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This article argues that making dance performance is a resourceful means of self-production that is an aspect of resilience, through interrelationship, and that making dance is an act of resilience...

Higher education in Aotearoa New Zealand – we have a problem. Māori and Pasifika academics are not given time to talk together about Māori and Pasifika student success. Often framed by ‘the academy...

The courtyard is one of the main important elements in religious or civil architecture, especially residential buildings, throughout nearly the ages, and it has continued to be used in all hot and cold regions despite the different environmental, social, religious and cultural influences, which indicates its success as an architectural solution that fulfills various functional needs as the courtyard is in its middle building or wrapping the building elements around it an integrated functional, environmental and social system. In the modern era, the use of the yard was neglected in most public and residential buildings, and some solutions used for the courtyard came as an architectural element in order to give design glimpses away from the philosophy and concept of the courtyard as an organized heart of the building where the person resorts in hot arid zone and especially areas In the summer , mechanical means such as air conditioning inside buildings to achieve the highest thermal efficiency in the building, thus increasing energy consumption . Then the courtyard lost its desired role within the environmental system of the building, especially residential ones of all kinds. The research problem appears in the great decline in the exploitation of the courtyard houses, especially in residential buildings And a clear lack of extrapolation to him in terms of his treatment of climatic and social conditions Especially at the present time despite the increase in global warming, and therefore the research importance lies in showing the role of the yard in achieving the efficiency of the thermal performance of residential buildings and ensuring their sustainability, and therefore the research aims to establish standards and foundations for the design of the courtyard in residential buildings in hot regions to raise the efficiency of this thermal performance in an integrated system With several other elements, such as the morgue, the sheikh, the building materials, the proportions of the openings, and its correlation with the environmental, social, cultural, as well as economic dimensions, in order to achieve the sustainable dimension, and therefore the research follows the descriptive approach by studying a descriptive study of the historical aspect of the emergence of the courtyard and its environmental and social dimensions and values ​​of its appearance in residential buildings in hot areas, passing through the curriculum Comparative analysis by analyzing some local models in which the use of the yard has led to the achievement of efficiency in thermal performance in order to achieve the hypothesis of the research, which stipulates that if a design strategy for the courtyard is developed in residential buildings in hot regions, its role in residential buildings of all kinds will be improved, leading to results Research represents the link between foundations and standards of environmental design and investigation S the sustainable dimension in our modern cities, and the research ends with future recommendations to achieve improvement and raising the efficiency of thermal performance in residential buildings in hot arid zone to achieve the sustainable dimension. يعد الفناء من العناصر الرئيسية الهامة سواء في العمارة الدينية أوالمدنية وخاصة السکنية منها على مر العصور تقريبا، واستمر استعماله في کافة المناطق الحارة وأيضا الباردة بالرغم من اختلاف المؤثرات البيئية والاجتماعية والدينية والثقافية مما يدل على نجاحه کحل معماري يحقق الاحتياجات الوظيفية المختلفة حيث يمثل الفناء بتوسطه البناء أوالتفاف عناصر المبنى حوله منظومة وظيفية بيئية اجتماعية متکاملة، وفى العصر الحديث تم إهمال توظيف الفناء في معظم المباني العامة والسکنية وجاءت بعض الحلول المستخدمة للفناء کعنصر معماري کى تضفي لمحات تصميمية بعيدة عن فلسفة ومفهوم concept الفناء کقلب منظم للبناء حيث يلجأ الإنسان فى المناطق الحارة وخاصة فى فصل الصيف إلى استخدام وسائل ميکانيکية مثل التکييف داخل المباني ليحقق أعلى کفاءة حرارية بالمبنى فيرتفع بذلک استهلاک الطاقة وبالتالي فقد الفناء دوره المنشود داخل المنظومة البيئية للمبنى وخاصة السکنية منها بجميع أنواعها، ومن هنا تظهر مشکلة البحث فى التراجع الکبير في استغلال دور الفناء وخاصة بالمباني السکنية وعدم استقراء واضح له من ناحية معالجته للظروف المناخية والاجتماعية وخاصة في الوقت الحاضر بالرغم من زيادة الاحتباس الحراري، وبالتالي تکمن الأهمية البحثية فى إظهار دور الفناء في تحقيق کفاءة الأداء الحراري للمباني السکنية وضمان استدامتها، وبالتالي يهدف البحث إلى وضع معايير وأسس لتصميم الفناء بالمباني السکنية فى المناطق الحارة لرفع کفاءة هذا الأداء الحراري فى منظومة متکاملة مع عدة عناصر أخرى مثل الملقف والشخشيخه ومواد البناء ونسب الفتحات وارتباط ذلک مع الإبعاد البيئية والاجتماعية والثقافية وکذلک الاقتصادية بما يحقق البعد الاستدامى، وبالتالي ينتهج البحث المنهج الوصفى وذلک بدراسة وصفية للناحية التاريخية لظهور الفناء وأبعاده والقيم البيئية والاجتماعية لظهوره بالمباني السکنية فى المناطق الحارة ، مرورا بالمنهج التحليلي المقارن من خلال تحليل بعض النماذج المحلية التي أدى استخدام الفناء بها إلى تحقيق کفاءة في الأداء الحراري وذلک لتحقيق فرضية البحث والتى تشترط أنه إذا تم وضع إستراتيجية تصميمية للفناء بالمباني السکنية فى المناطق الحارة سوف يتم تحسين دوره فى المباني السکنية بجميع أنواعها، وصولا الى نتائج بحثية تمثل الربط بين أسس و معايير التصميم البيئية وتحقيق البعد الاستدامى بمدننا الحديثة، وينتهي البحث بالتوصيات المستقبلية لتحقيق تحسين ورفع کفاءة الأداء الحراري بالمباني السکنية فى المناطق الحارة لتحقيق البعد الاستدامى.

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is promoted around the world to improve young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to address gender-based violence. Teachers play crucial roles in enacting CSE, yet only few studies have placed them centrally to understand CSE re-contextualisation in schools. Hence, drawing on interviews, focus group discussions, and classroom observations with 56 participants, this paper presents how CSE teachers enact CSE policy and which factors affect their enactments at schools in Ethiopia. The paper highlights that while CSE teachers were typically conceptualised as ‘facilitators’ of the CSE initiative presented here, in practice teachers seemed to perform what might be understood as ‘activist’ roles within and beyond the classroom and school. Despite this activism, teachers’ possibilities to address gender-based violence still seemed limited, in part due to lack of guidance from policy and programme designers, lack of support from community and school management, and socio-economic factors.

The complex question of the identities that can be expressed by a particular people or social group may also be tackled through the analysis of some phenomena such as the acceptance, rejection and reshaping of a class of objects that play a specific role. This contribution focuses on some specific aspects of production in coarse ware from the two main Greek centres of the Gulf of Naples and of Italic settlements in northern Campania such as Capua and Calatia. The results show that the components that form the vase repertoire in coarse ware belong to a very local tradition in which certain forms perform primary functions related to the preparation, cooking and consumption of meals. The research confirms and underlines the highly composite nature of the material culture of archaic Campania, permeated by multiple and contemporary cultural influences in an articulated and deeply mixed structure.

espanolEste articulo explora como se imaginan, recrean e interpretan las nociones de ‘tradicion’ a traves del teatro contemporaneo en dos contextos del Pacifico: Aotearoa y Rapa Nui. Los practicantes de teatro maori y samoano en Aotearoa han desarrollado formas y procesos teatrales basados en valores culturales y epistemologias propias que, a la vez, integran con tecnicas teatrales europeas, creando enfoques innovadores. En Rapa Nui hay una reticencia general en las artes escenicas a desviarse de la ‘tradicion’. El distinto enfasis puesto en la re-creacion de la ‘tradicion’ en estos contextos comparativos ha llevado a que las posibilidades artisticas sean muy diferentes. Esta diferencia se basa en que en Aotearoa la produccion teatral indigena esta respaldada por educacion teatral, mientras que en Rapa Nui esta posibilidad aun no existe. El enfoque del teatro indigena en Aotearoa podria servir como fuente de inspiracion para la produccion de teatro contemporaneo rapanui donde puedan converger una variedad de influencias y tecnicas culturales. EnglishThis article explores how notions of ‘tradition’ are imagined, recreated, and performed through ‘contemporary’ theatre in two Pacific Island contexts: Aotearoa and Rapa Nui. Māori and Samoan theatre practitioners in Aotearoa have developed theatre forms and processes that are based in cultural values and epistemologies while also being integrated with European theatre tech-niques, creating innovative approaches. In Rapa Nui there is a general reluctance in the performing arts to deviate from ‘tradition’. The different emphasis placed upon the re-creation of ‘tradition’ across these comparative contexts has led to very different artistic possibilities being available. This difference is based on the fact that in Aotearoa the production of indigenous theatre is supported by theatre education, while in Rapa Nui this possibility does not exist yet. The approach of indigenous theatre in Aotearoa, could serve as a source of inspiration for the production of contemporary Rapanui theatre where a variety of cultural influences and techniques can converge.

The author reflects on the death of professor who was on her doctoral committee. She considers how “grief and bereavement has undergone a transformational change in terms of how the human experience of loss is understood, “(Hall, 2014, p. 7). The article explores how “poems are powerful documents that possess the capacity to capture the contextual and psychological worlds of both poet and subject,” (Furman, 2007, p. 302). It also explores how reflexivity can be enacted through a poetic inquiry (Prendergast, Leggo, Sameshima, 2009). Thus, the narrative can contextualize “using alternative forms of data to evoke deep and powerful emotional reactions in the consumer of research,” (Denzin, 1997). In the end, the narrative weaves poetic inquiry that helps the author gain a deeper understanding about the personal and cultural influences of grief and how it transforms reflections on death, dying, life, and loss. Keywords: Death; Grief; Loss; Poetic Inquiry. Résumé : L’autrice se penche sur le décès d’un professeur qui siégeait sur son comité de doctorat. Elle examine le changement transformationnel de la « peine et du deuil au niveau de l’interprétation de la perte dans le cadre de l’expérience humaine » (Hall, 2014, p. 7). L’article décrit « en quoi les poèmes constituent de puissants documents capables de saisir les univers contextuel et psychologique aussi bien du poète que du sujet » (Furman et al., 2007, p. 302). On y apprend aussi comment la quête poétique peut donner forme à la réflexivité (Prendergast et al., 2009). Le narratif peut donc contextualiser « l’utilisation d’autres formes de données pour évoquer de puissantes et profondes réactions émotionnelles chez le consommateur de recherches » (Denzin, 1997). En bout de ligne, le narratif tisse la quête poétique qui permet à l’autrice de mieux comprendre le concept de la peine et son impact sur la réflexion de concepts tels que la mort, la vie, la fin de la vie et la perte. Mots-clés : décès, peine, perte, quête poétique.

This paper reviews the progress made in washback studies over the quarter century since Hughes’ (1989) placed it at the centre of his textbook Testing for Language Teachers. Research into washback and the development of models of washback are described and an agenda is suggested for test developers wishing to build washback into their programmes. It is recommended that future projects should pay greater attention to test design features and to the outcomes of learning as well as continuing to explore learner motivation and cultural factors that might encourage participants to react to tests in certain ways, but not in others. Washback research itself is seen to be a potentially valuable tool in persuading participants to adopt new practices.

Numerous articles of decorative and applied arts from the territory of the Galicia-Volhynia state testify to the significant role of Western cultural influences on the artistic processes of Western Rus. Trade between Ruthenians and Western European countries boomed in the late ХІ–ХІІ centuries. During this time period, metal, bone and stone artwork of religious and secular nature were supplied to Rus. The thoroughfare connecting the south of Rus with Romanesque European countries ran from Kiev through Volhynia and the Carpathian Mountains to Krakow and Prague and from there to Western European countries. Czech-Ruthenian economic relations were only one of the components of the overall developing international trade in Ancient Rus, they belonged to a complex system of cultural and economic relations with Poland, Hungary, Bavaria (Regensburg). Scientific research based on archaeological remains from Ukrainian and Czech territories made it possible to figure out the large scale of cross-border trade relations, determine categories of goods and distinguish the artistic component of the Ruthenian-Czech trade, represented by articles of decorative and applied art.

Although in Romania the number of divorces is considered to be in a continuous increase, in reality, the data of the National Institute of Statistics show that in Romania, the divorce rate remains constant and in small shares. In 1990, the Romanian divorce rate was 1.42 ‰ and the latest national INS data show a general indicator of 1.39 ‰. The low divorce rate in Romania does not imply, at the same time, a high rate of marital happiness in the Romanian family. With many cultural influences, the condition of being divorced does not enjoy much tolerance, so some of the potential legal separation decisions are obscured by traditional imperatives that block or delay the divorce. However, the new legal proceedings after 2010 regarding the option of legal separation at a notary or before the registrar have created the premise of a simplified divorce that avoids the courts, long and frequent appearances, as well as greater exposure. The study aims to analyze the motivations of individuals for divorce at the notary or the registrar, starting from the dilemma of arguing a simplified legal procedure or a decision related to a better protection of privacy. The paper is based on a qualitative research, the method used being the sociological survey, and the research tool - the semi-structured interview. For the data collection, the technique of non-probabilistic qualitative sampling of convenience was used.

The article considers the process of forming the modern identity of Hong Kong and proves underlying role of the British influence in this process. It is pointed out that the process goes back to the 19th century, when well-off Chinese started to move to the British Hong Kong in trying to find more comfortable conditions for life and business and reaches its pinnacle in 1970-1980, when Hong Kong not only becomes economically developed but transforms into a factor of cultural influence in the region mainly due to the promotion of its original (civilization-state) pop-culture. It’s stated that Hongkongers use cultural and semiotic resources to emphasize specificity of their cultural code. And particularly these kinds of resources played the biggest role in this process. Authors conclude that the British influence was one of the structural factors which determined the nature and contents of Hong Kong’s identity. At the same time, they note that the process of its forming is based on evolved for centuries Chinese national tradition which contains self-preserving mechanisms which make it possible for Hongkongers to interpret external cultural drawings in a unique way.

Unexpected developments in an environment often drive the evolutionary process. This is as true for the evolution of societies as it is for species. The effective evolution of education will involve knowing what the key adaptation factors are and making them central to how educators respond to shifts in socio-pedagogical environments on local, regional, and global levels. Five factors seem central to addressing evolutionary change in higher education—particularly in relation to online environments. Understanding these 5C factors will be essential to educational success in today’s COVID-19 context and in adapting to future educational challenges that emerge.

The British Council's library work in Communist Poland remains relatively unknown. This paper contributes to a better understanding of British cultural influence in that part of Europe by examining...

This article explores the academic trajectories of transnational postgraduates. We draw upon interrelated theories of globalization and transnational social fields to frame the globalizing social a...

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediator role of moral disengagement in the relationship between gender roles and dating violence. Participants were 425 university students [310 (72.9%) female, 115 (27.1%) male, Mage = 20.68 years, SD = 2.21] who completed questionnaires package involving the Gender Roles Attitudes Scale, the Attitudes toward Dating Violence Scales, and the Moral Disengagement Scale. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. A bootstrapping analysis was conducted in order to determine any indirect effects. The results showed that gender roles predicted moral disengagement and dating violence negatively, and that moral disengagement predicted dating violence positively. It was further found that the structural equation model that proposed that gender roles had a direct and an indirect effect through moral disengagement on dating violence was confirmed. The results of the study were discussed in the light of relevant literature, and suggestions for future studies were made.

This article illustrates the problematic nature of the use of intercultural, international exchange as the primary or singular mode of understanding the study abroad experience and proposes alternative ways of talking to students about their study abroad experiences. While the focus on cultural exchange may be a practical trope, it creates a clear understanding of them-versus-us in terms of values and behaviors. It also glazes over some central features of the postmodern study abroad experience. We argue that the study abroad can be understood through the metaphor of drag, i.e., the act of putting on a costume and performing an identity. ”Cultural drag” gives students the opportunity to experiment and play with their identity and explore how their privilege may change depending on where and how they present themselves. The article examines the strengths and weaknesses of this metaphor and explores how to advise students so they have an awareness of the role of their body once they enter the experience. Abstract in Danish Denne artikel illustrerer problematikkerne ved at benytte interkulturel og international udveksling som den eneste eller primære måde til at forstå studerendes udenlandsophold. Samtidig foreslår artiklen alternative måder til italesættelse af de studerendes oplevelse. Branchens fokus på kulturel udveksling er praktisk da det etablerer en modpol de studerende kan spejle værdier og handlinger i. Dog ignorerer dette fokus centrale aspekter af det postmoderne udenlandsophold for studerende. Denne artikel argumenterer at metaforen kulturel drag, altså at iføre sig et kostume og spille en identitet, kan kaste lys på de studerendes oplevelse. Kulturel drag giver de studerende mulighed for at eksperimentere og lege med deres identitet, samt at undersøge hvordan deres privilegier ændrer sig alt efter deres positionalitet og fremtoning. Artiklen undersøger styrker og svagheder ved føromtalte metafor og undersøger hvordan studerende kan rådgives før udenlandsophold så de bliver bevidste om deres krops performativitet.

Background A growing body of research highlights the experiences of Black men students who successfully navigate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational pathways. Many Black men graduate students in engineering describe moments when their advisors, peers, and, at times, community members make them feel different because of their race and gender. Needed is a better understanding of what motivates Black men to persist in graduate school despite such challenges. Purpose This study advances a new theoretical model, “Black Men's Graduate Engineering Motivation” (BMGEM), to describe the overlaying factors and sources of motivation—and their interrelations—that influence Black men in engineering graduate programs to persist. Research Design To explore the motivational factors that influence Black men in graduate engineering programs at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) to persist, this study of 42 students used an eight-item demographic form, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and follow-up focus groups. Data analysis was conducted using adapted grounded theory techniques. After the completion of data collection and multiple iterations of analyses (both inductive and deductive), existing conceptualizations of motivation were used to help make sense of data. The connection to existing literature, code development, their placement into categories, and placing categories into themes led to the creation of a substantive, practice-informing theory: Black Men's Graduate Engineering Motivation. Findings Data analysis resulted in the theory of Black Men's Graduate Engineering Motivation (BMGEM). The BMGEM explains the overlaying factors that influence individuals’ experiences and motivations to persist (i.e., sociocultural factors, personal factors, social identities, pre-graduate school experiences), and external and internal motivational sources that also influence students’ motivations to persist (i.e., desire to earn a graduate degree, desire to become an engineer, challenges during graduate school, peers, family members, [under]representation, self-coaching practices, career and professional goals). Conclusions and Recommendations The findings from this study inform future research, and practice-based strategies around broadening participation, that aid in Black men's progress through science and engineering pathways. With this new information, we charge engineering colleges to make true commitments to broadening participation, which means centering students—in this case, Black men—as contributors to STEM. In doing so, engineering colleges need to commit to helping Black men succeed. Assisting in their motivation to persist is a key to meeting this charge.

Equality education for indigenous minorities still remains less known. This qualitative study explores educational opportunities for the indigenous Baduy children in Indonesia. Framed by critical p...

Black male teachers possess an epistemological and pedagogical stance that is largely different from their non-color counterparts. Having a nontraditional stance can be problematic when evaluated b...

Higher education institutions (HEIs) demand from their faculty excellent teaching output and substantial number of quality productive scholarship, hence, balancing work and family demands becomes a central challenge among academics to maintain a healthy work-life balance. The decision to have children and family shapes the career trajectories of academics as well as their research productivity in particular. Striking a balance between attending to family matters and becoming scholarly productive is a tall order among Filipino women academics, having a culture that is just beginning to adopt to the more egalitarian aspect of attending to family matters. The empirical result of this study shows that indeed, parenting is a moderating factor between work-life balance and research productivity among Filipino women academics. Female faculty members in particular are susceptible to a balancing act between family commitments most especially in producing quality researches. Family life still pervades within the spectrum of research productivity on one side and work-life balance on the other end among women academics.

This paper traces both the scholarly and popular reception of the Old English epic Beowulf from the publication of the first edition of the poem in 1815 to the most recent English novel based on it from 2019. Once the work was first made available to the scholarly community, numerous editions in various languages began to appear, the most recent being in English from 2008; once editions were published, Old English scholars around the world could translate the text into their native languages beginning with Danish in 1820. Translations, in their turn, made the poem available to a general audience, which responded to the poem through an array of media: music, art, poetry, prose fiction, plays, film, television, video games, comic books, and graphic novels. The enduring, widespread appeal of the poem remains great and universal.

This survey-based, quantitative research investigated Early Intervention teachers' perception about Early Intervention services in Mecca Region in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research focused on the cultural influences in the provision of services by professionals. Two options were offered to subjects to complete the survey: 1) an online survey and 2) a hard copy of the survey which was distributed to teachers in Early Intervention Centers. The majority of the participants completed the online survey. Data was collected and analyzed. The results showed that the teachers in Mecca Region in Saudi Arabia indicated that they considered the culture of the children and families when determining curriculum and services in their programs.

Purpose Antecedents and influences of workplace incivility have recently been studied in many areas of research but there is still a lack of consideration for the impact of culture. Theoretical considerations for the present research are based on the cultural dimensions of power distance and tightness/looseness because the collective levels of power distance are similar between Korea and Spain, but the collective levels of tightness/looseness are different between the two countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether individuals’ occupational position affects their normative reactions to incivility differently. Design/methodology/approach Participant (victim)’s (those who react to uncivil behaviors) social power (low vs high) and perpetrator’s (those who exhibit uncivil behaviors) social power (low vs high) were experimentally manipulated; all participants were randomly assigned to one of four perpetrator × victim conditions in relation to hierarchical positions (Ntot = 467). Findings The results suggest that the level of social and personal acceptability was greater either among Koreans than Spanish at a collective level or among people who endorsed higher power distance and tightness values. All in all, the findings highlight cultural influences on the importance of social hierarchy as a factor that can impact the people’s normative reactions to incivility. Originality/value The findings broaden our understanding of the psychology of employees in relation to incivility, by simultaneously considering the influences of culture (power distance and tightness/looseness) and social power.

While a significant minority cohort, Australian Aboriginal women are increasingly attending university. However, their experiences remain largely undocumented in the literature. This study focused ...

This paper investigates the epistemic politics at work in radically contrasting academic representations of African university futures. Euro-American policy entrepreneurs and research funders call for major investments in Africa’s scientific research training capacity to strengthen the continent’s integration into a global knowledge system. Meanwhile, African social scientists and humanities scholars critique the epistemological hegemony of ‘Western’ models of the academy, and call for the decolonisation of African universities. This paper sets out a three-step approach to dealing with the politicisation of ‘academography’ (Thorkelson 2016) in this decolonial moment. The first step is to acknowledge how epistemic power relations shape all analytical moves. The second is to recognise that ‘generative antagonisms’ (Burawoy 2004) are inherent to disciplinary knowledge production. The third is to develop an ethnographic sensitivity to everyday academic practice within these institutional worlds and epistemic cultures. Together these moves offer space for dialogue between different visions of African higher education.

One of the most critical areas where considerable attention is required in teaching a foreign language involves listening skills. Listening plays an essential role in both communication and learning, and it is one of the most crucial necessary language skills in the field of language learning. Recent studies in foreign language listening have extensively focused on the prevailing difficulties of listening. There has been little research on the cultural- background as a sociolinguistic dimension of listening. Therefore, this study set out to determine whether Saudi EFL students face particular difficulty in their listening comprehension, to identify possible reasons for the problems, and to find out whether the cultural- background affects the listening process. To achieve these objectives, a triangulation method was followed. A diagnostic test and a questionnaire were used on a group of 31 Saudi students of English and a reflective essay was carried out on eight EFL teachers. The findings suggest, first, that listening is the most challenging language skill and, second, that Saudi EFL students encounter substantial difficulty in the perception, parsing, and utilization phases of their listening comprehension for many reasons. The findings also suggest that the cultural background has a significant effect on their listening process. This study is expected to contribute markedly towards increasing the understanding of listening difficulties in language learning, and improving the teaching-learning process, by recommending effective remedies for addressing such challenges.

This paper examined the impact of culture on risk tolerance for students in Indonesia. By using surveys that had been completed by 309 college students, this research used logistic regression as the main method. This research found that there is no evidence that Western Indonesia would score as more risk-tolerant on standard risk assessment questionnaire and would choose portfolio allocations that are riskier than Central & Eastern Indonesia. Parents' higher education has given a significant result to the risk tolerance match. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed. Our findings suggest that differences in risk tolerance are at least partially a product of a culture which is a tribe in each region, but such differences may not always be reflected in actual investment decisions.Keywords: Risk tolerance, cultural influences, tribeJEL Classifications: I0, Z0DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.10224

The growth of technology has impacted billions of lives by allowing people to connect with others through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp, and so on. Despite the advantages of technology, there has been notable resistance from employees, especially the older generations, who are not eager to adopt social media technologies into their everyday lives. The purpose of this research was to investigate the influence of culture in the adoption of social media by employees in Mafikeng. A questionnaire was utilized to collect data from 252 employees across various government and non-government departments around the Mafikeng business area. The findings revealed the cultural factors that influence employees’ adoption of social media platforms, employees’ readiness to adopt social media, and the impacts of culture on social media adoption by employees. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2020.12.018

Extensive literature highlights positive outcomes experienced by students whose parents and teachers have strong relationships, but less is known about the factors that influence parent-tea...

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is an education model that provides a framework for international academic exchanges. Though COIL projects outline some best practices for academic partnerships, there are still several areas of project development in which participating faculty must make important decisions that affect the success of the academic venture. Perhaps one of the most important, yet frequently overlooked, aspects of international academic exchanges are the considerations made for differences in academic cultural practices. The current article details a COIL project in which binational faculty and students shared a semester‐long course. At the conclusion of the course, the two student groups reported vast differences in their experiences. In an effort to explain students' divergent perspectives, the author examines the academic climate reported by students and how academic practices implemented in the COIL project affected the overall success of the course.

Against the backdrop of an unprecedented increase in the number of older adults in Singapore, the escalating pace of change which necessitates continuous learning, and a dearth of empirical researc...

Purpose This paper aims to attempt to provide an overview of the valuable scientific contribution on learning organization in social science from the perspectives of Professor Silvia Gherardi and discusses the evolution of Silvia’s work over her long career. Design/methodology/approach With the collaboration of this leading scholar, Professor Silvia Gherardi, this paper investigates several topics pertaining to the debate on Learning Organization and provides a unique perspective on the development of these theories. Findings Starting from the Italian perspective, in which knowledge and learning are mainly social and cultural phenomena, the paper focuses on Professor Silvia Gherardi’s contribution to the emerging area of practice-based theorizing of knowing and learning in organizations. Originality/value In the light of different epistemological approaches and views, the discussion with Professor Silvia Gherardi reveals her practice-based perspective. She proposes a historical analysis of the evolution of the Learning Organization debate, thus providing fertile ground for both researchers and practitioners.

The purpose of this study was to investigate Japanese elementary teachers’ professional development experiences in physical education in Japan. Participants were nine teachers from four public elem...

Previous research suggests that people from different cultures weigh cues in the eyes versus mouth differently while interpreting emotions. In Western cultures, where overt emotional display is the norm, people weigh the mouth region more heavily when interpreting facial emotional expression in comparison with people from Eastern cultures. By contrast, in Eastern cultures, where subtle emotion display is the norm, people weigh the eyes region more heavily in comparison with people from Western cultures. Emojis are frequently used paralinguistic cues that convey emotions. Here, we report the results of an online quasiexperimental study in which emotion cues in the eyes and mouth regions of emojis were manipulated to test for differences in the perception of emotions among Westerners and Easterners (

This study aims to reveal the existence of the concept of Cultural Ergonomics or Ergoculture, as a relevant term to describe the cultural influence of a nation in the principles of modern ergonomics. Ergonomics or Human Factor, is one of the important sciences to be studied by Product Design students, because it is a determining factor in achieving the predicate of the feasibility of using a product. Comfortability factors, efficiency and productivity are the benchmarks for the success of product design process. The study in this paper is a review of the process of design basic education that needs to introduce the ergonomic aspects of Indonesian people to a particular field of work based on cultural values. Not all principles of universal ergonomics are relevant to the cultural patterns of Indonesian society. Ergonomics studies in essential design basic education are delivered early to strengthen the understanding of cultural values from the ergonomic point of view of Indonesian society in general. This study is the beginning of the thought of the need to strengthen cultural aspects in Ergonomics applied to the study of Industrial Product Design in Indonesia.

This article offers an analysis the of church music books of the Basilian monasteries of the Rus province in the second half of the 18th— early 19th centuries. Publishing activities of the printing house in Pochayiv Basilian Monastery is described, based on studying the monastery inventories. Publishing targeted on music books, in particular printing so called «Irmola» — multy-genre books, which is a specific Ukrainian type of the church singing book. The article also focuses on the influences of the Basilian Order on the spread of Western Christian cultural influences in the second half of the 18th century.

In this article, we highlight three assumptions about culture that guide our research: (1) culture is lived but often implicitly; (2) philosophical origins illuminate cultural core values in the he...

This case study examined how the Michigan Youth Policy Fellows program—which aimed to create a space for a team of adolescents to engage in a collaborative photovoice project with peers from diverse backgrounds—empowered young people to critically analyze and interrupt racial segregation. The study describes how nine racially and socioeconomically diverse adolescent girls and boys (14–17 years old), from the inner city and suburbs of Detroit, collectively evaluated the cultural, economic, and racial markers of differences found along one of the region’s thoroughfares, Woodward Avenue. The case study used multiple sources of data, collected over 8 years from 2006 to 2014, and a hybrid inductive-deductive analysis approach to examine the process of youth empowerment. The collaborative nature of the photovoice tour helped youth move from critical self-reflection of lived experiences to a collective understanding of segregation and inequality in the metropolitan region. The findings also suggest that engagement in a photovoice project fostered collective action through intergroup advocacy and supported youths’ civic development. As a practical method, the case study demonstrates that photovoice is a useful tool for group empowerment with adolescents.

This interview highlights and extends Dr. Barbara Rogoff’s keynote address at the 2019 annual convention. Specifically, in the interview, Dr. Rogoff discusses her framework for learning, Learning by Observing and Pitching In, as well as other aspects of learning, including notions of childhood, age-based social ordering, and conflict as an aspect of learning and community engagement.

The article analyzes how the attitude of the Finnish population to Finland’s policy of military non-alignment correlates with the official foreign strategy. The question of public opinion can act as a possible sociocultural tool for its change is examined. The author explains the main reasons for the formation of stable public opinion in favor of neutrality, based on national and cultural identity. The role of public opinion in the Finnish internal debate on the «NATO option» is shown. The thesis that public opinion plays only an auxiliary role in comparison with external circumstances affecting the foreign policy of Finland, which is widespread in research circles, is considered. The author argues that public opinion on Finland’s possible entry into NATO is crucial in two key ways. First, at present, it’s a factor supporting the stable foreign policy decision, which is carried out by the state government. Secondly, in the future, public opinion may become a factor capable, under certain conditions of having a significant impact on the change of the Finnish course in foreign and security policy. The second option assumes that public opinion can play its own role by changing the pre-planned foreign policy scenario.

Theoretical and methodological developments guided by a cognitive theory of culture have advanced our understanding of cultural processes over the past 40 years. The theoretical construct of cultural models, developed in the 1970s, provided a more precise definition of culture. The cultural consensus model, introduced in 1986, enabled investigators to verify and analyze the degree to which culture was shared and how it was distributed. Subsequent advances in the cultural consensus model, especially the analysis of residual agreement, provided a more complete approach to describing intracultural diversity. Finally, the concept and measurement of cultural consonance, introduced in 1996, demonstrated how shared cultural models link to social practice. This article provides a brief overview of these trends in the study of culture, with an emphasis on how this theory and these methods have been applied in research.

The transformation of traditional values has forced people to engage in a never-ending search for their true identity. People have been given the ability to choose between different options: one of...

Relationships between parents’ cultural values and their children’s creativity were examined. A total of 333 Korean students (163 boys and 170 girls) with their parents (101 fathers and 232 mothers...