Context Of Domain Research Articles

Acculturative Stress and Adjustment Experiences of Greek International Students

This study investigated eight Greek international college students’ experiences of acculturation and acculturative stress at a mid-western university in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and Consensual Qualitative Research methodology was utilized for data analysis to identify contextual themes and domains expressed by participants. Seven domains relevant to extant literature were revealed: presojourn perceptions of the United States; postsojourn perceptions of the United States; acculturative stress problems in the United States; coping strategies for acculturative stress problems; peer and family networks: English language usage and difficulties; and cultural concerns regarding the United States or native country. Implications, areas for future research, and the study’s limitations are also discussed.

Metaphor and Simile as Communicative Devices in the Essays of Virginia Woolf

AbstractIn this article we argue that the rhetorical fi gures of metaphor and simile, as two persuasive devices that characterise the style of the essay of Virginia Woolf, possess a cognitive value different from the simple use of the identifi cation and contraposition of elements, in the case of metaphor, and the comparison in the case of simile. In the essays analysed, the use of these tropes imply the recognition of the grammatical elements and its meaning, which must needs transcend the textual level to enter the contextual domain as far as cultural and ideological traits that the reader should perceive and enjoy.Key words: Essay, discourse, Rhetorics, argument, rhetorical fi gure, metaphor, simile, Virginia Woolf.ResumenEn este artículo proponemos el análisis y posterior evaluación de dos tropos, la metáfora y el símil, como fi guras retóricas esenciales a la hora de caracterizar el estilo de los ensayos de Virginia Woolf. Destacamos en especial el valor comunicativo de estos dos recursos en que, a partir de la identifi cación y posterior análisis de los elementos gramaticales que los componen, debemos ir más allá del plano textual y adentrarnos en el contextual, donde abundan los matices ideológicos y culturales. Es en el reconocimiento de estas fi guras donde advertimos la manera novedosa que tiene la autora de encauzar al lector a la persuasión de las ideas que nos desea transmitir.Palabras clave: Ensayo, discurso, Retórica, argumento, fi gura retórica, metáfora, símil, Virginia Woolf.

Community Advisory Boards Guiding Engaged Research Efforts within a Clinical Translational Sciences Award: Key Contextual Factors Explored.

Engaging stakeholders in research carries the promise of enhancing the research relevance, transparency, and speed of getting findings into practice. By describing the context and functional aspects of stakeholder groups, like those working as community advisory boards (CABs), others can learn from these experiences and operationalize their own CABs. Our objective is to describe our experiences with diverse CABs affiliated with our community engagement group within our institution's Clinical Translational Sciences Award (CTSA). We identify key contextual elements that are important to administering CABs. A group of investigators, staff, and community members engaged in a 6-month collaboration to describe their experiences of working with six research CABs. We identified the key contextual domains that illustrate how CABS are developed and sustained. Two lead authors, with experience with CABs and identifying contextual domains in other work, led a team of 13 through the process. Additionally, we devised a list of key tips to consider when devising CABs. The final domains include (1) aligned missions among stakeholders (2) resources/support, (3) defined operational processes/shared power, (4) well-described member roles, and (5) understanding and mitigating challenges. The tips are a set of actions that support the domains. Identifying key contextual domains was relatively easy, despite differences in the respective CAB's condition of focus, overall mission, or patient demographics represented. By contextualizing these five domains, other research and community partners can take an informed approach to move forward with CAB planning and engaged research.

Comparative Methods for Premodern Cities

We describe methods of coding and analyzing historical and archaeological data for comparative analysis of premodern cities. As part of a larger study of spatial access to urban services, we identify eight relevant contextual domains and define variables for each domain. Information from publications on each city is assembled, and the data are coded independently by three scholars and checked for agreement. To date, we have completed contextual coding for 15 cities. Here, we focus on methods to analyze relationships among variables within contextual domains using two example domains—Class Mobility and Governance. Key methodological points involve the problem of missing data, multiple tests with an appropriate correction, and the importance of variation among cases for effective analysis of a domain. Our interpretation of preliminary findings highlights a degree of independence between two different arenas of social life that may relate to collective action. Documentation of our procedures contributes to a growing body of systematic, comparative, cross-cultural analyses of mid-size samples. This study is distinctive in its focus on cities rather than cultures, societies, or polities.

The Portrayal of the Teacher as Mentor in Popular Film: Inspirational, Supportive and Life-Changing?

The Portrayal of the Teacher as Mentor in Popular Film: Inspirational, Supportive and Life-Changing?

Leaders and Followers in Juvenile Offending

This study of 179 recently incarcerated male adolescent offenders examined how leaders and followers in juvenile offending differed across offense, demographic, intraindividual, contextual, and social domains, and how leader/follower status affected the association between facility peer misbehavior and youth’s own institutional behavior over the first month of incarceration. Results indicated that leaders were older, more criminally experienced, reported higher levels of contextual risk, yet reported lower feelings of social isolation than followers. For followers, early exposure to facility peer drug sales was especially impactful on their subsequent institutional substance use, while facility peer antisocial behavior was related concurrently to all youth’s institutional antisocial behavior at each week of incarceration. Findings suggest that leaders and followers have distinct correlates and may require differential intervention, and heightened vigilance of facility peer relations is important throughout youth’s transition to juvenile incarceration.

Continuous feelings of love? The parental bond from pregnancy to toddlerhood.

Both prenatal and postnatal parental bonding (i.e., the affective tie from parent to child) have important effects on parental and child functioning. However, research on the continuity and correlates of parental bonding is lacking. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine the stability of bonding levels and to explore distinct bonding patterns with a latent class analysis. Moreover, the correlates of these bonding patterns in the parental-, child-, and contextual domain were studied. Levels of maternal (N = 370) and paternal (N = 292) bonding and potential correlates were assessed at 26 weeks of pregnancy, 6 months, and 24 months postpartum. Results showed moderate stability of bonding from pregnancy to toddlerhood. For both mothers and fathers, 4 distinct bonding patterns were found. Parents with low bonding patterns were characterized by increased anxiety and parenting stress, less partner support, less adaptive personality profiles, and children with difficult temperament. These findings indicate the importance of monitoring young children's parents with poor levels of bonding as their bonding patterns remain stable from pregnancy until toddlerhood and because those parents experience problems in multiple domains.

Context-Sensitive Opinion Mining using Polarity Patterns

The growing of Web 2.0 has led to huge information is available. The analysis of this information can be very useful in various fields. In this regards, opinion mining and sentiment analysis are one of the most interesting task that many researchers have paid attention for two last decades. However, this task involves to some challenges that a very important challenge is the different polarity of words in various domain and context. Word polarity is an important feature in the determination of review polarity through sentiment analysis. Existing studies have proposed n-gram technique as a solution which allows the matching of the selected words to the lexicon. However, identification of word polarity using the standard n-gram method poses limitation as it ignores the word placement and its effect according to the contextual domain. Therefore, this study proposes a linguistic-based model to extract the word adjacency patterns to determine the review polarity. The results reflect the superiority of the proposed model compared to other benchmarking approaches.

OMERACT Filter Evidence Supporting the Measurement of At-work Productivity Loss as an Outcome Measure in Rheumatology Research.

Indicators of work role functioning (being at work, and being productive while at work) are important outcomes for persons with arthritis. As the worker productivity working group at OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology), we sought to provide an evidence base for consensus on standardized instruments to measure worker productivity [both absenteeism and at-work productivity (presenteeism) as well as critical contextual factors]. Literature reviews and primary studies were done and reported to the OMERACT 12 (2014) meeting to build the OMERACT Filter 2.0 evidence for worker productivity outcome measurement instruments. Contextual factor domains that could have an effect on scores on worker productivity instruments were identified by nominal group techniques, and strength of influence was further assessed by literature review. At OMERACT 9 (2008), we identified 6 candidate measures of absenteeism, which received 94% endorsement at the plenary vote. At OMERACT 11 (2012) we received over the required minimum vote of 70% for endorsement of 2 at-work productivity loss measures. During OMERACT 12 (2014), out of 4 measures of at-work productivity loss, 3 (1 global; 2 multiitem) received support as having passed the OMERACT Filter with over 70% of the plenary vote. In addition, 3 contextual factor domains received a 95% vote to explore their validity as core contextual factors: nature of work, work accommodation, and workplace support. Our current recommendations for at-work productivity loss measures are: WALS (Workplace Activity Limitations Scale), WLQ PDmod (Work Limitations Questionnaire with modified physical demands scale), WAI (Work Ability Index), WPS (Arthritis-specific Work Productivity Survey), and WPAI (Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire). Our future research focus will shift to confirming core contextual factors to consider in the measurement of worker productivity.

Reviewing Illness Self-Management Programs: A Selection Guide for Consumers, Practitioners, and Administrators.

Illness self-management (ISM) programs for adults with serious mental illness offer strategies to increase self-directed recovery activities to maximize wellness and increase independence from the service delivery system. This article describes five of the most popular ISM programs: Pathways to Recovery, The Recovery Workbook, Building Recovery of Individual Dreams and Goals through Education and Support, Wellness and Recovery Action Planning, and Illness Management and Recovery. It provides guidance for administrators, practitioners, and consumers for the purposes of selecting the program or programs providing the best fit. The framework for describing the five programs encompasses four contextual domains that supplement empirical evidence for a more comprehensive evaluation: structure, value orientation toward recovery, methods of teaching, and educational content. Contextual domains distinguish programs from one another, including length and time commitment, requisite resources, inclusion of group support, utilization of medical language and pathology, degree of traditional didactic education, and prioritization of consumer-driven self-exploration. The authors also searched PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Reviews for empirical evidence and evaluated the five programs on the strength of the evidence and the effectiveness of the intervention. Evidence of program effectiveness was found to range from low to moderate. However, empirical evidence alone is insufficient for selecting among the five programs, and contextual domains may offer the most relevant guidance by matching program features with goals of consumers, practitioners, and administrators.

The medial prefrontal cortex: coordinator of autonomic, neuroendocrine and behavioural responses to stress.

Responding to real or potential threats in the environment requires the coordination of autonomic, neuroendocrine and behavioural processes to promote adaptation and survival. These diverging systems necessitate input from the limbic forebrain to integrate and modulate functional output in accordance with contextual demand. In the present review, we discuss the potential role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as a coordinator of behavioural and physiological stress responses across multiple temporal and contextual domains. Furthermore, we highlight converging evidence from rodent and human research indicating the necessity of the mPFC for modulating physiological energetic systems to mobilise or limit energetic resources as needed to ultimately promote behavioural adaptation in the face of stress. We review the literature indicating that glucocorticoids act as one of the primary messengers in the reallocation of energetic resources having profound effects locally within the mPFC, as well as shaping how the mPFC acts within a network of brain structures to modulate responses to stress. Finally, we discuss how both rodent and human studies point toward a critical role of the mPFC in the coordination of anticipatory responses to stress and why this distinction is an important one to make in stress neurobiology.

Has Creativity Research Become a Trivial Pursuit?

Abstract Based on Glăveanu’s target article, issues raised about the psychometric approach to creativity research are examined. Criticisms of divergent thinking tests, such as the unusual uses of an object test, are examined. Arguments supporting the theoretical and practical utility of divergent thinking tests are presented. It is furthermore suggested that tests are best conceived and used in contextualized ways. The example of measures of divergent thinking which were designed for managers is presented. Finally, the psychometric approach encompasses many aspects of creativity beyond divergent thinking, as illustrated by recent work on the evaluation of creative potential (the EPoC battery). In the EPoC assessment, both divergent-exploratory thinking and convergent-integrative thinking are measured in a range of contextual domains, such as the visual-graphic, verballiterary, social problem solving ones. This work contrasts with the simplistic, and restrictive view of the unusual uses of an object test as the epitome of the psychometric approach to creativity.

Analysis of Official Letters Based on Applied Genre Analytical Model

Nowadays letters play a significant role in the realm of communication in general and in official or business occasions in particular. With the advent of emails, the function of letters is diminishing but in official contexts, letters have kept their value. The main concern of this paper is to show the interrelationship between different layers of official letters which are called textual, contextual, and social layers. Sixty authentic letters were analyzed according to the purpose of the authors. Through this investigation, five specific categories were found: Informative, Prescriptive, Appointment, Acknowledgment, and Invitation. Each category then was investigated according to Bhatia’s model of applied genre analysis in three domains which were mentioned above. It was found that there is a direct and positive relationship between these three layers. The direction is from social domain towards textual one in that the characteristics and features of social context affect the contextual domain and the context influences textual domain in respect. This study is a multi-faceted one in that all the five types of official letters are studied in accordance to three layers and the relationship between them is explained. This exploration shows that in official situations, ‘social identities’ are of paramount importance which have a remarkable influence on both conventions of the genre and textual features. This study is also helpful for those EFL students and all who need to write English official letters to avoid undue mistakes and to represent their thoughts clearly and fluently.

A Layered Architecture for a Fuzzy Semantic Approach for Satellite Image Analysis

The extended use of high and very high spatial resolution imagery inherently demands the adoption of classification methods capable of capturing the underlying semantic. Object-oriented classification methods are currently considered as the most appropriate alternative, due to the incorporation of contextual information and domain knowledge into the analysis. Integrating knowledge initially requires a detailed process of acquisition and later the achievement of a formal representation. Ontologies constitute a very suitable approach to address both knowledge formalization and exploitation. A novel semi-automatic fuzzy semantic approach focused on the extraction and classification of urban objects is hereby introduced. The use of a four-layered architecture allows the separation of concerns among knowledge, rules, experience and meta-knowledge. Knowledge represents the fundamental layer with which the other layers interact. Rules are meant to derive conclusions and make assertions based on knowledge. The experience layer supports the classification process in case of failure when attempting to identify an object, by applying specific expert rules to infer unusual membership. Finally, the meta-knowledge layer contains knowledge about the use of the other layers.

Patterns of variation in existential constructions

The main goal of the present paper is twofold: on the one hand, to highlight the patterns of variation among the existential constructions found in Italo-Romance and Sardinian dialects; on the other, to examine the observed microvariation in a comparative perspective in order to identify common properties and general tendencies. Starting from a description of the variation concerning the primary components of existentials and depending on the copula selected, I show that, irrespective of the superficial morphosyntactic variation attested, all Italo-Romance existential constructions share a fundamental property: their distinguishing features can all be viewed as the reflex of the persistence of formal properties continuing or overlapping with a source construction. This construction is either the locative predication, when be is selected, or the possessive structure, when the existential copula is have. The pivot of the existential construction therefore shows properties typical of arguments, which are however subject to a high degree of instability and variation because it has been semantically reanalysed as the predicate of an abstract contextual domain serving as the argument of the existential proposition. This mismatch between the syntactic and the semantic characteristics of existential structures contributes to the microvariation encountered.

A proof-theoretic semantics for contextual domain restriction

The paper presents a proof-theoretic semantics account of contextual domain restriction for quantified sentences in a fragment of English. First, the technique is exemplified in the more familiar first-order logic, and in its restricted quantification variant. Then, a proof-theoretic semantics for the NL fragment is reviewed, and extended to handling contextual domain restriction. The paper addresses both the descriptive facet of the problem, deriving meaning relative to a context, as well as the fundamental aspect, defining explicitly a context (suitable for quantifier domain restriction), and specifying what it is about such a context that brings about the variation of meaning due to it.The paper argues for the following principle: The context incorporation principle (CIP): For every quantified sentence S depending on a context c, there exists a sentence S', the meaning of which is independent of c, s.t. the contextually restricted meaning of S is equal to the meaning of S'. Thus, the effect of a context can always be *internalized*. The current model-theoretic accounts of contextual domain restriction do not satisfy CIP, in that they imply intersection of some extension with an *arbitrary* subset of the domain, that need not be the denotation of any NL-expression.

Career development of young adult cancer survivors: A conceptual framework

BACKGROUND: Research with young adult cancer survivors has found that they are often lacking appropriate career development skills. As a result, they are often disconnected with the labor market and deal low levels of career readiness, low career self-efficacy, and higher rates of under and unemployment. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to describe a multi-domain model that provides a framework for conceptualizing the career development of young adult cancer survivors. METHODS: This study utilized a comprehensive review of the literature to develop a theoretical based conceptual model. RESULTS: The model emphasizes the interaction of contextual and career development domains to improve participation in the areas of work, society, community, and home. CONCLUSION: A brief discussion of potential implications regarding research, service and policy are offered with the overall goal of conceptualizing career development as a public health intervention for young adult cancer survivors and other young adults with chronic health conditions.

The Swedish duty hour enigma

BackgroundThe Swedish resident duty hour limit is regulated by Swedish and European legal frameworks. With a maximum average of 40 working hours per week, the Swedish duty hour regulation is one of the most restrictive in the world. At the same time, the effects of resident duty hour limits have been neither debated nor researched in the Swedish context. As a result, little is known about the Swedish conceptual framework for resident duty hours, their restriction, or their outcomes: we call this “the Swedish duty hour enigma.” This situation poses a further question: How do Swedish residents themselves construct a conceptual framework for duty hour restrictions?MethodsA case study was conducted at Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm – an urban, research-intensive hospital setting. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 34 residents currently in training in 6 specialties. The empirical data analysis relied on theoretical propositions and was conducted thematically using a pattern-matching technique. The interview guide was based on four main topics: the perceived effect of duty hour restrictions on (1) patient care, (2) resident education, (3) resident well-being, and (4) research.ResultsThe residents did not perceive the volume of duty hours to be the main determinant of success or failure in the four contextual domains of patient care, resident education, resident well-being, and research. Instead, they emphasized resident well-being and a desire for flexibility.ConclusionsAccording to Swedish residents’ conceptual framework on duty hours, the amount of time spent on duty is not a proxy for the quality of resident training. Instead, flexibility, organization, and scheduling of duty hours are considered to be the factors that have the greatest influence on resident well-being, quality of learning, and opportunities to attain the competence needed for independent practice.

Boundarylessness as a dynamic construct: the case of Chinese early career expatriates

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic nature of boundaryless careers of Chinese early career corporate expatriates. It also investigates the demographic and contextual factors influencing individual perceived career mobility.Design/methodology/approach– Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 31 Chinese corporate expatriates were conducted and a template analysis approach was used to analyze the data.Findings– Results suggest that Chinese early career corporate expatriates’ perceptions of boundaries as facilitating or limiting career mobility change over time. Changing boundary properties are found to be linked to the salience of Chinese cultural values, demographics and career/life stages. Based on expatriates’ narratives, this study highlights how these demographic and contextual factors shape domains of career boundarylessness.Originality/value– Using an under-researched sample of Chinese corporate expatriates, this paper contributes to the conceptualization of boundaryless careers identifying the changing nature of the boundaries that facilitate or restrict mobility over time. The study calls for the use of combined, multi-dimensional approaches incorporating individual agency, organizational and cultural factors to understand individual career development.

Anglicism: An active word-formation mechanism in Spanish

The adoption of the American neoliberal paradigm has resulted in significant social changes worldwide. Its effects are evident in different fields including language use. Thus, the influence of the English language and American culture on other languages is of interest for linguists, translators, and SL teachers, particularly within the socioconstructivist approach. This study aimed at identifying the presence of Anglicisms in the press in order to describe them, determine their frequency and patterns of use, and infer the causes of their incorporation in Spanish as well as its implications for SL teaching. Anglicisms were collected manually and semi-automatically for seven years and then analyzed according to formal characteristics and contextual domains. Results showed that Anglicisms have a strong presence in today’s press (in economics, computer science, sports, and culture), and that speakers adopt rather than adapt them. Four factors may explain the introduction of Anglicisms to Spanish: lexical gaps, social prestige, linguistic economy, and user preference. It was concluded that the English language and American culture have a significant presence in the press through Anglicisms, which needs to be taken into account in the SL socioconstructivist classroom.