maintenance and continuous improvement of systems, programmes and activities that support the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear applications, and that address the legacy of past practices and accidents. However, radioactive residues are found not only in nuclear fuel cycle activities, but also in a range of other industrial activities, including: - Mining and milling of metalliferous and non-metallic ores; - Production of non-nuclear fuels, including coal, oil and gas; - Extraction and purification of water (e.g. in the generation of geothermal energy, as drinking and industrial process water; in paper and pulp manufacturing processes); - Production of industrial minerals, including phosphate, clay and building materials; - Use of radionuclides, such as thorium, for properties other than their radioactivity. Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) may lead to exposures at some stage of these processes and in the use or reuse of products, residues or wastes. Several IAEA publications address NORM issues with a special focus on some of the more relevant industrial operations. This publication attempts to provide guidance on managing residues arising from different NORM type industries, and on pertinent residue management strategies and technologies, to help Member States gain perspectives on the management of NORM residues

The Neural Basis of Changing Social Norms through Persuasion

OpenAIRE

Yomogida, Yukihito; Matsumoto, Madoka; Aoki, Ryuta; Sugiura, Ayaka; Phillips, Adam N.; Matsumoto, Kenji

2017-01-01

Social norms regulate behavior, and changes in norms have a great impact on society. In most modern societies, norms change through interpersonal communication and persuasive messages found in media. Here, we examined the neural basis of persuasion-induced changes in attitude toward and away from norms using fMRI. We measured brain activity while human participants were exposed to persuasive messages directed toward specific norms. Persuasion directed toward social norms specifically activate...

76 FR 70365 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Austin, TX and Waco, TX, Appropriated Fund Federal...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-14

... 3206-AM50 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Austin, TX and Waco, TX, Appropriated Fund... the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee to best match the counties proposed for redefinition to... Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national labor-management committee responsible for advising...

77 FR 68073 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the St. Louis, MO; Southern Missouri; Cleveland, OH; and...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-15

... 3206-AM70 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the St. Louis, MO; Southern Missouri; Cleveland, OH... Cleveland wage area. These changes are based on recent consensus recommendations of the Federal Prevailing... proposing the changes described below. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national...

75 FR 39460 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Chicago, IL; Fort Wayne-Marion, IN; Indianapolis, IN...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-09

...-AM21 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Chicago, IL; Fort Wayne-Marion, IN; Indianapolis, IN... wage area. These changes are based on recent consensus recommendations of the Federal Prevailing Rate... below. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC), the national labor-management committee...

Organisational dynamics, social norms and information systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stamper, R.K.; Liu, Kecheng; Liu, Kecheng; Nunamaker, Jay F.; Sprague, Ralph H.

1994-01-01

An organisation is defined as a system of social norms. The concept of a norm is the social analogue of the concept of an affordance which Gibson (1968) introduced to account for perception of the physical world. Their conjunction is a logic of Norms and Affordances, Norma, which serves as a

78 FR 29657 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Definition of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, to a Nonappropriated Fund...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-21

...-AM82 Prevailing Rate Systems; Definition of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, to a Nonappropriated Fund... County, IN; and Jefferson and Pulaski Counties, MO. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, the... as follows: [[Page 29658

Die vraag na norme vir moraliteit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. A. Heyns

1989-08-01

Full Text Available The demand for norms for morality This article is a short investigation of the existence and the character of norms for morality. Owing to the secularized society in which we live today the well known Martin Buber once spoke of the eclipse of the light of heaven as an eclipse of God and, we may add, an eclipse also of moral norms. A theocentric basis for moral norms should be accepted as well as the fact that the whole of creation is subject unconditionally to his cosmonomic order. Consequently there is a concrete demand or claim on man in the situation he confronts, which cannot be reduced to an application of general moral norms to the situation concerned. God does speak to us through historical situations as well. We shall have to judge the concrete historical situation in its immediate hic et nunc call on us in the light of the will and law of God, as they are revealed to us in his Word.

Norm Theory: Comparing Reality to Its Alternatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahneman, Daniel; Miller, Dale T.

1986-01-01

A theory of norms and normality is applied to some phenomena of emotional responses, social judgment, and conversations about causes. Norm theory is applied in analyses of enhanced emotional response to events that have abnormal causes, of generation of prediction from observations of behavior, and of the role of norms. (Author/LMO)

The motivational roots of norms for environmentally responsible behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

This paper investigates whether norms guiding environmentally desirable behaviour are genuinely internalized and integrated into the person's cognitive and goal structures or just shallowly "introjected" social norms. Internet-based questionnaires were administered to a stratified sample of Danish...... to the studied behaviour differ significantly depending on the strength of their norms and the two types of norms differ in their embeddedness in the person's cognitive structures. The behavioural influence of subjective social norms and expressed reasons and motives is mediated through personal norms...

Taking an Active Stance: How Urban Elementary Students Connect Sociocultural Experiences in Learning Science

Science.gov (United States)

Upadhyay, Bhaskar; Maruyama, Geoffrey; Albrecht, Nancy

2017-01-01

In this interpretive case study, we draw from sociocultural theory of learning and culturally relevant pedagogy to understand how urban students from nondominant groups leverage their sociocultural experiences. These experiences allow them to gain an empowering voice in influencing science content and activities and to work towards…

Environmental factors and teenagers' personalities: The role of personal and familial Socio-Cultural Level.

Science.gov (United States)

Menardo, Elisa; Balboni, Giulia; Cubelli, Roberto

2017-05-15

Environmental (e.g., socio-cultural context), individual (e.g., genetic makeup), and interpersonal (e.g., caregiver-children relationships) factors can play a crucial role in shaping the development of the teenagers' personality. In this study, we focused on the Socio-Cultural Level that designates the set of preferences, knowledge, and behaviors that characterize an individual's way of life and depend on his or her cultural, social, and economic resources. We studied the relationship between Socio-Cultural Level (personal, maternal, and paternal) and Big Five personality traits of 191 teenagers living in the same geographical area. Results showed that Socioeconomic Status (i.e., parental education level and occupational prestige), which is the only dimension generally measured in investigations on Socio-Cultural Level, was not related with personality. In contrast, Cultural Capital and Social Capital were associated with different personality traits. Personal Cultural Capital was related to Openness to experience of boys and girls and to Extraversion of girls; personal Social Capital was related to Extraversion of girls, Emotional stability of boys, and Agreeableness of both boys and girls; maternal Cultural Capital was associated with Openness to experience of daughters. Overall, the personality of teenagers was more related to their own Cultural and Social Capital than to the Cultural and Social Capital of their parents. Moreover, the relationship between Cultural Capital and Social Capital of boys/girls and of fathers/mothers was moderate in strength. It seems that parents influence the development of personality of their teenagers indirectly, their Socio-Cultural Level shaping the Socio-Cultural Level of their sons and daughters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vitrification of NORM wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chapman, C.

1994-05-01

Vitrification of wastes is a relatively new application of none of man's oldest manufacturing processes. During the past 25 years it has been developed and accepted internationally for immobilizing the most highly radioactive wastes from spent nuclear fuel. By the year 2005, there will be nine operating high-level radioactive vitrification plants. Many of the technical ''lessons learned'' from this international program can be applied to much less hazardous materials such as naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). With the deployment of low capital and operating cost systems, vitrification should become a broadly applied process for treating a large variety of wastes. In many situations, the wastes can be transformed into marketable products. This paper will present a general description of waste vitrification, summarize some of its key advantages, provide some test data for a small sample of one NORM, and suggest how this process may be applied to NORM

Bundles of Norms About Teen Sex and Pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Mollborn, Stefanie; Sennott, Christie

2015-09-01

Teen pregnancy is a cultural battleground in struggles over morality, education, and family. At its heart are norms about teen sex, contraception, pregnancy, and abortion. Analyzing 57 interviews with college students, we found that "bundles" of related norms shaped the messages teens hear. Teens did not think their communities encouraged teen sex or pregnancy, but normative messages differed greatly, with either moral or practical rationalizations. Teens readily identified multiple norms intended to regulate teen sex, contraception, abortion, childbearing, and the sanctioning of teen parents. Beyond influencing teens' behavior, norms shaped teenagers' public portrayals and post hoc justifications of their behavior. Although norm bundles are complex to measure, participants could summarize them succinctly. These bundles and their conflicting behavioral prescriptions create space for human agency in negotiating normative pressures. The norm bundles concept has implications for teen pregnancy prevention policies and can help revitalize social norms for understanding health behaviors. © The Author(s) 2014.

The malleability of injunctive norms among college students.

Science.gov (United States)

Prince, Mark A; Carey, Kate B

2010-11-01

Alcohol use among college students has been associated with injunctive norms, which refer to the perceived acceptability of excessive drinking, and descriptive norms, which refer to perceptions of actual drinking. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a brief injunctive norms manipulation on both injunctive and descriptive norms about drinking alcohol and to explore differences in the malleability of norms across referent groups, sex, and gender role. Participants were 265 undergraduates (43% male, 70% freshmen) who completed a web-based survey for course credit. A randomly selected half was exposed to a page of information-based feedback about typical student injunctive norms. Relative to the control condition, the manipulation produced lower injunctive and descriptive norms related to typical students' drinking but no change in either type of norm related to close friends. Femininity was associated with less permissive normative beliefs about the acceptability of excessive drinking whereas masculinity was associated with elevated perceptions of peer drinking, but neither sex nor gender role moderated the manipulation effect. We conclude that perceptions of peer approval of drinking are malleable with a very brief information-based manipulation. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NEIGHBORHOOD NORMS AND SUBSTANCE USE AMONG TEENS

Science.gov (United States)

Musick, Kelly; Seltzer, Judith A.; Schwartz, Christine R.

2008-01-01

This paper uses new data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A. FANS) to examine how neighborhood norms shape teenagers’ substance use. Specifically, it takes advantage of clustered data at the neighborhood level to relate adult neighbors’ attitudes and behavior with respect to smoking, drinking, and drugs, which we treat as norms, to teenagers’ own smoking, drinking, and drug use. We use hierarchical linear models to account for parents’ attitudes and behavior and other characteristics of individuals and families. We also investigate how the association between neighborhood norms and teen behavior depends on: (1) the strength of norms, as measured by consensus in neighbors’ attitudes and conformity in their behavior; (2) the willingness and ability of neighbors to enforce norms, for instance, by monitoring teens’ activities; and (3) the degree to which teens are exposed to their neighbors. We find little association between neighborhood norms and teen substance use, regardless of how we condition the relationship. We discuss possible theoretical and methodological explanations for this finding. PMID:18496598

Competition and norms: A self-defeating combination?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alberts, Genevieve; Gurguc, Zeynep; Koutroumpis, Pantelis; Martin, Ralf; Muûls, Mirabelle; Napp, Tamaryn

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the effects of information feedback mechanisms on electricity and heating usage at a student hall of residence in London. In a randomised control trial, we formulate different treatments such as feedback information and norms, as well as prize competition among subjects. We show that information and norms lead to a sharp – more than 20% - reduction in overall energy consumption. Because participants do not pay for their energy consumption this response cannot be driven by cost saving incentives. Interestingly, when combining feedback and norms with a prize competition for achieving low energy consumption, the reduction effect – while present initially – disappears in the long run. This could suggest that external rewards reduce and even destroy intrinsic motivation to change behaviour. - Highlights: •We investigate the effect of information feedback on residential energy consumption. •A RCT tests whether norms affect the decisions of price-indifferent participants. •Feedback mechanisms and norms reduce energy consumption by 22% on average. •Introducing prize competition dissipates the impact of information feedback and norms.

Using multiscale norms to quantify mixing and transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thiffeault, Jean-Luc

2012-01-01

Mixing is relevant to many areas of science and engineering, including the pharmaceutical and food industries, oceanography, atmospheric sciences and civil engineering. In all these situations one goal is to quantify and often then to improve the degree of homogenization of a substance being stirred, referred to as a passive scalar or tracer. A classical measure of mixing is the variance of the concentration of the scalar, which is the L 2 norm of a mean-zero concentration field. Recently, other norms have been used to quantify mixing, in particular the mix-norm as well as negative Sobolev norms. These norms have the advantage that unlike variance they decay even in the absence of diffusion, and their decay corresponds to the flow being mixing in the sense of ergodic theory. General Sobolev norms weigh scalar gradients differently, and are known as multiscale norms for mixing. We review the applications of such norms to mixing and transport, and show how they can be used to optimize the stirring and mixing of a decaying passive scalar. We then review recent work on the less-studied case of a continuously replenished scalar field—the source–sink problem. In that case the flows that optimally reduce the norms are associated with transport rather than mixing: they push sources onto sinks, and vice versa. (invited article)

Individual classroom experiences: a sociocultural comparison for understanding efl classroom language learning Individual classroom experiences: a sociocultural comparison for understanding efl classroom language learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Miccoli

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Este trabalho compara as experiências de sala de aula (ESA de duas universitárias na aprendizagem de língua inglesa. As ESA emergiram de entrevistas individuais, onde vídeos das aulas promoveram a reflexão. A análise revelou que experiências de natureza cognitiva, social ou afetiva influem diretamente no processo de aprendizagem e as que se referem ao contexto, à história, crenças e metas dos alunos influem indiretamente no mesmo. A singularidade de algumas experiências levou à sua categorização como ESA individuais (ESAI. Ao comparar as ESAI de duas informantes, a importância da análise sociocultural do processo de aprendizagem de sala de aula fica evidente. Concluiremos com uma defesa do valor da teoria sociocultural no estudo da aprendizagem de língua estrangeira em sala de aula e com a apresentação das implicações deste estudo para pesquisadores e professores. This paper compares the classroom experiences (CEs of two university students in their process of learning English as a foreign language (EFL. The CEs emerged from individual interviews, where classroom videos promoted reflection. The analysis revealed that cognitive, social and affective experiences directly influence the learning process and that those which refer to setting, learner’s personal background, beliefs and goal influence the learning process indirectly. The analysis also revealed the singularity of some of these CEs that led to their categorization as individual CEs (ICEs. When comparing the ICEs of the two participants, the importance of a sociocultural analysis of the classroom learning process becomes evident. We conclude with an analysis of the value of sociocultural theory in the study of classroom EFL learning and with the implications of this study for teachers and researchers.

Ideological Considerations in Official Dubbing in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masood Khoshsaligheh

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In our globalizing world, audiovisual products are understandably considered tools that advertise their original language and culture. Most societies do not stand any interference from the outside, especially if it considerably opposes the socio-cultural norms. Translation is a practice of cross-cultural communication which most often complies with the socio-cultural guidelines and norms of the recipient society. However, translated products might face resistance as they can be regarded threatening and hostile by the ruling gatekeepers. Given the dramatic disparities between most languages and cultures, translators are not the only decision-makers and other agents have pivotal roles in the process of adapting the translated product to the dominant conventions and socio-cultural norms. This paper aims at shedding some light on the role which agents play in the process of dubbing, both for public access national television and for private home distribution. The study explores the effects of preliminary and operational norms, and cultural appropriation conducted at both textual and visual levels through a method including interview data and textual analysis. The results show that foreign movies dubbed into Persian in the religious context of the contemporary Iran are strictly controlled both before the process of dubbing and during and after the process of dubbing due to a number of socio-cultural, political, and ideological considerations.

Socio-cultural Impacts of Contemporary Tourism

OpenAIRE

Jovičić, Dobrica

2011-01-01

The topic of the paper is devoted to analysis of socio-cultural impacts of tourism, as effects on the people of host communities resulting from their direct and indirect associations with tourists. The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behavior, family structure and relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, traditional ceremonies and community organizations. Special ...

Sport in the Sociocultural Process. Second Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Marie

This anthology is an introduction to the sociocultural study of sport for those in physical education, sociology, anthropology, or any other study of human behavior in the social process. Part I provides a cultural framework, a series of definitions, and some understandings of the cultural setting of sport in American society as an orientation to…

The consequences of the heterosexual norm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Johansson

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Librarians may exclude people accidentally. This is so because there is a widespread use of classifications and subject headings reflecting the heterosexual norm. Critical classification theory tackles this norm for the reason that it affects the retrieval of gay literature. In order to allow a reconsideration of this exclusive practice in the LIS community I challenge two main questions: Firstly, how does the heterosexual norm appear in classification systems and subject headings lists? And secondly, what are the consequences of that practice for the retrieval of gay literature?This paper focuses on the professional practise in Swedish public libraries. If subject cataloguing prevents Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT finding their literatures, then Swedish public libraries are upholders of the exclusive heterosexual norm in society.

Consumer Preferences for Local Food: Testing an Extended Norm Taxonomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julius Wenzig

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Consumer attitudes toward consuming and buying locally produced food are well studied. By contrast, the topic of consumer preferences for local food, with a special emphasis on the role of norms, still lacks empirical evidence. To study the influence of norms and morals on the intention to buy local food products, a quantitative study (N = 327 focusing on external social and internalized moral norms was conducted using the constructs of the theory of planned behavior in combination with an extended norm taxonomy and the perceived consumer effectiveness measure. The norm constructs consisted of two different personal norms, integrated and introjected, and two social norms, descriptive and injunctive. In a factor analysis, two factors for social norms but only one for personal norms were obtained. Multiple regressions explained 50 percent of the variance in intentions and 29 percent of the variance in past behavior. Norm constructs were proven important in the model, as personal norms had the largest effect among all constructs on intentions, and descriptive norms strongly influenced past behavior. An additional mediation analysis showed that personal norms were internalized social injunctive norms and that intentions mediated the relationship between all constructs. The implications of the findings and recommendations for future research are given accordingly.

Norm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loria Meneses, Luis Guillermo

2012-01-01

Related studies with the presence of NORMs in Costa Rica were developed. CICANUM has had equipment and personnel to perform analysis using gamma spectroscopy (for solid and liquid samples), beta spectroscopy (for liquid milk samples and water), alpha spectroscopy (water samples). These techniques are frequently used in the analysis for food purchased from stores, monitoring, export (safety certicates), directly from the farm (research and projects ARCAL), several matrices (meristems, iron, etc..). The CICANUM supported by the Universidad de Costa Rica and the Laboratorio de Espectroscopia Gamma has participated in various projects by the IAEA, in research on food, marine species, quality assurance, development of reference material. The term NORMs is used to distinguish natural radioactive elements of radioactive elements of anthropogenic origin, among which are those produced by: terrestrial, mediums cosmogenic and industrial. One conclusion is that human activity has been responsible for increasing exposure of people to ionizing radiation. This increase has resulted of the production of coal, natural gas, mining and fossil fuels, and the use of fertilizers. Radon trapped in the rocks is released when performing scans or during extraction. (author) [es

The Neural Basis of Changing Social Norms through Persuasion.

Science.gov (United States)

Yomogida, Yukihito; Matsumoto, Madoka; Aoki, Ryuta; Sugiura, Ayaka; Phillips, Adam N; Matsumoto, Kenji

2017-11-24

Social norms regulate behavior, and changes in norms have a great impact on society. In most modern societies, norms change through interpersonal communication and persuasive messages found in media. Here, we examined the neural basis of persuasion-induced changes in attitude toward and away from norms using fMRI. We measured brain activity while human participants were exposed to persuasive messages directed toward specific norms. Persuasion directed toward social norms specifically activated a set of brain regions including temporal poles, temporo-parietal junction, and medial prefrontal cortex. Beyond these regions, when successful, persuasion away from an accepted norm specifically recruited the left middle temporal and supramarginal gyri. Furthermore, in combination with data from a separate attitude-rating task, we found that left supramarginal gyrus activity represented participant attitude toward norms and tracked the persuasion-induced attitude changes that were away from agreement.

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing Consent For Research In Nigeria: Lessons ... for Health Research Ethics in enforcing researchers' compliance with ethical standards in ... Genuine respect for human dignity requires deeper understanding of ...

Sociocultural determinants of induced abortion.

Science.gov (United States)

Korejo, Razia; Noorani, Khurshid Jehan; Bhutta, Shereen

2003-05-01

To determine the frequency of induced abortion and identify the role of sociocultural factors contributing to termination of pregnancy and associated morbidity and mortality in hospital setting. Prospective observational study. The study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from January 1999 to June 2001. The patients who were admitted for induced abortion were interviewed in privacy. On condition of anonymity they were asked about the age, parity, family setup and relationships, with particular emphasis on sociocultural reasons and factors contributing to induction of abortion. Details of status of abortionist and methods used for termination of pregnancy, the resulting complications and their severity were recorded. Out of total admissions, 57(2.35%) gave history of induced abortion. All women belonged to low socioeconomic class and 59.6% of them were illiterate. Forty-three (75.5%) of these women had never practiced contraception. Twenty-four (42%) were grandmultiparae and did not want more children. In 29 women (50.9%) the decision for abortion had been supported by the husband. In 25 women (43.8%) abortion was carried out by Daiyan (traditional midwives). Serious complications like uterine perforation with or without bowel injury were encountered in 25 (43.8%) of these women. During the study period illegally induced abortion accounted for 6 (10.5%) maternal deaths. Prevalence of poverty, illiteracy, grand multiparity and non-practice of contraception are strong determinants of induced abortion.

Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language in Taiwan: A Socio-Cultural Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kung, Fan-Wei

2017-01-01

This article examines the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in Taiwan based on Vygotsky's (1978) socio-cultural framework. The historical context is provided after some delineations of the educational system in Taiwan with regard to its foreign language instruction policy and development. Based upon the proposed socio-cultural framework,…

Norms for environmentally responsible behaviour: An extended taxonomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

2006-01-01

is carried out based on a survey of residents of Denmark. A range of norm constructs were measured with regard to four environmentally responsible behaviours: buying organic milk, buying energy saving light bulbs, source separating compostable kitchen waste, and using public transportation for work...... of correlation between norm constructs and between norms and behaviour vary between behaviours. Hence, respondents seem to apply different norms for different environmentally responsible behaviours....

Anatomy of zero-norm states in string theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chan, C.-T.; Lee, J.-C.; Yi Yang

2005-01-01

We calculate and identify the counterparts of zero-norm states in the old covariant first quantized (OCFQ) spectrum of open bosonic string in two other quantization schemes of string theory, namely, the light-cone Del Giudice-Di Vecchia-Fubine zero-norm states and the off-shell Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) zero-norm states (with ghost) in the Witten string field theory (WSFT). In particular, special attention is paid to the interparticle zero-norm states in all quantization schemes. For the case of the off-shell BRST zero-norm states, we impose the no-ghost conditions and recover exactly two types of on-shell zero-norm states in the OCFQ string spectrum for the first few low-lying mass levels. We then show that off-shell gauge transformations of WSFT are identical to the on-shell stringy gauge symmetries generated by two types of zero-norm states in the generalized massive σ-model approach of string theory. The high-energy limit of these stringy gauge symmetries was recently used to calculate the proportionality constants, conjectured by Gross, among high-energy scattering amplitudes of different string states. Based on these zero-norm state calculations, we have thus related gauge symmetry of WSFT to the high-energy stringy symmetry of Gross

Analysis of Acculturative Stress and Sociocultural Adaptation among International Students at a Non-Metropolitan University

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmood, Hajara; Burke, Monica Galloway

2018-01-01

This quantitative descriptive study analyzed levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation among international students at a non-metropolitan university in the United States related to certain demographic characteristics. Surveys were used to measure international students' levels of acculturative stress and sociocultural adaptation,…

School bullying from a sociocultural perspective

OpenAIRE

Maunder, Rachel E.; Crafter, Sarah

2018-01-01

School bullying is an important concern. Whilst there is growing knowledge about the nature, extent and effects of school bullying, areas of complexity in research findings remain. In this paper we develop our thinking on school bullying using a sociocultural theoretical framework. We review existing literature around three main themes: 1) The conceptualisation and interpretation of bullying; 2) The relational aspects of bullying 3) Bullying as part of someone's life trajectory. For each them...

Sociocultural patterning of neural activity during self-reflection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Yina; Bang, Dan; Wang, Chenbo

2014-01-01

) in Chinese than in Danish participants. Moreover, the group difference in TPJ activity was mediated by a measure of a cultural value (i.e., interdependence of self-construal). Our findings suggest that individuals in different sociocultural contexts may learn and/or adopt distinct strategies for self-reflection...

"Nothing special, everything is maamuli": socio-cultural and family practices influencing the perinatal period in urban India.

Science.gov (United States)

Raman, Shanti; Srinivasan, Krishnamachari; Kurpad, Anura; Razee, Husna; Ritchie, Jan

2014-01-01

Globally, India contributes the largest share in sheer numbers to the burden of maternal and infant under-nutrition, morbidity and mortality. A major gap in our knowledge is how socio-cultural practices and beliefs influence the perinatal period and thus perinatal outcomes, particularly in the rapidly growing urban setting. Using data from a qualitative study in urban south India, including in-depth interviews with 36 women who had recently been through childbirth as well as observations of family life and clinic encounters, we explored the territory of familial, cultural and traditional practices and beliefs influencing women and their families through pregnancy, childbirth and infancy. We found that while there were some similarities in cultural practices to those described before in studies from low resource village settings, there are changing practices and ideas. Fertility concerns dominate women's experience of married life; notions of gender preference and ideal family size are changing rapidly in response to the urban context; however inter-generational family pressures are still considerable. While a rich repertoire of cultural practices persists throughout the perinatal continuum, their existence is normalised and even underplayed. In terms of diet and nutrition, traditional messages including notions of 'hot' and 'cold' foods, are stronger than health messages; however breastfeeding is the cultural norm and the practice of delayed breastfeeding appears to be disappearing in this urban setting. Marriage, pregnancy and childbirth are so much part of the norm for women, that there is little expectation of individual choice in any of these major life events. A greater understanding is needed of the dynamic factors shaping the perinatal period in urban India, including an acknowledgment of the health promoting as well as potentially harmful cultural practices and the critical role of the family. This will help plan culturally appropriate integrated perinatal

"Nothing special, everything is maamuli": socio-cultural and family practices influencing the perinatal period in urban India.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shanti Raman

Full Text Available Globally, India contributes the largest share in sheer numbers to the burden of maternal and infant under-nutrition, morbidity and mortality. A major gap in our knowledge is how socio-cultural practices and beliefs influence the perinatal period and thus perinatal outcomes, particularly in the rapidly growing urban setting.Using data from a qualitative study in urban south India, including in-depth interviews with 36 women who had recently been through childbirth as well as observations of family life and clinic encounters, we explored the territory of familial, cultural and traditional practices and beliefs influencing women and their families through pregnancy, childbirth and infancy. We found that while there were some similarities in cultural practices to those described before in studies from low resource village settings, there are changing practices and ideas. Fertility concerns dominate women's experience of married life; notions of gender preference and ideal family size are changing rapidly in response to the urban context; however inter-generational family pressures are still considerable. While a rich repertoire of cultural practices persists throughout the perinatal continuum, their existence is normalised and even underplayed. In terms of diet and nutrition, traditional messages including notions of 'hot' and 'cold' foods, are stronger than health messages; however breastfeeding is the cultural norm and the practice of delayed breastfeeding appears to be disappearing in this urban setting. Marriage, pregnancy and childbirth are so much part of the norm for women, that there is little expectation of individual choice in any of these major life events.A greater understanding is needed of the dynamic factors shaping the perinatal period in urban India, including an acknowledgment of the health promoting as well as potentially harmful cultural practices and the critical role of the family. This will help plan culturally appropriate

Evolution of public relations in the activity of organizations of ukrainian socio-cultural sphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Євгенія Олегівна Кияниця

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The article traces the evolution of public relations in various fields of life including socio-cultural and found creative and social potential of this activity. Analysis of historical experience of using the PR-technologies in the field of sociocultural institutions promotes understanding of importance of this activity for the efficient work of organizations of this sphere

Management of NORM/TENORM Waste from Non Nuclear Industries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Djarot S Wisnubroto

2003-01-01

Management of NORM/TENORM waste is now to be an issue and discussed in many international conferences and seminars. This paper describes the status of the management of NORM/TENORM waste including the origin of the waste, regulations and assessment of waste disposal. Several countries have established the regulation for NORM/TENORM waste; however the IAEA has not yet published guideline for management of NORM/TENORM. There are many options for disposal of NORM/TENORM waste based on standard of the radioactive waste disposal. The decision and policy on management of NORM/TENORM waste must be conducted carefully due to the social and economical impacts. (author)

Socio-Cultural Factors in Second Language Learning: A Case Study of Adventurous Adult Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Ozfidan, Burhan; Machtmes, Krisanna L.; Demir, Husamettin

2014-01-01

Sociocultural theories consider language learning as a social practice examines students as active participants in the construction of learning processes. This study investigates sociocultural theories' central concepts, which includes peer interaction and feedback, private speech, and self-efficacy. The present study is a case study of twenty…

A note on 'Some results on the IF-normed spaces'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saadati, Reza

2009-01-01

Recently, Lael and Nourouzi [Some results on the IF-normed spaces. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 2006; doi:10.1016/j.chaos.2006.10.019] introduced and studied a new notation of IF-normed spaces by using the idea of intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces due to Saadati and Park [On the intuitionistic fuzzy topological spaces. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 2006;27:331-44], a special continuous t-norm i.e. min and a special continuous s-norm i.e. max. In this note, we consider the modified definition of IF-normed space i.e. LF-normed spaces and prove the open mapping and closed graph theorems for this space using arbitrary continuous t-norm.

Current Trends in the Detection of Sociocultural Signatures: Data-Driven Models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sanfilippo, Antonio P.; Bell, Eric B.; Corley, Courtney D.

2014-09-15

The harvesting of behavioral data and their analysis through evidence-based reasoning enable the detection of sociocultural signatures in their context to support situation awareness and decision making. Harvested data are used as training materials from which to infer computational models of sociocultural behaviors or calibrate parameters for such models. Harvested data also serve as evidence input that the models use to provide insights about observed and future behaviors for targets of interest. The harvested data is often the result of assembling diverse data types and aggregating them into a form suitable for analysis. Data need to be analyzed to bring out the categories of content that are relevant to the domain being addressed in order to train or run a model. If, for example, we are modeling the intent of a group to engage in violent behavior using messages that the group has broadcasted, then these messages need to be processed to extract and measure indicators of violent intent. The extracted indicators and the associated measurements (e.g. rates or counts of occurrence) can then be used to train/calibrate and run computational models that assess the propensity for violence expressed in the source message. Ubiquitous access to the Internet, mobile telephony and technologies such as digital photography and digital video have enabled social media application platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter that are altering the nature of human social interaction. The fast increasing pace of online social interaction introduces new challenges and opportunities for gathering sociocultural data. Challenges include the development of harvesting and processing techniques tailored to new data environments and formats (e.g. Twitter, Facebook), the integration of social media content with traditional media content, and the protection of personal privacy. As these and other challenges are addressed, a new wealth of behavioral data and data analysis methods becomes

Silence and table manners: when environments activate norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Joly, Janneke F; Stapel, Diederik A; Lindenberg, Siegwart M

2008-08-01

Two studies tested the conditions under which an environment (e.g., library, restaurant) raises the relevance of environment-specific social norms (e.g., being quiet, using table manners). As hypothesized, the relevance of such norms is raised when environments are goal relevant ("I am going there later") and when they are humanized with people or the remnants of their presence (e.g., a glass of wine on a table). Two studies show that goal-relevant environments and humanized environments raise the perceived importance of norms (Study 1) and the intention to conform to norms (Study 2). Interestingly, in both studies, these effects reach beyond norms related to the environments used in the studies.

Approach to assessing local socio-cultural impacts using projections of population growth and composition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldwin, T. E.; Poetsch, R.

1977-08-01

All assessment of future domestic development projects assumes that the problems to be examined have been properly identified and defined before the application of a projection technique. An attempt is made to codify socio-cultural problems mentioned in literature and clarify how existing demographic projection techniques can be applied to assessing the problems. The relationship between changes in local population size and composition induced by in-migration and the potential for socio-cultural incompatibilities is described heuristically. For simplification, the problems expected to emerge from differences in demographic composition are classified into three categories: (1) service needs, such as those for housing, recreation, and education; (2) types of social organizations related to capacities for, or constraints on, reaping the benefits of rapid economic development and social changes (e.g., employment and income); and (3) attitudes, values, and cultural perspectives. These areas of concern are very broad, and quantitative projections of population size and composition are more easily related to the first than to the third. Although demographic projection provides a valuable tool for estimating future social change, the knowledge about cause and effect is not sufficient to support the quantification of socio-cultural impact. Therefore, the projections are used only as relative indicators and the assessments of socio-cultural impact based on them are qualitative only. Therefore, identification and assessment of socio-cultural impacts are a means of developing plans to overcome the expected problems.

PREVAIL: latest electron optics results

Science.gov (United States)

Pfeiffer, Hans C.; Golladay, Steven D.; Gordon, Michael S.; Kendall, Rodney A.; Lieberman, Jon E.; Rockrohr, James D.; Stickel, Werner; Yamaguchi, Takeshi; Okamoto, Kazuya; Umemoto, Takaaki; Shimizu, Hiroyasu; Kojima, Shinichi; Hamashima, Muneki

2002-07-01

The PREVAIL electron optics subsystem developed by IBM has been installed at Nikon's facility in Kumagaya, Japan, for integration into the Nikon commercial EPL stepper. The cornerstone of the electron optics design is the Curvilinear Variable Axis Lens (CVAL) technique originally demonstrated with a proof of concept system. This paper presents the latest experimental results obtained with the electron optical subsystem at Nikon's facility. The results include micrographs illustrating proper CVAL operation through the spatial resolution achieved over the entire optical field of view. They also include data on the most critical issue of the EPL exposure approach: subfield stitching. The methodology of distortion correction will be described and both micrographs and metrology data of stitched subfields will be presented. This paper represents a progress report of the IBM/Nikon alliance activity on EPL.

Growth, financial development, societal norms and legal institutions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garretsen, Harry; Lensink, Robert; Sterken, Elmer

2002-01-01

This paper analyses whether societal norms help to explain cross-country differences in financial development. We analyze whether societal norms in addition to legal institutions have an impact on financial development. We address the implications of the inclusion of societal norms for the analysis

78 FR 60181 - Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Clayton-Cobb-Fulton, Georgia, Nonappropriated Fund...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-01

... OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 532 RIN 3206-AM84 Prevailing Rate Systems; Redefinition of the Clayton-Cobb-Fulton, Georgia, Nonappropriated Fund Federal Wage System Wage Area AGENCY: U.S... Counties). The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, the national labor-management committee...

A New Replication Norm for Psychology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Etienne P LeBel

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In recent years, there has been a growing concern regarding the replicability of findings in psychology, including a mounting number of prominent findings that have failed to replicate via high-powered independent replication attempts. In the face of this replicability “crisis of confidence”, several initiatives have been implemented to increase the reliability of empirical findings. In the current article, I propose a new replication norm that aims to further boost the dependability of findings in psychology. Paralleling the extant social norm that researchers should peer review about three times as many articles that they themselves publish per year, the new replication norm states that researchers should aim to independently replicate important findings in their own research areas in proportion to the number of original studies they themselves publish per year (e.g., a 4:1 original-to-replication studies ratio. I argue this simple approach could significantly advance our science by increasing the reliability and cumulative nature of our empirical knowledge base, accelerating our theoretical understanding of psychological phenomena, instilling a focus on quality rather than quantity, and by facilitating our transformation toward a research culture where executing and reporting independent direct replications is viewed as an ordinary part of the research process. To help promote the new norm, I delineate (1 how each of the major constituencies of the research process (i.e., funders, journals, professional societies, departments, and individual researchers can incentivize replications and promote the new norm and (2 any obstacles each constituency faces in supporting the new norm.

Solving of L0 norm constrained EEG inverse problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Peng; Lei, Xu; Hu, Xiao; Yao, Dezhong

2009-01-01

l(0) norm is an effective constraint used to solve EEG inverse problem for a sparse solution. However, due to the discontinuous and un-differentiable properties, it is an open issue to solve the l(0) norm constrained problem, which is usually instead solved by using some alternative functions like l(1) norm to approximate l(0) norm. In this paper, a continuous and differentiable function having the same form as the transfer function of Butterworth low-pass filter is introduced to approximate l(0) norm constraint involved in EEG inverse problem. The new approximation based approach was compared with l(1) norm and LORETA solutions on a realistic head model using simulated sources. The preliminary results show that this alternative approximation to l(0) norm is promising for the estimation of EEG sources with sparse distribution.

Socio-Cultural Factors and Ethnic Group Relationships in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Much has been discussed and written about ethnicity. This paper is therefore intended as a contribution to the management of interethnic/intercultural conflicts in Nigeria, with a focus on new ways of handling the basic socio-cultural institutions shaping ethnic consciousness. Furthermore, this paper highlights the basic ...

Regulation of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) with emphasis on NORM disposal options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, P.

1995-01-01

Regulation of radioactive material can occur at the Federal, State, and sometimes local level. In addition to regulations at the federal and state level, there are guidelines and standards that do not carry the weight of law, yet are often referenced. Neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) categorically regulates NORM at this time. However, many of the existing regulations and guidelines for licensed radioactive material can be applied by states and other regulatory agencies to NORM. The primary regulations covering radioactive materials and exposures were promulgated under the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) or 1954, as amended. NRC licenses and regulates civilian use of nuclear materials to protect public health and safety and the environment. NRC makes rules and sets standards for licensees and inspects the activities of licensees to insure that they do not violate safety rules. OSHA regulations for worker protection from exposures to radioactivity are contained in 29CFR1910.96. These standards are designed to protect workers from exposure to radiation in programs other than those regulated by OSHA. The Uranium Mill Tailings Control Act, with implementing regulations found in 40CFR192 were promulgated by the EPA for cleanup of uranium mill tailings. These standards are often used by states and other agencies in regulating cleanup of NORM. EPA is currently considering regulation of NORM on NRC and DOE facilities under 40CFR195

EQ-5D Portuguese population norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Lara Noronha; Ferreira, Pedro L; Pereira, Luis N; Oppe, Mark

2014-03-01

The EQ-5D is a widely used preference-based measure. Normative data can be used as references to analyze the effects of healthcare, determine the burden of disease and enable regional or country comparisons. Population norms for the EQ-5D exist for other countries but have not been previously published for Portugal. The purpose of this study was to derive EQ-5D Portuguese population norms. The EQ-5D was applied by phone interview to a random sample of the Portuguese general population (n = 1,500) stratified by age, gender and region. The Portuguese value set was used to derive the EQ-5D index. Mean values were computed by gender and age groups, marital status, educational attainment, region and other variables to obtain the EQ-5D Portuguese norms. Health status declines with advancing age, and women reported worse health status than men. These results are similar to other EQ-5D population health studies. This study provides Portuguese population health-related quality of life data measured by the EQ-5D that can be used as population norms. These norms can be used to inform Portuguese policy makers, health care professionals and researchers in issues related to health care policy and planning and quantification of treatment effects on health status.

Model Selection in Continuous Test Norming With GAMLSS.

Science.gov (United States)

Voncken, Lieke; Albers, Casper J; Timmerman, Marieke E

2017-06-01

To compute norms from reference group test scores, continuous norming is preferred over traditional norming. A suitable continuous norming approach for continuous data is the use of the Box-Cox Power Exponential model, which is found in the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape. Applying the Box-Cox Power Exponential model for test norming requires model selection, but it is unknown how well this can be done with an automatic selection procedure. In a simulation study, we compared the performance of two stepwise model selection procedures combined with four model-fit criteria (Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, generalized Akaike information criterion (3), cross-validation), varying data complexity, sampling design, and sample size in a fully crossed design. The new procedure combined with one of the generalized Akaike information criterion was the most efficient model selection procedure (i.e., required the smallest sample size). The advocated model selection procedure is illustrated with norming data of an intelligence test.

The motivational roots of norms for environmentally responsible behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

2007-01-01

to the studied behaviour differ significantly depending on the strength of their norms and the two types of norms differ in their embeddedness in the person's cognitive structures. The behavioural influence of subjective social norms and expressed reasons and motives is mediated through personal norms...... consumers (N = 206). Each questionnaire contained standard items measuring subjective social and personal norms for the purchase of organic food, self-reported buying behaviour, and a "hard laddering" instrument probing reasons and motives for doing so. As expected, participants' means-end associations...

Is the Economic Crisis Challenging the Prevailing Gender Regime?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leschke, Janine; Jepsen, Maria

2014-01-01

and analysing the corresponding position of women and men in paid and unpaid work, the paper contains an in-depth discussion of the short- and medium-term policy responses to the crisis. Our analysis shows that independent of the prevailing gender regime, scant public attention has been directed to gender...

Factors affecting utilization of cervical cancer prevention services in low-resource settings

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Bingham Allison

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Strategies for introducing or strengthening cervical cancer prevention programs must focus on ensuring that appropriate, cost-effective services are available and that women who most need the services will, in fact, use them. This article summarizes the experiences of research projects in Bolivia, Peru, Kenya, South Africa, and Mexico. Factors that affect participation rates in cervical cancer prevention programs are categorized in three sections. The first section describes factors that arise from prevailing sociocultural norms that influence women's views on reproductive health, well being, and notions of illness. The second section discusses factors related to the clinical requirements and the type of service delivery system in which a woman is being asked to participate. The third section discusses factors related to quality of care. Examples of strategies that programs are using to encourage women's participation in cervical cancer prevention services are provided.

Statistical convergence on intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karakus, S.; Demirci, K.; Duman, O.

2008-01-01

Saadati and Park [Saadati R, Park JH, Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 2006;27:331-44] has recently introduced the notion of intuitionistic fuzzy normed space. In this paper, we study the concept of statistical convergence on intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces. Then we give a useful characterization for statistically convergent sequences. Furthermore, we display an example such that our method of convergence is stronger than the usual convergence on intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces

Social Norms in the Ancient Athenian Courts

OpenAIRE

Lanni, Adriaan M.

2013-01-01

Ancient Athens was a remarkably peaceful and well-ordered society by both ancient and contemporary standards. Scholars typically attribute Athens’ success to internalized norms and purely informal enforcement mechanisms. This article argues that the formal Athenian court system played a vital role in maintaining order by enforcing informal norms. This peculiar approach to norm enforcement compensated for apparent weaknesses in the state system of coercion. It mitigated the effects of under-e...

A case for 'prevailing ecology' as premium determinant in home ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A case for 'prevailing ecology' as premium determinant in home-based child care ... Ewe mothers located in Dzemeni a migrant, lakeside community in Ghana. ... It builds a case from the analysis of definitions and concepts in care literature.

Civilsamfundets ABC: N for Norm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, Anker Brink; Meyer, Gitte

2016-01-01

Bogstaveligt talt: Hvad er civilsamfundet? Anker Brink Lund og Gitte Meyer fra CBS Center for Civil Society Studies gennemgår civilsamfundet bogstav for bogstav. Vi er nået til N for Norm.......Bogstaveligt talt: Hvad er civilsamfundet? Anker Brink Lund og Gitte Meyer fra CBS Center for Civil Society Studies gennemgår civilsamfundet bogstav for bogstav. Vi er nået til N for Norm....

Socio-Cultural Conception of Albinism and Sexuality Challenges ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Socio-Cultural Conception of Albinism and Sexuality Challenges among Persons with Albinism (PWA) in South-West, Nigeria. ... For the female PWA the risk of being used for money making rituals; not knowing a sincere partner; their more fragile nature and perceived fear of societal objection and hatred in seeing a ...

Socio-Cultural Problems and Maladaptive Behaviours of Post ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Through survey research design, this study investigated the socio-cultural problems and maladaptive behaviours of post-adolescents in Nigeria. Out of 379 National Youth Service Corps (N. Y. S. C.) members drawn from various parts of Nigeria for the 2010/2011 service year, deployed to Abakaliki, Ebonyi and Izzi Local ...

Aproximación a la Animación Sociocultural desde una perspectiva didáctica

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana CALVO SASTRE

2009-11-01

Full Text Available RESUMEN: El objetivo principal de este artículo es plantear algunas reflexiones sobre los procesos de Animación Sociocultural desde una perspectiva didáctica. Para ello se analiza, por un lado, la relación entre la Animación Sociocultural como práctica educativa y la Didáctica como disciplina centrada en el estudio de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Este análisis se realiza desde una perspectiva de complementariedad entendiendo la Didáctica como un marco referencial para la Animación Sociocultural y, a su vez, planteando la Animación Sociocultural como un campo que amplía los espacios de acción, reflexión e investigación de la Didáctica. Por otro lado, el apartado final del artículo se centra de manera específica en la perspectiva del Curriculum y su relación con la Animación Sociocultural. Se analizan, sobre todo, aquellas teorías que conciben la práctica del Curriculum como un proceso de investigación y, de manera más específica, aquellas que expresan una visión crítica del mismo puesto que constituyen la concepción del Curriculum en la que mejor se acomoda la Animación Sociocultural desde los planteamientos que de este concepto se realizan a lo largo del artículo.ABSTRACT: The principal objective of this article is to establish some reflections on the processes of Socio-cultural Animation («Community education» in Anglo- Saxon contexts from a didactic perspective. Thus, in one part, we analyze the relationship between Socio-cultural Animation as an educational practice and Didactics as a discipline centered on the study of teaching-learning processes. This analysis is carried out from a complementary perspective, if we understand Didactics as a referential framework for Socio-cultural Animation and, in turn, establish Sociocultural Animation as a field that extends the areas of action, reflection, and investigation of Didactics. Then, the final part of the article centers specifically on the perspective

Norm based design of fault detectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rank, Mike Lind; Niemann, Hans Henrik

1999-01-01

The design of fault detectors for fault detection and isolation (FDI) in dynamic systems is considered in this paper from a norm based point of view. An analysis of norm based threshold selection is given based on different formulations of FDI problems. Both the nominal FDI problem as well...

Norms and customs: causally important or causally impotent?

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Todd

2010-01-01

In this article, I argue that norms and customs, despite frequently being described as being causes of behavior in the social sciences and ordinary conversation, cannot really cause behavior. Terms like "norms" and the like seem to refer to philosophically disreputable disjunctive properties. More problematically, even if they do not, or even if there can be disjunctive properties after all, I argue that norms and customs still cannot cause behavior. The social sciences would be better off without referring to properties like norms and customs as if they could be causal.

The socio-cultural significance of the diagnostic label "neurasthenia" in Japan's mental health care system.

Science.gov (United States)

Munakata, T

1989-06-01

This paper is an attempt to explore the socio-cultural significance of deliberately disguising schizophrenia as neurasthenia, neurosis or malfunction of autonomic nervous system. To understand its significance, the socio-cultural background of Japanese attitudes toward mental illness and Japan's mental health care system is also examined from a non-Western standpoint.

EL CARÁCTER SOCIOCULTURAL DE LA ENSEÑANZA EN LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR (THE SOCIOCULTURAL NATURE OF TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Obregón Rodríguez Carmen

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Resumen:Como la escuela en general, el ámbito de la educación superior también nos ofrece un escenario privilegiado para recabar evidencias del carácter sociocultural del pensamiento. Fundada en las exploraciones de Vigotzky y expandida por sus seguidores, la perspectiva sociocultural establece que nuestro pensamiento en general, y las funciones mentales superiores en particular, están por definición culturalmente mediados; y que no hay forma de no estar culturalmente situados cuando llevamos a cabo una acción, usualmente acorde con los patrones aceptados por el grupo social al que se pertenece (acción mediada. A partir de estas aseveraciones, este ensayo intenta justificar la importancia de un mayor conocimiento del contexto cultural que tiene lugar al interior de la educación superior, y una mejor comprensión de las implicaciones que las diferencias disciplinarias tienen en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje; dar cuenta de algunos hallazgos de incursiones de la investigación empírica a este respecto; y cerrar enmarcando los aportes concretos de este ejercicio dentro de una eminente preocupación por encontrar nuevas formas de articular la multiculturalidad; de integrar la diversidad que nos habita y nos estructura, y que forma parte de nuestras herencias y de nuestro presente cultural.Abstract:Just like school does in a general sense, higher education creates a privileged setting for collecting evidences of the sociocultural nature of thinking. Grounded in Vygotsky’s explorations and extended by his colleagues, the sociocultural perspective establishes that our thinking in a broad sense, and higher psychological functioning in particular, are by definition culturally mediated; and that there is no other way than to be culturally situated when taking action, usually following patterns accepted by the social group to which one belongs (mediated action. Parting from those statements, this essay attempts to justify the importance of a

Practical Run-Time Norm Enforcement with Bounded Lookahead

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alechina, Natasha; Bulling, Nils; Dastani, Mehdi; Logan, Brian

2015-01-01

Norms have been widely proposed as a means of coordinating and controlling the behaviour of agents in a multi-agent system. A key challenge in normative MAS is norm enforcement: how and when to restrict the agents’ behaviour in order to obtain a desirable outcome? Even if a norm can be enforced

Evolution of generous cooperative norms by cultural group selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Scheuring, István

2009-04-07

Evolution of cooperative norms is studied in a population where individual- and group-level selection are both in operation. Individuals play indirect reciprocity game within their group. Individuals are well informed about the previous actions and reputations, and follow second-order norms. Individuals are norm-followers, and imitate their successful group mates. In contrast to previous models where norms classify actions deterministically, we assume that norms determine only the probabilities of actions, and mutants can differ in these probabilities. The central question is how a selective cooperative norm can emerge in a population where initially only non-cooperative norms were present. It is shown that evolution leads to a cooperative state if generous cooperative strategies are dominant, although the "always defecting" and the "always cooperating"-like strategies remain stably present. The characteristics of these generous cooperative strategies and the presence of always defecting and always cooperating strategies are in concordance with experimental observations.

Children are sensitive to norms of giving

OpenAIRE

McAuliffe, K.; Raihani, N. J.; Dunham, Y.

2017-01-01

People across societies engage in costly sharing, but the extent of such sharing shows striking cultural variation, highlighting the importance of local norms in shaping generosity. Despite this acknowledged role for norms, it is unclear when they begin to exert their influence in development. Here we use a Dictator Game to investigate the extent to which 4- to 9-year-old children are sensitive to selfish (give 20%) and generous (give 80%) norms. Additionally, we varied whether children were ...

Bringing Technology to Students’ Proximity: A Sociocultural Account of Technology-Based Learning Projects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evode Mukama

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper depicts a study carried out in Rwanda concerning university students who participated in a contest to produce short documentary films. The purpose of this research is to conceptualize these kinds of technology-based learning projects (TBLPs through a sociocultural perspective. The methodology included focus-group discussions and field notes to collect empirical data. The findings reveal that the more educational technologies capture objects of learning positioned in the students’ sociocultural proximity, the more focused the learners’ attention is on these objects. The study shows also that a change in learning projects may depend to a large extent on whether the technology relates to the students’ sociocultural proximity, that is, taking into consideration students’ physical, cultural, and contextual real world. The study recommends a community of learning/inquiry embedded in a collaborative, problem-solving dynamic involving cognitive support from peers, teachers, external specialists, and the wider community.

COMMUNITY SOCIOCULTURAL PROJECT “GUARDIANS OF THE TIME” / PROYECTO SOCIOCULTURAL COMUNITARIO “GUARDIANES DEL TIEMPO”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Apud García

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The project has as objective to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants of La Pedrera by means of the community development and from a sociocultural perspective. For the achievement of these purposes a better culture profiled on the sustainable agriculture and the care of the environment is also inserted, using for it, mainly, to the new generations. In a general way, the project seeks to preserve the whole rich cultural flow inherited from final of the XIX century, and to insert him modern elements that allow him to validate an autochthonous culture.

“Nothing Special, Everything Is Maamuli”: Socio-Cultural and Family Practices Influencing the Perinatal Period in Urban India

Science.gov (United States)

Raman, Shanti; Srinivasan, Krishnamachari; Kurpad, Anura; Razee, Husna; Ritchie, Jan

2014-01-01

Background Globally, India contributes the largest share in sheer numbers to the burden of maternal and infant under-nutrition, morbidity and mortality. A major gap in our knowledge is how socio-cultural practices and beliefs influence the perinatal period and thus perinatal outcomes, particularly in the rapidly growing urban setting. Methods and Findings Using data from a qualitative study in urban south India, including in-depth interviews with 36 women who had recently been through childbirth as well as observations of family life and clinic encounters, we explored the territory of familial, cultural and traditional practices and beliefs influencing women and their families through pregnancy, childbirth and infancy. We found that while there were some similarities in cultural practices to those described before in studies from low resource village settings, there are changing practices and ideas. Fertility concerns dominate women’s experience of married life; notions of gender preference and ideal family size are changing rapidly in response to the urban context; however inter-generational family pressures are still considerable. While a rich repertoire of cultural practices persists throughout the perinatal continuum, their existence is normalised and even underplayed. In terms of diet and nutrition, traditional messages including notions of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ foods, are stronger than health messages; however breastfeeding is the cultural norm and the practice of delayed breastfeeding appears to be disappearing in this urban setting. Marriage, pregnancy and childbirth are so much part of the norm for women, that there is little expectation of individual choice in any of these major life events. Conclusions A greater understanding is needed of the dynamic factors shaping the perinatal period in urban India, including an acknowledgment of the health promoting as well as potentially harmful cultural practices and the critical role of the family. This will

Frontcountry encounter norms among three cultures

Science.gov (United States)

Jerry J. Vaske; Maureen P. Donnelly; Robert M. Doctor; James P. Petruzzi

1995-01-01

Existing normative studies have focused on backcountry encounter norms reported by North Americans. This study extends previous research by comparing encounter norms reported by three different cultures - North Americans, Europeans, and Japanese - in a frontcountry day use recreation area. Data were obtained from on-site surveys distributed at the Columbia Icefield in...

Grip and Pinch Strength Norms for Michigan Workers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joel M. Phillips M.S., OTRL

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to create a norm reference of current grip and pinch strength norms for working-age Michigan adults. This normative study included a convenience sample of 179 volunteers who were employees at car plants in South East Michigan or hospital sites in West Michigan. Participants’ ages ranged from between 20 and 62 years of age with a mean age of 49.15 years. There were 78 females (44% and 101 males (56%. Subjects were classified by gender and in the age categories of ages 20 to 49 years and ages 50-62 years. Grip and pinch strength norms were collected following the American Society of Hand Therapy protocol. The norms from these working adults were calculated with descriptive statistics for males and females in two age classifications: ages 20 to 49 and ages 50 to 62 years. Standard Errors (SE are better than the 1985 norms for both males and females ages 20 to 49 years. SEs are higher than the ages 20 to 49 years’ norms for the ages 50 to 62 years age categories in both males and females. These norms offer a point of comparison for clinicians to use for clients in Michigan who are ages 20 to 62 years and who have a goal to improve their grip strength. Clients’ grip and pinch strength could be compared to their age level or gender norms using the comparison for one standard deviation above, below, or at the means.

The influence of socio-cultural background and product value in usability testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonderegger, Andreas; Sauer, Juergen

2013-05-01

This article examines the influence of socio-cultural background and product value on different outcomes of usability tests. A study was conducted in two different socio-cultural regions, Switzerland and East Germany, which differed in a number of aspects (e.g. economic power, price sensitivity and culture). Product value (high vs. low) was varied by manipulating the price of the product. Sixty-four test participants were asked to carry out five typical user tasks in the context of coffee machine usage, measuring performance, perceived usability, and emotion. The results showed that in Switzerland, high-value products were rated higher in usability than low-value products whereas in East Germany, high-value products were evaluated lower in usability. A similar interaction effect of socio-cultural background and product value was observed for user emotion. Implications are that the outcomes of usability tests do not allow for a simple transfer across cultures and that the mediating influence of perceived product value needs to be taken into consideration. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONDITIONS OF FORMATION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MODERN RUSSIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walter A.

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper examines the ambiguous contextual manifestations that accompany the process of formation of Russian entrepreneurial community. The work presents the research results of the specifics of these manifestations derived based on the analysis of various materials from Russian official, scientific and sociopolitical as well as international sources. "Attitude towards entrepreneurship" is regarded as the most important sociocultural component of the development of the entrepreneurship as a social practice. The identified economic and political as well as sociocultural trends that accompany the formation of the modern Russian entrepreneurship reflect the incompleteness stage of the market reforms in Russia. The creation of the modern ethical basis of the development of the entrepreneurship and its interaction with the society is assumed as one of the ways to accelerate these reforms. The outcome of the present interdisciplinary work - which is in its own way “a view from the outside” - in the author’s opinion, indicates the equivalence of sociocultural and economic and political range of problems for the modern stage of development of the entrepreneurship in Russia.

Human rights – local value or universal norm?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grigory Gutner

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The article argues for the universal character of human rights. It is demonstrated that they are not of specific value of Western culture but are a universal norm. This norm is valid not only for political practices but, first of all, for the morality and practice of argumentation. Human rights are strictly correlated with Kantian Categorical Imperative and can be substantiated by means of transcendental­pragmatic argument (K.­O. Apel. The difference between values and norms are also considered. It is demonstrated that values are always subjective and arbitrary meanwhile final justification is possible for norms.  

Modernization of Management: Social and Socio-Cultural Aspects

Science.gov (United States)

Vinogradova, Marina V.; Babakaev, Sergy V.; Larionova, Anna A.; Kobyak, Marina V.; Layko, Mikhail Y.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the topic is determined by the new challenges faced by the Russian state in modern conditions that have a significant impact on public administration, which entails the need for its comprehensive modernization. In this regard, this article is aimed at the disclosure of social and socio-cultural aspects of the modernization of…

Sociocultural influences on strategies to lose weight, gain weight, and increase muscles among ten cultural groups.

Science.gov (United States)

McCabe, Marita P; Busija, Lucy; Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Matthew; Ricciardelli, Lina; Mellor, David; Mussap, Alexander

2015-01-01

This study determined how sociocultural messages to change one's body are perceived by adolescents from different cultural groups. In total, 4904 adolescents, including Australian, Chilean, Chinese, Indo-Fijian, Indigenous Fijian, Greek, Malaysian, Chinese Malaysian, Tongans in New Zealand, and Tongans in Tonga, were surveyed about messages from family, peers, and the media to lose weight, gain weight, and increase muscles. Groups were best differentiated by family pressure to gain weight. Girls were more likely to receive the messages from multiple sociocultural sources whereas boys were more likely to receive the messages from the family. Some participants in a cultural group indicated higher, and others lower, levels of these sociocultural messages. These findings highlight the differences in sociocultural messages across cultural groups, but also that adolescents receive contrasting messages within a cultural group. These results demonstrate the difficulty in representing a particular message as being characteristic of each cultural group. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-Cultural and Ideological Preconditions of Gender Equality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sviytlana Storozhuk

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The article examines the factors that have led to the contradiction between a legislated principle of gender equality and, broadcast from pre-modern by a number of social institutions a social differentiation by gender and discrimination generated by it, existing in modern outlook and socio-cultural life. The article shows that the concepts of natural equality of people and social consensus together with the process of secularization and desecration, developed during the modern period, transformed a social reality, but they usually do not apply to a person who is still viewed through the prism of axiological and ideological premodern paradigm. Thus, the concept of natural equality has extrapolated only to men who were considered carriers of social activity in premodern culture. It is emphasized that despite the radical changes of socio-cultural and political life of European society that occurred as a result of implementation of social modern program, a family, remaining a decentralized nucleus, was living by premodern values that gained social significance at a time when a woman acquired her social activity.

Feasibility of re-melting NORM-contaminated scrap metal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winters, S. J.; Smith, K. P.

1999-10-26

Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) sometimes accumulate inside pieces of equipment associated with oil and gas production and processing activities. Typically, the NORM accumulates when radium that is present in solution in produced water precipitates out in scale and sludge deposits. Scrap equipment containing residual quantities of these NORM-bearing scales and sludges can present a waste management problem if the radium concentrations exceed regulatory limits or activate the alarms on radiation screening devices installed at most scrap metal recycling facilities. Although NORM-contaminated scrap metal currently is not disposed of by re-melting, this form of recycling could present a viable disposition option for this waste stream. Studies indicate that re-melting NORM-contaminated scrap metal is a viable recycling option from a risk-based perspective. However, a myriad of economic, regulatory, and policy issues have caused the recyclers to turn away virtually all radioactive scrap metal. Until these issues can be resolved, re-melting of the petroleum industry's NORM-impacted scrap metal is unlikely to be a widespread practice. This paper summarizes the issues associated with re-melting radioactive scrap so that the petroleum industry and its regulators will understand the obstacles. This paper was prepared as part of a report being prepared by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission's NORM Subcommittee.

Branching geodesics in normed spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, A O; Tuzhilin, A A

2002-01-01

We study branching extremals of length functionals on normed spaces. This is a natural generalization of the Steiner problem in normed spaces. We obtain criteria for a network to be extremal under deformations that preserve the topology of networks as well as under deformations with splitting. We discuss the connection between locally shortest networks and extremal networks. In the important particular case of the Manhattan plane, we get a criterion for a locally shortest network to be extremal

Social Norms and Moral Hazard

OpenAIRE

Dufwenberg, Martin; Lundholm, Michael

1997-01-01

The probability of income loss depends on talent and effort. Effort has positive externalities and therefore individuals are proportion to their perceived diligence. The social norm requires more effort from individuals perceived as more talented, but talent is private information and individuals cunningly choose effort so as to manipulate the public perception of their talent. We analyze the workings of a social insurance system in this setting. It turns out that social norms may mitigate mo...

Variation in reaction norms: Statistical considerations and biological interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Morrissey, Michael B; Liefting, Maartje

2016-09-01

Analysis of reaction norms, the functions by which the phenotype produced by a given genotype depends on the environment, is critical to studying many aspects of phenotypic evolution. Different techniques are available for quantifying different aspects of reaction norm variation. We examine what biological inferences can be drawn from some of the more readily applicable analyses for studying reaction norms. We adopt a strongly biologically motivated view, but draw on statistical theory to highlight strengths and drawbacks of different techniques. In particular, consideration of some formal statistical theory leads to revision of some recently, and forcefully, advocated opinions on reaction norm analysis. We clarify what simple analysis of the slope between mean phenotype in two environments can tell us about reaction norms, explore the conditions under which polynomial regression can provide robust inferences about reaction norm shape, and explore how different existing approaches may be used to draw inferences about variation in reaction norm shape. We show how mixed model-based approaches can provide more robust inferences than more commonly used multistep statistical approaches, and derive new metrics of the relative importance of variation in reaction norm intercepts, slopes, and curvatures. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Regulatory and management approaches to NORM residues in Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omar, M.; Teng, I.L.

2006-01-01

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) processing industries in Malaysia include oil and gas production and mineral processing plants. These industries are controlled by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board of Malaysia (AELB) through the enforcement of the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984 (Act 304). Related regulations have been developed in order to ensure the safety of workers and members of the public. However, more regulations are necessary for the safe handling of NORM. NORM processing generates various types of NORM residues that require proper management. As for low-level NORM residues, landfill disposal can be exempted from regulatory control if the Radiological Impact Assessment (RIA) shows that the additional dose to the members of the public is below the limit set by the authority. This paper outlines the regulatory and management approaches to NORM residues in Malaysia. (author)

Norm based Threshold Selection for Fault Detectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rank, Mike Lind; Niemann, Henrik

1998-01-01

The design of fault detectors for fault detection and isolation (FDI) in dynamic systems is considered from a norm based point of view. An analysis of norm based threshold selection is given based on different formulations of FDI problems. Both the nominal FDI problem as well as the uncertain FDI...... problem are considered. Based on this analysis, a performance index based on norms of the involved transfer functions is given. The performance index allows us also to optimize the structure of the fault detection filter directly...

Health behavior change models and their socio-cultural relevance for breast cancer screening in African American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashing-Giwa, K

1999-01-01

Models of health behavior provide the conceptual bases for most of the breast cancer screening intervention studies. These models were not designed for and have not been adequately tested with African American women. The models discussed in this paper are: The Health Belief Model, the Theory of Reasoned Action/Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Transtheoretical Model. This paper will examine the socio-cultural relevance of these health behavior models, and discuss specific socio-cultural dimensions that are not accounted for by these paradigms. It is critical that researchers include socio-cultural dimensions, such as interconnectedness, health socialization, ecological factors and health care system factors into their intervention models with African American women. Comprehensive and socio-culturally based investigations are necessary to guide the scientific and policy challenge for reducing breast cancer mortality in African American women.

Organizational Culture and Socio-Cultural Values: Perceptions of Managers and Employees in Five Economies in Transition

Science.gov (United States)

Cseh, Maria; Ardichvili, Alexandre; Gasparishvili, Alexander; Krisztian, Bela; Nemeskeri, Zsolt

2004-01-01

This survey-based study compared socio-cultural values and perceptions of organizational culture characteristics held by more than 3,300 managers and employees in twelve business organizations in Hungary, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. Significant differences were found between the five countries on all socio-cultural and…

Depression as a Moderator of Sociocultural Influences on Eating Disorder Symptoms in Adolescent Females and Males

Science.gov (United States)

Rodgers, Rachel F.; Paxton, Susan J.; Chabrol, Henri

2010-01-01

This study aimed to explore the role of depression as a moderator of sociocultural influences on eating disorder symptoms. A sample of 509 adolescents (56% female) completed self-report questionnaires assessing depression, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms and sociocultural influences on appearance from family, peers and…

Forming engineers' sociocultural competence: Engineering ethics at tomsk polytechnic university

Science.gov (United States)

Galanina, E.; Dulzon, A.; Schwab, A.

2015-10-01

The aim of the present research is to discuss Tomsk Polytechnic University in respect of forming engineers’ sociocultural competence and teaching engineering ethics. Today international standards of training engineers cover efficient communication skills, ability to understand societal and environment context, professional and ethical responsibility. This article deals with the problem of contradiction between the need to form engineers’ sociocultural competence in Russian higher education institutions in order to meet the requirements of international accreditation organizations and the real capabilities of existing engineering curricula. We have described ethics teaching experience of TPU, studied the engineering master programs of TPU to see how the planned results are achieved. We have also given our recommendations to alter the structure of TPU educational curricula, which can also be applied in other higher education institutions.

The Effect of Sociocultural Factors on Maternal Short Psychiatric Status and Hyperemesis Gravidarum

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Mehmet Baki Şentürk

2016-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the associations between Hyperemesis Gravidarum and both sociocultural factors and psychiatric status. STUDY DESIGN: A prospective non-randomized cohort design was employed. A total of 79 patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum and 71 healthy pregnant women were enrolled. The study and control groups were compared according to results on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and sociocultural factors specific to the region. RESULTS: Anxiety, somatic concern, tension, depressive mood, hostility, motor retardation, uncooperativeness and blunted effect were found to be statistically significantly higher in patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum(p<0.01 and p<0.05. Furthermore, pregnant women living in extended families had statistically higher anxiety scores than those residing in nuclear families (p<0.05. CONCLUSION: Psychiatric status as well as sociocultural factors specific to the society in which the individuals live should be taken into account in assessments of patients with Hyperemesis Gravidarum.

Economic and socio-cultural impacts of Mainland Chinese tourists on Hong Kong residents

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Manisa Piuchan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the economic and socio-cultural impacts from the burgeoning mainland Chinese tourists on Hong Kong residents. Ten individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect Hong Kong residents' views. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data. The results showed that the socio-cultural aspects were reported negatively with regard to culture, shopping and dining, and transportation but conversely, it had a positive impact on education and infrastructure. The economic aspect showed that residents accepted and appreciated the economic benefits brought by the inflow of mainland Chinese tourists. The Hong Kong government should consider these impacts, and then provide better solutions for residents' lives and plans to cope with the upcoming scenario which might arise regarding Hong Kong's economic boom and more tourists traveling to Hong Kong. Recommendations are also suggested in this study for further development. Keywords: Chinese tourists, economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts, tourism impacts

A discussion on NORM guidelines: proposed revisions needed for practical use

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Jing

2015-01-01

International awareness of NORM as a potential source of radiation risk to workers, members of the public and the environment has increased significantly in recent years. NORM guidelines were originally developed for radiation management in NORM industries. However, the guidelines have been often consulted by many other industries not commonly considered as an NORM industry. In addition, with the increased awareness of NORM issues, more and more people have tried to apply NORM guidelines in many other situations related to NORM in the environment. The broad use of NORM guidelines out of the original scope has demonstrated the needs to revise the guidelines for practical use. These needs are discussed in the article. (authors)

Social Norms of Cooperation in Small-Scale Societies.

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Fernando P Santos

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Indirect reciprocity, besides providing a convenient framework to address the evolution of moral systems, offers a simple and plausible explanation for the prevalence of cooperation among unrelated individuals. By helping someone, an individual may increase her/his reputation, which may change the pre-disposition of others to help her/him in the future. This, however, depends on what is reckoned as a good or a bad action, i.e., on the adopted social norm responsible for raising or damaging a reputation. In particular, it remains an open question which social norms are able to foster cooperation in small-scale societies, while enduring the wide plethora of stochastic affects inherent to finite populations. Here we address this problem by studying the stochastic dynamics of cooperation under distinct social norms, showing that the leading norms capable of promoting cooperation depend on the community size. However, only a single norm systematically leads to the highest cooperative standards in small communities. That simple norm dictates that only whoever cooperates with good individuals, and defects against bad ones, deserves a good reputation, a pattern that proves robust to errors, mutations and variations in the intensity of selection.

Social Norms of Cooperation in Small-Scale Societies.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Fernando P; Santos, Francisco C; Pacheco, Jorge M

2016-01-01

Indirect reciprocity, besides providing a convenient framework to address the evolution of moral systems, offers a simple and plausible explanation for the prevalence of cooperation among unrelated individuals. By helping someone, an individual may increase her/his reputation, which may change the pre-disposition of others to help her/him in the future. This, however, depends on what is reckoned as a good or a bad action, i.e., on the adopted social norm responsible for raising or damaging a reputation. In particular, it remains an open question which social norms are able to foster cooperation in small-scale societies, while enduring the wide plethora of stochastic affects inherent to finite populations. Here we address this problem by studying the stochastic dynamics of cooperation under distinct social norms, showing that the leading norms capable of promoting cooperation depend on the community size. However, only a single norm systematically leads to the highest cooperative standards in small communities. That simple norm dictates that only whoever cooperates with good individuals, and defects against bad ones, deserves a good reputation, a pattern that proves robust to errors, mutations and variations in the intensity of selection.

CLEX: A cross-linguistic lexical norms database

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Rune Nørgaard; Dale, Philip; Bleses, Dorthe

2009-01-01

Parent report has proven a valid and cost-effective means of evaluating early child language. Norming datasets for these instruments, which provide the basis for standardized comparisons of individual children to a population, can also be used to derive norms for the acquisition of individual words...... in production and comprehension and also early gestures and symbolic actions. These lexical norms have a wide range of uses in basic research, assessment and intervention. In addition, crosslinguistic comparisons of lexical development are greatly facilitated by the availability of norms from diverse languages....... This report describes the development of CLEX, a new web-based cross-linguistic database for lexical data from adaptations of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. CLEX provides tools for a range of analyses within and across languages. It is designed to incorporate additional language...

The Rhetoric and Reality of Leading the Inclusive School: Socio-Cultural Reflections on Lived Experiences

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Lindy-Anne Abawi

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper details a cross-cultural study of inclusive leadership practices within a basic education context in each of the following countries: Australia, Canada, and Colombia. Each school was selected after district educational leaders identified the school as being inclusive of students with diverse learning needs over an extended period of time. The researchers were particularly interested in the norms and assumptions that were evident within conversations because these were viewed as indicators of the nature of the embedded school culture within each context. School leaders and teachers were interviewed to determine the link between rhetoric and reality, and what inclusion ‘looked like’, ‘felt like’, and ‘sounded like’ at each site, and whether any discernible differences could be attributed to societal culture. A refractive phenomenological case study approach was used to capture the messages within each context and the lived experiences of the participants as they sought to cater for the needs of students. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with school leaders and teaching staff. Each researcher conducted environmental observations, documenting the impressions and insights gained from the more implicit messages communicated verbally, non-verbally, and experientially from school structures, visuals, and school ground interactions. Themes were collated from the various narratives that were recounted. Both similarities and distinct socio-cultural differences emerged.

THE SOCIOCULTURAL DIMENSION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LANGUAGE SKILLS OF PRE - SERVICE TEACHER

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Yunaisi Pérez Vázquez

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The article approaches some reflections on a pedagogic strategy for the development of the communicative abilities, from the sociocultural dimension in the teacher training process. The methods and technical that are applied they demonstrate the inadequacies that persist. consequence there are carried out reflections about the pedagogic str ategy, which is characterized by the projection, appropriation and communicative systematizing, where the performance contexts and the demands of the school environment, have singular importance. With their implementation it is achieved the derivation of the objectives and abilities for the interdisciplinary work of the teaching staff, that makes possible a system of pedagogic actions that impact positively to improve the communicative abilities, keeping in mind the incorporation of sociocultural elements in order to contribute the personal and professional development in the pedagogic context as in other sociocultural environment.

How preschoolers react to norm violations is associated with culture.

Science.gov (United States)

Gampe, Anja; Daum, Moritz M

2018-01-01

Children from the age of 3years understand social norms as such and enforce these norms in interactions with others. Differences in parental and institutional education across cultures make it likely that children receive divergent information about how to act in cases of norm violations. In the current study, we investigated whether cultural values are associated with the ways in which children react to norm violations. We tested 80 bicultural 3-year-olds with a norm enforcement paradigm and analyzed their reactions to norm violations. The reactions were correlated to the children's parental cultural values using the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) scales, and these results show that parental culture was associated with children's reactions to norm violations. The three strongest correlations were found for institutional collectivism, performance orientation, and assertiveness. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Cleanliness Norms 1964-1975].

Science.gov (United States)

Noelle-Neumann, E

1976-01-01

In 1964 the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach made a first survey taking stock of norms concerning cleanliness in the Federal Republic of Germany. At that time, 78% of respondents thought that the vogue among young people of cultivating an unkempt look was past or on the wane (Table 1.). Today we know that this fashion was an indicator of more serious desires for change in many different areas like politics, sexual morality, education and that its high point was still to come. In the fall of 1975 a second survey, modelled on the one of 1964, was conducted. Again, it concentrated on norms, not on behavior. As expected, norms have changed over this period but not in a one-directional or simple manner. In general, people are much more large-minded about children's looks: neat, clean school-dress, properly combed hair, clean shoes, all this and also holding their things in order has become less important in 1975 (Table 2). To carry a clean handkerchief is becoming oldfashioned (Table 3). On the other hand, principles of bringing-up children have not loosened concerning personal hygiene - brushing ones teeth, washing hands, feet, and neck, clean fingernails (Table 4). On one item related to protection of the environment, namely throwing around waste paper, standards have even become more strict (Table 5). With regard to school-leavers, norms of personal hygiene have generally become more strict (Table 6). As living standards have gone up and the number of full bathrooms has risen from 42% to 75% of households, norms of personal hygiene have also increased: one warm bath a week seemed enough to 56% of adults in 1964, but to only 32% in 1975 (Table 7). Also standards for changing underwear have changed a lot: in 1964 only 12% of respondents said "every day", in 1975 48% said so (Table 8). Even more stringent norms are applied to young women (Tables 9/10). For comparison: 1964 there were automatic washing machines in 16%, 1975 in 79% of households. Answers to questions

Development and testing of the Youth Alcohol Norms Survey (YANS) instrument to measure youth alcohol norms and psychosocial influences.

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Sharyn K; Maycock, Bruce; Hildebrand, Janina; Zhao, Yun; Allsop, Steve; Lobo, Roanna; Howat, Peter

2018-05-14

This study aimed to develop and validate an online instrument to: (1) identify common alcohol-related social influences, norms and beliefs among adolescents; (2) clarify the process and pathways through which proalcohol norms are transmitted to adolescents; (3) describe the characteristics of social connections that contribute to the transmission of alcohol norms; and (4) identify the influence of alcohol marketing on adolescent norm development. The online Youth Alcohol Norms Survey (YANS) was administered in secondary schools in Western Australia PARTICIPANTS: Using a 2-week test-retest format, the YANS was administered to secondary school students (n=481, age=13-17 years, female 309, 64.2%). The development of the YANS was guided by social cognitive theory and comprised a systematic multistage process including evaluation of content and face validity. A 2-week test-retest format was employed. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the underlying factor structure of the instrument. Test-retest reliability was examined using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cohen's kappa. A five-factor structure with meaningful components and robust factorial loads was identified, and the five factors were labelled as 'individual attitudes and beliefs', 'peer and community identity', 'sibling influences', 'school and community connectedness' and 'injunctive norms', respectively. The instrument demonstrated stability across the test-retest procedure (ICC=0.68-0.88, Cohen's kappa coefficient=0.69) for most variables. The results support the reliability and factorial validity of this instrument. The YANS presents a promising tool, which enables comprehensive assessment of reciprocal individual, behavioural and environmental factors that influence alcohol-related norms among adolescents. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise

The enhancement of social norm compliance: Prospects and caveats

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Civai, C.; Ma, I.

2017-01-01

Societies are characterized by a shared system of social norms, which promotes cooperation among people. However, following social norms often means going against self-interest - imagine, for example, being required to choose whether or not to get richer from an unfair deal; ignoring social norms,

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF INFORMAL NORMS OF URBAN COLORISTICS

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Yulia Alexandrowna Griber

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The objective of the study was informal social norms of urban culture. The paper contains the detailed description of the experimental situation and the main steps of the field research, focused on the observance of informal social norms in the sphere of urban coloristics. The experiment was conducted in three districts of Smolensk (Russia – Leninskiy, Zadneprovskiy and Promyshlennyy. Particular attention was paid to the analysis of the results of the field research, including evaluation of reaction of participants (residents of multi-storied houses, breakers of informal norms of urban coloristics (experimenters and casual experiment witnesses (neighbors and passersby. In addition, the accuracy of results “forecasting”, done before the beginning of the experiment, is analyzed. The research was conducted using the methodology of breaking experiment that is one of the most provocative ways of studying informal norms in sociology and social psychology. The experiment allowed to draw a number of important conclusions. It showed that urban coloristics is regulated by strict informal norms, that are not noticed by citizens until a violation occurs. The power of informal norms is significantly underestimated by citizens, and their break causes a negative reaction and protest. The most important contribution to the study of informal norms of urban culture was the comparison of the reaction degree by men and women, by the residents of different districts (central, residential or blue-collar neighborhoods, by different age groups.

Effects of Prevailing Winds on Turbidity of a Shallow Estuary

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Hyun Jung Cho

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Estuarine waters are generally more turbid than lakes or marine waters due to greater algal mass and continual re-suspension of sediments. The varying effects of diurnal and seasonal prevailing winds on the turbidity condition of a wind-dominated estuary were investigated by spatial and statistical analyses of wind direction, water level, turbidity, chlorophyll a, and PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation collected in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, USA. The prolonged prevailing winds were responsible for the long-term, large-scale turbidity pattern of the estuary, whereas the short-term changes in wind direction had differential effects on turbidity and water level in varying locations. There were temporal and spatial changes in the relationship between vertical light attenuation coefficient (Kd and turbidity, which indicate difference in phytoplankton and color also affect Kd. This study demonstrates that the effect of wind on turbidity and water level on different shores can be identified through system-specific analyses of turbidity patterns.

Norm in the matter of safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saavedra, Analia; Maceiras, Elena; Valentino, Lucia; Chiliutti, Mauro

2001-01-01

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA), through its norm, establishes requirements in the matter of safeguards that allow him to control the fulfillment of the objectives established at national level and the international commitments that the Argentine Republic has assumed in the scope of Nuclear Non-proliferation. The measures of fortification of the safeguards proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will imply new obligations for the country and consequently it will require the update of the effective norm in the matter. The objective of this work is to describe the reach of the update of the norm in the matter of safeguards and their relation with some procedures of application in the scope of the radiological protection and the nuclear security

Fourier Multipliers on Anisotropic Mixed-Norm Spaces of Distributions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cleanthous, Galatia; Georgiadis, Athanasios; Nielsen, Morten

2018-01-01

A new general Hormander type condition involving anisotropies and mixed norms is introduced, and boundedness results for Fourier multi- pliers on anisotropic Besov and Triebel-Lizorkin spaces of distributions with mixed Lebesgue norms are obtained. As an application, the continuity of such operat......A new general Hormander type condition involving anisotropies and mixed norms is introduced, and boundedness results for Fourier multi- pliers on anisotropic Besov and Triebel-Lizorkin spaces of distributions with mixed Lebesgue norms are obtained. As an application, the continuity...

52 Sociocultural Competence as a Basis for Functional Education: A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

2010-10-17

Oct 17, 2010 ... This paper examines the relevance of socio-cultural competence in functional ... non-material expressions of the people as well as the processes with which .... themselves in all kinds of immorality, smoking, stealing, drug ...

Responsible Communication between the Judicial and Deontological Norm

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Daniela Aurelia Popa

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Confronting with numerous problems related to moral judgment, the responsibility and irresponsibility in what concerns the vast domain of communication, we are interested in forming a correct and complete vision that crosses the judicial and deontological domain of the profession. The deontological norms are meant to guarantee, by their freely consented acceptance, the good fulfillment of the mission of the journalists, recognized as being indispensable for the god functioning of any human society. The laws do not expressly refer to the deontological norms, but these norms exist according to the law order and are necessary for its guarantee in this social context, which is chaotic from the point of view of the legislation in communication. The aspects analyzed here aremeant to indicate the manner in which passing from deontological norm to the judicial norm creates an external constraint for the communicator which brings more responsibility in view of avoiding the journalistic conflicts.

Predictors of international students’ psychological and sociocultural adjustment to the context of reception while studying at Aarhus University, Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ozer, Simon

2015-01-01

as adaptation challenges. This paper investigates international students’ psychological and sociocultural adjustment to studying at Aarhus University in Denmark. Both international students (n = 129) and domestic students (n = 111) participated in the study. The international students did not report impaired...... psychological conditions as compared to the control group of domestic students. However, the international students reported a significantly lower level of social support. Social support and perceived discrimination were significant predictors of both psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Additionally......, the level of English proficiency alone predicted sociocultural adjustment. Values of vertical individualism and horizontal collectivism predicted psychological adjustment. Finally, integration was found to be a significantly more adaptive acculturation orientation than separation in regard to sociocultural...

Operator’s Fuzzy Norm and Some Properties

OpenAIRE

Bag, T.; Samanta, S.K.

2015-01-01

In this paper, a concept of operator’s fuzzy norm is introduced for the first time in general t-norm setting. Ideas of fuzzy continuous operators, fuzzy bounded linear operators are given with some properties of such operators studied in this general setting.

Desarrollo de la competencia sociocultural: uso de materiales audiovisuales en las clases de ELE en situación de inmersión sociocultural

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leticia Roses-Nieves

2017-06-01

Full Text Available En los cursos de español como lengua extranjera (ELE de la Universidad de Oriente ingresan cada año estudiantes extranjeros que se sienten motivados a conocer el idioma, así como todas las particularidades referenciales y diferenciales que han venido conformando la cultura cubana. Por ello, al analizar las nuevas necesidades generadas por este aprendiz, no deja de sorprender que en las clases se utilicen generalmente muestras audiovisuales que centran su atención en los aspectos lingüísticos con una escasa integración con los socioculturales; lo que interfiere en la interacción comunicativa de los estudiantes en los contextos de actuación. Por estas razones, el propósito del artículo es mostrar las peculiaridades del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la competencia sociocultural, mediante el empleo de materiales audiovisuales en la enseñanza del ELE en situación de inmersión sociocultural.

Professional norms, public service motivation and economic incentives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Lotte Bøgh

2007-01-01

The theories of professions, public service motivation, and economic incentives explain the behaviour of the producers of publicly financed services differently. They emphasize professional norms, sector, and economic incentives, respectively. The few existing attempts to integrate these theories...... have, however, indicated that these factors interact. Using interviews, surveys and registers, the paper investigated how professional norms, economic incentives and sector affected the behaviour of Danish dentists and physicians. It was found that when strong professional norms existed, economic...... incentives were unimportant for both public and private employees. In contrast, when no firm professional norm applied, economic incentives affected behaviour. Controlling for different economic incentives, sector does not seem to affect the behaviour much. The results imply that the economic...

76 FR 14679 - Prevailing Wage Rates for Construction Occupations on Guam for Purposes of the H-2B Temporary...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-17

...)(v)(E) and (F). If the prevailing wage rate is too low, available U.S. workers may be dissuaded from... Docket No. USCIS-2010-0006] RIN 1615-ZA98 Prevailing Wage Rates for Construction Occupations on Guam for... the public on the system that the Governor of Guam is using to determine prevailing wage rates for...

Socio-cultural attitudes of Igbomina tribe toward marriage and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The article namely: "Socio-cultural attitudes of Igbomina tribe toward marriage and abortion in Osun and Kwara states of Nigeria" by Adeleke Gbadebo Fatai has been updated with a new version bearing the author's current affiliation with significant editorial intervention. Abortion has been a social menace and its ...

Learning of science concepts within a traditional socio-cultural ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The learning of science concepts within a traditional socio-cultural environment were investigated by looking at: 1) the nature of \\"cognitive border crossing\\" exhibited by the students from the traditional to the scientific worldview, and 2) whether or not three learning theories / hypotheses: border crossing, collaterality, and ...

Investigating Norms of Listening in Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Sangster, Pauline; Anderson, Charles

2009-01-01

Previous research into listening has tended to focus on individual processing rather than on how sociocultural contexts mediate the nature and quality of listening. This article draws on a study involving observations of listening lessons conducted by ten English teachers regarded as skilled practitioners, interviews with these teachers and with…

Three Southern high school biology teachers' perspectives on teaching evolution: Sociocultural influences

Science.gov (United States)

Kyzer, Peggy Mckewen

Organizations in science and science education call for students to have a thorough understanding of the theory of evolution. Yet many high school biology teachers do not teach evolution and/or include creationism in their instruction (National Academy of Science, 1998). Historically, the controversy surrounding evolution has created tension for teachers. This case study explored the sociocultural influences related to teaching evolution in three Southern 10th-grade public high school biology classrooms. It also explored the socially and culturally embedded influences on teachers' instructional goals and personal perspectives toward evolution as well as modification of instruction when evolution is taught. Theoretically framed using symbolic interactionism and sociocultural theory, data were collected between October 2003 and April 2004 and included classroom observations two to three times per week, artifacts, and in-depth interviews of the participating teachers, their science department chairpersons, their students, and a Protestant minister. The classroom teachers were unaware of the focus of the study until after evolution was taught. The analysis used in this study was an inductive, interpretative approach that allowed exploration of the sociocultural influences that affect how teachers teach evolution. The sociocultural influences and the lived experiences of each teacher created a continuum for teaching evolution. One of the participating teachers who was heavily involved in the community and one of its fundamentalist churches elected to avoid teaching evolution. Another participating teacher at the same school integrated the theory of evolution in every unit. The third teacher who taught in another school elected to teach evolution in a superficial manner to avoid conflict. The data revealed that the participating teachers' sociocultural situatedness influenced their decisions and instruction on evolution. The influence of strong religious beliefs within

Peer punishment promotes enforcement of bad social norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbink, Klaus; Gangadharan, Lata; Handfield, Toby; Thrasher, John

2017-09-20

Social norms are an important element in explaining how humans achieve very high levels of cooperative activity. It is widely observed that, when norms can be enforced by peer punishment, groups are able to resolve social dilemmas in prosocial, cooperative ways. Here we show that punishment can also encourage participation in destructive behaviours that are harmful to group welfare, and that this phenomenon is mediated by a social norm. In a variation of a public goods game, in which the return to investment is negative for both group and individual, we find that the opportunity to punish led to higher levels of contribution, thereby harming collective payoffs. A second experiment confirmed that, independently of whether punishment is available, a majority of subjects regard the efficient behaviour of non-contribution as socially inappropriate. The results show that simply providing a punishment opportunity does not guarantee that punishment will be used for socially beneficial ends, because the social norms that influence punishment behaviour may themselves be destructive.Punishment by peers can enforce social norms, such as contributing to a public good. Here, Abbink and colleagues show that individuals will enforce norms even when contributions reduce the net benefit of the group, resulting in the maintenance of wasteful contributions.

Sociocultural Barriers Related to Late-Stage Presentation of Breast Cancer in Morocco.

Science.gov (United States)

Soliman, Ann A; Khouchani, Mouna; Renne, Elisha P

2018-04-23

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer affecting women globally and in Morocco, where more than one fourth of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages. This study aimed to investigate sociocultural barriers that contribute to delayed presentation and diagnosis of breast cancer among women in Marrakesh, Morocco. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 breast cancer patients who received care at the CHU Mohammed VI Hospital in Marrakesh to elicit barriers to diagnosis and treatment and ease of access to care. Interviews with breast cancer patients revealed several themes regarding structural and sociocultural barriers to initial diagnosis and treatment. Structural barriers included high treatment-associated costs for patients and their families, burden of transportation to central treatment centers, and limited access to appropriate health care resources. Sociocultural barriers included perceived attack on one's identity associated with breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, influence of the local community, and ideas of faith, spirituality, and conception of death. Findings from this study can help identify areas for improved access and education of patients in order to improve breast cancer diagnostic and treatment efforts and enhance opportunities for early detection.

STRICT CONVEXITY THROUGH EQUIVALENT NORMS IN SEPARABLES BANACH SPACES

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Willy Zubiaga Vera

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Let E be a separable Banach space with norm || . ||. In the present work, the objective is to construct a norm || . ||1 that is equivalent to || . || in E, such that || . ||1 is strictly convex. In addition it is shown that its dual conjugate norm is also strictly convex.

Full waveform inversion using envelope-based global correlation norm

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Ju-Won; Alkhalifah, Tariq

2018-05-01

To increase the feasibility of full waveform inversion on real data, we suggest a new objective function, which is defined as the global correlation of the envelopes of modelled and observed data. The envelope-based global correlation norm has the advantage of the envelope inversion that generates artificial low-frequency information, which provides the possibility to recover long-wavelength structure in an early stage. In addition, the envelope-based global correlation norm maintains the advantage of the global correlation norm, which reduces the sensitivity of the misfit to amplitude errors so that the performance of inversion on real data can be enhanced when the exact source wavelet is not available and more complex physics are ignored. Through the synthetic example for 2-D SEG/EAGE overthrust model with inaccurate source wavelet, we compare the performance of four different approaches, which are the least-squares waveform inversion, least-squares envelope inversion, global correlation norm and envelope-based global correlation norm. Finally, we apply the envelope-based global correlation norm on the 3-D Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC) data from the North Sea. The envelope-based global correlation norm captures the strong reflections from the high-velocity caprock and generates artificial low-frequency reflection energy that helps us recover long-wavelength structure of the model domain in the early stages. From this long-wavelength model, the conventional global correlation norm is sequentially applied to invert for higher-resolution features of the model.

Clinical diagnostic and sociocultural dimensions of deliberate self-harm in Mumbai, India.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkar, Shubhangi R; Dawani, Varsha; Weiss, Mitchell G

2006-04-01

Patients' accounts complement psychiatric assessment of deliberate self-harm (DSH). In this study we examined psychiatric disorders, and sociocultural and cross-cultural features of DSH. SCID diagnostic interviews and a locally adapted EMIC interview were used to study 196 patients after DSH at a general hospital in Mumbai, India. Major depression was the most common diagnosis (38.8%), followed by substance use disorders (16.8%), but 44.4% of patients did not meet criteria for an enduring Axis-I disorder (no diagnosis, V-code, or adjustment disorder). Psychache arising from patient-identified sociocultural contexts and stressors complements, but does not necessarily fulfill, criteria for explanatory psychiatric disorders.

Future Time Perspective in Sociocultural Contexts: A Discussion Paper

Science.gov (United States)

Phan, Huy P.

2009-01-01

Future time perspective (FTP) serves as a strong motivational force for individuals to engage in activities that may be instrumental in future outcomes. There has been a voluminous body of research studies, to date, that explored the importance of FTP. This article discusses FTP from sociocultural perspectives. Based on previous empirical…

Children's Sense of Agency in Preschool: A Sociocultural Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Hilppö, Jaakko; Lipponen, Lasse; Kumpulainen, Kristiina; Rainio, Anna

2016-01-01

This socioculturally informed study investigated children's sense of agency in relation to their everyday life in preschool. The empirical data comprised focus groups reflection situations wherein Finnish preschool children (n. 19, aged 6-7) reflected on their everyday life with the help of photographs and drawings they made. Building on a…

Analysis Testing of Sociocultural Factors Influence on Human Reliability within Sociotechnical Systems: The Algerian Oil Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdelbaki Laidoune

2016-09-01

Conclusion: The explored sociocultural factors influence the human reliability both in qualitative and quantitative manners. The proposed model shows how reliability can be enhanced by some measures such as experience feedback based on, for example, safety improvements, training, and information. With that is added the continuous systems improvements to improve sociocultural reality and to reduce negative behaviors.

Do social norms affect intended food choice?

Science.gov (United States)

Croker, H; Whitaker, K L; Cooke, L; Wardle, J

2009-01-01

To evaluate the effect of social norms on intended fruit and vegetable intake. A two-stage design to i) compare the perceived importance of normative influences vs cost and health on dietary choices, and ii) test the prediction that providing information on social norms will increase intended fruit and vegetable consumption in an experimental study. Home-based interviews (N=1083; 46% men, 54% women) were carried out as part of the Office for National Statistics Omnibus Survey in November 2008. The public's perception of the importance of social norms was lower (M=2.1) than the perceived importance of cost (M=2.7) or health (M=3.4) (all p'scost information; none of the interventions affected women's intentions. People have little awareness of the influence of social norms but normative information can have a demonstrable impact on dietary intentions. Health promotion might profit from emphasising how many people are attempting to adopt healthy lifestyles rather than how many have poor diets.

Physical culture as a phenomenon of the development of socio-cultural competence of future teachers of physical education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.V. Ivanii

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose : to substantiate the phenomenon of formation of physical culture of the individual in terms of theoretical and methodological approaches to the development of socio-cultural competence of future teachers. Material : 22 literary sources analyzed on the issue of formation of physical culture of the individual. Used cultural studies, axiological and competence approach. Results : define the concept of socio-cultural competence of the teacher of physical education. Competence is considered as an integrative motivational tumor - activity sphere of the individual. It determines the focus of an expert on the formation of spiritual values and is the foundation for its further self-development. Disclosed structure sociocultural competence of the teacher in the unity components: cognitive, motivational-value, behavioral. For each component defined system of spiritual values. The system covers the socio- psychological, mental and cultural values of physical culture. Conclusions : the sociocultural competence of the teacher of physical education meaningful and functionally related to the values of the physical culture of the individual. Spiritual, value the personality of the teacher - is the foundation for all of the components of socio-cultural competence. This competence provides social and cultural development of the individual.

Mathematical methods linear algebra normed spaces distributions integration

CERN Document Server

Korevaar, Jacob

1968-01-01

Mathematical Methods, Volume I: Linear Algebra, Normed Spaces, Distributions, Integration focuses on advanced mathematical tools used in applications and the basic concepts of algebra, normed spaces, integration, and distributions.The publication first offers information on algebraic theory of vector spaces and introduction to functional analysis. Discussions focus on linear transformations and functionals, rectangular matrices, systems of linear equations, eigenvalue problems, use of eigenvectors and generalized eigenvectors in the representation of linear operators, metric and normed vector

Tutorial: Calculating Percentile Rank and Percentile Norms Using SPSS

Science.gov (United States)

Baumgartner, Ted A.

2009-01-01

Practitioners can benefit from using norms, but they often have to develop their own percentile rank and percentile norms. This article is a tutorial on how to quickly and easily calculate percentile rank and percentile norms using SPSS, and this information is presented for a data set. Some issues in calculating percentile rank and percentile…

Nursing students' views of sociocultural factors in clinical learning: a qualitative content analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dadgaran, Ideh; Parvizy, Soroor; Peyrovi, Hamid

2013-06-01

The aim of this study is description of nursing students' views of sociocultural factors in clinical learning. A qualitative content analysis was conducted to describe nursing students' views of sociocultural factors in clinical learning. The participants consisted of 21 nursing students. Semi-structured and interactive interviews were used to collect data. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed, and then, they were analyzed using Qualitative Content Analysis and Max Qualitative Data Analysis 2010. From the transcripts, a remarkable number of primary themes, main themes, and sub-themes emerged. The main themes consisted of elements related to "society and culture", "family", "staff", and "classmates". The themes encompassed a spectrum of facilitators of and impediments to clinical learning. The findings showed that the administrators of nursing education should coordinate with faculty and staff by adopting interactive and participatory solutions, including the establishment of clinical learning teams and the transformation of hospitals into suitable sociocultural environments for education. © 2012 The Authors. Japan Journal of Nursing Science © 2012 Japan Academy of Nursing Science.

Learner interaction in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG): A sociocultural discourse analysis

OpenAIRE

Peterson, Mark

2012-01-01

This exploratory study investigates the linguistic and social interaction of four intermediate EFL learners during game play in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Twelve illustrative episodes drawn from the participants’ text chat, collected in four 70-minute sessions held over a one-month period, are analyzed from a sociocultural perspective. Qualitative analysis reveals the presence of interactional features associated with the development of sociocultural competence...

Digital Divide among Youth: Socio-Cultural Factors and Implications

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Parycek, Peter; Sachs, Michael; Schossbock, Judith

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to examine socio-cultural differences in internet use (Digital Divide) among 14-year-old Austrian pupils, in particular usage scenarios and research competences. It is based on a paper presented at the International Association for the Development of the Information Society e-Society conference, 10-13 March 2011, Spain…

Application of the principles of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sociocultural theory by Vygotsky (1896-1934) is a theory that has become popular in educational practice in recent years. It is especially important in the instruction of children in the preschool level as it is most suitable for their development and learning, which is more of social interaction. This paper discussed the ...

Community Lenses Revealing the Role of Sociocultural Environment on Physical Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Belon, Ana Paula; Nieuwendyk, Laura M.; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace I. J.

2016-01-01

Purpose To identify perceptions of how sociocultural environment enabled and hindered physical activity (PA) participation. Design Community-based participatory research. Setting Two semirural and two urban communities located in Alberta, Canada. Participants Thirty-five people (74.3% females, 71.4% aged 25–64 years) across the four communities. Method PhotoVoice activities occurred over 3 months during the spring of 2009. Participants were asked to document perceived environmental attributes that might foster or inhibit PA in their community. Photographs and narratives were shared in one-on-one interviews. Line-by-line coding of the transcripts was independently conducted by two researchers using an inductive approach. Codes were arranged into themes and subthemes, which were then organized into the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework. Results Six main themes (accompanied by subthemes) emerged: sociocultural aesthetics, safety, social involvement, PA motivation, cultural ideas of recreation, and car culture. Representative quotes and photographs illustrate enablers and obstacles identified by participants. Conclusion This PhotoVoice study revealed how aspects of participants’ sociocultural environments shaped their decisions to be physically active. Providing more PA resources is only one step in the promotion of supportive environments. Strategies should also account for the beautification and maintenance of communities, increasing feelings of safety, enhancement of social support among community members, popularization of PA, and mitigating car culture, among others. PMID:25973966

Community Lenses Revealing the Role of Sociocultural Environment on Physical Activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Belon, Ana Paula; Nieuwendyk, Laura M; Vallianatos, Helen; Nykiforuk, Candace I J

2016-01-01

To identify perceptions of how sociocultural environment enabled and hindered physical activity (PA) participation. Community-based participatory research. Two semirural and two urban communities located in Alberta, Canada. Thirty-five people (74.3% females, 71.4% aged 25-64 years) across the four communities. PhotoVoice activities occurred over 3 months during the spring of 2009. Participants were asked to document perceived environmental attributes that might foster or inhibit PA in their community. Photographs and narratives were shared in one-on-one interviews. Line-by-line coding of the transcripts was independently conducted by two researchers using an inductive approach. Codes were arranged into themes and subthemes, which were then organized into the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework. Six main themes (accompanied by subthemes) emerged: sociocultural aesthetics, safety, social involvement, PA motivation, cultural ideas of recreation, and car culture. Representative quotes and photographs illustrate enablers and obstacles identified by participants. This PhotoVoice study revealed how aspects of participants' sociocultural environments shaped their decisions to be physically active. Providing more PA resources is only one step in the promotion of supportive environments. Strategies should also account for the beautification and maintenance of communities, increasing feelings of safety, enhancement of social support among community members, popularization of PA, and mitigating car culture, among others.

Perceived peer drinking norms and responsible drinking in UK university settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Eric; Jones, Andrew; Christiansen, Paul; Field, Matt

2014-09-01

Heavy drinking is common among students at UK universities. US students overestimate how much their peers drink and correcting this through the use of social norm messages may promote responsible drinking. We tested whether there is an association between perceived campus drinking norms and usual drinking behavior in UK university students and whether norm messages about responsible drinking correct normative misperceptions and increase students' intentions to drink responsibly. 1,020 UK university students took part in an online study. Participants were exposed to one of five message types: a descriptive norm, an injunctive norm, a descriptive and injunctive norm, or one of two control messages. Message credibility was assessed. Afterwards participants completed measures of intentions to drink responsibly and we measured usual drinking habits and perceptions of peer drinking. Perceptions of peer drinking were associated modestly with usual drinking behavior, whereby participants who believed other students drank responsibly also drank responsibly. Norm messages changed normative perceptions, but not in the target population of participants who underestimated responsible drinking in their peers at baseline. Norm messages did not increase intentions to drink responsibly and although based on accurate data, norm messages were not seen as credible. In this UK based study, although perceived social norms about peer drinking were associated with individual differences in drinking habits, campus wide norm messages about responsible drinking did not affect students' intentions to drink more responsibly. More research is required to determine if this approach can be applied to UK settings.

Four year-olds use norm-based coding for face identity.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeffery, Linda; Read, Ainsley; Rhodes, Gillian

2013-05-01

Norm-based coding, in which faces are coded as deviations from an average face, is an efficient way of coding visual patterns that share a common structure and must be distinguished by subtle variations that define individuals. Adults and school-aged children use norm-based coding for face identity but it is not yet known if pre-school aged children also use norm-based coding. We reasoned that the transition to school could be critical in developing a norm-based system because school places new demands on children's face identification skills and substantially increases experience with faces. Consistent with this view, face identification performance improves steeply between ages 4 and 7. We used face identity aftereffects to test whether norm-based coding emerges between these ages. We found that 4 year-old children, like adults, showed larger face identity aftereffects for adaptors far from the average than for adaptors closer to the average, consistent with use of norm-based coding. We conclude that experience prior to age 4 is sufficient to develop a norm-based face-space and that failure to use norm-based coding cannot explain 4 year-old children's poor face identification skills. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Geochemical signature of radioactive waste: oil NORM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Gilberto T. de Paula; Costa-de-Moura, Jorge; Gomes, Carlos de Almeida; Sampaio, Emidio A. Lopes

2017-01-01

The Brazilian Nuclear Agency (CNEN) rules all nuclear activity in Brazil as demanded by the Federal Constitution, articles 21, XXIII, and 177, V, and by the Federal Acts 4.118/62 and 10.308/2001. Therefore, the CNEN is responsible for any radioactive waste disposal in the country. Oil Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (Oil NORM) in this paper refers to waste coming from oil exploration. Oil NORM has called much attention during the last decades, mostly because it is not possible to determine its primary source due to the actual absence of regulatory control mechanism. There is no efficient regulatory tool which allows determining the origin of such NORM wastes even among those facilities under regulatory control. This fact may encourage non-authorized radioactive material transportation, smuggling and terrorism. The aim of this project is to provide a geochemical signature for each oil NORM waste using its naturally occurring isotopic composition to identify its origin. The here proposed method is a specific geochemical modeling of oil sludge NORM samples which are analyzed for radioisotopes normally present in oil pipes, such as 228 Ac, 214 Bi and 214 Pb. The activity ratios are plotted in scatter diagrams. This method was successfully tested with data of different sources obtained from analysis reports from the Campos Basin/Brazil and from literature. (author)

Geochemical signature of radioactive waste: oil NORM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Costa, Gilberto T. de Paula; Costa-de-Moura, Jorge; Gomes, Carlos de Almeida; Sampaio, Emidio A. Lopes, E-mail: gilberto.costa@cnen.gov.br, E-mail: jcmoura@cnen.gov.br, E-mail: cgomes@cnen.gov.br [Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Div. de Controle de Rejeitos e Transporte de Materiais Radioativos

2017-07-01

The Brazilian Nuclear Agency (CNEN) rules all nuclear activity in Brazil as demanded by the Federal Constitution, articles 21, XXIII, and 177, V, and by the Federal Acts 4.118/62 and 10.308/2001. Therefore, the CNEN is responsible for any radioactive waste disposal in the country. Oil Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (Oil NORM) in this paper refers to waste coming from oil exploration. Oil NORM has called much attention during the last decades, mostly because it is not possible to determine its primary source due to the actual absence of regulatory control mechanism. There is no efficient regulatory tool which allows determining the origin of such NORM wastes even among those facilities under regulatory control. This fact may encourage non-authorized radioactive material transportation, smuggling and terrorism. The aim of this project is to provide a geochemical signature for each oil NORM waste using its naturally occurring isotopic composition to identify its origin. The here proposed method is a specific geochemical modeling of oil sludge NORM samples which are analyzed for radioisotopes normally present in oil pipes, such as {sup 228}Ac, {sup 214}Bi and {sup 214}Pb. The activity ratios are plotted in scatter diagrams. This method was successfully tested with data of different sources obtained from analysis reports from the Campos Basin/Brazil and from literature. (author)

Mortality salience increases personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity.

Science.gov (United States)

Schindler, Simon; Reinhard, Marc-André; Stahlberg, Dagmar

2012-10-01

Research on terror management theory found evidence that people under mortality salience strive to live up to salient cultural norms and values, like egalitarianism, pacifism, or helpfulness. A basic, strongly internalized norm in most human societies is the norm of reciprocity: people should support those who supported them (i.e., positive reciprocity), and people should injure those who injured them (i.e., negative reciprocity), respectively. In an experiment (N = 98; 47 women, 51 men), mortality salience overall significantly increased personal relevance of the norm of reciprocity (M = 4.45, SD = 0.65) compared to a control condition (M = 4.19, SD = 0.59). Specifically, under mortality salience there was higher motivation to punish those who treated them unfavourably (negative norm of reciprocity). Unexpectedly, relevance of the norm of positive reciprocity remained unaffected by mortality salience. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Radiation protection and the naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paschoa, A.S.; MacDowell, P.

1996-01-01

There are many industries dealing with naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), some of them without knowing that their industrial processes and/or their regular wastes involve radioactivity. However, an increasing number of industries that produce NORM wastes are being sued, wherever there is a legal framework to do so. In particular, NORM wastes produced for a long time by the oil industry became foci of legal battles in the United States and elsewhere. The ripple effect of these judicial battles will influence the decision making processes of NORM wastes producing industries, mostly because of the costs incurred by remedial and preventive actions concerning NORM contamination. The regulation of NORM will occur sooner or later, and such actions may become mandatory. A foreseeable consequence of such regulation is a change in attitude concerning the sources and materials associated with NORM. Among those industries likely to be affected one can mention: niobium; rare earth processing; oil production; phosphate; uranium mining and milling; zircon; water treatment; and waste water treatment. The paper will briefly review data on exempt concentration activities, as suggested by the basic safety standards based on realistic environmental and dosimetric models. These activity concentrations are compared with those found in a number of extractive industries, and may be used to establish derived limits from a pre-established dose limit. (author)

Sociocultural Meanings of Nanotechnology: Research Methodologies

Science.gov (United States)

Bainbridge, William Sims

2004-06-01

This article identifies six social-science research methodologies that will be useful for charting the sociocultural meaning of nanotechnology: web-based questionnaires, vignette experiments, analysis of web linkages, recommender systems, quantitative content analysis, and qualitative textual analysis. Data from a range of sources are used to illustrate how the methods can delineate the intellectual content and institutional structure of the emerging nanotechnology culture. Such methods will make it possible in future to test hypotheses such as that there are two competing definitions of nanotechnology - the technical-scientific and the science-fiction - that are influencing public perceptions by different routes and in different directions.

Not just the norm: exemplar-based models also predict face aftereffects.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, David A; Deroche, Mickael; Palmeri, Thomas J

2014-02-01

The face recognition literature has considered two competing accounts of how faces are represented within the visual system: Exemplar-based models assume that faces are represented via their similarity to exemplars of previously experienced faces, while norm-based models assume that faces are represented with respect to their deviation from an average face, or norm. Face identity aftereffects have been taken as compelling evidence in favor of a norm-based account over an exemplar-based account. After a relatively brief period of adaptation to an adaptor face, the perceived identity of a test face is shifted toward a face with attributes opposite to those of the adaptor, suggesting an explicit psychological representation of the norm. Surprisingly, despite near universal recognition that face identity aftereffects imply norm-based coding, there have been no published attempts to simulate the predictions of norm- and exemplar-based models in face adaptation paradigms. Here, we implemented and tested variations of norm and exemplar models. Contrary to common claims, our simulations revealed that both an exemplar-based model and a version of a two-pool norm-based model, but not a traditional norm-based model, predict face identity aftereffects following face adaptation.

Prosocial norms as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review.

Science.gov (United States)

Siu, Andrew M H; Shek, Daniel T L; Law, Ben

2012-01-01

Prosocial norms like reciprocity, social responsibility, altruism, and volunteerism are ethical standards and beliefs that youth development programs often want to promote. This paper reviews evolutionary, social-cognitive, and developmental theories of prosocial development and analyzes how young people learn and adopt prosocial norms. The paper showed that very few current theories explicitly address the issue of how prosocial norms, in form of feelings of moral obligations, may be challenged by a norm of self-interest and social circumstances when prosocial acts are needed. It is necessary to develop theories which put prosocial norms as a central construct, and a new social cognitive theory of norm activation has the potential to help us understand how prosocial norms may be applied. This paper also highlights how little we know about young people perceiving and receiving prosocial norms and how influential of school policies and peer influence on the prosocial development. Lastly, while training of interpersonal competence (e.g., empathy, moral reasoning, etc.) was commonly used in the youth development, their effectiveness was not systematically evaluated. It will also be interesting to examine how computer and information technology or video games may be used in e-learning of prosocial norms.

The socio-cultural implications of African music and dance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper sets out to discuss the socio-cultural implications of African music and dance. To this end, the paper looks at African music, African dance and human culture, kinds of dance, dance and the human body, dance and the society, the interrelationship between African music and dance, the importance of dance to the ...

The socio-cultural implications of climate change in Cameroon ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Climate change impact has remained a serious threat to man and more particularly in the water-stressed environment of north Cameroon where in most cases, man struggles for bare survival by eking out a living from a harsh or hostile climatic environment. In this region, the socio-cultural impacts can be devastating as has ...

Cognitive and sociocultural aspects of robotized technology: innovative processes of adaptation

Science.gov (United States)

Kvesko, S. B.; Kvesko, B. B.; Kornienko, M. A.; Nikitina, Y. A.; Pankova, N. M.

2018-05-01

The paper dwells upon interaction between socio-cultural phenomena and cognitive characteristics of robotized technology. The interdisciplinary approach was employed in order to cast light on the manifold and multilevel identity of scientific advance in terms of robotized technology within the mental realm. Analyzing robotized technology from the viewpoint of its significance for the modern society is one of the upcoming trends in the contemporary scientific realm. The robots under production are capable of interacting with people; this results in a growing necessity for the studies on social status of robotized technological items. Socio-cultural aspect of cognitive robotized technology is reflected in the fact that the nature becomes ‘aware’ of itself via human brain, a human being tends to strives for perfection in their intellectual and moral dimensions.

Opposition to Women in Congregational Leadership: A Sociocultural Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Solomon Kofi Amoah

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Although many efforts have been made in time past in demonstrating that women are similar to men, there still appear to be a widespread persistent belief that women are indeed inferior to men even until today. What is even worrying is the theological backing that this sociocultural belief of society enjoys. One notices in the literature that God ordains, sanctions, and upholds the spiritual authority of women today as he did in time past as his official spokespersons and leaders of his people. However, the evidence and discussion presented in this paper demonstrate that problems with women being accepted as leaders by congregations, gender differences in pay and promotions, and the experiences and dissatisfaction of women clergy who feel constrained by these gender discrimination is widespread. The paper discusses this phenomenon and presents an often neglected perspective in the discourse – the sociocultural perspective. It interrogates the various stands on women and leadership in congregations. In doing this, the paper explores the position of women in the Old Testament through to the New Testament and the centuries following.

Simulating crowd evacuation with socio-cultural, cognitive, and emotional elements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Wal, C. Natalie; Formolo, Daniel; Robinson, Mark A.; Minkov, Michael; Bosse, Tibor

2017-01-01

In this research, the effects of culture, cognitions, and emotions on crisis management and prevention are analysed. An agent-based crowd evacuation simulation model was created, named IMPACT, to study the evacuation process from a transport hub. To extend previous research, various socio-cultural,

The English in Japanese University Entrance Examinations: A Sociocultural Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Locastro, Virginia

1990-01-01

Sociocultural and historical examination of the kind of English used in Japanese university entrance examinations suggests that such usage mirrors and reinforces general Japanese attitudes about language, language learning, and national interests, resulting in a closed system highly resistant to change. (28 references) (Author/CB)

Plea bargaining and the religious cum socio-cultural concept of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Plea bargaining and the religious cum socio-cultural concept of Yoruba ọmọlúàbí in the Nigerian political landscape. ... Ilorin Journal of Religious Studies ... It therefore, attempts to define what is meant by plea bargaining, introduction as to its ...

Darwinism and the Behavioral Theory of Sociocultural Evolution: An Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Langdon, John

1979-01-01

Challenges the view that the social sciences are theoretically impoverished disciplines when compared with the natural sciences. Demonstrates that the synthesis of an abstract Darwinian model of systemic adaptation and the behavioral principles of social learning produces a logical theory of sociocultural evolution. (DB)

Norms for environmentally responsible behaviour: An extended taxonomy and a preliminary assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

The currently used concept of personal or moral norms is ambiguous with regard to its motivational content. Therefore, a revision of the norm taxonomy is suggested, implying a distinction between three types of personal norms, called introjected, identified, and integrated norms. A preliminary as...... is also supported, with the reservation that the different behavioural references are more than just different methods of measuring the same latent construct(s). People evidently hold different norms for different environmentally responsible behaviours.......The currently used concept of personal or moral norms is ambiguous with regard to its motivational content. Therefore, a revision of the norm taxonomy is suggested, implying a distinction between three types of personal norms, called introjected, identified, and integrated norms. A preliminary...... assessment of the taxonomy is carried out based of a survey of a random sample of Danish residents 18 years or older. A range of norm constructs were measured with regard to four environmentally relevant behaviours: buying organic milk, buying energy saving light bulbs, source-separating compostable kitchen...

Explaining suicide in an urban slum of Mumbai, India: a sociocultural autopsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Parkar, Shubhangi R; Nagarsekar, Balkrishna; Weiss, Mitchell G

2009-01-01

Health demographic mortality studies use verbal autopsies to identify suicide as a cause of death. Psychological autopsies focus almost exclusively on associated high-risk psychiatric disorders. New approaches considering contextual factors are needed for preventing suicide and promoting mental health. This study examined explanations of suicide reported by surviving family members or close friends with reference to social, cultural, and environmental conditions as well as the challenges of life in the Malavani slum of Mumbai. An EMIC (Explanatory Model Interview Catalog) interview based on a cultural epidemiological framework considered underlying problems, perceived causes, and sociocultural contexts. It was administered to survivors of 76 people who had died by suicide (56.6% women). Accounts of underlying problems typically referred to various aspects of tension (73.7%). Perceived causes often identified multiple factors. The sociocultural contexts of suicide included the victimization of women, the personal and social impact of problem drinking, marital problems, physical health problems, mental tension, possession and sorcery. Women were particularly vulnerable to the impact of problem drinking by a spouse or father. This study demonstrates the value of an approach to sociocultural autopsy examining local contexts and explanations of suicide. Findings highlight needs for both mental health services and culturally sensitive social interventions.

Ethical and Sociocultural Aspects of Sexual Function and Dysfunction in Both Sexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Atallah, Sandrine; Johnson-Agbakwu, Crista; Rosenbaum, Talli; Abdo, Carmita; Byers, E Sandra; Graham, Cynthia; Nobre, Pedro; Wylie, Kevan; Brotto, Lori

2016-04-01

This study aimed to highlight the salient sociocultural factors contributing to sexual health and dysfunction and to offer recommendations for culturally sensitive clinical management and research as well for an ethically sound sexual health care, counseling and medical decision-making. There are limited data on the impact of sociocultural factors on male and female sexual function as well as on ethical principles to follow when clinical care falls outside of traditional realms of medically indicated interventions. This study reviewed the current literature on sociocultural and ethical considerations with regard to male and female sexual dysfunction as well as cultural and cosmetic female and male genital modification procedures. It is recommended that clinicians evaluate their patients and their partners in the context of culture and assess distressing sexual symptoms regardless of whether they are a recognized dysfunction. Both clinicians and researchers should develop culturally sensitive assessment skills and instruments. There are a number of practices with complex ethical issues (eg, female genital cutting, female and male cosmetic genital surgery). Future International Committee of Sexual Medicine meetings should seek to develop guidelines and associated recommendations for a separate, broader chapter on ethics. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Normed algebras and the geometric series test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Kantrowitz

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to survey a class of normed algebras that share many central features of Banach algebras, save for completeness. The likeness of these algebras to Banach algebras derives from the fact that the geometric series test is valid, whereas the lack of completeness points to the failure of the absolute convergence test for series in the algebra. Our main result is a compendium of conditions that are all equivalent to the validity of the geometric series test for commutative unital normed algebras. Several examples in the final section showcase some incomplete normed algebras for which the geometric series test is valid, and still others for which it is not.

SOCIO-CULTURAL COMPETENCE FORMATION BY MEANS OF TRANSLATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kateryna Shapochka

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the problem of socio-cultural competence formation by means of translation / interpretation and the necessity of foreign language communicative competence formation in the process of inclusive education. The question of training of young generation for life in a multi-ethnic and multicultural society, forming skills of communication and cooperation with people of different nationalities, the foreign language learning, the formation of the communicative and socio-cultural competence is one of the main tasks of modern school to meet educational needs persons with disabilities. Today’s realities require that students with special educational needs should study a foreign language and use it in the process of learning. In turn, the use of translation in the process of learning a foreign language helps students to get new skills, to form general and specific competences, including socio-cultural competence, which promotes socialization of children with special needs, and integrating them into a comprehensive system of Ukraine. The article raises the problem of modernization of the educational system. It was established that the formation of socio-cultural competence by means of written translation is done by means of a system of exercises. Based on this system, subsystems, groups and types of exercises their systems can be developed in accordance with human activity, objectives and learning environment. It shows that the development of an inclusive approach to learning demands new solutions towards learning a foreign language at different levels of education.

The uses of norms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Singh, M.P.; Arrott, M.; Balke, T.; Chopra, A.; Christiaanse, R.M.J.; Cranefield, S.; Dignum, F.; Eynard, D.; Farcas, E.; Fornare, N.; Gandon, F.; Governatori, G.; Dam, H.K.; Hulstijn, J.; Krueger, I.; Lam, H.P.; Meisinger, M.; Noriega, P.; Tony, B.; Savarimuthu, R.; Tadanki, K.; Verhagen, H.; Villata, S.

2013-01-01

This chapter presents a variety of applications of norms. These applications include governance in sociotechnical systems, data licensing and data collection, understanding software development teams, requirements engineering, assurance, natural resource allocation, wireless grids, autonomous

Language Study: Language and Socio-Cultural Values: An Analysis ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Language is an important tool in the human society. Apart from the fact that it makes communication and integration possible, it is an important aspect of the socio-cultural life of a people. To this extent, language is closely knit with culture as it embodies the society's value system and patterned way of life. This paper ...

Positive Community Norm Survey 2011 : Methodology and Results

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-01

This survey established a baseline understanding of the positive norms that exist in Idaho, plus reveal the gaps in knowledge and perceived norms with regard to impaired driving. These gaps will indicate the most effective opportunities for future co...

Prosocial Norms as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

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Andrew M. H. Siu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Prosocial norms like reciprocity, social responsibility, altruism, and volunteerism are ethical standards and beliefs that youth development programs often want to promote. This paper reviews evolutionary, social-cognitive, and developmental theories of prosocial development and analyzes how young people learn and adopt prosocial norms. The paper showed that very few current theories explicitly address the issue of how prosocial norms, in form of feelings of moral obligations, may be challenged by a norm of self-interest and social circumstances when prosocial acts are needed. It is necessary to develop theories which put prosocial norms as a central construct, and a new social cognitive theory of norm activation has the potential to help us understand how prosocial norms may be applied. This paper also highlights how little we know about young people perceiving and receiving prosocial norms and how influential of school policies and peer influence on the prosocial development. Lastly, while training of interpersonal competence (e.g., empathy, moral reasoning, etc. was commonly used in the youth development, their effectiveness was not systematically evaluated. It will also be interesting to examine how computer and information technology or video games may be used in e-learning of prosocial norms.

The Social Norms of Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviours in Scottish Adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Quigley, Jody; Rasmussen, Susan; McAlaney, John

2017-03-15

Although the suicidal and self-harming behaviour of individuals is often associated with similar behaviours in people they know, little is known about the impact of perceived social norms on those behaviours. In a range of other behavioural domains (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, eating behaviours) perceived social norms have been found to strongly predict individuals' engagement in those behaviours, although discrepancies often exist between perceived and reported norms. Interventions which align perceived norms more closely with reported norms have been effective in reducing damaging behaviours. The current study aimed to explore whether the Social Norms Approach is applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviours in adolescents. Participants were 456 pupils from five Scottish high-schools (53% female, mean age = 14.98 years), who completed anonymous, cross-sectional surveys examining reported and perceived norms around suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Friedman's ANOVA with post-hoc Wilcoxen signed-ranks tests indicated that proximal groups were perceived as less likely to engage in or be permissive of suicidal and self-harming behaviours than participants' reported themselves, whilst distal groups tended towards being perceived as more likely to do so. Binary logistic regression analyses identified a number of perceived norms associated with reported norms, with close friends' norms positively associated with all outcome variables. The Social Norms Approach may be applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviour, but associations between perceived and reported norms and predictors of reported norms differ to those found in other behavioural domains. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are considered.

The Social Norms of Suicidal and Self-Harming Behaviours in Scottish Adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jody Quigley

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Although the suicidal and self-harming behaviour of individuals is often associated with similar behaviours in people they know, little is known about the impact of perceived social norms on those behaviours. In a range of other behavioural domains (e.g., alcohol consumption, smoking, eating behaviours perceived social norms have been found to strongly predict individuals’ engagement in those behaviours, although discrepancies often exist between perceived and reported norms. Interventions which align perceived norms more closely with reported norms have been effective in reducing damaging behaviours. The current study aimed to explore whether the Social Norms Approach is applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviours in adolescents. Participants were 456 pupils from five Scottish high-schools (53% female, mean age = 14.98 years, who completed anonymous, cross-sectional surveys examining reported and perceived norms around suicidal and self-harming behaviour. Friedman’s ANOVA with post-hoc Wilcoxen signed-ranks tests indicated that proximal groups were perceived as less likely to engage in or be permissive of suicidal and self-harming behaviours than participants’ reported themselves, whilst distal groups tended towards being perceived as more likely to do so. Binary logistic regression analyses identified a number of perceived norms associated with reported norms, with close friends’ norms positively associated with all outcome variables. The Social Norms Approach may be applicable to suicidal and self-harming behaviour, but associations between perceived and reported norms and predictors of reported norms differ to those found in other behavioural domains. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are considered.

Vets prevail online intervention reduces PTSD and depression in veterans with mild-to-moderate symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Hobfoll, Stevan E; Blais, Rebecca K; Stevens, Natalie R; Walt, Lisa; Gengler, Richard

2016-01-01

Despite heightened rates of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among in Iraq/Afghanistan veterans, the majority of distressed veterans will not receive mental health care. Overcoming barriers to mental health services requires innovative approaches to broaden the reach of evidence-based treatment. The current study examined the efficacy and acceptability of an innovative and dynamic online cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for PTSD and depression called Vets Prevail. A randomized clinical trial conducted between 2011 and 2013 assessed changes in PTSD and depression in veterans with mild-to-moderate distress. Veterans randomized to Vets Prevail (n = 209) were aged 34.2 ± 7.6 years, mostly male (81.3%), and nonminority (73.7%). Veterans randomized to adjustment as usual (n = 94) were aged 34.7 ± 8.9, mostly male (81.9%), and White (67.0%). Veterans completed the PTSD Checklist-Military Version and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (10-item version) postintervention and at 12-week follow-up. Veterans in the Vets Prevail condition reported significantly greater reductions in PTSD, t(250) = 3.24, p = .001 (Mreduction = 5.51, SD = 9.63), and depression, t(252) = 4.37, p = .001 (Mreduction = 2.31, SD = 5.34), at 12-week follow-up compared with veterans in the adjustment as usual condition (PTSD Mreduction = 1.00, SD = 7.32; depression Mreduction = 0.48, SD = 4.95), with moderate effect sizes for PTSD (Cohen's d = 0.42) and depression (Cohen's d = 0.56). Exploratory analysis shows that Vets Prevail may be effective regardless of combat trauma exposure, gender, and ethnic minority status. Vets Prevail circumvents many barriers to care and effectively addresses the dire mental health needs of veterans. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Cyber Norms for Civilian Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Spirito, Christopher

2016-11-01

The international community agrees that the safe operation of civilian nuclear infrastructure is in every population’s best interest. One challenge each government must address is defining and agreeing to a set of acceptable norms of behavior in cyberspace as they relate to these facilities. The introduction of digital systems and networking technologies into these environments has led to the possibility that control and supporting computer systems are now accessible and exploitable, especially where interconnections to global information and communications technology (ICT) networks exist. The need for norms of behavior in cyberspace includes what is expected of system architects and cyber defenders as well as adversaries who should abide by rules of engagement even while conducting acts that violate national and international laws. The goal of this paper is to offer three behavioral cyber norms to improve the overall security of the ICT and Operational Technology (OT) networks and systems that underlie the operations of nuclear facilities. These norms of behavior will be specifically defined with the goals of reducing the threats associated to the theft of nuclear materials, accidental release of radiation and sabotage of nuclear processes. These norms would also include instances where an unwitting attacker or intelligence collection entity inadvertently makes their way into a nuclear facility network or system and can recognize they are in a protected zone and an approach to ensuring that these zones are not exploitable by bad actors to place their sensitive cyber effect delivery systems.

Geology and genesis of NORM industrial links and depositional processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, W.F.

1995-01-01

NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) has now been found to be associated with many industrial activities that extends far beyond oil and gas production. There are approximately 59 naturally occurring radionuclides that might end up in a train of NORM contamination, which could impact at least 13 industries. It is appropriate and indeed necessary to examine the geological roots of NORM and its concentration in various industries. Impacted NORM industries and their associated problems are presented. Some plant and environmental managers may not even suspect they have NORM problems, because one cannot ''sense'' NORM without instrumentation, until it might be too late for the health and safety of the effected employees and surrounding community. Others want to ''see no evil, hear no evil or speak any evil'' until they are forced into ''reactive'' environmental management, rather than ''proactive'' management. It has been the experience of many that reactive management is far more costly than proactive management

78 FR 70599 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Open Committee Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-26

... of Personnel Management Building, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC. The Federal Prevailing Rate... the matters being considered and would disrupt substantially the disposition of its business... Advisory Committee, Room 5H27, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC 20415, (202) 606-9400. U.S. Office of...

The canonical partial metric and the uniform convexity on normed spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Oltra

2005-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper we introduce the notion of canonical partial metric associated to a norm to study geometric properties of normed spaces. In particular, we characterize strict convexity and uniform convexity of normed spaces in terms of the canonical partial metric defined by its norm. We prove that these geometric properties can be considered, in this sense, as topological properties that appear when we compare the natural metric topology of the space with the non translation invariant topology induced by the canonical partial metric in the normed space.

Clarifying the contribution of subjective norm to predicting leisure-time exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Okun, Morris A; Karoly, Paul; Lutz, Rafer

2002-01-01

To clarify the contribution of subjective norm to exercise intention and behavior by considering the influence of descriptive as well as injunctive social norms related to family and friends. A sample of 530 college students completed a questionnaire that assessed descriptive and injunctive social norms related to family and to friends, perceived behavioral control, attitude, intention, and leisure-time exercise. Friend descriptive social norm was a significant predictor of both intention (pleisure-time exercise (p<.001). Descriptive norms should be incorporated into tests of the theory of planned behavior in the exercise domain.

Privacy, technology, and norms: the case of Smart Meters.

Science.gov (United States)

Horne, Christine; Darras, Brice; Bean, Elyse; Srivastava, Anurag; Frickel, Scott

2015-05-01

Norms shift and emerge in response to technological innovation. One such innovation is Smart Meters - components of Smart Grid energy systems capable of minute-to-minute transmission of consumer electricity use information. We integrate theory from sociological research on social norms and privacy to examine how privacy threats affect the demand for and expectations of norms that emerge in response to new technologies, using Smart Meters as a test case. Results from three vignette experiments suggest that increased threats to privacy created by Smart Meters are likely to provoke strong demand for and expectations of norms opposing the technology and that the strength of these normative rules is at least partly conditional on the context. Privacy concerns vary little with actors' demographic characteristics. These findings contribute to theoretical understanding of norm emergence and have practical implications for implementing privacy protections that effectively address concerns of electricity users. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Challenging the norm? International election accompaniment in Nicaragua and Venezuela

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shelley MCCONNEL

2015-08-01

Full Text Available International election monitoring has been touted as a regional norm in the Western hemisphere, but recent reforms in Venezuela and Nicaragua substituted a diminished international role of electoral accompaniment. This article traces the initial acceptance and later limitation of international election monitoring in those countries to explore whether the change constitutes norm localization or norm defection. It concludes that the norm is not as well institutionalized in the hemisphere as conventionally thought, and that models need to assess together national and international monitoring capacities.

Norm, gender, and bribe-giving: Insights from a behavioral game.

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Tian Lan

Full Text Available Previous research has suggested that bribery is more normative in some countries than in others. To understand the underlying process, this paper examines the effects of social norm and gender on bribe-giving behavior. We argue that social norms provide information for strategic planning and impression management, and thus would impact participants' bribe amount. Besides, males are more agentic and focus more on impression management than females. We predicted that males would defy the norm in order to win when the amount of their bribe was kept private, but would conform to the norm when it was made public. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two studies using a competitive game. In each game, we asked three participants to compete in five rounds of creative tasks, and the winner was determined by a referee's subjective judgment of the participants' performance on the tasks. Participants were allowed to give bribes to the referee. Bribe-giving norms were manipulated in two domains: norm level (high vs. low and norm context (private vs. public, in order to investigate the influence of informational and affiliational needs. Studies 1 and 2 consistently showed that individuals conformed to the norm level of bribe-giving while maintaining a relative advantage for economic benefit. Study 2 found that males gave larger bribes in the private context than in the public, whereas females gave smaller bribes in both contexts. We used a latent growth curve model (LGCM to depict the development of bribe-giving behaviors during five rounds of competition. The results showed that gender, creative performance, and norm level all influence the trajectory of bribe-giving behavior.

Norm, gender, and bribe-giving: Insights from a behavioral game.

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Tian; Hong, Ying-Yi

2017-01-01

Previous research has suggested that bribery is more normative in some countries than in others. To understand the underlying process, this paper examines the effects of social norm and gender on bribe-giving behavior. We argue that social norms provide information for strategic planning and impression management, and thus would impact participants' bribe amount. Besides, males are more agentic and focus more on impression management than females. We predicted that males would defy the norm in order to win when the amount of their bribe was kept private, but would conform to the norm when it was made public. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two studies using a competitive game. In each game, we asked three participants to compete in five rounds of creative tasks, and the winner was determined by a referee's subjective judgment of the participants' performance on the tasks. Participants were allowed to give bribes to the referee. Bribe-giving norms were manipulated in two domains: norm level (high vs. low) and norm context (private vs. public), in order to investigate the influence of informational and affiliational needs. Studies 1 and 2 consistently showed that individuals conformed to the norm level of bribe-giving while maintaining a relative advantage for economic benefit. Study 2 found that males gave larger bribes in the private context than in the public, whereas females gave smaller bribes in both contexts. We used a latent growth curve model (LGCM) to depict the development of bribe-giving behaviors during five rounds of competition. The results showed that gender, creative performance, and norm level all influence the trajectory of bribe-giving behavior.

Socially Enforced Nepotism: How Norms and Reputation Can Amplify Kin Altruism.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Doug

2016-01-01

Kin selection, which can lead organisms to behave altruistically to their genetic relatives, works differently when-as is often the case in human societies-altruism can be boosted by social pressure. Here I present a model of social norms enforced by indirect reciprocity. In the model there are many alternative stable allocations of rewards ("distributional norms"); a stable norm is stable in the sense that each player is best off following the norm if other players do the same. Stable norms vary widely in how equally they reward players with unequal abilities. In a population of mixed groups (some group members follow one norm, some follow another, and some compromise) with modest within-group coefficients of relatedness, selection within groups favors those who compromise, and selection between groups favors generous generalized reciprocity rather than balanced reciprocity. Thus evolved social norms can amplify kin altruism, giving rise to a uniquely human mode of kin-based sociality distinct from spontaneous altruism among close kin, or cooperation among non-kin.

Managing Socio-Cultural Impacts of Tourism on the Rural Tourism ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rural destinations within and around the World Heritage Sites have been required to implement planning procedures which would attract tourists that bring economic benefits while at the same time ensuring that the socio-cultural and environmental fabric of the community is not compromised. KwaZulu-Natal province has ...

Computational substrates of norms and their violations during social exchange.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, Ting; Lohrenz, Terry; Montague, P Read

2013-01-16

Social norms in humans constrain individual behaviors to establish shared expectations within a social group. Previous work has probed social norm violations and the feelings that such violations engender; however, a computational rendering of the underlying neural and emotional responses has been lacking. We probed norm violations using a two-party, repeated fairness game (ultimatum game) where proposers offer a split of a monetary resource to a responder who either accepts or rejects the offer. Using a norm-training paradigm where subject groups are preadapted to either high or low offers, we demonstrate that unpredictable shifts in expected offers creates a difference in rejection rates exhibited by the two responder groups for otherwise identical offers. We constructed an ideal observer model that identified neural correlates of norm prediction errors in the ventral striatum and anterior insula, regions that also showed strong responses to variance-prediction errors generated by the same model. Subjective feelings about offers correlated with these norm prediction errors, and the two signals displayed overlapping, but not identical, neural correlates in striatum, insula, and medial orbitofrontal cortex. These results provide evidence for the hypothesis that responses in anterior insula can encode information about social norm violations that correlate with changes in overt behavior (changes in rejection rates). Together, these results demonstrate that the brain regions involved in reward prediction and risk prediction are also recruited in signaling social norm violations.

USES OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY IN VIETNAM

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Ulas Basar Gezgin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The global openness of Vietnam brought out very fast major social changes. The country is a party to a number of international economic agreements and frameworks including World Trade Organization, Trans Pacific Partnership as well as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations. External economic factors such as those associated with South East Asian integration are coupled with ASEAN’s ambition to set up a socio-cultural community in addition to the economic community. In the meantime, the popularity of social media is rapidly growing in Vietnam with more than 30 million Vietnamese Facebook accounts. Considering these 2 major influences, ie social media and regional integration efforts, this article proposes a number of recommendations to use social media to promote ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

77 FR 8926 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Open Committee Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-15

... Personnel Management Building, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory... considered and would disrupt substantially the disposition of its business. Therefore, these caucuses will be... 5H27, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC 20415, (202) 606-9400. U.S. Office of Personnel Management...

77 FR 76304 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Open Committee Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-27

... 5A06A, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Building, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC. The Federal... the matters being considered and would disrupt substantially the disposition of its business... Management, Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, Room 5H27, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC 20415...

The Influence of Social Norms in Consumer Decision Making: A Meta-Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Melnyk, V.; Herpen, van E.; Trijp, van J.C.M.

2010-01-01

Although social norms can substantially impact consumer decision making, understanding of how the specification of the norm determines its impact is limited. This meta-analysis (200 independent studies, 659 effect sizes) examines how aspects of social norm specification determine the effect of norms

Socio-cultural determinants of anticipated acceptance of an oral cholera vaccine in Western Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundaram, N; Schaetti, C; Chaignat, C-L; Hutubessy, R; Nyambedha, E O; Mbonga, L A; Weiss, M G

2013-03-01

Determinants of anticipated acceptance of an oral cholera vaccine (OCV) were studied in urban and rural communities of Western Kenya. An explanatory model interview administered to 379 community residents assessed anticipated vaccine acceptance at various prices from no cost to full-cost recovery, socio-cultural features of cholera and social characteristics. Nearly all (99%) residents indicated willingness to accept a no-cost OCV, 95% at a price of US$ 0·8, 73% at US$ 4·2 and 59% at US$ 8·4. Logistic regression models analysed socio-cultural determinants of anticipated OCV acceptance. Prominence of non-specific symptoms for cholera was negatively associated with acceptance. A cholera-specific symptom (thirst), self-help referring to prayer, income and education were positively associated. In the high-cost model, education was no longer significant and reliance on herbal treatment was a significant determinant of vaccine non-acceptance. Findings suggest high motivation for OCVs, if affordable. Socio-cultural determinants are better predictors of anticipated acceptance than socio-demographic factors alone.

Social norms of cigarette and hookah smokers in Iranian universities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamidreza Roohafza

2013-02-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: First experiences of tobacco use usually occur in adolescence. The recognition of social norms leading to youth smoking is hence necessary. We tried to assess the social norms among Iranian young cigarette and hookah smokers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 451 girls and 361 boys aging 20-25 years old who entered Isfahan and Kashan Universities (Iran in 2007. Demographic factors (age, gender, and age at smoking onset cigarette and hookah smoking status, having a smoking father or smoking friends and four related social norms were recorded. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to separately determine associations between hookah and cigarette smoking and the four social norm variables. RESULTS: Cigarette and hookah smokers had significant differences with nonsmokers in two social norms: “Perceived smoking by important characters” [odds ratio (OR = 1.35 in cigarette smokers and 1.58 in hookah smokers; P < 0.001] and “smoking makes gatherings friendly” (OR = 3.62 in cigarette smokers and 6.16 in hookah smokers; P < 0.001. Furthermore, cigarette and hookah smoking were significantly associated with having smoking friends. CONCLUSION: Highlighting the social norms leading to cigarette and hookah smoking may help policy makers develop comprehensive interventions to prevent smoking among adolescents.   Keywords: Cigarette, Hookah, Smoking, Social Norm

Clinical ethics and values: how do norms evolve from practice?

Science.gov (United States)

Spranzi, Marta

2013-02-01

Bioethics laws in France have just undergone a revision process. The bioethics debate is often cast in terms of ethical principles and norms resisting emerging social and technological practices. This leads to the expression of confrontational attitudes based on widely differing interpretations of the same principles and values, and ultimately results in a deadlock. In this paper I would like to argue that focusing on values, as opposed to norms and principles, provides an interesting perspective on the evolution of norms. As Joseph Raz has convincingly argued, "life-building" values and practices are closely intertwined. Precisely because values have a more indeterminate meaning than norms, they can be cited as reasons for action by concerned stakeholders, and thus can help us understand how controversial practices, e.g. surrogate motherhood, can be justified. Finally, norms evolve when the interpretations of the relevant values shift and cause a change in the presumptions implicit in the norms. Thus, norms are not a prerequisite of the ethical solution of practical dilemmas, but rather the outcome of the decision-making process itself. Struggling to reach the right decision in controversial clinical ethics situations indirectly causes social and moral values to change and principles to be understood differently.

Age norms, family relationships, and home leaving in Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Tosi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Previous research has shown that social norms have an influence on young adults' life course transitions. However, few studies have explicitly and directly tested the idea that perceived age norms affect the decision to leave the parental home. Objective: I ask whether normative factors are correlated with the decision to leave the family nest in Italy, and whether this association depends on a system of perceived costs and benefits, parental approval of their children's decisions, and the quality of parent-child relationships. Methods: Using the panel component of Family and Social Subjects data (2003 and 2007, logit and multinomial logit models were adopted to analyze the connection between perceived norms and behavior. The Karlson, Holm, and Breen (2012 decomposition method was used to test the relevance of confounding and mediating factors. Results: The findings show that young adults who consider themselves as too young to leave the parental home are less likely to move out of the family nest in order to marry. The interaction between a 'stay' norm, the perceived benefits of leaving home, and parental approval significantly affects the transition to independence. Contribution: In Italy, decision-making about leaving home and getting married is shaped by age norms concerning extended coresidence. Young adults tend to comply with age norms when they perceive that their decision implies benefits and/or a violation will lead to penalties. Perceived parental disapproval reduces the influence of normative factors on individual actual behaviors, which suggests that young adults adhere to norms that are supported by parents.

Variation, structure and norms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harder, Peter

2014-01-01

in linguistics: those that see linguistic norms as antithetical to a descriptive and variational linguistics. Once such a re-evaluation has taken place, however, the social recontextualization of cognition will enable linguistics (including sociolinguistics as an integral part), to eliminate the cracks...... that an evolutionary account can reintegrate the opposed fragments into a whole picture that puts each of them in their ‘ecological position’ with respect to each other. Empirical usage facts should be seen in the context of operational norms in relation to which actual linguistic choices represent adaptations....... Variational patterns should be seen in the context of structural categories without which there would be only ‘differences’ rather than variation. And emergence, individual choice, and flux should be seen in the context of the individual’s dependence on lineages of community practice sustained by collective...

The Role of Values, Moral Norms, and Descriptive Norms in Building Occupant Responses to an Energy-Efficiency Pilot Program and to Framing of Related Messages

Science.gov (United States)

Arpan, Laura M.; Barooah, Prabir; Subramany, Rahul

2015-01-01

This study examined building occupants' responses associated with an occupant-based energy-efficiency pilot in a university building. The influence of occupants' values and norms as well as effects of two educational message frames (descriptive vs. moral norms cues) on program support were tested. Occupants' personal moral norm to conserve energy…

Direct experience and the strength of the personal norm - behaviour relationship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

2002-01-01

norms on behavior, and (ii) direct experience is a stronger moderator in this case than in the attitude-behavior case. The case in question is the purchase of organic red wine. It is found that the outcome of consumers' choice between organic and non-organic wine depends on their personal (moral) norms......This study investigates whether the behavioral influence of personal norms with regard to repeated pro-social behavior depends on direct experience of this behavior. Based on previous norm and attitude research, it is hypothesized that (i) direct experience strengthens the influence of personal......, after controlling for attitudes and subjective social norms. However, the influence of personal norms, though not of attitude, depends on whether the consumer has direct experience of buying organic red wine. Hence, both hypotheses are confirmed....

Analysis Testing of Sociocultural Factors Influence on Human Reliability within Sociotechnical Systems: The Algerian Oil Companies.

Science.gov (United States)

Laidoune, Abdelbaki; Rahal Gharbi, Med El Hadi

2016-09-01

The influence of sociocultural factors on human reliability within an open sociotechnical systems is highlighted. The design of such systems is enhanced by experience feedback. The study was focused on a survey related to the observation of working cases, and by processing of incident/accident statistics and semistructured interviews in the qualitative part. In order to consolidate the study approach, we considered a schedule for the purpose of standard statistical measurements. We tried to be unbiased by supporting an exhaustive list of all worker categories including age, sex, educational level, prescribed task, accountability level, etc. The survey was reinforced by a schedule distributed to 300 workers belonging to two oil companies. This schedule comprises 30 items related to six main factors that influence human reliability. Qualitative observations and schedule data processing had shown that the sociocultural factors can negatively and positively influence operator behaviors. The explored sociocultural factors influence the human reliability both in qualitative and quantitative manners. The proposed model shows how reliability can be enhanced by some measures such as experience feedback based on, for example, safety improvements, training, and information. With that is added the continuous systems improvements to improve sociocultural reality and to reduce negative behaviors.

Agency-communion and interest in prosocial behavior: social motives for assimilation and contrast explain sociocultural inconsistencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Gebauer, Jochen E; Sedikides, Constantine; Lüdtke, Oliver; Neberich, Wiebke

2014-10-01

Identifying the "prosocial personality" is a classic project in personality psychology. However, personality traits have been elusive predictors of prosocial behavior, with personality-prosociality relations varying widely across sociocultural contexts. We propose the social motives perspective to account for such sociocultural inconsistencies. According to this perspective, a focal quality of agency (e.g., competence, independence, openness) is the motive to swim against the social tide-agentic social contrast. Conversely, a focal quality of communion (e.g., warmth, interdependence, agreeableness) is the motive to swim with the social tide-communal social assimilation. We report two cross-sectional studies. Study 1 (N = 131,562) defined social context at the country level (11 European countries), whereas Study 2 (N = 56,395) defined it at the country level (11 European countries) and the city level (296 cities within these countries). Communion predicted interest in prosocial behavior comparatively strongly in sociocultural contexts where such interest was common and comparatively weakly where such interest was uncommon. Agency predicted interest in prosocial behavior comparatively strongly in sociocultural contexts where such interest was uncommon and comparatively weakly where such interest was common. The results supported the social motives perspective. Also, the findings help to reestablish the importance of personality for understanding prosociality. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Potential of NORM in Non-Nuclear Industry in Indonesia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunto Wiharto; Syarbaini

2003-01-01

Industry with an activity of processing natural resources from crust of earth as raw materials could cause natural radioactivity in crust of earth to be accumulated in waste, by product and or main product of that industry. Natural radioactive elements which are mobilized and then accumulated in end industry process are known as NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials). NORM have a potential radiological impact such as external and internal radiation exposure. Therefore, the existence of NORM in these non-nuclear industries should be studied in order to handle properly the radiological impact of those material to the industrial workers, member of the public and the surrounding environment. This paper describes the non nuclear industrial sectors in Indonesia that have potential NORM sources and radiation safety aspects in connecting with NORM. (author)

Socio-cultural barriers to the development of a sustainable energy system - the case of hydrogen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kjerulf Petersen, L.; Holst Andersen, A.

2009-02-15

Any transition to a more sustainable energy system, radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is bound to run in to a host of different barriers - technological and economic, but also socio-cultural. This will also be the case for any large-scale application of hydrogen as energy carrier, especially if the system is going to be based on renewable energy sources. The aim of these research notes is to review and discuss major socio-cultural barriers to new forms of energy supply in general and to hydrogen specifically. Reaching sufficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions may require more than large-scale dissemination of renewable energy sources. Also reductions or moderations in energy demand may be necessary. Hence, a central point in the research note is to consider not only socio-cultural obstacles for changing technologies in energy production, distribution and consumption but also obstacles for changing the scale of energy consumption, i.e. moderating the growth in how much energy is consumed or even reducing consumption volumes. (au)

Sociocultural Influences on Body Image Concerns of Young Chinese Males

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Todd; Chen, Hong

2008-01-01

This research assessed the extent to which sociocultural factors implicated in explanations of weight dissatisfaction among young Western females extend to sources of body image concern in emerging adult and adolescent males from the People's Republic of China. In Study 1, 219 Mainland Chinese male university students completed measures of stature…

75 FR 75706 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Open Committee Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-06

... Building, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is composed of... considered and would disrupt substantially the disposition of its business. Therefore, these caucuses will be... 5H27, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20415, (202) 606-9400. U.S. Office of Personnel Management...

76 FR 75567 - Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee; Open Committee Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-02

..., 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC. The Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee is composed of a... disrupt substantially the disposition of its business. Therefore, these caucuses will be closed to the... 5H27, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20415, (202) 606-9400. U.S. Office of Personnel Management...

Oral-diadochokinesis rates across languages: English and Hebrew norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Icht, Michal; Ben-David, Boaz M

2014-01-01

Oro-facial and speech motor control disorders represent a variety of speech and language pathologies. Early identification of such problems is important and carries clinical implications. A common and simple tool for gauging the presence and severity of speech motor control impairments is oral-diadochokinesis (oral-DDK). Surprisingly, norms for adult performance are missing from the literature. The goals of this study were: (1) to establish a norm for oral-DDK rate for (young to middle-age) adult English speakers, by collecting data from the literature (five studies, N=141); (2) to investigate the possible effect of language (and culture) on oral-DDK performance, by analyzing studies conducted in other languages (five studies, N=140), alongside the English norm; and (3) to find a new norm for adult Hebrew speakers, by testing 115 speakers. We first offer an English norm with a mean of 6.2syllables/s (SD=.8), and a lower boundary of 5.4syllables/s that can be used to indicate possible abnormality. Next, we found significant differences between four tested languages (English, Portuguese, Farsi and Greek) in oral-DDK rates. Results suggest the need to set language and culture sensitive norms for the application of the oral-DDK task world-wide. Finally, we found the oral-DDK performance for adult Hebrew speakers to be 6.4syllables/s (SD=.8), not significantly different than the English norms. This implies possible phonological similarities between English and Hebrew. We further note that no gender effects were found in our study. We recommend using oral-DDK as an important tool in the speech language pathologist's arsenal. Yet, application of this task should be done carefully, comparing individual performance to a set norm within the specific language. Readers will be able to: (1) identify the Speech-Language Pathologist assessment process using the oral-DDK task, by comparing an individual performance to the present English norm, (2) describe the impact of language

A Case Study on Socio-cultural Impacts of Tourism in the city of Jaipur, Rajasthan: India

OpenAIRE

Singla, Dr. Manika

2014-01-01

This paper focuses on the community perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of culture and heritage tourism in particular and examines the extent to which they coincide with the tourism impact literature. This study not only deals with socio-cultural impacts perceived by residents as the impacts of tourism development but also identify the effects of demographic variation on the residents' attitudes towards tourism. Considering the relationship between residents and tourism, the present stu...

Prevailing of sensitive blood driving to AIDS/HIV. Provincial Blood Bank of Sancti Spíritus. 2007-2008.

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Martha Quesada Concepción

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Because of blood transfusions are one of the ways of transmitting the immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS/HIV; it constitutes warriness from the epidemiological point of view. A descriptive research was done with the objective of determining the prevailing of sensitive blood driving AIDS/HIV in the Provincial Blood Bank from Sancti Spíritus from January 1 st , 2007 to December 31 st, 2008. The sample was conformed by 312 donants with positive diagnosis to AIDS/HIV. Some variables were used such as prevailing, age, sex, race, home town. The scores of higher prevailing to AIDS/HIV were shown by the male sex (4,42, the 26-33 year old group (1,55; it prevailing volunteer blood driving (81,0 % , and Sancti Spíritus municipality gave more cases (27,5% .Just because sensibility to tests based on antibody, that is why it is important the constant checking of all processes that guarantee blood driving to be sired.

Ways of giving benefits in marriage: norm use, relationship satisfaction, and attachment-related variability.

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Clark, Margaret S; Lemay, Edward P; Graham, Steven M; Pataki, Sherri P; Finkel, Eli J

2010-07-01

Couples reported on bases for giving support and on relationship satisfaction just prior to and approximately 2 years into marriage. Overall, a need-based, noncontingent (communal) norm was seen as ideal and was followed, and greater use of this norm was linked to higher relationship satisfaction. An exchange norm was seen as not ideal and was followed significantly less frequently than was a communal norm; by 2 years into marriage, greater use of an exchange norm was linked with lower satisfaction. Insecure attachment predicted greater adherence to an exchange norm. Idealization of and adherence to a communal norm dropped slightly across time. As idealization of a communal norm and own use and partner use of a communal norm decreased, people high in avoidance increased their use of an exchange norm, whereas people low in avoidance decreased their use of an exchange norm. Anxious individuals evidenced tighter links between norm use and marital satisfaction relative to nonanxious individuals. Overall, a picture of people valuing a communal norm and striving toward adherence to a communal norm emerged, with secure individuals doing so with more success and equanimity across time than insecure individuals.

Contested Norms in the Process of EU Enlargement: Non-Discrimination and Minority Rights

OpenAIRE

Antje Wiener; Guido Schwellnus

2004-01-01

This paper analyses the adoption of EU conditions regarding non-discrimination and minority protection in three applicant countries: Romania, Hungary and Poland. While non-discrimination is a well established EU norm, minority rights are a contested norm and not enshrined in the acquis communautaire. It is argued that contestation over norm meaning highlights the importance of norm resonance and domestic norm construction in processes of norm diffusion, and that the conceptual tension between...

Socio-Cultural Impacts in the Formation of Urban Village

Science.gov (United States)

Marpaung, B. O. Y.

2017-03-01

In Indonesia, a group of village people tends to move from one place to another and develops a living space to create a settlement. This research is conducted by taking an example of a particular ethnic group that leaves the forestry area to a new place in the city. After some time, this group of people creates a similar or adapted socio-cultural system adapted from their origin place. The purpose of this research is to examine the socio-cultural aspects that significantly influence the emergence of urban village. This influence is interpreted as social and cultural relations with the establishment of space and significance of urban village. By focusing on this issue, this research will trace the process of how a new and unplanned settlement could emerge. The process and elements are indispensable from social and cultural factors. Essentially, the shape of bulit space is a non-physical manifestation of local people, which is established from time to time. In this case, the research’s challenge lies on the circumstance in Indonesia where society and culture influence the emergence of urban village. Physical appearance can be identified as a tipology of settlement and morphology of urban village.

Socially Enforced Nepotism: How Norms and Reputation Can Amplify Kin Altruism.

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Doug Jones

Full Text Available Kin selection, which can lead organisms to behave altruistically to their genetic relatives, works differently when-as is often the case in human societies-altruism can be boosted by social pressure. Here I present a model of social norms enforced by indirect reciprocity. In the model there are many alternative stable allocations of rewards ("distributional norms"; a stable norm is stable in the sense that each player is best off following the norm if other players do the same. Stable norms vary widely in how equally they reward players with unequal abilities. In a population of mixed groups (some group members follow one norm, some follow another, and some compromise with modest within-group coefficients of relatedness, selection within groups favors those who compromise, and selection between groups favors generous generalized reciprocity rather than balanced reciprocity. Thus evolved social norms can amplify kin altruism, giving rise to a uniquely human mode of kin-based sociality distinct from spontaneous altruism among close kin, or cooperation among non-kin.

Stable 1-Norm Error Minimization Based Linear Predictors for Speech Modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giacobello, Daniele; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Jensen, Tobias Lindstrøm

2014-01-01

In linear prediction of speech, the 1-norm error minimization criterion has been shown to provide a valid alternative to the 2-norm minimization criterion. However, unlike 2-norm minimization, 1-norm minimization does not guarantee the stability of the corresponding all-pole filter and can generate...... saturations when this is used to synthesize speech. In this paper, we introduce two new methods to obtain intrinsically stable predictors with the 1-norm minimization. The first method is based on constraining the roots of the predictor to lie within the unit circle by reducing the numerical range...... based linear prediction for modeling and coding of speech....

Sociocultural Variations in the Body Image Perceptions of Urban Adolescent Females.

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Abrams, Laura S.; Stormer, Colleen Cook

2002-01-01

Investigated the influences of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and ethnic peer group composition on awareness and internalization of socially sanctioned standards of appearance using the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Adolescence Questionnaire. Findings for 208 adolescent females highlight the importance of multiple ecological factors in…

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) in oil and gas industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Algalhoud, K. A.; AL-Fawaris, B. H.

2008-01-01

Oil and gas industry in the Great Jamahiriya is one of those industries that were accompanied with generation of some solid and liquid waste, which associated with risks that might lead to harmful effects to the man and the environment. Among those risks the continuous increase of radioactivity levels above natural radioactive background around operating oil fields, due to accumulation of solid and liquid radioactive scales and sludge as well as contaminated produced water that contain some naturally occurring radioactive materials ( NORM/TE-NORM). Emergence of NORM/TE-NORM in studied area noticed when the natural background radioactivity levels increased around some oil fields during end of 1998, For this study, six field trips and a radiation surveys were conducted within selected oil fields that managed and owned by six operating companies under NOC, in order to determine the effective radiation dose in contrast with dose limits set by International Counsel of Radiation Protection(ICRP),and International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) Additionally solid samples in a form of scales and liquid samples were also taken for further investigation and laboratory analysis. Results were tabulated and discussed within the text .However to be more specific results pointed out to the fact that existence of NORM/TE-NORM as 226 Ra, 228 Ra, within some scale samples from surface equipment in some oil and gas fields in Jamahiriya were significant. As a result of that, the workers might receive moderate radiation dose less than the limits set by ICRP,IAEA, and other parts of the world producing oil and gas. Results predicted that within the investigated oil fields if workers receive proper training about handling of NORM/TE-NORM and follow the operating procedure of clean ups, work over and maintenance plane carefully, their committed exposure from NORM/TE-NORM will be less than the set limits by ICRP and IAEA. In a trend to estimate internal radiation dose as a result of possible

Towards Contemporary Play: Sociocultural Theory and the Digital-Consumerist Context

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Susan

2014-01-01

This article introduces the notion of "contemporary" play in relation to existing ideas about children's play, learning and development from a sociocultural perspective. The need to think about the nature of contemporary play is considered in response to arguments suggesting that the quality of children's play has declined in…

Prevailing Wage Regulations and School Construction Costs: Evidence from British Columbia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bilginsoy, Cihan; Philips, Peter

2000-01-01

Examines effects of prevailing wage laws on school construction costs, using final cost data from six British Columbia school districts. When controlling for factors such as construction business cycle, number of competitors, and school type, there was no significant unit cost change following the Skill Development and Fair Wage Policy Act.…

Importance-performance matrix analysis of the factors influencing international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptations using SmartPLS

OpenAIRE

Shafaei, Azadeh; Razak, Nordin Abd

2015-01-01

With the increase in international mobility in higher education especially in Asia, the issue of cross-cultural adaptation becomes paramount since international students try to overcome challenges and flourish psychologically and socioculturally in a new environment. Therefore, this study is conducted to identify the factors influencing international postgraduate students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptations in Malaysian public universities, an emerging education hub in the region. It...

Intuitionistic fuzzy 2-normed space and some related concepts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mursaleen, M.; Danish Lohani, Q.M.

2009-01-01

Motivated by the notion of 2-norm due to Gaehler [Gaehler S. Lineare 2-normietre Raeume. Math Nachr 28;1965:1-43], in this paper we define the concept of intuitionistic fuzzy 2-normed space which is a generalization of the notion of intuitionistic fuzzy normed space due to Saadati and Park [Saadati R, Park JH, On the intuitionistic fuzzy topological spaces. Chaos Solitons and Fractals 2006;27:331-44]. Further we establish some topological results in this new set up.

An embedding norm and the Lindqvist trigonometric functions

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Christer Bennewitz

2002-10-01

Full Text Available We shall calculate the operator norm $|T|_p$ of the Hardy operator $Tf = int_0^x f $, where $1le ple infty$. This operator is related to the Sobolev embedding operator from $W^{1,p}(0,1/mathbb{C}$ into $W^p(0,1/mathbb{C}$. For $1norm gives the operator norm $|T|_p$, is expressed in terms of the function $sin_p$ which is a generalization of the usual sine function and was introduced by Lindqvist [6]. Submitted September 12, 2002. Published October 9, 2002. Math Subject Classifications: 46E35, 33D05. Key Words: Sobolev embedding operator; Volterra operator.

Administrative norms on radiofrequency radiation for occupationally exposed persons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saxeboel, G.

1982-01-01

The report presents a proposal for administrative norms on radiofrequency (RF) radiation for occupationally exposed persons. The norms establish maximum allowable field exposure in a frequency range from 1 MHz too 300 GHz. (RF)

Hosts' perception of economic and socio-cultural tourism impacts

OpenAIRE

Kamšek, David; Milfelner, Borut; Ogorelc, Anton

2015-01-01

Analyzing tourism perceptions of host communities and residents' attitudes toward tourism development has been gaining increasing attention in the tourism research. This paper examines how residents perceive positive and negative economic and socio-cultural impacts of tourism. The authors identify several differences between two groups of respondents: residents employed in tourism and other residents. The study provides tourism planners with useful information concerning specific elements ass...

PREDICTORS AND CONSEQUENCES OF ADOLESCENTS’ NORMS AGAINST TEENAGE PREGNANCY

Science.gov (United States)

Mollborn, Stefanie

2011-01-01

African American and Latino teenagers and communities are frequently assumed to have weaker norms against teenage pregnancy than whites. Despite their importance, adolescents’ norms about teenage pregnancy have not been measured or their correlates and consequences documented. This study examines individual-level and contextual variation in adolescents’ embarrassment at the prospect of a teenage pregnancy and its relationship with subsequent teenage pregnancy. Descriptive analyses find that norms vary by gender and individual- and neighborhood-level race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). In multivariate analyses, neighborhood-level racial/ethnic associations with embarrassment are explained by neighborhood-level SES. Embarrassment is associated with a lower likelihood of subsequent teenage pregnancy but does not mediate racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic influences, underscoring the importance of both norms and structural factors for understanding teenage fertility. PMID:21921969

An integrated moral obligation model for landowner conservation norms

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Pradhananga, Amit K.; Davenport, Mae A.; Fulton, David C.; Maruyama, Geoffrey M.; Current, Dean

2017-01-01

This study applies an integrated moral obligation model to examine the role of environmental and cultural values, and beliefs in the activation of landowner conservation norms. Data for this study were collected through a self-administered survey of riparian landowners in two Minnesota watersheds: Sand Creek and Vermillion River watersheds. Study findings suggest that collectivistic and biospheric–altruistic values form the bases for the activation of personal norms. Further, beliefs about local responsibility and ability to act influence personal norms to protect water resources. Findings suggest that landowners’ personal norms of water conservation are more likely to be activated by conservation strategies that appeal to biospheric–altruistic and collectivistic values, emphasize adverse consequences of water pollution, highlight water resource protection as a local responsibility, and provide the resources needed to protect water resources.

Sociocultural context as a facilitator of student learning of function concepts in mathematics

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Evangelina Díaz Obando

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In Costa Rica, many secondary students have serious difficulties to establish relationships between mathematics and real-life contexts. They question the utilitarian role of the school mathematics. This fact motivated the research object of this report which evidences the need to overcome methodologies unrelated to students’ reality, toward new didactical options that help students to value mathematics, reasoning and its  applications, connecting it with their socio-cultural context. The research used a case study as a qualitative methodology and the social constructivism as an educational paradigm in which the knowledge is built by the student; as a product of his social interactions. A collection of learning situations was designed, validated, and implemented. It allowed establishing relationships between mathematical concepts and the socio-cultural context of participants. It analyzed the impact of students’socio-cultural context in their mathematics learning of basic concepts of real variable functions, consistent with the Ministry of Education (MEP Official Program.  Among the results, it was found that using students’sociocultural context improved their motivational processes, mathematics sense making, and promoted cooperative social interactions. It was evidenced that contextualized learning situations favored concepts comprehension that allow students to see mathematics as a discipline closely related with their every-day life.

HORIZONTAL OBJECTIVES OF EU PROGRAMMES AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT FOR EAP MEMBERS

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Irina Teodora MANOLESCU

2016-10-01

Full Text Available As the Eastern Partnership (EaP was founded in 2009, between European Union (EU and six countries from Eastern Europe, its main goal was to create adequate conditions for economic integration, social and regional development of the EaP country members. Based on the same principles as the EU was built, international law and fundamental values (e.g. human rights, freedom, democracy, rule of law, sustainable development and also good governance, the EaP was regularly analysed and renewed (once every two years in order to better respond to the needs of Eastern European countries. Even so, while the economic context was especially considered, there are still some actions to be undertaken with regards to socio-cultural factors. Therefore the aim of the paper is to analyse the socio-cultural context of the six Eastern European EaP members (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in order to make recommendations regarding their absorption capacity when integrating the horizontal EU objectives into the funding neighbourhood instruments. Our main research question is: what is the right approach for developing operational funding programmes (individual/bilateral or partnership/multilateral participations for EaP members: is it by maintaining the EU horizontal objective or by adapting these objectives from the beginning considering the socio-cultural context?

Potential environmental and regulatory implications of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paschoa, A.S.

1998-01-01

The immense volume of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) wastes produced annually by extracting industries throughout the world deserves to come to the attention of international and national environmental protection agencies and regulatory bodies. Although a great deal of work has been done in the fields of radiation protection and remedial actions concerning uranium and other mines, the need to dispose of diffuse NORM wastes will have environmental and regulatory implications that thus far are not fully appreciated. NORM wastes constitute, by and large, unwanted byproducts of industrial activities as diverse as thorium and uranium milling, niobium, tin and gold mining extraction, water treatment, and the production of oil, gas, phosphate fertilizer, coal fire and aluminium. The volumes of NORM wastes produced annually could reach levels so high that the existing low level radioactive waste (LLRW) facilities would be readily occupied by NORM if controlled disposal procedures were not adopted. On the other hand, NORM cannot just be ignored as being below radiological concern (BRC) or lower than exempt concentration levels (ECLs), because sometimes NORM concentrations reach levels as high as 1 x 10 3 kBq/kg for 226 Ra, and not much less for 228 Ra. Unfortunately, thus far, there is not enough information available concerning NORM wastes in key industries, though the international scientific community has been concerned, for a long time now, with technologically enhanced natural radiation exposures (TENRE). This article is written with the intention of examining, to the extent possible, the potential environmental and regulatory implications of NORM wastes being produced in selected industries. (Author)

A case study on the formation and sharing process of science classroom norms

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Jina; Song, Jinwoong

2016-03-01

The teaching and learning of science in school are influenced by various factors, including both individual factors, such as member beliefs, and social factors, such as the power structure of the class. To understand this complex context affected by various factors in schools, we investigated the formation and sharing process of science classroom norms in connection with these factors. By examining the developmental process of science classroom norms, we identified how the norms were realized, shared, and internalized among the members. We collected data through classroom observations and interviews focusing on two elementary science classrooms in Korea. From these data, factors influencing norm formation were extracted and developed as stories about norm establishment. The results indicate that every science classroom norm was established, shared, and internalized differently according to the values ingrained in the norms, the agent of norm formation, and the members' understanding about the norm itself. The desirable norms originating from values in science education, such as having an inquiring mind, were not established spontaneously by students, but were instead established through well-organized norm networks to encourage concrete practice. Educational implications were discussed in terms of the practice of school science inquiry, cultural studies, and value-oriented education.

Impact of Sociocultural Background and Assessment Data Upon School Psychologists' Decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Huebner, E. Scott; Cummings, Jack A.

1985-01-01

Psychologists (N=56) participated in an adapted version of Algozzine and Ysseldyke's (1981) diagnostic simulation to investigate the effects of sociocultural background (rural vs. suburban) and assessment data (normal vs. learning disabled) on educational decisions. Findings suggest school psychologists utilize multiple sources of information but…

Quasi-invariant modified Sobolev norms for semi linear reversible PDEs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faou, Erwan; Grébert, Benoît

2010-01-01

We consider a general class of infinite dimensional reversible differential systems. Assuming a nonresonance condition on linear frequencies, we construct for such systems almost invariant pseudo-norms that are close to Sobolev-like norms. This allows us to prove that if the Sobolev norm of index s of the initial data z 0 is sufficiently small (of order ε) then the Sobolev norm of the solution is bounded by 2ε over a very long time interval (of order ε −r with r arbitrary). It turns out that this theorem applies to a large class of reversible semi-linear partial differential equations (PDEs) including the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation on the d-dimensional torus. We also apply our method to a system of coupled NLS equations which is reversible but not Hamiltonian. We also note that for the same class of reversible systems we can prove a Birkhoff normal form theorem, which in turn implies the same bounds on the Sobolev norms. Nevertheless the techniques that we use to prove the existence of quasi-invariant pseudo-norms are much more simple and direct

Social Norms and Adolescents' Sexual Health: An Introduction for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego2 ... An introduction to social norms that will be beneficial for those who intend to integrate a social norms perspective ..... Social network analysis, by measuring the .... Addictive Behavior.

Economical modelling of social and moral norms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nyborg, Karine

2001-01-01

Social norms and moral motivations are often ignored in economic models. It is possible, however, to model social and moral norms within the framework of economical theory. This may be useful even if the exposition is necessarily simplified. The article gives some examples. An analysis shows how the ''No Smoking Act'' may have led to a change in social norms in Norway and indirectly changed the behaviour of smokers in places where this act does not apply. Behaviour with moral motivation may also be affected by changes in regulations, economic incentives or other external conditions. For example, a more efficient collection system for source-separated waste may induce people to sharpen the moral claim on their own efforts. Indeed, interviews show that imposing a fee upon people not volunteering in communal work may cause the attendance to drop further

Social norms of cigarette and hookah smokers in Iranian universities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Roohafza, Hamidreza; Sadeghi, Masoumeh; Shahnam, Maryam

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: First experiences of tobacco use usually occur in adolescence. The recognition of social norms leading to youth smoking is hence necessary. We tried to assess the social norms among Iranian young cigarette and hookah smokers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 451...... regression analysis was used to separately determine associations between hookah and cigarette smoking and the four social norm variables. RESULTS: CIGARETTE AND HOOKAH SMOKERS HAD SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WITH NONSMOKERS IN TWO SOCIAL NORMS: "Perceived smoking by important characters" [odds ratio (OR) = 1.......35 in cigarette smokers and 1.58 in hookah smokers; P smokers and 6.16 in hookah smokers; P

On negative norm states in supersymmetric theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellwanger, U.

1983-01-01

We study the effective kinetic energy of scalar fields for two classes of supersymmetric theories. In theories with very large VEVs of scalar fields, as proposed by Witten, the use of the renormalization group improved effective action prevents the appearance of negative norm states. For simpler theories a general criterium for the absence of negative norm states is given, which is violated in a model with O(N)-symmetry proposed recently. (orig.)

Compilation of Cognitive and Personality Norms for Military Aviators.

Science.gov (United States)

Carretta, Thomas R; King, Raymond E; Ree, Malcolm James; Teachout, Mark S; Barto, Erica

2016-09-01

The assessment of individuals on abilities or other characteristics is based on comparison to a representative sample. General population norms provide an appropriate reference group when the distribution of scores in the sample can be expected to be similar to those for the general population (e.g., comparing high school students at a particular school to national high school norms on a college entrance test). Specialized norms are needed, however, when subsets of the population differ from the population at large. Military pilot trainees represent a special population; they are highly screened on cognitive ability and other characteristics thought to be related to job performance. Other characteristics (e.g., personality) are thought to be "self-selected," resulting in distinctive profiles. Normative tables were developed for U.S. Air Force pilot trainees for two widely used tests, the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery-II (MAB-II) and NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R). The MAB-II and NEO PI-R were administered to large samples of USAF cadets, ROTC students, and officers selected for pilot training. The mean MAB-II full-scale IQ was about 1.5 SD above the adult population norm and was much less variable, supporting the need for specialized norms. Tables showing the percentile equivalents are provided for use by clinicians. Use of these tables, in addition to, or in lieu of, commercially published norms, will prove helpful when clinical psychologists perform assessments on pilots; in particular when evaluating them for return-to-duty status following a disqualifying condition that may have affected cognitive functioning or emotional stability. Carretta TR, King RE, Ree MJ, Teachout MS, Barto E. Compilation of cognitive and personality norms for military aviators. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2016; 87(9):764-771.

easyCBM Norms. 2014 Edition. Technical Report #1409

Science.gov (United States)

Saven, Jessica L.; Tindal, Gerald; Irvin, P. Shawn; Farley, Dan; Alonzo, Julie

2014-01-01

Previous norms for the easyCBM assessment system were computed using scores from all students who took each measure for every grade and benchmark season (fall, winter, and spring). During the 2013-­14 school year, new national norms were developed to more accurately (proportionately) represent reading and mathematics performance by two variables:…

Affective Norms for 362 Persian Words

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Mahdi Bagheri

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: During the past two decades, a great deal of research has been conducted on developing affective norms for words in various languages, showing that there is an urgent need to create such norms in Persian language, too. The present study intended to develop a set of 362 Persian words rated according to their emotional valence, arousal, imageability, and familiarity so as to prepare the ground for further research on emotional word processing. This was the first attempt to set affective norms for Persian words in the realm of emotion.  Methods: Prior to the study, a multitude of words were selected from Persian dictionary and academic books in Persian literature. Secondly, three independent proficient experts in the Persian literature were asked to extract the suitable words from the list and to choose the best (defined as grammatically correct and most often used. The database normalization process was based on the ratings by a total of 88 participants using a 9-point Likert scale. Each participant evaluated about 120 words on four different scales.  Results: There were significant relationships between affective dimensions and some psycholinguistic variables. Also, further analyses were carried out to investigate the possible relationship between different features of valences (positive, negative, and neutral and other variables included in the dataset.  Conclusion: These affective norms for Persian words create a useful and valid dataset which will provide researchers with applying standard verbal materials as well as materials applied in other languages, e.g. English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, etc.

Social Norm, Family Communication, and HBV Screening among Asian Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Juon, Hee-Soon; Rimal, Rajiv N; Klassen, Ann; Lee, Sunmin

2017-12-01

Individuals' behaviors are influenced by those of others in their social environment (i.e., descriptive norms), as well as by how individuals perceive they should behave in that environment (e.g., injunctive norms). Although social norms are thought to play an important role in hepatitis B virus (HBV) screening, limited theoretical or empirical guidance exists on how the underlying process works. In addition, norms are social phenomena that are spread through family discussion about the importance of getting HBV screening. Using the theory of normative social behavior (TNSB), this study examined the roles of injunctive norms (IN), descriptive norms (DN), and family discussion in HBV screening behavior among Asian Americans. Data from a survey of Asian Americans in the Baltimore Washington metropolitan area (N = 877) were used to test underlying theoretical propositions. DN and family discussion emerged as key factors in HBV screening behavior among all Asian Americans. IN were associated with HBV screening among Chinese and Korean Americans, but not for Vietnamese Americans. Family discussion moderated the influence of DN on behavior among Chinese and Vietnamese Americans. However, the main effect of DN on screening behavior was not modified by IN (no interactions between DN and IN). The results indicate that family discussion and social norms are integral in enabling Asian Americans to undergo HBV screening and warrant sensitivity in the design and implementation of a liver cancer prevention program in this high-risk group of Asian Americans.

Art and social health. Sociocultural program participation for people with funcional diversity

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María Martínez Lemos

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Martinez, M. y Rodríguez, J. (2015: “Arte y salud social. Programas de participación sociocultural para personas con diversidad funcional”, Revista Española de Discapacidad, 3 (2: 125-131.

Relationship among values, beliefs, norms and ecological behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

González López, Antonio; Amérigo Cuervo-Arango, María

2008-11-01

The present study focuses mainly on the relationship between psychological constructs and ecological behaviour. Empirical analysis links personal values, ecological beliefs, consequences of environmental conditions, denial of ecological obligation, environmental control, personal norms and environment protection behaviour. Survey data from a path analysis of a Spanish sample of 403 individuals were used, showing that ecological beliefs, personal norms and eco-altruistic values have become the main psychological explanatory variables of environment protective behaviour. Ecological beliefs, when measured by the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, affected ecological behaviour decisively. Environmental and altruistic values were shown to be related to moral obligation, and a basic variable to understand behaviour. Personal norm mediated the effects of values and environmental control on ecological behaviour.

Subband Adaptive Filtering with l1-Norm Constraint for Sparse System Identification

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Young-Seok Choi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new approach of the normalized subband adaptive filter (NSAF which directly exploits the sparsity condition of an underlying system for sparse system identification. The proposed NSAF integrates a weighted l1-norm constraint into the cost function of the NSAF algorithm. To get the optimum solution of the weighted l1-norm regularized cost function, a subgradient calculus is employed, resulting in a stochastic gradient based update recursion of the weighted l1-norm regularized NSAF. The choice of distinct weighted l1-norm regularization leads to two versions of the l1-norm regularized NSAF. Numerical results clearly indicate the superior convergence of the l1-norm regularized NSAFs over the classical NSAF especially when identifying a sparse system.

Curing and sociocultural separatism in South Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Golomb, L

1985-01-01

In much of Thailand animistic curing practices have lost ground to great tradition herbal medicine and modern scientific medicine as more people achieve literacy. Especially in urbanizing areas, Buddhist and Muslim Thais hold in the highest esteem traditional curers whose knowledge derives from patient experimentation and the study of ancient texts. However, among Malay-speaking Muslims in south Thailand, the most respected therapeutic knowledge is revelatory in nature. Southern Muslim curers are generally mystics or spirit-mediums whose direct channels of communication with the supernatural convey remedies for afflictions but also provide guidelines for maintaining sociocultural separatism.

Endogenous mobility-reducing norms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haagsma, R.; Koning, N.B.J.

2002-01-01

We present a model where a mobility-reducing norm arises in response to adverse economic conditions. Our example is the classical farm problem of low returns. A temporary transition barrier induces cognitive dissonance in farm youths, which they try to reduce by developing a belief that revalues

The Development of Mirror Self-Recognition in Different Sociocultural Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Kartner, Joscha; Keller, Heidi; Chaudhary, Nandita; Yovsi, Relindis D.

2012-01-01

The overarching goal of the present study was to trace the development of mirror self-recognition (MSR), as an index of toddlers' sense of themselves and others as autonomous intentional agents, in different sociocultural environments. A total of 276 toddlers participated in the present study. Toddlers were either 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, or 21 months…

Perceptions & Attitudes of Male Homosexuals from Differing Socio-Cultural & Audiological Backgrounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Swartz, Daniel B.

This study examined four male homosexual, sociocultural groups: normal-hearing homosexuals with normal-hearing parents, deaf homosexuals with normal-hearing parents, deaf homosexuals with hearing-impaired parents, and hard-of-hearing homosexuals with normal-hearing parents. Differences with regard to self-perception, identity, and attitudes were…

Understanding multiple levels of norms about teen pregnancy and their relationships to teens’ sexual behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Mollborn, Stefanie; Domingue, Benjamin W.; Boardman, Jason D.

2014-01-01

Researchers seeking to understand teen sexual behaviors often turn to age norms, but they are difficult to measure quantitatively. Previous work has usually inferred norms from behavioral patterns or measured group-level norms at the individual level, ignoring multiple reference groups. Capitalizing on the multilevel design of the Add Health survey, we measure teen pregnancy norms perceived by teenagers, as well as average norms at the school and peer network levels. School norms predict boys’ perceived norms, while peer network norms predict girls’ perceived norms. Peer network and individually perceived norms against teen pregnancy independently and negatively predict teens’ likelihood of sexual intercourse. Perceived norms against pregnancy predict increased likelihood of contraception among sexually experienced girls, but sexually experienced boys’ contraceptive behavior is more complicated: When both the boy and his peers or school have stronger norms against teen pregnancy he is more likely to contracept, and in the absence of school or peer norms against pregnancy, boys who are embarrassed are less likely to contracept. We conclude that: (1) patterns of behavior cannot adequately operationalize teen pregnancy norms, (2) norms are not simply linked to behaviors through individual perceptions, and (3) norms at different levels can operate independently of each other, interactively, or in opposition. This evidence creates space for conceptualizations of agency, conflict, and change that can lead to progress in understanding age norms and sexual behaviors. PMID:25104920

Understanding multiple levels of norms about teen pregnancy and their relationships to teens' sexual behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Mollborn, Stefanie; Domingue, Benjamin W; Boardman, Jason D

2014-06-01

Researchers seeking to understand teen sexual behaviors often turn to age norms, but they are difficult to measure quantitatively. Previous work has usually inferred norms from behavioral patterns or measured group-level norms at the individual level, ignoring multiple reference groups. Capitalizing on the multilevel design of the Add Health survey, we measure teen pregnancy norms perceived by teenagers, as well as average norms at the school and peer network levels. School norms predict boys' perceived norms, while peer network norms predict girls' perceived norms. Peer network and individually perceived norms against teen pregnancy independently and negatively predict teens' likelihood of sexual intercourse. Perceived norms against pregnancy predict increased likelihood of contraception among sexually experienced girls, but sexually experienced boys' contraceptive behavior is more complicated: When both the boy and his peers or school have stronger norms against teen pregnancy he is more likely to contracept, and in the absence of school or peer norms against pregnancy, boys who are embarrassed are less likely to contracept. We conclude that: (1) patterns of behavior cannot adequately operationalize teen pregnancy norms, (2) norms are not simply linked to behaviors through individual perceptions, and (3) norms at different levels can operate independently of each other, interactively, or in opposition. This evidence creates space for conceptualizations of agency, conflict, and change that can lead to progress in understanding age norms and sexual behaviors.

Evaluate prevailing climate change on Great Lakes water levels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Islam, M.

2009-01-01

'Full text:'In this paper, results of a comprehensive water mass balance modeling for the Great Lakes against prevailing and different anticipated climate change scenarios would be presented. Modeling is done in evaluating the changes in the lake storages and then changes in the lake's water level considering present condition, uncertainty and variability of climate and hydrologic conditions in the future. Inflow-outflow and consequent changes in the five Great Lake's storages are simulated for the last 30 years and then projected to evaluate the changes in the lake storages for the next 50 years. From the predicted changes in the lake storage data, water level is calculated using mass to linear conversion equation. Modeling and analysis results are expected to be helpful in understanding the possible impacts of the climate change on the Great Lakes water environment and preparing strategic plan for the sustainable management of lake's water resources. From the recent past, it is observed that there is a depleting trend in the lakes water level and hence there is a potential threat to lake's water environment and uncertainty of the availability of quality and quantity of water for the future generations, especially against prevailing and anticipated climate changes. For this reason, it is an urgent issue of understanding and quantifying the potential impacts of climate change on the Great Lake's water levels and storages. (author)

Juggling with the norms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hahonou, Eric Komlavi

2017-01-01

The article shows that care in developing countries is a complex matter that cannot be reduced to corrupt practices. The literature on informal payments highlights the role played by corrupt practices in the health sector and tends to attribute corruption to a so-called ‘endemic culture of gifts’...... to the fabrication of the practical norms that regulate the daily functioning of health facilities and shape people’s behaviour.......’. However, as the case of the emergency service of Niamey National Hospital suggests the interactions between civil servants and users in health facilities have little to do with a traditional culture. They are better understood through the lens of practical norms. Furthermore, as the authors demonstrates...... of the services provided by the medical staff, it also depends on the qualifications of the persons (relatives, friends) accompanying the patient. In Niger (and other developing countries), the patient’s attendant is a crucial component of the organisation and the effectiveness of health facilities in emergency...

Normal value collection in nuclear cardiological examination: The 'cured norm' concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maul, F.D.; Standke, R.; Hoer, G.

1989-01-01

As a refence a standard of 'cured norm' is proposed. The patients who come under the 'cured norm' category are those without previous myocardial infarctions and who are free of symptoms after a successful transluminal coronary angioplasty (TCA) with a normalized exercise ECG. Global and sectorial parameters of radionuclide-vetriculography (RNV) and 201 Tl-myocardial-scintigraphy ( 201 Tl-MS) are in good accordance with the published data from other authors. An improvement is found after successful TCA but results are even better in the special 'cured norm' group indicating an additional normalization. Sensitivity and specificity based on the 'cured norm' is comparable with the results published by others. From these results we conclude that the 'cured norm' is suitable for clinical use. (orig.) [de

Marketing norm perception among medical representatives in Indian pharmaceutical industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Nagashekhara, Molugulu; Agil, Syed Omar Syed; Ramasamy, Ravindran

2012-03-01

Study of marketing norm perception among medical representatives is an under-portrayed component that deserves further perusal in the pharmaceutical industry. The purpose of this study is to find out the perception of marketing norms among medical representatives. The research design is quantitative and cross sectional study with medical representatives as unit of analysis. Data is collected from medical representatives (n=300) using a simple random and cluster sampling using a structured questionnaire. Results indicate that there is no difference in the perception of marketing norms among male and female medical representatives. But there is a difference in opinion among domestic and multinational company's medical representatives. Educational back ground of medical representatives also shows the difference in opinion among medical representatives. Degree holders and multinational company medical representatives have high perception of marketing norms compare to their counterparts. The researchers strongly believe that mandatory training on marketing norms is beneficial in decision making process during the dilemmas in the sales field.

Influences of Sociocultural Factors Within the Clinical Learning Environment on Students' Perceptions of Learning: An Integrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Jessee, Mary Ann

A persistent deficit in new graduate nurses' clinical reasoning skill exists. Clinical reasoning is best learned in the sociocultural clinical learning environment (CLE), yet many CLEs fail to engage nursing students in the cognitive work of nursing that promotes development of clinical reasoning. Despite two decades of recommendations to improve CLEs based on students' perceptions of learning, widespread improvement remains elusive. The aim of this review was to synthesize what is known about the influence of sociocultural factors in the acute-care CLE on prelicensure nursing students' perceptions of learning, for the purpose of identifying factors that when modified may promote improvement of clinical reasoning skill. The integrative review methodology was used to synthesize and identify gaps in evidence on students' perceptions of learning in the acute-care CLE. Global commonalities exist in the impact of the sociocultural CLE on students' perceptions of learning, including overall sociocultural atmosphere, membership in the health care team, supervisory relationships, peer relationships, and clinical education structure. This review provides evidence that modification of CLE factors and examination of their influence on measurable learning outcomes such as clinical reasoning are the necessary next steps to facilitate improvement of new graduate nurses' clinical reasoning skill. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

'The NORM Report' : the journal addressing naturally occurring radioactive materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simmons, C.T.; Tsurikov, N.

2008-01-01

Full text: The need for the specific international publication dedicated to the radiation protection and regulatory issues associated with exposures of workers, general public and the environment in situations involving naturally occurring radioactive materials (Norm) has been identified almost ten years ago. In the 1990-s the journal entitled 'the NORM report' was published in the U.S.A. mainly dealt with legislative updates in regard to NORM in different states and at a later stage Canada. The printed journal has a wide following among industries and regulatory authorities concerned with NORM. Unfortunately, the publishing ceased in early 2000-s with the passing of the editor, Dr. Peter Gray. The publication of 'the NORM Report' will re-commence in early 2008 as an internet based publication that is intended to be a resource for: Regulatory authorities exchange information in regards to the 'NORM-specific' regulations and guidelines applicable in their jurisdictions. They are also able to collect details from authorities in other countries/states - to ensure the adoption of the most appropriate regulatory standards to similar levels of radiation exposure and the same industries world-wide (not only within the USA), a) Researches, who will be able to publish the results of their studies in a journal specifically dedicated to naturally occurring radioactive materials and b) Industries that use, process, and generate - to facilitate the information exchange in regards to best practices in controlling radiation exposure and in the disposal or re-use of NORM-containing materials. The intent of the presentation is to obtain the opinion of a wider radiation protection community of the usefulness and the contents of the publication of 'the NORM Report' to ensure the journal meets its state objectives. (author)

Changing norms about gender inequality in education: Evidence from Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niels-Hugo Blunch

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: While norms are important for educational attainment, especially in the developing world, there are relatively few studies on this topic. This paper, which explores attitudes toward gender equality in education among Bangladeshis, should therefore be of interest to both academics and policymakers. Objective: In this paper, we seek to identify which factors affect the norms regarding the education of girls and boys, as well as of women and men, across two cohorts of married women in Bangladesh. In particular, we look at the relative importance of an individual woman's own educational background and those of her spouse and other family members in shaping her attitudes toward gender equality in education. Methods: We analyze a rich household dataset for Bangladesh from the World Bank Survey on Gender Norms in Bangladesh, which was conducted in 2006. We use linear probability models to examine the determinants of gender education norms. We also decompose the intergenerational gender norms gap using the Oaxaca-Blinder composition (total and detailed, taking into account several technical issues related to the computation of standard errors and the use of dummy variables in detailed decompositions. Results: Education norms were found to differ substantially across cohorts, with women from the younger cohort expressing far more positive views than older female respondents regarding education for both girls and women. The effect of education on norms could be found among both the respondents and their husbands, as well as among the older women in the household. This suggests that educational norms are shared both within married couples and across generations. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the far-reaching changes in female education in Bangladesh have had equally far-reaching effects on the perceived value of education for girls relative to education for boys.

Perceived eating norms and children's eating behaviour: An informational social influence account.

Science.gov (United States)

Sharps, Maxine; Robinson, Eric

2017-06-01

There is initial evidence that beliefs about the eating behaviour of others (perceived eating norms) can influence children's vegetable consumption, but little research has examined the mechanisms explaining this effect. In two studies we aimed to replicate the effect that perceived eating norms have on children's vegetable consumption, and to explore mechanisms which may underlie the influence of perceived eating norms on children's vegetable consumption. Study 1 investigated whether children follow perceived eating norms due to a desire to maintain personal feelings of social acceptance. Study 2 investigated whether perceived eating norms influence eating behaviour because eating norms provide information which can remove uncertainty about how to behave. Across both studies children were exposed to vegetable consumption information of other children and their vegetable consumption was examined. In both studies children were influenced by perceived eating norms, eating more when led to believe others had eaten a large amount compared to when led to believe others had eaten no vegetables. In Study 1, children were influenced by a perceived eating norm regardless of whether they felt sure or unsure that other children accepted them. In Study 2, children were most influenced by a perceived eating norm if they were eating in a novel context in which it may have been uncertain how to behave, as opposed to an eating context that children had already encountered. Perceived eating norms may influence children's eating behaviour by removing uncertainty about how to behave, otherwise known as informational social influence. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

True gender ratios and stereotype rating norms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan eGarnham

2015-07-01

Full Text Available We present a study comparing, in English, perceived distributions of men and women in 422 named occupations with actual real world distributions. The first set of data was obtained from previous a large-scale norming study, whereas the second set was mostly drawn from UK governmental sources. In total, real world ratios for 290 occupations were obtained for our perceive vs. real world comparison, of which 205 were deemed to be unproblematic. The means for the two sources were similar and the correlation between them was high, suggesting that people are generally accurate at judging real gender ratios, though there were some notable exceptions. Beside this correlation, some interesting patterns emerged from the two sources, suggesting some response strategies when people complete norming studies. We discuss these patterns in terms of the way real world data might complement norming studies in determining gender stereotypicality.

Enabling phenotypic big data with PheNorm.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Sheng; Ma, Yumeng; Gronsbell, Jessica; Cai, Tianrun; Ananthakrishnan, Ashwin N; Gainer, Vivian S; Churchill, Susanne E; Szolovits, Peter; Murphy, Shawn N; Kohane, Isaac S; Liao, Katherine P; Cai, Tianxi

2018-01-01

Electronic health record (EHR)-based phenotyping infers whether a patient has a disease based on the information in his or her EHR. A human-annotated training set with gold-standard disease status labels is usually required to build an algorithm for phenotyping based on a set of predictive features. The time intensiveness of annotation and feature curation severely limits the ability to achieve high-throughput phenotyping. While previous studies have successfully automated feature curation, annotation remains a major bottleneck. In this paper, we present PheNorm, a phenotyping algorithm that does not require expert-labeled samples for training. The most predictive features, such as the number of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes or mentions of the target phenotype, are normalized to resemble a normal mixture distribution with high area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) for prediction. The transformed features are then denoised and combined into a score for accurate disease classification. We validated the accuracy of PheNorm with 4 phenotypes: coronary artery disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis. The AUCs of the PheNorm score reached 0.90, 0.94, 0.95, and 0.94 for the 4 phenotypes, respectively, which were comparable to the accuracy of supervised algorithms trained with sample sizes of 100-300, with no statistically significant difference. The accuracy of the PheNorm algorithms is on par with algorithms trained with annotated samples. PheNorm fully automates the generation of accurate phenotyping algorithms and demonstrates the capacity for EHR-driven annotations to scale to the next level - phenotypic big data. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Linking Norms and Culture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McBreen, J.; Tosto, Di G.; Dignum, F.; Hofstede, G.J.

2011-01-01

The goal of this paper is to propose a method of modelling the evolution of social norms in different cultural settings. We analyse the role of culture in shaping agents' normative reasoning and hence their behaviour. The general notion of 'value' is discussed from the perspective of the BDI

Fermionic zero-norm states and enlarged supersymmetries of Type II string

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.-C.

2000-01-01

We calculate the NS-R fermionic zero-norm states of the type II string spectrum. The massless and some possible massive zero-norm states are seen to be responsible for the space-time supersymmetry. The existence of other fermionic massive zero-norm states with higher spinor-tensor indices correspond to new enlarged boson-fermion symmetries of the theory at high energy. We also discuss the R-R charges and R-R zero-norm states and justify the idea that the perturbative string does not carry the massless R-R charges. (orig.)

"Who Doesn't?"--The Impact of Descriptive Norms on Corruption.

Science.gov (United States)

Köbis, Nils C; van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; Righetti, Francesca; Van Lange, Paul A M

2015-01-01

Corruption poses one of the major societal challenges of our time. Considerable advances have been made in understanding corruption on a macro level, yet the psychological antecedents of corrupt behavior remain largely unknown. In order to explain why some people engage in corruption while others do not, we explored the impact of descriptive social norms on corrupt behavior by using a novel behavioral measure of corruption. We conducted three studies to test whether perceived descriptive norms of corruption (i.e. the belief about the prevalence of corruption in a specific context) influence corrupt behavior. The results indicated that descriptive norms highly correlate with corrupt behavior--both when measured before (Study 1) or after (Study 2) the behavioral measure of corruption. Finally, we adopted an experimental design to investigate the causal effect of descriptive norms on corruption (Study 3). Corrupt behavior in the corruption game significantly drops when participants receive short anti-corruption descriptive norm primes prior to the game. These findings indicate that perceived descriptive norms can impact corrupt behavior and, possibly, could offer an explanation for inter-personal and inter-cultural variation in corrupt behavior in the real world. We discuss implications of these findings and draw avenues for future research.

"Who Doesn't?"--The Impact of Descriptive Norms on Corruption.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nils C Köbis

Full Text Available Corruption poses one of the major societal challenges of our time. Considerable advances have been made in understanding corruption on a macro level, yet the psychological antecedents of corrupt behavior remain largely unknown. In order to explain why some people engage in corruption while others do not, we explored the impact of descriptive social norms on corrupt behavior by using a novel behavioral measure of corruption. We conducted three studies to test whether perceived descriptive norms of corruption (i.e. the belief about the prevalence of corruption in a specific context influence corrupt behavior. The results indicated that descriptive norms highly correlate with corrupt behavior--both when measured before (Study 1 or after (Study 2 the behavioral measure of corruption. Finally, we adopted an experimental design to investigate the causal effect of descriptive norms on corruption (Study 3. Corrupt behavior in the corruption game significantly drops when participants receive short anti-corruption descriptive norm primes prior to the game. These findings indicate that perceived descriptive norms can impact corrupt behavior and, possibly, could offer an explanation for inter-personal and inter-cultural variation in corrupt behavior in the real world. We discuss implications of these findings and draw avenues for future research.

Leveraging Sociocultural Theory to Create a Mentorship Program for Doctoral Students

Science.gov (United States)

Crosslin, Matt; Wakefield, Jenny S.; Bennette, Phyllis; Black, James William, III

2013-01-01

This paper details a proposed doctoral student connections program that is based on sociocultural theory. It is designed to assist new students with starting their educational journey. This program is designed to leverage social interactions, peer mentorship, personal reflection, purposeful planning, and existing resources to assist students in…

Ligwomi Cult: A Facilitator of the Socio-Cultural Development of Igbo ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ligwomi cult practiced among Igbo Imabana people of Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State is unlike other cults whose activities are regarded as nefarious. This cult has great socio-cultural significance and has brought some remarkable development in Igbo Imabana. We are poised to investigate such ...

Morality salience increases adherence to salient norms and values

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gailliot, M.T.; Stillman, T.F.; Schmeichel, B.J.; Maner, J.K.; Plant, E.A.

2008-01-01

Four studies indicate that mortality salience increases adherence to social norms and values, but only when cultural norms and values are salient. In Study 1, mortality salience coupled with a reminder about cultural values of egalitarianism reduced prejudice toward Blacks among non-Black

Designing feedback to mitigate teen distracted driving: A social norms approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Merrikhpour, Maryam; Donmez, Birsen

2017-07-01

The purpose of this research is to investigate teens' perceived social norms and whether providing normative information can reduce distracted driving behaviors among them. Parents are among the most important social referents for teens; they have significant influences on teens' driving behaviors, including distracted driving which significantly contributes to teens' crash risks. Social norms interventions have been successfully applied in various domains including driving; however, this approach is yet to be explored for mitigating driver distraction among teens. Forty teens completed a driving simulator experiment while performing a self-paced visual-manual secondary task in four between-subject conditions: a) social norms feedback that provided a report at the end of each drive on teens' distracted driving behavior, comparing their distraction engagement to their parent's, b) post-drive feedback that provided just the report on teens' distracted driving behavior without information on their parents, c) real-time feedback in the form of auditory warnings based on eyes of road-time, and d) no feedback as control. Questionnaires were administered to collect data on these teens' and their parents' self-reported engagement in driver distractions and the associated social norms. Social norms and real-time feedback conditions resulted in significantly smaller average off-road glance duration, rate of long (>2s) off-road glances, and standard deviation of lane position compared to no feedback. Further, social norms feedback decreased brake response time and percentage of time not looking at the road compared to no feedback. No major effect was observed for post-drive feedback. Questionnaire results suggest that teens appeared to overestimate parental norms, but no effect of feedback was found on their perceptions. Feedback systems that leverage social norms can help mitigate driver distraction among teens. Overall, both social norms and real-time feedback induced

A New European COST Network 'NORM4Building' (TU1301) for the Reuse of NORM Containing Residues in Building Materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schroeyers, W.; Schreurs, S.

2014-01-01

The new COST action was initiated on the 1st of January 2014 and runs for four years. COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Program. In the presentation more information on how to participate in the network will be provided. In the presentation the new approach and new initiatives of the NORM4BUILDING network, that has its first meeting here in the DEAD SEA Hotel on the 12-13/02/2014, will be introduced. The NORM4Building materials network will be an open network of researchers. An Advisory Board consisting mainly from NORM processing and construction industries and relevant associations and regulators are invited to work in collaboration with the scientists that will populate the various working groups and the management committee of the new COST action

Regulatory controls for NORM contamination: Emerging issues and strategies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wennerberg, Linda

1992-01-01

Naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive material (NORM) faces the increasing likelihood of federal or state regulatory control. Public concern and limited preliminary survey data fuel the debate over the necessity, approach, and jurisdiction of a NORM regulatory strategy. This debate requires the resolution of technical controversies and potentially competing state and federal agency interests. An additional facet of the debate is the impact of regulation upon traditionally non-nuclear industries, such as oil and gas production. Regulatory response has been initiated in several states, such as Louisiana's controls on equipment used in oil and gas production, to control specific industrial activities which generate NORM. A more comprehensive, generic federal strategy to control NORM contamination is also under review by the Environmental Protection Agency. This paper will detail the emerging technical issues, federal and state regulatory strategies under consideration, and evaluate the efficacy of selected regulatory approaches. (author)

The hitchhiker's guide to altruism: gene-culture coevolution, and the internalization of norms.

Science.gov (United States)

Gintis, Herbert

2003-02-21

An internal norm is a pattern of behavior enforced in part by internal sanctions, such as shame, guilt and loss of self-esteem, as opposed to purely external sanctions, such as material rewards and punishment. The ability to internalize norms is widespread among humans, although in some so-called "sociopaths", this capacity is diminished or lacking. Suppose there is one genetic locus that controls the capacity to internalize norms. This model shows that if an internal norm is fitness enhancing, then for plausible patterns of socialization, the allele for internalization of norms is evolutionarily stable. This framework can be used to model Herbert Simon's (1990) explanation of altruism, showing that altruistic norms can "hitchhike" on the general tendency of internal norms to be personally fitness-enhancing. A multi-level selection, gene-culture coevolution argument then explains why individually fitness-reducing internal norms are likely to be prosocial as opposed to socially harmful.

An Explication of Vygotskian Sociocultural Theory as Evidenced by Ethomethodological Findings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behrooz Azabdaftari

2012-11-01

Full Text Available For centuries the speculations on man's mental functioning posed a great challenge for the scholars in various disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociocultural studies, education, ethnolinguistics, discourse analysis, literary criticism. Researchers have been pondering over the ticklish question: is it the mind making the human society, or is it the society that shapes up the human mind? Researchers not informed in Vygotsky's contribution to the resolution of the issue, may still find the vicious circular question glaring in the face. But thanks to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (SCT, the hazy horizon has cleared away and today we are convinced of the truth of Vygotsky's claim that man's mental functioning is mediated by sociocultural artifacts (physical and psychological tools which imbue us with the capacity the shape natural environment, and in so doing change the natural circumstances in which we live, and the capacity to organize and gain voluntary control over our biologically specified mental functioning. The pivotal concept in this outlook is that man, released from biological constraints, emerges as the master of his own destiny. It goes without saying that a conception as such invests the educationists, social reformers, statesmen with a grave responsibility regarding the necessity of providing appropriate conditions for individual's cognitive, ethical and social development. Indeed, Vygotsky's position on the genesis of man's higher mental functioning which is said to be hinging on the social, cultural, and historical variables provides a viable solution to the mind-society enigma. This said, we intend to submit some ethnomethodological evidence in support of Vygotsky's claim regarding the genesis of man's higher mental conditioning.

Environmental impact of NORM in Israeli dwellings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neeman, E.; Steiner, V.

2002-01-01

In the last decade the construction of public dwellings in Israel has been intensified. New construction sites are being created and new construction materials, local or imported, are being used. Since the origin of the building materials is essentially the soil, they inherit the radioactive properties of the environment. The level of Natural Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM),from the decay chains of the ubiquitous radio nuclides U 238 ,Th 232 ,U 235 and K 40 ,as well as artificial radioisotopes like Cs 137 ,in building materials needs to be controlled, in order to limit the gamma and Radon radiation dose of the general public in dwellings. The Ministry of the Environment collaborates with other institutions to evaluate, document and control the NORM content in our environment, based on international standards. The operation of quarries is controlled to ensure a low NORM content in raw building materials. The use of bottom and fly ash, abundantly produced in electrical power stations, in constructions is also being controlled. A new Israeli standard controls the NORM content in building materials such as to limit the radiation dose in dwellings from this practice to 0.45 mSv /year. Special construction solutions are developed and used in areas with high Radon concentration in the soil. The aim is to maintain the Radon concentration in dwellings below the Action Limit of 200 Bq/m 3

Socio-cultural barriers to the development of a sustainable energy system - the case of hydrogen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Lars Kjerulf; Andersen, Anne Holst

Any transition to a more sustainable energy system, radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is bound to run in to a host of different barriers - technological and economic, but also socio-cultural. This will also be the case for any large-scale application of hydrogen as energy carrier......, especially if the system is going to be based on renewable energy sources. The aim of these research notes is to review and discuss major socio-cultural barriers to new forms of energy supply in general and to hydrogen specifically. Reaching sufficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions may require more...

Critical Socio-Cultural Elements of the Intercultural Endeavour of English Teaching in Colombian Rural Areas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Ximena Bonilla

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This article reports a study done with five English language teachers in Colombian rural areas. Questionnaires and interviews were used to see how these teachers understand their professional practice considering the contextual features of their regional workplaces. Amongst the findings, we noticed that these teachers have to mediate between local and global tensions and also deal with socio-cultural matches and mismatches in their labours. It is hoped this work raises awareness of critical socio-cultural factors involved in the teaching of English in rural settings and of the complexity of its intercultural dimension.

Psycholinguistic norms for 320 fixed expressions (idioms and proverbs) in French.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonin, Patrick; Méot, Alain; Boucheix, Jean-Michel; Bugaiska, Aurélia

2018-05-01

We provide psycholinguistic norms for a new set of 160 French idiomatic expressions and 160 proverbs: knowledge, predictability, literality, compositionality, subjective and objective frequency, familiarity, age of acquisition (AoA) and length. Different analyses (reliability, descriptive statistics and correlations) performed on the norms are reported and discussed. The norms can be downloaded as Supplemental Material .

Gender Norms and Retaliatory Violence against Spouses and Acquaintances

Science.gov (United States)

Feld, Scott L.; Felson, Richard B.

2008-01-01

This article examines an experiment embedded within a nationally representative survey of adult Americans to investigate gender norms regarding retaliatory violence between spouses and acquaintances. Contrary to claims that societal norms permit violence within marriage, respondents disapproved of retaliatory violence against spouses more than…

Implantation of licensing norm for industrial radiography installations - Norm CNEN-NE-604 Rev.1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heilbron Filho, P.F.L.; Oliveira, S.M.V. de.

1988-04-01

The results of audits carried out by DIN/CNEN (Department of Nuclear Installations) in firms of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, that use industrial radiography for implantation of the norm of installation licensing, are presented. (M.C.K.) [pt

Cultural differences in perceived social norms and social anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinrichs, Nina; Rapee, Ronald M; Alden, Lynn A; Bögels, Susan; Hofmann, Stefan G; Oh, Kyung Ja; Sakano, Yuji

2006-08-01

Cultural considerations in social anxiety are a rarely investigated topic although it seems likely that differences between countries in social norms may relate to the extent of social anxiety. The present study investigated individuals' personal and perceived cultural norms and their relation to social anxiety and fear of blushing. A total of 909 participants from eight countries completed vignettes describing social situations and evaluated the social acceptability of the behavior of the main actor both from their own, personal perspective as well as from a cultural viewpoint. Personal and cultural norms showed somewhat different patterns in comparison between types of countries (individualistic/collectivistic). According to reported cultural norms, collectivistic countries were more accepting toward socially reticent and withdrawn behaviors than was the case in individualistic countries. In contrast, there was no difference between individualistic and collectivistic countries on individuals' personal perspectives regarding socially withdrawn behavior. Collectivistic countries also reported greater levels of social anxiety and more fear of blushing than individualistic countries. Significant positive relations occurred between the extent to which attention-avoiding behaviors are accepted in a culture and the level of social anxiety or fear of blushing symptoms. These results provide initial evidence that social anxiety may be related to different cultural norms across countries.

Personal Moral Norms and Attitudes Toward Endangered Species Policies on Private Land

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leigh Raymond

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Research across multiple disciplines has shown that personal moral norms can play an important role in shaping individuals′ attitudes and behaviour. Despite this, we know relatively little about patterns of support among landowners for either a personal moral norm favouring a strong, ′intrinsic′ right of private ownership, or a moral duty to prevent extinction. In addition, we know even less about the ability of such norms to predict attitudes toward species protection on private lands, especially for non-charismatic species with few qualities that typically generate positive attitudes for conservation. Results from a mail survey of central Indiana landowners suggest broad support for a personal moral norm favouring a strong, ′intrinsic′ right of ownership as well as a personal moral norm to prevent extinction, and that these norms are better predictors of attitudes toward endangered species policies than partisan identification, identification as an environmentalist, strong religious beliefs, or several other demographic factors. The results suggest that those seeking to influence landowner attitudes toward species protection policies should pay closer attention to the influence of these personal moral norms.

Statistical convergence of double sequences in intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mursaleen, M.; Mohiuddine, S.A.

2009-01-01

Recently, the concept of intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces was introduced by Saadati and Park [Saadati R, Park JH. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 2006;27:331-44]. Karakus et al. [Karakus S, Demirci K, Duman O. Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 2008;35:763-69] have quite recently studied the notion of statistical convergence for single sequences in intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces. In this paper, we study the concept of statistically convergent and statistically Cauchy double sequences in intuitionistic fuzzy normed spaces. Furthermore, we construct an example of a double sequence to show that in IFNS statistical convergence does not imply convergence and our method of convergence even for double sequences is stronger than the usual convergence in intuitionistic fuzzy normed space.

Basic Behavioral Science Research for Mental Health. Sociocultural and Environmental Processes.

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American Psychologist, 1996

1996-01-01

Provides an overview of accomplishments in sociocultural and cross-cultural research and explores how culture influences the course of mental illness. The influence of race and ethnicity on mental health within a multicultural society is discussed as well as the influences of socioeconomic status, changing work roles, communities, and local…

A common fixed point for operators in probabilistic normed spaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghaemi, M.B.; Lafuerza-Guillen, Bernardo; Razani, A.

2009-01-01

Probabilistic Metric spaces was introduced by Karl Menger. Alsina, Schweizer and Sklar gave a general definition of probabilistic normed space based on the definition of Menger [Alsina C, Schweizer B, Sklar A. On the definition of a probabilistic normed spaces. Aequationes Math 1993;46:91-8]. Here, we consider the equicontinuity of a class of linear operators in probabilistic normed spaces and finally, a common fixed point theorem is proved. Application to quantum Mechanic is considered.

The Twist Tensor Nuclear Norm for Video Completion.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Wenrui; Tao, Dacheng; Zhang, Wensheng; Xie, Yuan; Yang, Yehui

2017-12-01

In this paper, we propose a new low-rank tensor model based on the circulant algebra, namely, twist tensor nuclear norm (t-TNN). The twist tensor denotes a three-way tensor representation to laterally store 2-D data slices in order. On one hand, t-TNN convexly relaxes the tensor multirank of the twist tensor in the Fourier domain, which allows an efficient computation using fast Fourier transform. On the other, t-TNN is equal to the nuclear norm of block circulant matricization of the twist tensor in the original domain, which extends the traditional matrix nuclear norm in a block circulant way. We test the t-TNN model on a video completion application that aims to fill missing values and the experiment results validate its effectiveness, especially when dealing with video recorded by a nonstationary panning camera. The block circulant matricization of the twist tensor can be transformed into a circulant block representation with nuclear norm invariance. This representation, after transformation, exploits the horizontal translation relationship between the frames in a video, and endows the t-TNN model with a more powerful ability to reconstruct panning videos than the existing state-of-the-art low-rank models.

ADHD Rating Scale-IV: Checklists, Norms, and Clinical Interpretation

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Pappas, Danielle

2006-01-01

This article reviews the "ADHD Rating Scale-IV: Checklist, norms, and clinical interpretation," is a norm-referenced checklist that measures the symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) according to the diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric…

The formation of group norms in computer-mediated communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Postmes, T; Spears, R; Lea, M

The formation of group norms in computer-mediated communication (CMC) was examined among students who used e-mail as part of a course. A network analysis of group structures revealed that (a) content and form of communication is normative, group norms defining communication patterns within groups,

A towel less: social norms enhance pro-environmental behavior in hotels.

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Reese, Gerhard; Loew, Kristina; Steffgen, Georges

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that normative appeals to engage in environmentally friendly behavior were most effective when they were accompanied by a provincial norm (e.g., when norms matched individuals' immediate situational circumstances). Analyzing hotel guests' towel-use during their stay, the current study tests whether messages employing provincial norms were more effective in reducing towel-use than standard environmental messages. In line with previous findings, guests of two hotels used significantly fewer towels when provincial normative appeals--rather than standard environmental messages--were communicated. These findings corroborate to the body of research demonstrating the power of social norms on environmental behavior.

Negative-norm states, superselection rules, and the lepton family

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crawford, J.P.; Barut, A.O.

1983-01-01

Field theories containing states of both positive and negative norm are considered. With the correct definition of the number operators for the quantum fields, all physical quantities are rendered canonically normalized. If the theory admits a global symmetry leading to a superselection rule which forbids transitions between positive- and negative-norm states, then the negative-norm states are allowed to be physical. Specifically, a spinor theory with higher-order field equations and multiple excitations is considered and applied to the charged lepton system: e,μ,tau. In this model, the negative norm of the muon state allows us to understand the nonexistence of μ→eγ decay. For minimal coupling, the theory is renormalizable and equivalent to three separate fermion electrodynamics with the additional prediction of equal charge for the leptons. A further anomalous magnetic moment coupling can only allow one of the decays tau→μγ or tau→eγ

Regulation of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) -- an international perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davis, M.W.

1997-01-01

Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) was first recognized as a potential problem as long ago as 1904 in the oil fields of Canada. NORM later became an issue in the North Sea oil and gas production facilities in the early 1980's and became more widely recognized in the United States in 1986 during a routine well workover in the state of Mississippi. NORM contamination of oil and gas industry production equipment has since been identified world wide. The United States, including Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico region, the North Sea region, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and several Middle Eastern countries have all reported NORM contamination. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the international regulations or guidelines that have been promulgated concerning NORM in the oil and gas industry. Additionally, the impact of these regulations or guidelines on non-oil and gas industries will also be discussed. A comparison of these regulations or guidelines to those generally found in the United States shall be drawn

The Integration of Cognitive and Sociocultural Theories of Literacy Development: Why? How?

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Davidson, Katherine

2010-01-01

Cognitive and sociocultural theories of literacy development are historically considered incommensurable in practice and in research. Cognitivists view literacy development as a succession of qualitatively varied skills whereas socioculturalists view literacy as socially and culturally embedded. Traditional educational discourses tend to reflect…

Socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development among fifth graders in Peru

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morales Silva, S.L.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2011-01-01

In this study, the socio-cultural variation in reading comprehension development was examined in 331 fifth graders from schools in Lima, Peru. Reading comprehension was measured using an adaptation of the PIRLS Reading Literacy test. The fifth graders' reading comprehension results, measured over

Socio-cultural predictors of reading literacy in fourth graders in Lima, Peru

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morales Silva, S.L.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2008-01-01

This study investigates socio-cultural cognitive literacy predictors for reading literacy (RL), tested in 314 fourth graders from two different levels of social economic status in Lima, Peru. The following variables were tested as predictors: word decoding, vocabulary, motivation to read, reading

Cosmopolitanism, Custom, and Complexity: Kant`s Cosmopolitan Norms in Action

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Tracey Leigh Dowdeswell

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Immanuel Kant's Cosmopolitanism has come to stand alongside Political Realism and Liberal Internationalism as one of three broad theories of ethics in international relations. Yet Cosmopolitanism has been subjected to criticisms that the universal norms identified by Kant - including such norms as hospitality, reciprocity, and publicity (transparency and free political participation - are Western and Eurocentric in nature, incompatible with cultural pluralism, and lack the justification and legitimacy for the broad-based consensus required for a Cosmopolitan political sphere to emerge among the world’s diverse peoples. This paper seeks to address these criticisms of Cosmopolitanism by studying examples of Cosmopolitan norms in action. These examples have been drawn from diverse regions around the globe to represent self-organized, 'self-legislating', civil societies that have themselves developed the rules that guide their behaviour and the terms of their discourse in the absence of a centralized governing authority. It is hoped that this approach will contribute to this ongoing debate by demonstrating that Cosmopolitan norms can be found in a diverse array of human communities and cultures, that Cosmopolitan norms are not only compatible with pluralism, but are instrumental in its success and vitality, and, finally, that the flourishing of such civil societies shows that the adoption of Cosmopolitan norms are strongly correlated with successful outcomes and well-being.

Learning motivation and giftedness in sociocultural diverse Latin America and the Caribbean societies

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Sheyla Blumen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This theoretical review aims to integrate state-of-the-art learning motivation theoretical concepts within the context of gifted and talent development models for native children living in Latin America and the Caribbean sociocultural diverse societies. Motivation as a determinant factor and a promoter of gifted achievement is analyzed. Also the relation between motivation, outstanding performance and underachievement is discussed and tendencies found in social-emotional development of the gifted linked to motivation are explored. Final remarks are given on the significant role of motivation in the achievement of gifted and talented children living under diverse socio-cultural influences that bias their performance on standardized measures. Recommendations highlight the importance of further research, in order to reach a convergence of theoretical and practical elements needed to promote Latin American children's talent.

The motivational roots of norms for environmentally responsible behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thøgersen, John

2009-01-01

-reported behavior and the person's reasons and motives for performing the behavior were measured. The number and types of associations differ depending on the strength of the person's norms and the two types of norms differ in their embeddedness in the person's cognitive structures. With the partial exception...

Part-Time Work and Work Norms in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wielers, Rudi; Raven, Dennis

We argue that in the Netherlands, due to the growth of part-time work, work norms have declined. The mechanism behind this norm change is in the changed organization of family life. The increased labour market participation of women has put the traditional organization of family life under pressure.

Body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors in women with and without BED: their relation with eating psychopathology.

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Bautista-Díaz, M L; Franco-Paredes, K; Mancilla-Díaz, J M; Alvarez-Rayón, G; López-Aguilar, X; Ocampo Téllez-Girón, T; Soto-González, Y

2012-06-01

The goal of the present study was to assess the role of body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors on eating psychopathology in women with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and women without BED. Seventy obese women consecutively evaluated participated: 35 with BED and 35 without BED who attended for the first time in a weight loss program. All participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including: Body Shape Questionnaire, Questionnaire of Influences on the Aesthetic Body Shape Model, Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns, Three Factor Eating Questionnaire, and they were interviewed with the Interview for the Diagnosis of Eating Disorder-IV. The Body Mass Index, Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Body Fat were calculated. The results showed that 21% of obese women who participated in a weight reduction program met BED criteria. The scores of body dissatisfaction, influences of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology were higher in women with BED compared with women without BED. In the same way, significantly stronger correlations were found among influences of socio-cultural factors, specifically, influence of advertisement, social relations and eating psychopathology in women with BED than women without BED. It is concluded that the high body dissatisfaction as well as stronger associations among influence of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology could play an important role in women with BED.

The Impact of TV Viewing Motivations on Psychological and Sociocultural Adjustment.

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Chen, Guo-Ming

A study examined the impact of TV viewing motivations on 126 Asian students' psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Subjects were enrolled in a midsize university in the New England area. TV viewing motivation was measured by A. M. Rubin's TV Viewing Motivations Scale. Psychological adjustment was measured by W. Zung's Self Rating Depression…

SOCIOCULTURAL INTEGRATION AS A TOOL FOR CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT RESOLUTION: THE CASE OF THE NORTH CAUCASUS

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M. E. Popov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper is devoted to research of sociocultural integration as a tool for resolving regional conflicts. The modern theory of conflict resolution focuses on the ability of the sociocultural integration in the transformation of destructive identity-based conflicts into conflicts of interest. The author considers the systemic factors of the identity-based conflicts and emphasizes destabilizing role of the politicization of ethnicity. Ethnic mobilization, social inequalities, economic polarization and civic identity crisis are structural factors that determine the acuity of ethnic tension and escalation of regional identity conflicts as a result. Contradictions between the modernization system and social disintegration are the primary source of identity conflicts in theNorth Caucasus. Regionalization takes conflictogenic form in this case, i.e. the specifics of regional conflicts is associated with a conflict of static (traditionalization and dynamic (modernization types of social propagation. Structurally, escalation of violence in regional conflicts is determined by the intensity and scope of ethnic mobilization and social dissatisfaction as necessary conditions of a collision. Regional conflicts affect existentially meaningful collective values and group identities, that is why the participants are involved emotionally into identification conflicts; due to their emotional charge and irrationality, identity conflicts are no longer a means of overcoming social frustrations, but a destructive goal in itself, i.e. ethnicity polarization and negative cultural stereotypes in perceiving “the others” play a key role in initiating such conflicts. The following must be considered for discussing anti-conflict mechanisms of sociocultural integration in theNorth Caucasus. First, sociocultural integration is a political project with its content determined to a wide extent by defense challenges of the polyethnic Russian society. Second, development of the

'Global' norms and 'local' agency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Björkdahl, Annika; Gusic, Ivan

2015-01-01

This article explores how the 'liberal democratic peace package' is received in post-conflict spaces. As such, it is part of a critical peace research agenda that raises critical questions concerning the quality of peace in many post-conflict societies. A close reading of the peace-building process...... in post-conflict Kosovo provides the backdrop for the theoretical discussion that identifies friction in norm diffusion processes and the different agencies that are generated through encounters between global norms and local practices. We unpack the interplay between the 'global' and the 'local......' in peacebuilding and, through the lens of friction, we reveal the diverse and unequal encounters that produce new power relations. By foregrounding agency, we theorise different agentive subjects in the post-conflict setting, and map local agency from various segments of society that may localise, co-opt or reject...

Sociocultural tailoring of a healthy lifestyle intervention to reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk among Latinos.

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Mudd-Martin, Gia; Martinez, Maria C; Rayens, Mary Kay; Gokun, Yevgeniya; Meininger, Janet C

2013-11-27

Suboptimal lifestyle factors in combination with genetic susceptibility contribute to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk among Latinos. We describe a community-academic collaboration that developed and explored the feasibility of implementing a socioculturally tailored, healthy lifestyle intervention integrating genomics and family history education to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes among Latinos. The community-based participatory research was conducted with communities in Kentucky, which has a rapidly growing Latino population. This growth underscores the need for socioculturally appropriate health resources. Su Corazon, Su Vida (Your Heart, Your Life) is a Spanish-language, healthy lifestyle educational program to reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk among Latinos. Twenty natural leaders from an urban Latino community in Kentucky participated in sociocultural tailoring of the program and development of a genomics and family history module. The tailored program was presented to 22 participants to explore implementation feasibility and assess appropriateness for community use. Preintervention and postintervention assessments of genomic knowledge and lifestyle behaviors and qualitative postintervention evaluations were conducted. Postintervention improvements in health-promoting lifestyle choices and genomic knowledge specific to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes suggested that the program may be effective in reducing risk. Feedback indicated the program was socioculturally acceptable and responsive to community needs. These findings indicated that a tailored healthy lifestyle program integrating genomics and family history education was socioculturally appropriate and may feasibly be implemented to reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk in a Latino community with limited health care resources. The project highlights contributions of community-based processes in tailoring

Workability of the norms of transparency and accountability against ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper discusses the workability of the existing norms of transparency and accountability in the battle against corruption in Nigeria. Incontrovertibly, high level corruption pervades every nook and cranny of the country to the detriment of its citizens. Although anti-corruption norms exist in the Nigerian legal order, high ...

[French norms of imagery for pictures, for concrete and abstract words].

Science.gov (United States)

Robin, Frédérique

2006-09-01

This paper deals with French norms for mental image versus picture agreement for 138 pictures and the imagery value for 138 concrete words and 69 abstract words. The pictures were selected from Snodgrass et Vanderwart's norms (1980). The concrete words correspond to the dominant naming response to the pictorial stimuli. The abstract words were taken from verbal associative norms published by Ferrand (2001). The norms were established according to two variables: 1) mental image vs. picture agreement, and 2) imagery value of words. Three other variables were controlled: 1) picture naming agreement; 2) familiarity of objects referred to in the pictures and the concrete words, and 3) subjective verbal frequency of words. The originality of this work is to provide French imagery norms for the three kinds of stimuli usually compared in research on dual coding. Moreover, these studies focus on figurative and verbal stimuli variations in visual imagery processes.

The empirical study of norms is just what we are missing

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Achourioti, Theodora; Fugard, Andrew J. B.; Stenning, Keith

2014-01-01

This paper argues that the goals people have when reasoning determine their own norms of reasoning. A radical descriptivism which avoids norms never worked for any science; nor can it work for the psychology of reasoning. Norms as we understand them are illustrated with examples from categorical syllogistic reasoning and the “new paradigm” of subjective probabilities. We argue that many formal systems are required for psychology: classical logic, non-monotonic logics, probability logics, relevance logic, and others. One of the hardest challenges is working out what goals reasoners have and choosing and tailoring the appropriate logics to model the norms those goals imply. PMID:25368590

Expectancy and Professional Norms in Legal Translation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Faber, Dorrit; Hjort-Pedersen, Mette

2013-01-01

. These parameters focus on the degree to which the use of explicitation and implicitation is considered to influence meaning transfer, authentic English legal language and style, and the informative function of the translation in a defined translational situation. Based on Chesterman’s categorization of norms...... perceived norms influence the use of explicitation and implicitation. The findings are based on experiments involving Danish translators and legal experts who were asked to evaluate three different translations into English of the same Danish legal source text on a set of defined parameters...

NORM and the Risk of Internal Contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Syaifudin, Mukh; Iin Kurnia; Yanti Lusiyanti; Siti Nurhayati; Iwiq Indrawati

2003-01-01

The earth and its atmosphere contain various natural radioactive materials known as NORM (naturally occurring radioactive materials) as sources of external and internal radiation exposures to human. The main radionuclides of NORM are uranium and thorium chairs and their progenies. In this paper, it will be discussed briefly about effects of internal contamination these elements which could enter into the body through inhalation and ingestion as well as absorption on the skin. The distribution, excretion and decontamination methods of the radionuclide incorporated in the body are also discussed. (author)

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE INTERPRETATION OF LEGAL NORM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camelia IGNĂTESCU

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The legal norm represents an intellectual creation of the legislator. It is expressed in legal language, according to certain rules of preparation, respecting the grammar rules specific to the language in which it is drawn up, as well as the legislative technique. The final result, thought out and wanted by the author, must be understood in direct relation to his intention. Interpretation of the law concerns the particular significance of the general form and the cognitive value of the information, of grammatical construction that expresses the legal norm.

From Blame to Punishment: Disrupting Prefrontal Cortex Activity Reveals Norm Enforcement Mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckholtz, Joshua W; Martin, Justin W; Treadway, Michael T; Jan, Katherine; Zald, David H; Jones, Owen; Marois, René

2015-09-23

The social welfare provided by cooperation depends on the enforcement of social norms. Determining blameworthiness and assigning a deserved punishment are two cognitive cornerstones of norm enforcement. Although prior work has implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in norm-based judgments, the relative contribution of this region to blameworthiness and punishment decisions remains poorly understood. Here, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and fMRI to determine the specific role of DLPFC function in norm-enforcement behavior. DLPFC rTMS reduced punishment for wrongful acts without affecting blameworthiness ratings, and fMRI revealed punishment-selective DLPFC recruitment, suggesting that these two facets of norm-based decision making are neurobiologically dissociable. Finally, we show that DLPFC rTMS affects punishment decision making by altering the integration of information about culpability and harm. Together, these findings reveal a selective, causal role for DLPFC in norm enforcement: representational integration of the distinct information streams used to make punishment decisions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Conditions for the Emergence of Shared Norms in Populations with Incompatible Preferences

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Helbing, Dirk; Yu, Wenjian; Opp, Karl-Dieter; Rauhut, Heiko

2014-01-01

Understanding norms is a key challenge in sociology. Nevertheless, there is a lack of dynamical models explaining how one of several possible behaviors is established as a norm and under what conditions. Analysing an agent-based model, we identify interesting parameter dependencies that imply when two behaviors will coexist or when a shared norm will emerge in a heterogeneous society, where different populations have incompatible preferences. Our model highlights the importance of randomness, spatial interactions, non-linear dynamics, and self-organization. It can also explain the emergence of unpopular norms that do not maximize the collective benefit. Furthermore, we compare behavior-based with preference-based punishment and find interesting results concerning hypocritical punishment. Strikingly, pressuring others to perform the same public behavior as oneself is more effective in promoting norms than pressuring others to meet one’s own private preference. Finally, we show that adaptive group pressure exerted by randomly occuring, local majorities may create norms under conditions where different behaviors would normally coexist. PMID:25166137

Attitude Ambivalence, Social Norms, and Behavioral Intentions: Developing Effective Antitobacco Persuasive Communications

Science.gov (United States)

Hohman, Zachary P.; Crano, William D.; Niedbala, Elizabeth M.

2018-01-01

This study assessed the moderating effects of attitude ambivalence on the relationship between social norms, attitudes, and behavioral intentions to use tobacco. It was predicted that people would use social norms to reduce attitude ambivalence, and that reduced ambivalence would lead to changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions. To test this hypothesis, participants (N =152) were exposed to persuasive communications designed to influence attitude ambivalence and perceived social norms regarding tobacco use. Analysis indicated that providing a social norm antagonistic to tobacco use significantly reduced ambivalence among participants reading the ambivalence message (p changes in tobacco attitudes from pre- to postpersuasive communications demonstrated a significant decrease in tobacco attitudes only for participants reading the ambivalence message who were provided with the antitobacco use norm (p changes in attitudes toward tobacco. These results point to the important role of social norms in mediating the effects of attitude ambivalence on subsequent behavior in preventative programs targeting tobacco use. PMID:26460476

Attitude ambivalence, social norms, and behavioral intentions: Developing effective antitobacco persuasive communications.

Science.gov (United States)

Hohman, Zachary P; Crano, William D; Niedbala, Elizabeth M

2016-03-01

This study assessed the moderating effects of attitude ambivalence on the relationship between social norms, attitudes, and behavioral intentions to use tobacco. It was predicted that people would use social norms to reduce attitude ambivalence, and that reduced ambivalence would lead to changes in attitudes and behavioral intentions. To test this hypothesis, participants (N = 152) were exposed to persuasive communications designed to influence attitude ambivalence and perceived social norms regarding tobacco use. Analysis indicated that providing a social norm antagonistic to tobacco use significantly reduced ambivalence among participants reading the ambivalence message (p attitudes from pre- to postpersuasive communications demonstrated a significant decrease in tobacco attitudes only for participants reading the ambivalence message who were provided with the antitobacco use norm (p attitudes toward tobacco. These results point to the important role of social norms in mediating the effects of attitude ambivalence on subsequent behavior in preventative programs targeting tobacco use. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Eating for Two? Protocol of an Exploratory Survey and Experimental Study on Social Norms and Norm-Based Messages Influencing European Pregnant and Non-pregnant Women's Eating Behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Bevelander, Kirsten E; Herte, Katharina; Kakoulakis, Catherine; Sanguino, Inés; Tebbe, Anna-Lena; Tünte, Markus R

2018-01-01

The social context is an important factor underlying unhealthy eating behavior and the development of inappropriate weight gain. Evidence is accumulating that powerful social influences can also be used as a tool to impact people's eating behavior in a positive manner. Social norm-based messages have potential to steer people in making healthier food choices. The research field on nutritional social norms is still emerging and more research is needed to gain insights into why some people adhere to social norms whereas others do not. There are indications stemming from empirical studies on social eating behavior that this may be due to ingratiation purposes and uncertainty reduction. That is, people match their eating behavior to that of the norm set by their eating companion(s) in order to blend in and be part of the group. In this project, we explore nutritional social norms among pregnant women. This population is particularly interesting because they are often subject to unsolicited advice and experience social pressure from their environment. In addition, their pregnancy affects their body composition, eating pattern, and psychosocial status. Pregnancy provides an important window of opportunity to impact health of pregnant women and their child. Nevertheless, the field of nutritional social norms among pregnant women is understudied and more knowledge is needed on whether pregnant women use guidelines from their social environment for their own eating behavior. In this project we aim to fill this research gap by means of an exploratory survey (Study 1) assessing information about social expectations, (mis)perceived social norms and the role of different reference groups such as other pregnant women, family, and friends. In addition, we conduct an online experiment (Study 2) testing to what extent pregnant women are susceptible to social norm-based messages compared to non-pregnant women. Moreover, possible moderators are explored which might impact women

A Socio-Cultural Perspective on Children's Early Language: A Family Study

Science.gov (United States)

Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška; Socan, Gregor; Tašner, Veronika

2015-01-01

This study examines the effect of certain socio-cultural factors of the family environment on the language of toddlers and children in early childhood. The sample included 86 families with one- to six-year-old children. The data on the social, economic, and cultural factors of the family environment, parental reading literacy, parental knowledge…