Cultural Variety Research Articles

Does the Nature of Interactions with Higher Education Institutions Influence the Innovative Capabilities of Creative Firms? The Case of a South-Western Norwegian County

Abstract Our study contributes to a limited body of literature and aims to examine the type and frequency of linkages between creative industries and higher education institutions (HEIs). The objective of our study is to investigate the extent to which various types of linkages contribute to enhanced innovative capabilities in creative industries. Based on a qualitative research design and a case study carried out in a peripheral south-western Norwegian county, our empirical analysis shows that HEIs are generally not very relevant partners and that other actors are mainly involved in innovation dynamics. As clarified and discussed in the paper, this finding largely depends on some specific characteristics of HEIs, the form of knowledge primarily employed by creative firms (symbolic knowledge base), and the cultural divergence between the two spheres.

Dementia screening and diagnostic framework in Chinese population

There are no standard diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in China. The copied international criteria has led to a high rate of missed diagnosis due to issues such as translation and cultural discrepancy. Under the principles of semantic equivalence, content equivalence and performance equivalence, the research group of Alzheimer's Disease Chinese (ADC) adopted several effective methods, such as two-way translation, content conversion, performance evaluation, etc. to systematically study the cognitive, behavioral, functional, and general assessment techniques in dementia screening and diagnosis, as well as their screening thresholds and diagnostic values. We also established a dementia screening and assessment framework in clinical practice through systematic reviews and group consensus. It has improved the early diagnosis rate of dementia in China, been accepted by home and abroad academic institutions, which is of great significance for early diagnosis and treatment of dementia.

Are Pain Beliefs, Cognitions, and Behaviors Influenced by Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review

Chronic pain has been considered as a biopsychosocial condition in which cognitive and emotional factors as well as biological factors significantly affect perception of pain. Race, ethnicity and culture have a crucial impact on illness beliefs, health care preferences, help-seeking behaviors, and acceptance of medical interventions. The aim of the present study was to systematically review the current evidence regarding the racial, ethnic and cultural alterations and differences in pain beliefs, cognitions, and behaviors in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain (MSKP). Systematic review. This systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines (PRISMA). PubMed and Web of Science were searched. A first screening was conducted based on title and abstract of the articles. In the second screening, full-texts of the remaining articles were evaluated for the fulfilment of the inclusion criteria. The risk of bias was assessed with the modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. A total of 11 articles were included. The methodological quality of the included studies ranged from low to moderate. There is moderate evidence that African-Americans use more praying, hoping, and emotion-focused coping strategies than Caucasians. There is also preliminary evidence regarding the differences in some coping strategies such as distraction, catastrophizing, and problem-focused solving between African-Americans and Caucasians. Preliminary evidence exists regarding the differences in pain coping strategies between the US and Portugal; the US and Singapore; and among 4 French-speaking countries. It is found that Spanish patients with fibromyalgia (FM) have more negative illness perceptions than Dutch patients. There is preliminary evidence that Caucasians have higher self-efficacy than African-Americans. There is also preliminary evidence that New Zealanders have more internal health expectancies than patients from the US. Preliminary evidence is demonstrated that Caucasians with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have more positive control beliefs than African-Americans. Lastly, there is preliminary evidence that patients from the US believe that they are more disabled, while Singaporeans interpret the pain more by a traditional biomedical perspective. Only 11 articles were included. The small number of articles, wide range of assessment methods, and substantial risk of bias in the included studies led the investigator to draw conclusions cautiously. Preliminary to moderate evidence shows the differences in coping strategies, illness perceptions, self-efficacy, fear avoidance beliefs, locus of control, and pain attitudes in different populations. Further prospective and longitudinal studies using standard definitions for race, ethnicity or culture and valid questionnaires for each population are warranted to explore the racial, ethnic and cultural discrepancies in pain beliefs, cognitions, and behaviours. Chronic pain, musculoskeletal pain, pain beliefs, pain cognitions, pain behaviors, race, ethnicity, culture.

Antibiotic resistance in Vietnam: moving towards a One Health surveillance system

BackgroundThe international community strongly advocates the implementation of multi-sectoral surveillance policies for an effective approach to antibiotic resistance, in line with the One Health concept. To comply with these international recommendations, the Vietnamese government has issued an inter-ministerial surveillance strategy for antibiotic resistance, including an integrated surveillance system. However, one may question the ability and willingness of surveillance stakeholders to implement the collaborations required. To assess the feasibility of operationalising this strategy within the national context, we explored the role of key stakeholders in the strategy, as well as their abilities to comply with it.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative approach based on an iterative stakeholder mapping and analysis, in three distinct steps: (1) a description of the structure of the national surveillance strategy (literature review, key informant interviews); (2) an analysis of the key stakeholders’ positions regarding the strategy (semi-structured interviews); (3) the identification of factors influencing the operationalisation of the collaborative surveillance strategy (comparison of data collected at the first and second steps).ResultsThe mapping of the surveillance system, as well as the characterisation of key stakeholders according to organisational and functional attributes, underlined that inter-sectoral surveillance initiatives do exist, but that the organisation of the national surveillance system remains highly silo-oriented.Based on stakeholder perspectives, we identified seven factors that may influence the implementation of the One Health strategy at national level: governance and operational frameworks, divergence of institutional cultures, level of knowledge, technical capacities, allocation of resources, conflicting commercial interests and influence of international partners.ConclusionsThe study suggests that the operationalisation of the collaborative surveillance strategy requires the full adhesion of stakeholders and the provision of appropriate resources. Based on these findings, we have proposed a guidance framework together with recommendations to move towards a more suitable governance and operational model for One Health surveillance of antibiotic resistance in Vietnam.To lever and promote successful inter-sectoral collaboration, a participatory “learning by doing” process could be applied to guide, frame and mentor stakeholders through the identification of appropriate levels of collaboration, depending on the expected positive impacts on the value of surveillance.

How Does the Death Conscious Culture of Iran Affect Experiences of Depression?

This paper is divided into two parts. First I argue for the existence of a death-conscious culture in Iran, traceable in religious and literary texts, and manifested strongly in the discourse following the Iran–Iraq war. I then look at how this culture influences articulations and experiences of depression as felt by Iranian patients. Adopting a phenomenological perspective and drawing on empirical data, I show how death-consciousness, as a point of cultural divergence between the UK and Iran, can be used to account for some of the phenomenologically significant cultural variations in the experience of depression. These include attitudes towards suicide, the significance of feelings of hopelessness, and the existence of a sense of absurdity among Iranian patients.

A corpus-based investigation of modal verbs in Chinese civil-commercial legislation and its English versions

AbstractThis paper aims to investigate the distribution of semantic meanings and values of modal verbs in Chinese civil-commercial legislation and its English versions. This is a corpus-based study with two corpora (one is Chinese corpora including 33 Chinese civil-commercial legislative instruments totaling about 343,677 tokens and the other English corpora including 33 corresponding English versions totaling about 254,621 tokens) compiled according to the taxonomic law branches in the People’s Republic of China. The corpus tools,word2vector, AntConc 3.5.7andSPSS 19.0, were employed for data filtering and analysis. Results of the study show that deontic modal verbs indicating obligation, permission and prohibition are the most frequently used type of modal verbs and the values of Chinese modal verbs and English modal verbs are significantly different. Moreover, the frequency of modal verbs in both corpora reflects the divergence of context culture between Chinese and English. Additionally, the choice of modal verbs in two corpora demonstrates the negotiability, compromise and humanity of Chinese civil-commercial legislation, which conforms to its interpersonal function. Furthermore, throughout analyzing the examples extracted from two corpora, this study attempts to provide some insights to the modal translation, during which the consistency and equivalence in terms of semantic meanings and modal values are of critical importance in legislative translation.

Cross-cultural comparison of plant use knowledge in Baitadi and Darchula districts, Nepal Himalaya

BackgroundThis study seeks to better understand the human-nature interface and to measure the variability of plant use knowledge among cultures, through inter- and intracultural analyses. We compared plant collection, use, and management of two culturally distinct groups (Baitadi and Darchula) of the Nepal Himalaya. They inhabit different physiographic regions, yet share the same ecological landscape, environmental resources, and livelihood challenges. We hypothesized that the elderly, native, and traditional healers living in remote and rural places possess more diverse and detailed knowledge of plant use and conservation than young, non-native, and non-healers.MethodsA total of 106 people were contacted for interviews, and 100 (68 men and 32 women) agreed to share ethnobotanical, demographic, and socioeconomic information. They were asked about the three most important plants for their socioeconomic benefit, culture, primary health care, and livelihood.ResultsThe knowledge of plant collection, use, and its transfer was strongly associated with the cultural heritage whereas the ecogeographical condition influences the ways in which plants are collected and used. The divergent knowledge of plant collection, use, and transfer between the participants of Baitadi and Darchula was significantly (p < 0.001) attributed to the cultural heritage of the area. The low consensus of plant use (FiC 0–0.87; IASc 0–0.67) between Baitadi and Darchula district could be due to cultural divergence, varied accessibility, physiographic heterogeneity, and biodiversity uniqueness.ConclusionsDifferences in plant use knowledge may help in diversifying the strategies of plant use in accordance with the livelihood, culture, and environment, and therefore, more studies measuring these aspects can further the ecosystem and cultural health of the region.

Sociocultural, intercultural and translation competence for engineering students

Abstract Targeting at adequate translation while teaching translation to engineers any teacher should remember about social and cultural discrepancies between languages. The difference in mentality should not be reflected in the special target text. Engineering students are supposed not only to be able to find proper equivalents and render the terms appropriately but also to analyse the communicative situation and cultural peculiarities of the source text. Teaching professionally oriented translation depends on many factors including ontological and specialised cultural levels, technological progress and its incorporation into the national, international and global culture, linguistic diachrony and its role in terminological corpus formation as well as science and technology institutional role. Teaching translation at engineering academy has a long and fruitful history, which shows the efficiency of training intercultural and sociocultural competence in teaching translation. It allows to avoid serious drawbacks in translation when a translator confronts the other language culture images and concepts.

A Corpus-Based Study on Cross-Cultural Divergence in the Use of Hedges in Academic Research Articles Written by Vietnamese and Native English-Speaking Authors

As an interpersonal meta-discourse device, hedges have a significant role in academic writing, especially in research articles (RAs) of various fields. The use of hedges in academic writing helps writers represent their ideology, opinion, and evaluation of issues, as well as to persuade readers to accept their claims. This study examined the cultural divergence in the use of hedges in the results and discussion sections of RAs written by Vietnamese and native English-speaking authors, analyzing the variation in the frequency and types of hedges within the rhetorical structure of RAs. The study was based on the data of two corpora, which were collected from 100 RAs that were judged by the authors’ names and affiliations in the field of applied linguistics, consisting of 50 RAs that were written by Vietnamese writers (VNRAs) and published in Vietnamese national journals, and 50 RAs that were written by native English-speaking authors (NESRAs) and published in international journals. Contrastive analysis of the frequency and types of hedges used in RAs written by Vietnamese and native English-speaking authors revealed that there were variations and similarities in the way they utilized hedges as interpersonal meta-discourse devices to guide, negotiate, and persuade readers to accept their assertions and viewpoint, and in the way the negative politeness strategy was used to respect the readership and give more room for the readers’ alternative interpretations. The difference between the VNRA and NESRA corpora was in the frequency of the occurrence of hedges, which was relatively lower in the RAs written by Vietnamese authors. The reason for this divergence could be due to the culturally diverse backgrounds, the intended readers, and the conventional rules of two discourse communities.

The Errors and Solutions on C-E Translation of Environmental Protection-Related Signs Guided by Functional Equivalence

With the growing concern about the environment protection, environmental protection-related signs are ubiquitous in China now. This paper first introduces the relevant concepts about functional equivalence, analyzes the errors and mistakes in Chinese-English translation of environmental protection-related signs and proposes some feasible solutions. Common errors in translations in question include linguistic errors, cultural errors and pragmatic errors which generally result from cultural discrepancy, the translators’ incompetence and the initiators’ carelessness. Some solutions like lexicon equivalence, semantic equivalence, syntax equivalence, discourse equivalence are proposed to solve these problems.

Demographic characteristics of craniosynostosis patients in Asia

PurposeCraniosynostosis (CRS) is a congenital condition resulting premature fusion of one or more cranial sutures. CRS is classified according to the involved sutures into sagittal, metopic, unicoronal, unilambdoid, bicoronal, and multiple-suture CRS, with sagittal suture fusion known to be the most common type. Although multiple studies have presented demographic characteristics of CRS patients, to date, there is no study representing an Asian population. We sought to compare the demographic characteristics of Asian patients to those of Western patients, considering previous reports. Materials and methodsA total of 266 CRS patients treated in a single institution from 1996 to 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Data from the patients was collected regardless of whether they underwent operation. Patients' age at the time of presentation, sex, and maternal and paternal age at birth were reviewed. Patients were routinely investigated for abnormal genes (FGFR2 and FGFR3). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (BSID-II), was used to assess the patients' cognitive and psychomotor development. One-way analysis of variance or the Kruskal–Wallis test was used to compare continuous variables. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. ResultsOur study included 157 males (59.02%) and 109 females (40.98%), with an age ranging from 0.1 to 10.5 years. The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 2.01 ± 2.57 years, and the mean age at operation was 2.16 ± 2.61 years. Of the patients, 27 (10.15%) were bicoronal, 28 patients (10.53%) were metopic, 48 patients (18.04%) were unicoronal, 50 patients (18.80%) were unilamboid, and 67 patients (25.19%) were sagittal. Patients with multiple-suture CRS totaled 46 (17.29%). Investigation of abnormal genes revealed six patients (2.20%), including two patients with abnormal FGFR2 and four patients with abnormal FGFR3. Maternal and paternal ages at the patients' birth were 32.18 ± 4.56 years and 34.71 ± 4.72 years, respectively. The mean BSID-II scores were 84.96 ± 22.77 for the Mental Development Index and 84.19 ± 25.62 for the Psychomotor Development Index. To examine the trend of diagnosis of CRS type, we also evaluated the number of new patients diagnosed with nonsyndromic CRS per year at our institution. New diagnoses of CRS generally increased from the year 2009, although variations continued. ConclusionThe mean age of our patients is relatively high compared to previous, Western studies. Through this research, we recognized that cultural discrepancies regarding the expectations of Asian parents may lead to prolonged diagnosis of CRS patients, and yet even relatively older CRS infants can successfully be treated with surgical intervention. The prevalence of CRS types and BSID-II development scores varied compared to those in previous Western studies. Further investigations at the genetic level are required to compare the different populations. To diagnose CRS in an effective and timely manner, a physician must be aware of the general characteristics and understand the variations between Western and Eastern populations.

Cultural Values in the Practices of Communication and Diplomacy

This paper deals with the importance of cultural values in public diplomacy. The reason is that diplomatic misunderstanding is oftentimes influenced by different cultural values emulated by people who live in different countries. Some cases of cultural discrepancy in communication occurred when Indonesian and Australian people have different viewpoints. Some cases of public diplomacy, selected and discussed in this paper, were interestingly derived from different values.

КРИТЕРІЇ ТА ПОКАЗНИКИ СФОРМОВАНОСТІ КРОС-КУЛЬТУРНОЇ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТІ СТУДЕНТІВ-ФІЛОЛОГІВ

The article considers criterion-parametrical aspects of formedness of students-philologists’ cross-cultural competence. There four criteria of formedness of students-philologists’ cross-cultural competence are established as: motivational and axiological, cognitive, operational, behavioural and activity. The main parameters of motivational and axiological criterion are: formedness of cognitive, professional and social motives, according to which one becomes aware of the significance of the material studied and possible ways of its application; positive / neutral / negative attitude to cultural discrepancies; estimation of other culture (following / ignoring stereotypes or prejudices). Cognitive criterion involves: knowledge of phonetic, lexical, grammar material, culture-specific units of native and foreign languages; formedness of monological and dialogical skills on definite topics; sociocultural material acquisition. The key parameters of operational criterion are: ability to use culture-specific units and units of non-verbal communication, which comply with communicative situation; skillful use of lexical units and grammatical structures pursuant to context; ability to organize dialogue / monologue in alignment with the norms of everyday, learning, professional activities. In terms of behavioral and activity criterion such parameters are considered as: restraint in judgements; ability to control one’s behavior; ability to analyze divergent positions before making a final decision. In conformance with the criteria and parameters determined there are four levels of cross-cultural competence specified: elementary, intermediate, upper-intermediate, advanced.

Des éléphants, des hippopotames et des mouflons. Trois hypothèses de marqueurs animaux d’identités régionales pendant les périodes de Nagada I-II

In the field of Predynastic studies, the question of cultural homogenization between Upper and Lower Egypt has attracted much more attention than the less visible case of cultural discrepancies amongst settlement centers within Upper Egypt. Since the pioneer work of Elizabeth Finkenstaedt, few studies have sought to highlight possible regional idiosyncrasies, and hardly any in the field of iconography, so much that the case has remained that of rather vague ‘ painting styles’. A thorough study of rock art depictions and their plotting on a GIS offers a unique opportunity to open this case again. Indeed, the clear-cut geographical separation between two very different and yet contemporary renderings of the ears in elephant depictions enables one to hypothesize a specialization of different Upper Egyptian settlement zones in roaming and exploiting different desert areas. While this could not be remarked by examining contemporary artifacts due to scarcity of comparable depictions of known provenance, evidence related to two other animal species, namely the hippopotamus and Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) show the same clear-cut distinction both between urban centers and desert areas, as well as convincing correlations with the two types of elephants. While the former has not been found anywhere outside the Eastern Desert, the latter is almost entirely restricted to rock art attestations in the Theban and Western desert, with a few occurrences as far as the western oasis of Dakhla or Nubia. Material culture shows an equally exclusive distribution, Barbary sheep being found mostly in cemeteries inside the Qena bend area and hippos overwhelmingly in a 20-kilometer perimeter around Abydos. This paper will therefore argue for the existence of ‘ regional hallmarks’ in the Naqada I-II iconography produced in the regions around Abydos and Naqada-Nubt, with a possible very special status for Hierakonpolis.

In Vino Veritas? An Alternative Story of European Convergence

While some European antagonists claim that united Europe is a utopia, grounded on mental and cultural discrepancies as well as aversion to changes of any kind, this paper challenges this cultural heterogeneity by looking at the history of the EU from the perspective of alcohol consumption and its development. By using WHO data over the last 50 years I show how consumption patterns of European countries evolved over time, in terms of volumes and composition of alcohol intake per-capita, outlining the major tendencies of the (converging) European market.

アジアのSIプロジェクトへの品質管理向上の取り組み : 文化の違いを越えて( プロジェクトの品質と顧客満足)

アジアのSIプロジェクトへの品質管理向上の取り組み : 文化の違いを越えて( プロジェクトの品質と顧客満足)

TRAINING TRANSLATORS: FROM GENERAL REQUIREMENTS TO PARTICULAR APPROACHES

This article deals with some aspects of teaching translation. This question has not received much attention not only in Ukraine, but in Translation Studies as a whole. The present study illustrates how linguistic and cultural divergences between source and target texts complicate the process of translation. The paper also investigates the concept of translator’s competence and emphasises the main professional skills of a good translator. The author analyses the most evident challenges of translation process, which are likely to provide a small clue for better teaching translation and provides some references to didactic approaches of the translation process, suggested by different authors. The article is composed of four main parts. The first part regards to the representation of the role of translator nowadays, as well as the complexity of the translation process. The second part briefly examines some translation difficulties, caused by linguistic and cultural differences between source and target texts. Linguistic and cultural divergences between French and Ukrainian texts are studied on the material of translation into Ukrainian “ In search of a lost time” by M. Proust. The third part is a brief overview of translator’s competence. The article states that translator’s competence consists of different sub-competences, namely: linguistic, extra-linguistic, translation sub-competence and psycho-physiological one. The fourth part focuses on some approaches to translators’ training. Methods and activities recommended by professionals engaged in the education of future translators are described.

Translator training in Canada and Russia

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to shed some light onto contemporary translation didactics as a “virgin” field of applied TS that cannot be successfully developed without a new, multidisciplinary approach that would put forward the specificity of translator training as a distinct, socially valuable practice. We hypothesize that as socially-specific, practice-oriented products of the interaction between the systems of translation and of professional education, translator training programs are dependent on the social perception of translating activity as well as on the degree of its institutionalization as a profession. Given that contemporary translation and interpretation practices, as well as translator training programs, are limited to local manifestations, the social and cultural discrepancies impede any comparativism in this field of applied TS. However, in applying a sociological approach to translator training, we propose a methodological framework for a sociologically-informed comparative analysis that would lift the cultural and institutional barriers that until now have been distorting our vision of translation as a global social practice and have thus prevented us from conducting comparative analysis of a wide variety of translational phenomena as manifested in different locales, conceived in terms of both time and space. In order to illustrate our propositions, we present the reader with a case study of the most prototypical translator training programs in Canada and Russia – countries that, due to the differences in the theoretical, practical and didactic setup of their respective fields of translation and interpretation, offer appropriate support for our comparative methodology.

Identity, emotions and cultural differences in English and Polish online comments

AbstractThe focus of the present paper is to examine the extent to which the language used in Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and online discourse emotional behavior are good predictors of individual and groupcultural typesand their identities. It is argued that theidentity markingCMC interactants develop has to be stronger, more salient, and, possibly less ambiguous than that used in direct conversation and that theemotionality markersthe users apply in their discussion,particularly those engaging negative emotions and reflecting negative judgments, are argued to be used by online discussants for the purpose of increasing the CMC commentators’conversational visibility. The questions of cultural and linguistic divergence between English and Polish emotional communication patterns are the main points discussed. Three sets of corpus materials are used and the research methodology involves both the qualitative analysis of the emotion types as well as a quantitative (frequency) approach, particularly with respect to culture-specific corpus-generated collocation patterns.

Employers’ concern does not help female foreign domestic workers sustain quality of life in Hong Kong

The usual but untested assumption is that the employer’s concern about the foreign domestic worker buttresses the worker’s life quality. To clarify how the assumption fares, this study analysed data from a survey of 1514 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, China. Results revealed that, contrary to the usual assumption, the employer’s concern for the worker posed a negative effect on the worker’s life quality. These results imply that cultural discrepancies between the worker and employer make the employer’s concern detrimental to the worker’s life quality. This detriment is explicable with exchange theory.