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The author considers the ways to prevent errors and mistakes in English language abstracts of papers written in Russian by university faculty, post+graduate students and students earning their Master’s degree in engineering. Common errors have been identified and systematized. The articleprovides examples of common lexical and grammar errors and errors of style and their presumable roots. The process of training includes ‘writing for training’ and ‘writing for communication’ stages. During the second one the studentsread and analyze some samples of abstracts, write their own drafts and discuss them inclass (peer+to+peer review). As a result the quality of abstracts has improved and the number of errors and mistakes has decreased significantly.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework is increasingly drawing the attention of researchers and educators as an effective solution for filling the gap between learner ability and individual differences. This study aims to analyse the content of twelve papers, where the UDL was adopted. The articles were chosen from several databases and journals based on four criteria: 1) peerreviewed papers, 2) provision of empirical results, 3) focused on UDL as a framework, and 4) published from 2012 to 2015. Then, these studies were analysed according to seven themes: type of results, study beneficiary (learners, teachers, both), sample features, geographical region, data collection techniques, data analysis techniques, and learning modes. Most of the selected studies applied the UDL in a traditional or a blended learning mode, whereas only two studies evaluated its effectiveness in online learning environments. It is noteworthy that the majority of the experiments were carried out in the USA. Additionally, positive results of UDL implementation were yielded in eleven papers. These outcomes suggest that UDL is an efficient approach for designing flexible learning environments and accessible content. Such designs can match a wide mix of learner needs, abilities, background knowledge, educational experience, and cultural differences. However, further research is required in order to confirm the positive impacts of UDL in different educational settings and cultural backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deeper understanding of what factors influence metacognition has never become more pressing than in today's digital era, in which information flows constantly and quickly. To this end, the present study explored the role of culture in mediating how individuals experience metacognitive phenomena. For this purpose, the International Group on Metacognition (IGM) developed a rigorous standard international protocol to measure metacognition in Spanish-speaking university students (N = 1,461) in 12 cultures in Latin-America and Spain, employing both a subjective measure of metacognitive awareness (the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory [MAI]) and various metrics of objective metacognitive monitoring across three domains of learning—vocabulary, probabilities (mathematical reasoning), and paper folding (visual-spatial reasoning). Data were subsequently compared across the various cultures with subjective metacognitive awareness and the raw frequencies of the four mutually exclusive cells of the 2 × 2 performance/judgment array as outcomes. Results revealed significant differences regarding both macro-level components of subjective metacognitive awareness, knowledge and regulation of cognition. Further, significant and meaningful differences emerged for the raw frequencies of the four mutually exclusive cells as a function of culture, especially for vocabulary, in which differences among cultures emerged for all four cells. Implications for metacognitive research, theory, and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses art as an environment for communicating meanings, as shared by the members of a community or culture in the late 20th and early 21st centuries; for this purpose, the paper focuses on the changes taking place in cultural production as well as the consumption practices of the digital age: more specifically, on the shift from a goods-centred economy to a service-centred economy, on the experience as a commodity, on interactive art and relational aesthetics, as well as on the emergence of a new way of production and consumption. The paper also discusses a possible modernity and the cultural differences that appear in the works of Eastern European artists (and Romanian artists in particular), works which reflect the transition from communism to post-communism and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International service-learning (ISL) has been attributed to fostering multicultural education outcomes by impacting the understanding of diversity and cultural competence in students. Within engineering education, international service-learning courses are often designed with an emphasis on engineering technical skills development. Despite the expected encounters with cultural differences, learning outcomes addressing these interactions are often an implicit focus. When not addressed, unintended consequences of these encounters can lead to increased prejudice, stereotypes, and other negative behaviors towards outgroup community members in service-learning partnerships. This manuscript presents a systemized literature synthesis of 20 papers from the engineering ISL literature in order to provide researchers and practitioners with a foundational understanding of how cultural differences have been examined or acknowledged in existing ISL work. The literature synthesis revealed the need for 1) further empirical research on encounters with cultural differences in engineering, 2) more qualitative studies exploring student experiences encountering cultural differences, and 3) a theoretical agenda that examines encounters with cultural differences within the context of engineering research and practice. The outcomes of this synthesis provide insights on research and practice that can be used to inform future work for centering encounters with cultural differences in ISL experiences in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keith Augustine has provided a useful survey of the psychological and neurological correlates of near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences. The empirical findings he cites may prove awkward to accommodate under current separationist accounts of these experiences, although proponents of the separationist approach may be able to refine their theories so as to enhance their predictive power in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For synergistic interactions between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) systems, AI outputs often need to be explainable to people. Explainable AI (XAI) systems are commonly tested in human user studies. However, whether XAI researchers consider potential cultural differences in human explanatory needs remains unexplored. We highlight psychological research that found significant differences in human explanations between many people from Western, commonly individualist countries and people from non-Western, often collectivist countries. We argue that XAI research currently overlooks these variations and that many popular XAI designs implicitly and problematically assume that Western explanatory needs are shared cross-culturally. Additionally, we systematically reviewed over 200 XAI user studies and found that most studies did not consider relevant cultural variations, sampled only Western populations, but drew conclusions about human-XAI interactions more generally. We also analyzed over 30 literature reviews of XAI studies. Most reviews did not mention cultural differences in explanatory needs or flag overly broad cross-cultural extrapolations of XAI user study results. Combined, our analyses provide evidence of a cultural bias toward Western populations in XAI research, highlighting an important knowledge gap regarding how culturally diverse users may respond to widely used XAI systems that future work can and should address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying research teams constitutes a fundamental step in team science research, and universities harbor diverse types of such teams. This study introduces a method and proposes algorithms for team identification, encompassing the project-based research team (Pbrt), the individual-based research team (Ibrt), the backbone-based research group (Bbrg), and the representative research group (Rrg), scrutinizing aspects such as project, contribution, collaboration, and similarity. Drawing on two top universities in Materials Science and Engineering as case studies, this research reveals that university research teams predominantly manifest as backbone-based research groups. The distribution of members within these groups adheres to Price's Law, indicating a concentration of research funding among a minority of research groups. Furthermore, the representative research groups in universities exhibit interdisciplinary characteristics. Notably, significant differences exist in collaboration mode and member structures among high-level backbone-based research groups across diverse cultural backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-cultural differences in governance and policies for learning disability services are of interest. This article focuses on two UK government policy documents issued in 1971 and 2001. Their context, creation, principles, proposals and proposed implementation are examined, and lessons are drawn for an international audience as to the changing nature of services in the UK. The analysis reveals a move from a detailed and prescriptive policy in 1971, largely defined by professionals and bureaucrats, and aimed primarily at families with a disabled member, to statements of broad principles in 2001, devised in consultation with and aimed at a range of groups, including disabled people themselves. The article acknowledges progress in individual rights and choices for people with learning disabilities, but raises doubts about how significant this is in achieving a qualitative improvement in their lives. Some of these doubts relate to the governance process itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically evaluates the conventional insistence on establishing measurement invariance (MI) in cross-cultural psychology. We argue that complex and seemingly arbitrary benchmarks for assessing MI can be unrealistic and effectively prohibit meaningful research. The widespread use of various MI criteria creates unnecessary and often unattainable hurdles for cross-cultural researchers who have made the effort to collect data in multiple cultural contexts. Additionally, the prohibitionist tone of discussions surrounding MI is unhelpful, unscientific, and discouraging. We argue that emerging findings that cultural differences might not be as widespread or profound as once assumed imply that significant cross-cultural differences in measurement should not be the default assumption. Additionally, we advocate a shift towards external validity as a more useful metric of measurement quality. Our overall message is that researchers who go to the considerable trouble of gathering data in more than one country should not be disadvantaged compared to researchers who avoid cross-cultural complications by gathering data only at their home campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the implementation of curricula for Liberia's first-ever psychiatry training programme in 2019 and the actions of the only two Liberian psychiatrists in the country at the time in developing and executing a first-year postgraduate psychiatry training programme (i.e. residency) with support from international collaborators. It explores cultural differences in training models among collaborators and strategies to synergise them best. It highlights the assessment of trainees' (residents') basic knowledge on entry into the programme and how it guided immediate and short-term priority teaching objectives, including integrated training in neuroscience and neurology. The paper describes the strengths and challenges of this approach as well as opportunities for continued growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studii de Ştiintă şi Cultură is the property of Studii de Stiinta si Cultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Research background: The differences in the legal structures, tax rates, and cultural-linguistic issues of various countries have always been a significant concern for SMEs in their exporting activities and internationalization processes. However, since firm-level characteristics might provide some advantages or disadvantages in their operations, their perceptions of export impediments might vary across size, age, and sector groups. Purpose of the article: This paper investigates the perceptions of export impediments by 408 larger-smaller, older-younger, and manufacturing-nonmanufacturing Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian SMEs in a country-based perspective. Methods: The researchers use the random sampling method to create research samples and employ an internet-mediated questionnaire to collect the research data. The researchers use both Independent Sample T-test and ANOVA analyses to find differences between size, age, and sector groups. Findings & value added: While the differences exist between the perceptions of Slovakian larger-smaller and manufacturing-nonmanufacturing SMEs regarding cultural differences, the perceptions of legal and tax-related export impediments by SMEs do not differ depending on their age, size, and sector. This paper contributes to the literature by confirming various perceptions of SMEs in different countries and different characteristics regarding export obstacles and providing an entity-specific and international scope that policymakers and SMEs can benefit from. Awareness of the policymakers regarding the results of this paper that includes differences and similarities in SMEs' perceptions of export barriers might make them have close interactions with SMEs to reduce SMEs' concerns regarding their export risks. On the other hand, SMEs that are aware of the results of this paper can be more interested in having a broader network that includes close relationships not only with intermediary firms, but also with governments to overcome the export impediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earthquake misinformation has not only a significant impact on crisis management, but also on trust in scientific information and institutions. As a global center for seismic information, the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) has developed a strategy to combat false information related to earthquakes, particularly on Twitter (now known as X). This strategy includes the automation of prebunking tweets to prevent the spread of false information and, particularly unreliable claims of earthquake predictions. In the field of false information, predictions of earthquakes have a particular characteristic: their appearance follows a specific dynamic and the attention paid to them is predictable, which makes the automation of countermeasures (prebunking and debunking) both possible and relevant. Therefore, the objectives of the EMSC's automatic tweets are to warn people in advance, particularly those who may be vulnerable to earthquake misinformation, while filling the information void with verified, scientifically-based information in the meantime. This paper seeks to examine the usefulness of such a tool. It does so by analyzing users' engagement with these tweets. In addition, it focuses on two case studies, the seismic sequence in Turkey following the M7.8 earthquake on February 6, 2023 and the M6.8 Morocco earthquake on September 8, 2023. The results show engagement with the automatically generated tweets but an even greater interaction and engagement with manual tweets, highlighting the importance of a holistic approach. Recommendations include optimizing the visibility of the tweets, extending efforts beyond social media, and exploring alternative platforms. The paper advocates for a comprehensive strategy, combining automated tools with manual engagement and leveraging diverse communication channels to take into account cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zadie Smith's first novel White Teeth has been interpreted as a metaphor for national unity in a multicultural society, suggesting that the layers of racial and cultural differences hold commonalities, like the “white teeth” that symbolize unity within the notion of diversity. Defined as a contemporary epic, the novel’s expansive and dynamic narrative reflects on Britain's postcolonial, Multicultural identity, examining the transformed reality of contemporary England. Critics address the novel’s postmodern variety of styles and genres that mirror the plurality that is characteristic for a multicultural society. Zadie Smith’s story and its narrative approach convey the complexity of a multicultural nation, pointing to the fact that old categorizations of race do not capture the true diversity of contemporary English society. Despite the multicultural perspectives, the novel also reflects on the powerful influence of historical and cultural legacies. Namely, the remnants of the past, be it the ancestral roots of individuals or the colonial past of England, hinder the emergence of a cosmopolitan multicultural identity. This paper aims to explore the notions of multiculturalism and national identity within the novel, through the family dynamics of the Jones’, the Iqbals, and the Chalfens. Through the interconnected stories of their relationships, the novel unveils a rich world in which conflict and cohabitation are textured through cross-cultural fusion. London, the epitome for cosmopolitanism, is the setting that offers a space for critical exploration. The paper further aims at focusing on the family conflicts, that serve as an example of the struggle to balance the influence of the cultural and historical influences. It also suggests that fixed beliefs about race and culture problematize the ideal of cultural pluralism in postcolonial England White Teeth, does not simply depict a mosaic of cultures existing in their separate realms, it reflects on the dynamic space where integration, assimilation, privilege, and racism interact in complex ways. In addition, the paper provides two views to London’s multicultural reality: practical, as presented through the actions and interactions of the characters, and a theoretical, one that defines multiculturalism through an ideological framework. The novels depiction of the city integrates postmodernist elements to point out the challenges of a multicultural society that is evolving toward cohesion against the forces of disunity. The paper acknowledges a dual depiction of London which shows that the city is not a simple mosaic of cultures that live in harmony, yet it is a rather dynamic environment where privilege and oppression, racism and integration are interrelated. Smith’s London is not a mere passive environment, it is a potent source for new forms of cultural and political action. In this regard, the paper argues that such diverse settings offer opportunities to question and reshape social norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper investigates the nuanced concepts of bhavna (feeling/emotion) and vichar (thought) in Indian and Western literature and poetics. Drawing upon classical Indian writings of Abhinavgupta, Bhartruhari, Mamata, Bharat Muni and canonical poems by William Wordsworth, Coleridge, John Keats, Matthew Arnold, and Robert Browning, the paper analyzes how these two cultural traditions approach the portrayal and integration of emotion and thought in artistic expression. By examining representative excerpts from these Western poets alongside examples from classical Indian texts, this study aims to elucidate the similarities, differences, and unique characteristics of bhavnaand vichar in shaping the aesthetic experience across cultural traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this paper is to illustrate how culture influences the process of learning English as a second language worldwide. Language and culture are intricately intertwined, akin to two sides of the same coin. The comprehension of culture holds the utmost significance in comprehending any language. Mitchell and Myles (2004) posit that "language and culture are not separate but acquired together, with each mutually reinforcing the development of the other." Disparities in culture can give rise to numerous errors and misunderstandings. Thus, this paper aims to address the perplexing inquiries surrounding the impact of culture on English language acquisition, exploring the specific ways in which cultural factors shape language learning outcomes. Furthermore, it endeavors to shed light on effective strategies for teachers and learners to navigate and bridge cultural differences, thereby enhancing the overall English language learning experience. Language influences not only individuals' values and behaviors but also their sense of identity. When it comes to learning the English language, various skills such as grammar, writing, listening, and speaking come into play. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the influence of Pakistani culture on the learning of these four language skills. Moreover, it is essential to acknowledge the reciprocal relationship between both aspects; language and culture, as they are deeply intertwined and mutually shaping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether patterns of human resource management (HRM) are converging or diverging across the globe. Design/methodology/approach: The topic is analysed through a review of existing literature in the space, introducing the drivers for MNCs to seek the global integration of HRM practices, as well as the strategies MNCs may use for practice transfer. The debates of convergence and divergence in relation to HRM practices are then discussed in further detail whilst focusing on two key areas impacting these debates: the cultural factors and the institutional, political and economic factors. Findings: This paper suggests that patterns of HRM practices are not converging to one set of best practices approach, and there are numerous other factors which influence convergence, such as local business systems, legal practices and cultural differences. This paper suggests that there is a mix of some HRM practices converging due to MNC influence, whereas others continue to diverge. Originality/value: A holistic discussion is held on the theory of convergence and divergence, which will benefit HR professionals in assessing the state of convergence in their own organisation and common pitfalls to be wary of. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper performs a critical qualitative inquiry exploring supervision pedagogies utilising duoethnography as both methodology and conceptual framing. We begin the inquiry by reflecting upon our social and cultural identities and our evolving supervisor/supervisee-colleague-friend relationship. Our critical dialogue then shifts to scrutinising our supervision experiences. Topics of relationships, ethics, power effects, cultural differences, students' anxieties and self-doubt, and institutional protocols emerged during our conversations. We analyse our narratives in light of literature on supervision pedagogy, duoethnography, and some theoretical notions drawn from critical multiculturalism and the work of Foucault and Bourdieu. In the current context of neoliberal incursions into university modalities, it is our intention that our dialogue might promote a refocusing on the need for critical socially-just supervision pedagogies, and we invite you to join us in this critical dialogic inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the resource-based view, this paper attempts to analyze the impact of international related-party trade on the performance of foreign-funded enterprises in China from the perspective of value creation. The findings of this paper are as follows. (1) the greater the proportion of parent company to foreign-funded enterprises' international related-party transactions, the better the performance of foreign-funded enterprises. (2) As the differences in legal systems increase, the role of international related-party trade in promoting performance is weakening. (3) As cultural differences increase, the role of international related-party trade in promoting performance is increasing. After considering the impact of transfer pricing, the conclusions of this paper remain unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gift of a velvet with repeating patterns of the Virgin Mary nursing Christ (Madonna del Latte) from Shah Abbas of Safavid Persia to the Republic of Venice is often interpreted as the embodiment of the Shah's two-fold political and commercial motivations in pursuing his transcultural allegiance with Venice against the Porte. This paper explores the Shi'a Safavid iconography of the biblical imagery on this velvet and rereads it as a Safavid attempt in defining commonality across cultures through visual media. This vision differs significantly with the Venetians' perception of the Shah's luxurious gifts and letters, which is reflected in Gabriele Caliari's painting of the Safavid reception by Doge Grimani in 1603, in Palazzo Ducale, Venice. The paper analyzes the two visions of the Safavids and the Venetians in a comparative study of the period's textual and visual materials. It explores how the gifts such as the Madonna del Latte velvet facilitated diplomatic negotiations with Christian Europe, whereas painted representations such as Caliari's reveal much about the perception of cultural difference in early modern courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

21st century imposes intercultural communication since citizens live in an increasingly interconnected world. Contemporary and democratic societies necessitate the peaceful coexistence of people of different cultures. In most communities, people encounter individuals of different perspectives and origins daily on the street, at school, or at work. So each individual should get the chance to live peacefully, cooperate and develop a sense of responsibility for the well-being of society. Social Studies course is essential in teaching future citizens knowledge, skills, and values related to cultural differences. This research aims to reveal the attitudes and comprehension of Social Studies teacher candidates (TCs) toward different cultures. The study, carried out with a basic qualitative research design, covers the data collected during the activities designed to improve the attitudes and comprehension of TCs toward intercultural communication. 32 TCs participated in the study. Data collection tools used in the research are individual interviews, focus group interviews and documents. The eight interviews, three focus group interviews, and performance assignments and evaluation papers prepared by the participants were analyzed using the content analysis technique. The results indicate specific patterns in TCs attitudes and comprehension toward different cultures. The paper shows that TCs define culture with its formalistic features, and do not realize that culture may be related to worldview. Also, TCs are insufficient in researching cultural concepts and generalize superficially about culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some financial relations have been confirmed to be different overnight and intraday due to different clienteles. In this paper, we assess the impact of investor sentiment on stock market returns in 30 international stock markets overnight and intraday. At the global level, empirical evidence reveals a negative sentiment-return relation in both non-trading and trading hours, and the relation is stronger intraday than overnight, indicating that overnight traders are more rational than intraday traders. The separation between developed and emerging markets does not distort the negative relation or the stronger impact intraday. At the individual market level, results reveal a high degree of heterogeneity in the sentiment-return relation, in terms of both influence direction and magnitude. The heterogeneity can be explained by cross-market differences in cultural dimensions and market integrity, and notably, such influence varies across night and day, suggesting that the influence of the two aspects may be more complex than we used to theorize and therefore, future studies applying the cross-market analytical framework may take different clienteles into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the unprecedented growth of international research collaboration (IRC) in Europe during the period 2009–2018 in terms of co-authorship and citation distribution of globally indexed publications. The results reveal the dynamics of this change, as growing IRC moves European science systems away from institutional collaboration, with stable and strong national collaboration. Domestic output has remained flat. The growth in publications in major European systems is almost entirely attributable to internationally co-authored papers. A comparison of trends within the four complementary collaboration modes clearly reveals that the growth of European science is driven solely by internationally co-authored papers. With the emergence of global network science, which diminishes the role of national policies in IRC and foregrounds the role of scientists, the individual scientist's willingness to collaborate internationally is central to advancing IRC in Europe. Scientists collaborate internationally when it enhances their academic prestige, scientific recognition, and access to research funding, as indicated by the credibility cycle, prestige maximization, and global science models. The study encompassed 5.5 million Scopus-indexed articles, including 2.2 million involving international collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National culture has received a substantial amount of interest in the operations management literature. We present the first structured review of articles studying national culture in operations management. Our search returned 51 papers published in ten leading journals between 2000 and 2017. We sort and analyse the papers according to three focus areas of operations management (strategy, execution and improvement). We also analyse the papers according to whether they address the relevance of national culture, the impact of national culture or the actions managers can use to manage or mitigate the effects of national culture. We find that national culture appears as a relevant variable in all focus areas of operations management research but that the direction and strength of its impact remain undetermined. Only a handful of papers address how managers can actively deal with challenges related to national culture. We propose a research agenda and a guiding framework for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to live in a superdiverse world might be heralded as one of the great social challenges of our time. In the last decade, intercultural education has been posed as one way to foster intercultural capabilities in young people that can contribute towards learning to live well with cultural difference. As the diaspora in Australia—and elsewhere—expands, developing intercultural understanding is seen as a priority. Despite the directives of official policy and curriculum, enacting intercultural education in meaningful ways is complex and fraught. This paper reports on an Australian ethnography at a predominantly 'white' school that examined the way productions of cultural difference across school spaces complicate teachers' intercultural work. This paper considers how intercultural understanding might move beyond celebrations of multiculturalism, arguing that 'coming-to-terms with our routes' necessarily prefigures intercultural understanding and provides opportunity for an intercultural education beyond a celebration of multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines in the Fanonian sense this crippling sense of "negro," "blackness" and "inferiority" complex or the identity crisis in Abdulrazak Gurnah's novel Pilgrims Way. As argued in the paper, Gurnah artistically explores the experiences of immigrants in England after the end of colonialism in the novel. This exploration includes themes such as racism, segregation and marginalisation experienced by immigrants due to their cultural differences and physical appearance in the indigenous white society and culture. The paper examines how racism, exclusion and marginalisation in the novel bring about a severe identity crisis represented through the lives and opinions of immigrants in postcolonial Britain as in the past. That is, the paper discusses that the Fanonian "internalised" feeling of inferiority continues in the unconscious of people of colour as in the colonised period; they are unable to get rid of it, even though they are free and independent now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses various published reports within the issue, including one by Dan J. Kim on culture and trust and another by Dianne Cyr on culture and web site design.

Ultimate frisbee has gained great attention and enjoyed explosive growth in China from 2019 to 2022 (especially in 2022), but has also aroused heated controversies in cyberspace, typically in the football community. This paper explores the forms and underlying reasons for conflicts between the two sports. Through field observation, in-depth interviews, and a survey of amateur participants in both frisbee and football, the paper finds that conflicts between the two sports, which arise from ultimate frisbee's quest for legitimacy, are exaggerated as a result of the mediatization of sports. The study further revealed that Frisbee, as an alternative sport, exhibits notable cultural distinctions from football, a traditional sport. This divergence in sports culture mirrors the generational gap. Consequently, the conflict between the two sports is more of an intergenerational conflict within the realm of sports culture, reflecting the overall transformation of Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper addresses the issue of pragmatic equivalence in literary translation, which is considered to be one of the most important aspects of linguistic uniformity between the source and target texts. Pragmatic equivalence of translation is defined as the conformity of the translator's 'duplication' of the content with the author's communicative intent or the literary objective. The cross-cultural pragmatic analysis of translation equivalence carried out in the paper focuses on the interpretations of the verbal behavior of the heroes while performing speech acts. For the purpose of analysis, the novel by R. Bradbury "Dandelion Wine" and its Armenian and Russian translations are chosen. The research shows that the interpretative words nominating the heroes' verbal behavior, namely, the verbs of speaking, are culture sensitive. Therefore, in some cases the translator may diverge from the source text in order to sound authentic in the target language. The comparative analysis of the samples served as a mediated translation approach, revealing certain linguistic and culture-specific points at issue in the translation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is grounded in the context of poetry translation and probes into the English translation of Prelude to the Melody of Water by Su Shi, with translation strategies of foreignization and domestication as the theoretical framework. Despite the fact that it involves some numbers, it is qualitative in nature and adopts the method of textual analysis. It delves into multifaceted challenges encountered by the translator, encompassing cultural and linguistic perspectives inherent in the poetic work. Concerning the cultural perspective, it respectively investigates the translation of culturally-loaded terms and ideorealm, advocating for the application of foreignization in translating them to preserve the exotic flavor of the source culture and encourage target-culture readers to explore the cultural differences in the translated poetry. Regarding the linguistic perspective, it separately explores the adaption to grammatical completeness and rhyme of the English language, upholding the application of domestication in translating them to ensure the readability and musicality of the translated poetry. Through a close examination of four challenges within the two perspectives, this paper finds that the integrated adoption of foreignization and domestication facilitates the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic transmission of poetry, transcending the traditional dichotomy of viewing these two translation strategies as binaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global South was popularised during the 1970s in recognition of the greater economic and political power of the 'Third World' and as a reaction to pejorative expressions. Nevertheless, as a terminology it is formed within the colonial/modern world-system imagery and manifests multiple subaltern subjectivities and different articulations of power and resistances. In this chapter, we use the practice of talanoa as a decolonizing community arts-based methodology which is an integral part of Pacific dialogic engagement to re-narrate histories and experiences of oppression as we draw on the colonizing experiences of (hetero) gender and Whiteness shaped how these coloured our agencies. In this paper we put to work the practice and potential of talanoa as a heterodox decolonizing methodology that challenges the orthodoxies of the Global North who habitually rewards normative methodological processes. This paper located in part in the 1970s considers questions of how positionality, power and relationships are experienced and re-negotiated through the talanoa and also explores the relationship between voice and participation. Our experiences of participation articulated in this chapter take the form of narratives with an intent to interrupt, subvert and counter the orthodoxic use of analytical tools and theoretical frameworks habitually deployed and modelled across the academy in the Global North. We consider the power the talanoa has for re-negotiating cultural differences and histories situating affective intensities to guide, dis/connect, excite, divert, inspire, distract, startle, surprise, and re-orient thinking to move history into the present, and the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of enterprise social media (ESM) within purchasing and supply management has not been studied extensively so far. Therefore, based on the social network theory for an internal individual and cross-department consideration, five in-depth cases consisting of 22 expert interviews were conducted with European manufacturing companies. The results reveal numerous benefits of ESM that improve the flow of information and organisational exchange through higher information transparency, which leads to enhanced knowledge generation and company-wide dissemination. Besides, the strategic orientation of the purchasing and supply management department can be enhanced, while reducing information exchange and coordination efforts. In doing so, the paper extends the current understanding of the potentials of ESM for purchasing and supply management and provides a conceptual framework. Likewise, several negative aspects of ESM, such as information overflow, misbalanced information, or cultural and personal differences in content generation and consumption are elaborated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analysed cultural differences to explain ad engagement (AE) among Facebook users in India and Tanzania. It uses Hofstede's model and theory of planned behaviour to examine the differences in cultural values and AE between the two countries and to evaluate AE and its determinants. The paper used a cross-sectional descriptive design to collect data from 700 students from Indian and Tanzanian universities by using self-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed by using an independent sample t -test, Spearman's Rank correlation coefficient, Multi-group differences test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) methods. These analyses were run in SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 24. The paper confirms cultural convergence for individualism and masculinity values, but significant differences in indulgence and uncertainty avoidance across India and Tanzania were observed. Also, significant differences in AE across the two countries were observed. Moreover, we found that attitude to Facebook advertising, subjective norms and perceived herd behaviour positively determines AE, while perceived intrusiveness determines AE negatively. Indulgence has an insignificant relationship with AE while other cultural values have a significant positive relationship. The paper adopted purposive sampling and limited the scope to Facebook, thus, the findings may lack generalisability to other social media platforms. Hence, multiple-platform ad engagement research is encouraged. The marketing implications from this paper include the development of AE strategies, designing culturally relevant ad content and themes and ad targeting. This paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between cultural values and users' engagement with Facebook advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a response to Amanda Kottler's discussion of my paper "Empathy on a Continuum." I define my favored version of psychoanalysis as an experience about experience, in which the situations in the patient's lifeworld are as important as the here-and-now situation between them in the telling. This version requires that the analyst engage the two forms of empathy described in my main article. But it also requires that analyst and patient meet each other in a virtual space of imaginative storying. I go on to to propose that this imaginative, experience-oriented psychoanalysis offers a more intuitive way to interact with patients around racial and cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Cultural differences represent significant trade barriers between transitional economies and their trading partners, which has been overlooked in recent studies. This paper investigates the effect of cultural distance (CD) on bilateral trade from Bangladesh. We conceptualize a research model by employing the extended gravity model as a theoretical base, where we amplify the theory by proposing that linguistic distance (LD) as a part of cultural distance has a profound effect on bilateral trade based on bilateral trade data from 1995 to 2019 and Hofstede's culture indices between Bangladesh and 157 trading partner countries. Using a pseudo‐poisson maximum likelihood model, we find that cultural distance has a significant and negative impact on Bangladesh's trade, with a significance level of 1%. Our empirical results indicate that one unit increase in cultural distance decreases trade by 40.84% and cultural distance has a greater impact on Bangladesh's exports than on its imports. Findings also reveal that the effect is substantial with high‐income nations than with low‐income nations, and for manufacturing products than primary products trade. Further, this study suggests that in addition to cultural distance (CD), linguistic distance (LD) from trading partners has a tantamount effect on bilateral trade, which is significant at 1%. Theoretically, this study suggests that linguistic distance (LD) should be added on gravity model for analyzing effects of cultural distance on bilateral and multilateral trade. Practically, this study contributes by providing valuable insights to policymakers to pay attention to cultural differences, especially during these economic transition periods to increase bilateral trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture affects individuals' perceptions and experiences of their bodies. In order to provide the most effective solutions to body image-related issues, it is necessary to understand cultures and their influences on body image in various populations. This paper focuses on the effects of culture on body image. Therefore, a systematic literature search following PRISMA guidelines was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, yielding 2064 articles published between 1990 and 2023. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 54 articles were selected. Our findings showed a strong influence of culture on body image, highlighting the impact of societal expectations on individuals' mental well-being. Western cultures, with their preference for thinness, differ from non-Western ideals. The findings also showed the impact of regional variations within the same culture and society on body image. Furthermore, the study found that the young demographic, especially females, is the most vulnerable to body image issues; however, emerging research within our review also indicates a growing concern among males. This study underscores the necessity of culturally considering interventions to address body image issues, which are integral to improving mental health concerns like body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: This article looks at the factors that influence the transferability of different types of occupational safety and health (OSH) economic incentives from one country to another. METHODS: To review the legal, political, and cultural framework conditions for economic incentive schemes in the European Union (EU), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) surveyed EU member states about the state of such schemes in their countries. In addition to the survey responses, relevant information on existing schemes and their national context within the 27 EU member states was gathered through reports, articles, and databases. Following this, countries were clustered according to cross-cultural differences. RESULTS: Despite the apparent variations in Europe’s social security systems, there is a high degree of similarity between the countries regarding the basic criteria of design of the system. In addition, different kinds of incentives are used in different member states regardless of the social insurance system. When it comes to insurance incentive schemes, the fundamental difference between countries is whether the workers’ compensation scheme is based on a competitive market between private insurance companies or a kind of monopoly structure, where the employers do not have the choice between several insurance companies. A clear majority of 19 of the 27 EU member states have a monopoly system. CONCLUSIONS: Subsidy systems, tax incentives, and insurance-based “experience rating” are theoretically ­possible in all EU countries. In competitive insurance markets, effort-based incentives are more difficult to achieve. A possible solution could be the introduction of long-term contracts or the creation of a common prevention fund, financed equally by all insurers.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the dimensions of cultural differences, which are theoretically most relevant to contract functions in international marketing. Moreover, the contradiction between contract governance and opportunism is reconciled by exploring the boundary conditions of specific cultural differences. Design/methodology/approach: The authors obtained 235 bilateral data provided by Chinese exporters and overseas distributors. The authors matched a secondary data set with the questionnaire data, which were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and a hierarchical moderation model. Findings: The results demonstrate that while contract specificity is less successful in this area, contingency adaptability is useful in reducing opportunism. Moreover, as the national cultural differences regarding uncertainty avoidance, power distance or individualism-collectivism become more pronounced. One contractual dimension will be more effective at curbing opportunism, while the other will be less effective. Research limitations/implications: Despite sample limitations, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to theoretically identify the effect of cultural difference dimensions in contract governance, unlike past studies taking cultural differences as an aggregated variable. Furthermore, by exploring the boundary conditions of cultural differences, this paper effectively reconciles the conflicting findings on the relationship between contract governance and opportunism in various cultural context. Practical implications: Exporters' managers can design contingency adaptability to complement the limitations of contract specificity and consider cultural differences' contingency effects. Originality/value: First, the authors identify cultural differences dimensions related to contract governance, refining and emphasizing the research context. Second, comparing the efficacy of contract specificity and contingency adaptability in specific cultural context can show which contract is better at preventing opportunism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This reflective paper shares the experiences of a higher education professional living and working abroad and the long-term impacts of those experiences on their self-authorship journey through reflection ten years later. The story of this reflection focuses on how cultural differences and community ties helped to facilitate growth and self-confidence through navigating the challenges and complexities of living abroad in a culture with differing conventions. The paper concludes by sharing how reflecting on self-authorship during and after international experiences can help develop personal identities both as an individual and within a collective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that if we are to make sense of why punishment differs between jurisdictions, then we should focus on the political cultures that shape penal practices. Political culture is conceived of here as a 'practical consciousness', made up of implicit and express cultural values and political commitments. Using the comparative case studies of Ireland and Scotland (from 1970–1990s), the paper tries to show that by taking the time to recover and interpret the beliefs and ideas that frame penal policymaking, we will be better able to illuminate and make sense of cross-national penal patterns. And using the leverage of cross-national contrast and analysis, we can also better understand punishment and its place in each society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding the growing number of research on many aspects of audiovisual translation, cross-cultural pragmatics has remained under-investigated in audiovisual translation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the translation of general extenders—such as and stuff (like that) and or something in Persian dubbing and non)professional subtitling. Positioned at the crossroads of the pragmatics of fiction and audiovisual translation, the analysis presented in this article draws upon past research on English and Persian general extenders, as well as the models for translating general extenders. In doing so, this study follows a corpus-based approach, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to identify translation patterns of general extenders by dubbing translators and fansubbers in Iran. A corpus of twelve English films from different genres, along with their Persian dubbing and non-professional subtitling, was compiled for the investigation. Overall findings suggest that non-professional subtitlers followed a literal and sourced-oriented approach to translation, resulting in a more direct translation of general extenders. In contrast, the dubbing team (i.e., translator and dubbing director) tended to edit out these pragmatic issues in their translations; therefore, many general extenders were deleted in the translation. This was partly because the translation for dubbing has to be synchronized, resulting in some omissions and partly because the dubbing team paid less attention to these elements. Additionally, other strategies, such as substitution or explicitation were infrequently used in both dubbing and non-professional subtitling. The paper concludes by discussing limitations and offering opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic authors employ various language means in order to construct and disseminate knowledge, to sound persuasive, to undergird their arguments, but also to seek agreement within the academic community. The aim of this paper is to analyse a selected group of rhetorical strategies used by Anglophone and Czech authors of Linguistics research articles (RAs) and research theses (RTs). These strategies are assumed to vary in both academic genres since the position of their writers within the academic community differs. Even though authors of RAs have to meet reviewers' requirements in order for their article to be published, so their relative position may be lower than that of the reviewers', authors of RAs may have the same "absolute status" as the reviewers may be just as expert in that particular field. By contrast, the status of research students is lower than that of their evaluators both in relative and absolute terms. Even though students may gain some learned authority in presenting an original contribution, their assessors command both learned and institutional authority, hence are endowed with a higher status. Apart from comparing rhetorical strategies used in RAs and RTs, the paper focuses on cross-cultural differences between Anglophone and Czechacademic writing traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]