Implementing evidence-based practices in an emergency department: contradictions exposed when prioritising a flow culture.

PubMed

Kirk, Jeanette W; Nilsen, Per

2016-02-01

An emergency department is typically a place of high activity where practitioners care for unanticipated presentations, which yields a flow culture so that actions that secure available beds are prioritised by the practitioners. How does the flow culture in an emergency department influence nurses' use of a research-based clinical guideline and a nutrition screening routine. Ethnographic fieldwork was carried out over three months. The first author followed nurses, medical secretaries and doctors in the emergency department. Data were also collected by means of semi-structured interviews. An activity system analysis, as described in the Cultural Historical Activity Theory, was conducted to identify various contradictions that could exist between different parts of the activity system. The main contradiction identified was that guidelines and screening routines provided a flow stop. Four associated contradictions were identified: insufficient time to implement guidelines; guilty conscience due to perceived nonadherence to evidence-based practices; newcomers having different priorities; and conflicting views of what constituted being a professional. We found that research-supported guidelines and screening routines were not used if they were perceived to stop the patient flow, suggesting that the practice was not fully evidence based. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Nursing Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Culturally related stress, hopelessness, and vulnerability to depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in emerging adulthood.

PubMed

Polanco-Roman, Lillian; Miranda, Regina

2013-03-01

Culturally related experiences are seldom considered in assessing risk for suicidal behavior among emerging adults, despite racial/ethnic differences in suicide attempts. The present study examined the impact of culturally related stressors on hopelessness, symptoms of depression, and suicidal ideation-well-known predictors of suicidal behavior-among emerging adults over time, and whether hopelessness would mediate the relation between culturally related stressors and both depression and ideation. An ethnically diverse sample of 143 emerging adults, ages 18 to 25, completed self-report measures of acculturative stress, perceived discrimination, and depressive symptoms at 1 time point, and self-report measures of ethnic identity, hopelessness, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation 2 to 3years later. Higher baseline acculturative stress and perceived discrimination predicted hopelessness, but not symptoms of depression, when entered simultaneously into a regression analysis. However, there was an indirect relation between these culturally related stressors and depressive symptoms through hopelessness. There was also a direct relation between acculturative stress at baseline and suicidal ideation at follow-up, and hopelessness mediated this relation. However, the indirect relations between culturally related stressors and depression and suicidal ideation through hopelessness were only present at low levels of ethnic identity, but not at average or high levels of ethnic identity. Acculturative stress and perceived discrimination may thus increase vulnerability to depression and suicidal ideation to the extent that they increase hopelessness, but a strong ethnic identity may buffer against this relation. This study highlights the need for incorporating culturally related experiences in assessing risk for suicidal ideation and behavior, particularly among emerging adults from diverse backgrounds. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Emerging technologies and corporate culture at Microsoft: a methodological note.

PubMed

Klein, David; Schmeling, James; Blanck, Peter

2005-01-01

This article explores factors important in the study and examination of corporate culture and change. The particular focus is on the technological methods used to conduct a study of accessible technology and corporate culture at Microsoft Corporation. Reasons for particular approaches are explained. Advantages and challenges of emerging technologies that store and retrieve information in the study of corporate culture are reviewed. 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interculturalism and Informed Consent: Respecting Cultural Differences without Breaching Human Rights

PubMed Central

Ekmekci, Perihan Elif; Arda, Berna

2018-01-01

Interventions in medicine require multicenter clinical trials on a large rather than limited number of subjects from various genetic and cultural backgrounds. International guidelines to protect the rights and well-being of human subjects involved in clinical trials are criticized for the priority they place on Western cultural values. These discussions become manifest especially with regard to the content and methodology of the informed consent procedure. The ethical dilemma emerges from the argument that there are fundamental differences about the concept of respect for the autonomy of individuals in different cultures and religions. Some communities prioritize the consent of community leaders or the head of family – usually men – over the voluntary and free consent of the individual. The aim of this work is to discuss this ethical dilemma to determine a base for a consensus that satisfies the sensibilities of different cultures without damaging the rights and autonomy of human subjects. PMID:29645014

Technologies, Learning and Culture: Some Emerging Themes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lally, Vic; Sclater, Madeleine; Brown, Ken

2018-01-01

This paper reflects on some of the themes emerging from a consideration of recent research at the nexus of technologies, learning and culture. The authors comment on the expansive nature of the concept of learning spaces in papers featuring an investigation of technology enhanced learning (TEL) and communication design studios in the UK and…

The emergence of spontaneous activity in neuronal cultures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orlandi, J. G.; Alvarez-Lacalle, E.; Teller, S.; Soriano, J.; Casademunt, J.

2013-01-01

In vitro neuronal networks of dissociated hippocampal or cortical tissues are one of the most attractive model systems for the physics and neuroscience communities. Cultured neurons grow and mature, develop axons and dendrites, and quickly connect to their neighbors to establish a spontaneously active network within a week. The resulting neuronal network is characterized by a combination of excitatory and inhibitory neurons coupled through synaptic connections that interact in a highly nonlinear manner. The nonlinear behavior emerges from the dynamics of both the neurons' spiking activity and synaptic transmission, together with biological noise. These ingredients give rise to a rich repertoire of phenomena that are still poorly understood, including the emergence and maintenance of periodic spontaneous activity, avalanches, propagation of fronts and synchronization. In this work we present an overview on the rich activity of cultured neuronal networks, and detail the minimal theoretical considerations needed to describe experimental observations.

[The concept of culture from the perspective of emergency victims with migration background and experts in the context of emergency care].

PubMed

Kietzmann, Diana; Hannig, Christian; Kehl, Doris; Schmidt, Silke

2014-08-01

In the field of emergency care there is a lack of conceptual foundations of Intercultural Competence. This study aims to elaborate a practice relevant definition of the term culture in order to develop a qualification training. Interviews were conducted with 43 emergency victims and 20 experts. The analysis was performed based on the statements concerning the individual interpretation of the term culture according to the principles of the qualitative content analysis. The content analysis showed 11 distinguishable categories. Socialisation was a factor frequently mentioned by all persons interviewed. Moreover, emergency victims often linked culture to the fields of behaviour and way of life whilst experts gave priority to functional aspects of culture. A single definition would not be suitable for a common understanding. Rather, several key aspects commonly associated with the term culture should be considered by taking into account complex life environments. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Family Cultural Socialization Practices and Ethnic Identity in College-Going Emerging Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juang, Linda; Syed, Moin

2010-01-01

We examined how family cultural socialization related to the ethnic identity of Asian American, Latino, White, and Mixed-Ethnic emerging adults (N = 225). Greater family cultural socialization was related to greater ethnic identity exploration and commitment. Ethnic minority students reported higher levels of family cultural socialization and…

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

PubMed

Kemmelmeier, Markus

2016-12-01

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

Cultural evolution and emergent group-level traits through social heterosis.

PubMed

Nonacs, Peter; Kapheim, Karen M

2014-06-01

Smaldino proposes emergent properties of human groups, arising when individuals display both differentiation and organization, constitute a novel unit of cultural selection not addressed by current evolutionary theory. We propose existing theoretical frameworks for maintenance of genetic diversity - social heterosis and social genomes - can similarly explain the appearance and maintenance of human cultural diversity (i.e., group-level traits) and collaborative interdependence.

Creativity and the Culturally Different.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindberg, Dormalee H.

This document deals with nurturing creativity in the culturally different. It begins by pointing out that every person has a unique set of experiences and could therefore be considered "culturally different". The same methods are used to encourage creativity in those commonly labelled "culturally different" as are used with any individual. If…

Multilevel animal societies can emerge from cultural transmission

PubMed Central

Cantor, Maurício; Shoemaker, Lauren G.; Cabral, Reniel B.; Flores, César O.; Varga, Melinda; Whitehead, Hal

2015-01-01

Multilevel societies, containing hierarchically nested social levels, are remarkable social structures whose origins are unclear. The social relationships of sperm whales are organized in a multilevel society with an upper level composed of clans of individuals communicating using similar patterns of clicks (codas). Using agent-based models informed by an 18-year empirical study, we show that clans are unlikely products of stochastic processes (genetic or cultural drift) but likely originate from cultural transmission via biased social learning of codas. Distinct clusters of individuals with similar acoustic repertoires, mirroring the empirical clans, emerge when whales learn preferentially the most common codas (conformism) from behaviourally similar individuals (homophily). Cultural transmission seems key in the partitioning of sperm whales into sympatric clans. These findings suggest that processes similar to those that generate complex human cultures could not only be at play in non-human societies but also create multilevel social structures in the wild. PMID:26348688

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

PubMed

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

2017-10-01

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

Emerging Biliteracy and Cross-Cultural Sensitivity in a Language Arts Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reyes, Maria de la Luz; And Others

1993-01-01

Presents overall conclusions from research and case studies of four children who showed indicators of emerging biliteracy and cultural sensitivity in a language arts class where the inherent link between culture and language was evident. Illustrates how the language arts instruction in a bilingual classroom affected children's growth in a second…

Emergence of Shared Intentionality Is Coupled to the Advance of Cumulative Culture

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

There is evidence that the sharing of intentions was an important factor in the evolution of humans’ unique cognitive abilities. Here, for the first time, we formally model the coevolution of jointly intentional behavior and cumulative culture, showing that rapid techno-cultural advance goes hand in hand with the emergence of the ability to participate in jointly intentional behavior. Conversely, in the absence of opportunities for significant techno-cultural improvement, the ability to undertake jointly intentional behavior is selected against. Thus, we provide a unified mechanism for the suppression or emergence of shared intentions and collaborative behavior in humans, as well as a potential cause of inter-species diversity in the prevalence of such behavior. PMID:26516775

Middle East meets West: Negotiating cultural difference in international educational encounters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodall, Helen

2014-10-01

This paper sets out to evaluate a proposed twelve-month programme of development aimed at academic staff at a new university in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The author uses a model of cultural difference proposed by Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede as her starting point. Reference is also made to the work of other researchers and to the views of a number of people with first-hand experience of education in Iraqi Kurdistan. Cultural differences between the Kurdish participants on the proposed programme and its British facilitator are a likely challenge in this kind of project, in particular those associated with collectivist vs. individualist traditions. Focusing on this divide, some marked differences emerge in terms of how learning is viewed and approached in the two different countries. Whilst acknowledging that cultural difference is not confined to national boundaries, the author argues that the degree of collectivism or individualism within a society can be regarded as one of the many significant components of the complex concept of "culture". She does not attempt to offer any empirical evidence to support a "best way" to approach international educational encounters. Rather, the author's aim is to draw some conclusions to inform and facilitate the design and delivery of the proposed programme. At the same time, this paper may also offer some useful insights to those who find themselves in similar situations requiring them to deliver programmes in environments which are culturally removed from their own.

America's Culturally Different Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donelson, Kenneth, Ed.

1969-01-01

To maintain within a national unity the richness of cultural diversity that has made America great, school curriculums should develop in the child a knowledge of the country's varying cultures. Teachers should initiate for children meaningful experiences with other cultures to help them appreciate the differences and similarities among people. One…

Phylogenetic Analysis and Antimicrobial Profiles of Cultured Emerging Opportunistic Pathogens (Phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria) Identified in Hot Springs

PubMed Central

Jardine, Jocelyn Leonie; Mavumengwana, Vuyo

2017-01-01

Hot spring water may harbour emerging waterborne opportunistic pathogens that can cause infections in humans. We have investigated the diversity and antimicrobial resistance of culturable emerging and opportunistic bacterial pathogens, in water and sediment of hot springs located in Limpopo, South Africa. Aerobic bacteria were cultured and identified using 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequencing. The presence of Legionella spp. was investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Isolates were tested for resistance to ten antibiotics representing six different classes: β-lactam (carbenicillin), aminoglycosides (gentamycin, kanamycin, streptomycin), tetracycline, amphenicols (chloramphenicol, ceftriaxone), sulphonamides (co-trimoxazole) and quinolones (nalidixic acid, norfloxacin). Gram-positive Kocuria sp. and Arthrobacter sp. and gram-negative Cupriavidus sp., Ralstonia sp., Cronobacter sp., Tepidimonas sp., Hafnia sp. and Sphingomonas sp. were isolated, all recognised as emerging food-borne pathogens. Legionella spp. was not detected throughout the study. Isolates of Kocuria, Arthrobacter and Hafnia and an unknown species of the class Gammaproteobacteria were resistant to two antibiotics in different combinations of carbenicillin, ceftriaxone, nalidixic acid and chloramphenicol. Cronobacter sp. was sensitive to all ten antibiotics. This study suggests that hot springs are potential reservoirs for emerging opportunistic pathogens, including multiple antibiotic resistant strains, and highlights the presence of unknown populations of emerging and potential waterborne opportunistic pathogens in the environment. PMID:28914802

Phylogenetic Analysis and Antimicrobial Profiles of Cultured Emerging Opportunistic Pathogens (Phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria) Identified in Hot Springs.

PubMed

Jardine, Jocelyn Leonie; Abia, Akebe Luther King; Mavumengwana, Vuyo; Ubomba-Jaswa, Eunice

2017-09-15

Hot spring water may harbour emerging waterborne opportunistic pathogens that can cause infections in humans. We have investigated the diversity and antimicrobial resistance of culturable emerging and opportunistic bacterial pathogens, in water and sediment of hot springs located in Limpopo, South Africa. Aerobic bacteria were cultured and identified using 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequencing. The presence of Legionella spp. was investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Isolates were tested for resistance to ten antibiotics representing six different classes: β-lactam (carbenicillin), aminoglycosides (gentamycin, kanamycin, streptomycin), tetracycline, amphenicols (chloramphenicol, ceftriaxone), sulphonamides (co-trimoxazole) and quinolones (nalidixic acid, norfloxacin). Gram-positive Kocuria sp. and Arthrobacter sp. and gram-negative Cupriavidus sp., Ralstonia sp., Cronobacter sp., Tepidimonas sp., Hafnia sp. and Sphingomonas sp. were isolated, all recognised as emerging food-borne pathogens. Legionella spp. was not detected throughout the study. Isolates of Kocuria , Arthrobacter and Hafnia and an unknown species of the class Gammaproteobacteria were resistant to two antibiotics in different combinations of carbenicillin, ceftriaxone, nalidixic acid and chloramphenicol. Cronobacter sp. was sensitive to all ten antibiotics. This study suggests that hot springs are potential reservoirs for emerging opportunistic pathogens, including multiple antibiotic resistant strains, and highlights the presence of unknown populations of emerging and potential waterborne opportunistic pathogens in the environment.

How culture gets embrained: Cultural differences in event-related potentials of social norm violations.

PubMed

Mu, Yan; Kitayama, Shinobu; Han, Shihui; Gelfand, Michele J

2015-12-15

Humans are unique among all species in their ability to develop and enforce social norms, but there is wide variation in the strength of social norms across human societies. Despite this fundamental aspect of human nature, there has been surprisingly little research on how social norm violations are detected at the neurobiological level. Building on the emerging field of cultural neuroscience, we combine noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG) with a new social norm violation paradigm to examine the neural mechanisms underlying the detection of norm violations and how they vary across cultures. EEG recordings from Chinese and US participants (n = 50) showed consistent negative deflection of event-related potential around 400 ms (N400) over the central and parietal regions that served as a culture-general neural marker of detecting norm violations. The N400 at the frontal and temporal regions, however, was only observed among Chinese but not US participants, illustrating culture-specific neural substrates of the detection of norm violations. Further, the frontal N400 predicted a variety of behavioral and attitudinal measurements related to the strength of social norms that have been found at the national and state levels, including higher culture superiority and self-control but lower creativity. There were no cultural differences in the N400 induced by semantic violation, suggesting a unique cultural influence on social norm violation detection. In all, these findings provided the first evidence, to our knowledge, for the neurobiological foundations of social norm violation detection and its variation across cultures.

How culture gets embrained: Cultural differences in event-related potentials of social norm violations

PubMed Central

Mu, Yan; Kitayama, Shinobu; Han, Shihui; Gelfand, Michele J.

2015-01-01

Humans are unique among all species in their ability to develop and enforce social norms, but there is wide variation in the strength of social norms across human societies. Despite this fundamental aspect of human nature, there has been surprisingly little research on how social norm violations are detected at the neurobiological level. Building on the emerging field of cultural neuroscience, we combine noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG) with a new social norm violation paradigm to examine the neural mechanisms underlying the detection of norm violations and how they vary across cultures. EEG recordings from Chinese and US participants (n = 50) showed consistent negative deflection of event-related potential around 400 ms (N400) over the central and parietal regions that served as a culture-general neural marker of detecting norm violations. The N400 at the frontal and temporal regions, however, was only observed among Chinese but not US participants, illustrating culture-specific neural substrates of the detection of norm violations. Further, the frontal N400 predicted a variety of behavioral and attitudinal measurements related to the strength of social norms that have been found at the national and state levels, including higher culture superiority and self-control but lower creativity. There were no cultural differences in the N400 induced by semantic violation, suggesting a unique cultural influence on social norm violation detection. In all, these findings provided the first evidence, to our knowledge, for the neurobiological foundations of social norm violation detection and its variation across cultures. PMID:26621713

School Culture and School Effectiveness in Emergencies: Lessons from Israeli Experience During the Gulf War.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Jo-Ann; Kuint, Sarah

1998-01-01

Examines the variability of Israeli schools' emergency preparedness and response to the Gulf War and the association of school culture with school effectiveness during this emergency. Policy guidelines should include recommendations for diagnosing and identifying dimensions of school culture (including religious beliefs and school ideology) that…

Cultural values associated with substance use among Hispanic emerging adults in Southern California.

PubMed

Escobedo, Patricia; Allem, Jon-Patrick; Baezconde-Garbanati, Lourdes; Unger, Jennifer B

2018-02-01

Hispanic emerging adults are a priority population for substance use prevention, yet few studies have examined whether traditional Hispanic cultural values serve as risk or protective factors for substance use among emerging adults. This study examined the relationship between familism, respeto, fatalism, and substance use among Hispanic emerging adults. Participants (ages 18 to 25) completed surveys indicating identification with familism, respeto, and fatalism, past month use of tobacco, marijuana, hard drugs and binge drinking. Separate logistic regression models examined the association between cultural values and each substance use outcome, controlling for acculturation, age and gender. Among participants (n=1445, mean age=23, 60% female), 21% reported past month cigarette use, 18% reported past month alternative tobacco product (ATP) use, 25% reported past month marijuana use, 44% reported past month binge drinking, and 7% reported past month hard drug use. Higher fatalism scores were associated with increased ATP use. Higher familism scores were associated with binge drinking, while higher respeto scores were associated with decreased binge drinking, marijuana, and hard drug use. These findings suggest that substance use prevention and intervention programs should emphasize how substance use interferes with caring and honoring parents (respeto) and family cohesion and functioning (familism). Programs that highlight these cultural values and beliefs may be beneficial for Hispanic emerging adults and members of other collectivistic cultures. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive Plans for a Culture-Driven Local Development: Emergence as a Tool for Understanding Social Impacts of Projects on Built Cultural Heritage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torre, Stefano Della; Canziani, Andrea

Cultural Heritage is comprehensible within an integrated vision, involving economic, cultural and ethic values, typical of not renewable resources. It is an open system that doesn't correspond just to monuments but is made by the complex interactions of a built environment. The systemic relationships between cultural goods (object, building, landscape), and their environmental context have to be considered of the same importance of the systemic relations established with stakeholders/observers. A first partial answer to Cultural Heritage systemic nature has been the creation of "networks" of cultural institutions, that afterwards have been evolving in "cultural systems" and have been recently followed by "cultural districts". The Cultural District model put forward a precise application for the theory of emergence. But its systemic nature presents also some problematical identifications. For Cultural Heritage the point is not any more limited to "direct" actions. We must consider stakeholders/observers, feedback circuits, emergence of activation of social/cultural/human capital, more than that linked to the architectural design process.

Sex differences in the emergence of leadership during competitions within and between groups.

PubMed

Van Vugt, Mark; Spisak, Brian R

2008-09-01

This experiment investigated potential gender biases in the emergence of leadership in groups. Teams played a public-goods game under conditions of intra- or intergroup competition. We predicted and found a strong preference for female leaders during intragroup competition and male leaders during intergroup competition. Furthermore, during intragroup competition, a female leader was more instrumental than a male leader in raising group investments, but this pattern was reversed during intergroup competition. These findings suggest that particular group threats elicit specific gender-biased leader prototypes. We speculate about the evolutionary and cultural origins of these sex differences in the emergence of leadership.

19 CFR 12.104j - Emergency protection for Iraqi cultural antiquities.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY SPECIAL CLASSES OF MERCHANDISE Cultural Property § 12.104j Emergency... National Library of Iraq, and other locations in Iraq, since the adoption of United Nations Security...

[Out of hospital emergencies towards a safety culture].

PubMed

Cano-del Pozo, M I; Obón-Azuara, B; Valderrama-Rodríguez, M; Revilla-López, C; Brosed-Yuste, C; Fajardo-Trasobares, E; Garcés-Baquero, P; Mateo-Clavería, J; Molina-Estrada, I; Perona-Flores, N; Salcedo-de Dios, S; Tomé-Rey, A

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to measure the degree of safety culture (CS) among healthcare professional workers of an out-of-hospital Emergency Medical Service. Most patient safety studies have been conducted in relation to the hospital rather than pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services. The objective is to analyze the dimensions with lower scores in order to plan futures strategies. A descriptive study using the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) questionnaire. The questionnaire was delivered to all healthcare professionals workers of 061 Advanced Life Support Units of Aragón, during the month of August 2013. The response rate was 55%. Main strengths detected: an adequate number of staff (96%), good working conditions (89%), tasks supported from immediate superior (77%), teamwork climate (74%), and non-punitive environment to report adverse events (68%). Areas for improvement: insufficient training in patient safety (53%) and lack of feedback of incidents reported (50%). The opportunities for improvement identified focus on the training of professionals in order to ensure safer care, while extending the safety culture. Also, the implementation of a system of notification and registration of adverse events in the service is deemed necessary. Copyright © 2014 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Emerging HIV epidemics in Muslim countries: assessment of different cultural responses to harm reduction and implications for HIV control.

PubMed

Todd, Catherine S; Nassiramanesh, Bijan; Stanekzai, Mohammad Raza; Kamarulzaman, Adeeba

2007-12-01

Harm reduction, including needle exchange and opioid substitution therapy, has been demonstrated to reduce high-risk behavior and HIV infection among injection drug users. An increasing number of countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, including those with Muslim majorities, have experienced or are at risk for HIV epidemics initiated by burgeoning injection drug use. Although use of intoxicants is expressly forbidden within Islam, the local culture impacts the interpretation of Islamic law and influences the response to drug misuse, whether punitive or therapeutic. Harm reduction programming has received varying acceptance within this global region, which may be reflected by national trends in HIV prevalence. The purpose of this paper is to examine cultural and religious response to injecting drug use and associated HIV prevalence trends in Malaysia and Iran, with possible application of lessons learned to an emerging situation in Afghanistan.

Role of differential physical properties in emergent behavior of 3D cell co-cultures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolbman, Dan; Das, Moumita

2015-03-01

The biophysics of binary cell populations is of great interest in many biological processes, whether the formation of embryos or the initiation of tumors. During these processes, cells are surrounded by other cell types with different physical properties, often with important consequences. For example, recent experiments on a co-culture of breast cancer cells and healthy breast epithelial cells suggest that the mechanical mismatch between the two cell types may contribute to enhanced migration of the cancer cells. Here we explore how the differential physical properties of different cell types may influence cell-cell interaction, aggregation, and migration. To this end, we study a proof of concept model- a three-dimensional binary system of interacting, active, and deformable particles with different physical properties such as elastic stiffness, contractility, and particle-particle adhesion, using Langevin Dynamics simulations. Our results may provide insights into emergent behavior such as segregation and differential migration in cell co-cultures in three dimensions.

Attitudes of Australian emergency department clinicians toward organ and tissue donation: an analysis of cultural and religious influences.

PubMed

Weiland, Tracey J; Marck, Claudia H; Jelinek, George A; Neate, Sandra L; Hickey, Bernadette B

2013-09-01

To determine Australian emergency department clinicians' cultural and religious barriers to organ and tissue donation (OTD). A national cross-sectional survey of physicians and nurses working in Australian emergency departments. An online questionnaire of 133 items was delivered via e-mail. Responses were received from 599 of 2969 (20%) physicians and 212 of 1026 (21%) nurses. Respondents were generally representative of the colleges. Participants were from 26 cultures and 9 religious groups. Self-rated competence in OTD tasks was low for some minority groups: South American, Caribbean, and Pacific Islanders reported little competence in identifying, referring, and caring for potential donors, introducing OTD to families, and approaching distressed families. Those of Arabic, Jewish, North African, and Middle Eastern background reported low competence in referring and caring for potential donors and comforting distressed families. They reported low support for OTD after cardiac death, low familiarity with OTD processes after cardiac death, and poor familiarity with the coroner's process. Those of Southern Asian background reported low comfort in undertaking OTD processes, poor familiarity with the coroner's process, and low competence in caring for potential donors. Those of Islamic faith reported low competence in identifying potential donors, low support for OTD after cardiac death, and thought that the emergency department was an inappropriate location to identify potential donors. Those of Buddhist and Hindu faiths reported low competence in identifying potential donors. Respondent numbers for members of minority groups were low, thereby limiting the statistical accuracy of results. Among clinicians working in Australian emergency departments, religion and culture may be barriers to facilitating OTD in emergency departments because of the perceptions and attitudes held by particular religious and cultural groups. Improving access to education may address these

What is in a name?: The development of cross-cultural differences in referential intuitions.

PubMed

Li, Jincai; Liu, Longgen; Chalmers, Elizabeth; Snedeker, Jesse

2018-02-01

Past work has shown systematic differences between Easterners' and Westerners' intuitions about the reference of proper names. Understanding when these differences emerge in development will help us understand their origins. In the present study, we investigate the referential intuitions of English- and Chinese-speaking children and adults in the U.S. and China. Using a truth-value judgment task modeled on Kripke's classic Gödel case, we find that the cross-cultural differences are already in place at age seven. Thus, these differences cannot be attributed to later education or enculturation. Instead, they must stem from differences that are present in early childhood. We consider alternate theories of reference that are compatible with these findings and discuss the possibility that the cross-cultural differences reflect differences in perspective-taking strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Butting in vs. being a friend: cultural differences and similarities in the evaluation of imposed social support.

PubMed

Dutton, Yulia E Chentsova

2012-01-01

Imposed social support can be more harmful than helpful due to its potential to threaten the recipient's autonomy. These findings may reflect cultural contexts that foster autonomy (e.g., European American [EA]). Imposed social support may be interpreted more positively in cultural contexts that place emphasis on mutual responsibility for solving problems (e.g., Russian [RU]). We compared EA (n = 128) and RU (n = 125) young adults' reports of recent episodes of support. EAs were more likely than RUs to be satisfied with these interactions, a difference mediated by levels of nondirective support. Cultural differences emerged in interpretations of support. Unsolicited support from family was interpreted more positively by RUs than by EAs. Thus, although nondirective support contributed to support satisfaction across cultural groups, cultural context influenced young adults' interpretations of imposed support.

Within- and between-culture variation: individual differences and the cultural logics of honor, face, and dignity cultures.

PubMed

Leung, Angela K-Y; Cohen, Dov

2011-03-01

The CuPS (Culture × Person × Situation) approach attempts to jointly consider culture and individual differences, without treating either as noise and without reducing one to the other. Culture is important because it helps define psychological situations and create meaningful clusters of behavior according to particular logics. Individual differences are important because individuals vary in the extent to which they endorse or reject a culture's ideals. Further, because different cultures are organized by different logics, individual differences mean something different in each. Central to these studies are concepts of honor-related violence and individual worth as being inalienable versus socially conferred. We illustrate our argument with 2 experiments involving participants from honor, face, and dignity cultures. The studies showed that the same "type" of person who was most helpful, honest, and likely to behave with integrity in one culture was the "type" of person least likely to do so in another culture. We discuss how CuPS can provide a rudimentary but integrated approach to understanding both within- and between-culture variation. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Cultural Competence Training for Law Enforcement Responding to Domestic Violence Emergencies With the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation.

PubMed

Engelman, Alina; Deardorff, Julianna

2016-03-01

To evaluate a training workshop for law enforcement as first responders for the purpose of increasing officers' cultural competency in working with Deaf and hard-of-hearing people (Deaf/HH) during domestic violence (DV) emergencies. This evaluation assesses the efficacy of a 2-hour training workshop for law enforcement. Thirty-four participants completed questionnaires at pre- and postintervention to assess participants' (1) satisfaction with training; (2) skills in responding to Deaf/HH individual(s) in a DV emergency; (3) attitudes toward the Deaf/HH, including bias recognition, self-assessment of cultural competency, and perceived self-efficacy; and (4) knowledge of communication. Focus groups (FGs) were also conducted (n = 6 for FG1, n = 13 for FG2). SPSS software was used to analyze survey data; principal components analysis was conducted on the survey instruments. There were significant differences between pre- and posttests for several targeted outcomes, including knowledge and perceived self-efficacy. Both survey and FG results demonstrated that participants gained cultural competency skills as indicated by changes in attitudes toward the Deaf/HH, both in DV emergencies and in large-scale emergencies. Significant differences were evident between pre and posttest results in terms of knowledge and perceived self-efficacy. Nonetheless, survey participants demonstrated a lack of knowledge about policy and the law. Survey findings also suggest that while a onetime training can improve the perceived self-efficacy of participants, shifting attitudes about the capabilities of the Deaf/HH may require different training strategies. FG participants demonstrated a greater awareness of the complexity of working with this population in a DV emergency. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Mother-infant interaction during the first 3 months: the emergence of culture-specific contingency patterns.

PubMed

Kärtner, Joscha; Keller, Heidi; Yovsi, Relindis D

2010-01-01

This study analyzed German and Nso mothers' auditory, proximal, and visual contingent responses to their infants' nondistress vocalizations in postnatal Weeks 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Visual contingency scores increased whereas proximal contingency scores decreased over time for the independent (German urban middle-class, N = 20) but not the interdependent sociocultural context (rural Nso farmers, N = 24). It seems, therefore, that culture-specific differences in the modal patterns of contingent responsiveness emerge during the 2nd and 3rd months of life. This differential development was interpreted as the result of the interplay between maturational processes associated with the 2-month shift that are selectively integrated and reinforced in culture-specific mother-infant interaction.

Knowledge of Good Blood Culture Sampling Practice among Healthcare Staffs in An Emergency Department - Are We Getting It Right?

PubMed

Chew, K S; Mohd Hashairi, F; Jusoh, A F; Aziz, A A; Nik Hisamuddin, N A R; Siti Asma, H

2013-08-01

Although a vital test, blood culture is often plagued with the problem of contamination and false results, especially in a chaotic emergency department setting. The objectives of this pilot study is to find out the level of understanding among healthcare staffs in emergency department, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) regarding good blood culture sampling practice. All healthcare staffs in emergency department, HUSM who consented to this study were given a set of selfadministered anonymous questionnaire to fill. More than half (53.1%) of the 64 participants are emergency medicine residents. Majority of them (75%) have been working in the emergency medicine, HUSM for more than 2 years. More than half of them were able to answer correctly the amount of blood volume needed for culture in adult and pediatric patients. When asked what are the factors required to improve the true yield as well as to reduce the risk of culture contamination, the four commonest answers given were observing proper aseptic technique during blood sampling, donning sterile glove, proper hand scrubbing as well as ensuring the sterility of the equipments. This study suggests that there is a lack of proper knowledge of good blood culture sampling practice among our healthcare staffs in emergency department.

Preparing for a National Emergency: The Committee on Conservation of Cultural Resources, 1939-1944

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aikin, Jane

2007-01-01

In March 1940 the U.S. National Resources Planning Board established the Committee on Conservation of Cultural Resources to plan for the protection of federal cultural institutions during national emergencies. The committee provided a mechanism to bring officials together to consider protective measures for and evacuation of valuable books,…

The Emergent Practice of Infant Compliance: An Exploration in Two Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reddy, Vasudevi; Liebal, Katja; Hicks, Kerry; Jonnalagadda, Srujana; Chintalapuri, Beena

2013-01-01

Complying with directives is an important indicator of developing cooperativeness and of the awareness of others' intentions for one's own actions. Nonetheless, little is known about the early emergence of compliance. In the present longitudinal study, we explore this phenomenon in naturalistic settings in two cultural groups. Nine middle-class…

Beyond Essentialism: Cultural Differences in Emotions Revisited.

PubMed

Boiger, Michael; Ceulemans, Eva; De Leersnyder, Jozefien; Uchida, Yukiko; Norasakkunkit, Vinai; Mesquita, Batja

2018-02-01

The current research offers an alternative to essentialism for studying cultural variation in emotional experience. Rather than assuming that individuals always experience an emotion in the same way, our starting point was that the experience of an emotion like anger or shame may vary from one instance to another. We expected to find different anger and shame experience types, that is, groups of people who differ in the instances of anger and shame that they experience. We proposed that studying cultural differences in emotional experience means studying differences in the distribution of these types across cultural contexts: There should be systematic differences in the types that are most common in each culture. Students from the United States, Japan, and Belgium (N = 928) indicated their emotional experiences in terms of appraisals and action tendencies in response to 15 hypothetical anger or shame situations. Using an inductive clustering approach, we identified anger and shame types who were characterized by different patterns of anger and shame experience. As expected, we found that the distribution of these types differed across the three cultural contexts: Of the two anger types, one was common in Japan and one in the United States and Belgium; the three shame types were each most prevalent in a different cultural context. Participants' anger and shame types were primarily predicted by their culture of origin (with an accuracy of 72.3% for anger and 74.0% for shame) and not, or much less, by their ethnic origin, socioeconomic status, gender, self-construal, or personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Transmission of Cultural Values among Mexican American Parents and their Adolescent and Emerging Adult Offspring

PubMed Central

Perez-Brena, Norma J.; Updegraff, Kimberly A.; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J.

2015-01-01

The integration of the U.S. and Mexican culture is an important process associated with Mexican-origin youths’ adjustment and family dynamics. The current study examined the reciprocal associations in parents’ and two offspring’s cultural values (i.e., familism and respect) in 246 Mexican-origin families. Overall, mothers’ values were associated with increases in youths’ values five years later. In contrast, youths’ familism values were associated with increases in fathers’ familism values five years later. In addition, developmental differences emerged where parent-to-offspring effects were more consistent for youth transitioning from early to late adolescence than for youth transitioning from middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. Finally, moderation by immigrant-status revealed a youth-to-parent effect for mother-youth immigrant dyads, but not for dyads where youth were U.S.-raised. Our findings highlight the reciprocal nature of parent-youth value socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of these processes through the consideration of familism and respect values. As Mexican-origin youth represent a large and rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, research that advances our understanding of how these youth develop values that foster family cohesion and support are crucial. PMID:25470657

Information and Culture: Cultural Differences in the Perception and Recall of Information from Advertisements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Ji-Hyun

2012-01-01

Information in general is congruent with cultural values because a culture consists of transmitted social knowledge. Cross-cultural research demonstrates that audiences who are fostered by different cultures may have different understandings of information. This research represents a comprehensive cross-cultural study using an experimental method,…

Sex differences in color preferences transcend extreme differences in culture and ecology.

PubMed

Sorokowski, Piotr; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Witzel, Christoph

2014-10-01

At first glance, color preferences might seem to be the most subjective and context-dependent aspects of color cognition. Yet they are not. The present study compares color preferences of women and men from an industrialized and a remote, nonindustrialized culture. In particular, we investigated preferences in observers from Poland and from the Yali in Papua, respectively. Not surprisingly, we found that color preferences clearly differed between the two communities and also between sexes. However, despite the pronounced cultural differences, the way in which men and women differed from each other was almost the same in both cultures. At the same time, this sexual contrast was not specific to biological components of color vision. Our results reveal a pattern of sexual dimorphism that transcends extreme differences in culture and ecology. They point toward strong cross-cultural constraints beyond the biological predispositions of nature and the cultural particularities of nurture.

Personal Narratives: Cultural Differences and Clinical Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bliss, Lynn S.; McCabe, Allyssa

2008-01-01

A study was conducted to examine the misdiagnosis of cultural difference deficits and how mistaking deficits in narrative production for cultural differences can be avoided. Findings reveal the implications for intervention.

Cross-cultural Temperamental Differences in Infants, Children, and Adults in the United States of America and Finland

PubMed Central

Gaias, Larissa M.; Gartstein, Maria A.; Fisher, Philip A.; Putnam, Samuel P.; Räikkönen, Katri; Komsi, Niina

2012-01-01

Cross-cultural differences in temperament were investigated between infants (n = 131, 84 Finns), children (n = 653, 427 Finns), and adults (n = 759, 538 Finns) from the United States of America and Finland. Participants from both cultures completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, Childhood Behavior Questionnaire, and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Across all ages, Americans received higher ratings on temperamental fearfulness than Finnish individuals, and also demonstrated higher levels of other negative affects at several time points. During infancy and adulthood, Finns tended to score higher on positive affect and elements of temperamental effortful control. Gender differences consistent with prior studies emerged cross-culturally, and were found to be more pronounced in the U.S. during childhood and in Finland during adulthood. PMID:22428997

Learner Cultures and Corporate Cultural Differences in E-Learning Behaviors in the IT Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swierczek, Fredric William; Bechter, Clemens; Chankiew, Jeerawan

2012-01-01

Corporate cultural values have a major influence on learning. For learning to be effective it must be adapted to the cultural context in which it takes place. E-learning neither eliminates cultural differences nor is it culture free. This study focuses on two major Indian IT companies with different Corporate Cultures sharing the same expected…

The culture of patient safety from the perspective of the pediatric emergency nursing team.

PubMed

Macedo, Taise Rocha; Rocha, Patricia Kuerten; Tomazoni, Andreia; Souza, Sabrina de; Anders, Jane Cristina; Davis, Karri

2016-01-01

To identify the patient safety culture in pediatric emergencies from the perspective of the nursing team. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey research study with a sample composed of 75 professionals of the nursing team. Data was collected between September and November 2014 in three Pediatric Emergency units by applying the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture instrument. Data were submitted to descriptive analysis. Strong areas for patient safety were not found, with areas identified having potential being: Expectations and actions from supervisors/management to promote patient safety and teamwork. Areas identified as critical were: Non-punitive response to error and support from hospital management for patient safety. The study found a gap between the safety culture and pediatric emergencies, but it found possibilities of transformation that will contribute to the safety of pediatric patients. Nursing professionals need to become protagonists in the process of replacing the current paradigm for a culture focused on safety. The replication of this study in other institutions is suggested in order to improve the current health care scenario. Identificar a cultura de segurança do paciente em emergências pediátricas, na perspectiva da equipe de enfermagem. Pesquisa quantitativa, tipo survey transversal. Amostra composta por 75 profissionais da equipe de enfermagem. Dados coletados entre setembro e novembro de 2014, em três Emergências Pediátricas, aplicando o instrumento Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture. Dados submetidos à análise descritiva. Não foram encontradas áreas de força para a segurança do paciente, sendo identificadas áreas com potencial de assim se tornarem: Expectativas e ações do supervisor/chefia para promoção da segurança do paciente e Trabalho em equipe. Como área crítica identificaram-se: Resposta não punitiva ao erro e Apoio da gestão hospitalar para segurança do paciente. O estudo apontou distanciamento

Are They Thinking Differently: A Cross-Cultural Study on the Relationship of Thinking Styles and Emerging Roles in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gu, Xiaoqing; Wang, Huawen; Mason, Jon

2017-01-01

Numerous studies have recognized collaboration as an effective way of learning. When collaboration involves students from different cultural backgrounds, a question arises: "Will cultural differences influence the manner in which roles are adopted within collaborative learning?" In this study, a correlation analysis was used to explore…

Being in-between: A model of cultural identity negotiation for emerging adult immigrants.

PubMed

Cohen, Julie A; Kassan, Anusha

2018-03-01

This qualitative study explored the cultural identity negotiation of young adult immigrants. Using a grounded theory research design, 10 semistructured interviews were conducted with emerging adult immigrants (EAI), ages 19-27. Results yielded a substantive model of cultural identity negotiation (MCIN) for EAI and posited that One's Motivation and Sense of Agency to Negotiate Cultural Identity is at the core of how participants navigate their cultural identities. This model included 6 major categories: (a) Family Cultural Rigidity ; (b) Connections Specific to Canada ; (c) Connection to a Same Cultured Community ; (d) Sense of Permanency ; (e) Desire to Preserve Culture of Origin ; (f) Desire to Fit in to Canadian Culture , as well as 2 overarching factors ( Dimension of Time and Dimension of Age ), which were found to be influential on participants' cultural identity negotiation. The model also included the identification of 4 approaches to cultural identity negotiation: (a) Blended; (b) Dual; (c) Disconnected; and (d) Intermediate. The MCIN for EAI is discussed in terms of the current literature on cultural identity formation as well as implications for counseling psychology training and practice. Recommendations for further research are also suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing Cultural Orientation, Cultural Fit, and Help-Seeking Attitudes of Latina Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gloria, Alberta M.; Castellanos, Jeanett; Segura-Herrera, Theresa A.; Mayorga, Melissa

2010-01-01

This study assessed the influence of cultural orientation and cultural ft of 121 Latina undergraduates' help-seeking attitudes. Mexican and Anglo orientation, cultural congruity, and perceptions of the university environment did not predict help-seeking attitudes; however, differences emerged by class standing and self-reported previous counseling…

Even subtle cultural differences affect face tuning.

PubMed

Pavlova, Marina A; Heiz, Julie; Sokolov, Alexander N; Fallgatter, Andreas J; Barisnikov, Koviljka

2018-01-01

Culture shapes social cognition in many ways. Yet cultural impact on face tuning remains largely unclear. Here typically developing females and males from the French-speaking part of Switzerland were presented with a set of Arcimboldo-like Face-n-Food images composed of food ingredients and in different degree resembling a face. The outcome had been compared with previous findings obtained in young adults of the South-West Germany. In that study, males exhibit higher thresholds for face tuning on the Face-n-Food task than females. In Swiss participants, no gender differences exist in face tuning. Strikingly, males from the French-speaking part of Switzerland possess higher sensitivity to faces than their German peers, whereas no difference in face tuning occurs between females. The outcome indicates that even relatively subtle cultural differences as well as culture by gender interaction can modulate social cognition. Clarification of the nature of cultural impact on face tuning as well as social cognition at large is of substantial value for understanding a wide range of neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Transmission of cultural values among Mexican-origin parents and their adolescent and emerging adult offspring.

PubMed

Perez-Brena, Norma J; Updegraff, Kimberly A; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J

2015-06-01

The integration of the U.S. and Mexican culture is an important process associated with Mexican-origin youths' adjustment and family dynamics. The current study examined the reciprocal associations in parents' and two offspring's cultural values (i.e., familism and respect) in 246 Mexican-origin families. Overall, mothers' values were associated with increases in youths' values 5 years later. In contrast, youths' familism values were associated with increases in fathers' familism values 5 years later. In addition, developmental differences emerged where parent-to-offspring effects were more consistent for youth transitioning from early to late adolescence than for youth transitioning from middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. Finally, moderation by immigrant status revealed a youth-to-parent effect for mother-youth immigrant dyads, but not for dyads where youth were U.S.-raised. Our findings highlight the reciprocal nature of parent-youth value socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of these processes through the consideration of familism and respect values. As Mexican-origin youth represent a large and rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, research that advances our understanding of how these youth develop values that foster family cohesion and support is crucial. © 2014 Family Process Institute.

Cross-cultural temperamental differences in infants, children, and adults in the United States of America and Finland.

PubMed

Gaias, Larissa M; Räikkönen, Katri; Komsi, Niina; Gartstein, Maria A; Fisher, Philip A; Putnam, Samuel P

2012-04-01

Cross-cultural differences in temperament were investigated between infants (n = 131, 84 Finns), children (n = 653, 427 Finns), and adults (n = 759, 538 Finns) from the United States of America and Finland. Participants from both cultures completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire. Across all ages, Americans received higher ratings on temperamental fearfulness than Finnish individuals, and also demonstrated higher levels of other negative affects at several time points. During infancy and adulthood, Finns tended to score higher on positive affect and elements of temperamental effortful control. Gender differences consistent with prior studies emerged cross-culturally, and were found to be more pronounced in the US during childhood and in Finland during adulthood. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

The patient safety culture as perceived by staff at two different emergency departments before and after introducing a flow-oriented working model with team triage and lean principles: a repeated cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Burström, Lena; Letterstål, Anna; Engström, Marie-Louise; Berglund, Anders; Enlund, Mats

2014-07-09

Patient safety is of the utmost importance in health care. The patient safety culture in an institution has great impact on patient safety. To enhance patient safety and to design strategies to reduce medical injuries, there is a current focus on measuring the patient safety culture. The aim of the present study was to describe the patient safety culture in an ED at two different hospitals before and after a Quality improvement (QI) project that was aimed to enhance patient safety. A repeated cross-sectional design, using the Hospital Survey On Patient Safety Culture questionnaire before and after a quality improvement project in two emergency departments at a county hospital and a university hospital. The questionnaire was developed to obtain a better understanding of the patient safety culture of an entire hospital or of specific departments. The Swedish version has 51 questions and 15 dimensions. At the county hospital, a difference between baseline and follow-up was observed in three dimensions. For two of these dimensions, Team-work within hospital and Communication openness, a higher score was measured at the follow-up. At the university hospital, a higher score was measured at follow-up for the two dimensions Team-work across hospital units and Team-work within hospital. The result showed changes in the self-estimated patient safety culture, mainly regarding team-work and communication openness. Most of the improvements at follow-up were seen by physicians, and mainly at the county hospital.

Immigrant nurses' perceptions on cultural differences-based job concerns: A phenomenological study in Shanghai China.

PubMed

Yu, Haiping; Peng, Youqing; Hung, Yunying; Zhou, Lin

2017-12-07

To explore the experiences of immigrant nurses working in Shanghai, China. With the development of China, population growth has been accelerating. Simultaneously, the number of immigrant nurses in Shanghai has been increasing dramatically. Meanwhile, their turnover rate is abnormally high, primarily because of job concerns stemming from cultural differences. An understanding of immigrant nurses' job concerns caused by cultural differences can be used to help them to work more efficiently and cohesively. We aimed to investigate immigrant nurses' lived experiences regarding job concerns caused by cultural differences in Shanghai, China. This is a phenomenological study. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen immigrant nurses from January-July 2016. Data were collected using audio-taped face-to-face interviews; the narratives were then transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. The following three major themes emerged from the data: "communication difficulties," "work adjustment difficulties" and "life adjustment difficulties." The eight sub-themes within these were as follows: (i) language barrier, (ii) inability to integrate oneself with the local culture, (iii) feelings of unfairness, (iv) difficulty asking for leave, (v) feeling stressed, (vi) not being acclimatised, (vii) feeling helpless and (viii) feeling guilt at being unable to take care of their family. It is important to implement appropriate training programmes on language and cultural adaptation for immigrant nurses. To enhance integrate immigrant nurses into Shanghai's society, more support needs to be provided. Administrators in hospitals should pay attention to immigrant nurses' job concerns that are caused by cultural differences and provide timely and effective assistance. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Developing Cultural Differences in Face Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, David J.; Liu, Shaoying; Rodger, Helen; Miellet, Sebastien; Ge, Liezhong; Caldara, Roberto

2011-01-01

Perception and eye movements are affected by culture. Adults from Eastern societies (e.g. China) display a disposition to process information "holistically," whereas individuals from Western societies (e.g. Britain) process information "analytically." Recently, this pattern of cultural differences has been extended to face…

Action Learning: Cultural Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Gillian; de Vera, Manuel

2015-01-01

The article describes the experience of forming a set in a higher education institution and offers some observations and insights gained from the perspectives of the role of the set adviser, cultural differences and the challenges of attempting to align theory, practice and experience.

Alcohol Use Severity Among Hispanic Emerging Adults in Higher Education: Understanding the Effect of Cultural Congruity.

PubMed

Cano, Miguel Ángel; Vaughan, Ellen L; de Dios, Marcel A; Castro, Yessenia; Roncancio, Angelica M; Ojeda, Lizette

2015-01-01

Identifying and understanding determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college students is an increasingly important public health issue, particularly during emerging adulthood. Studies examining ethnocultural determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college students have focused on direct associations with cultural orientation (e.g., acculturation and enculturation); yet there is a need for research that accounts for the complex interplay of other culturally relevant sociocultural factors. This study examined associations of behavioral acculturation, behavioral enculturation, and cultural congruity (perception of cultural fit between the values of the academic environment and the student's personal values) with alcohol use severity (AUS); and tested if gender moderated those associations. A hierarchical linear regression and moderation analysis were conducted on a sample of 167 Hispanic emerging adults (ages 18-25) enrolled in college. All predictor variables entered in the regression model accounted for 20.9% of the variance in AUS. After controlling for demographic variables and depressive symptoms, behavioral acculturation and enculturation did not have a statistically significant association with AUS. Further, gender did not moderate either of these associations. Conversely, greater cultural congruity was associated with lower reports of AUS. A moderation analysis suggested that cultural congruity predicted lower reports of AUS among men, but not among women. This was the first known study to examine the association of cultural congruity with alcohol use. Findings highlight the value of examining contextual factors of culture and moving beyond reductive measures of cultural orientation.

Cross cultural differences in unconscious knowledge.

PubMed

Kiyokawa, Sachiko; Dienes, Zoltán; Tanaka, Daisuke; Yamada, Ayumi; Crowe, Louise

2012-07-01

Previous studies have indicated cross cultural differences in conscious processes, such that Asians have a global preference and Westerners a more analytical one. We investigated whether these biases also apply to unconscious knowledge. In Experiment 1, Japanese and UK participants memorized strings of large (global) letters made out of small (local) letters. The strings constituted one sequence of letters at a global level and a different sequence at a local level. Implicit learning occurred at the global and not the local level for the Japanese but equally at both levels for the English. In Experiment 2, the Japanese preference for global over local processing persisted even when structure existed only at the local but not global level. In Experiment 3, Japanese and UK participants were asked to attend to just one of the levels, global or local. Now the cultural groups performed similarly, indicating that the bias largely reflects preference rather than ability (although the data left room for residual ability differences). In Experiment 4, the greater global advantage of Japanese rather English was confirmed for strings made of Japanese kana rather than Roman letters. That is, the cultural difference is not due to familiarity of the sequence elements. In sum, we show for the first time that cultural biases strongly affect the type of unconscious knowledge people acquire. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Age differences in personal values: Universal or cultural specific?

PubMed

Fung, Helene H; Ho, Yuan Wan; Zhang, Rui; Zhang, Xin; Noels, Kimberly A; Tam, Kim-Pong

2016-05-01

Prior studies on value development across adulthood have generally shown that as people age, they espouse communal values more strongly and agentic values less strongly. Two studies investigated whether these age differences in personal values might differ according to cultural values. Study 1 examined whether these age differences in personal values, and their associations with subjective well-being, showed the same pattern across countries that differed in individualism-collectivism. Study 2 compared age differences in personal values in the Canadian culture that emphasized agentic values more and the Chinese culture that emphasized communal values more. Personal and cultural values of each individual were directly measured, and their congruence were calculated and compared across age and cultures. Findings revealed that across cultures, older people had lower endorsement of agentic personal values and higher endorsement of communal personal values than did younger people. These age differences, and their associations with subjective well-being, were generally not influenced by cultural values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The development and validation of different decision-making tools to predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter.

PubMed

Müller, Martin; Seidenberg, Ruth; Schuh, Sabine K; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K; Schechter, Clyde B; Leichtle, Alexander B; Hautz, Wolf E

2018-01-01

Patients presenting with suspected urinary tract infection are common in every day emergency practice. Urine flow cytometry has replaced microscopic urine evaluation in many emergency departments, but interpretation of the results remains challenging. The aim of this study was to develop and validate tools that predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter. This retrospective study included all adult patients that presented in a large emergency department between January and July 2017 with a suspected urinary tract infection and had a urine flow cytometry as well as a urine culture obtained. The objective was to identify urine flow cytometry parameters that reliably predict urine culture growth and mixed flora growth. The data set was split into a training (70%) and a validation set (30%) and different decision-making approaches were developed and validated. Relevant urine culture growth (respectively mixed flora growth) was found in 40.2% (7.2% respectively) of the 613 patients included. The number of leukocytes and bacteria in flow cytometry were highly associated with urine culture growth, but mixed flora growth could not be sufficiently predicted from the urine flow cytometry parameters. A decision tree, predictive value figures, a nomogram, and a cut-off table to predict urine culture growth from bacteria and leukocyte count were developed, validated and compared. Urine flow cytometry parameters are insufficient to predict mixed flora growth. However, the prediction of urine culture growth based on bacteria and leukocyte count is highly accurate and the developed tools should be used as part of the decision-making process of ordering a urine culture or starting an antibiotic therapy if a urogenital infection is suspected.

The development and validation of different decision-making tools to predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter

PubMed Central

Seidenberg, Ruth; Schuh, Sabine K.; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.; Schechter, Clyde B.; Leichtle, Alexander B.; Hautz, Wolf E.

2018-01-01

Objective Patients presenting with suspected urinary tract infection are common in every day emergency practice. Urine flow cytometry has replaced microscopic urine evaluation in many emergency departments, but interpretation of the results remains challenging. The aim of this study was to develop and validate tools that predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter. Methods This retrospective study included all adult patients that presented in a large emergency department between January and July 2017 with a suspected urinary tract infection and had a urine flow cytometry as well as a urine culture obtained. The objective was to identify urine flow cytometry parameters that reliably predict urine culture growth and mixed flora growth. The data set was split into a training (70%) and a validation set (30%) and different decision-making approaches were developed and validated. Results Relevant urine culture growth (respectively mixed flora growth) was found in 40.2% (7.2% respectively) of the 613 patients included. The number of leukocytes and bacteria in flow cytometry were highly associated with urine culture growth, but mixed flora growth could not be sufficiently predicted from the urine flow cytometry parameters. A decision tree, predictive value figures, a nomogram, and a cut-off table to predict urine culture growth from bacteria and leukocyte count were developed, validated and compared. Conclusions Urine flow cytometry parameters are insufficient to predict mixed flora growth. However, the prediction of urine culture growth based on bacteria and leukocyte count is highly accurate and the developed tools should be used as part of the decision-making process of ordering a urine culture or starting an antibiotic therapy if a urogenital infection is suspected. PMID:29474463

Leveraging cultural differences to promote educational equality.

PubMed

Brady, Laura M; Germano, Adriana L; Fryberg, Stephanie A

2017-12-01

This paper theorizes that academic interventions will be maximally effective when they are culturally grounded. Culturally grounded interventions acknowledge cultural differences and validate multiple cultural models in a given context. This review highlights the importance of considering culture in academic interventions and draws upon the culture cycle framework to provide a blueprint for those interested in building more efficacious interventions. Specifically, the paper reviews literature in education and psychology to argue: first, when working-class and racial minority students' cultural models are not valued in mainstream academic domains, these students underperform; and second, many current academic interventions intended to improve working-class and racial minority students' academic outcomes could be further enhanced by cultural grounding. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From cultural traditions to cumulative culture: parameterizing the differences between human and nonhuman culture.

PubMed

Kempe, Marius; Lycett, Stephen J; Mesoudi, Alex

2014-10-21

Diverse species exhibit cultural traditions, i.e. population-specific profiles of socially learned traits, from songbird dialects to primate tool-use behaviours. However, only humans appear to possess cumulative culture, in which cultural traits increase in complexity over successive generations. Theoretically, it is currently unclear what factors give rise to these phenomena, and consequently why cultural traditions are found in several species but cumulative culture in only one. Here, we address this by constructing and analysing cultural evolutionary models of both phenomena that replicate empirically attestable levels of cultural variation and complexity in chimpanzees and humans. In our model of cultural traditions (Model 1), we find that realistic cultural variation between populations can be maintained even when individuals in different populations invent the same traits and migration between populations is frequent, and under a range of levels of social learning accuracy. This lends support to claims that putative cultural traditions are indeed cultural (rather than genetic) in origin, and suggests that cultural traditions should be widespread in species capable of social learning. Our model of cumulative culture (Model 2) indicates that both the accuracy of social learning and the number of cultural demonstrators interact to determine the complexity of a trait that can be maintained in a population. Combining these models (Model 3) creates two qualitatively distinct regimes in which there are either a few, simple traits, or many, complex traits. We suggest that these regimes correspond to nonhuman and human cultures, respectively. The rarity of cumulative culture in nature may result from this interaction between social learning accuracy and number of demonstrators. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interplay of differential cell mechanical properties, motility, and proliferation in emergent collective behavior of cell co-cultures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutter, Leo; Kolbman, Dan; Wu, Mingming; Ma, Minglin; Das, Moumita

The biophysics of cell co-cultures, i.e. binary systems of cell populations, is of great interest in many biological processes including formation of embryos, and tumor progression. During these processes, different types of cells with different physical properties are mixed with each other, with important consequences for cell-cell interaction, aggregation, and migration. The role of the differences in their physical properties in their collective behavior remains poorly understood. Furthermore, until recently most theoretical studies of collective cell migration have focused on two dimensional systems. Under physiological conditions, however, cells often have to navigate three dimensional and confined micro-environments. We study a confined, three-dimensional binary system of interacting, active, and deformable particles with different physical properties such as deformability, motility, adhesion, and division rates using Langevin Dynamics simulations. Our findings may provide insights into how the differences in and interplay between cell mechanical properties, division, and motility influence emergent collective behavior such as cell aggregation and segregation experimentally observed in co-cultures of breast cancer cells and healthy breast epithelial cells. This work was partially supported by a Cottrell College Science Award.

Cultural differences in music chosen for pain relief.

PubMed

Good, M; Picot, B L; Salem, S G; Chin, C C; Picot, S F; Lane, D

2000-09-01

Nurses use music therapeutically but often assume that all patients will equally appreciate the same type of music. Cultural differences in music preferences are compared across five pain studies. Music preferences for pain relief are described as the most frequently chosen type of music for each culture. Findings indicate that in four studies, musical choices were related to cultural background (p = .002 to .049). Although the majority in each group chose among the other types of music, Caucasians most frequently chose orchestra music, African Americans chose jazz, and Taiwanese chose harp music. For culturally congruent care, nurses should become aware of cultural differences in music preference and provide culturally specific selections among other music expected to have a therapeutic effect.

Alcohol Use Severity among Hispanic Emerging Adults in Higher Education: Understanding the Effect of Cultural Congruity

PubMed Central

Cano, Miguel Ángel; Vaughan, Ellen L.; de Dios, Marcel A.; Castro, Yessenia; Roncancio, Angelica M.; Ojeda, Lizette

2016-01-01

Background Identifying and understanding determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college students is an increasingly important public health issue, particularly during emerging adulthood. Studies examining ethnocultural determinants of alcohol use behavior among Hispanic college students have focused on direct associations with cultural orientation (e.g., acculturation and enculturation); yet there is a need for research that accounts for the complex interplay of other culturally relevant sociocultural factors. Objectives This study examined associations of behavioral acculturation, behavioral enculturation, and cultural congruity (perception of cultural fit between the values of the academic environment and the student's personal values) with alcohol use severity (AUS); and tested if gender moderated those associations. Methods A hierarchical linear regression and moderation analysis were conducted on a sample of 167 Hispanic emerging adults (ages 18 to 25) enrolled in college. Results All predictor variables entered in the regression model accounted for 20.9% of the variance in AUS. After controlling for demographic variables and depressive symptoms, behavioral acculturation and enculturation did not have a statistically significant association with AUS. Further, gender did not moderate either of these associations. Conversely, greater cultural congruity was associated with lower reports of AUS. A moderation analysis suggested that cultural congruity predicted lower reports of AUS among men, but not among women. Conclusions This was the first known study to examine the association of cultural congruity with alcohol use. Findings highlight the value of examining contextual factors of culture and moving beyond reductive measures of cultural orientation. PMID:26574656

Differences in gene expression profiles between human preimplantation embryos cultured in two different IVF culture media.

PubMed

Kleijkers, Sander H M; Eijssen, Lars M T; Coonen, Edith; Derhaag, Josien G; Mantikou, Eleni; Jonker, Martijs J; Mastenbroek, Sebastiaan; Repping, Sjoerd; Evers, Johannes L H; Dumoulin, John C M; van Montfoort, Aafke P A

2015-10-01

Is gene expression in human preimplantation embryos affected by the medium used for embryo culture in vitro during an IVF treatment? Six days of in vitro culture of human preimplantation embryos resulted in medium-dependent differences in expression level of genes involved in apoptosis, protein degradation, metabolism and cell-cycle regulation. Several human studies have shown an effect of culture medium on embryo development, pregnancy outcome and birthweight. However, the underlying mechanisms in human embryos are still unknown. In animal models of human development, it has been demonstrated that culture of preimplantation embryos in vitro affects gene expression. In humans, it has been found that culture medium affects gene expression of cryopreserved embryos that, after thawing, were cultured in two different media for 2 more days. In a multicenter trial, women were randomly assigned to two culture medium groups [G5 and human tubal fluid (HTF)]. Data on embryonic development were collected for all embryos. In one center, embryos originating from two pronuclei (2PN) zygotes that were not selected for transfer or cryopreservation on Day 2 or 3 because of lower morphological quality, were cultured until Day 6 and used in this study, if couples consented. Ten blastocysts each from the G5 and HTF study groups, matched for fertilization method, maternal age and blastocyst quality, were selected and their mRNA was isolated and amplified. Embryos were examined individually for genome-wide gene expression using Agilent microarrays and PathVisio was used to identify the pathways that showed a culture medium-dependent activity. Expression of 951 genes differed significantly (P < 0.01) between the G5 and HTF groups. Eighteen pathways, involved in apoptosis, metabolism, protein processing and cell-cycle regulation, showed a significant overrepresentation of differentially expressed genes. The DNA replication, G1 to S cell-cycle control and oxidative phosphorylation pathways

Comparison of two different culture conditions for derivation of early hiPSC.

PubMed

Hey, Caroline A B; Saltõkova, Katarina B; Bisgaard, Hanne C; Møller, Lisbeth B

2018-03-30

Different culture-systems for derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) in vitro from human fibroblasts have been established. Here, we compared the efficacy of two different feeder-free culture-systems; Matrigel-coated surfaces in combination with mTeSR1 medium versus Vitronectin-coated surfaces in combination with Essential 8 (E8) medium. The comparison was performed by counting the number of emerging iPSC-looking colonies of re-programmed fibroblasts. The fibroblasts were re-programmed using episomal plasmids expressing OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4, L-MYC, LIN28, and a p53 knock down shP53. Three different fibroblast lines, K40 and K48 from healthy controls and BBS1 from a patient with Bardet-Biedl syndrome, were used in two independent setups. The BBS1 line was used in both setups in combination with K40 and K48 respectively. In all four re-programming experiments, we observed a significantly higher number of emerging colonies with the combination Matrigel/mTeSR1 as compared to the combination Vitronectin/E8. The presence of iPSC was verified by alkaline phosphatase and Tra-1-60 staining. Furthermore, a higher expression of the pluripotency-associated markers NANOG and SOX2 in cells under Matrigel/mTeSR1 conditions compared with Vitronectin/E8 supported the higher proportion of iPSC on Matrigel/mTeSR1 plates. In conclusion, the combination Matrigel/mTeSR1 is more efficient for derivation of iPSC compared to the Vitronectin/E8 combination. © 2018 The Authors. Cell Biology International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Federation of Cell Biology.

Theory and methods in cultural neuroscience

PubMed Central

Hariri, Ahmad R.; Harada, Tokiko; Mano, Yoko; Sadato, Norihiro; Parrish, Todd B.; Iidaka, Tetsuya

2010-01-01

Cultural neuroscience is an emerging research discipline that investigates cultural variation in psychological, neural and genomic processes as a means of articulating the bidirectional relationship of these processes and their emergent properties. Research in cultural neuroscience integrates theory and methods from anthropology, cultural psychology, neuroscience and neurogenetics. Here, we review a set of core theoretical and methodological challenges facing researchers when planning and conducting cultural neuroscience studies, and provide suggestions for overcoming these challenges. In particular, we focus on the problems of defining culture and culturally appropriate experimental tasks, comparing neuroimaging data acquired from different populations and scanner sites and identifying functional genetic polymorphisms relevant to culture. Implications of cultural neuroscience research for addressing current issues in population health disparities are discussed. PMID:20592044

Cross-cultural differences in categorical memory errors.

PubMed

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

2014-06-01

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

Cultural influences on personality.

PubMed

Triandis, Harry C; Suh, Eunkook M

2002-01-01

Ecologies shape cultures; cultures influence the development of personalities. There are both universal and culture-specific aspects of variation in personality. Some culture-specific aspects correspond to cultural syndromes such as complexity, tightness, individualism, and collectivism. A large body of literature suggests that the Big Five personality factors emerge in various cultures. However, caution is required in arguing for such universality, because most studies have not included emic (culture-specific) traits and have not studied samples that are extremely different in culture from Western samples.

Cultural differences among health professionals: a case illustration.

PubMed

Perkins, H S; Supik, J D; Hazuda, H P

1998-01-01

This study illustrates that cultural differences arise among similarly trained health professionals. Health professionals must learn to communicate sensitively with colleagues from other cultures, to respect their values, and to recognize and resolve cultural differences that affect patient care. In this shrinking, multicultural world, health professionals cannot afford the comfortable illusion that all similarly trained practitioners share the same values about the care of patients and professional conduct.

Cultural Differences in Donation Decision-Making.

PubMed

Wang, Yan; Tang, Yi-Yuan; Wang, Jinjun

2015-01-01

Decisions to help those in need are essential for human development and survival. Previous studies have demonstrated the "identified effect", in which one identifiable individual typically invokes stronger feelings of compassion and receives greater aid than statistical victim. However, this preference might be influenced by cultural differences. In the current study, Chinese respondents' ratings of distress and sympathy and their willingness to contribute are greater for a group of sick children than an individual. In the U.S., greater willingness to help and sympathy are elicited by an identified victim in comparison with an unidentified one. The different results may demonstrate the importance of cultural differences when trying to understand people's prosocial behavior.

Cultural Differences in Donation Decision-Making

PubMed Central

Wang, Jinjun

2015-01-01

Decisions to help those in need are essential for human development and survival. Previous studies have demonstrated the “identified effect”, in which one identifiable individual typically invokes stronger feelings of compassion and receives greater aid than statistical victim. However, this preference might be influenced by cultural differences. In the current study, Chinese respondents’ ratings of distress and sympathy and their willingness to contribute are greater for a group of sick children than an individual. In the U.S., greater willingness to help and sympathy are elicited by an identified victim in comparison with an unidentified one. The different results may demonstrate the importance of cultural differences when trying to understand people’s prosocial behavior. PMID:26372014

Individual differences, cultural differences, and dialectic conflict description and resolution.

PubMed

Kim, Kyungil; Markman, Arthur B

2013-01-01

Previous research suggests that members of East Asian cultures show a greater preference for dialectical thinking than do Westerners. This paper attempts to account for these differences in cognition using individual difference variables that may explain variation in performance both within and across cultures. Especially, we propose that the abovementioned cultural differences are rooted in a greater fear of isolation (FOI) in East Asians than in Westerners. To support this hypothesis, in Experiment 1, we manipulated FOI in American participants before having them resolve two conflicts: an interpersonal conflict and a conflict between an individual and an institution. We found that the Americans among whom a high level of FOI had been induced were more likely to look for a dialectical resolution than those among whom a low level had been prompted. The relationship between conflict resolution and FOI was further investigated in Experiment 2, in which FOI was not manipulated. The results indicated that Koreans had higher chronic FOI on average than did the Americans. Compared to the Americans, the Koreans were more likely to resolve the interpersonal conflict dialectically, but did not show the same bias in resolving the person-institution conflict. The differences in the preference for dialectical resolution between FOI conditions in Experiment 1 and cultural groups in Experiment 2 were mediated by FOI. These findings bolster previous research on FOI in showing that chronic levels of FOI are positively related to both preference for dialectical sentences and sensitivity to context. They provide clearer insight into how differences in FOI affect attention and thereby higher-level reasoning such as dialectic description and conflict resolution.

Severe sepsis and septic shock in pre-hospital emergency medicine: survey results of medical directors of emergency medical services concerning antibiotics, blood cultures and algorithms.

PubMed

Casu, Sebastian; Häske, David

2016-06-01

Delayed antibiotic treatment for patients in severe sepsis and septic shock decreases the probability of survival. In this survey, medical directors of different emergency medical services (EMS) in Germany were asked if they are prepared for pre-hospital sepsis therapy with antibiotics or special algorithms to evaluate the individual preparations of the different rescue areas for the treatment of patients with this infectious disease. The objective of the survey was to obtain a general picture of the current status of the EMS with respect to rapid antibiotic treatment for sepsis. A total of 166 medical directors were invited to complete a short survey on behalf of the different rescue service districts in Germany via an electronic cover letter. Of the rescue districts, 25.6 % (n = 20) stated that they keep antibiotics on EMS vehicles. In addition, 2.6 % carry blood cultures on the vehicles. The most common antibiotic is ceftriaxone (third generation cephalosporin). In total, 8 (10.3 %) rescue districts use an algorithm for patients with sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock. Although the German EMS is an emergency physician-based rescue system, special opportunities in the form of antibiotics on emergency physician vehicles are missing. Simultaneously, only 10.3 % of the rescue districts use a special algorithm for sepsis therapy. Sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock do not appear to be prioritized as highly as these deadly diseases should be in the pre-hospital setting.

Finding the Authentic Self in a Communal Culture: Developmental Goals in Emerging Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scharf, Miri; Mayseless, Ofra

2010-01-01

Finding and cultivating a sense of authentic self is an important life goal for emerging adults. In collectivist cultures, youngsters might need to distance themselves to find and discover their authentic selves separate of the expectations of society and significant others. Creating an autonomous time bubble that focuses on the present allows…

The Politics of Cultural Difference in Second Language Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubota, Ryuko

2004-01-01

Cultural difference is an important topic of discussion in second language education. Yet cultural difference is often conceptualized as fixed, objective, and apolitical based on an essentialist and normative understanding of culture. This article challenges such conceptualizations by examining and politicizing multiple and conflicting meanings of…

Finding the authentic self in a communal culture: developmental goals in emerging adulthood.

PubMed

Scharf, Miri; Mayseless, Ofra

2010-01-01

Finding and cultivating a sense of authentic self is an important life goal for emerging adults. In collectivist cultures, youngsters might need to distance themselves to find and discover their authentic selves separate of the expectations of society and significant others. Creating an autonomous time bubble that focuses on the present allows youngsters to forge a sense of personal meaning and authenticity that subsequently paves the way to reintegration into long-term life goals. The results focusing on Israeli emerging adults demonstrate that a sense of authentic self plays a central role in their well-being and socioemotional functioning. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Bridging cultures: Nonprofit, church, and emergency management agency collaboration after the May 2013 Oklahoma tornado outbreak.

PubMed

Murphy, Haley; Pudlo, Jason

Community-based organizations, such as nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and churches, play an important role in helping individuals and communities bounce back after a disaster. The nature of disasters requires organizations across sectors to partner together to provide recovery services; however, collaboration is difficult even in times of stability and requires trust and communication to be built through prior collaborative relationships. These prior relationships rarely exist between the majority of the nonprofit sector, churches, and existing emergency management structures. Furthermore, these organizations often have very different cultures, values, and norms that can further hinder successful postdisaster collaboration. The authors use data collected from interviews with nonprofit and church leaders involved in recovery efforts after a series of devastating storms impacted central Oklahoma in 2013 to understand how well nonprofit and church leaders perceive their organizations collaborated with each other and with government and emergency management agencies in response and recovery efforts. Interview data suggest that NPOs and churches without a primary or secondary mission of disaster response and recovery have a difficult time collaborating with organizations involved in existing emergency management structures. The authors suggest that nonprofits with a primary or secondary purpose in disaster response are a potential bridge between other nonprofits and emergency management agencies.

Blood culture accuracy: discards from central venous catheters in pediatric oncology patients in the emergency department.

PubMed

Winokur, Elizabeth J; Pai, Debra; Rutledge, Dana N; Vogel, Kate; Al-Majid, Sadeeka; Marshall, Christine; Sheikewitz, Paul

2014-07-01

Lack of specific guidelines regarding collection of blood for culture from central venous catheters (CVCs) has led to inconsistencies in policies among hospitals. Currently, no specific professional or regulatory recommendations exist in relation to using, reinfusing, or discarding blood drawn from CVCs before drawing blood for a culture. Repeated wasting of blood may harm immunocompromised pediatric oncology patients. The purpose of this comparative study was to determine whether differences exist between blood cultures obtained from the first 5 mL of blood drawn from a CVC line when compared with the second 5 mL drawn. During 2009-2011, 62 pediatric oncology patients with CVCs and orders for blood cultures to determine potential sepsis were enrolled during ED visits. Trained study nurses aseptically drew blood and injected the normally discarded first 5 mL and the second specimen (usual care) into separate culture bottles. Specimens were processed in the microbiology laboratory per hospital policy. Positive cultures were evaluated to assess agreement between specimen results and to determine that the identified pathogen was not a contaminant. Out of 186 blood culture pairs, 4.8% demonstrated positive results. In all positive-positive matches, the normal discard specimen contained the same organism as the usual care specimen. In 4 matches, the normally discarded specimen demonstrated notably earlier time to positivity (4 to 31 hours) compared with the usual care specimen, which resulted in earlier initiation of definitive antibiotics. These findings support the accuracy of the specimen that is normally discarded and suggest the need to reconsider its use for blood culture testing. Copyright © 2014 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Culturally Responsive Classrooms: Affirming Culturally Different Gifted Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Donna Y.

2010-01-01

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education publishes its comprehensive report "The Condition of Education." As the author perused this year's edition, she was reminded of an important reality, one that all education professionals must be mindful of: America and its schools are more racially and culturally different than ever before. The term…

Discovering cultural differences (and similarities) in facial expressions of emotion.

PubMed

Chen, Chaona; Jack, Rachael E

2017-10-01

Understanding the cultural commonalities and specificities of facial expressions of emotion remains a central goal of Psychology. However, recent progress has been stayed by dichotomous debates (e.g. nature versus nurture) that have created silos of empirical and theoretical knowledge. Now, an emerging interdisciplinary scientific culture is broadening the focus of research to provide a more unified and refined account of facial expressions within and across cultures. Specifically, data-driven approaches allow a wider, more objective exploration of face movement patterns that provide detailed information ontologies of their cultural commonalities and specificities. Similarly, a wider exploration of the social messages perceived from face movements diversifies knowledge of their functional roles (e.g. the 'fear' face used as a threat display). Together, these new approaches promise to diversify, deepen, and refine knowledge of facial expressions, and deliver the next major milestones for a functional theory of human social communication that is transferable to social robotics. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Emergency radiology today between philosophy of science and the reality of "emergency care".

PubMed

Romano, L; Scaglione, M; Rotondo, A

2006-03-01

In the past 20 years, emergency care concept has substantially changed on a cultural point of view, going well beyond the boundaries of medical science. It is now a general understanding that the real enemy of the critical patient is time; thus, functional organisation and collocation of human and technological resources in the emergency department (ED) can help avoid the loss of human lives. This "cultural revolution" led to the creation and development of structural and organisational models (layouts) of EDs. Now, emergency radiology has a central role in ED organisation, and the radiologist, providing 24-h coverage in the emergency room, is crucial for the correct diagnostic approach and rapid management of trauma. If this is the cultural background to the "emergency care" concept, an overview of such care in our country shows great differences from a structural, technological and organisational point of view. The presence of the radiologist providing 24-h coverage in the emergency room is still uncommon in many EDs The qualification of emergency care must be sought by studying the needs of the population and by seeking qualified personnel with high professional skill levels. All this must be understood and pursued by politicians and health care managers whose aim should be to coordinate and check the measures and human resources applied to the system. This process necessarily involves rewarding those health care professionals who prove to be up to the job.

Cultural differences in room size perception

PubMed Central

Bülthoff, Heinrich H.; de la Rosa, Stephan; Dodds, Trevor J.

2017-01-01

Cultural differences in spatial perception have been little investigated, which gives rise to the impression that spatial cognitive processes might be universal. Contrary to this idea, we demonstrate cultural differences in spatial volume perception of computer generated rooms between Germans and South Koreans. We used a psychophysical task in which participants had to judge whether a rectangular room was larger or smaller than a square room of reference. We systematically varied the room rectangularity (depth to width aspect ratio) and the viewpoint (middle of the short wall vs. long wall) from which the room was viewed. South Koreans were significantly less biased by room rectangularity and viewpoint than their German counterparts. These results are in line with previous notions of general cognitive processing strategies being more context dependent in East Asian societies than Western ones. We point to the necessity of considering culturally-specific cognitive processing strategies in visual spatial cognition research. PMID:28426729

[Blood cultures in the paediatric emergency department. Guidelines and recommendations on their indications, collection, processing and interpretation].

PubMed

Hernández-Bou, S; Álvarez Álvarez, C; Campo Fernández, M N; García Herrero, M A; Gené Giralt, A; Giménez Pérez, M; Piñeiro Pérez, R; Gómez Cortés, B; Velasco, R; Menasalvas Ruiz, A I; García García, J J; Rodrigo Gonzalo de Liria, C

2016-05-01

Blood culture (BC) is the gold standard when a bacteraemia is suspected, and is one of the most requested microbiological tests in paediatrics. Some changes have occurred in recent years: the introduction of new vaccines, the increasing number of patients with central vascular catheters, as well as the introduction of continuous monitoring BC systems. These changes have led to the review and update of different factors related to this technique in order to optimise its use. A practice guideline is presented with recommendations on BC, established by the Spanish Society of Paediatric Emergency Care and the Spanish Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases. After reviewing the available scientific evidence, several recommendations for each of the following aspects are presented: BC indications in the Emergency Department, how to obtain, transport and process cultures, special situations (indications and interpretation of results in immunosuppressed patients and/or central vascular catheter carriers, indications for anaerobic BC), differentiation between bacteraemia and contamination when a BC shows bacterial growth and actions to take with a positive BC in patients with fever of unknown origin. Copyright © 2015 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The development of the specialism of emergency medicine: media and cultural influences.

PubMed

Timmons, Stephen; Nairn, Stuart

2015-01-01

In this article we analyse, via a critical review of the literature, the development of a relatively new medical specialism in the United Kingdom, that of emergency medicine. Despite the high media profile of emergency care, it is a low-status specialism within UK medicine. The creation of a specialist College in 2008 means that, symbolically, recognition as a full specialism has now been achieved. In this article, we will show, using a sociology of professions approach, how emergency medicine defined itself as a specialism, and sought to carve out a distinctive jurisdiction. While, in the context of the UK National Health Service, the state was clearly an important factor in the development of this profession, we wish to develop the analysis further than is usual in the sociology of professions. We will analyse the wider cultural context for the development of this specialism, which has benefited from its high profile in the media, through both fictional and documentary sources. © The Author(s) 2014.

Age differences in cognitive performance: A study of cultural differences in Historical Context.

PubMed

Ojeda, Natalia; Aretouli, Eleni; Peña, Javier; Schretlen, David J

2016-03-01

Ethnicity and cultural experience can affect neuropsychological performance, but they are rarely assessed in historical context. Attention measures are considered strongly biologically determined and therefore potentially culture-fair. In this study, we assessed the cross-cultural equivalence of Spanish and English versions of the Trail Making Test (TMT; Reitan, 1958, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 8, 271-276) and the Brief Test of Attention (BTA; Schretlen et al., 1996, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 10, 80-89) in two large samples of Americans (N = 203) and Spaniards (N = 213), divided into younger and older subgroups. The older Spaniards lived under Franco's political regime (1936-1975), whereas the Americans never experienced such repression. Overall, TMT performance was culture-sensitive, whereas BTA performance was not. However, when both groups were stratified by age, cultural differences in TMT performance were restricted to older participants, suggesting that historical experience across generations might have contributed to the observed differences in cognitive performance. Even such basic cognitive processes as attention, working memory, and resource sharing might be shaped to some degree by historical experiences that contribute to cultural differences. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Neuropsychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.

Cultural buffering as a protective factor against electronic cigarette use among Hispanic emergency department patients.

PubMed

Lam, Chun Nok; Goldenson, Nicholas I; Burner, Elizabeth; Unger, Jennifer B

2016-12-01

Hispanics in the U.S. historically use tobacco at lower rates than other racial and ethnic groups. Cultural buffering, the process by which aspects of traditional Hispanic culture delay the adoption of unhealthy behaviors, is believed to be a protective factor against tobacco use. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are a new tobacco product that have not been extensively studied, and it is unknown if cultural factors that protect against tobacco use will buffer against e-cigarette use among the Hispanic population. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the emergency department (ED) in a safety-net hospital in 2014. Patients visiting the ED participated in a survey assessing demographics and substance use. Cultural buffering was operationalized as participants' primary language spoken at home. Multivariate logistic regression and generalized estimating equations examined the association between Hispanic cultural buffering and e-cigarette ever-use. Of the 1476 Hispanic ED patients (age: 46.6M±14.5SD, 49.3% male), 7.6% reported e-cigarette ever-use and 11.1% reported current combustible cigarette use. In adjusted models, Spanish speakers were half as likely to report e-cigarette ever-use (O.R.: 0.54, 95% C.I.: 0.34-0.84, p=0.007), compared with English speakers. Combustible cigarette use remained the most significant factor associated with e-cigarette ever-use (O.R.: 9.28, 95% C.I.:7.44-11.56, p<0.001). In higher-income neighborhoods, English speakers reported e-cigarette ever-use at higher rates than Spanish speakers (28.2% vs. 5.9%, p<0.001). Cultural buffering was protective against e-cigarette ever-use, especially in higher-income neighborhoods. These results support research on culturally-sensitive prevention programs for new and emerging tobacco products in Hispanic communities. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Disability as Cultural Difference: Implications for Special Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anastasiou, Dimitris; Kauffman, James M.

2012-01-01

This article critiques the treatment of disability as cultural difference by the theorists of the "social model" and "minority group model" of disability. Both models include all of the various disabling conditions under one term--disability--and fail to distinguish disabilities from cultural differences (e.g., race, ethnicity, or gender…

Cultural diversity as resistance to neoliberal globalization: The emergence of a global movement and convention

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan-Tibergien, Jennifer

2007-01-01

While there have been numerous discussions of the impact on educational services made by trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization (WTO), this study looks at the emergence of global resistance to the commodification of culture through the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) within the WTO. In line with the Council of Europe Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2000 and the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001, a global movement has been fighting for a legally binding global convention on cultural diversity under the auspices of UNESCO. The author examines how `cultural diversity' is defined by various groups and nations. She also discusses the potential implications of such a global convention on cultural diversity for `cognitive justice', that is, for affirming the validity of diverse knowledge systems over against the dominance of neoliberal ideology. Finally, she argues that the leading definition of cultural diversity, contrary to its stated intention, actually serves to re-assert the cultural hegemony of the North rather than benefit subjugated knowledges of the South.

Cultural Differences in Autobiographical Memory of Trauma

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jobson, Laura; O'Kearney, Richard

2006-01-01

This study investigated cultural differences in autobiographical memory of trauma. Australian and Asian international students provided self-defining memories, narratives of everyday and trauma memories and self-reports assessing adjustment to the trauma. No cultural distinction was found in how Australian or Asian subjects remembered a personal…

Cultural differences in end-of-life care.

PubMed

Vincent, J L

2001-02-01

The exact time of death for many intensive care unit patients is increasingly preceded by an end-of-life decision. Such decisions are fraught with ethical, religious, moral, cultural, and legal difficulties. Key questions surrounding this issue include the difference between withholding and withdrawing, when to withhold/withdraw, who should be involved in the decision-making process, what are the relevant legal precedents, etc. Cultural variations in attitude to such issues are perhaps expected between continents, but key differences also exist on a more local basis, for example, among the countries of Europe. Physicians need to be aware of the potential cultural differences in the attitudes not only of their colleagues, but also of their patients and families. Open discussion of these issues and some change in our attitude toward life and death are needed to enable such patients to have a pain-free, dignified death.

Parent socialization effects in different cultures: significance of directive parenting.

PubMed

Sorkhabi, Nadia

2012-06-01

In this article, the controversy of divergent findings in research on parental socialization effects in different cultures is addressed. Three explanations intended to address divergent findings of socialization effects in different cultures, as advanced by researchers who emphasize cultural differences, are discussed. These include cultural differences in socialization values and goals of parents, parental emotional and cognitive characteristics associated with parenting styles, and adolescents' interpretations or evaluations of their parents' parenting styles. The empirical evidence for and against each of these arguments is examined and an alternative paradigm for understanding and empirical study of developmental outcomes associated with parenting styles in different cultures is suggested. Baumrind's directive parenting style is presented as an alternative to the authoritarian parenting style in understanding the positive developmental effects associated with "strict" parenting in cultures said to have a collectivist orientation. Directions for research on the three explanations are mentioned.

Cultural differences in perceived social norms and social anxiety.

PubMed

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.

Going against the Grain in an Urban Arizona High School: Secondary Preservice Teachers Emerging as Culturally Responsive Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramirez, Pablo; Jimenez-Silva, Margarita; Boozer, April; Clark, Ben

2016-01-01

This one year study examines the journey of two preservice urban high-school teachers in Arizona as they enact Culturally Responsive Teaching in a year-long student teaching residency. Factors that influenced their Culturally Responsive Teaching practices are discussed along themes that emerged from interviews and classroom observations.…

Do Between-Culture Differences Really Mean that People Are Different? A Look at Some Measures of Culture Effect Size.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matsumoto, David; Grissom, Robert J.; Dinnel, Dale L.

2001-01-01

Recommends four measures of cultural effect size appropriate for cross-cultural research (standardized difference between two sample means, probabilistic superiority effect size measure, Cohen's U1, and point biserial correlation), demonstrating their efficacy on two data sets from previously published studies and arguing for their use in future…

Cultural differences in daily support experiences.

PubMed

Wang, Shu-wen; Shih, Josephine H; Hu, Alison W; Louie, Jennifer Y; Lau, Anna S

2010-07-01

Previous research has suggested that Asian Americans (AAs) are less likely to mobilize social support, and find support to be less helpful, when compared with European Americans (EAs). In a 10-day daily diary study of AA and EA college students, we hypothesized that AAs would activate support less frequently than EAs for both stressful and positive events, a cultural difference that would be mediated by group harmony values. We also predicted that AAs would find support to be less helpful, and we explored differences in the sources of support used. Results confirmed that cultural differences in support use were partially mediated by the value of maintaining group harmony through emotional restraint. AAs also perceived received support to be less helpful and more frequently used discretionary rather than kinship support sources. Findings suggest that naturalistic support experiences differ markedly for these groups, with implications for help-seeking behavior and mental health services.

Cross-cultural differences in risk perceptions of disasters.

PubMed

Gierlach, Elaine; Belsher, Bradley E; Beutler, Larry E

2010-10-01

Public risk perceptions of mass disasters carry considerable influences, both psychologically and economically, despite their oft-times imprecise nature. Prior research has identified the presence of an optimistic bias that affects risk perception, but there is a dearth of literature examining how these perceptions differ among cultures-particularly with regard to mass disasters. The present study explores differences among Japanese, Argentinean, and North American mental health workers in their rates of the optimistic bias in risk perceptions as contrasted between natural disasters and terrorist events. The results indicate a significant difference among cultures in levels of perceived risk that do not correspond to actual exposure rates. Japanese groups had the highest risk perceptions for both types of hazards and North Americans and Argentineans had the lowest risk perceptions for terrorism. Additionally, participants across all cultures rated risk to self as lower than risk to others (optimistic bias) across all disaster types. These findings suggest that cultural factors may have a greater influence on risk perception than social exposure, and that the belief that one is more immune to disasters compared to others may be a cross-cultural phenomenon. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

Cross-Informant Evaluations of Preschoolers' Adjustment in Different Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Israelashvili, Moshe

2017-01-01

An accurate and agreed upon evaluation of preschoolers' behavior is crucial for young children's positive development. This study explores possible cultural differences in cross-informants' evaluations. The premise is that informants who are from different cultures tend to give different evaluations of preschoolers' adjustment and/or that the…

Cultural differences in rated typicality and perceived causes of memory changes in adulthood.

PubMed

Bottiroli, Sara; Cavallini, Elena; Fastame, Maria Chiara; Hertzog, Christopher

2013-01-01

This study examined cultural differences in stereotypes and attributions regarding aging and memory. Two subcultures belonging to the same country, Italy, were compared on general beliefs about memory. Sardinians live longer than other areas of Italy, which is a publically shared fact that informs stereotypes about that subculture. An innovative instrument evaluating simultaneously aging stereotypes and attributions about memory and memory change in adulthood was administered to 52 Sardinian participants and 52 Milanese individuals divided into three age groups: young (20-30), young-old (60-70), and old-old (71-85) adults. Both Milanese and Sardinians reported that memory decline across the life span is more typical than a pattern of stability or improvement. However, Sardinians viewed stability and improvement in memory as more typical than did the Milanese. Interestingly, cultural differences emerged in attributions about memory improvement. Although all Sardinian age groups rated nutrition and heredity as relevant causes in determining the memory decline, Sardinians' rated typicality of life-span memory improvement correlated strongly with causal attributions to a wide number of factors, including nutrition and heredity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Difference or disorder? Cultural issues in understanding neurodevelopmental disorders.

PubMed

Norbury, Courtenay Frazier; Sparks, Alison

2013-01-01

Developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and specific language impairment, are biologically based disorders that currently rely on behaviorally defined criteria for diagnosis and treatment. Specific behaviors that are included in diagnostic frameworks and the point at which individual differences in behavior constitute abnormality are largely arbitrary decisions. Such decisions are therefore likely to be strongly influenced by cultural values and expectations. This is evident in the dramatically different prevalence rates of autism spectrum disorder across countries and across different ethnic groups within the same country. In this article, we critically evaluate the understanding of developmental disorders from a cultural perspective. We specifically consider the challenges of applying diagnostic methods across cultural contexts, the influence of cultural values and expectations on the identification and treatment of children with suspected disorders, and how cross-cultural studies can help to refine cognitive theories of disorder that have been derived exclusively from Western North American and European investigations. Our review synthesizes clinical, cultural, and theoretical work in this area, highlighting potential universals of disorder and concluding with recommendations for future research and practice.

High-Maintenance Parent or Cultural Differences?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Mena, Janet

2000-01-01

Examines the conflict which can arise when differing cultural practices of families and child care facilities clash. Presents a case study that exemplifies the potential conflict. Provides advice for child care practitioners on how to combine two differing perspectives and how to move from arguments and misunderstandings to common concerns. (SD)

Evidence for cultural differences between neighboring chimpanzee communities.

PubMed

Luncz, Lydia V; Mundry, Roger; Boesch, Christophe

2012-05-22

The majority of evidence for cultural behavior in animals has come from comparisons between populations separated by large geographical distances that often inhabit different environments. The difficulty of excluding ecological and genetic variation as potential explanations for observed behaviors has led some researchers to challenge the idea of animal culture. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, crack Coula edulis nuts using stone and wooden hammers and tree root anvils. In this study, we compare for the first time hammer selection for nut cracking across three neighboring chimpanzee communities that live in the same forest habitat, which reduces the likelihood of ecological variation. Furthermore, the study communities experience frequent dispersal of females at maturity, which eliminates significant genetic variation. We compared key ecological factors, such as hammer availability and nut hardness, between the three neighboring communities and found striking differences in group-specific hammer selection among communities despite similar ecological conditions. Differences were found in the selection of hammer material and hammer size in response to changes in nut resistance over time. Our findings highlight the subtleties of cultural differences in wild chimpanzees and illustrate how cultural knowledge is able to shape behavior, creating differences among neighboring social groups. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-cultural differences in emotion suppression in everyday interactions.

PubMed

Huwaë, Sylvia; Schaafsma, Juliette

2016-05-11

Previous research suggests that in collectivistic cultures, people tend to suppress their emotions more than in individualistic cultures. Little research, however, has explored cross-cultural differences in emotion regulation in everyday interactions. Using a daily social interaction method, we examined whether people from collectivistic backgrounds (Chinese exchange students and immigrants from the Moluccas, Indonesia) living in the Netherlands differed from those from individualistic backgrounds (Dutch natives) in emotion suppression during everyday interactions. We also examined whether this depended on their relationship with the interaction partner(s). We found that Chinese participants suppressed positive and negative emotions more than Dutch and Moluccan participants and that this was related to differences in interdependent and independent self-construal across the samples. We also found that Chinese participants suppressed positive emotions less in interactions with close others, whereas Dutch participants suppressed negative emotions more with non-close others. No such differences were found for Moluccans. Our findings support the idea that people from collectivistic cultures suppress emotions more than those from individualistic cultures, but they also suggest that this depends on who the interaction partner is. Furthermore, they suggest that emotion suppression may change when people with collectivistic backgrounds have been raised in individualistic cultures. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Linguistic and Cultural Challenges in Communication and Translation in US-Sponsored HIV Prevention Research in Emerging Economies

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Linguistic and cultural differences can impede comprehension among potential research participants during the informed consent process, but how researchers and IRBs respond to these challenges in practice is unclear. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 researchers, research ethics committee (REC) chairs and members from 8 different countries with emerging economies, involved in HIV-related research sponsored by HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), regarding the ethical and regulatory challenges they face in this regard. In the interviews, problems with translating study materials often arose as major concerns. Four sets of challenges were identified concerning linguistic and cultural translations of informed consent documents and other study materials, related to the: (1) context, (2) process, (3) content and (4) translation of these documents. Host country contextual issues included low literacy rates, education (e.g., documents may need to be written below 5th grade reading level), and experiences with research, and different views of written documentation. Certain terms and concepts may not exist in other languages, or have additional connotations that back translations do not always reveal. Challenges arise because of not only the content of word-for-word, literal translation, but the linguistic form of the language, such as tone (e.g., appropriate forms of politeness vs. legalese, seen as harsh), syntax, manner of questions posed, and the concept of the consent); and the contexts of use affect meaning. Problems also emerged in bilateral communications – US IRBs may misunderstand local practices, or communicate insufficiently the reasons for their decisions to foreign RECs. In sum, these data highlight several challenges that have received little, if any, attention in past literature on translation of informed consent and study materials, and have crucial implications for improving practice, education, research and policy, suggesting several strategies

Linguistic and Cultural Challenges in Communication and Translation in US-Sponsored HIV Prevention Research in Emerging Economies.

PubMed

Hanrahan, Donna; Sexton, Patrina; Hui, Katrina; Teitcher, Jennifer; Sugarman, Jeremy; London, Alex John; Barnes, Mark; Purpura, James; Klitzman, Robert

2015-01-01

Linguistic and cultural differences can impede comprehension among potential research participants during the informed consent process, but how researchers and IRBs respond to these challenges in practice is unclear. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 researchers, research ethics committee (REC) chairs and members from 8 different countries with emerging economies, involved in HIV-related research sponsored by HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), regarding the ethical and regulatory challenges they face in this regard. In the interviews, problems with translating study materials often arose as major concerns. Four sets of challenges were identified concerning linguistic and cultural translations of informed consent documents and other study materials, related to the: (1) context, (2) process, (3) content and (4) translation of these documents. Host country contextual issues included low literacy rates, education (e.g., documents may need to be written below 5th grade reading level), and experiences with research, and different views of written documentation. Certain terms and concepts may not exist in other languages, or have additional connotations that back translations do not always reveal. Challenges arise because of not only the content of word-for-word, literal translation, but the linguistic form of the language, such as tone (e.g., appropriate forms of politeness vs. legalese, seen as harsh), syntax, manner of questions posed, and the concept of the consent); and the contexts of use affect meaning. Problems also emerged in bilateral communications--US IRBs may misunderstand local practices, or communicate insufficiently the reasons for their decisions to foreign RECs. In sum, these data highlight several challenges that have received little, if any, attention in past literature on translation of informed consent and study materials, and have crucial implications for improving practice, education, research and policy, suggesting several strategies

Working with Different Cultural Patterns & Beliefs: Teachers & Families Learning Together

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purcell-Gates, Victoria; Lenters, Kimberly; McTavish, Marianne; Anderson, Jim

2014-01-01

Rogoff (2003) argues that "Human development is a cultural process….People develop as participants in cultural communities" (p. 3). Children develop within families, and different cultures reflect differences in how they structure activity for this development. For example, middle class North American families generally would not permit…

Complex Networks in Different Languages: A Study of an Emergent Multilingual Encyclopedia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pembe, F. Canan; Bingol, Haluk

There is an increasing interest to the study of complex networks in an interdisciplinary way. Language, as a complex network, has been a part of this study due to its importance in human life. Moreover, the Internet has also been at the center of this study by making access to large amounts of information possible. With these ideas in mind, this work aims to evaluate conceptual networks in different languages with the data from a large and open source of information in the Internet, namely Wikipedia. As an evolving multilingual encyclopedia that can be edited by any Internet user, Wikipedia is a good example of an emergent complex system. In this paper, different from previous work on conceptual networks which usually concentrated on single languages, we concentrate on possible ways to compare the usages of different languages and possibly the underlying cultures. This also involves the analysis of local network properties around certain coneepts in different languages. For an initial evaluation, the concept "family" is used to compare the English and German Wikipedias. Although, the work is currently at the beginning, the results are promising.

Cultural bases for self-evaluation: seeing oneself positively in different cultural contexts.

PubMed

Becker, Maja; Vignoles, Vivian L; Owe, Ellinor; Easterbrook, Matthew J; Brown, Rupert; Smith, Peter B; Bond, Michael Harris; Regalia, Camillo; Manzi, Claudia; Brambilla, Maria; Aldhafri, Said; González, Roberto; Carrasco, Diego; Paz Cadena, Maria; Lay, Siugmin; Schweiger Gallo, Inge; Torres, Ana; Camino, Leoncio; Özgen, Emre; Güner, Ülkü E; Yamakoğlu, Nil; Silveira Lemos, Flávia Cristina; Trujillo, Elvia Vargas; Balanta, Paola; Macapagal, Ma Elizabeth J; Cristina Ferreira, M; Herman, Ginette; de Sauvage, Isabelle; Bourguignon, David; Wang, Qian; Fülöp, Márta; Harb, Charles; Chybicka, Aneta; Mekonnen, Kassahun Habtamu; Martin, Mariana; Nizharadze, George; Gavreliuc, Alin; Buitendach, Johanna; Valk, Aune; Koller, Silvia H

2014-05-01

Several theories propose that self-esteem, or positive self-regard, results from fulfilling the value priorities of one's surrounding culture. Yet, surprisingly little evidence exists for this assertion, and theories differ about whether individuals must personally endorse the value priorities involved. We compared the influence of four bases for self-evaluation (controlling one's life, doing one's duty, benefitting others, achieving social status) among 4,852 adolescents across 20 cultural samples, using an implicit, within-person measurement technique to avoid cultural response biases. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses showed that participants generally derived feelings of self-esteem from all four bases, but especially from those that were most consistent with the value priorities of others in their cultural context. Multilevel analyses confirmed that the bases of positive self-regard are sustained collectively: They are predictably moderated by culturally normative values but show little systematic variation with personally endorsed values.

Recognition of depression in people of different cultures: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Lehti, Arja; Hammarström, Anne; Mattsson, Bengt

2009-07-27

Many minority group patients who attend primary health care are depressed. To identify a depressive state when GPs see patients from other cultures than their own can be difficult because of cultural and gender differences in expressions and problems of communication. The aim of this study was to explore and analyse how GPs think and deliberate when seeing and treating patients from foreign countries who display potential depressive features. The data were collected in focus groups and through individual interviews with GPs in northern Sweden and analysed by qualitative content analysis. In the analysis three themes, based on various categories, emerged; "Realizing the background", "Struggling for clarity" and "Optimizing management". Patients' early life events of importance were often unknown which blurred the accuracy. Reactions to trauma, cultural frictions and conflicts between the new and old gender norms made the diagnostic process difficult. The patient-doctor encounter comprised misconceptions, and social roles in the meetings were sometimes confused. GPs based their judgement mainly on clinical intuition and the established classification of depressive disorders was discussed. Tools for management and adequate action were diffuse. Dialogue about patients' illness narratives and social context are crucial. There is a need for tools for multicultural, general practice care in the depressive spectrum. It is also essential to be aware of GPs' own conceptions in order to avoid stereotypes and not to under- or overestimate the occurrence of depressive symptoms.

Culture growth of testate amoebae under different silicon concentrations.

PubMed

Wanner, Manfred; Seidl-Lampa, Barbara; Höhn, Axel; Puppe, Daniel; Meisterfeld, Ralf; Sommer, Michael

2016-10-01

Testate amoebae with self-secreted siliceous shell platelets ("idiosomes") play an important role in terrestrial silicon (Si) cycles. In this context, Si-dependent culture growth dynamics of idiosomic testate amoebae are of interest. Clonal cultures of idiosomic testate amoebae were analyzed under three different Si concentrations: low (50μmolL -1 ), moderate/site-specific (150μmolL -1 ) and high Si supply (500μmolL -1 ). Food (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was provided in surplus. (i) Shell size of four different clones of idiosomic testate amoebae either decreased (Trinema galeata, Euglypha filifera cf.), increased (E. rotunda cf.), or did not change (E. rotunda) under the lowest Si concentration (50μmolSiL -1 ). (ii) Culture growth of idiosomic Euglypha rotunda was dependent on Si concentration. The more Si available in the culture medium, the earlier the entry into exponential growth phase. (iii) Culture growth of idiosomic Euglypha rotunda was dependent on origin of inoculum. Amoebae previously cultured under a moderate Si concentration revealed highest sustainability in consecutive cultures. Amoebae derived from cultures with high Si concentrations showed rapid culture growth which finished early in consecutive cultures. (iv) Si (diluted in the culture medium) was absorbed by amoebae and fixed in the amoeba shells resulting in decreased Si concentrations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Cultural Differences in Affect Intensity Perception in the Context of Advertising

PubMed Central

Pogosyan, Marianna; Engelmann, Jan B.

2011-01-01

Cultural differences in the perception of positive affect intensity within an advertising context were investigated among American, Japanese, and Russian participants. Participants were asked to rate the intensity of facial expressions of positive emotions, which displayed either subtle, low intensity, or salient, high intensity expressions of positive affect. In agreement with previous findings from cross-cultural psychological research, current results demonstrate both cross-cultural agreement and differences in the perception of positive affect intensity across the three cultures. Specifically, American participants perceived high arousal (HA) images as significantly less calm than participants from the other two cultures, while the Japanese participants perceived low arousal (LA) images as significantly more excited than participants from the other cultures. The underlying mechanisms of these cultural differences were further investigated through difference scores that probed for cultural differences in perception and categorization of positive emotions. Findings indicate that rating differences are due to (1) perceptual differences in the extent to which HA images were discriminated from LA images, and (2) categorization differences in the extent to which facial expressions were grouped into affect intensity categories. Specifically, American participants revealed significantly higher perceptual differentiation between arousal levels of facial expressions in high and intermediate intensity categories. Japanese participants, on the other hand, did not discriminate between high and low arousal affect categories to the same extent as did the American and Russian participants. These findings indicate the presence of cultural differences in underlying decoding mechanisms of facial expressions of positive affect intensity. Implications of these results for global advertising are discussed. PMID:22084635

Cultural differences in affect intensity perception in the context of advertising.

PubMed

Pogosyan, Marianna; Engelmann, Jan B

2011-01-01

Cultural differences in the perception of positive affect intensity within an advertising context were investigated among American, Japanese, and Russian participants. Participants were asked to rate the intensity of facial expressions of positive emotions, which displayed either subtle, low intensity, or salient, high intensity expressions of positive affect. In agreement with previous findings from cross-cultural psychological research, current results demonstrate both cross-cultural agreement and differences in the perception of positive affect intensity across the three cultures. Specifically, American participants perceived high arousal (HA) images as significantly less calm than participants from the other two cultures, while the Japanese participants perceived low arousal (LA) images as significantly more excited than participants from the other cultures. The underlying mechanisms of these cultural differences were further investigated through difference scores that probed for cultural differences in perception and categorization of positive emotions. Findings indicate that rating differences are due to (1) perceptual differences in the extent to which HA images were discriminated from LA images, and (2) categorization differences in the extent to which facial expressions were grouped into affect intensity categories. Specifically, American participants revealed significantly higher perceptual differentiation between arousal levels of facial expressions in high and intermediate intensity categories. Japanese participants, on the other hand, did not discriminate between high and low arousal affect categories to the same extent as did the American and Russian participants. These findings indicate the presence of cultural differences in underlying decoding mechanisms of facial expressions of positive affect intensity. Implications of these results for global advertising are discussed.

Discovery and Nurturance of Giftedness in the Culturally Different.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torrance, E. Paul

Discussed in the monograph are methods for identifying and developing programs for culturally different gifted students. In an overview section, the important issues and trends associated with the discovery and nurturance of giftedness among the culturally different are considered; and screening methods which involve modified traditional…

Early Social Cognition in Three Cultural Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Callaghan, Tara; Moll, Henrike; Rakoczy, Hannes; Warneken, Felix; Liszkowski, Ulf; Behne, Tanya; Tomasello, Michael

2011-01-01

The influence of culture on cognitive development is well established for school age and older children. But almost nothing is known about how different parenting and socialization practices in different cultures affect infants' and young children's earliest emerging cognitive and social-cognitive skills. In the current monograph, we report a…

Cultural differences in medical communication: a review of the literature.

PubMed

Schouten, Barbara C; Meeuwesen, Ludwien

2006-12-01

Culture and ethnicity have often been cited as barriers in establishing an effective and satisfying doctor-patient relationship. The aim of this paper is to gain more insight in intercultural medical communication difficulties by reviewing observational studies on intercultural doctor-patient communication. In addition, a research model for studying this topic in future research is proposed. A literature review using online databases (Pubmed, Psychlit) was performed. Findings reveal major differences in doctor-patient communication as a consequence of patients' ethnic backgrounds. Doctors behave less affectively when interacting with ethnic minority patients compared to White patients. Ethnic minority patients themselves are also less verbally expressive; they seem to be less assertive and affective during the medical encounter than White patients. Most reviewed studies did not relate communication behaviour to possible antecedent culture-related variables, nor did they assess the effect of cultural variations in doctor-patient communication on outcomes, leaving us in the dark about reasons for and consequences of differences in intercultural medical communication. Five key predictors of culture-related communication problems are identified in the literature: (1) cultural differences in explanatory models of health and illness; (2) differences in cultural values; (3) cultural differences in patients' preferences for doctor-patient relationships; (4) racism/perceptual biases; (5) linguistic barriers. It is concluded that by incorporating these variables into a research model future research on this topic can be enhanced, both from a theoretical and a methodological perspective. Using a cultural sensitive approach in medical communication is recommended.

Cultural Differences in Social Interaction during Group Problem Solving.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabrenya, William K., Jr.; Barba, Lourdes

Cross-cultural psychology has begun to analyze cultural differences on collectivism and the implications of these differences for social processes such as group productivity. This study examined natural social interaction during a problem-solving task that required discussion and the establishment of a consensus. The relationship of collectivist…

Measurement Invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Student's Life Satisfaction Scale among Adolescents and Emerging Adults across 23 Cultural Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abubakar, Amina; van de Vijver, Fons; Alonso-Arbiol, Itziar; He, Jia; Adams, Byron; Aldhafri, Said; Aydinli-Karakulak, Arzu; Arasa, Josephine; Boer, Diana; Celenk, Ozgur; Dimitrova, Radosveta; Ferreira, Maria Cristina; Fischer, Ronald; Mbebeb, Fomba Emmanuel; Frías, María Teresa; Fresno, Andrés; Gillath, Omri; Harb, Charles; Handani, Penny; Hapunda, Given; Kamble, Shanmukh; Kosic, Marianna; Looh, Joseph Lah; Mazrui, Lubna; Mendia, Rafael Emilio; Murugami, Margaret; Mason-Li, Mei; Pandia, Weny Savitry; Perdomo, Cristina; Schachner, Maja; Sim, Samantha; Spencer, Rosario; Suryani, Angela; Tair, Ergyul

2016-01-01

There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group…

Cross-cultural differences in memory: the role of culture-based stereotypes about aging.

PubMed

Yoon, C; Hasher, L; Feinberg, F; Rahhal, T A; Winocur, G

2000-12-01

The extent to which cultural stereotypes about aging contribute to age differences in memory performance is investigated by comparing younger and older Anglophone Canadians to demographically matched Chinese Canadians, who tend to hold more positive views of aging. Four memory tests were administered. In contrast to B. Levy and E. Langer's (1994) findings, younger adults in both cultural groups outperformed their older comparison group on all memory tests. For 2 tests, which made use of visual stimuli resembling ideographic characters in written Chinese, the older Chinese Canadians approached, but did not reach, the performance achieved by their younger counterparts, as well as outperformed the older Anglophone Canadians. However, on the other two tests, which assess memory for complex figures and abstract designs, no differences were observed between the older Chinese and Anglophone Canadians. Path analysis results suggest that this pattern of findings is not easily attributed to a wholly culturally based account of age differences in memory performance.

Doctor-patient communication in Southeast Asia: a different culture?

PubMed

Claramita, Mora; Nugraheni, Mubarika D F; van Dalen, Jan; van der Vleuten, Cees

2013-03-01

Studies of doctor-patient communication generally advocate a partnership communication style. However, in Southeast Asian settings, we often see a more one-way style with little input from the patient. We investigated factors underlying the use of a one-way consultation style by doctors in a Southeast Asian setting. We conducted a qualitative study based on principles of grounded theory. Twenty residents and specialists and 20 patients of a low or high educational level were interviewed in internal medicine outpatient clinics of an Indonesian teaching hospital and two affiliated hospitals. During 26 weeks we engaged in an iterative interview and coding process to identify emergent factors. Patients were generally dissatisfied with doctors' communication style. The doctors indicated that they did not deliberately use a one-way style. Communication style appeared to be associated with characteristics of Southeast Asian culture, the health care setting and medical education. Doctor-patient communication appeared to be affected by cultural characteristics which fell into two broad categories representing key features of Southeast Asian culture, "social distance" and "closeness of relationships", and to characteristics categorized as "specific clinical context". Consideration of these characteristics could be helpful in promoting the use of a partnership communication style.

Culture Differences and English Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jin

2011-01-01

Language is a part of culture, and plays a very important role in the development of the culture. Some sociologists consider it as the keystone of culture. They believe, without language, culture would not be available. At the same time, language is influenced and shaped by culture, it reflects culture. Therefore, culture plays a very important…

Culture, ethnicity, race: what's the difference?

PubMed

Watt, Sigrid; Norton, Diane

2004-10-01

Culture can be seen as a dynamic, ever-changing process. When caring for children and families from diverse backgrounds nurses need to be able to accomodate differences willingly and competently. Do not be afraid to ask--you cannot know everything about someone else's culture. Every unit/team should have contact details of advocates, translators, and local leaders whose support the family may desire, and have information available in other languages which explain the terminology used by healthcare professionals. Nurses can show respect by being available and accessible and by not imposing their own beliefs or agendas.

Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: robust and surprising findings.

PubMed

Costa, Paul T; Terracciano, Antonio; McCrae, Robert R

2001-08-01

Secondary analyses of Revised NEO Personality Inventory data from 26 cultures (N = 23,031) suggest that gender differences are small relative to individual variation within genders; differences are replicated across cultures for both college-age and adult samples, and differences are broadly consistent with gender stereotypes: Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth, and Openness to Feelings, whereas men were higher in Assertiveness and Openness to Ideas. Contrary to predictions from evolutionary theory, the magnitude of gender differences varied across cultures. Contrary to predictions from the social role model, gender differences were most pronounced in European and American cultures in which traditional sex roles are minimized. Possible explanations for this surprising finding are discussed, including the attribution of masculine and feminine behaviors to roles rather than traits in traditional cultures.

Cultural Differences in Sleeping Practices--Helping Early Childhood Educators Understand.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Mena, Janet; Bhavnagri, Navaz Peshotan

2001-01-01

Discusses cultural differences in sleeping practices, focusing on how child caregivers can provide developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive care. Describes co-sleeping as an accepted practice in many cultures with several benefits. Discusses the role of cultural values, beliefs, priorities, and goals and the importance of…

Cross-cultural differences in relationship- and group-based trust.

PubMed

Yuki, Masaki; Maddux, William W; Brewer, Marilynn B; Takemura, Kosuke

2005-01-01

Two experiments explored differences in depersonalized trust (trust toward a relatively unknown target person) across cultures. Based on a recent theoretical framework that postulates predominantly different bases for group behaviors in Western cultures versus Eastern cultures, it was predicted that Americans would tend to trust people primarily based on whether they shared category memberships; however, trust for Japanese was expected to be based on the likelihood of sharing direct or indirect interpersonal links. Results supported these predictions. In both Study 1 (questionnaire study) and Study 2 (online money allocation game), Americans trusted ingroup members more than outgroup members; however, the existence of a potential indirect relationship link increased trust for outgroup members more for Japanese than for Americans. Implications for understanding group processes across cultures are discussed.

Examine Your LENS: A Tool for Interpreting Cultural Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Tracy Rundstrom

2013-01-01

One of the most commonly cited reasons students choose to study abroad is to experience a new culture. However, most students and, perhaps, most people do not fully recognize what culture is and the span of its influences. The pervasiveness and seeming incomprehensiveness of cultural differences often surprise and unsettle the traveler, and his or…

Understanding Differences in Cultural Communication Styles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mavrelis, Jean

1997-01-01

Administrators must integrate the strengths of diverse cultural styles into all parts of the system, including hiring practices, curriculum development, teaching and learning styles, discipline philosophy, and communication with parents. To reduce the potential for misunderstandings, this article explains differences in "mainstream"…

The expression of native and cultured human retinal pigment epithelial cells grown in different culture conditions.

PubMed

Tian, J; Ishibashi, K; Honda, S; Boylan, S A; Hjelmeland, L M; Handa, J T

2005-11-01

To determine the transcriptional proximity of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells grown under different culture conditions and native RPE. ARPE-19 cells were grown under five conditions in 10% CO(2): "subconfluent" in DMEM/F12+10% FBS, "confluent" in serum and serum withdrawn, and "differentiated" for 2.5 months in serum and serum withdrawn medium. Native RPE was laser microdissected. Total RNA was extracted, reverse transcribed, and radiolabelled probes were hybridised to an array containing 5,353 genes. Arrays were evaluated by hierarchical cluster analysis and significance analysis of microarrays. 78% of genes were expressed by native RPE while 45.3--47.7% were expressed by ARPE-19 cells, depending on culture condition. While the most abundant genes were expressed by native and cultured cells, significant differences in low abundance genes were seen. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed that confluent and differentiated, serum withdrawn cultures clustered closest to native RPE, and that serum segregated cultured cells from native RPE. The number of differentially expressed genes and their function, and profile of expressed and unexpressed genes, demonstrate differences between native and cultured cells. While ARPE-19 cells have significant value for studying RPE behaviour, investigators must be aware of how culture conditions can influence the mRNA phenotype of the cell.

Cultural Diversity as Resistance to Neoliberal Globalization: The Emergence of a Global Movement and Convention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan-Tibergien, Jennifer

2006-01-01

While there have been numerous discussions of the impact on educational services made by trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization (WTO), this study looks at the emergence of global resistance to the commodification of culture through the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) within the WTO. In line with the Council of…

Emerging Childhoods and Immanent Becomings: Considering Difference in One Child's Encounters with Popular Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherbine, Kortney

2016-01-01

Ongoing debates over children's encounters with popular culture are grounded in representational images of what childhood is and what childhood should be. As such, the tendency to overcode and regulate children's behaviors, relationships, and desires are often part of a greater effort to prepare the child to fit fixed and essentialized notions of…

Cultural Differences in Online Learning: International Student Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xiaojing; Liu, Shijuan; Lee, Seung-hee; Magjuka, Richard J.

2010-01-01

This article reports the findings of a case study that investigated the perceptions of international students regarding the impact of cultural differences on their learning experiences in an online MBA program. The study also revealed that online instructors need to design courses in such a way as to remove potential cultural barriers, including…

Cross-Cultural Differences in Self-Reported Touch Avoidance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Tricia S.; Remland, Martin S.

Two hundred forty-eight male and female subjects from United States, Mediterranean, Near East, and Far East cultures completed a touch avoidance measure in a study examining cultural differences in touching behavior. Factor analysis of the instrument yielded four factors: opposite sex, other-directed same sex, kissing, and self-directed same sex.…

A Cultural Hybridization Perspective: Emerging Academic Subculture among International Students from East Asia in U.S.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Jian

2016-01-01

This research examines the emerging academic subculture of international students from East Asia in U.S. academics from the cultural hybridization perspective. In a knowledge-based economy, international education plays a pivotal role in the global educational environment. Advocacy of international student mobility is essential; international…

Explicit and implicit attitude toward an emerging food technology: The case of cultured meat.

PubMed

Bekker, Gerben A; Fischer, Arnout R H; Tobi, Hilde; van Trijp, Hans C M

2017-01-01

Cultured meat is an unfamiliar emerging food technology that could provide a near endless supply of high quality protein with a relatively small ecological footprint. To understand consumer acceptance of cultured meat, this study investigated the influence of information provision on the explicit and implicit attitude toward cultured meat. Three experiments were conducted using a Solomon four-group design to rule out pretest sensitization effects. The first experiment (N = 190) showed that positive or negative information about cultured meat changed the explicit attitude in the direction of the information. This effect was smaller for participants who were more familiar with cultured meat. In the second experiment (N = 194) positive information was provided about solar panels, an attitude object belonging to the same sustainable product category as sustainable food products such as cultured meat. Positive information about solar panels was found to change the explicit attitude in the direction of the information. Using mood induction, the third experiment (N = 192) ruled out the alternative explanation that explicit attitude change in experiment 1 and 2 was caused by content free affect rather than category based inferences. The implicit attitude appeared insensitive to both information or mood state in all three experiments. These findings show that the explicit attitude toward cultured meat can be influenced by information about the sustainability of cultured meat and information about a positively perceived sustainable product. This effect was shown to be content based rather than merely affect based. Content based information in a relevant context could therefore contribute to the commercial success of cultured meat. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cultural differences in emotion: differences in emotional arousal level between the East and the West.

PubMed

Lim, Nangyeon

2016-06-01

Whether emotion is universal or social is a recurrent issue in the history of emotion study among psychologists. Some researchers view emotion as a universal construct, and that a large part of emotional experience is biologically based. However, emotion is not only biologically determined, but is also influenced by the environment. Therefore, cultural differences exist in some aspects of emotions, one such important aspect of emotion being emotional arousal level. All affective states are systematically represented as two bipolar dimensions, valence and arousal. Arousal level of actual and ideal emotions has consistently been found to have cross-cultural differences. In Western or individualist culture, high arousal emotions are valued and promoted more than low arousal emotions. Moreover, Westerners experience high arousal emotions more than low arousal emotions. By contrast, in Eastern or collectivist culture, low arousal emotions are valued more than high arousal emotions. Moreover, people in the East actually experience and prefer to experience low arousal emotions more than high arousal emotions. Mechanism of these cross-cultural differences and implications are also discussed.

Cross-cultural and gender differences in childhood amnesia.

PubMed

MacDonald, S; Uesiliana, K; Hayne, H

2000-11-01

In two experiments, we examined cross-cultural and gender differences in adults' earliest memories. To do this, we asked male and female adults from three cultural backgrounds (New Zealand European, New Zealand Maori, and Asian) to describe and date their earliest personal memory. Consistent with past research, Asian adults reported significantly later memories than European adults, however this effect was due exclusively to the extremely late memories reported by Asian females. Maori adults, whose traditional culture includes a strong emphasis on the past, reported significantly earlier memories than adults from the other two cultural groups. Across all three cultures, the memories reported by women contained more information than the memories reported by men. These findings support the view that the age and content of our earliest memories are influenced by a wide range of factors including our culture and our gender. These factors must be incorporated into any comprehensive theory of autobiographical memory.

Replication and Adaptive Mutations of Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses in Tracheal Organ Cultures of Different Avian Species

PubMed Central

Petersen, Henning; Matrosovich, Mikhail; Pleschka, Stephan; Rautenschlein, Silke

2012-01-01

Transmission of avian influenza viruses (AIV) between different avian species may require genome mutations that allow efficient virus replication in a new species and could increase virulence. To study the role of domestic poultry in the evolution of AIV we compared replication of low pathogenic (LP) AIV of subtypes H9N2, H7N7 and H6N8 in tracheal organ cultures (TOC) and primary embryo fibroblast cultures of chicken, turkey, Pekin duck and homing pigeon. Virus strain-dependent and avian species-related differences between LPAIV were observed in growth kinetics and induction of ciliostasis in TOC. In particular, our data demonstrate high susceptibility to LPAIV of turkey TOC contrasted with low susceptibility of homing pigeon TOC. Serial virus passages in the cells of heterologous host species resulted in adaptive mutations in the AIV genome, especially in the receptor-binding site and protease cleavage site of the hemagglutinin. Our data highlight differences in susceptibility of different birds to AIV viruses and emphasizes potential role of poultry in the emergence of new virus variants. PMID:22912693

Cultural influences for college student language brokers.

PubMed

Weisskirch, Robert S; Kim, Su Yeong; Zamboanga, Byron L; Schwartz, Seth J; Bersamin, Melina; Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J

2011-01-01

Children from immigrant families often translate communication for parents, a process known as language brokering (LB). LB begins in childhood, but may continue through emerging adulthood, even when individuals are in college. We surveyed 1,222 university students with two immigrant parents and compared non-language brokers, infrequent language brokers, and frequent language brokers on a variety of ethnic, cultural, and identity measures. Significant differences emerged for cultural heritage value orientation, ethnic identity, and dimensions of acculturation with frequent language brokers scoring highest, infrequent language brokers scoring in the middle, and non-language brokers scoring the lowest on these measures. There were no significant differences on acculturative stress among these three groups. These results suggest that LB experiences may contribute to the development of psychological assets for ethnic minority, emerging adults from immigrant families.

Cultural diversity and saccade similarities: culture does not explain saccade latency differences between Chinese and Caucasian participants.

PubMed

Knox, Paul C; Wolohan, Felicity D A

2014-01-01

A central claim of cultural neuroscience is that the culture to which an individual belongs plays a key role in shaping basic cognitive processes and behaviours, including eye movement behaviour. We previously reported a robust difference in saccade behaviour between Chinese and Caucasian participants; Chinese participants are much more likely to execute low latency express saccades, in circumstances in which these are normally discouraged. To assess the extent to which this is the product of culture we compared a group of 70 Chinese overseas students (whose primary cultural exposure was that of mainland China), a group of 45 participants whose parents were Chinese but who themselves were brought up in the UK (whose primary cultural exposure was western European) and a group of 70 Caucasian participants. Results from the Schwartz Value Survey confirmed that the UK-Chinese group were culturally similar to the Caucasian group. However, their patterns of saccade latency were identical to the mainland Chinese group, and different to the Caucasian group. We conclude that at least for the relatively simple reflexive saccade behaviour we have investigated, culture cannot explain the observed differences in behaviour.

Cultural Diversity and Saccade Similarities: Culture Does Not Explain Saccade Latency Differences between Chinese and Caucasian Participants

PubMed Central

Knox, Paul C.; Wolohan, Felicity D. A.

2014-01-01

A central claim of cultural neuroscience is that the culture to which an individual belongs plays a key role in shaping basic cognitive processes and behaviours, including eye movement behaviour. We previously reported a robust difference in saccade behaviour between Chinese and Caucasian participants; Chinese participants are much more likely to execute low latency express saccades, in circumstances in which these are normally discouraged. To assess the extent to which this is the product of culture we compared a group of 70 Chinese overseas students (whose primary cultural exposure was that of mainland China), a group of 45 participants whose parents were Chinese but who themselves were brought up in the UK (whose primary cultural exposure was western European) and a group of 70 Caucasian participants. Results from the Schwartz Value Survey confirmed that the UK-Chinese group were culturally similar to the Caucasian group. However, their patterns of saccade latency were identical to the mainland Chinese group, and different to the Caucasian group. We conclude that at least for the relatively simple reflexive saccade behaviour we have investigated, culture cannot explain the observed differences in behaviour. PMID:24709988

Meeting and treating cultural difference in primary care: a qualitative interview study.

PubMed

Wachtler, Caroline; Brorsson, Annika; Troein, Margareta

2006-02-01

Primary care doctors see patients from diverse cultural backgrounds and communication plays an important role in diagnosis and treatment. Communication problems can arise when patient and doctor do not share the same cultural background. The aim of this study was to examine how consultations with immigrant patients are understood by GPs and how GPs manage these consultations. Semi-structured interviews with GPs about their experiences with immigrant patients were recorded on audio-tape, transcribed and analysed using a qualitative thematic analysis methodology. A constructivist approach was taken to analysis and interpretation. Culture is not in focus when GPs meet immigrant patients. The consultation is seen as a meeting between individuals, where cultural difference is just one of many individual factors that influence how well doctor and patient understand each other. However, when mutual understanding is poor and the consultation not successful, cultural differences are central. The GPs try to conduct their consultations with immigrant patients in the same way that they conduct all their consultations. There is no specific focus on culture, instead, GPs tend to avoid addressing even pronounced cultural differences. This study indicates that cultural difference is not treated in GPs consultation with immigrant patients. Learning about cultural difference's effect on mutual understanding between doctor and patient could improve GPs cross-cultural communication. Increased awareness of the culture the doctor brings to the consultation could facilitate management of cross-cultural consultations.

Culture differences in design of portal sites.

PubMed

Fang, Xiaowen; Rau, Pei-Luen Patrick

2003-01-15

Two experiments were carried out to examine the effects of cultural differences between the Chinese and the US people on the perceived usability and search performance of World Wide Web (WWW) portal sites. Chinese users in Taiwan and US users in Chicago were recruited to perform searching tasks on two versions of Yahoo! portal site: the standard Yahoo! and Yahoo! Chinese. The layout of Yahoo! Chinese is the same as the layout of Yahoo!, and categories on Yahoo! Chinese have been translated from its US counterpart. A special browser was programmed to record all the keystroke data and participants were asked to fill out a satisfaction questionnaire after finishing the tasks. Significant differences of satisfaction and steps to perform some tasks were found between the two groups. The experiment results also provided more detailed insights into the cultural differences between the Chinese and the US users.

Parental Involvement in Children's Schooling: Different Meanings in Different Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huntsinger, Carol S.; Jose, Paul E.

2009-01-01

Three types of parent involvement--communicating, volunteering at school, and learning at home--were explored in two cultures within the United States. Immigrant Chinese parents and European American parents of young children reflect their different traditions in the ways they involve themselves in their child's academic life. European American…

Who Learns More? Cultural Differences in Implicit Sequence Learning

PubMed Central

Fu, Qiufang; Dienes, Zoltan; Shang, Junchen; Fu, Xiaolan

2013-01-01

Background It is well documented that East Asians differ from Westerners in conscious perception and attention. However, few studies have explored cultural differences in unconscious processes such as implicit learning. Methodology/Principal Findings The global-local Navon letters were adopted in the serial reaction time (SRT) task, during which Chinese and British participants were instructed to respond to global or local letters, to investigate whether culture influences what people acquire in implicit sequence learning. Our results showed that from the beginning British expressed a greater local bias in perception than Chinese, confirming a cultural difference in perception. Further, over extended exposure, the Chinese learned the target regularity better than the British when the targets were global, indicating a global advantage for Chinese in implicit learning. Moreover, Chinese participants acquired greater unconscious knowledge of an irrelevant regularity than British participants, indicating that the Chinese were more sensitive to contextual regularities than the British. Conclusions/Significance The results suggest that cultural biases can profoundly influence both what people consciously perceive and unconsciously learn. PMID:23940773

Age and gender differences in self-esteem-A cross-cultural window.

PubMed

Bleidorn, Wiebke; Arslan, Ruben C; Denissen, Jaap J A; Rentfrow, Peter J; Gebauer, Jochen E; Potter, Jeff; Gosling, Samuel D

2016-09-01

Research and theorizing on gender and age differences in self-esteem have played a prominent role in psychology over the past 20 years. However, virtually all empirical research has been undertaken in the United States or other Western industrialized countries, providing a narrow empirical base from which to draw conclusions and develop theory. To broaden the empirical base, the present research uses a large Internet sample (N = 985,937) to provide the first large-scale systematic cross-cultural examination of gender and age differences in self-esteem. Across 48 nations, and consistent with previous research, we found age-related increases in self-esteem from late adolescence to middle adulthood and significant gender gaps, with males consistently reporting higher self-esteem than females. Despite these broad cross-cultural similarities, the cultures differed significantly in the magnitude of gender, age, and Gender × Age effects on self-esteem. These differences were associated with cultural differences in socioeconomic, sociodemographic, gender-equality, and cultural value indicators. Discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of cross-cultural research on self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Assessing Adolescents' Understanding of and Reactions to Stress in Different Cultures: Results of a Mixed-Methods Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nastasi, Bonnie K.; Hitchcock, John H.; Burkholder, Gary; Varjas, Kristen; Sarkar, Sreeroopa; Jayasena, Asoka

2007-01-01

This article expands on an emerging mixed-method approach for validating culturally-specific constructs (see Hitchcock et al., 2005). Previous work established an approach for dealing with cultural impacts when assessing psychological constructs and the current article extends these efforts into studying stress reactions among adolescents in Sri…

Cultural Psychology of Differences and EMS; a New Theoretical Framework for Understanding and Reconstructing Culture.

PubMed

Yamamoto, Toshiya

2017-09-01

In this paper I introduce the outlines of our new type of theoretical framework named 'Cultural psychology of Differences' for understanding cultural others and dialogically reconstructing interactions among cultural others. In order to understand cultural others, it is necessary for us to reconstruct a new concept which enables us to analyze dynamic generation processes of culture. We propose the concept of Expanded Mediational Structure, EMS, as an elementary unit for understanding human social interactions. EMS is composed of subjects who interacts each other using objects of some kind as mediators, and a normative mediator, NM, which mediates their interactions. It is necessary to generate, share and adjust a NM to keep social interactions stable, and culture will appear when interaction malfunction is attributed to a gaps of NMs. The concept of EMS helps us to understand how culture is functionally substantialized in the plane of collective (or communal) intersubjectivity and how cultural conflicts develop and intensify. Focusing on the generation process of culture through interactions provides us with another option to understand cultural others through dialogical interactions with them.

Donald Campbell's doubt: cultural difference or failure of communication?

PubMed

Shweder, Richard A

2010-06-01

The objection, rightfully noted but then dismissed by Henrich et al., that the observed variation across populations "may be due to various methodological artifacts that arise from translating experiments across contexts" is a theoretically profound and potentially constructive criticism. It parallels Donald Campbell's concern that many cultural differences reported by psychologists "come from failures of communication misreported as differences." Ironically, Campbell's doubt is a good foundation for investigations in cultural psychology.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Childrearing Goals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Lois Wladis

1988-01-01

Data from eight countries were analyzed to explore hypotheses about cross-cultural differences in childrearing patterns. Particular attention is given to LeVine's and Kohn's theories, and Hoffman and Hoffman's new theory that contends that children satisfy certain parental needs and that the satisfaction of specific needs affects parents'…

Cross Cultural Differences in Unconscious Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiyokawa, Sachiko; Dienes, Zoltan; Tanaka, Daisuke; Yamada, Ayumi; Crowe, Louise

2012-01-01

Previous studies have indicated cross cultural differences in conscious processes, such that Asians have a global preference and Westerners a more analytical one. We investigated whether these biases also apply to unconscious knowledge. In Experiment 1, Japanese and UK participants memorized strings of large (global) letters made out of small…

Gender Differences in CDC Guideline Compliance for STIs in Emergency Departments.

PubMed

Kane, Bryan G; Guillaume, Alexander W D; Evans, Elizabeth M; Goyke, Terrence E; Eygnor, Jessica K; Semler, Lauren; Dusza, Stephen W; Greenberg, Marna Rayl

2017-04-01

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits. The objective of this study was to determine if there were gender differences in adherence to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) STI diagnosis and treatment guidelines, as documented by emergency providers. We performed a retrospective chart review to identify patients treated for urethritis, cervicitis, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in the EDs of three hospitals in a Pennsylvania network during a calendar year. Cases were reviewed to assess for compliance with CDC guidelines. We used descriptive statistics to assess the distributions of study variables by patient sex. In the analysis we used Student's t-tests, chi-square tests, and logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. We identified 286 patient records. Of these, we excluded 39 for the following reasons: incorrect disease coding; the patient was admitted and treated as an inpatient for his/her disease; or the patient left the ED after refusing care. Of the 247 participants, 159 (64.4%) were female. Females were significantly younger (26.6 years, SD=8.0) than males (31.2, SD=11.5%), (95% confidence interval [CI] [2.0- 7.0], p=0.0003). All of the males (n=88) in the cohort presented with urethritis; 25.8% of females presented with cervicitis, and 74.2% with PID. Physician compliance for the five CDC criteria ranged from 68.8% for patient history to 93.5% for patient diagnostic testing, including urine pregnancy and gonorrhea/chlamydia cultures. We observed significant differences by patient sex. Fifty-four percent of the charts had symptoms recorded for female patients that were consistent with CDC characteristics for diagnostic criteria compared to over 95% for males, OR=16.9; 95% CI [5.9-48.4], p<0.001. Similar results were observed for patient discharge instructions, with physicians completely documenting delivery of discharge instructions to 51.6% of females

[Predictive factors of contamination in a blood culture with bacterial growth in an Emergency Department].

PubMed

Hernández-Bou, S; Trenchs Sainz de la Maza, V; Esquivel Ojeda, J N; Gené Giralt, A; Luaces Cubells, C

2015-06-01

The aim of this study is to identify predictive factors of bacterial contamination in positive blood cultures (BC) collected in an emergency department. A prospective, observational and analytical study was conducted on febrile children aged on to 36 months, who had no risk factors of bacterial infection, and had a BC collected in the Emergency Department between November 2011 and October 2013 in which bacterial growth was detected. The potential BC contamination predicting factors analysed were: maximum temperature, time to positivity, initial Gram stain result, white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, band count, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Bacteria grew in 169 BC. Thirty (17.8%) were finally considered true positives and 139 (82.2%) false positives. All potential BC contamination predicting factors analysed, except maximum temperature, showed significant differences between true positives and false positives. CRP value, time to positivity, and initial Gram stain result are the best predictors of false positives in BC. The positive predictive values of a CRP value≤30mg/L, BC time to positivity≥16h, and initial Gram stain suggestive of a contaminant in predicting a FP, are 95.1, 96.9 and 97.5%, respectively. When all 3 conditions are applied, their positive predictive value is 100%. Four (8.3%) patients with a false positive BC and discharged to home were revaluated in the Emergency Department. The majority of BC obtained in the Emergency Department that showed positive were finally considered false positives. Initial Gram stain, time to positivity, and CRP results are valuable diagnostic tests in distinguishing between true positives and false positives in BC. The early detection of false positives will allow minimising their negative consequences. Copyright © 2014 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Cultural Adaptations to Environmental Variability: An Evolutionary Account of East-West Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Lei; Mak, Miranda C. K.; Li, Tong; Wu, Bao Pei; Chen, Bin Bin; Lu, Hui Jing

2011-01-01

Much research has been conducted to document and sometimes to provide proximate explanations (e.g., Confucianism vs. Western philosophy) for East-West cultural differences. The ultimate evolutionary mechanisms underlying these cross-cultural differences have not been addressed. We propose in this review that East-West cultural differences (e.g.,…

Cultural differences in human brain activity: a quantitative meta-analysis.

PubMed

Han, Shihui; Ma, Yina

2014-10-01

Psychologists have been trying to understand differences in cognition and behavior between East Asian and Western cultures within a single cognitive framework such as holistic versus analytic or interdependent versus independent processes. However, it remains unclear whether cultural differences in multiple psychological processes correspond to the same or different neural networks. We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis of 35 functional MRI studies to examine cultural differences in brain activity engaged in social and non-social processes. We showed that social cognitive processes are characterized by stronger activity in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, lateral frontal cortex and temporoparietal junction in East Asians but stronger activity in the anterior cingulate, ventral medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral insula in Westerners. Social affective processes are associated with stronger activity in the right dorsal lateral frontal cortex in East Asians but greater activity in the left insula and right temporal pole in Westerners. Non-social processes induce stronger activity in the left inferior parietal cortex, left middle occipital and left superior parietal cortex in East Asians but greater activations in the right lingual gyrus, right inferior parietal cortex and precuneus in Westerners. The results suggest that cultural differences in social and non-social processes are mediated by distinct neural networks. Moreover, East Asian cultures are associated with increased neural activity in the brain regions related to inference of others' mind and emotion regulation whereas Western cultures are associated with enhanced neural activity in the brain areas related to self-relevance encoding and emotional responses during social cognitive/affective processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in the experience of awe.

PubMed

Razavi, Pooya; Zhang, Jia Wei; Hekiert, Daniela; Yoo, Seung Hee; Howell, Ryan T

2016-12-01

Current research on awe is limited to Western cultures. Thus, whether the measurement, frequency, and consequences of awe will replicate across non-Western cultures remains unanswered. To address this gap, we validated the dispositional awe scale (Shiota, Keltner, & John, 2006) in 4 countries (United States, Iran, Malaysia, and Poland; N = 1,173) with extensive variations in cultural values (i.e., power distance) and personality profiles (i.e., extraversion and openness). Multigroup factor analyses demonstrated that, across all cultures, a 3-factor model that treats awe, amusement, and pride as 3 unique emotions is superior to a single-factor model that clusters all 3 emotions together. Structurally, the scales of awe, amusement and pride were invariant across all countries. Furthermore, we found significant country-level differences in dispositional awe, with the largest discrepancy between the United States and Iran (d = 0.79); these differences are not likely due to cultural response biases. Results are discussed in terms of possible explanations for country-level differences and suggestions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Cultural differences are not always reducible to individual differences.

PubMed

Na, Jinkyung; Grossmann, Igor; Varnum, Michael E W; Kitayama, Shinobu; Gonzalez, Richard; Nisbett, Richard E

2010-04-06

We show that differences in social orientation and in cognition that exist between cultures and social classes do not necessarily have counterparts in individual differences within those groups. Evidence comes from a large-scale study conducted with 10 measures of independent vs. interdependent social orientation and 10 measures of analytic vs. holistic cognitive style. The social measures successfully distinguish between interdependence (viewing oneself as embedded in relations with others) and independence (viewing oneself as disconnected from others) at the group level. However, the correlations among the measures were negligible. Similar results were obtained for the cognitive measures, for which there are no coherent individual differences despite the validity of the construct at the group level. We conclude that behavioral constructs that distinguish among groups need not be valid as measures of individual differences.

Data interoperability software solution for emergency reaction in the Europe Union

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casado, R.; Rubiera, E.; Sacristan, M.; Schütte, F.; Peters, R.

2015-07-01

Emergency management becomes more challenging in international crisis episodes because of cultural, semantic and linguistic differences between all stakeholders, especially first responders. Misunderstandings between first responders makes decision making slower and more difficult. However, spread and development of networks and IT-based emergency management systems (EMSs) have improved emergency responses, which have become more coordinated. Despite improvements made in recent years, EMSs have not still solved problems related to cultural, semantic and linguistic differences which are the real cause of slower decision making. In addition, from a technical perspective, the consolidation of current EMSs and the different formats used to exchange information offers another problem to be solved in any solution proposed for information interoperability between heterogeneous EMSs in different contexts. To overcome these problems, we present a software solution based on semantic and mediation technologies. EMERGency ELements (EMERGEL) (Fundacion CTIC and AntwortING Ingenieurbüro PartG, 2013), a common and modular ontology shared by all the stakeholders, has been defined. It offers the best solution to gather all stakeholders' knowledge in a unique and flexible data model, taking into account different countries' cultural and linguistic issues. To deal with the diversity of data protocols and formats, we have designed a service-oriented architecture for data interoperability (named DISASTER: Data Interoperability Solution At STakeholders Emergency Reaction) providing a flexible extensible solution to solve the mediation issues. Web services have been adopted as specific technology to implement this paradigm that has the most significant academic and industrial visibility and attraction. Contributions of this work have been validated through the design and development of a cross-border realistic prototype scenario, actively involving both emergency managers and emergency

Academic Culture, Business Culture, and Measuring Achievement Differences: Internal Auditing Views

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Benjamin S.

2012-01-01

This study explored whether university internal audit directors' views of culture and measuring achievement differences between their institutions and a business were related to how they viewed internal auditing priorities and uses. The Carnegie Classification system's 283 Doctorate-granting Universities were the target population.…

Suddenly included: cultural differences in experiencing re-inclusion.

PubMed

Pfundmair, Michaela; Graupmann, Verena; Du, Hongfei; Frey, Dieter; Aydin, Nilüfer

2015-03-01

In the current research, we examined whether re-inclusion (i.e. the change from a previous state of exclusion to a new state of inclusion) was perceived differently by people with individualistic and collectivistic cultural backgrounds. Individualists (German and Austrian participants) but not collectivists (Chinese participants) experienced re-inclusion differently than continued inclusion: While collectivistic participants did not differentiate between both kinds of inclusion, individualistic participants showed reduced fulfilment of their psychological needs under re-inclusion compared to continued inclusion. The results moreover revealed that only participants from individualistic cultures expressed more feelings of exclusion when re-included than when continually included. These exclusionary feelings partially mediated the relationship between the different states of inclusion and basic need fulfilment. © 2014 International Union of Psychological Science.

Culture and Difference. Critical Perspectives on the Bicultural Experience in the United States. Critical Studies in Education and Culture Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darder, Antonia, Ed.

The teaching and politics of cultural difference and identity are explored in these essays, which examine the possibilities of living with cultural differences through new ethical and pedagogical frameworks. The following chapters are included: (1) "Introduction. The Politics of Biculturalism: Culture and Difference in the Formation of…

Data interoperability software solution for emergency reaction in the Europe Union

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casado, R.; Rubiera, E.; Sacristan, M.; Schütte, F.; Peters, R.

2014-09-01

Emergency management becomes more challenging in international crisis episodes because of cultural, semantic and linguistic differences between all stakeholders, especially first responders. Misunderstandings between first responders makes decision-making slower and more difficult. However, spread and development of networks and IT-based Emergency Management Systems (EMS) has improved emergency responses, becoming more coordinated. Despite improvements made in recent years, EMS have not still solved problems related to cultural, semantic and linguistic differences which are the real cause of slower decision-making. In addition, from a technical perspective, the consolidation of current EMS and the different formats used to exchange information offers another problem to be solved in any solution proposed for information interoperability between heterogeneous EMS surrounded by different contexts. To overcome these problems we present a software solution based on semantic and mediation technologies. EMERGency ELements (EMERGEL) (Fundacion CTIC and AntwortING Ingenieurbüro PartG 2013), a common and modular ontology shared by all the stakeholders, has been defined. It offers the best solution to gather all stakeholders' knowledge in a unique and flexible data model, taking into account different countries cultural linguistic issues. To deal with the diversity of data protocols and formats, we have designed a Service Oriented Architecture for Data Interoperability (named DISASTER) providing a flexible extensible solution to solve the mediation issues. Web Services have been adopted as specific technology to implement such paradigm that has the most significant academic and industrial visibility and attraction. Contributions of this work have been validated through the design and development of a cross-border realistic prototype scenario, actively involving both emergency managers and emergency first responders: the Netherlands-Germany border fire.

Cultural Differences in Opportunity Cost Consideration

PubMed Central

Zhang, Ning; Ji, Li-Jun; Li, Ye

2017-01-01

Two studies were conducted to investigate cultural differences in opportunity cost consideration between Chinese and Euro-Canadians. Opportunity cost is defined as the cost of a benefit that must be forgone in order to pursue a better alternative (Becker et al., 1974). In both studies, participants read about hypothetical purchase scenarios, and then decided whether they would buy a certain product. Opportunity cost consideration was measured in two ways: (1) participants' thoughts pertaining to other (nonfocal) products while making decisions; (2) participants' decisions not to buy a focal product (Study 1) or a more expensive product (Study 2). Across both indexes, we found that after controlling for individual difference variables and amount of pocket money, Chinese participants in China considered financial opportunity cost more than Euro-Canadians in Study 1. Similar results were observed in Study 2 when comparing Chinese in Canada with Euro-Canadians However, the cultural effect on opportunity cost consideration was confounded by family income in Study 2. Implications for resource management, limitations of the current research and directions for future research are discussed. PMID:28184202

Cultural Differences in Opportunity Cost Consideration.

PubMed

Zhang, Ning; Ji, Li-Jun; Li, Ye

2017-01-01

Two studies were conducted to investigate cultural differences in opportunity cost consideration between Chinese and Euro-Canadians. Opportunity cost is defined as the cost of a benefit that must be forgone in order to pursue a better alternative (Becker et al., 1974). In both studies, participants read about hypothetical purchase scenarios, and then decided whether they would buy a certain product. Opportunity cost consideration was measured in two ways: (1) participants' thoughts pertaining to other (nonfocal) products while making decisions; (2) participants' decisions not to buy a focal product (Study 1) or a more expensive product (Study 2). Across both indexes, we found that after controlling for individual difference variables and amount of pocket money, Chinese participants in China considered financial opportunity cost more than Euro-Canadians in Study 1. Similar results were observed in Study 2 when comparing Chinese in Canada with Euro-Canadians However, the cultural effect on opportunity cost consideration was confounded by family income in Study 2. Implications for resource management, limitations of the current research and directions for future research are discussed.

[Performance evaluation of Rapid™ Yeast Plus (Remel) system from two different culture media].

PubMed

Romeo, Ana M; Snitman, Gabriela V; Marucco, Andrea P; Ponce, Graciela Del V; Cataldi, Silvana P; Guelfand, Liliana I; Arechavala, Alicia

Within the genus Candida, Candida albicans is the most commonly isolated species from clinical samples. Due to the emergence of other species which can show a higher index of antifungal resistance, a fast identification of these species is necessary. The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of the RapID Yeast Plus system from two different subculture media formulations: Sabouraud dextrose agar adjusted by Emmons (the medium is indicated in the equipment insert) and Sabouraud glucose agar, which is the most frequently used in Buenos Aires City laboratories. One hundred and sixty-six clinical sample strains coming from different hospitals belonging to the Mycology Network of Buenos Aires City were studied. From the obtained results, we conclude that the conditions and culture medium indicated by the manufacturer should be followed. Copyright © 2016 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Culture and self: are there within-culture differences in self between metropolitan areas and regional cities?

PubMed

Kashima, Yoshihisa; Kokubo, Teruyoshi; Kashima, Emiko S; Boxall, Dianne; Yamaguchi, Susumu; Macrae, Kristina

2004-07-01

Although differences in self-conception across cultures have been well researched, regional differences within a culture have escaped attention. The present study examined individual, relational, and collective selves, which capture people's conceptions of themselves in relation to their goals, significant others, and in groups, comparing Australians and Japanese participants living in regional cities and metropolitan areas. Culture, gender, and urbanism were found to be related to individual, relational, and collective selves, respectively. Australians emphasized individual self more than Japanese, women stressed relational self more than men, and residents in regional cities regarded collective self as more important than their counterparts in metropolitan areas. These findings provide support for the tripartite division of the self and suggest a need to construct a culture theory that links self and societal processes.

Birthweight distribution in ART singletons resulting from embryo culture in two different culture media compared with the national population.

PubMed

Lemmen, J G; Pinborg, A; Rasmussen, S; Ziebe, S

2014-10-10

Is there a difference in birthweight distribution in ART singletons born after IVF culture in two different culture media? There is no effect of culture media on both crude and adjusted birthweight distributions in ART singletons from nulliparous mothers. Studies on human ART singletons have reported a difference in birthweight in singletons following IVF culture in different culture media. However, other studies comparing different culture media have not shown any significant differences in birthweight. This study was a retrospective comparison of birthweights in IVF/ICSI singletons conceived after fresh embryo transfer following embryo culture in Cook or Medicult medium and in a national cohort of naturally conceived singletons in nulliparous women. The study compares four independent groups consisting of singletons in nulliparous women from Cook-d2: 2-day culture in Cook medium at Rigshospitalet (n = 974), Medicult-d2: 2-day culture in Medicult EmbryoAssist medium at Rigshospitalet (n = 147), Medicult-d3: 3-day culture in Medicult EmbryoAssist medium with and without added GM-CSF (n = 204), and DK: pregnancies from the Danish birth registry (n = 106842). The study compares the birthweights of singletons from nulliparous women in the four independent groups mentioned above; Cook-d2: Medicult-d2: Medicult-d3: and DK. In addition, distributions of large and small for gestational age infants were compared between the groups and a multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine which factors determined birthweight. We found no significant difference in the crude birthweight distributions between singletons born after culture in Cook-d2 or Medicult-groups. Singleton girls from the Cook-d2 group weighed 3302 ± 28 g, versus 3252 ± 76 in the Medicult-d2 group (difference 50 g; P = 0.547). Singleton boys from the Cook-d2 group weighed 3430 ± 27 g, versus 3354 ± 56 in the Medicult-d2 group (difference 76 g; P = 0.279). In the background population, mean

A General Multidimensional Model for the Measurement of Cultural Differences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olmedo, Esteban L.; Martinez, Sergio R.

A multidimensional model for measuring cultural differences (MCD) based on factor analytic theory and techniques is proposed. The model assumes that a cultural space may be defined by means of a relatively small number of orthogonal dimensions which are linear combinations of a much larger number of cultural variables. Once a suitable,…

Cultural psychiatry: research strategies and future directions.

PubMed

Kirmayer, Laurence J; Ban, Lauren

2013-01-01

This chapter reviews some key aspects of current research in cultural psychiatry and explores future prospects. The first section discusses the multiple meanings of culture in the contemporary world and their relevance for understanding mental health and illness. The next section considers methodological strategies for unpacking the concept of culture and studying the impact of cultural variables, processes and contexts. Multiple methods are needed to address the many different components or dimensions of cultural identity and experience that constitute local worlds, ways of life or systems of knowledge. Quantitative and observational methods of clinical epidemiology and experimental science as well as qualitative ethnographic methods are needed to capture crucial aspects of culture as systems of meaning and practice. Emerging issues in cultural psychiatric research include: cultural variations in illness experience and expression; the situated nature of cognition and emotion; cultural configurations of self and personhood; concepts of mental disorder and mental health literacy; and the prospect of ecosocial models of health and culturally based interventions. The conclusion considers the implications of the emerging perspectives from cultural neuroscience for psychiatric theory and practice. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Cultural diversity, democracy and the prospects of cosmopolitanism: a theory of cultural encounters.

PubMed

Delanty, Gerard

2011-12-01

The most appropriate way of theorizing cultural diversity is to situate it in the context of a broader relational theory of culture in which the key dynamic is cultural encounters. The relational conception of culture places the emphasis on the relations between social actors and the processes by which some of these relations generate enduring cultural regularities and forms. This has important implications for political community and in particular for cosmopolitanism. It is in relationships that cultural phenomena are generated and become the basis of different kinds of political community. The paper outlines a typology of six kinds of cultural encounters and discusses four major cultural trends that variously emerge from these encounters. This approach with its emphasis on cultural encounters is the broad sociological context in which questions about cultural change and the prospects of cosmopolitanism should be discussed. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2011.

Is There a Difference in Learning Style among Cultures?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fierro, Darlene

Each child has a personal learning style that results from innate tendencies and environmental experiences. Because cultural groups often share common values, the experiences of children growing up with those values are reflected in their classroom learning behaviors. This paper discusses cultural differences in children's learning styles. The…

The Art of Globalism, the Culture of Difference, the Industry of Knowledge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nalder, Glenda

This paper speaks in terms of "globalism" rather than "globalization," of a "culture of difference" rather than of cultural difference, of an "industry of knowledge" rather than of knowing. The paper first considers the argument that new communications technologies and systems are bringing cultures together…

Health promoting attitudes and behaviors of emergency physicians: exploring gender differences.

PubMed

Rondeau, Kent V; Francescutti, Louis H; Cummings, Garnet E

2006-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to report on gender differences in emergency physicians with respect to their attitudes, knowledge, and practices concerning health promotion and disease prevention. A mail survey of 325 male and 97 female Canadian emergency physicians. Results suggest female emergency physicians report having greater knowledge of health promotion topics, spend more time with each of their patients in the emergency setting, and engage in more health promotion counseling in the emergency setting than do their male counterparts. The paper argues that in the future, educating and socializing emergency physicians, both male and female, in the practice of health promotion will enhance the potential of the emergency department to be a more effective resource for their community.

Health care disparities in emergency medicine.

PubMed

Cone, David C; Richardson, Lynne D; Todd, Knox H; Betancourt, Joseph R; Lowe, Robert A

2003-11-01

The Institute of Medicine's landmark report, "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care," documents the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. health care delivery system, and provides several recommendations to address them. It is clear from research data, such as those demonstrating racial and ethnic disparities in emergency department (ED) pain management, that emergency medicine (EM) is not immune to this problem. The IOM authors describe two strategies that can reduce disparities in EM. First, workforce diversity is likely to result in a community of emergency physicians who are better prepared to understand, learn from, and collaborate with persons from other racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, whether these be patients, fellow clinicians, or the larger medical and scientific community. Given the ethical and practical advantages of a more diverse EM workforce, continued and expanded initiatives to increase diversity within EM should be undertaken. Second, the specialty's educational programs should produce emergency physicians with the skills and knowledge needed to serve an increasingly diverse population. This cultural competence should include an awareness of existing racial and ethnic health disparities, recognition of the risks of stereotyping and biased treatment, and knowledge of the incidence and prevalence of health conditions among diverse populations. Culturally competent emergency care providers also possess the skills to identify and manage racial and ethnic differences in health values, beliefs, and behaviors with the ultimate goal of delivering quality health services to all patients cared for in EDs.

Cross-cultural differences in information disclosure evaluated through the EORTC questionnaires.

PubMed

Arraras, Juan Ignacio; Greimel, Eva; Chie, Wei-Chu; Sezer, Orhan; Bergenmar, Mia; Costantini, Anna; Young, Teresa; Vlasic, Karin Kuljanic; Velikova, Galina

2013-02-01

Informational needs among cancer patients are similar, but the degree of information disclosure in different cultural areas varies. In this paper, we present the results of a cross-cultural study on information received. The EORTC information questionnaire, EORTC QLQ-INFO25, was administered during the treatment process. This questionnaire evaluates the information that patients report they have received. Cross-cultural differences in information have been evaluated using statistical tests such as Kruskall-Wallis and multivariate models with covariates to account for differences in clinical and demographic characteristics across areas. Four hundred and fifty-one patients from three cultural areas, North-Middle Europe, South Europe, and Taiwan, were included in the study. Significant differences among the three cultural areas appeared in eight QLQ-INFO25 dimensions: information about the disease; medical tests; places of care; written information; information on CD/tape/video; satisfaction; wish for more information; and information helpfulness. North-Middle Europe patients received more written information (mean = 67.2 (North) and 33.8 (South)) and South Europe patients received more information on different places of care (mean = 24.7 (North) and 35.0 (South)). Patients from North-Middle Europe and South Europe received more information than patients from Taiwan about the disease (mean = 57.9, 60.6, and 47.1, respectively) and medical tests (70.9, 70.4, and 54.5), showed more satisfaction (64.8, 70.2, and 35.0), and considered the information more helpful (71.9, 73.9, and 50.4). These results were confirmed when adjusting for age, education, and disease stage. There are cross-cultural differences in information received. Some of these differences are based on the characteristics of each culture. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cultural differences in hedonic emotion regulation after a negative event.

PubMed

Miyamoto, Yuri; Ma, Xiaoming; Petermann, Amelia G

2014-08-01

Beliefs about emotions can influence how people regulate their emotions. The present research examined whether Eastern dialectical beliefs about negative emotions lead to cultural differences in how people regulate their emotions after experiencing a negative event. We hypothesized that, because of dialectical beliefs about negative emotions prevalent in Eastern culture, Easterners are less motivated than Westerners to engage in hedonic emotion regulation-up-regulation of positive emotions and down-regulation of negative emotions. By assessing online reactions to a recent negative event, Study 1 found that European Americans are more motivated to engage in hedonic emotion regulation. Furthermore, consistent with the reported motivation to regulate emotion hedonically, European Americans show a steeper decline in negative emotions 1 day later than do Asians. By examining retrospective memory of reactions to a past negative event, Study 2 further showed that cultural differences in hedonic emotion regulation are mediated by cultural differences in dialectical beliefs about motivational and cognitive utility of negative emotions, but not by personal deservingness or self-efficacy beliefs. These findings demonstrate the role of cultural beliefs in shaping emotion regulation and emotional experiences.

VISION: A Model of Culture for Counselors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baber, W. Lorenzo; Garrett, Michael T.; Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl

1997-01-01

Culture as a group phenomenon versus the need of counselors to work with the individual is addressed. The VISION model of culture, which accounts for within-group and between-group differences, the disappearance of groups, and the emergence of new ones, is presented. Two examples of multicultural interventions are reported. (Author/EMK)

Emerging Profiles for Cultured Meat; Ethics through and as Design

PubMed Central

van der Weele, Cor; Driessen, Clemens

2013-01-01

Simple Summary The idea of cultured meat is to grow meat from animal cells with tissue engineering techniques. Cultured meat is an idea under investigation that will not be ready for the market for several years. It is also still open what it could or should be like. We argue that this openness offers the opportunity to explore different directions in which this idea could be developed. Feelings, critical thinking and the imagination all have important roles to play in this exploration. Abstract The development of cultured meat has gained urgency through the increasing problems associated with meat, but what it might become is still open in many respects. In existing debates, two main moral profiles can be distinguished. Vegetarians and vegans who embrace cultured meat emphasize how it could contribute to the diminishment of animal suffering and exploitation, while in a more mainstream profile cultured meat helps to keep meat eating sustainable and affordable. In this paper we argue that these profiles do not exhaust the options and that (gut) feelings as well as imagination are needed to explore possible future options. On the basis of workshops, we present a third moral profile, “the pig in the backyard”. Here cultured meat is imagined as an element of a hybrid community of humans and animals that would allow for both the consumption of animal protein and meaningful relations with domestic (farm) animals. Experience in the workshops and elsewhere also illustrates that thinking about cultured meat inspires new thoughts on “normal” meat. In short, the idea of cultured meat opens up new search space in various ways. We suggest that ethics can take an active part in these searches, by fostering a process that integrates (gut) feelings, imagination and rational thought and that expands the range of our moral identities. PMID:26479525

Cultural Prototypes and Differences in Simulation Debriefing.

PubMed

Ulmer, Francis F; Sharara-Chami, Rana; Lakissian, Zavi; Stocker, Martin; Scott, Ella; Dieckmann, Peter

2018-04-18

Culture is believed to play a role in education, safety, and patient outcome in healthcare. Hofstede's culture analysis permits a quantitative comparison between countries, along different culture dimensions, including power distance (PD). Power distance index (PDI) is a value reflecting social hierarchy in a country. We sought to explore the relation between PDI and self-reported behavior patterns of debriefers during simulation debriefings. We determined six culture-relevant debriefing characteristics and formulated six hypotheses on how these characteristics correlate with national PDIs. Low-PDI countries have a PDI of 50 or less, and high-PDI countries have a PDI of 51 or greater as defined by Hofstede. Interviews with simulation debriefers were used to investigate culture-relevant debriefing characteristics: debriefer/participant talking time, debriefer/participant interaction pattern, debriefer/participant interaction style, debriefer/participant initiative for interactions, debriefing content, and difficulty with which nontechnical skills can be discussed. During debriefing, in low-PDI countries, debriefers talked less and used more open-ended questions and focused more on nontechnical issues than on medical knowledge and simulation participants initiated most interactions. In low-PDI countries, debriefers felt that participants interacted more with each other and found it easier to address nontechnical skills such as speaking-up. Our results supported our hypotheses. National culture is related to debriefing practice. There is a clear relation between PDI and debriefer-participant behavior patterns as described by debriefers. The higher the PDI of a country, the more the debriefer determines the course of the debriefing and the more difficult it becomes to address nontechnical skills.

The Emergence of Cultural Self-Constructs: Autobiographical Memory and Self-Description in European American and Chinese Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qi

2004-01-01

This study examined the emergence of cultural self-constructs as reflected in children's remembered and conceptual aspects of the self. European American and Chinese children in preschool through 2nd grade participated (N=180). Children each recounted 4 autobiographical events and described themselves in response to open-ended questions. American…

Israeli culture and the emergence of community mental health practices: the case of the West Jerusalem Mental Health Center.

PubMed

Reinharz, S; Mester, R

1978-01-01

The action assumptions which characterize and differentiate cultures affect the creation and functioning of their institutions. Using this analytic framework, the development of a community mental health center in Israel reflects a culture which contains both pioneering and bureaucratic action assumptions. The effects of these assumptions on staff interventions in community problems are traced. Finally, various dimensions of the emerging definition of community mental health practice in Israel are discussed and their problematic features identified.

Co-Variation of Tonality in the Music and Speech of Different Cultures

PubMed Central

Han, Shui' er; Sundararajan, Janani; Bowling, Daniel Liu; Lake, Jessica; Purves, Dale

2011-01-01

Whereas the use of discrete pitch intervals is characteristic of most musical traditions, the size of the intervals and the way in which they are used is culturally specific. Here we examine the hypothesis that these differences arise because of a link between the tonal characteristics of a culture's music and its speech. We tested this idea by comparing pitch intervals in the traditional music of three tone language cultures (Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese) and three non-tone language cultures (American, French and German) with pitch intervals between voiced speech segments. Changes in pitch direction occur more frequently and pitch intervals are larger in the music of tone compared to non-tone language cultures. More frequent changes in pitch direction and larger pitch intervals are also apparent in the speech of tone compared to non-tone language cultures. These observations suggest that the different tonal preferences apparent in music across cultures are closely related to the differences in the tonal characteristics of voiced speech. PMID:21637716

The Role of Acculturation in the Emerging Adulthood of Aboriginal College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheah, Charissa S. L.; Nelson, Larry J.

2004-01-01

Compared to traditional, non-Western cultures, emerging adulthood (18-25 years of age) may look considerably different in cultures that place emphasis on the group (i.e., collectivistic) over the individual (i.e., individualistic). However, within minority cultures, individual members vary on the extent to which they identify with their heritage…

Teachers' Perceptions of Cultural Differences: Ethnocentric and Ethnorelative Worldview in School Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimitrijevic, Bojana M.

2015-01-01

In Serbian context many of the teachers are faced with a challenge of diversifying classrooms regarding the cultural background of the students. According to intercultural theory the way that people perceive cultural differences and their competence to effectively act in situations that involve different cultures is influenced by the intercultural…

Cultural neurolinguistics.

PubMed

Chen, Chuansheng; Xue, Gui; Mei, Leilei; Chen, Chunhui; Dong, Qi

2009-01-01

As the only species that evolved to possess a language faculty, humans have been surprisingly generative in creating a diverse array of language systems. These systems vary in phonology, morphology, syntax, and written forms. Before the advent of modern brain-imaging techniques, little was known about how differences across languages are reflected in the brain. This chapter aims to provide an overview of an emerging area of research - cultural neurolinguistics - that examines systematic cross-cultural/crosslinguistic variations in the neural networks of languages. We first briefly describe general brain networks for written and spoken languages. We then discuss language-specific brain regions by highlighting differences in neural bases of different scripts (logographic vs. alphabetic scripts), orthographies (transparent vs. nontransparent orthographies), and tonality (tonal vs. atonal languages). We also discuss neural basis of second language and the role of native language experience in second-language acquisition. In the last section, we outline a general model that integrates culture and neural bases of language and discuss future directions of research in this area.

Proud Americans and lucky Japanese: cultural differences in appraisal and corresponding emotion.

PubMed

Imada, Toshie; Ellsworth, Phoebe C

2011-04-01

Appraisal theories of emotion propose that the emotions people experience correspond to their appraisals of their situation. In other words, individual differences in emotional experiences reflect differing interpretations of the situation. We hypothesized that in similar situations, people in individualist and collectivist cultures experience different emotions because of culturally divergent causal attributions for success and failure (i.e., agency appraisals). In a test of this hypothesis, American and Japanese participants recalled a personal experience (Study 1) or imagined themselves to be in a situation (Study 2) in which they succeeded or failed, and then reported their agency appraisals and emotions. Supporting our hypothesis, cultural differences in emotions corresponded to differences in attributions. For example, in success situations, Americans reported stronger self-agency emotions (e.g., proud) than did Japanese, whereas Japanese reported a stronger situation-agency emotion (lucky). Also, cultural differences in attribution and emotion were largely explained by differences in self-enhancing motivation. When Japanese and Americans were induced to make the same attribution (Study 2), cultural differences in emotions became either nonsignificant or were markedly reduced. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Homophily, Cultural Drift, and the Co-Evolution of Cultural Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Centola, Damon; Gonzalez-Avella, Juan Carlos; Eguiluz, Victor M.; San Miguel, Maxi

2007-01-01

Studies of cultural differentiation have shown that social mechanisms that normally lead to cultural convergence--homophily and influence--can also explain how distinct cultural groups can form. However, this emergent cultural diversity has proven to be unstable in the face of cultural drift--small errors or innovations that allow cultures to…

Eye Movements when Looking at Unusual/Weird Scenes: Are There Cultural Differences?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rayner, Keith; Castelhano, Monica S.; Yang, Jinmian

2009-01-01

Recent studies have suggested that eye movement patterns while viewing scenes differ for people from different cultural backgrounds and that these differences in how scenes are viewed are due to differences in the prioritization of information (background or foreground). The current study examined whether there are cultural differences in how…

"Whar You From?": Teaching Cultural Differences in the Business Communication Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dukes, Thomas

One of the most difficult tasks business and professional communication teachers face is teaching students to appreciate cultural differences and their effects on business communication, both domestically and internationally. Students from a homogeneous background may dismiss or disparage cultural differences. Some classroom exercises can help…

Is the attribution of cultural differences to minorities an expression of racial prejudice?

PubMed

Vala, Jorge; Pereira, Cícero; Costa-Lopes, Rui

2009-02-01

The social psychological literature considers two main perspectives on the study of perceived cultural differences between majorities and minorities: one proposes that perception of cultural differences is an antecedent of prejudice and another states that the attribution of cultural differences to minorities is already a hidden expression of racial prejudice. This paper offers further support to this latter perspective. One hundred and ninety-four participants answered a questionnaire measuring (1) general racist belief; (2) cultural differences attributed to Black people (hetero-ethnicization); (3) the asymmetric attribution of secondary and primary emotions to the in-group and to Black people (infra-humanization); (4) the asymmetric attribution of natural and cultural traits to in-group members and to Black people (ontologization); and (5) negative evaluation of this social category. The general racist belief scale was not anchored in a specific group and measured the belief in the inferiority of certain social groups or peoples based on biological or cultural factors. Relationships between the scales were analysed through a set of Structural Equation Models. According to the predictions, results showed that the attribution of cultural differences is a dimension of prejudice. Results also showed that attribution of cultural differences, negative evaluation of Black people, ontologization, and infra-humanization were different dimensions of a common latent factor that can be identified as racial prejudice; and that prejudice was predicted by general racist belief. Results are discussed in the light of the study of the impact of perceived cultural differences on intergroup relations and in the light of the "new racism" approaches.

A polydiagnostic approach to the differences in the symptoms of schizophrenia in different cultural and ethnic populations.

PubMed

Maslowski, J; Jansen van Rensburg, D; Mthoko, N

1998-07-01

This study evaluates the pathoplastic influences of ethnicity and culture on the symptoms of schizophrenia. A sample of 113 schizophrenics was evaluated using the Present State Examination (PSE) and Landmark's Manual for the Assessment of Schizophrenia. The subjects were 57 coloured and 56 black individuals. Six different tribes of Bantu, Negroid and Khoisan origin and with different language and cultural backgrounds were represented among the black subjects. Core symptoms remained basically the same in two groups, but the content of positive symptoms was found to be influenced by culture. However, no statistically significant differences in the presentation of negative symptoms were found in terms of quantity, but there were qualitative differences between the ethnic groups.

Health professionals and human rights campaigners: different cultures, shared goals.

PubMed

Sheather, J

2009-03-01

This article looks at a disagreement that emerged at an international human rights conference between health professionals and human rights activists. The disagreement centred on the scope of the responsibilities of health professionals in relation to potential systemic human rights violations. In this article, the nature of the disagreement that emerged at the conference is explored. It is first situated in relation to a strong shared commitment to the "right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health"--often shortened to "the right to health" as it appears in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Some of the tensions that emerged between the participants are then looked at and some of the causes of apparent disagreement identified. The relevance of human rights to health professionals and their impact on medical practice are discussed. Finally, it is argued that, given the common interests shared by these groups, the misunderstandings are not substantive and that there is real scope for mutual learning and collaboration. Although the conference was in southern Asia, the lessons learnt are applicable anywhere in the world--they are equally as relevant to the UK and Europe as to developing countries in the south.

Differences in Comparative Studies of Authoritarian-Personality Characteristics across Culture, Language, and Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neel, Robert G; And Others

Research has characterized Turkish culture as very authoritarian in terms of family attitudes. To determine if any of the cultural differences in authoritarian personality scores are due to differences in language or measuring instruments rather than cultural differences in personaltiy traits, university students from the United States and Turkey…

Magnetoencephalography evidence for different brain subregions serving two musical cultures.

PubMed

Matsunaga, Rie; Yokosawa, Koichi; Abe, Jun-ichi

2012-12-01

Individuals who have been exposed to two different musical cultures (bimusicals) can be differentiated from those exposed to only one musical culture (monomusicals). Just as bilingual speakers handle the distinct language-syntactic rules of each of two languages, bimusical listeners handle two distinct musical-syntactic rules (e.g., tonal schemas) in each musical culture. This study sought to determine specific brain activities that contribute to differentiating two culture-specific tonal structures. We recorded magnetoencephalogram (MEG) responses of bimusical Japanese nonmusicians and amateur musicians as they monitored unfamiliar Western melodies and unfamiliar, but traditional, Japanese melodies, both of which contained tonal deviants (out-of-key tones). Previous studies with Western monomusicals have shown that tonal deviants elicit an early right anterior negativity (mERAN) originating in the inferior frontal cortex. In the present study, tonal deviants in both Western and Japanese melodies elicited mERANs with characteristics fitted by dipoles around the inferior frontal gyrus in the right hemisphere and the premotor cortex in the left hemisphere. Comparisons of the nature of mERAN activity to Western and Japanese melodies showed differences in the dipoles' locations but not in their peak latency or dipole strength. These results suggest that the differentiation between a tonal structure of one culture and that of another culture correlates with localization differences in brain subregions around the inferior frontal cortex and the premotor cortex. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-cultural comparison of need importance and need satisfaction during adolescence: Turkey and the United States.

PubMed

Hortaçsu, N

1997-09-01

Turkish and U.S. adolescents' views concerning the importance of different needs and instrumentality of relationships with mothers, fathers, siblings, and same-sex friends for need satisfaction were examined and compared. Questionnaires covered needs related to crucial issues of adolescence, namely, relatedness and autonomy/individuation. Participants were 12- to 17-year-old boys and girls from intact families. Cross-cultural differences in ascribed importance of needs related to some aspects of relatedness and autonomy/individuation emerged. Cross-cultural similarities in ascribed importance of needs related to feelings of basic acceptance and need for self-understanding/development also emerged. Turkish adolescents perceived mothers as more instrumental for need satisfaction than did U.S. adolescents. Gender differences in importance ascribed to different needs also emerged. Cross-cultural differences were consistent with differences in predominant values and model family dynamics of the respective countries.

Cultural Diversity in Center-Based Childcare: Childrearing Beliefs of Professional Caregivers from Different Cultural Communities in the Netherlands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huijbregts, S. K.; Leseman, P. P. M.; Tavecchio, L. W. C.

2008-01-01

The present study investigated the cultural childrearing beliefs of 116 caregivers from different cultural communities in the Netherlands (Dutch, Caribbean-Dutch, and Mediterranean-Dutch), working with 2-4-year-olds in daycare centers. Cultural childrearing beliefs were assessed with standard questionnaires, focusing on general and…

Identification of differences between rural and urban safety cultures.

PubMed

Rakauskas, Michael E; Ward, Nicholas J; Gerberich, Susan G

2009-09-01

The prevailing risk of traffic fatalities is much larger in rural areas compared to urban areas. A number of explanations have been offered to explain this including road design, emergency medical service proximity, and human factors. This research explored the potential contribution of rural driver attitudes that may underlie the increased fatal crash risk in rural environments. This analysis examined differences between rural and urban drivers in terms of self-reported risk taking for driving behaviors associated with fatal crashes and attitudes toward safety interventions using a large-scale survey. The results suggested that rural drivers engage in riskier behavior, such as not wearing seatbelts, because they have lower perceptions of the risks associated with such behaviors. Results also suggested that vehicle type (e.g., pickup trucks versus passenger vehicles) may be related to seatbelt compliance and frequency of driving under the influence of alcohol. Rural drivers perceived the utility of government-sponsored traffic safety interventions to be lower than their urban counterparts. This study provides insights into the role of the human factor in rural fatal crashes and provides policy suggestions for developing safety interventions that are designed with respect to the psychosocial factors that define the rural culture.

Condom use preferences among Latinos in Miami-Dade: emerging themes concerning men's and women's culturally-ascribed attitudes and behaviours.

PubMed

Sastre, Francisco; De La Rosa, Mario; Ibanez, Gladys E; Whitt, Elaine; Martin, Steven S; O'Connell, Daniel J

2015-01-01

Among Latinos, cultural values such as machismo and marianismo may promote inconsistent condom use representing a significant risk factor for HIV infection. Yet there continues to be a need for additional research to explore the influence these cultural values have on Latino men and women's condom use attitudes and behaviours given increasing HIV rates of HIV infection among Latinos. The purpose of this study was to explore further Latino traditional culturally-ascribed attitudes and behaviour for emerging themes toward condom use among a diverse group of adult Latino men and women living in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. The study used a qualitative study-design and collected data from 16 focus groups with a total of 67 Latino men and women. Findings from the focus groups described attitudes and behaviours that counter traditional gender roles towards sex and expected sexual behaviours informed by machismo and marianismo. Common attitudes noted in the study include men's classification of women as dirty-clean to determine condom use and women's assertiveness during sexual encounters negotiating condom use--in favour and against it. As the findings of this study suggest, the process differ greatly between Latino men and women, having an impact on the risk behaviours in which each engage.

Cross-cultural differences in cognitive development: Attention to relations and objects

PubMed Central

Kuwabara, Megumi; Smith, Linda B.

2013-01-01

Growing evidence indicates a suite of generalized differences in the attentional and cognitive processing of adults from Eastern and Western cultures. Cognition in Eastern adults is often more relational and in Western adults is more object focused. Three experiments examined whether these differences characterize the cognition of preschool children in the two cultures. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds from the two cultures (N = 64) participated in a relational match-to-standard task in two conditions, with simple or richly detailed objects, in which a focus on individual objects may hurt performance. Rich objects, consistent with past research, strongly limited the performance of U.S. children but not Japanese children. In Experiment 2, U.S. and Japanese 4-year-olds (N = 72) participated in a visual search task that required them to find a specific object in a cluttered, but organized as a scene, visual field in which object-centric attention might be expected to aid performance and relational attentional pattern may hinder the performance because of relational structure that was poised by the scene. U.S. children outperformed Japanese children. In Experiment 3, 4-year-olds from both cultures (N = 36) participated in a visual search task that was similar to Experiment 2 but with randomly placed objects, where there should not be a difference between the performance of two cultures because the relational structure that may be posed by the scene is eliminated. This double-dissociation is discussed in terms of implications for different developmental trajectories, with different developmental subtasks in the two cultures. PMID:22677459

Spent culture medium analysis from individually cultured bovine embryos demonstrates metabolomic differences.

PubMed

Perkel, Kayla J; Madan, Pavneesh

2017-12-01

Spent culture medium can provide valuable information regarding the physiological state of a bovine preimplantation embryos through non-invasive analysis of the sum/depleted metabolite constituents. Metabolomics has become of great interest as an adjunct technique to morphological and cleavage-rate assessment, but more importantly, in improving our understanding of metabolism. In this study, in vitro produced bovine embryos developing at different rates were evaluated using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). Spent culture medium from individually cultured embryos (2-cell to blastocyst stage) were divided into two groups based on their cleavage rate fast growing (FG) and slow growing (SG; developmentally delayed by 12-24 h), then analyzed by a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer. Sixteen metabolites were detected and investigated for sum/depletion throughout development. Data indicate distinct differences between the 4-cell SG and FG embryos for pyruvate (P < 0.05, n = 9) and at the 16-cell stage for acetate, tryptophan, leucine/isoleucine, valine and histidine. Overall sum/depletion levels of metabolites demonstrated that embryos produced glutamate, but consumed histidine, tyrosine, glycine, methionine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, lysine, arginine, acetate, threonine, alanine, pyruvate, valine, isoleucine/leucine, and lactate with an overall trend of higher consumption of these metabolites by FG groups. Principal component analysis revealed distinct clustering of the plain medium, SG, and FG group, signifying the uniqueness of the metabolomic signatures of each of these groups. This study is the first of its kind to characterize the metabolomic profiles of SG and FG bovine embryos produced in vitro using 1H NMR. Elucidating differences between embryos of varying developmental rates could contribute to a better understanding of embryonic health and physiology.

The Work of Cultural Transition: An Emerging Model

PubMed Central

Ryba, Tatiana V.; Stambulova, Natalia B.; Ronkainen, Noora J.

2016-01-01

In today’s uncertain, fluid job market, transnational mobility has intensified. Though the concept of cultural transition is increasingly used in sport and career research, insight into the processes of how individuals produce their own development through work and relationships in shifting cultural patterns of meaning remains limited. The transnational industry of sports, in which athletes’ psychological adjustment to cultural transitions has implications for both performance and meaningful life, serves as a backdrop for this article. This study applied the life story method to interviews with 15 professional and semi-professional athletes, focusing particularly on the cultural transition aspect of their transnational athletic careers. The aims of the study were to identify the developmental tasks of cultural transitions and strategies/mechanisms through which cultural transitions were enacted. Three underlying mechanisms of the transition process that assisted athletic career adaptability were social repositioning, negotiation of cultural practices, and meaning reconstruction. Based on the data analyses, a temporal model of cultural transition is proposed. The results of this research provide professionals working in the fields of career counseling and migrant support with a content framework for enhancing migrant workers’ adaptabilities and psychological wellbeing. PMID:27047436

Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 infection emerged in cultured gibel carp, Carassius auratus gibelio in China.

PubMed

Xu, Jin; Zeng, Lingbing; Zhang, Hui; Zhou, Yong; Ma, Jie; Fan, Yuding

2013-09-27

An epizootic with severe mortality has emerged in cultured gibel carp, Carassius auratus gibelio, in China since 2009, and caused huge economic loss. The signs and epidemiology background of the disease were investigated. Parasite examination, bacteria and virus isolation were carried out for pathogen isolation. The causative pathogen was obtained and identified as Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2) by experimental infection, electron microscopy, cell culture, PCR assay and sequence alignment, designated as CyHV-2-JSSY. Experimental infection proved the high virulence of CyHV-2-JSSY to healthy gibel carp. Electron microscopy revealed that the viral nucleocapsid was hexagonal in shape measuring 110-120 nm in diameter with a 170-200 nm envelope. The virus caused significant CPE in Koi-Fin cells at the early passages, but not beyond the fifth passages. Sequence alignment of the partial viral helicase gene (JX566884) showed that it shared 99-100% identity to the published sequences of other CyHV-2 isolates. This study represented the first isolation and identification of CyHV-2 in cultured gibel carp in China and laid a foundation for the further studies of the disease. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cross-Cultural and Gender Differences in ADHD Among Young Adults.

PubMed

Gómez-Benito, Juana; Van de Vijver, Fons J R; Balluerka, Nekane; Caterino, Linda

2015-10-29

This study explored the effect of cultural and gender differences in ADHD among Spanish, African American, Hispanic American, and European American young adults. Structural equivalence between the four groups was examined by Tucker's phi coefficient. A MANCOVA was carried out with cultural groups and gender as factors and age as covariate. Structural equivalence was observed across all groups, and no differential item functioning was found. No significant effect was found for gender, although, with the exception of the Hispanic group, males scored higher than females. Furthermore, small, though significant, cultural differences were found. The lowest levels of ADHD were observed in the European American group and the highest in the Hispanic American group. ADHD symptoms, notably inattention, showed some decline with age. Findings extend existing data and suggest a relationship between culture and the development of ADHD, which might be mediated by parenting style. © The Author(s) 2015.

Strategies for Smooth and Effective Cross-Cultural Online Collaborative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Junfeng; Kinshuk; Yu, Huiju; Chen, Sue-Jen; Huang, Ronghuai

2014-01-01

As the communication between different cultures is becoming more and more frequent, the competence of cross-cultural awareness and collaboration is emerging as a key ability in the 21st century. Face to face communication is the most efficient way to cultivate the competence of cross-cultural awareness and collaboration. However, there are very…

On the Meaning of Cross-Cultural Differences in Simple Cognitive Measures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van de Vijver, Fons J. R.

2008-01-01

A set of 5 reaction time tests of increasing cognitive complexity were administered to 35 secondary school pupils in Zimbabwe and The Netherlands at 4 consecutive school days in order to explore the existence and nature of cross-cultural differences on reaction time tests measuring basic cognitive operations. No cross-cultural differences were…

Correlates of college students' physical activity: cross-cultural differences.

PubMed

Seo, Dong-Chul; Torabi, Mohammad R; Jiang, Nan; Fernandez-Rojas, Xinia; Park, Bock-Hee

2009-10-01

This study examined cross-cultural differences in personal and behavioral determinants of vigorous-intensity and moderate-intensity physical activity (PA) among college students living in distinctly different cultures, that is, the United States, Costa Rica, India, and South Korea. Participants of this study were recruited from randomly chosen public universities in the 4 countries during the 2006-2007 academic year. A total of 4685 students participated in the study (response rate 90%). Vigorous-intensity PA was measured by asking on how many of the past 7 days the participants participated in PA for at least 20 minutes that made them sweat or breathe hard. For moderate-intensity PA, participants were asked on how many of the past 7 days they participated in PA for at least 30 minutes that did not make them sweat or breathe hard. Findings indicate that whereas perceived overweight and fruit and vegetable consumption are relatively culture-free predictors of PA, gender and TV/video watching are culture-specific predictors. Binge drinking was not predictive of meeting the vigorous-intensity and moderate-intensity PA guidelines in any of the 4 countries.

Cross Cultural Differences in Online Learning Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Doo H.

2004-01-01

Globalization and technology are two of the many drivers that impact today's education, locally and internationally. The purpose of the research study was to identify how online learners in Korea and the US perceived online learning motivation differently and what learner characteristics and cultural orientation affected the online learners'…

Cross Cultural Differences in Online Learning Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Doo H.

2004-01-01

Globalization and technology are two of the many drivers that impact today's education locally and internationally. The purpose of the research study was to identify how online learners in Korea and the U.S. perceived online learning motivation differently and what learner characteristics and cultural orientation affected the online learners'…

Associations between Extending Access to Primary Care and Emergency Department Visits: A Difference-In-Differences Analysis.

PubMed

Whittaker, William; Anselmi, Laura; Kristensen, Søren Rud; Lau, Yiu-Shing; Bailey, Simon; Bower, Peter; Checkland, Katherine; Elvey, Rebecca; Rothwell, Katy; Stokes, Jonathan; Hodgson, Damian

2016-09-01

Health services across the world increasingly face pressures on the use of expensive hospital services. Better organisation and delivery of primary care has the potential to manage demand and reduce costs for hospital services, but routine primary care services are not open during evenings and weekends. Extended access (evening and weekend opening) is hypothesized to reduce pressure on hospital services from emergency department visits. However, the existing evidence-base is weak, largely focused on emergency out-of-hours services, and analysed using a before-and after-methodology without effective comparators. Throughout 2014, 56 primary care practices (346,024 patients) in Greater Manchester, England, offered 7-day extended access, compared with 469 primary care practices (2,596,330 patients) providing routine access. Extended access included evening and weekend opening and served both urgent and routine appointments. To assess the effects of extended primary care access on hospital services, we apply a difference-in-differences analysis using hospital administrative data from 2011 to 2014. Propensity score matching techniques were used to match practices without extended access to practices with extended access. Differences in the change in "minor" patient-initiated emergency department visits per 1,000 population were compared between practices with and without extended access. Populations registered to primary care practices with extended access demonstrated a 26.4% relative reduction (compared to practices without extended access) in patient-initiated emergency department visits for "minor" problems (95% CI -38.6% to -14.2%, absolute difference: -10,933 per year, 95% CI -15,995 to -5,866), and a 26.6% (95% CI -39.2% to -14.1%) relative reduction in costs of patient-initiated visits to emergency departments for minor problems (absolute difference: -£767,976, -£1,130,767 to -£405,184). There was an insignificant relative reduction of 3.1% in total emergency

Associations between Extending Access to Primary Care and Emergency Department Visits: A Difference-In-Differences Analysis

PubMed Central

Whittaker, William; Anselmi, Laura; Lau, Yiu-Shing; Bower, Peter; Checkland, Katherine; Elvey, Rebecca; Stokes, Jonathan

2016-01-01

Background Health services across the world increasingly face pressures on the use of expensive hospital services. Better organisation and delivery of primary care has the potential to manage demand and reduce costs for hospital services, but routine primary care services are not open during evenings and weekends. Extended access (evening and weekend opening) is hypothesized to reduce pressure on hospital services from emergency department visits. However, the existing evidence-base is weak, largely focused on emergency out-of-hours services, and analysed using a before-and after-methodology without effective comparators. Methods and Findings Throughout 2014, 56 primary care practices (346,024 patients) in Greater Manchester, England, offered 7-day extended access, compared with 469 primary care practices (2,596,330 patients) providing routine access. Extended access included evening and weekend opening and served both urgent and routine appointments. To assess the effects of extended primary care access on hospital services, we apply a difference-in-differences analysis using hospital administrative data from 2011 to 2014. Propensity score matching techniques were used to match practices without extended access to practices with extended access. Differences in the change in “minor” patient-initiated emergency department visits per 1,000 population were compared between practices with and without extended access. Populations registered to primary care practices with extended access demonstrated a 26.4% relative reduction (compared to practices without extended access) in patient-initiated emergency department visits for “minor” problems (95% CI -38.6% to -14.2%, absolute difference: -10,933 per year, 95% CI -15,995 to -5,866), and a 26.6% (95% CI -39.2% to -14.1%) relative reduction in costs of patient-initiated visits to emergency departments for minor problems (absolute difference: -£767,976, -£1,130,767 to -£405,184). There was an insignificant

Leaders’ Smiles Reflect Cultural Differences in Ideal Affect

PubMed Central

Tsai, Jeanne L.; Ang, Jen Ying Zhen; Blevins, Elizabeth; Goernandt, Julia; Fung, Helene H.; Jiang, Da; Elliott, Julian; Kölzer, Anna; Uchida, Yukiko; Lee, Yi-Chen; Lin, Yicheng; Zhang, Xiulan; Govindama, Yolande; Haddouk, Lise

2015-01-01

Cultures differ in the emotions they teach their members to value (“ideal affect”). We conducted three studies to examine whether leaders’ smiles reflect these cultural differences in ideal affect. In Study 1, we compared the smiles of top ranked American and Chinese government leaders, chief-executive-officers (CEOs), and university presidents in their official photos. Consistent with findings that Americans value excitement and other high arousal positive states more than Chinese, American top ranked leaders (N = 98) showed more excited smiles than Chinese top ranked leaders (N = 91) across occupations. In Study 2, we compared the smiles of winning vs. losing political candidates and higher vs. lower ranking CEOs and university presidents in the US and Taiwan/China. American leaders (N = 223) showed more excited smiles than Taiwanese/Chinese leaders (N =266), regardless of election outcome or ranking. In Study 3, we administered self-report measures of ideal affect in college student samples from 10 different nations (N = 1,267) and then eight years later, coded the smiles that legislators from those nations showed in their official photos (N = 3,372). The more nations valued excitement and other high arousal positive states, the more their leaders showed excited smiles; similarly, the more nations valued calm and other low arousal positive states, the more their leaders showed calm smiles. These results held after controlling for national differences in GDP per capita, democratization, and human development. Together, these findings suggest that leaders’ smiles reflect the affective states valued by their cultures. PMID:26751631

Leaders' smiles reflect cultural differences in ideal affect.

PubMed

Tsai, Jeanne L; Ang, Jen Ying Zhen; Blevins, Elizabeth; Goernandt, Julia; Fung, Helene H; Jiang, Da; Elliott, Julian; Kölzer, Anna; Uchida, Yukiko; Lee, Yi-Chen; Lin, Yicheng; Zhang, Xiulan; Govindama, Yolande; Haddouk, Lise

2016-03-01

Cultures differ in the emotions they teach their members to value ("ideal affect"). We conducted 3 studies to examine whether leaders' smiles reflect these cultural differences in ideal affect. In Study 1, we compared the smiles of top-ranked American and Chinese government leaders, chief executive officers, and university presidents in their official photos. Consistent with findings that Americans value excitement and other high-arousal positive states more than Chinese, American top-ranked leaders (N = 98) showed more excited smiles than Chinese top-ranked leaders (N = 91) across occupations. In Study 2, we compared the smiles of winning versus losing political candidates and higher versus lower ranking chief executive officers and university presidents in the United States and Taiwan/China. American leaders (N = 223) showed more excited smiles than Taiwanese/Chinese leaders (N = 266), regardless of election outcome or ranking. In Study 3, we administered self-report measures of ideal affect in college student samples from 10 different nations (N = 1,267) and then 8 years later, coded the smiles that legislators from those nations showed in their official photos (N = 3,372). The more nations valued excitement and other high arousal positive states, the more their leaders showed excited smiles; similarly, the more nations valued calm and other low-arousal positive states, the more their leaders showed calm smiles. These results held after controlling for national differences in democratization, human development, and gross domestic product per capita. Together, these findings suggest that leaders' smiles reflect the affective states valued by their cultures. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Intercultural Dialogue: Cultural Dialogues of Equals or Cultural Dialogues of Unequals?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Igbino, John

2011-01-01

This article has two aims. The first aim of the article is to show some emerging problems and questions facing intercultural dialogue. This involves a critique of intercultural dialogue by situating it within emerging models of cultural change. The second aim of the article is to show alternative approaches to cultural dialogues. This involves the…

Cross-cultural differences in cognitive development: attention to relations and objects.

PubMed

Kuwabara, Megumi; Smith, Linda B

2012-09-01

Growing evidence indicates a suite of generalized differences in the attentional and cognitive processing of adults from Eastern and Western cultures. Cognition in Eastern adults is often more relational and in Western adults is more object focused. Three experiments examined whether these differences characterize the cognition of preschool children in the two cultures. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds from the two cultures (N=64) participated in a relational match-to-standard task in two conditions, with simple or richly detailed objects, in which a focus on individual objects may hurt performance. Rich objects, consistent with past research, strongly limited the performance of U.S. children but not Japanese children. In Experiment 2, U.S. and Japanese 4-year-olds (N=72) participated in a visual search task that required them to find a specific object in a cluttered, but organized as a scene, visual field in which object-centric attention might be expected to aid performance and relational attentional pattern may hinder the performance because of relational structure that was poised by the scene. U.S. children outperformed Japanese children. In Experiment 3, 4-year-olds from both cultures (N=36) participated in a visual search task that was similar to Experiment 2 but with randomly placed objects, where there should not be a difference between the performance of two cultures because the relational structure that may be posed by the scene is eliminated. This double-dissociation is discussed in terms of implications for different developmental trajectories, with different developmental subtasks in the two cultures. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cultural Correlates of Parent-Nonparent Stereotypes: A Multivariate Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bigner, Jerry J.; And Others

1981-01-01

This study determines cultural meanings of parent v nonparent roles using the following variables: one's generational group, place of residence, and family size. Generational differences appear to be the overwhelming influence on parental roles. The decision not to be a parent is an emerging role in contemporary culture. (CT)

Impact of Cultural Differences on Students' Participation, Communication, and Learning in an Online Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Dazhi; Olesova, Larissa; Richardson, Jennifer C.

2010-01-01

Being aware of cultural differences and knowing how to deal with related differences is critical for the success of online learning and training that involves learners from multiple countries and cultures. This study examines the perceived differences of participants from two different cultures on (1) students' participation behaviors; (2)…

Differences between culture & non-culture confirmed invasive meningococci with a focus on factor H-binding protein distribution.

PubMed

Clark, Stephen A; Lekshmi, Aiswarya; Lucidarme, Jay; Hao, Li; Tsao, How; Lee-Jones, Lisa; Jansen, Kathrin U; Newbold, Lynne S; Anderson, Annaliesa S; Borrow, Ray

2016-07-01

To compare the distribution of capsular groups and factor H-binding protein (fHBP) variants among meningococcal isolates and non-culture clinical specimens and to assess the representativeness of group B isolates amongst group B cases as a whole. A PCR sequencing assay was used to characterise fHBP from non-culture cases confirmed from January 2011 to December 2013. These were compared to genotypic data derived from whole genome analysis of isolates received during the same period. Group W and Y strains were more common among isolates than non-culture strains. The distribution of fHBP variants among group B non-culture cases generally reflected that seen in the corresponding isolates. Nonetheless, the non-culture subset contained a greater proportion of fHBP variant 15/B44, associated with the ST-269 cluster sublineage. Differences in capsular group and fHBP distribution among culture and non-culture cases may be indicative of variation in strain viability, diagnostic practice, disease severity and/or clinical presentation. Future analyses combining clinical case information with laboratory data may help to further explore these differences. Group B isolates provide a good representation of group B disease in E&W and, therefore, can reliably be used in fHBP strain coverage predictions of recently-licensed vaccines. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Sense of Obligation: Cultural Differences in the Experience of Obligation.

PubMed

Buchtel, Emma E; Ng, Leo C Y; Norenzayan, Ara; Heine, Steven J; Biesanz, Jeremy C; Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua; Bond, Michael Harris; Peng, Qin; Su, Yanjie

2018-05-01

In this investigation of cultural differences in the experience of obligation, we distinguish between Confucian Role Ethics versus Relative Autonomy lay theories of motivation and illustrate them with data showing relevant cultural differences in both social judgments and intrapersonal experience. First, when judging others, Western European heritage culture (WEHC) participants (relative to Confucian heritage culture [CHC] participants) judged obligation-motivated actors more negatively than those motivated by agency (Study 1, N = 529). Second, in daily diary and situation sampling studies, CHC participants (relative to WEHC participants) perceived more congruency between their own agentic and obligated motivations, and more positive emotional associations with obligated motivations (Study 2, N = 200 and Study 3, N = 244). Agentic motivation, however, was universally associated with positive emotions. More research on a Role Ethics rather than Relative Autonomy conception of agency may improve our understanding of human motivation, especially across cultures.

Country of origin and racio-ethnicity: are there differences in perceived organizational cultural competency and job satisfaction among nursing assistants in long-term care?

PubMed

Allensworth-Davies, Donald; Leigh, Jennifer; Pukstas, Kim; Geron, Scott Miyake; Hardt, Eric; Brandeis, Gary; Engle, Ryann L; Parker, Victoria A

2007-01-01

Long-term care facilities nationwide are finding it difficult to train and retain sufficient numbers of nursing assistants, resulting in a dire staffing situation. Researchers, managers, and practitioners alike have been trying to determine the correlates of job satisfaction to address this increasingly untenable situation. One factor that has received little empirical attention in the long-term care literature is cultural competence. Cultural competence is defined as a set of skills, attitudes, behaviors, and policies that enable organizations and staff to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. To examine organizational cultural competence as perceived by nursing assistants and determine if this was related to differences in job satisfaction across countries of origin and racio-ethnic groups. Primary data collected from a cross-section of 135 nursing assistants at four New England nursing homes. Demographics, perceptions of organizational cultural competence, and ratings of job satisfaction were collected. A multivariate, generalized linear model was used to assess predictors of job satisfaction. A secondary analysis was then conducted to identify the most important components of organizational cultural competency. Perception of organizational cultural competence (p = .0005) and autonomy (p = .001) were the strongest predictors of job satisfaction among nursing assistants; as these increase, job satisfaction also increases. Neither country of origin nor racio-ethnicity was associated with job satisfaction, but racio-ethnicity was associated with perceived organizational cultural competence (p = .05). A comfortable work environment for employees of different races/cultures emerged as the strongest organizational cultural competency factor (p = .04). Developing and maintaining organizational cultural competency and employee autonomy are important managerial strategies for increasing job satisfaction and improving staff retention. Toward this end, creating a

Cultural differences in moral judgment and behavior, across and within societies.

PubMed

Graham, Jesse; Meindl, Peter; Beall, Erica; Johnson, Kate M; Zhang, Li

2016-04-01

We review contemporary work on cultural factors affecting moral judgments and values, and those affecting moral behaviors. In both cases, we highlight examples of within-societal cultural differences in morality, to show that these can be as substantial and important as cross-societal differences. Whether between or within nations and societies, cultures vary substantially in their promotion and transmission of a multitude of moral judgments and behaviors. Cultural factors contributing to this variation include religion, social ecology (weather, crop conditions, population density, pathogen prevalence, residential mobility), and regulatory social institutions such as kinship structures and economic markets. This variability raises questions for normative theories of morality, but also holds promise for future descriptive work on moral thought and behavior. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Becoming a Doctor in Different Cultures: Toward a Cross-Cultural Approach to Supporting Professional Identity Formation in Medicine.

PubMed

Helmich, Esther; Yeh, Huei-Ming; Kalet, Adina; Al-Eraky, Mohamed

2017-01-01

Becoming a doctor is fundamentally about developing a new, professional identity as a physician, which in and of itself may evoke many emotions. Additionally, medical trainees are increasingly moving from one cultural context to another and are challenged with navigating the resulting shifts in their professional identify. In this Article, the authors aim to address medical professional identity formation from a polyvocal, multidisciplinary, cross-cultural perspective. They delineate the cultural approaches to medical professionalism, reflect on professional identity formation in different cultures and on different theories of identity development, and advocate for a context-specific approach to professional identity formation. In doing so, the authors aim to broaden the developing professional identity formation discourse to include non-Western approaches and notions.

Cross-cultural differences in tolerance for crowding: fact or fiction?

PubMed

Evans, G W; Lepore, S J; Allen, K M

2000-08-01

It is widely believed that cultures vary in their tolerance for crowding. There is, however, little evidence to substantiate this belief, coupled with serious shortcomings in the extant literature. Tolerance for crowding has been confused with cultural differences in personal space preferences along with perceived crowding. Furthermore, the few studies that have examined cultural variability in reactions to crowding have compared subgroup correlations, which is not equivalent to a statistical interaction. Although the authors found a statistical interaction indicating that Asian Americans and Latin Americans differ in the way they perceive crowding in comparison to their fellow Anglo-American and African American citizens, all four ethnic groups suffer similar, negative psychological distress sequelae of high-density housing. These results hold independently of household income.

Cross-cultural differences in meter perception.

PubMed

Kalender, Beste; Trehub, Sandra E; Schellenberg, E Glenn

2013-03-01

We examined the influence of incidental exposure to varied metrical patterns from different musical cultures on the perception of complex metrical structures from an unfamiliar musical culture. Adults who were familiar with Western music only (i.e., simple meters) and those who also had limited familiarity with non-Western music were tested on their perception of metrical organization in unfamiliar (Turkish) music with simple and complex meters. Adults who were familiar with Western music detected meter-violating changes in Turkish music with simple meter but not in Turkish music with complex meter. Adults with some exposure to non-Western music that was unmetered or metrically complex detected meter-violating changes in Turkish music with both simple and complex meters, but they performed better on patterns with a simple meter. The implication is that familiarity with varied metrical structures, including those with a non-isochronous tactus, enhances sensitivity to the metrical organization of unfamiliar music.

From Cultural Awareness to Intercultural Awareness: Culture in ELT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Will

2012-01-01

Cultural awareness (CA) has emerged over the last few decades as a significant part of conceptualizing the cultural dimension to language teaching. That is, L2 users need to understand L2 communication as a cultural process and to be aware of their own culturally based communicative behaviour and that of others. However, while CA has provided a…

Cultural similarities and differences in medical professionalism: a multi-region study.

PubMed

Chandratilake, Madawa; McAleer, Sean; Gibson, John

2012-03-01

Over the last two decades, many medical educators have sought to define professionalism. Initial attempts to do so were focused on defining professionalism in a manner that allowed for universal agreement. This quest was later transformed into an effort to 'understand professionalism' as many researchers realised that professionalism is a social construct and is culture-sensitive. The determination of cultural differences in the understanding of professionalism, however, has been subject to very little research, possibly because of the practical difficulties of doing so. In this multi-region study, we illustrate the universal and culture-specific aspects of medical professionalism as it is perceived by medical practitioners. Forty-six professional attributes were identified by reviewing the literature. A total of 584 medical practitioners, representing the UK, Europe, North America and Asia, participated in a survey in which they indicated the importance of each of these attributes. We determined the 'essentialness' of each attribute in different geographic regions using the content validity index, supplemented with kappa statistics. With acceptable levels of consensus, all regional groups identified 29 attributes as 'essential', thereby indicating the universality of these professional attributes, and six attributes as non-essential. The essentialness of the rest varied by regional group. This study has helped to identify regional similarities and dissimilarities in understandings of professionalism, most of which can be explained by cultural differences in line with the theories of cultural dimensions and cultural value. However, certain dissonances among regions may well be attributable to socio-economic factors. Some of the responses appear to be counter-cultural and demonstrate practitioners' keenness to overcome cultural barriers in order to provide better patient care. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012.

Models and mosaics: investigating cross-cultural differences in risk perception and risk preference.

PubMed

Weber, E U; Hsee, C K

1999-12-01

In this article, we describe a multistudy project designed to explain observed cross-national differences in risk taking between respondents from the People's Republic of China and the United States. Using this example, we develop the following recommendations for cross-cultural investigations. First, like all psychological research, cross-cultural studies should be model based. Investigators should commit themselves to a model of the behavior under study that explicitly specifies possible causal constructs or variables hypothesized to influence the behavior, as well as the relationship between those variables, and allows for individual, group, or cultural differences in the value of these variables or in the relationship between them. This moves the focus from a simple demonstration of cross-national differences toward a prediction of the behavior, including its cross-national variation. Ideally, the causal construct hypothesized and shown to differ between cultures should be demonstrated to serve as a moderator or a mediator between culture and observed behavioral differences. Second, investigators should look for converging evidence for hypothesized cultural effects on behavior by looking at multiple dependent variables and using multiple methodological approaches. Thus, the data collection that will allow for the establishment of conclusive causal connections between a cultural variable and some target behavior can be compared with the creation of a mosaic.

The neural basis of cultural differences in delay discounting

PubMed Central

Kim, Bokyung; Sung, Young Shin; McClure, Samuel M.

2012-01-01

People generally prefer to receive rewarding outcomes sooner rather than later. Such preferences result from delay discounting, or the process by which outcomes are devalued for the expected delay until their receipt. We investigated cultural differences in delay discounting by contrasting behaviour and brain activity in separate cohorts of Western (American) and Eastern (Korean) subjects. Consistent with previous reports, we find a dramatic difference in discounting behaviour, with Americans displaying much greater present bias and elevated discount rates. Recent neuroimaging findings suggest that differences in discounting may arise from differential involvement of either brain reward areas or regions in the prefrontal and parietal cortices associated with cognitive control. We find that the ventral striatum is more greatly recruited in Americans relative to Koreans when discounting future rewards, but there is no difference in prefrontal or parietal activity. This suggests that a cultural difference in emotional responsivity underlies the observed behavioural effect. We discuss the implications of this research for strategic interrelations between Easterners and Westerners. PMID:22271781

Cross-Cultural Register Differences in Infant-Directed Speech: An Initial Study.

PubMed

Farran, Lama K; Lee, Chia-Cheng; Yoo, Hyunjoo; Oller, D Kimbrough

2016-01-01

Infant-directed speech (IDS) provides an environment that appears to play a significant role in the origins of language in the human infant. Differences have been reported in the use of IDS across cultures, suggesting different styles of infant language-learning. Importantly, both cross-cultural and intra-cultural research suggest there may be a positive relationship between the use of IDS and rates of language development, underscoring the need to investigate cultural differences more deeply. The majority of studies, however, have conceptualized IDS monolithically, granting little attention to a potentially key distinction in how IDS manifests across cultures during the first two years. This study examines and quantifies for the first time differences within IDS in the use of baby register (IDS/BR), an acoustically identifiable type of IDS that includes features such as high pitch, long duration, and smooth intonation (the register that is usually assumed to occur in IDS), and adult register (IDS/AR), the type of IDS that does not include such features and thus sounds as if it could have been addressed to an adult. We studied IDS across 19 American and 19 Lebanese mother-infant dyads, with particular focus on the differential use of registers within IDS as mothers interacted with their infants ages 0-24 months. Our results showed considerable usage of IDS/AR (>30% of utterances) and a tendency for Lebanese mothers to use more IDS than American mothers. Implications for future research on IDS and its role in elucidating how language evolves across cultures are explored.

Cross-Cultural Register Differences in Infant-Directed Speech: An Initial Study

PubMed Central

Farran, Lama K.; Lee, Chia-Cheng; Yoo, Hyunjoo; Oller, D. Kimbrough

2016-01-01

Infant-directed speech (IDS) provides an environment that appears to play a significant role in the origins of language in the human infant. Differences have been reported in the use of IDS across cultures, suggesting different styles of infant language-learning. Importantly, both cross-cultural and intra-cultural research suggest there may be a positive relationship between the use of IDS and rates of language development, underscoring the need to investigate cultural differences more deeply. The majority of studies, however, have conceptualized IDS monolithically, granting little attention to a potentially key distinction in how IDS manifests across cultures during the first two years. This study examines and quantifies for the first time differences within IDS in the use of baby register (IDS/BR), an acoustically identifiable type of IDS that includes features such as high pitch, long duration, and smooth intonation (the register that is usually assumed to occur in IDS), and adult register (IDS/AR), the type of IDS that does not include such features and thus sounds as if it could have been addressed to an adult. We studied IDS across 19 American and 19 Lebanese mother-infant dyads, with particular focus on the differential use of registers within IDS as mothers interacted with their infants ages 0–24 months. Our results showed considerable usage of IDS/AR (>30% of utterances) and a tendency for Lebanese mothers to use more IDS than American mothers. Implications for future research on IDS and its role in elucidating how language evolves across cultures are explored. PMID:26981626

Reducing Blood Culture Contamination in the Emergency Department: An Interrupted Time Series Quality Improvement Study

PubMed Central

Self, Wesley H.; Speroff, Theodore; Grijalva, Carlos G.; McNaughton, Candace D.; Ashburn, Jacki; Liu, Dandan; Arbogast, Patrick G.; Russ, Stephan; Storrow, Alan B.; Talbot, Thomas R.

2012-01-01

Objectives Blood culture contamination is a common problem in the emergency department (ED) that leads to unnecessary patient morbidity and health care costs. The study objective was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a quality improvement (QI) intervention for reducing blood culture contamination in an ED. Methods The authors developed a QI intervention to reduce blood culture contamination in the ED and then evaluated its effectiveness in a prospective interrupted times series study. The QI intervention involved changing the technique of blood culture specimen collection from the traditional clean procedure, to a new sterile procedure, with standardized use of sterile gloves and a new materials kit containing a 2% chlorhexidine skin antisepsis device, a sterile fenestrated drape, a sterile needle, and a procedural checklist. The intervention was implemented in a university-affiliated ED and its effect on blood culture contamination evaluated by comparing the biweekly percentages of blood cultures contaminated during a 48-week baseline period (clean technique), and 48-week intervention period (sterile technique), using segmented regression analysis with adjustment for secular trends and first-order autocorrelation. The goal was to achieve and maintain a contamination rate below 3%. Results During the baseline period, 321 out of 7,389 (4.3%) cultures were contaminated, compared to 111 of 6,590 (1.7%) during the intervention period (p < 0.001). In the segmented regression model, the intervention was associated with an immediate 2.9% (95% CI = 2.2% to 3.2%) absolute reduction in contamination. The contamination rate was maintained below 3% during each biweekly interval throughout the intervention period. Conclusions A QI assessment of ED blood culture contamination led to development of a targeted intervention to convert the process of blood culture collection from a clean to a fully sterile procedure. Implementation of this intervention led to an immediate

Productive Engagements with Student Difference: Supporting Equity through Cultural Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keddie, Amanda; Niesche, Richard

2012-01-01

In this paper, the focus is on how a group of Australian educators support student equity through cultural recognition. Young's theorising of justice is drawn on to illuminate the problematic impacts arising from the group's efforts to value students' cultural difference associated, for example, with quantifying justice along distributive lines…

Running away from unwanted feelings: culture matters.

PubMed

Su, Jenny C; Wei, Meifen; Tsai, Hsiao-Tien

2014-01-01

Findings from past research have suggested a link between experiential avoidance and expressive suppression. However, there is emerging evidence showing that the suppression of emotional expression may have different meanings depending on the specific cultural context. Taking a cultural perspective, the present study aimed to examine whether the link between experiential avoidance and expressive suppression is comparable or divergent between two cultural groups [i.e., European Americans (EAs) and Chinese (CH)] with different cultural norms surrounding emotional expression. We hypothesised that the positive association between experiential avoidance and expressive suppression typically found among EAs would be attenuated among CH. Furthermore, the observed cultural group difference in the experiential avoidance-suppression link was hypothesised to be mediated by beliefs in emotional self-control. Data from 224 EA college students and 190 CH college students provided a clear pattern of support for our hypotheses. Implications for current theories on experiential avoidance are discussed.

Stereotype content model across cultures: Towards universal similarities and some differences

PubMed Central

Cuddy, Amy J. C.; Fiske, Susan T.; Kwan, Virginia S. Y.; Glick, Peter; Demoulin, Stéphanie; Leyens, Jacques-Philippe; Bond, Michael Harris; Croizet, Jean-Claude; Ellemers, Naomi; Sleebos, Ed; Htun, Tin Tin; Kim, Hyun-Jeong; Maio, Greg; Perry, Judi; Petkova, Kristina; Todorov, Valery; Rodríguez-Bailón, Rosa; Morales, Elena; Moya, Miguel; Palacios, Marisol; Smith, Vanessa; Perez, Rolando; Vala, Jorge; Ziegler, Rene

2014-01-01

The stereotype content model (SCM) proposes potentially universal principles of societal stereotypes and their relation to social structure. Here, the SCM reveals theoretically grounded, cross-cultural, cross-groups similarities and one difference across 10 non-US nations. Seven European (individualist) and three East Asian (collectivist) nations (N = 1, 028) support three hypothesized cross-cultural similarities: (a) perceived warmth and competence reliably differentiate societal group stereotypes; (b) many out-groups receive ambivalent stereotypes (high on one dimension; low on the other); and (c) high status groups stereotypically are competent, whereas competitive groups stereotypically lack warmth. Data uncover one consequential cross-cultural difference: (d) the more collectivist cultures do not locate reference groups (in-groups and societal prototype groups) in the most positive cluster (high-competence/high-warmth), unlike individualist cultures. This demonstrates out-group derogation without obvious reference-group favouritism. The SCM can serve as a pancultural tool for predicting group stereotypes from structural relations with other groups in society, and comparing across societies. PMID:19178758

Cultural differences in the development and characteristics of depression.

PubMed

Juhasz, Gabriella; Eszlari, Nora; Pap, Dorottya; Gonda, Xenia

2012-12-01

Depression is a highly prevalent mental illness with increasing burden for the patients, their families and society as well. In spite of its increasing importance, we still do not have complete understanding either of the phenomenology or the etiopathological background of depression, and cross-country, cross-ethnic and cross-cultural differences in the prevalence and symptomatic manifestation of depression further obscure this picture. Culturally-related features of depressive illness are gaining more importance in clinical practice with the increasing migration trends worldwide. In spite of the differences replicated in multiple studies, no exhaustive explanations are offered so far. In the present paper we describe the most consistently replicated findings concerning the most important cross-national differences in the rates and characteristics of depression with a short comment on possible background factors.

Neural differences in the processing of semantic relationships across cultures.

PubMed

Gutchess, Angela H; Hedden, Trey; Ketay, Sarah; Aron, Arthur; Gabrieli, John D E

2010-06-01

The current study employed functional MRI to investigate the contribution of domain-general (e.g. executive functions) and domain-specific (e.g. semantic knowledge) processes to differences in semantic judgments across cultures. Previous behavioral experiments have identified cross-cultural differences in categorization, with East Asians preferring strategies involving thematic or functional relationships (e.g. cow-grass) and Americans preferring categorical relationships (e.g. cow-chicken). East Asians and American participants underwent functional imaging while alternating between categorical or thematic strategies to sort triads of words, as well as matching words on control trials. Many similarities were observed. However, across both category and relationship trials compared to match (control) trials, East Asians activated a frontal-parietal network implicated in controlled executive processes, whereas Americans engaged regions of the temporal lobes and the cingulate, possibly in response to conflict in the semantic content of information. The results suggest that cultures differ in the strategies employed to resolve conflict between competing semantic judgments.

National Differences in Regional Emergency Department Boarding Times: Are US Emergency Departments Prepared for a Public Health Emergency?

PubMed

Love, Jennifer S; Karp, David; Delgado, M Kit; Margolis, Gregg; Wiebe, Douglas J; Carr, Brendan G

2016-08-01

Boarding admitted patients decreases emergency department (ED) capacity to accommodate daily patient surge. Boarding in regional hospitals may decrease the ability to meet community needs during a public health emergency. This study examined differences in regional patient boarding times across the United States and in regions at risk for public health emergencies. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was performed by using 2012 ED visit data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) database and 2012 hospital ED boarding data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare database. Hospitals were grouped into hospital referral regions (HRRs). The primary outcome was mean ED boarding time per HRR. Spatial hot spot analysis examined boarding time spatial clustering. A total of 3317 of 4671 (71%) hospitals were included in the study cohort. A total of 45 high-boarding-time HRRs clustered along the East/West coasts and 67 low-boarding-time HRRs clustered in the Midwest/Northern Plains regions. A total of 86% of HRRs at risk for a terrorist event had high boarding times and 36% of HRRs with frequent natural disasters had high boarding times. Urban, coastal areas have the longest boarding times and are clustered with other high-boarding-time HRRs. Longer boarding times suggest a heightened level of vulnerability and a need to enhance surge capacity because these regions have difficulty meeting daily emergency care demands and are at increased risk for disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:576-582).

Changes in the strength of peer influence and cultural factors on substance use initiation between late adolescence and emerging adulthood in a Hispanic sample.

PubMed

Grigsby, Timothy J; Forster, Myriam; Soto, Daniel W; Unger, Jennifer B

2017-01-01

We examine whether peer substance use and cultural factors differentially influence the initiation of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in adolescence and emerging adulthood (EA) among a community-based sample of Hispanics. Participants provided data in 11th grade (M = 16.8 years old, SD = 0.54) and emerging adulthood (M = 20.3 years old, SD = 0.6). Peer tobacco use had a stronger association with initiation of tobacco use in emerging adulthood (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.13, 1.89) than in adolescence (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.40), but this pattern was not observed with initiation of alcohol or marijuana use. Cultural orientation is associated with initiation of tobacco use during EA but not with initiation of alcohol or marijuana use.

Cultures differ in the ability to enhance affective neural responses.

PubMed

Varnum, Michael E W; Hampton, Ryan S

2017-10-01

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

When "Bouba" equals "Kiki": Cultural commonalities and cultural differences in sound-shape correspondences.

PubMed

Chen, Yi-Chuan; Huang, Pi-Chun; Woods, Andy; Spence, Charles

2016-05-27

It has been suggested that the Bouba/Kiki effect, in which meaningless speech sounds are systematically mapped onto rounded or angular shapes, reflects a universal crossmodal correspondence between audition and vision. Here, radial frequency (RF) patterns were adapted in order to compare the Bouba/Kiki effect in Eastern and Western participants demonstrating different perceptual styles. Three attributes of the RF patterns were manipulated: The frequency, amplitude, and spikiness of the sinusoidal modulations along the circumference of a circle. By testing participants in the US and Taiwan, both cultural commonalities and differences in sound-shape correspondence were revealed. RF patterns were more likely to be matched with "Kiki" than with "Bouba" when the frequency, amplitude, and spikiness increased. The responses from both groups of participants had a similar weighting on frequency; nevertheless, the North Americans had a higher weighting on amplitude, but a lower weighting on spikiness, than their Taiwanese counterparts. These novel results regarding cultural differences suggest that the Bouba/Kiki effect is partly tuned by differing perceptual experience. In addition, using the RF patterns in the Bouba/Kiki effect provides a "mid-level" linkage between visual and auditory processing, and a future understanding of sound-shape correspondences based on the mechanism of visual pattern processing.

Social Studies: Grade 9: Asian and African Culture Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York State Education Dept., Albany. Bureau of Secondary Curriculum Development.

A framework of non-western culture, specifically Asia and Africa, is provided in this 9th grade teaching guide. It is hoped that students will understand the heritage, situations, and problems of those emerging nations. Cross-cultural comparisons help students identify likenesses, differences, and effects of internal and external events on a…

Sensory exploitation and cultural transmission: the late emergence of iconic representations in human evolution.

PubMed

Verpooten, Jan; Nelissen, Mark

2010-09-01

Iconic representations (i.e., figurative imagery and realistic art) only started to appear consistently some 45,000 years ago, although humans have been anatomically modern since 200,000-160,000 years ago. What explains this? Some authors have suggested a neurocognitive change took place, leading to a creative explosion, although this has been contested. Here, we examine the hypothesis that demographic changes caused cultural "cumulative adaptive evolution" and as such the emergence of modern symbolic behavior. This approach usefully explains the evolution of utilitarian skills and tools, and the creation of symbols to identify groups. However, it does not equally effectively explain the evolution of behaviors that may not be directly adaptive, such as the production of iconic representations like figurines and rock art. In order to shed light on their emergence, we propose to combine the above-mentioned cultural hypothesis with the concept of sensory exploitation. The concept essentially states that behavioral traits (in this case iconic art production) which exploit pre-existing sensory sensitivities will evolve if not hindered by costs (i.e., natural selection). In this view, iconic art traditions are evolved by piggy-backing on cumulative adaptive evolution. Since it is to date uncertain whether art has served any adaptive function in human evolution, parsimony demands paying more attention to the primary and a functional mechanism of sensory exploitation as opposed to mechanisms of models based exclusively on secondary benefits (such as Miller's, for instance, in which art is proposed to evolve as a sexual display of fitness).

Cultural Differences in Adolescents' Explanations of Juvenile Delinquency.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyson, G. A.; Hubert, Carol J.

2002-01-01

Examined lay explanations for juvenile delinquency given by Australian adolescents from either collectivist (Asian) or individualist (Australian) cultural backgrounds. Student surveys indicated that, after controlling for socioeconomic and demographic variables, there were small differences between the groups, with individualistic teens tending to…

Strengthening Emergency Care Systems to Mitigate Public Health Challenges Arising from Influxes of Individuals with Different Socio-Cultural Backgrounds to a Level One Emergency Center in South East Europe.

PubMed

Twomey, Michèle; Šijački, Ana; Krummrey, Gert; Welzel, Tyson; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K; Ercegovac, Marko

2018-03-12

Emergency center visits are mostly unscheduled, undifferentiated, and unpredictable. A standardized triage process is an opportunity to obtain real-time data that paints a picture of the variation in acuity found in emergency centers. This is particularly pertinent as the influx of people seeking asylum or in transit mostly present with emergency care needs or first seek help at an emergency center. Triage not only reduces the risk of missing or losing a patient that may be deteriorating in the waiting room but also enables a time-critical response in the emergency care service provision. As part of a joint emergency care system strengthening and patient safety initiative, the Serbian Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Centre of Excellence in Emergency Medicine (CEEM) introduced a standardized triage process at the Clinical Centre of Serbia (CCS). This paper describes four crucial stages that were considered for the integration of a standardized triage process into acute care pathways.

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs: Aspects of the One-Percenter Culture for Emergency Department Personnel to Consider

PubMed Central

Bosmia, Anand N.; Quinn, James F.; Peterson, Todd B.; Griessenauer, Christoph J.; Tubbs, R. Shane

2014-01-01

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) are an iconic element of the criminal landscape in the United States, the country of their origin. Members of OMGs may present to the emergency department (ED) as a result of motor vehicle accidents or interpersonal violence. When one member of an OMG is injured, other members and associates are likely to arrive in the ED to support the injured member. The extant literature for ED personnel lacks an overview of the culture of OMGs, a culture that promotes the display of unique symbols and that holds certain paraphernalia as integral to an outlaw biker’s identity and pride. The objective of this manuscript is to discuss various aspects of the culture of OMGs so that ED personnel may better understand the mentality of the outlaw biker. Knowledge of their symbols, values, and hierarchy can be crucial to maintaining order in the ED when an injured outlaw biker presents to the ED. We used standard search engines to obtain reports from law enforcement agencies and studies in academic journals on OMGs. We present the observations of 1 author who has conducted ethnographic research on outlaw bikers since the 1980s. PMID:25035762

Cultural and gender differences in emotion regulation: relation to depression.

PubMed

Kwon, Hoin; Yoon, K Lira; Joormann, Jutta; Kwon, Jung-Hye

2013-01-01

In the last decade, studies have shown that the use of specific emotion regulation strategies contributes to an increased risk for depression. Past research, however, has overlooked potential cultural and gender differences in emotion regulation. The present study examined the relation between the use of emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms among college students in two different cultures (n=380 in Seoul, Korea; n=384 in Miami, USA). Koreans, compared with American students, reported more frequent use of brooding, whereas Americans reported more anger suppression than Koreans. Women were more likely than men to use both types of rumination (i.e., reflective pondering and brooding) and anger suppression in both countries, but these gender differences disappeared once levels of depressive symptoms were controlled for. In addition, the association between the use of reappraisal and depressive symptoms was significantly stronger in the Korean compared to the US sample. In contrast, the association between anger suppression and depressive symptoms was significantly stronger in the American compared to the Korean sample. These findings highlight the importance of considering the role of culture in emotion regulation.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Communication About a Dying Child.

PubMed

Cochran, Donald; Saleem, Sarosh; Khowaja-Punjwani, Sumaira; Lantos, John D

2017-11-01

There are more migrants, refugees, and immigrants adrift in the world today than at any time in the recent past. Doctors and hospitals must care for people from many different cultures, countries, and religious backgrounds. We sometimes find our own deeply held beliefs and values challenged. In this "Ethics Rounds," we present a case in which a Pakistani immigrant family faces a tragic medical situation and wants to deal with it in ways that might be normative in their own culture but are aberrant in ours. We asked the American doctors and 2 Pakistani health professionals to think through the issues. We also invited the father to talk about his own experience and preferences. We conclude that strict adherence to Western ethical norms may not always be the best choice. Instead, an approach based on cultural humility may often allow people on both sides of a cultural divide to learn from one another. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Cultural differences in responses to a Likert scale.

PubMed

Lee, Jerry W; Jones, Patricia S; Mineyama, Yoshimitsu; Zhang, Xinwei Esther

2002-08-01

Cultural differences in responses to a Likert scale were examined. Self-identified Chinese, Japanese, and Americans (N=136, 323, and 160, respectively) recruited at ethnic or general supermarkets in Southern California completed a 13-question Sense of Coherence scale with a choice of either four, five, or seven responses in either Chinese, Japanese, or English. The Japanese respondents more frequently reported difficulty with the scale, the Chinese more frequently skipped questions, and both these groups selected the midpoint more frequently on items that involved admitting to a positive emotion than did the Americans, who were more likely to indicate a positive emotion. Construct validity of the scale tended to be better for the Chinese and the Americans when there were four response choices and for the Japanese when there were seven. Although culture affected response patterns, the association of sense of coherence and health was positive in all three cultural groups. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Cecelia Nails

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

Evolution of cultural traits occurs at similar relative rates in different world regions.

PubMed

Currie, Thomas E; Mace, Ruth

2014-11-22

A fundamental issue in understanding human diversity is whether or not there are regular patterns and processes involved in cultural change. Theoretical and mathematical models of cultural evolution have been developed and are increasingly being used and assessed in empirical analyses. Here, we test the hypothesis that the rates of change of features of human socio-cultural organization are governed by general rules. One prediction of this hypothesis is that different cultural traits will tend to evolve at similar relative rates in different world regions, despite the unique historical backgrounds of groups inhabiting these regions. We used phylogenetic comparative methods and systematic cross-cultural data to assess how different socio-cultural traits changed in (i) island southeast Asia and the Pacific, and (ii) sub-Saharan Africa. The relative rates of change in these two regions are significantly correlated. Furthermore, cultural traits that are more directly related to external environmental conditions evolve more slowly than traits related to social structures. This is consistent with the idea that a form of purifying selection is acting with greater strength on these more environmentally linked traits. These results suggest that despite contingent historical events and the role of humans as active agents in the historical process, culture does indeed evolve in ways that can be predicted from general principles.

Cultural Differences in Alliance Formation during Group Supervision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, John W.; Pak, Jenny H.; Goodyear, Rodney K.

Study tested whether general differences between Asian and European-American cultures (interdependent vs. independent orientation, levels of self-disclosure and conflict in social relationships) would have an effect on the supervisory process of counseling trainees. On the context of weekly group supervision, first-year counseling trainees were…

Kids in Germany: Comparing Students from Different Cultures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzhugh, William P.

This unit of study, intended for intermediate grade students, focuses on comparing students from different cultures: Germany and the United States. The unit addresses National Social Studies Standards (NCSS) standards; presents an introduction, such as purpose/rationale; cites a recommended grade level; states objectives; provides a time…

Destabilising automobility? The emergent mobilities of generation Y.

PubMed

Hopkins, Debbie

2017-04-01

This paper uses empirical material gathered with young adults in New Zealand to examine a potential sustainability transition-in-practice. It draws from two frameworks; the actor-centred Energy Cultures Framework to explore mobility behaviours, and the multi-level perspective (MLP) to situate behaviour change within the socio-technical transitions literature. The MLP has traditionally been used to analyse historical transitions (e.g. from the horse and cart to the motor vehicle), but in this paper, it is used to explore an on-going change trend; the emergent mobilities of young adults who appear to be aspiring for different types of mobility. A series of mobility trends are described, which emerged from a programme of qualitative interviews (n = 51). The material culture, norms and practices that constitute these trends are articulated. These are then considered through the lens of the MLP. The evidence points to emergent trends of multimodality that, if leveraged upon and supported, could contribute to a systemic sustainability transition.

Globalization's Culture Consequences of MBA Education across Australia and Singapore: Sophistry or Truth?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goh, Jonathan Wee Pin

2009-01-01

A generally held view among international managers is that the cultural changes occurring in most modernizing societies may lead to similar outcomes and the erosion of cultural differences. Cultural convergence is posited to result from the homogenizing effect of technological transfers between societies. One major force which emerges from this…

Condom use preferences among Latinos in Miami-Dade: emerging themes concerning men’s and women’s culturally-ascribed attitudes and behaviours

PubMed Central

Sastre, Francisco; De La Rosa, Mario; Ibanez, Gladys E.; Whitt, Elaine; Martin, Steven S.; O’Connell, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

Among Latinos, cultural values such as machismo and marianismo may promote inconsistent condom use representing a significant risk factor for HIV infection. Yet, there continues to be a need for additional research to explore the influence these cultural values have on Latino men and women’s condom use attitudes and behaviours given increasing HIV rates of HIV infection among Latinos. The purpose of this study was to explore further Latino traditional culturally-ascribed attitudes and behaviour for emerging themes toward condom use among a diverse group of adult Latino men and women living in Miami-Dade County, Florida (USA). The study used a qualitative study-design and collected data from sixteen focus groups with a total of 67 Latino men and women. Finding from the focus groups described attitudes and behaviours that counter traditional gender roles towards sex and expected sexual behaviours informed by machismo and marianismo. Common attitudes noted in the study include men’s classification of women as clean/dirty to determine condom use and women’s assertiveness during sexual encounters negotiating condom use-in favour and against it. As the findings of this study suggest, the process differ greatly between Latino men and women, having an impact on the risk behaviours in which each engage. PMID:25530309

Blood cultures taken from patients attending emergency departments in South Africa are an important antibiotic stewardship tool, which directly influences patient management.

PubMed

Boyles, Tom H; Davis, Kelly; Crede, Thomas; Malan, Jacques; Mendelson, Marc; Lesosky, Maia

2015-10-06

Febrile illness with suspected blood stream infection (BSI) is a common reason for admission to hospital in Africa and blood cultures are therefore an important investigation. Data on the prevalence and causes of community acquired BSI in Africa are scarce and there are no studies from South Africa. There are no validated clinical prediction rules for use of blood cultures in Africa. A prospective observational cohort study of patients attending 2 urban emergency departments in Cape Town, South Africa. The decision to take a blood culture was made by the attending clinician and information available at the time of blood draw was collected. Bottles were weighed to measure volume of blood inoculated. 500 blood culture sets were obtained from 489 patients. 39 (7.8 %) were positive for pathogens and 13 (2.6 %) for contaminants. Significant independent predictors of positive cultures were diastolic blood pressure <60 mmHg, pulse >120 bpm, diabetes and a suspected biliary source of infection, but not HIV infection. Positive results influenced patient management in 36 of 38 (95 %) cases with the organism being resistant to the chosen empiric antibiotic in 9 of 38 (24 %). Taking <8 ml of blood was predictive of a negative culture. The best clinical prediction rule had a negative predictive value (NPV) of 92 % which is unlikely to be high enough to be clinically useful. Blood cultures taken from patients attending emergency departments in a high HIV prevalent city in South Africa are frequently positive and almost always influence patient management. At least 8 ml of blood should be inoculated into each bottle. Blood cultures should be taken from all patients attending EDs in South Africa suspected of having BSI particularly if diabetic, with hypotension, tachycardia or if biliary sepsis is suspected.

'It's different from my culture; they're very different': Providing community-based, 'culturally competent' palliative care for South Asian people in the UK.

PubMed

Owens, Alastair; Randhawa, Gurch

2004-09-01

This article investigates the challenges faced by those trying to develop 'culturally competent' palliative care for South Asian cancer patients in Luton, UK. It discusses the findings of a phenomenological study of service providers' attitudes to and experiences of caring for South Asian patients. Ten semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out with a range of staff who work in home and community-based palliative care settings, including nurses, community liaison personnel and representatives of non-statutory organisations. The authors begin by considering how these service providers construct ideas of cultural difference and how these relate to philosophies of palliative care. They then examine attempts to deal with cultural diversity in everyday practice, focusing in particular on the social context of care in the home. The paper considers the ways in which staff attempt to incorporate the cultural needs of patients, family, kin and community. Rather than criticising current working practices, the authors highlight the complexity of delivering culturally competent services from the perspective of those working directly with patients. In doing so, they contribute to ongoing debates about the development of anti-discriminatory practice in health and social care.

Test Bias and the Culturally Different Early Adolescent.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Eileen; DeBlassie, Richard R.

1983-01-01

Defines test bias as a phenomenon in which test scores result in negative outcomes for certain groups, often lower socioeconomic groups and minorities. Discusses three manifestations of test bias including content, atmosphere, and use bias and presents recommendations for remedying bias problems in testing the culturally different. (JAC)

Weaving latino cultural concepts into Preparedness Core Competency training.

PubMed

Riley-Jacome, Mary; Parker, Blanca Angelica Gonzalez; Waltz, Edward C

2014-01-01

The New York • New Jersey Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center (NY•NJ PERLC) is one of 14 Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designed to address the preparedness and response training and education needs of the public health workforce. One of the important niches, or focus areas for the Center, is training to improve the capacity of public health workers to respond with competence to the needs of vulnerable populations. During every phase of a disaster, racial and ethnic minorities, including Latinos, suffer worse outcomes than the general population. Communities with diverse cultural origins and limited English speakers often present more complex issues during public health emergencies. Training that incorporates cultural concepts into the Preparedness Core Competencies may improve the ability of public health workers to engage the Latino community in preparedness activities and ultimately improve outcomes during disasters. This article describes initiatives undertaken by the NY•NJ PERLC to improve the capacity of the public health workforce to respond competently to the needs of Latino populations. In 2012, the Center collaborated with national, state, and local partners to develop a nationwide broadcast founded on the Preparedness Core Competencies, Latinos During Emergencies: Cultural Considerations Impacting Disaster Preparedness. The widely viewed broadcast (497 sites in 47 states and 13 nations) highlighted the commonalities and differences within Latino culture that can impact emergency preparedness and response and outlined practical strategies to enhance participation. The success of the broadcast spurred a number of partner requests for training and technical assistance. Lessons learned from these experiences, including our "undercover" work at local Points of Dispensing, are incorporated into subsequent interactive trainings to improve the competency of public health workers. Participants recommended

Cultural differences with end-of-life care in the critical care unit.

PubMed

Doolen, Jessica; York, Nancy L

2007-01-01

Critical care nurses are providing healthcare for an increasingly multicultural population. This ever-increasing diversity in cultures and subcultures presents a challenge to nurses who want to provide culturally competent care. It is common for patients and families to face difficult decisions about end-of-life care in critical care units, and minority cultures do not always believe in the Westerner's core values of patient autonomy and self-determination. Knowledge of these cultural differences is fundamental if critical care nurses wish to provide appropriate and culturally competent information regarding end-of-life decisions.

Cultural Differences in Professional Help Seeking: A Comparison of Japan and the U.S.

PubMed Central

Mojaverian, Taraneh; Hashimoto, Takeshi; Kim, Heejung S.

2013-01-01

Previous research has found cultural differences in the frequency of support seeking. Asians and Asian Americans report seeking support from their close others to deal with their stress less often compared to European Americans. Similarly, other research on professional help seeking has shown that Asians and Asian Americans are less likely than European Americans to seek professional psychological help. Previous studies link this difference to multitude of factors, such as cultural stigma and reliance on informal social networks. The present research examined another explanation for cultural differences in professional help seeking. We predicted that the observed cultural difference in professional help seeking is an extension of culture-specific interpersonal relationship patterns. In the present research, undergraduate students in Japan and the United States completed the Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services, which measures professional help seeking propensity, psychological openness to acknowledging psychological problems, and indifference to the stigma of seeking professional help. The results showed that Japanese reported greater reluctance to seek professional help compared to Americans. Moreover, the relationship between culture and professional help seeking attitudes was partially mediated by use of social support seeking among close others. The implications of cultural differences in professional help seeking and the relationship between support seeking and professional help seeking are discussed. PMID:23426857

Cross-cultural differences in the sleep of preschool children.

PubMed

Mindell, Jodi A; Sadeh, Avi; Kwon, Robert; Goh, Daniel Y T

2013-12-01

The aim of our study was to characterize cross-cultural sleep patterns and sleep problems in a large sample of preschool children ages 3-6years in multiple predominantly Asian (P-A) and predominantly Caucasian (P-C) countries/regions. Parents of 2590 preschool-aged children (P-A countries/regions: China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand; P-C countries: Australia-New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom, United States) completed an Internet-based expanded version of the Brief Child Sleep Questionnaire (BCSQ). Overall, children from P-A countries had significantly later bedtimes, shorter nighttime sleep, and increased parental perception of sleep problems compared with those from P-C countries. Bedtimes varied from as early as 7:43pm in Australia and New Zealand to as late as 10:26pm in India, a span of almost 3h. There also were significant differences in daytime sleep with the majority of children in P-A countries continuing to nap, resulting in no differences in 24-h total sleep times (TST) across culture and minimal differences across specific countries. Bed sharing and room sharing are common in P-A countries, with no change across the preschool years. There also were a significant percentage of parents who perceived that their child had a sleep problem (15% in Korea to 44% in China). Overall, our results indicate significant cross-cultural differences in sleep patterns, sleeping arrangements, and parent-reported sleep problems in preschool-aged children. Further studies are needed to understand the underlying bases for these differences and especially for contributors to parents' perceptions of sleep problems. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Meanings and Functions of Money in Different Cultural Milieus.

PubMed

Cohen, Dov; Shin, Faith; Liu, Xi

2018-06-27

We explore the psychological meanings of money that parallel its economic functions. We explore money's ability to ascribe value, give autonomy, and provide security for the future, and we show how each of these functions may play out differently in different cultural milieus. In particular, we explore the meanings and uses of money across ethnic groups and at different positions on the socioeconomic ladder, highlighting changes over the last 50 years.We examine the dynamics of redistribution between the individual, the family, and the state in different cultures, and we analyze the gendering of money in the world of high finance and in contexts of economic need. The field of behavioral economics has illustrated how human psychology complicates the process of moving from normative to descriptive models of human behavior; such complexity increases as we incorporate the great diversity within human psychology. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 70 is January 4, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Re-Shaping the Faculty: Emergence and Development of "Permanent-Contingent" Roles through the Lens of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tkachenko, Oleksandr; Louis, Karen Seashore

2017-01-01

This study retrospectively examines the emergence and development of a new class of full-time non-tenure track employees in a large land grant research university in the U.S., which created the employment category in 1980. We employ cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to explore how this class of employees became institutionalized within…

Focusing on the Negative: Cultural Differences in Expressions of Sympathy

PubMed Central

Koopmann-Holm, Birgit; Tsai, Jeanne L.

2014-01-01

Feeling concern about the suffering of others is considered a basic human response, and yet, we know surprisingly little about the cultural factors that shape how people respond to the suffering of another person. To this end, we conducted four studies that tested the hypothesis that American expressions of sympathy focus on the negative less and positive more than German expressions of sympathy, in part because Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 1, we demonstrate that American sympathy cards contained less negative and more positive content than German sympathy cards. In Study 2, we show that European Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 3, we demonstrate that these cultural differences in “avoided negative affect” mediate cultural differences in how comfortable Americans and Germans felt focusing on the negative (vs. positive) when expressing sympathy for the hypothetical death of an acquaintance's father. To examine whether greater avoided negative affect results in lesser focus on the negative and greater focus on the positive when responding to another person's suffering, in Study 4, American and German participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) to “push negative images away” (i.e., increasing desire to avoid negative affect), or (2) to “pull negative images closer” to themselves (i.e., decreasing desire to avoid negative affect). Participants were then asked to pick a card to send to an acquaintance whose father had hypothetically just died. Across cultures, participants in the “push negative away” condition were less likely to choose sympathy cards with negative (vs. positive) content than were those in the “pull negative closer” condition. Together, these studies suggest that cultures differ in their desire to avoid negative affect, and that these differences influence the degree to which expressions of sympathy focus on the negative (vs

Focusing on the negative: cultural differences in expressions of sympathy.

PubMed

Koopmann-Holm, Birgit; Tsai, Jeanne L

2014-12-01

Feeling concern about the suffering of others is considered a basic human response, and yet we know surprisingly little about the cultural factors that shape how people respond to the suffering of another person. To this end, we conducted 4 studies that tested the hypothesis that American expressions of sympathy focus on the negative less and positive more than German expressions of sympathy, in part because Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 1, we demonstrate that American sympathy cards contain less negative and more positive content than German sympathy cards. In Study 2, we show that European Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 3, we demonstrate that these cultural differences in "avoided negative affect" mediate cultural differences in how comfortable Americans and Germans feel focusing on the negative (vs. positive) when expressing sympathy for the hypothetical death of an acquaintance's father. To examine whether greater avoided negative affect results in lesser focus on the negative and greater focus on the positive when responding to another person's suffering, in Study 4, American and German participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: (a) to "push negative images away" (i.e., increasing desire to avoid negative affect) from or (b) to "pull negative images closer" (i.e., decreasing desire to avoid negative affect) to themselves. Participants were then asked to pick a card to send to an acquaintance whose father had hypothetically just died. Across cultures, participants in the "push negative away" condition were less likely to choose sympathy cards with negative (vs. positive) content than were those in the "pull negative closer" condition. Together, these studies suggest that cultures differ in their desire to avoid negative affect and that these differences influence the degree to which expressions of sympathy focus on the negative (vs. positive). We discuss the

Gender and culture differences in emotion.

PubMed

Fischer, Agneta H; Rodriguez Mosquera, Patricia M; van Vianen, Annelies E M; Manstead, Antony S R

2004-03-01

In this article, the authors report a secondary analysis on a cross-cultural dataset on gender differences in 6 emotions, collected in 37 countries all over the world. The aim was to test the universality of the gender-specific pattern found in studies with Western respondents, namely that men report more powerful emotions (e.g., anger), whereas women report more powerless emotions (e.g., sadness, fear). The authors expected the strength of these gender differences to depend on women's status and roles in their respective countries, as operationalized by the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM; United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report 2002). Overall, the gender-specific pattern of women reporting to experience and express more powerless emotions and men more powerful emotions was replicated, and only some interactions with the GEM were found.

Valuing difference in students' culture and experience in school science lessons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banner, Indira

2016-12-01

Susan Harper writes about how a cross-cultural learning community can be formed where people from different cultures are not simply assimilated into a school science community but are seen and heard. This makes learning reciprocal and meaningful for both recent refugees and the dominant population. Although maybe not refugees, students from poorer backgrounds in many countries are less likely to choose science at a post-compulsory level. This article discusses some of the potential barriers that are faced by many of these students, that prevent them from participating in school science. It suggests how people involved in school science might address these issues to allow a smoother cultural border crossing between the students' cultures and school science culture by reducing the significance of the crossing.

Organisational values and organisational commitment: do nurses' ethno-cultural differences matter?

PubMed

Hendel, Tova; Kagan, Ilya

2014-05-01

To examine the association between perceived organisational values and organisational commitment among Israeli nurses in relation to their ethno-cultural background. Differences and the discrepancy between individuals' organisational values and those of their organisational culture are a potential source of adjustment difficulties. Organisational values are considered to be the bond of the individual to their organisation. In multicultural societies, such as Israel, the differences in perception of organisational values and organisational commitment may be reflected within workgroups. Data were collected using a questionnaire among 106 hospital nurses. About 59.8% of the sample were Israeli-born. A positive correlation was found between organisational values and organisational commitment. Significant differences were found in organisational values and organisational commitment between Israeli-born-, USSR-born- and Ethiopian-born nurses. The socio-demographic profile modified the effect of organisational values on organisational commitment: when the nurse was male, Muslim, religiously orthodox and without academic education, the effect of organisational values on organisational commitment was higher. Findings confirm the role of culture and ethnicity in the perception of organisational values and the level of organisational commitment among nurses. Assessing ethno-cultural differences in organisational values and organisational commitment provides a fuller understanding of nurses' ability to adjust to their work environment and helps nurse managers devise means to increase nurses' commitment. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evolution of cultural traits occurs at similar relative rates in different world regions

PubMed Central

Currie, Thomas E.; Mace, Ruth

2014-01-01

A fundamental issue in understanding human diversity is whether or not there are regular patterns and processes involved in cultural change. Theoretical and mathematical models of cultural evolution have been developed and are increasingly being used and assessed in empirical analyses. Here, we test the hypothesis that the rates of change of features of human socio-cultural organization are governed by general rules. One prediction of this hypothesis is that different cultural traits will tend to evolve at similar relative rates in different world regions, despite the unique historical backgrounds of groups inhabiting these regions. We used phylogenetic comparative methods and systematic cross-cultural data to assess how different socio-cultural traits changed in (i) island southeast Asia and the Pacific, and (ii) sub-Saharan Africa. The relative rates of change in these two regions are significantly correlated. Furthermore, cultural traits that are more directly related to external environmental conditions evolve more slowly than traits related to social structures. This is consistent with the idea that a form of purifying selection is acting with greater strength on these more environmentally linked traits. These results suggest that despite contingent historical events and the role of humans as active agents in the historical process, culture does indeed evolve in ways that can be predicted from general principles PMID:25297866

Gender differences in acute and chronic pain in the emergency department: results of the 2014 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference pain section.

PubMed

Musey, Paul I; Linnstaedt, Sarah D; Platts-Mills, Timothy F; Miner, James R; Bortsov, Andrey V; Safdar, Basmah; Bijur, Polly; Rosenau, Alex; Tsze, Daniel S; Chang, Andrew K; Dorai, Suprina; Engel, Kirsten G; Feldman, James A; Fusaro, Angela M; Lee, David C; Rosenberg, Mark; Keefe, Francis J; Peak, David A; Nam, Catherine S; Patel, Roma G; Fillingim, Roger B; McLean, Samuel A

2014-12-01

Pain is a leading public health problem in the United States, with an annual economic burden of more than $630 billion, and is one of the most common reasons that individuals seek emergency department (ED) care. There is a paucity of data regarding sex differences in the assessment and treatment of acute and chronic pain conditions in the ED. The Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference convened in Dallas, Texas, in May 2014 to develop a research agenda to address this issue among others related to sex differences in the ED. Prior to the conference, experts and stakeholders from emergency medicine and the pain research field reviewed the current literature and identified eight candidate priority areas. At the conference, these eight areas were reviewed and all eight were ratified using a nominal group technique to build consensus. These priority areas were: 1) gender differences in the pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions for pain, including differences in opioid tolerance, side effects, or misuse; 2) gender differences in pain severity perceptions, clinically meaningful differences in acute pain, and pain treatment preferences; 3) gender differences in pain outcomes of ED patients across the life span; 4) gender differences in the relationship between acute pain and acute psychological responses; 5) the influence of physician-patient gender differences and characteristics on the assessment and treatment of pain; 6) gender differences in the influence of acute stress and chronic stress on acute pain responses; 7) gender differences in biological mechanisms and molecular pathways mediating acute pain in ED populations; and 8) gender differences in biological mechanisms and molecular pathways mediating chronic pain development after trauma, stress, or acute illness exposure. These areas represent priority areas for future scientific inquiry, and gaining understanding in these will be essential to improving our understanding of sex and gender

Radiosensitivity of different tissues from carrot root at different phases of growth in culture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Degani, N.; Pickholtz, D.

1980-09-01

The present work compares the effect of ..gamma..-radiation dose and time in culture on the growth of cambium and phloem carrot (Daucus carota) root explants. It was found that the phloem is more radiosensitive than the cambium and that both tissues were more radiosensitive when irradiated on excision at the G/sub 1/ phase rather than at the end of the lag phase on the ninth day of growth in culture when cells were predominantly at the G/sub 2/ phase. The nuclear volumes of cells from both tissues were similar but were larger at the end of the more radioresistant lagmore » phase than those of the G/sub 1/ phase on excision. However, nuclear volume could not account for the differences in radiosensitivity between either the tissues or irradiation times in culture.« less

Chronic low back pain patients around the world: cross-cultural similarities and differences.

PubMed

Sanders, S H; Brena, S F; Spier, C J; Beltrutti, D; McConnell, H; Quintero, O

1992-12-01

The current study sought to determine whether there were any significant cross-cultural differences in medical-physical findings, or in psychosocial, behavioral, vocational, and avocational functioning, for chronic low back pain patients. Partially double-blind controlled comparison of six different culture groups. Subjects were selected from primarily ambulatory care facilities specializing in treating chronic pain patients. PATIENTS-SUBJECTS: Subjects consisted of 63 chronic low back pain patients and 63 healthy controls. Low back pain patients were randomly selected from six different culture groups (American, Japanese, Mexican, Colombian, Italian, and New Zealander). Ten to 11 were gathered per culture from a pool of patients treated at various pain treatment programs. Likewise, 10 or 11 control group subjects were obtained from each culture from a pool of healthy support staff. The Sickness Impact Profile and the Medical Examination and Diagnostic Information Coding System were used as primary outcome measures. Findings showed that (a) low back pain subjects across all cultures had significantly more medical-physical findings and more impairment on psychosocial, behavioral, vocational, and avocational measures than controls did; (b) Mexican and New Zealander low back pain subjects had significantly fewer physical findings than other low back pain groups did; (c) the American, New Zealander, and Italian low back pain patients reported significantly more impairment in psychosocial, recreational, and/or work areas, with the Americans the most dysfunctional; and (d) findings were not a function of working class, age, sex, pain intensity, pain duration, previous surgeries, or differences in medical-physical findings. It was concluded that there were important cross-cultural differences in chronic low back pain patients' self-perceived level of dysfunction, with the American patients clearly the most dysfunctional. Possible explanations included cross-cultural

Global Organizations and E-Learning: Leveraging Adult Learning in Different Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nathan, Edward P.

2008-01-01

This article examines a number of issues regarding the leveraged use of global training within multinational organizations. Given a common purpose and using technology that may minimize cultural differences, is it possible for these organizations to overcome some of the cultural barriers to adult learning? In examining this concept, this article…

Identity and Culture: Theorizing Emergent Environmentalism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dillon, Justin; Kelsey, Elin; Duque-Aristizabal, Ana Maria

1999-01-01

Examines the methodology and findings of the emergent environmentalism research project as reported in Environmental Education Research v4 n4. Challenges the ontological stance implicit in the research as well as explicit epistemology. (Author/CCM)

Culture in social neuroscience: a review.

PubMed

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

2013-01-01

The aim of this review is to highlight an emerging field: the neuroscience of culture. This new field links cross-cultural psychology with cognitive neuroscience across fundamental domains of cognitive and social psychology. We present a summary of studies on emotion, perspective-taking, memory, object perception, attention, language, and the self, showing cultural differences in behavior as well as in neural activation. Although it is still nascent, the broad impact of merging the study of culture with cognitive neuroscience holds mutual distributed benefits for multiple related fields. Thus, cultural neuroscience may be uniquely poised to provide insights and breakthroughs for longstanding questions and problems in the study of behavior and thought, and its capacity for integration across multiple levels of analysis is especially high. These findings attest to the plasticity of the brain and its adaptation to cultural contexts.

Cultural differences in crewmembers and mission control personnel during two space station programs.

PubMed

Boyd, Jennifer E; Kanas, Nick A; Salnitskiy, Vyacheslav P; Gushin, Vadim I; Saylor, Stephanie A; Weiss, Daniel S; Marmar, Charles R

2009-06-01

Cultural differences among crewmembers and mission control personnel can affect long-duration space missions. We examine three cultural contrasts: national (American vs. Russian); occupational (crewmembers vs. mission control personnel); and organizational [Mir space station vs. International Space Station (ISS)]. The Mir sample included 5 American astronauts, 8 Russian cosmonauts, and 42 American and 16 Russian mission control personnel. The ISS sample included 8 astronauts, 9 cosmonauts, and 108 American and 20 Russian mission control personnel. Subjects responded to mood and group climate questions on a weekly basis. The ISS sample also completed a culture and language questionnaire. Crewmembers had higher scores on cultural sophistication than mission control personnel, especially American mission control. Cultural sophistication was not related to mood or social climate. Russian subjects reported greater language flexibility than Americans. Crewmembers reported better mood states than mission control, but both were in the healthy range. There were several Russian-American differences in social climate, with the most robust being higher work pressure among Americans. Russian-American social climate differences were also found in analyses of crew only. Analyses showed Mir-ISS differences in social climate among crew but not in the full sample. We found evidence for national, occupational, and organizational cultural differences. The findings from the Mir space station were essentially replicated on the ISS. Alterations to the ISS to make it a more user-friendly environment have still not resolved the issue of high levels of work pressure among the American crew.

Cross-Cultural Differences in the Neural Correlates of Specific and General Recognition

PubMed Central

Paige, Laura E.; Ksander, John C.; Johndro, Hunter A.; Gutchess, Angela H.

2017-01-01

Research suggests that culture influences how people perceive the world, which extends to memory specificity, or how much perceptual detail is remembered. The present study investigated cross-cultural differences (Americans vs. East Asians) at the time of encoding in the neural correlates of specific vs. general memory formation. Participants encoded photos of everyday items in the scanner and 48 hours later completed a surprise recognition test. The recognition test consisted of same (i.e., previously seen in scanner), similar (i.e., same name, different features), or new photos (i.e., items not previously seen in scanner). For Americans compared to East Asians, we predicted greater activation in the hippocampus and right fusiform for specific memory at recognition, as these regions were implicated previously in encoding perceptual details. Results revealed that East Asians activated the left fusiform and left hippocampus more than Americans for specific vs. general memory. Follow-up analyses ruled out alternative explanations of retrieval difficulty and familiarity for this pattern of cross-cultural differences at encoding. Results overall suggest that culture should be considered as another individual difference that affects memory specificity and modulates neural regions underlying these processes. PMID:28256199

Cultural Similarities and Differences in Perceived Affordances of Situations for Big Five Behaviors

PubMed Central

Church, A. Timothy; Katigbak, Marcia S.; del Prado, Alicia M.

2009-01-01

The perceived affordance or conduciveness of various situations for Big Five behaviors was investigated in the United States (N = 188) and the Philippines (N = 215). The basic proposition that different situations afford different trait-relevant behaviors was supported, at least in the perceptions of cultural informants. Cultural similarities exceeded differences, and in both cultures individuals perceived Big Five behaviors as expressed in if-then patterns of variation across situations. Americans and Filipinos showed some similarity in the general dimensions along which situations are construed, but meaningful differences in the construal of certain interpersonal situations were also observed. The findings contribute to efforts to integrate person and situation approaches in personality and social psychology. PMID:20401176

Role of Cultural Inspiration with Different Types in Cultural Product Design Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Shi-Jian; Dong, Ye-Nan

2017-01-01

Inspiration plays an important role in the design activities and design education. This paper describes "ancient cultural artefacts" as "cultural inspiration," consisting of two types called "cultural-pictorial inspiration" (CPI) and "cultural-textual inspiration" (CTI). This study aims to test the important…

"Emergency!" or How to Learn to Live with Neoliberal Globalization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robbins, Christopher G.

2008-01-01

The author explores the cultural politics of neoliberal globalization, its deformations of critical facets of public culture as it has returned home, and he explores the politics of emergency. Rather than seeing the politics of emergency as something indicative of an emerging "emergency regime" attendant to the terror war, he argues that the…

Valuing Difference in Students' Culture and Experience in School Science Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banner, Indira

2016-01-01

Susan Harper writes about how a cross-cultural learning community can be formed where people from different cultures are not simply assimilated into a school science community but are seen and heard. This makes learning reciprocal and meaningful for both recent refugees and the dominant population. Although maybe not refugees, students from poorer…

Cultural Differences in the Development of Processing Speed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kail, Robert V.; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Ferrer, Emilio; Cho, Jeung-Ryeul; Shu, Hua

2013-01-01

The aim of the present work was to examine cultural differences in the development of speed of information processing. Four samples of US children ("N" = 509) and four samples of East Asian children ("N" = 661) completed psychometric measures of processing speed on two occasions. Analyses of the longitudinal data indicated…

Cost analysis of strategies to reduce blood culture contamination in the emergency department: sterile collection kits and phlebotomy teams.

PubMed

Self, Wesley H; Talbot, Thomas R; Paul, Barbara R; Collins, Sean P; Ward, Michael J

2014-08-01

Blood culture collection practices that reduce contamination, such as sterile blood culture collection kits and phlebotomy teams, increase up-front costs for collecting cultures but may lead to net savings by eliminating downstream costs associated with contamination. The study objective was to compare overall hospital costs associated with 3 collection strategies: usual care, sterile kits, and phlebotomy teams. Cost analysis. This analysis was conducted from the perspective of a hospital leadership team selecting a blood culture collection strategy for an adult emergency department (ED) with 8,000 cultures drawn annually. Total hospital costs associated with 3 strategies were compared: (1) usual care, with nurses collecting cultures without a standardized protocol; (2) sterile kits, with nurses using a dedicated sterile collection kit; and (3) phlebotomy teams, with cultures collected by laboratory-based phlebotomists. In the base case, contamination rates associated with usual care, sterile kits, and phlebotomy teams were assumed to be 4.34%, 1.68%, and 1.10%, respectively. Total hospital costs included costs of collecting cultures and hospitalization costs according to culture results (negative, true positive, and contaminated). Compared with usual care, annual net savings using the sterile kit and phlebotomy team strategies were $483,219 and $288,980, respectively. Both strategies remained less costly than usual care across a broad range of sensitivity analyses. EDs with high blood culture contamination rates should strongly consider evidence-based strategies to reduce contamination. In addition to improving quality, implementing a sterile collection kit or phlebotomy team strategy is likely to result in net cost savings.

Culture, morality and individual differences: comparability and incomparability across species.

PubMed

Saucier, Gerard

2018-04-19

Major routes to identifying individual differences (in diverse species) include studies of behaviour patterns as represented in language and neurophysiology. But results from these approaches appear not to converge on some major dimensions. Identifying dimensions of human variation least applicable to non-human species may help to partition human-specific individual differences of recent evolutionary origin from those shared across species. Human culture includes learned, enforced social-norm systems that are symbolically reinforced and referenced in displays signalling adherence. At a key juncture in human evolution bullying aggression and deception-based cheating apparently became censured in the language of a moral community, enabling mutual observation coordinated in gossip, associated with external sanctions. That still-conserved cultural paradigm moralistically regulates selfish advantage-taking, with shared semantics and explicit rules. Ethics and moral codes remain critical and universal components of human culture and have a stronger imprint in language than most aspects of the currently popular Big-Five taxonomy, a model that sets out five major lines of individual-differences variation in human personality. In other species (e.g. chimpanzees), human observers might see apparent individual differences in morality-relevant traits, but not because the animals have human-analogue sanctioning systems. Removing the moral dimension of personality and other human-specific manifestations (e.g. religion) may aid in identifying those other bases of individual differences more ubiquitous across species.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'. © 2018 The Author(s).

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

PubMed

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

2010-06-01

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

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

PubMed Central

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

2010-01-01

This study focused on a possible temperament-by-culture interaction. Specifically, it explored whether a basic temperament/personality trait (sensory processing sensitivity; SPS), perhaps having a genetic component, might moderate a previously established cultural difference in neural responses when making context-dependent vs context-independent judgments of simple visual stimuli. SPS has been hypothesized to underlie what has been called inhibitedness or reactivity in infants, introversion in adults, and reactivity or responsivness in diverse animal species. Some biologists view the trait as one of two innate strategies—observing carefully before acting vs being first to act. Thus the central characteristic of SPS is hypothesized to be a deep processing of information. Here, 10 European-Americans and 10 East Asians underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing simple visuospatial tasks emphasizing judgments that were either context independent (typically easier for Americans) or context dependent (typically easier for Asians). As reported elsewhere, each group exhibited greater activation for the culturally non-preferred task in frontal and parietal regions associated with greater effort in attention and working memory. However, further analyses, reported here for the first time, provided preliminary support for moderation by SPS. Consistent with the careful-processing theory, high-SPS individuals showed little cultural difference; low-SPS, strong culture differences. PMID:20388694

Impact of cultural differences in self on cognitive appraisals in posttraumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Jobson, Laura; O'Kearney, Richard T

2009-05-01

Accumulating research indicates posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a universal phenomenon. However, it remains substantially unknown as to whether the processes implicated in the aetiology and maintenance of PTSD are culturally similar. This study investigated the impact of cultural differences in self on negative cognitive appraisals in those with and without PTSD. Trauma survivors with PTSD and without PTSD from independent and interdependent cultures (N = 106) provided trauma narratives. Narratives were coded for negative cognitive appraisals (mental defeat, control strategies, alienation and permanent change) as in Ehlers and colleagues' previous work. Replicating Ehlers and colleagues' work, trauma survivors with PTSD from independent cultures reported more mental defeat, alienation, permanent change and less control strategies than non-PTSD trauma survivors from independent cultures. In contrast, for those from interdependent cultures, only alienation appraisals differentiated between trauma survivors with and without PTSD. Those with PTSD had more alienation appraisals than those without PTSD. The findings suggest cultural differences in self impact on the relationship between appraisals and posttraumatic psychological adjustment. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Sibling Power Balance and Its Concomitants Across Three Age Periods.

PubMed

Buist, Kirsten L; Metindogan, Aysegül; Coban, Selma; Watve, Sujala; Paranjpe, Analpa; Koot, Hans M; van Lier, Pol; Branje, Susan J T; Meeus, Wim H J

2017-06-01

We examined cross-cultural differences in (1) sibling power balance and (2) the associations between sibling power balance and internalizing and externalizing problems in three separate cross-cultural studies (early childhood, late childhood, and adolescence). The early childhood samples consisted of 123 Turkish and 128 Dutch mothers (mean age for children was 4.9 years). In the late childhood samples, self-report data were collected from 124 Indian and 129 Dutch children (mean age 10.9 years). In the adolescent samples self-report data were collected from 165 ethnic Moroccan and 165 ethnic Dutch adolescents (mean age 15.2 years). In all studies, questionnaire data on sibling power imbalance and internalizing and externalizing problems were collected. Results showed only one significant cross-cultural difference in sibling power imbalance: The Indian sample reported more sibling power imbalance than the Dutch. Links between sibling power imbalance and problem behavior were highly similar between the different cultural samples. The only significant difference was a stronger impact of sibling power imbalance on externalizing problems for the Dutch compared to the Turkish sample. Concluding, few cross-cultural differences were found in sibling power imbalance. Across cultures and age groups, more sibling power imbalance was linked to more internalizing and externalizing problems. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A phenomenological study of day-to-day experiences of living with heart failure: do cultural differences matter?

PubMed

Chiaranai, Chantira

2014-07-01

Although there is a significant body of literature addressing heart failure (HF) epidemiology, physiology, and treatment, little is known about the experiences of Thai patients living with this chronic condition. The primary goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of how Thai patients with HF live with chronic and debilitating illness. A phenomenological approach was chosen to investigate the experience of living with HF. Fifteen Thai men and women with HF in New York Heart Association classes I to III, aged between 47 and 75 years, were interviewed with open-ended questions. Data were analyzed using qualitative inductive content analysis. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: identifying losses or changes in their lives, accepting the losses, and regaining some control. Unlike their western counterparts, the Thai patients with HF incorporated their karma, a Buddhist belief system, as a tool to rationalize the occurrence of their HF experience. The participants of this study used kreng jai as a cultural desire not to disrupt the happiness of others, even at the expense of efficiency, or to burden others, which might affect their own quality of life. The Thai patients with HF faced many limitations. The Thai patients with HF use religion and traditional culture to overcome their life situations. To support Thai patients with HF, healthcare providers must have an understanding of cultural differences.

Cultural differences in musculoskeletal symptoms and disability.

PubMed

Madan, Ira; Reading, Isabel; Palmer, Keith T; Coggon, David

2008-10-01

To test the hypothesis that cultural factors such as health beliefs and expectations have an important influence on common musculoskeletal symptoms and associated disability, we compared prevalence rates in groups of workers carrying out similar physical activities in different cultural settings. We conducted a cross-sectional survey at factories and offices in Mumbai, India and in the UK. A questionnaire about symptoms, disability and risk factors was administered at interview to six occupational groups: three groups of office workers who regularly used computer keyboards (165 Indian, 67 UK of Indian subcontinental origin and 172 UK white), and three groups of workers carrying out repetitive manual tasks with the hands or arms (178 Indian, 73 UK of Indian subcontinental origin and 159 UK white). Modified Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for the prevalence of symptoms and disability by occupational group, adjusted for differences in sex, age, mental health and job satisfaction. Reported occupational activities were similar in the three groups of office workers (frequent use of keyboards) and in the three groups of manual workers (frequent movements of the wrist or fingers, bending of the elbow, work with the hands above shoulder height and work with the neck twisted). In comparison with the Indian manual workers, the prevalence of back, neck and arm pain was substantially higher in all of the other five occupational groups. The difference was greatest for arm pain lasting >30 days in the past year in UK white manual workers (HR 17.8, 95% CI 5.4-59.1) and UK manual workers of Indian subcontinental origin (HR 20.5, 95% CI 5.7-73.1). Office workers in India had lower rates of pain in the wrist and hand than office workers in the UK. Only 1% of the Indian manual workers and 16% of the Indian office workers had ever heard of 'RSI' or similar terms, as compared with 80% of the UK workers. Our findings support the hypothesized impact of cultural

Cross-cultural differences in psychosocial adaptation to isolated and confined environments.

PubMed

Palinkas, Lawrence A; Johnson, Jeffrey C; Boster, James S; Rakusa-Suszczewski, Stanislaw; Klopov, Valeri P; Fu, Xue Quan; Sachdeva, Usha

2004-11-01

Differences in patterns of psychosocial adaptation under conditions of prolonged isolation and confinement in Antarctica were examined to determine the extent to which they were influenced by national culture in general and the individualist-collectivist orientation of national cultures in particular. The Profile of Mood States and measures of structural and functional social support were administered over an 8-mo period (March through October) to 13 winter-over crews from 5 nations operating research stations in the Antarctic: United States (3 crews, n = 77), Poland (3 crews, n = 40), Russia (3 crews, n = 34), China (3 crews, n = 40), and India (1 crew, n = 26). Americans at South Pole Station reported significant increases in fatigue and anxiety and a significant decrease in vigor over the winter. During the same period, Russians at Vostok Station reported significant decreases in depression, anxiety, and confusion, and Indians at Maitri Station reported a significant decrease in anger. A significant decrease in social interaction with fellow crewmembers occurred at South Pole Station, Vostok Station, and Poland's Arctowski Station. Several differences were also observed between the five stations in correlations between mood scores and measures of structural and functional social support. An individualistic cultural orientation was significantly associated with low social support and low negative mood. Cultural background is associated with mood and social support as well as changes in these measures during the austral winter. Cultural differences in patterns of psychosocial adaptation must be considered in the formation and training of multinational crews for long duration missions in space.

Individualism and the extended-self: cross-cultural differences in the valuation of authentic objects.

PubMed

Gjersoe, Nathalia L; Newman, George E; Chituc, Vladimir; Hood, Bruce

2014-01-01

The current studies examine how valuation of authentic items varies as a function of culture. We find that U.S. respondents value authentic items associated with individual persons (a sweater or an artwork) more than Indian respondents, but that both cultures value authentic objects not associated with persons (a dinosaur bone or a moon rock) equally. These differences cannot be attributed to more general cultural differences in the value assigned to authenticity. Rather, the results support the hypothesis that individualistic cultures place a greater value on objects associated with unique persons and in so doing, offer the first evidence for how valuation of certain authentic items may vary cross-culturally.

Characterization of cell cultures in contact with different orthopedic implants biomaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouenzerfi, G.; Hannoun, A.; Hassler, M.; Brizuela, L.; Youjil, S.; Bougault, C.; Trunfio-Sfarghiu, A.-M.

2016-08-01

The aim of this study is to identify the role of biological and mechanical constraints (at the cellular level) surrounding living tissues (cartilage and bone) in the presence of different joint implant biomaterials. In this fact, cells cultures in the presence of different types of biomaterials (pyrolytic carbon, cobalt-Chromium, titanium) has been performed. These cell cultures were subjected to biological characterization tests and mechanical characterization. The obtained results correlate with the in vivo observations (a promotion of the creation of a neocartilagical tissue in contact with the Pyrolytic Carbon implants).

Teaching "Understanding Cultural Differences for Business" in an Internet-Based Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koh, Anthony C.

2003-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to offer a successful pedagogy in the teaching of "Understanding Culture Differences for Business" using Internet sources. The use of the pedagogy has helped the author and several faculty (in the author's University located in the U.S.) to popularize the learning of the origins of national culture and how culture…

Playing up and playing down cultural identity: Introducing cultural influence and cultural variability.

PubMed

Ferguson, Gail M; Nguyen, Jacqueline; Iturbide, Maria I

2017-01-01

Cultural variability (CV) is introduced as an overlooked dimension of cultural identity development pertaining to emphasizing and de-emphasizing the influence of a single cultural identity (i.e., cultural influence [CI]) on daily interactions and behaviors. The Cultural IDentity Influence Measure (CIDIM) is introduced as a novel measure of CI and CV, and hypothesis-driven validation is conducted in two samples along with exploration of associations between CV and well-being. A multicultural sample of 242 emerging adults participated in a daily diary study (Mage = 19.95 years, SDage = 1.40) by completing up to eight daily online surveys containing the CIDIM, criterion measures (ethnic identity, other group orientation, ethnic identity salience and daily variability in salience, social desirability), and measures of personal and interpersonal well-being. A second validation sample (n = 245) completed a 1-time survey with the CIDIM and a subset of criterion measures. Results using both samples show evidence of CI and CV and demonstrate the validity, reliability, and domain-sensitivity of the CIDIM. Further, CV made unique and positive contributions to predicting interaction quality after accounting for ethnic salience and variability in ethnic salience. An analytic approach utilizing standard deviations produced near-identical results to multilevel modeling and is recommended for parsimony. Ethnic minority and majority individuals make daily adjustments to play up and play down the influence of cultural identity on their social interactions and behaviors, and these adjustments predict interpersonal well-being. Cultural influence and cultural variability contribute to our emerging understanding of cultural identity as dynamic and agentic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Excavating Culture: Disentangling Ethnic Differences from Contextual Influences in Parenting

PubMed Central

le, Huynh-Nhu; Ceballo, Rosario; Chao, Ruth; Hill, Nancy E.; Murry, Velma McBride; Pinderhughes, Ellen E.

2013-01-01

Historically, much of the research on parenting has not disentangled the influences of race/ethnicity, SES, and culture on family functioning and the development of children and adolescents. This special issue addresses this gap by disentangling ethnic differences in parenting behaviors from their contextual influences, thereby deepening understanding of parenting processes in diverse families. Six members of the Parenting section of the Study Group on Race, Culture and Ethnicity (SGRCE) introduce and implement a novel approach toward understanding this question. The goal of this project is to study culturally related processes and the degree to which they predict parenting. An iterative process was employed to delineate the main parenting constructs (warmth, psychological and behavioral control, monitoring, communication, and self-efficacy), cultural processes, and contextual influences, and to coordinate a data analytic plan utilizing individual datasets with diverse samples to answer the research questions. PMID:24043923

Culture-related differences in default network activity during visuo-spatial judgments.

PubMed

Goh, Joshua O S; Hebrank, Andrew C; Sutton, Bradley P; Chee, Michael W L; Sim, Sam K Y; Park, Denise C

2013-02-01

Studies on culture-related differences in cognition have shown that Westerners attend more to object-related information, whereas East Asians attend more to contextual information. Neural correlates of these different culture-related visual processing styles have been reported in the ventral-visual and fronto-parietal regions. We conducted an fMRI study of East Asians and Westerners on a visuospatial judgment task that involved relative, contextual judgments, which are typically more challenging for Westerners. Participants judged the relative distances between a dot and a line in visual stimuli during task blocks and alternated finger presses during control blocks. Behaviorally, East Asians responded faster than Westerners, reflecting greater ease of the task for East Asians. In response to the greater task difficulty, Westerners showed greater neural engagement compared to East Asians in frontal, parietal, and occipital areas. Moreover, Westerners also showed greater suppression of the default network-a brain network that is suppressed under condition of high cognitive challenge. This study demonstrates for the first time that cultural differences in visual attention during a cognitive task are manifested both by differences in activation in fronto-parietal regions as well as suppression in default regions.

Reproduction of Difference through Learning about a "Different Culture": The Paradox of Double Subject Positions and the Pedagogy of the Privileged

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doerr, Neriko Musha

2015-01-01

Culture is not a predetermined, static, bounded unit. Both its boundaries and what is considered cultural difference are constructed through social processes. Ray McDermott and Herve Varenne (1995) argue that only certain differences are noticed, usually according to what is regarded as meaningful difference in one's own society. For example, in a…

Influence and adjustment goals: sources of cultural differences in ideal affect.

PubMed

Tsai, Jeanne L; Miao, Felicity F; Seppala, Emma; Fung, Helene H; Yeung, Dannii Y

2007-06-01

Previous studies have found that in American culture high-arousal positive states (HAP) such as excitement are valued more and low-arousal positive states (LAP) such as calm are valued less than they are in Chinese culture. What specific factors account for these differences? The authors predicted that when people and cultures aimed to influence others (i.e., assert personal needs and change others' behaviors to meet those needs), they would value HAP more and LAP less than when they aimed to adjust to others (i.e., suppress personal needs and change their own behaviors to meet others' needs). They test these predictions in 1 survey and 3 experimental studies. The findings suggest that within and across American and Chinese contexts, differences in ideal affect are due to specific interpersonal goals. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Differences in ADHD medication usage patterns in children and adolescents from different cultural backgrounds in the Netherlands.

PubMed

van den Ban, Els F; Souverein, Patrick C; van Engeland, Herman; Swaab, Hanna; Egberts, Toine C G; Heerdink, Eibert R

2015-07-01

Differences in incidence and prevalence of ADHD medication use between ethnic groups have been reported. Goal of this study was to determine whether there are also differences in usage patterns of ADHD medication among native Dutch children and adolescents and those with a Moroccan, Turkish and Surinam cultural background in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2010. In a cohort of ADHD patients <19 years (N = 817) incident use and discontinuation of ADHD medication were measured for ethnicity and adjusted for age, gender and socio-economic status. A significant higher proportion of ADHD-diagnosed patients from Moroccan (32 %) and Turkish (42 %) cultural background never used ADHD medication compared to Dutch natives (21 %). One-fifth of native Dutch and Turkish patients already used ADHD medication before the ADHD diagnosis date. Discontinuation of ADHD medication within 5 years was significantly higher in Moroccan [HR 2.4 (95 % CI 1.8-3.1)] and Turkish [HR 1.7 (95 % CI 1.1-2.6)] patients. A sensitivity analysis with a zip code-matched comparison between Dutch natives and non-natives showed similar results, suggesting this effect is probably not explained by socio-economic status (SES). Differences are found in prescribing and use of ADHD medication between patients with a different cultural background. Native Dutch and Turkish patients start more frequently with ADHD medication before the ADHD diagnose date, which can be an indication of differences in either referral patterns and/or access to care. A higher percentage of patients with a Moroccan and Turkish cultural background never start using ADHD medication at all and discontinuation rate is higher compared to Dutch natives and Surinamese.

Cross-cultural differences in the neural correlates of specific and general recognition.

PubMed

Paige, Laura E; Ksander, John C; Johndro, Hunter A; Gutchess, Angela H

2017-06-01

Research suggests that culture influences how people perceive the world, which extends to memory specificity, or how much perceptual detail is remembered. The present study investigated cross-cultural differences (Americans vs East Asians) at the time of encoding in the neural correlates of specific versus general memory formation. Participants encoded photos of everyday items in the scanner and 48 h later completed a surprise recognition test. The recognition test consisted of same (i.e., previously seen in scanner), similar (i.e., same name, different features), or new photos (i.e., items not previously seen in scanner). For Americans compared to East Asians, we predicted greater activation in the hippocampus and right fusiform for specific memory at recognition, as these regions were implicated previously in encoding perceptual details. Results revealed that East Asians activated the left fusiform and left hippocampus more than Americans for specific versus general memory. Follow-up analyses ruled out alternative explanations of retrieval difficulty and familiarity for this pattern of cross-cultural differences at encoding. Results overall suggest that culture should be considered as another individual difference that affects memory specificity and modulates neural regions underlying these processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Ways in Which French and American Business Practices Reflect Cultural Differences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cramer, Hazel

The literature concerning the corporate culture of the United States is a starting point for comparing the institutions of different cultures. However, teaching about the cultural context of business is not simply a matter of describing non-American companies in American terms, and American-born language teachers usually have little experience…

Biomechanical properties of jaw periosteum-derived mineralized culture on different titanium topography.

PubMed

Att, Wael; Kubo, Katsutoshi; Yamada, Masahiro; Maeda, Hatsuhiko; Ogawa, Takahiro

2009-01-01

This study evaluated the biomechanical properties of periosteum-derived mineralized culture on different surface topographies of titanium. Titanium surfaces modified by machining or by acid etching were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Rat mandibular periosteum-derived cells were cultured on either of the titanium surfaces. Cell proliferation was evaluated by cell counts, and gene expression was analyzed using a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) stain assay was employed to evaluate osteoblastic activity. Matrix mineralization was examined via von Kossa stain assay, total calcium deposition, and SEM. The hardness and elastic modulus of mineralized cultures were measured using a nano-indenter. The machined surface demonstrated a flat topographic configuration, while the acid-etched surface revealed a uniform micron-scale roughness. Both cell density and ALP activity were significantly higher on the machined surface than on the acid-etched surface. The expression of bone-related genes was up-regulated or enhanced on the acid-etched surface compared to the machined surface. Von Kossa stain showed significantly greater positive areas for the machined surface compared to the acid-etched surface, while total calcium deposition was statistically similar. Mineralized culture on the acid-etched surface was characterized by denser calcium deposition, more mature collagen deposition on the superficial layer, and larger and denser globular matrices inside the matrix than the culture on the machined surface. The mineralized matrix on the acid-etched surface was two times harder than on the machined surface, whereas the elastic modulus was comparable between the two surfaces. The design of this study can be used as a model to evaluate the effect of implant surface topography on the biomechanical properties of periosteum-derived mineralized culture. The results suggest that mandibular periosteal cells respond to different

Cultural differences in Research project management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbier, Michele

2016-04-01

Scientific Projects today have increased in complexity, requiring multidisciplinarity, and requiring a mix of diverse individuals from different countries who must be integrated into an effective project. Effective team building is one of the prime responsibilities of the project manager. When the project is supported by a funding, the integration and the implication of the different partners are quite easy. Particularly when partners are developing high-performing teams. However, management of research project requires further skills when the budget is not very high and/or when partners are from non-European countries and are not using the same vocabulary. The various cultures, values, beliefs and social usages, particularly with Mediterranean countries cause a special style of communication for an individual or group of individuals. This communication style participates in the success of the project and encompasses a lot of diplomatic skills which will be highlighted.

The Impact of National Cultural Differences on Nurses' Acceptance of Hospital Information Systems.

PubMed

Lin, Hsien-Cheng

2015-06-01

This study aims to explore the influence of national cultural differences on nurses' perceptions of their acceptance of hospital information systems. This study uses the perspective of Technology Acceptance Model; national cultural differences in terms of masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance are incorporated into the Technology Acceptance Model as moderators, whereas time orientation is a control variable on hospital information system acceptance. A quantitative research design was used in this study; 261 participants, US and Taiwan RNs, all had hospital information system experience. Data were collected from November 2013 to February 2014 and analyzed using a t test to compare the coefficients for each moderator. The results show that individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance all exhibit significant difference on hospital information system acceptance; however, both masculinity/femininity and time orientation factors did not show significance. This study verifies that national cultural differences have significant influence on nurses' behavioral intention to use hospital information systems. Therefore, hospital information system providers should emphasize the way in which to integrate different technological functions to meet the needs of nurses from various cultural backgrounds.

Individualism and the Extended-Self: Cross-Cultural Differences in the Valuation of Authentic Objects

PubMed Central

Gjersoe, Nathalia L.; Newman, George E.; Chituc, Vladimir; Hood, Bruce

2014-01-01

The current studies examine how valuation of authentic items varies as a function of culture. We find that U.S. respondents value authentic items associated with individual persons (a sweater or an artwork) more than Indian respondents, but that both cultures value authentic objects not associated with persons (a dinosaur bone or a moon rock) equally. These differences cannot be attributed to more general cultural differences in the value assigned to authenticity. Rather, the results support the hypothesis that individualistic cultures place a greater value on objects associated with unique persons and in so doing, offer the first evidence for how valuation of certain authentic items may vary cross-culturally. PMID:24658437

Culture and biology interplay: An introduction.

PubMed

Causadias, José M; Telzer, Eva H; Lee, Richard M

2017-01-01

Culture and biology have evolved together, influence each other, and concurrently shape behavior, affect, cognition, and development. This special section highlights 2 major domains of the interplay between culture and biology. The first domain is neurobiology of cultural experiences-how cultural, ethnic, and racial experiences influence limbic systems and neuroendocrine functioning-and the second domain is cultural neuroscience-the connections between cultural processes and brain functioning. We include 3 studies on neurobiology of cultural experiences that examine the associations between racial discrimination and heart rate variability (Hill et al., 2016), economic and sociocultural stressors and cortisol levels (Mendoza, Dmitrieva, Perreira, & Watamura, 2016), and unfair treatment and allostatic load (Ong, Williams, Nwizu, & Gruenewald, 2016). We also include 2 studies on cultural neuroscience that investigate cultural group differences and similarities in beliefs, practices, and neural basis of emotion regulation (Qu & Telzer, 2016), and reflected and direct self-appraisals (Pfeifer et al., 2016). We discuss pending challenges and future directions for this emerging field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining cultural drifts in artworks through history and development: cultural comparisons between Japanese and western landscape paintings and drawings

PubMed Central

Nand, Kristina; Masuda, Takahiko; Senzaki, Sawa; Ishii, Keiko

2014-01-01

Research on cultural products suggest that there are substantial cultural variations between East Asian and European landscape masterpieces and contemporary members' landscape artwork (Masuda et al., 2008c), and that these cultural differences in drawing styles emerge around the age of 8 (Senzaki et al., 2014b). However, culture is not static. To explore the dynamics of historical and ontogenetic influence on artistic expressions, we examined (1) 17–20th century Japanese and Western landscape masterpieces, and (2) cross-sectional adolescent data in landscape artworks alongside previous findings of elementary school-aged children, and undergraduates. The results showed cultural variations in artworks and masterpieces as well as substantial “cultural drifts” (Herskovits, 1948) where at certain time periods in history and in development, people's expressions deviated from culturally default patterns but occasionally returned to its previous state. The bidirectional influence of culture and implications for furthering the discipline of cultural psychology will be discussed. PMID:25285085

My face, my heart: cultural differences in integrated bodily self-awareness.

PubMed

Maister, Lara; Tsakiris, Manos

2014-01-01

Body-awareness is produced by an integration of both interoceptive and exteroceptive bodily signals. However, previous investigations into cultural differences in bodily self-awareness have only studied these two aspects in isolation. We investigated the interaction between interoceptive and exteroceptive self-processing in East Asian and Western participants. During an interoceptive awareness task, self-face observation improved performance of those with initially low awareness in the Western group, but did not benefit the East Asian participants. These results suggest that the integrated, coherent experience of the body differs between East Asian and Western cultures. For Western participants, viewing one's own face may activate a bodily self-awareness which enhances processing of other bodily information, such as interoceptive signals. Instead, for East Asian individuals, the external appearance of the self may activate higher-level, social aspects of self-identity, reflecting the importance of the sociocultural construct of "face" in East Asian cultures.

Region-Urbanicity Differences in Locus of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, or Cultural Exceptionalism?

PubMed

Shifrer, Dara; Sutton, April

2014-11-01

People with internal rather than external locus of control experience better outcomes in multiple domains. Previous studies on spatial differences in control within America only focused on the South, relied on aggregate level data or historical evidence, or did not account for other confounding regional distinctions (such as variation in urbanicity). Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we find differences in adolescents' loci of control depending on their region and urbanicity are largely attributable to differences in their social background, and only minimally to structural differences (i.e., differences in the qualities of adolescents' schools). Differences that persist net of differences across adolescents and their schools suggest the less internal control of rural Southern adolescents, and the more internal control of rural and urban Northeastern adolescents, may be due to cultural distinctions in those areas. Results indicate region is more closely associated than urbanicity with differences in locus of control, with Western and Northeastern cultures seemingly fostering more internal control than Midwestern and Southern cultures. These findings contribute to research on spatial variation in a variety of psychological traits.

Region-Urbanicity Differences in Locus of Control: Social Disadvantage, Structure, or Cultural Exceptionalism?

PubMed Central

Shifrer, Dara; Sutton, April

2014-01-01

People with internal rather than external locus of control experience better outcomes in multiple domains. Previous studies on spatial differences in control within America only focused on the South, relied on aggregate level data or historical evidence, or did not account for other confounding regional distinctions (such as variation in urbanicity). Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, we find differences in adolescents' loci of control depending on their region and urbanicity are largely attributable to differences in their social background, and only minimally to structural differences (i.e., differences in the qualities of adolescents' schools). Differences that persist net of differences across adolescents and their schools suggest the less internal control of rural Southern adolescents, and the more internal control of rural and urban Northeastern adolescents, may be due to cultural distinctions in those areas. Results indicate region is more closely associated than urbanicity with differences in locus of control, with Western and Northeastern cultures seemingly fostering more internal control than Midwestern and Southern cultures. These findings contribute to research on spatial variation in a variety of psychological traits. PMID:25382875

Choice of Appropriate Multimedia Technology and Teaching Methods for Different Culture Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taratoukhina, Julia

2014-01-01

This paper describes the prerequisites for development in the area of cross-cultural multimedia didactics. This approach is based on research studies of differences between mentalities, ways of working with educational information, culturally-specific teaching methods and teaching techniques that determine differentiated approaches to the choice…

I feel your voice. Cultural differences in the multisensory perception of emotion.

PubMed

Tanaka, Akihiro; Koizumi, Ai; Imai, Hisato; Hiramatsu, Saori; Hiramoto, Eriko; de Gelder, Beatrice

2010-09-01

Cultural differences in emotion perception have been reported mainly for facial expressions and to a lesser extent for vocal expressions. However, the way in which the perceiver combines auditory and visual cues may itself be subject to cultural variability. Our study investigated cultural differences between Japanese and Dutch participants in the multisensory perception of emotion. A face and a voice, expressing either congruent or incongruent emotions, were presented on each trial. Participants were instructed to judge the emotion expressed in one of the two sources. The effect of to-be-ignored voice information on facial judgments was larger in Japanese than in Dutch participants, whereas the effect of to-be-ignored face information on vocal judgments was smaller in Japanese than in Dutch participants. This result indicates that Japanese people are more attuned than Dutch people to vocal processing in the multisensory perception of emotion. Our findings provide the first evidence that multisensory integration of affective information is modulated by perceivers' cultural background.

Copepod (Crustacea) emergence from soils from everglades marshes with different hydroperiods

USGS Publications Warehouse

Loftus, W.F.; Reid, J.W.

2000-01-01

During a severe drought period in the winter and spring of 1989, we made three collections of dried marsh soils from freshwater sloughs in Everglades National Park, Florida, at sites characterized by either long or intermediate annual periods of flooding (hydroperiod). After rehydrating the soils in aquaria, we documented the temporal patterns of copepod emergence over two-week periods. The species richness of copepods in the rehydrated soils was lower than in pre-drought samples from the same slough sites. Only six of the 16 species recorded from the Everglades emerged in the aquarium tests. The long hydroperiod site had a slightly different assemblage and higher numbers of most species than the intermediate-hydroperiod sites. More individuals and species emerged from the early dry-season samples compared with samples taken later in the dry season. The harpacticoid, Cletocamptus deitersi, and the cyclopoid, Microcyclops rubellus, were abundant at most sites. The cyclopoids - Ectocyclops phaleratus, Homocyclops ater, and Paracyclops chiltoni - are new records for the Everglades. We infer that 1) only a subset of Everglades copepod species can survive drought by resting in soils; and that 2) survival ability over time differs by species.

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

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Gayle L.

1997-01-01

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

Cultural Change: The How and the Why.

PubMed

Varnum, Michael E W; Grossmann, Igor

2017-11-01

More than half a century of cross-cultural research has demonstrated group-level differences in psychological and behavioral phenomena, from values to attention to neural responses. However, cultures are not static, with several specific changes documented for cultural products, practices, and values. How and why do societies change? Here we juxtapose theory and insights from cultural evolution and social ecology. Evolutionary approaches enable an understanding of the how of cultural change, suggesting transmission mechanisms by which the contents of culture may change. Ecological approaches provide insights into the why of cultural change: They identify specific environmental pressures, which evoke shifts in psychology and thereby enable greater precision in predictions of specific cultural changes based on changes in ecological conditions. Complementary insights from the ecological and cultural evolutionary approaches can jointly clarify the process by which cultures change. We end by discussing the relevance of cultural change research for the contemporary societal shifts and by highlighting several critical challenges and future directions for the emerging field of cross-temporal research on culture and psychology.

Ethnic differences of medicines-taking in older adults: a cross cultural study in New Zealand.

PubMed

Bassett-Clarke, Debbie; Krass, Ines; Bajorek, Beata

2012-04-01

The literature identifies many barriers to medicines use, including bio-psycho-social issues, but less is known regarding ethno-cultural barriers, which are important in culturally diverse nations. The aim of this study was to explore ethnic differences in attitudes to medicines and medicines-taking, focusing on the main constituents of the New Zealand (NZ) population: NZ European, Māori (the indigenous people of NZ), Pacific and Asian peoples. A qualitative study involving a series of focus groups was conducted. Participants (>50 years old) taking medicines were recruited from various community-based groups. The focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim and analysed for key themes via manual inductive coding and constant comparison. Twenty focus groups (n=100 participants) were conducted. Three key common themes emerged: (1) conception of a medicine; (2) self-management of medication; and (3) seeking further medicines information. In general, NZ European participants had a very narrow view of what a medicine is, were motivated to source medicines information independently and were very proactive in medicines management. At the other end of the spectrum, Pacific peoples expressed a broad view of what constitutes a medicine, were not motivated to source medicines information independently and were not proactive in medicines management, tending to instead rely on healthcare professionals for answers. The findings from the various ethnic groups highlight differences in attitudes to medicines per se and medicines-taking; these influences on medication-taking behaviour need to be considered in the provision of pharmaceutical care. Ethnic differences in attitudes to medicines and medicines-taking are apparent, although there are some commonalities in terms of needs regarding support and advice around medicines' use. This will help inform the development of resources and communication tools to assist pharmacists in providing pharmaceutical care to diverse patient

Cultural differences and shame in an expressive writing alcohol intervention.

PubMed

Rodriguez, Lindsey M; Young, Chelsie M; Neighbors, Clayton; Tou, Reese; Lu, Qian

2016-01-01

The present study evaluates the relationships between shame, culture, and drinking behavior in predicting drinking intentions in the context of an expressive writing intervention. Theory and empirical findings have generally found that shame is maladaptive and can lead to anxiety, depression, and problematic alcohol use. However, research on cultural differences suggests that shame may be differentially damaging to individuals of collectivist, Asian cultures. Previous research evaluating expressive writing as a brief alcohol intervention has shown promising results such as reduced drinking intentions and increased readiness to change drinking behavior. The present study tested the hypothesis that feelings of shame after writing about a negative heavy drinking event would be associated with greater alcohol use generally and that this effect would differ for Caucasian compared to Asian individuals. We also explored whether this differed for light and heavy drinkers. Two hundred sixty-four undergraduates (74% female) who drank at least one alcoholic beverage in the past month completed measures of demographics, baseline drinking, event-related shame and guilt, pre- and postwriting affect, and drinking intentions. Results revealed that, independent of affect, social desirability, and event-related guilt, shame was generally negatively associated with drinking intentions for Caucasians and light drinking Asians. However, for heavy drinking Asians, shame was associated with increased drinking intentions. Results suggest that interventions that elicit shame are differentially effective and should be targeted accordingly.

Neural processes underlying cultural differences in cognitive persistence.

PubMed

Telzer, Eva H; Qu, Yang; Lin, Lynda C

2017-08-01

Self-improvement motivation, which occurs when individuals seek to improve upon their competence by gaining new knowledge and improving upon their skills, is critical for cognitive, social, and educational adjustment. While many studies have delineated the neural mechanisms supporting extrinsic motivation induced by monetary rewards, less work has examined the neural processes that support intrinsically motivated behaviors, such as self-improvement motivation. Because cultural groups traditionally vary in terms of their self-improvement motivation, we examined cultural differences in the behavioral and neural processes underlying motivated behaviors during cognitive persistence in the absence of extrinsic rewards. In Study 1, 71 American (47 females, M=19.68 years) and 68 Chinese (38 females, M=19.37 years) students completed a behavioral cognitive control task that required cognitive persistence across time. In Study 2, 14 American and 15 Chinese students completed the same cognitive persistence task during an fMRI scan. Across both studies, American students showed significant declines in cognitive performance across time, whereas Chinese participants demonstrated effective cognitive persistence. These behavioral effects were explained by cultural differences in self-improvement motivation and paralleled by increasing activation and functional coupling between the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and ventral striatum (VS) across the task among Chinese participants, neural activation and coupling that remained low in American participants. These findings suggest a potential neural mechanism by which the VS and IFG work in concert to promote cognitive persistence in the absence of extrinsic rewards. Thus, frontostriatal circuitry may be a neurobiological signal representing intrinsic motivation for self-improvement that serves an adaptive function, increasing Chinese students' motivation to engage in cognitive persistence. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights

Induction of different activated phenotypes of mouse peritoneal macrophages grown in different tissue culture media.

PubMed

Kawakami, Tomoya; Koike, Atsushi; Amano, Fumio

2017-08-01

The role of activated macrophages in the host defense against pathogens or tumor cells has been investigated extensively. Many researchers have been using various culture media in in vitro experiments using macrophages. We previously reported that J774.1/JA-4 macrophage-like cells showed great differences in their activated macrophage phenotypes, such as production of reactive oxygen, nitric oxide (NO) or cytokines depending on the culture medium used, either F-12 (Ham's F-12 nutrient mixture) or Dulbecco modified Eagle's medium (DMEM). To examine whether a difference in the culture medium would influence the functions of primary macrophages, we used BALB/c mouse peritoneal macrophages in this study. Among the activated macrophage phenotypes, the expression of inducible NO synthase in LPS- and/or IFN-γ-treated peritoneal macrophages showed the most remarkable differences between F-12 and DMEM; i.e., NO production by LPS- and/or IFN-γ-treated cells was far lower in DMEM than in F-12. Similar results were obtained with C57BL mouse peritoneal macrophages. Besides, dilution of F-12 medium with saline resulted in a slight decrease in NO production, whereas that of DMEM with saline resulted in a significant increase, suggesting the possibility that DMEM contained some inhibitory factor(s) for NO production. However, such a difference in NO production was not observed when macrophage-like cell lines were examined. These results suggest that phenotypes of primary macrophages could be changed significantly with respect to host inflammatory responses by the surrounding environment including nutritional factors and that these altered macrophage phenotypes might influence the biological host defense.

Bentuhua: culturing psychotherapy in postsocialist China.

PubMed

Zhang, Li

2014-06-01

The breathless pace of market reform in China has brought about profound ruptures in socioeconomic structures and increased mental distress in the population. In this context, more middle-class urbanites are turning to nascent psychological counseling to grapple with their problems. This article examines how Chinese psychotherapists attempt to "culture" or indigenize (bentuhua) three imported psychotherapy models in order to fit their clients' expectations, desires, and sensibilities: the Satir family therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and sandplay therapy. It addresses three interrelated questions: What is the role of culture in adopting, translating, and recasting psychotherapy in contemporary China? How is cultural difference understood and mobilized by therapists in the therapeutic encounter? What kind of distinct therapeutic relationship is emerging in postsocialist China? Data presented here are drawn from my semistructured interviews and extensive participant observation at various counseling offices and psychotherapy workshops in the city of Kunming. My ethnographic account suggests that it is through constant dialog, translation, and re-articulation between multiple regimes of knowledge, cultural values, and social practices that a new form of talk therapy with "Chinese characteristics" is emerging. Finally, I reflect upon what this dialogic process of transformation means for psychotherapy as a form of globally circulating knowledge/practice.

Cultural differences in the imitation and transmission of inefficient actions.

PubMed

Corriveau, Kathleen H; DiYanni, Cara J; Clegg, Jennifer M; Min, Grace; Chin, Jason; Nasrini, Jad

2017-09-01

Across two studies, we explored cultural differences in children's imitation and transmission of inefficient actions. Chinese American and Caucasian American preschoolers (N=115) viewed either one or three models using two inefficient tools to perform two different tasks. In the video, when the model(s) performed the task, only the inefficient tool was available; thus, their choice to use that tool could be considered rational. Next, children were invited to complete the task with either the inefficient tool or an efficient alternative. Whereas the two cultural groups imitated a single model at similar rates, Chinese American children imitated significantly more than Caucasian American children after viewing a consensus. Similar results were found when exploring differences in information transmission. The Chinese American children were significantly more likely than their Caucasian American peers to instruct using an inefficient tool when they had initially viewed a consensus demonstrate it. We discuss these findings with respect to differences in children's use of social versus task-specific cues for learning and teaching. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cultural Differences between Arabs and Americans: Individualism-Collectivism Revisited.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buda, Richard; Elsayed-Elkhouly, Sayed M.

1998-01-01

Cultural differences between Arabs and Americans were investigated using the individualism-collectivism survey of J. Wagner (1995). Arab subjects (n=331) were significantly more collectivist than U.S. subjects (n=102), and within the Arab group, Egyptian subjects (n=224) were significantly more individualistic than Gulf States subjects.…

[Emergent diseases: old and new diseases. Etiological and climatic aspects. Socioeconomic and cultural influences].

PubMed

Cabello, F; Springer, A D

1997-01-01

During recent years the world has experienced the reemergence of old communicable diseases and the emergence of new ones caused by novel pathogens such as the HIV virus and Borrelia burgdorferi. The problem consists mostly in the reemergence of old diseases but specially in industrialized countries new pathogens have also been described. Although the emergence of these infections in rare instances is due to genetic changes of pathogens to more virulent forms, most commonly they are due to changes in the environment and the host. Rapidly deteriorating living standards, disintegration of sanitation and public health infrastructure, cultural changes, migration and variations in behavior are some of the factors involved in the worldwide increase of infectious diseases. The degradation of natural habitats including forests and marine niches accompanied by climatic changes, are also playing an increasing role in the detrimental evolution of these diseases. The global emergence of these diseases calls into question the doctrine of epidemiological transition and directs us to scrutinize the paradigm that bases the prevention of these diseases solely on vaccination. The current situation also highlights the limitations of classical epidemiology in dealing with unexpected problems, and strongly suggests that this discipline should incorporate into its analysis findings from other fields, including ecological, climatological, and economical information. As most of the negative social and economical developments that impinge on the detrimental evolution of these diseases are increasing world-wide, it can be predicted that the problems posed by these infections will continue and perhaps worsen in the near future.

Culture or anonymity? Differences in proposer behaviour in Korea and Germany.

PubMed

Horak, Sven

2015-10-01

This study explores the proposer behaviour in an ultimatum game (UG) frame under anonymous and non-anonymous conditions among a Korean and German subject pool (n = 590) in comparison. Whereas the anonymous condition is represented by the standard UG, the non-anonymous condition integrates an aggregate of the Korean cultural context variables university affiliation, regional origin and seniority. The latter, a classic Confucian context variable, is measured by age differentials. The former two are impactful components of so-called Yongo networks, a unique Korean informal institution identical to Chinese Guanxi ties. Yongo networks, yet underrepresented in research, are said to be a central context variable to explain Korean social ties and decision-making behaviour. We observe significant differences between the offer behaviours of Korean and German subjects when exposing selected cultural variables. We argue that the behavioural differences observed are in fact due to culture not anonymity. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Cultural differences in dealing with critical incidents.

PubMed

Leonhardt, Jörg; Vogt, Joachim

2009-01-01

This article discusses the cultural aspects of High Reliability Organizations (HROs), such as air navigation services. HROs must maintain a highly professional safety culture and constantly be prepared to handle crises. The article begins with a general discussion of the concept of organizational culture. The special characteristics of HROs and their safety culture is then described. Finally the article illustrates how Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is becoming an ingrained feature of the organizational culture in air traffic control systems. Critical Incident Stress Management is a prevention program that can successfully guard against the negative effects of critical incidents. The CISM program of DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung) was recently evaluated by the University of Copenhagen. This evaluation not only confirmed the successful prevention of negative effects at the operation's employee level (especially air traffic controllers), but also showed a sustained improvement of its safety culture and its overall organizational performance. The special aspects of cross-cultural crisis intervention and the challenges it faces, as well as the importance of prevention programs, such as CISM, are illustrated using the examples of two aircraft accidents: the crash landing of a calibration aircraft and the Lake Constance air disaster.

National Culture-Management Practices: United States and Saudi Arabia Contrasted.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hashmi, Mahmud S.

Successful conduct of business in Saudi Arabia requires attitudes and skills significantly different from those needed in the United States. Distinct societal differences can turn winning practices in one culture into failures in another. Despite Saudi Arabia's recent emergence as a wealthy marketplace, traditional values and a unique lifestyle…

The Story-Presenting Method: a Method for Constructing Multiple Viewpoints to Understand Different Cultures.

PubMed

Watanabe, Tadaharu

2017-09-01

This study will show the results of four dialogical cultural exchange classes, which were held between Japanese and Chinese high school students, and examine the shifts in students' viewpoints and changes in cultural understandings that occurred during those classes. In the first cultural exchange class, students of both countries read a story which described an older student who carelessly wore a T-shirt inside out, and younger students passed by without greeting him. Students of both countries were then asked to write their comments about it. From the second to the fourth class, students discussed the story with each other through exchanging their comments. By presenting another story, which introduced the viewpoint of a third person, and asking them questions that allowed them to reflect on their lives, students also experienced four different viewpoints during these cultural exchange classes. At the beginning of the cultural exchange, students of both countries tended to focus on the similarities in each other's comments, which led to the closing down of the discussion. However, through discussions and experiencing the four different viewpoints, they found there are some essential differences between them around 'ways of greeting' and 'hierarchical relationships between older and younger students', which motivated them to understand their counterparts' culture. Moreover, in the last comments of these cultural exchange classes, it was found that they acquired the viewpoints of cultural others. Given the results of these classes, it is shown that it is effective to present various stories to stimulate cultural understanding.

Reflections on the challenges of understanding racial, cultural and sexual differences in couple relationship research

PubMed Central

Gabb, Jacqui; Singh, Reenee

2015-01-01

In the field of systemic psychotherapy there has been much recent interest in the areas of culture and reflexivity, and in working with couples. In this article we reflect on the process of conducting research in these areas. Drawing on findings from a large, national, empirical mixed-methods study on long-term relationships, we use two examples from the data to illustrate the complexity of researching across racial, cultural and sexual differences, in terms of research design and sampling, fieldwork and research practice, and making sense of multidimensional data. We point to findings that suggest that notions of coupledom are culturally constructed and thus challenge straightforward ideas of the procreative, sexually active couple dyad, separate from intergenerational extended families. The clinical significance of the findings for both lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer and culturally diverse couples and families are discussed. Practitioner points Cultural or racial matching is not a sufficient condition for engagement and empathy with couples and families. Critical reflexivity about similarity and difference is essential in cross-cultural systemic practice. ‘The couple’ and its distance from the extended family may be defined differently in different cultures. One research tool used in this project, the emotion map, appears to have utility in clinical practice with couples and families. PMID:25820766

Cross-cultural differences in somatic presentation in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Hoge, Elizabeth A; Tamrakar, Sharad M; Christian, Kelly M; Mahara, Namrata; Nepal, Mahendra K; Pollack, Mark H; Simon, Naomi M

2006-12-01

Little is known about cultural differences in the expression of distress in anxiety disorders. Previous cross-cultural studies of depression have found a greater somatic focus in Asian populations. We examined anxiety symptoms in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in urban mental health settings in Nepal (N = 30) and in the United States (N = 23). Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The overall BAI score and somatic and psychological subscales were compared. While there was no difference in total BAI scores, the Nepali group scored higher on the somatic subscale (i.e. "dizziness" and "indigestion," t[df] = -2.63[50], p < 0.05), while the American group scored higher on the psychological subscale (i.e. "scared" and "nervous," t[df] = 3.27[50], p < 0.01). Nepali patients with GAD had higher levels of somatic symptoms and lower levels of psychological symptoms than American patients with GAD. Possible explanations include differences in cultural traditions of describing distress and the mind-body dichotomy.

The behavioral ecology of cultural psychological variation.

PubMed

Sng, Oliver; Neuberg, Steven L; Varnum, Michael E W; Kenrick, Douglas T

2018-04-23

Recent work has documented a wide range of important psychological differences across societies. Multiple explanations have been offered for why such differences exist, including historical philosophies, subsistence methods, social mobility, social class, climactic stresses, and religion. With the growing body of theory and data, there is an emerging need for an organizing framework. We propose here that a behavioral ecological perspective, particularly the idea of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, can provide an overarching framework for thinking about psychological variation across cultures and societies. We focus on how societies vary as a function of six important ecological dimensions: density, relatedness, sex ratio, mortality likelihood, resources, and disease. This framework can: (a) highlight new areas of research, (b) integrate and ground existing cultural psychological explanations, (c) integrate research on variation across human societies with research on parallel variations in other animal species, (d) provide a way for thinking about multiple levels of culture and cultural change, and (e) facilitate the creation of an ecological taxonomy of societies, from which one can derive specific predictions about cultural differences and similarities. Finally, we discuss the relationships between the current framework and existing perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Teaching Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stearns, Peter N.

2004-01-01

Undergraduate education has not kept pace with knowledge about the role of culture in shaping human and social behavior. The deficiencies can and should be repaired, but some real innovations are essential to the process. Despite the challenge, there is a real opportunity to parlay research advances emerging out of the recent "cultural turn" in a…

Design Factors Affect User Experience for Different Cultural Populations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Sauman

2016-01-01

With increasing changes in our demographic populations and new immigrants settling in the US, there is an increasing need for visual communications that address the diversity of our populations. This paper draws from the results of the researcher's several past research and teaching projects that worked with different cultural populations. These…

Developing Creative Materials for Teaching the Culturally Different Child.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindberg, Dormalee H.; Swick, Kevin J.

A persistent problem confronting the teacher of the culturally different child is the need for finding learning materials that the child can relate to and utilize in his learning situation. The increasing availability of mass-produced learning materials for these children, although helpful, has not solved the problem of providing socioeconomically…

Culture, interpersonal perceptions, and happiness in social interactions.

PubMed

Oishi, Shigehiro; Koo, Minkyung; Akimoto, Sharon

2008-03-01

The authors examined cultural differences in interpersonal processes associated with happiness felt in social interactions. In a false feedback experiment (Study 1a), they found that European Americans felt happier when their interaction partner perceived their personal self accurately, whereas Asian Americans felt happier when their interaction partner perceived their collective self accurately. In Study 1b, the authors further demonstrated that the results from Study 1a were not because of cultural differences in desirability of the traits used in Study 1a. In Studies 2 and 3, they used a 2-week event sampling method and replicated Study 1. Unlike Asian Americans, African Americans were not significantly different from European Americans in the predictors of happiness in social interactions. Together, this research shows that interpersonal affirmation of important aspects of the self leads to happiness and that cultural differences are likely to emerge from the emphasis placed on different aspects of the self.

Human dignity and autonomy in the care for patients with dementia: differences among formal caretakers from various cultural backgrounds.

PubMed

Bentwich, Miriam Ethel; Dickman, Nomy; Oberman, Amitai

2018-02-01

To explore whether gaps exist between caretakers from different ethno-cultural groups (Israeli-born Jews [Sabras], Israeli Arabs [Arabs], and migrants from Russia [Russians]) regarding their perceptions of autonomy and human dignity of patients with dementia. A mixed-methods research scheme was used, comprised of qualitative and quantitative methods, utilizing semi-structured interviews and self-reported questionnaires. Twenty formal caretakers participated in the qualitative portion, and approximately 200 caretakers were included in the quantitative portion. All participants were recruited from three nursing homes and one hospital in the Galilee region (Israel). The qualitative portion of the study yielded eight themes encapsulated in the concept of autonomy and ten themes entailed within human dignity, in the context of care for patients with dementia. By utilizing these themes in the quantitative portion, substantial differences in nursing homes were found in the attitudes to autonomy and dignity of patients with dementia between Russian and Arab as well as Sabra caretakers (index score for autonomy: 2.97, 4.07, and 4, respectively; index score for dignity: 3.17, 4.1, and 4.07). A multi-variable regression, focusing on caretakers from nursing homes, showed the most significant influencing variables on the indexes of autonomy and dignity were ethno-culture Arab/Russian (0.84, 0.62) and the patient's family (0.29, 0.30). Regarding the autonomy index, being a female caretaker also had a significant influence (0.24). In the hospital, no influence emerged for the ethno-culture variables, and neither type of institution showed any influence of religion or religiousness as well as societal or community norms. Contrary to past research, in nursing homes, significant differences were found between certain ethno-cultural groups (Arabs and Russians) regarding their stance toward the dignity and autonomy of patients with dementia. Arab caretakers' fostering of more

Sumatran orangutans differ in their cultural knowledge but not in their cognitive abilities.

PubMed

Gruber, Thibaud; Singleton, Ian; van Schaik, Carel

2012-12-04

Animal cultures are controversial because the method used to isolate culture in animals aims at excluding genetic and environmental influences rather than demonstrating social learning. Here, we analyzed these factors in parallel in captivity to determine their influences on tool use. We exposed Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) orphans from tool-using and non-tool-using regions (western swamps and eastern Langkat, respectively) that differed in both genetic and cultural backgrounds to a raking task and a honey-dipping task to assess their understanding of stick use. Orangutans from both regions were equally successful in raking; however, swamp orangutans were more successful than Langkat orangutans in honey dipping, where previously acquired knowledge was required. A larger analysis suggested that the Alas River could constitute a geographical barrier to the spread of this cultural trait. Finally, honey-dipping individuals were on average less than 4 years old, but this behavior is not observed in the wild before 6 years of age. Our results suggest first that genetic differences between wild Sumatran populations cannot explain their differences in stick use; however, their performances in honey dipping support a cultural differentiation in stick knowledge. Second, the results suggest that the honey-dippers were too young when arriving at the quarantine center to have possibly mastered the behavior in the wild individually, suggesting that they arrived with preestablished mental representations of stick use or, simply put, "cultural ideas." Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ecological Effects in Cross-Cultural Differences Between U.S. and Japanese Color Preferences.

PubMed

Yokosawa, Kazuhiko; Schloss, Karen B; Asano, Michiko; Palmer, Stephen E

2016-09-01

We investigated cultural differences between U.S. and Japanese color preferences and the ecological factors that might influence them. Japanese and U.S. color preferences have both similarities (e.g., peaks around blue, troughs around dark-yellow, and preferences for saturated colors) and differences (Japanese participants like darker colors less than U.S. participants do). Complex gender differences were also evident that did not conform to previously reported effects. Palmer and Schloss's (2010) weighted affective valence estimate (WAVE) procedure was used to test the Ecological Valence Theory's (EVT's) prediction that within-culture WAVE-preference correlations should be higher than between-culture WAVE-preference correlations. The results supported several, but not all, predictions. In the second experiment, we tested color preferences of Japanese-U.S. multicultural participants who could read and speak both Japanese and English. Multicultural color preferences were intermediate between U.S. and Japanese preferences, consistent with the hypothesis that culturally specific personal experiences during one's lifetime influence color preferences. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Patriotism, organizational commitment and nurses' intention to report for work in emergencies.

PubMed

Kagan, I; Itzhaki, M; Melnikov, S

2017-12-01

To examine the influence of nurses' patriotism and organizational commitment on their intention to report for work in a national emergency, in Israel. Healthcare systems need to forecast the number of staff likely to report for work in emergencies and mass casualty events. Patriotism and nurses' commitment to work are factors that prompt nurses to leave their families and report for duty, even knowing that they are putting themselves in danger. However, patriotism as a variable that might affect nurses' intention to report for work in emergencies has not been investigated. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample of 152 registered nurses. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients and t-tests were used to analyse the data. To examine the unique contribution of the independent variables to the explanation of the dependent variable - intention to report to work in emergency - multiple regression analysis was performed. Significant positive correlations were found between age, seniority and research variables (organizational commitment, patriotism and intention to report for emergency work). Patriotism differed by gender, ethnicity and religion. Patriotism and gender explained 23% of the variance regarding intention to report for emergency duty, with patriotism playing a major role. Patriotism has religious and cultural dimensions. Cultural differences explain the discrepancy in organizational commitment between Israeli-born nurses and immigrants. Emergency training drills for nurses should feature discussions on universal ethical principles in emergency planning, preparedness and responses. The willingness of ethnic/religious minorities and immigrants to report for work in a national emergency should be taken into consideration in healthcare system disaster planning, so as to lessen the impact of disparate patriotism. © 2017 International Council of Nurses.

Why the dish makes a difference: quantitative comparison of polystyrene culture surfaces.

PubMed

Zeiger, Adam S; Hinton, Benjamin; Van Vliet, Krystyn J

2013-07-01

There is wide anecdotal recognition that biological cell viability and behavior can vary significantly as a function of the source of commercial tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) culture vessels to which those cells adhere. However, this marked material dependency is typically resolved by selecting and then consistently using the same manufacturer's product - following protocol - rather than by investigating the material properties that may be responsible for such experimental variation. Here, we quantified several physical properties of TCPS surfaces obtained from a wide range of commercial sources and processing steps, through the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based imaging and analysis, goniometry and protein adsorption quantification. We identify qualitative differences in surface features, as well as quantitative differences in surface roughness and wettability that cannot be attributed solely to differences in surface chemistry. We also find significant differences in cell morphology and proliferation among cells cultured on different TCPS surfaces, and resolve a correlation between nanoscale surface roughness and cell proliferation rate for both cell types considered. Interestingly, AFM images of living adherent cells on these nanotextured surfaces demonstrate direct interactions between cellular protrusions and topographically distinct features. These results illustrate and quantify the significant differences in material surface properties among these ubiquitous materials, allowing us to better understand why the dish can make a difference in biological experiments. Copyright © 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-cultural differences in the management of children and adolescents with diabetes.

PubMed

Greene, A C; Tripaldi, M; Chiarelli, F; McKiernan, P; Morris, A; Newton, R; Greene, S

2002-01-01

Glycaemic control deteriorates frequently in adolescents with diabetes. There is a considerable body of work on the effect of psychological aspects of management in this age group, but few randomized controlled trials of the effect of specific behavioural therapy and lifestyle modification on the improvement of glycaemic control. Of recent interest have been the observations from the Hvidøre Study Group on cross-cultural differences in glycaemic control. The average glycosylated haemoglobin in 22 centres, across 18 countries, varied in young people, with HbA1c levels ranging from 7.6 to 10.2%. No obvious differences in management were identified in this survey that could account for the disparities in glycaemic control. Data from the Scottish Study Group demonstrated similar variation in average glycaemic control in centres across a single culture. Using the qualitative methodology of anthropological research, some specific factors were identified that appear to influence young people's response to diabetes management and strategies employed by health professionals in their advice and care of the diabetes, particularly in relation to intensive insulin regimens. The main cultural factors influencing glycaemic control appear to be communication, reciprocal support between young people and professional heart carers and family structure within an individualistic, as against an egalitarian, society. Shared beliefs about teenage risk behaviour together with the medicalization of adolescence within medical culture also appears to be highly influential. The aim of this educational discussion group was to explore how a variety of health care professionals from distinctive cultures approach diabetes care delivery in this age group. The specific success and difficulties in different cultures in managing the young person with diabetes were investigated. Also discussed was how qualitative research methodology may generate further research in this area. Copyright 2002 S. Karger

Cultural Differences in Color/Form Preference and in Classificatory Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, W. H. O.; Nzimande, A.

1970-01-01

Cross-cultural data was collected on color/form preference and the ability to classify among Zulu children and adults. Significant differences were found attributable to factors of Western-type schooling, literacy, and urban or rural life. (NH)

Workload differences across command levels and emergency response organizations during a major joint training exercise.

PubMed

Prytz, Erik G; Rybing, Jonas; Jonson, Carl-Oscar

2016-01-01

This study reports on an initial test using a validated workload measurement method, the NASA Task Load Index (TLX), as an indicator of joint emergency exercise effectiveness. Prior research on emergency exercises indicates that exercises must be challenging, ie, result in high workload, to be effective. However, this is often problematic with some participants being underloaded and some overloaded. The NASA TLX was used to test for differences in workload between commanders and subordinates and among three different emergency response organizations during a joint emergency exercise. Questionnaire-based evaluation with professional emergency responders. The study was performed in conjunction with a large-scale interorganizational joint emergency exercise in Sweden. A total of 20 participants from the rescue services, 12 from the emergency medical services, and 12 from the police participated in the study (N=44). Ten participants had a command-level role during the exercise and the remaining 34 were subordinates. The main outcome measures were the workload subscales of the NASA TLX: mental demands, physical demands, temporal demands, performance, effort, and frustration. The results showed that the organizations experienced different levels of workload, that the commanders experienced a higher workload than the subordinates, and that two out of three organizations fell below the twenty-fifth percentile of average workload scores compiled from 237 prior studies. The results support the notion that the NASA TLX could be a useful complementary tool to evaluate exercise designs and outcomes. This should be further explored and verified in additional studies.

Microbial Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles in Different Culture Media.

PubMed

Luo, Ke; Jung, Samuel; Park, Kyu-Hwan; Kim, Young-Rok

2018-01-31

Microbial biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles has been extensively studied for the applications in biomedical sciences and engineering. However, the mechanism for their synthesis through microorganism is not completely understood. In this study, several culture media were investigated for their roles in the microbial biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The size and morphology of the synthesized AgNPs were analyzed by UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier-transform-infrared (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The results demonstrated that nutrient broth (NB) and Mueller-Hinton broth (MHB) among tested media effectively reduced silver ions to form AgNPs with different particle size and shape. Although the involved microorganism enhanced the reduction of silver ions, the size and shape of the particles were shown to mainly depend on the culture media. Our findings suggest that the growth media of bacterial culture play an important role in the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles with regard to their size and shape. We believe our findings would provide useful information for further exploration of microbial biosynthesis of AgNPs and their biomedical applications.

Cultural Differences in Early Math Skills among U.S., Taiwanese, Dutch, and Peruvian Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paik, Jae H.; van Gelderen, Loes; Gonzales, Manuel; de Jong, Peter F.; Hayes, Michael

2011-01-01

East Asian children have consistently outperformed children from other nations on mathematical tests. However, most previous cross-cultural studies mainly compared East Asian countries and the United States and have largely ignored cultures from other parts of the world. The present study explored cultural differences in young children's early…

Unique blood culture for diagnosis of bloodstream infections in emergency departments: a prospective multicentre study.

PubMed

Dargère, S; Parienti, J-J; Roupie, E; Gancel, P-E; Wiel, E; Smaiti, N; Loiez, C; Joly, L-M; Lemée, L; Pestel-Caron, M; du Cheyron, D; Verdon, R; Leclercq, R; Cattoir, V

2014-11-01

Detection of microorganisms by blood cultures (BCs) is essential in managing patients with bacteraemia. Rather than the number of punctures, the volume of blood drawn is considered paramount in efficient and reliable detection of microorganisms. We performed a 1-year prospective multicentre study in adult emergency departments of three French university hospitals comparing two methods for BCs: a unique blood culture (UBC) collecting a large volume of blood (40 mL) and the standard method of multiple blood cultures (MBC). The performances of both methods for bacterial contamination and efficient microbial detection were compared, each patient serving as his own control. Amongst the 2314 patients included, three hundred were positive for pathogens (n=245) or contaminants (n=55). Out of the 245 patients, 11 were positive for pathogens by UBC but negative by MBC and seven negative by UBC but positive by MBC (p 0.480). In the subgroup of 137 patients with only two BCs, UBC was superior to MBC (p 0.044). Seven and 17 patients had contaminated BCs by UBC and MBC only, respectively (p 0.062). Considering the sums of pathogens missed and contaminants, UBC significantly outperformed MBC (p 0.045). Considering the complete picture of cost savings, efficient detection of microorganisms and decrease in contaminations, UBC offers an interesting alternative to MBC. © 2014 The Authors Clinical Microbiology and Infection © 2014 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Crisis Management in a Cross-Cultural Setting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burak, Patricia A.

The purpose of this document is to prepare those who work with foreign students for the variety of emergency situations in which a consciousness of cross-cultural differences can be significant. It is primarily intended to provide educational and resource material to those who advise, counsel, and assist foreign students and scholars and their…

Cultural Competence Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garran, Ann Marie; Werkmeister Rozas, Lisa

2013-01-01

In 2001, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) adopted 10 discrete standards of culturally competent practice which undergird our commitment to diversity and social justice. The concept of intersectionality is newly emerging in social work, though, causing us to reflect on our current conceptualizations of cultural competence.…

Predicting attitudes toward nanotechnology: The influence of cultural and predispositional values

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shih, Tsung-Jen

Past experience in dealing with biotechnology has suggested that public opinion plays an important role in determining the prosperity of emerging technologies. A great amount of money and energy, therefore, were invested to understand nanotechnology's impact on the society and the public, in addition to the technical advancement of the technology. However, most studies examining public opinion have focused on personal level factors and have ignored the potential influence of cultural factors. This study addresses this gap by analyzing public opinion in 21 countries, including the US and 20 European countries. Specifically, this study examines the impact of predispositional and cultural values on public support for nanotechnology, with the mediating roles of moral judgment and risk perception accounted for. This study also looks into the dynamics between cultural values and predispositional values; that is, how cultural values may moderate the effects of predispositional values in affecting attitudes toward nanotechnology. The results indicate that people rely on "information shortcuts," such as confidence and religious belief, for decision making. Individual-level factors still play an important role in shaping public attitudes even after country-level factors are controlled. Furthermore, aggregate cultural values provide people with important "mental programs" to interpret nanotechnology. They explain why people in different cultures have different moral and risk perceptions. However, most of the cultural values do not affect public support directly, suggesting that public support is contingent greatly on the core characteristics of nanotechnology, such as its usefulness, risk, and moral acceptability, which, in turn, is influenced by personal beliefs and cultural givens. The results also suggest that people in different cultures respond to survey questions in different manners. People living in cultures emphasizing uncertainty avoidance and individualism are more

Valuing our differences. How to manage a culturally diverse work force.

PubMed

Veninga, R L

1994-12-01

How can we become aware of cultural blind spots that keep us from understanding one another? To adequately prepare for the new work force, healthcare organizations must establish work force diversity goals. Of course, goals by themselves will not empower minority workers. And if goals are perceived as "window dressing," resentment builds. Most organizations claim their hiring practices are not biased. One way to ensure that your hiring practices are unbiased is to ask important questions: Does the ethnic makeup of our work force resemble that of the community? If not, what can be done to strengthen our affirmative action programs? In a multicultural work force, misunderstandings are bound to arise because human behavior is conditioned by cultural factors. One way for an organization to identify problems that are culturally based is for supervisors and subordinates to meet informally to ensure that the organization is maximizing the minority worker's talents. Climate surveys and exit interviews are two other frequently used methods. Cultural diversity training programs can also make a difference in an organization. Some training programs help participants learn how culture influences the way we communicate. Knowledge of the cultural basis of how we interact is one factor in building bridges of understanding.

"Mind the Gap": Bridging Cultural, Age, and Value Differences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bigrigg, Carin

Students in a University of New Mexico English extension class at Kirtland Air Force Base differ in age, culture, values, and skills, all of which must be taken into account by the instructor. Most of these students are returning students with past experiences and education which most traditional students do not have, and at least half the class…

Possible cross-cultural differences in the perception of impact of voice disorders.

PubMed

Yiu, Edwin M-L; Ho, Elaine M; Ma, Estella P-M; Verdolini Abbott, Katherine; Branski, Ryan; Richardson, Katherine; Li, Nicole Y-K

2011-05-01

Perception of the impact of voice disorders may differ across different cultural backgrounds. This study investigated the difference in the perception of the impact of voice disorders between the American (Pittsburgh) and Chinese (Hong Kong) cultures. Sixty dysphonic subjects from Hong Kong, China, and 60 dysphonic subjects from Pittsburgh, USA, were recruited to complete the Chinese and English versions of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP), respectively. Data analyses using independent t tests were conducted on (1) the total profile scores; (b) total activity limitation score (ALS) and total participation restriction score (PRS); (c) section scores of job, daily communication, and social communication; and (d) section ALS and section PRS. Hong Kong subjects showed significantly higher scores than the Pittsburgh subjects in total profile and other subsections except in the job PRS. RESULTS support the possible influence of individualist and collectivist cultures on the perceived impact of voice disorders on the activity and participation. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

An Emerging Integrated Middle-Range Theory on Asian Women's Leadership in Nursing.

PubMed

Im, Eun-Ok; Broome, Marion E; Inouye, Jillian; Kunaviktikul, Wipada; Oh, Eui Geum; Sakashita, Reiko; Yi, Myungsun; Huang, Lian-Hua; Tsai, Hsiu-Min; Wang, Hsiu-Hung

2018-02-01

Asian cultures reflect patriarchal cultural values and attitudes, which likely have influenced women leaders in their countries differently from women in Western cultures. However, virtually no leadership theories have been developed to reflect the experiences and development of nursing leaders from Asian cultures. The purpose of this article is to present an emerging integrated middle-range theory on Asian women's leadership in nursing. Using an integrative approach, the theory was developed based on three major sources: the leadership frames of Bolman and Deal, literature reviews, and exemplars/cases from five different countries. The theory includes two main domains (leadership frames and leadership contexts). The domain of leadership frames includes human resources/networks, structure/organization, national/international politics, and symbols. The domain of leadership contexts includes cultural contexts, sociopolitical contexts, and gendered contexts. This theory will help understand nursing leadership in Asian cultures and provide directions for future nurse leaders in this ever-changing globalized world.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Cognitive Development: Attention to Relations and Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuwabara, Megumi; Smith, Linda B.

2012-01-01

Growing evidence indicates a suite of generalized differences in the attentional and cognitive processing of adults from Eastern and Western cultures. Cognition in Eastern adults is often more relational and in Western adults is more object focused. Three experiments examined whether these differences characterize the cognition of preschool…

Exploration of Online Culture Through Network Analysis of Wikipedia.

PubMed

Park, Sung Joo; Kim, Jong Woo; Lee, Hong Joo; Park, Hyunjung; Han, Deugcheon; Gloor, Peter

2015-11-01

Understanding online culture is becoming crucial in the global and connected world. Contrary to conventional attitudinal surveys used in cultural research, this study uses the approach of directly observing culture-specific behavior that emerges from online collaboration on the Internet. The editing data of Wikipedia were analyzed in 12 languages. Distinctive cultural dimensions were identified, including collectivism, extraversion, boldness, and egalitarianism. Using network analysis, the language-framed cultural factors were extracted as an emergent phenomenon in the virtual world.

Exploring Cultural Differences in the Recognition of the Self-Conscious Emotions.

PubMed

Chung, Joanne M; Robins, Richard W

2015-01-01

Recent research suggests that the self-conscious emotions of embarrassment, shame, and pride have distinct, nonverbal expressions that can be recognized in the United States at above-chance levels. However, few studies have examined the recognition of these emotions in other cultures, and little research has been conducted in Asia. Consequently the cross-cultural generalizability of self-conscious emotions has not been firmly established. Additionally, there is no research that examines cultural variability in the recognition of the self-conscious emotions. Cultural values and exposure to Western culture have been identified as contributors to variability in recognition rates for the basic emotions; we sought to examine this for the self-conscious emotions using the University of California, Davis Set of Emotion Expressions (UCDSEE). The present research examined recognition of the self-conscious emotion expressions in South Korean college students and found that recognition rates were very high for pride, low but above chance for shame, and near zero for embarrassment. To examine what might be underlying the recognition rates we found in South Korea, recognition of self-conscious emotions and several cultural values were examined in a U.S. college student sample of European Americans, Asian Americans, and Asian-born individuals. Emotion recognition rates were generally similar between the European Americans and Asian Americans, and higher than emotion recognition rates for Asian-born individuals. These differences were not explained by cultural values in an interpretable manner, suggesting that exposure to Western culture is a more important mediator than values.

Exploring Cultural Differences in the Recognition of the Self-Conscious Emotions

PubMed Central

Chung, Joanne M.; Robins, Richard W.

2015-01-01

Recent research suggests that the self-conscious emotions of embarrassment, shame, and pride have distinct, nonverbal expressions that can be recognized in the United States at above-chance levels. However, few studies have examined the recognition of these emotions in other cultures, and little research has been conducted in Asia. Consequently the cross-cultural generalizability of self-conscious emotions has not been firmly established. Additionally, there is no research that examines cultural variability in the recognition of the self-conscious emotions. Cultural values and exposure to Western culture have been identified as contributors to variability in recognition rates for the basic emotions; we sought to examine this for the self-conscious emotions using the University of California, Davis Set of Emotion Expressions (UCDSEE). The present research examined recognition of the self-conscious emotion expressions in South Korean college students and found that recognition rates were very high for pride, low but above chance for shame, and near zero for embarrassment. To examine what might be underlying the recognition rates we found in South Korea, recognition of self-conscious emotions and several cultural values were examined in a U.S. college student sample of European Americans, Asian Americans, and Asian-born individuals. Emotion recognition rates were generally similar between the European Americans and Asian Americans, and higher than emotion recognition rates for Asian-born individuals. These differences were not explained by cultural values in an interpretable manner, suggesting that exposure to Western culture is a more important mediator than values. PMID:26309215

Cross-cultural differences in children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies.

PubMed

Fu, Genyue; Xu, Fen; Cameron, Catherine Ann; Leyman, Gail; Lee, Kang

2007-03-01

This study examined cross-cultural differences and similarities in children's moral understanding of individual- or collective-oriented lies and truths. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Canadian and Chinese children were read stories about story characters facing moral dilemmas about whether to lie or tell the truth to help a group but harm an individual or vice versa. Participants chose to lie or to tell the truth as if they were the character (Experiments 1 and 2) and categorized and evaluated the story characters' truthful and untruthful statements (Experiments 3 and 4). Most children in both cultures labeled lies as lies and truths as truths. The major cultural differences lay in choices and moral evaluations. Chinese children chose lying to help a collective but harm an individual, and they rated it less negatively than lying with opposite consequences. Chinese children rated truth telling to help an individual but harm a group less positively than the alternative. Canadian children did the opposite. These findings suggest that cross-cultural differences in emphasis on groups versus individuals affect children's choices and moral judgments about truth and deception.

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in person-body reasoning: experimental evidence from the United Kingdom and Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

Cohen, Emma; Burdett, Emily; Knight, Nicola; Barrett, Justin

2011-01-01

We report the results of a cross-cultural investigation of person-body reasoning in the United Kingdom and northern Brazilian Amazon (Marajó Island). The study provides evidence that directly bears upon divergent theoretical claims in cognitive psychology and anthropology, respectively, on the cognitive origins and cross-cultural incidence of mind-body dualism. In a novel reasoning task, we found that participants across the two sample populations parsed a wide range of capacities similarly in terms of the capacities' perceived anchoring to bodily function. Patterns of reasoning concerning the respective roles of physical and biological properties in sustaining various capacities did vary between sample populations, however. Further, the data challenge prior ad-hoc categorizations in the empirical literature on the developmental origins of and cognitive constraints on psycho-physical reasoning (e.g., in afterlife concepts). We suggest cross-culturally validated categories of "Body Dependent" and "Body Independent" items for future developmental and cross-cultural research in this emerging area. Copyright © 2011 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Gender differences in neurologic emergencies part I: a consensus summary and research agenda on cerebrovascular disease.

PubMed

Madsen, Tracy E; Seigel, Todd A; Mackenzie, Richard S; Marcolini, Evie G; Wira, Charles R; Healy, Megan E; Wright, David W; Gentile, Nina T

2014-12-01

Cerebrovascular neurologic emergencies including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and migraine are leading causes of death and disability that are frequently diagnosed and treated in the emergency department (ED). Although sex and gender differences in neurologic emergencies are beginning to become clearer, there are many unanswered questions about how emergency physicians should incorporate sex and gender into their research initiatives, patient evaluations, and overall management plans for these conditions. After evaluating the existing gaps in the literature, a core group of ED researchers developed a draft of future research priorities. Participants in the 2014 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference neurologic emergencies working group then discussed and approved the recommended research agenda using a standardized nominal group technique. Recommendations for future research on the role of sex and gender in the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes pertinent to ED providers are described for each of three diagnoses: stroke, SAH, and migraine. Recommended future research also includes investigation of the biologic and pathophysiologic differences between men and women with neurologic emergencies as they pertain to ED diagnoses and treatments. © 2014 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Gender Differences in Graduate Students' Perspectives on the Culture of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, Maria M.

In this study, gender differences in graduate students' perspectives on the culture of science were examined in two graduate departments (biology and chemistry) at a large research university. Data from a survey questionnaire from 170 students and interviews with 32 of them indicated that the culture of science as experienced by the participants of this study was characterized by competition, a narrow focus, and a belief in objectivity. These perspectives were particularly common among the female students, who also perceived a role conflict between a successful career in science and having a family. The study shows that although women have greater access to careers in science, the culture of the scientific enterprise continues to be based on the masculine ideals of 17th-century England.

Barriers and facilitators for implementing a new screening tool in an emergency department: A qualitative study applying the Theoretical Domains Framework.

PubMed

Kirk, Jeanette W; Sivertsen, Ditte M; Petersen, Janne; Nilsen, Per; Petersen, Helle V

2016-10-01

The aim was to identify the factors that were perceived as most important as facilitators or barriers to the introduction and intended use of a new tool in the emergency department among nurses and a geriatric team. A high incidence of functional decline after hospitalisation for acute medical illness has been shown in the oldest patients and those who are physically frail. In Denmark, more than 35% of older medical patients acutely admitted to the emergency department are readmitted within 90 days after discharge. A new screening tool for use in the emergency department aiming to identify patients at particularly high risk of functional decline and readmission was developed. Qualitative study based on semistructured interviews with nurses and a geriatric team in the emergency department and semistructured single interviews with their managers. The Theoretical Domains Framework guided data collection and analysis. Content analysis was performed whereby new themes and themes already existing within each domain were described. Six predominant domains were identified: (1) professional role and identity; (2) beliefs about consequences; (3) goals; (4) knowledge; (5) optimism and (6) environmental context and resources. The content analysis identified three themes, each containing two subthemes. The themes were professional role and identity, beliefs about consequences and preconditions for a successful implementation. Two different cultures were identified in the emergency department. These cultures applied to different professional roles and identity, different actions and sense making and identified how barriers and facilitators linked to the new screening tool were perceived. The results show that different cultures exist in the same local context and influence the perception of barriers and facilitators differently. These cultures must be identified and addressed when implementation is planned. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Nursing Published by John

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in North Americans' geographic location judgments.

PubMed

Friedman, Alinda; Kerkman, Dennis D; Brown, Norman R; Stea, David; Cappello, Hector M

2005-12-01

We examined some potential causes of bias in geographic location estimates by comparing location estimates of North American cities made by Canadian, U.S., and Mexican university students. All three groups placed most Mexican cities near the equator, which implies that all three groups were influenced by shared beliefs about the locations of geographical regions relative to global reference points. However, the groups divided North America into different regions and differed in the relative accuracy of the estimates within them, which implies that there was an influence of culture-specific knowledge. The data support a category-based system of plausible reasoning, in which biases in judgments are multiply determined, and underscore the utility of the estimation paradigm as a tool in cross-cultural cognitive research.

SEM: A Cultural Change Agent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barnes, Bradley; Bourke, Brian

2015-01-01

The authors advance the concept that institutional culture is a purposeful framework by which to view SEM's utility, particularly as a cultural change agent. Through the connection of seemingly independent functions of performance and behavior, implications emerge that deepen the understanding of the influence of culture on performance outcomes…

Cultural and School-Grade Differences in Korean and White American Children's Narrative Skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Meesook

2003-03-01

A great deal of ethnographic research describes different communicative styles in Asian and Western countries. Asian cultures emphasise the listener's role in assuring successful communication, whereas Western cultures place the responsibility primarily on the speaker. This pattern suggests that Asian children may develop higher-level receptive skills and Western children may develop higher-level expressive skills. However, the language of children in formal education may develop in certain ways regardless of cultural influences. The present study quantifies the cultural and school-grade differences in language abilities reflected in middle-class Korean and white American children's story-telling and story-listening activities. Thirty-two Korean first- and fourth-grade children and their American counterparts were individually asked to perform two tasks: one producing a story from a series of pictures, and one involving listening to and then retelling a story. The individual interview was transcribed in their native languages and analysed in terms of ambiguity of reference, the number of causal connectors, the amount of information, and the number of central and peripheral idea units that were included in the story retelling. The data provided some empirical evidence for the effects of culture and school education in children's language acquisition.

Synchronous Environmental and Cultural Change in the Emergence of Agricultural Economies 10,000 Years Ago in the Levant.

PubMed

Borrell, Ferran; Junno, Aripekka; Barceló, Joan Antón

2015-01-01

The commonly held belief that the emergence and establishment of farming communities in the Levant was a smooth socio-economic continuum during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (ca. 12,000-9,000 cal BP) with only rare minor disruptions is challenged by recently obtained evidence from this region. Using a database of archaeological radiocarbon dates and diagnostic material culture records from a series of key sites in the northern Levant we show that the hitherto apparent long-term continuity interpreted as the origins and consolidation of agricultural systems was not linear and uninterrupted. A major cultural discontinuity is observed in the archaeological record around 10,000 cal BP in synchrony with a Holocene Rapid Climate Change (RCC), a short period of climatic instability recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. This study demonstrates the interconnectedness of the first agricultural economies and the ecosystems they inhabited, and emphasizes the complex nature of human responses to environmental change during the Neolithic period in the Levant. Moreover, it provides a new environmental-cultural scenario that needs to be incorporated in the models reconstructing both the establishment of agricultural economy in southwestern Asia and the impact of environmental changes on human populations.

The organizational culture of emergency departments and the effect on care of older adults: a modified scoping study.

PubMed

Skar, Pål; Bruce, Anne; Sheets, Debra

2015-04-01

How does the organizational micro culture in emergency departments (EDs) impact the care of older adults presenting with a complaint or condition perceived as non-acute? This scoping study reviews the literature and maps three levels of ED culture (artifacts, values and beliefs, and assumptions). Findings on the artifact level indicate that EDs are poorly designed for the needs of older adults. Findings on the ED value and belief level indicate that EDs are for urgent cases (not geriatric care), that older adults do not receive the care and respect they should be given, that older adults require too much time, and that the basic nursing needs of older adults are not a priority for ED nurses. Finally, finding on the assumptions level underpinning ED behaviors suggest that older adults do not belong in the ED, most older adults in the ED are not critically ill and therefore can wait, and staff need to be available for acute cases at all times. A systematic review on the effect of ED micro culture on the quality of geriatric care is warranted. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Synchronous Environmental and Cultural Change in the Emergence of Agricultural Economies 10,000 Years Ago in the Levant

PubMed Central

Borrell, Ferran; Junno, Aripekka; Barceló, Joan Antón

2015-01-01

The commonly held belief that the emergence and establishment of farming communities in the Levant was a smooth socio-economic continuum during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (ca. 12,000-9,000 cal BP) with only rare minor disruptions is challenged by recently obtained evidence from this region. Using a database of archaeological radiocarbon dates and diagnostic material culture records from a series of key sites in the northern Levant we show that the hitherto apparent long-term continuity interpreted as the origins and consolidation of agricultural systems was not linear and uninterrupted. A major cultural discontinuity is observed in the archaeological record around 10,000 cal BP in synchrony with a Holocene Rapid Climate Change (RCC), a short period of climatic instability recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. This study demonstrates the interconnectedness of the first agricultural economies and the ecosystems they inhabited, and emphasizes the complex nature of human responses to environmental change during the Neolithic period in the Levant. Moreover, it provides a new environmental-cultural scenario that needs to be incorporated in the models reconstructing both the establishment of agricultural economy in southwestern Asia and the impact of environmental changes on human populations. PMID:26241310

Cultural differences in complex addition: efficient Chinese versus adaptive Belgians and Canadians.

PubMed

Imbo, Ineke; LeFevre, Jo-Anne

2009-11-01

In the present study, the authors tested the effects of working-memory load on math problem solving in 3 different cultures: Flemish-speaking Belgians, English-speaking Canadians, and Chinese-speaking Chinese currently living in Canada. Participants solved complex addition problems (e.g., 58 + 76) in no-load and working-memory load conditions, in which either the central executive or the phonological loop was loaded. The authors used the choice/no-choice method to obtain unbiased measures of strategy selection and strategy efficiency. The Chinese participants were faster than the Belgians, who were faster and more accurate than the Canadians. The Chinese also required fewer working-memory resources than did the Belgians and Canadians. However, the Chinese chose less adaptively from the available strategies than did the Belgians and Canadians. These cultural differences in math problem solving are likely the result of different instructional approaches during elementary school (practice and training in Asian countries vs. exploration and flexibility in non-Asian countries), differences in the number language, and informal cultural norms and standards. The relevance of being adaptive is discussed as well as the implications of the results in regards to the strategy choice and discovery simulation model of strategy selection (J. Shrager & R. S. Siegler, 1998).

Gender and culture differences in the quality of life among Americans and Koreans with atrial fibrillation.

PubMed

Kang, Younhee

2009-09-01

This study examined the gender and culture differences in relation to the quality of life among Americans and Koreans with atrial fibrillation. It employed secondary data analysis and a descriptive comparative design. The settings were the cardiology outpatient clinics and the outpatient clinic in two urban hospitals in the USA and one university hospital in Korea. The quality of life was measured by the Short-Form Health Survey. The data from 129 subjects were analyzed by two-way ANCOVA and a post-hoc test. In relation to physical function, there was a statistically significant effect shown by gender, but no significant differences were found by the main effect of culture and the interaction effect of gender and culture. The significant interaction effect of gender and culture on mental health was shown. In conclusion, gender differences in the quality of life perceived by patients with atrial fibrillation varied with their cultural background. Thus, patients' cultural background should be considered in nursing practice.

Are cultural dimensions relevant for explaining cross-national differences in antibiotic use in Europe?

PubMed

Deschepper, Reginald; Grigoryan, Larissa; Lundborg, Cecilia Stålsby; Hofstede, Geert; Cohen, Joachim; Kelen, Greta Van Der; Deliens, Luc; Haaijer-Ruskamp, Flora M

2008-06-06

Antibiotics are widely-used medicines for which a more prudent use has been advocated to minimize development of resistance. There are considerable cross-national differences that can only partially be explained by epidemiological difference and variations in health care structure. The aim of this study was to explore whether cross-national differences in use of antibiotics (prescribed and non-prescribed) are associated with differences between national cultures as described in Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long-Term Orientation). Country-level data of prescribed antibiotic use and self-medication with antibiotics were correlated to country-specific scores of cultural dimensions obtained from Hofstede. Data on use of antibiotics were provided by three European studies, based on different methods and/or countries: Self-medication with Antibiotics and Resistance in Europe (SAR), based on a survey in 2003 on reported use of antibiotics in 19 countries, the European Surveillance on Antimicrobial Consumption, based on distribution and reimbursement of antibiotics in ambulatory care (1997-2002), and the 2002 interview-based Eurobarometer study, asking whether respondents had taken antibiotics in the previous 12 months. These studies provided data on antibiotics use for 27 European countries in total, for which scores of cultural dimensions were also available. The SAR-study differentiated between prescribed antibiotics and self-medication with antibiotics. Significant positive correlations were found for Power Distance Index with use of prescribed antibiotics in the three studies (rho between 0.59 and 0.62) and with self-medication (rho = 0.54) in the SAR study. Positive significant correlations were found for the Uncertainty Avoidance Index with the use of antibiotics as reported in two studies (rho between 0.57 and 0.59; for the SAR study the correlations were insignificant). Masculinity

Cross-cultural differences in drivers' speed choice.

PubMed

Wallén Warner, Henriette; Ozkan, Türker; Lajunen, Timo

2009-07-01

The aim of the present study was to examine if there are any cross-cultural differences between Swedish and Turkish drivers' rating of the variables in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) with regard to complying with the speed limit. A sample of 219 Swedish and 252 Turkish drivers completed a questionnaire including questions based on the theory of planned behaviour (i.e. regarding attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, intention and behaviour). The results show that country differences in drivers' intention to comply with the speed limit as well as their self-reported compliance could be explained by differences found in their attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. Furthermore, drivers who live in a country with fewer road traffic fatalities (i.e. Sweden), compared with drivers who live in a country with more road traffic fatalities (i.e. Turkey), reported a more positive attitude towards complying with the speed limit, a more positive subjective norm, a higher perceived behavioural control, a higher intention and a larger proportion of the time spent complying.

Evaluation of two modified culture media for Leishmania infantum cultivation versus different culture media.

PubMed

Castelli, Germano; Galante, Antonella; Lo Verde, Vincenza; Migliazzo, Antonella; Reale, Stefano; Lupo, Tiziana; Piazza, Maria; Vitale, Fabrizio; Bruno, Federica

2014-04-01

The aim of this study is to improve the cultivation of Leishmania promastigotes without the use of common, semisolid culture media such as Evans' modified Tobie's medium (EMTM), liquid RPMI 1640, and Peptone-yeast extract medium (P-Y). Although EMTM medium permits the growth of a high number of parasites, it is technically difficult to prepare as it requires the use of fresh rabbit blood from animals bred on farms, while RPMI 1640 and P-Y show lower growth rates than the EMTM. There is, therefore, a need to develop new blood-free and time-saving culture systems. The aim of this paper is to propose new modified microbiological media, named RPMI-PY and Tobie-PY, to isolate Leishmania and cultivate parasites for research and diagnostic purposes. This study compares classic culture media to the new media, RPMI-PY and Tobie-PY, and demonstrates that the new media have superior performance in terms of time and parasitic load. The growth rate of the parasite was significantly higher at 24, 48, and 72 hr cultivation, based on counts using Bürker's chambers, when compared to classic media. This study was carried out at the National References Centre for Leishmaniasis (C.Re.Na.L.) where the isolation procedures are conducted daily from a number of different biological matrices.

Cultural differences and similarities of environmental epistemology among Native American nations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duplantier, S.

1997-08-01

A recent major effort of Xavier University`s Consortium for Environmental Risk Evaluation Project (CERE) has been to act as a facilitator for the convening of tribal forums on various environmental management decision making processes, especially the use of risk assessment. Two recent forums sponsored by the Shoshone-Bannock Nation of Ft. Hall, Idaho and the Nez Perce Nation of Lapwai, Idaho brought together tribal leaders, tribal professionals and tribal elders from around the nation to discuss tribal approaches to risk assessment. A statement in the brochure announcing the Nez Perce Forum said ``Our various cultural understandings of, and relationships to, themore » environment must play an essential role in determining how future risk assessment methods are determined and practiced.`` This paper will present and discuss the issue of differences in Native American epistemologies (ways of knowing) about the environment. Are these merely distinctions without differences? Do the differences in regional ecologies and cultures affect tribal views and tribal perceptions on risk assessment and risk communication? Must the tribes develop a single cultural risk model or can and must each one be unique? These and other topics will be discussed in this paper. This paper is an effort in understanding what Native Americans are saying about nature, the environment, and environmental risk and remediation.« less

The co-evolution of cultures, social network communities, and agent locations in an extension of Axelrod’s model of cultural dissemination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pfau, Jens; Kirley, Michael; Kashima, Yoshihisa

2013-01-01

We introduce a variant of the Axelrod model of cultural dissemination in which agents change their physical locations, social links, and cultures. Numerical simulations are used to investigate the evolution of social network communities and the cultural diversity within and between these communities. An analysis of the simulation results shows that an initial peak in the cultural diversity within network communities is evident before agents segregate into a final configuration of culturally homogeneous communities. Larger long-range interaction probabilities facilitate the initial emergence of culturally diverse network communities, which leads to a more pronounced initial peak in cultural diversity within communities. At equilibrium, the number of communities, and hence cultures, increases when the initial cultural diversity increases. However, the number of communities decreases when the lattice size or population density increases. A phase transition between two regimes of initial cultural diversity is evident. For initial diversities below a critical value, a single network community and culture emerges that dominates the population. For initial diversities above the critical value, multiple culturally homogeneous communities emerge. The critical value of initial diversity at which this transition occurs increases with increasing lattice size and population density and generally with increasing absolute population size. We conclude that larger initial diversities promote cultural heterogenization, while larger lattice sizes, population densities, and in fact absolute population sizes promote homogenization.

Cultural differences in distraction processing: influence of context at retrieval.

PubMed

Ngo, Ka Wai Joan; Amer, Tarek; Man, Louisa; Hasher, Lynn

2018-06-04

Cultural differences in information processing affect perceptual judgment, attention, and memory. We investigated whether cultural differences in processing patterns, specifically East Asian participants' tendency to encode holistically, compared to Western tendencies to process analytically, affect performance on an implicit memory test. First, participants completed a 1-back task on pictures with superimposed distracting words. After a delay filled with a computerised Corsi block task, they performed a word fragment task in which some fragments could be completed with the distracting words from the 1-back task. Critically, fragments were presented with the same pictures as previously seen (matched condition), with no pictures (control condition), or with pictures from other trials on the 1-back task (mismatched condition). Non-Asian Canadian participants showed virtually no priming for distraction, independent of the reinstatement of encoding context. East Asian Canadian participants showed superior priming for fragments that had been paired with their original pictures. They did not show evidence of a detriment for the mismatched, relative to control, condition.

Emergency medicine in Dubai, UAE.

PubMed

Partridge, Robert; Abbo, Michael; Virk, Alamjit

2009-08-18

Dubai has rapidly risen to prominence in the Persian Gulf region as a center of global commerce and tourism and as a cultural crossroad between East and West. The health-care infrastructure has undergone rapid development. Collaborations with academic medical centers now exist to advance clinical care, teaching and research. Emergency medicine has also advanced and is undergoing dynamic change. Dubai may soon emerge as a regional leader in emergency medicine training and practice.

When Age and Culture Interact in an Easy and Yet Cognitively Demanding Task: Older Adults, But Not Younger Adults, Showed the Expected Cultural Differences

PubMed Central

Na, Jinkyung; Huang, Chih-Mao; Park, Denise C.

2017-01-01

The interaction between age and culture can have various implications for cognition as age represents the effect of biological processes whereas culture represents the effect of sustaining experiences. Nevertheless, their interaction has rarely been examined. Thus, based on the fact that Asians are more intuitive in reasoning than Americans, we examined how this cultural difference might interact with age. Young and old participants from the US and Singapore performed a categorization task (living vs. non-living). To measure their reliance on intuition, we manipulated the typicality of targets (animate vs. inanimate). We showed that (1) RTs for inanimate organisms were slower than RTs for animate organisms (atypicality cost), (2) the cost was particularly large for older adults and (3) an age × culture interaction was observed such that cultural differences in the cost (Singaporeans > Americans) was found only among older participants. Further, we demonstrated that the age effect was associated with cognitive function and the culture effect among older adults was associated with cultural values. Finally, a moderated mediation analysis suggests that cognitive function and cultural values interact with each other in order to jointly influence one’s cognition. PMID:28396649

When Age and Culture Interact in an Easy and Yet Cognitively Demanding Task: Older Adults, But Not Younger Adults, Showed the Expected Cultural Differences.

PubMed

Na, Jinkyung; Huang, Chih-Mao; Park, Denise C

2017-01-01

The interaction between age and culture can have various implications for cognition as age represents the effect of biological processes whereas culture represents the effect of sustaining experiences. Nevertheless, their interaction has rarely been examined. Thus, based on the fact that Asians are more intuitive in reasoning than Americans, we examined how this cultural difference might interact with age. Young and old participants from the US and Singapore performed a categorization task (living vs. non-living). To measure their reliance on intuition, we manipulated the typicality of targets (animate vs. inanimate). We showed that (1) RTs for inanimate organisms were slower than RTs for animate organisms (atypicality cost), (2) the cost was particularly large for older adults and (3) an age × culture interaction was observed such that cultural differences in the cost (Singaporeans > Americans) was found only among older participants. Further, we demonstrated that the age effect was associated with cognitive function and the culture effect among older adults was associated with cultural values. Finally, a moderated mediation analysis suggests that cognitive function and cultural values interact with each other in order to jointly influence one's cognition.

Sex Differences in Emergent Literacy and Reading Behaviour in Junior Kindergarten

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deasley, Shanna; Evans, Mary Ann; Nowak, Sarah; Willoughby, David

2018-01-01

In a sample of 128 Canadian junior kindergarten children (66 boys), we examined sex differences in emergent literacy and behaviour when listening to and interacting with books of four types: alphabet books with simple text and illustrations, traditional alphabet books with complex text and illustrations, alphabet eBooks, and illustrated…