The effect of emotions in cross-cultural expatriate experiences

With increased recognition of the existence of emotions in everyday interpersonal interactions, the need for emotions in cross-cultural interactions has become more obvious. Emotions play an important role in cross-cultural expatriate interactions as these experiences are essentially social encounters. Yet, little research addresses the emotions felt and the emotional demands involved in the cross-cultural interaction. Research on expatriate experiences centres solely on the cross-cultural training, sensitivity, and adaptability of expatriates. What fails to be addressed, however, is the emotional aspect of this interaction. In this paper, we examine the cross-cultural expatriate experience, integrating both the cultural and emotional aspects of the interaction. In doing so, we aim to advance understanding of the expatriate experience and the potential reasons underlying expatriate success and failure.

The effect of mechanical loading on the size and shape of bone in pre-, peri-, and postpubertal girls: a study in tennis players

Exercise during growth results in biologically important increases in bone mineral content (BMC). The aim of this study was to determine whether the effects of loading were site specific and depended on the maturational stage of the region. BMC and humeral dimensions were determined using DXA and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the loaded and nonloaded arms in 47 competitive female tennis players aged 8-17 years. Periosteal (external) cross-sectional area (CSA), cortical area, medullary area, and the polar second moments of area (I_p, mm⁴) were calculated at the mid and distal sites in the loaded and nonloaded arms. BMC and I _p of the humerus were 11-14% greater in the loaded arm than in the nonloaded arm in prepubertal players and did not increase further in peri- or postpubertal players despite longer duration of loading (both, _p < 0.01). The higher BMC was the result of a 7-11% greater cortical area in the prepubertal players due to greater periosteal than medullary expansion at the midhumerus and a greater periosteal expansion alone at the distal humerus. Loading late in puberty resulted in medullary contraction. Growth and the effects of loading are region and surface specific, with periosteal apposition before puberty accounting for the increase in the bone's resistance to torsion and endocortical contraction contributing late in puberty conferring little increase in resistance to torsion. Increasing the bone's rt.osistance to torsion is achieved hy modifying bone shape and mass, not necessarily bone density.

Predicting self-esteem during unemployment: the effect of gender, financial deprivation, alternate roles, and social support

Two hundred and one unemployed men and women participated in a cross-sectional study that assessed self-esteem, financial deprivation, number of alternate roles, and use of social support. Financial deprivation, alternate roles, and social support each had a main effect on self-esteem. In addition, these variables interacted with gender to affect self-esteem. Specifically, financial deprivation had a greater negative association with self-esteem in men as compared with women. In contrast, alternate roles and social support had a stronger positive relationship to self-esteem in women than in men. The incorporation of these findings into intervention programs for unemployed persons is discussed.

Cross cultural engagement: teaching African music to Australian students

This paper reports on research that examined the effectiveness of introducing rhythmic concepts through an unfamiliar musical genre to Australian generalist prim my teacher education students. The genre selected was African music, in particular action songs, dance and instrumental improvisation. The methodologies of Orff, Kodaly and Dalcroze were taught through the repertoire of African music in order to foster a closer relationship between pedagogical theory and practice and to teach rhythm through cross-cultural engagement. Through analyses of questionnaire and interview data, it was demonstrated that African music had a positive effect on students' conjidence as non-specialists music teachers and enhanced their skills in staff, sol-fa, hand notation and performance. Also students were not only highly motivated to engage with this new musical genre, but also gained an increased understanding of African culture. It is argued that African music was perceived by students not so much as a "novelty", but as a source of genuine motivation, interest and enjoyment. Its potential for extending student understanding of rhythm as well as taking a significant step towards internationalizing the curriculum for a cohort of predominantly Anglo-Celtic, pre-service teachers is also explored.

The effect of emotions in Australian expatriate experiences

With increased recognition of the existence of emotions in everyday interpersonal interactions, the need for emotions in cross-cultural interactions has become more obvious. Emotions play an important role in cross-cultural expatriate interactions as these experiences are essentially social encounters. Yet, little research addresses the emotions felt and the emotional demands involved in the cross-cultural interaction. Research on expatriate experiences centres solely on the cross cultural training, sensitivity, and adaptability of expatriates. What fails to be addressed, however, is the emotional aspect of this interaction. In this article, we examine the cross-cultural expatriate experience from the perspective of the Australian expatriate in Asia, integrating both the cultural and emotional aspects of the interaction. In doing so, we aim to advance understanding of the expatriate experience and the potential reasons underlying expatriate success and failure.

Reducing the online cross-cultural communication divide between individualists and collectivists

In an era of globalized information, Internet usage has profound implications for human resource management (HRM). Cultural diversity and technology literature imply that cross-cultural online communication emphasises cultural fault-lines, while simultaneously, building bridges of understanding between members of different cultures. The key tenet of this paper is that diversity oriented HRM (namely the combined use of individualist and collectivist HRM practices) is expected to reduce the cultural fault-lines between individualists and collectivists cultures, positively moderating the cross-cultural online communication effects. Although it is acknowledged that distinguishing values of I/C can increasingly be found within any given culture, the key tenet of the paper is to examine the effect of Hofstede's definition of I/C within the context of cross-cultural online communication.

The movement ABC: a cross-cultural comparison of preschool children from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the USA

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the suitability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) for use in Greater China. Chinese children numbering 255 between the ages of 4 and 6 from Hong Kong and 544 from Taiwan were tested individually on the standardized test contained within the M-ABC. Data from these 799 children were compared to that presented in the test manual for the 493 children of the same age comprising the United States standardization sample. Both within-culture and cross-cultural differences were statistically significant when all items of the M-ABC were examined simultaneously, but effect sizes were too low to be considered meaningful. However, descriptive analysis of the cut-off scores used for impairment detection on the test suggested that adjustments to some items would be desirable for these particular Chinese populations.

A cross-national comparison of risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use : the United States and Australia

Purpose
To compare risk and protective factors that influence youth substance use in Australia and the United States. The two countries have different policy orientations toward substance use: Australia has adopted harm-reduction policies, and the United States has adopted abstinence-focused polices.

Methods
Cross-sectional survey data were collected from independent samples of adolescents in the states of Maine (N = 16,861; 53% female, 7% Non-white) and Oregon (N = 15,542; 51% female, 24% Non-white) in the United States and Victoria in Australia (N = 8442; 54% Female, 11% Non-white) in 1998 (Maine and Oregon) and 1999 (Victoria). Chi-square tests, t-tests, effect size comparisons, and logistic regression analyses that accounted for age and gender were used to investigate cross-national similarities and differences in: (a) rates of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use; (b) levels of risk and protective factors; and (c) magnitudes of associations between risk and protective factors and substance use.

Results
More adolescents in Victoria reported using cigarettes and alcohol, whereas more of the U.S. adolescents reported using marijuana. Exposure to risk and protective factors was generally similar in the cross-national samples. However, adolescents in Maine and Oregon perceived handguns to be more readily available, reported more participation in religious activities, and were higher in sensation-seeking and social skills; and adolescents in Victoria had more favorable attitudes toward drug use and reported community norms and parental attitudes more favorable to drug use. Most of the risk and protective factors were strongly associated with substance use to a similar degree in Victoria, Maine, and Oregon. However, among adolescents in Maine and Oregon peer/individual risk and protective factors associated with social detachment were more strongly related to substance use, and among adolescents in Victoria, family protective factors were less strongly related to alcohol use.

Conclusions
Inter-country influences on youth substance use are generally similar despite different policy directions. Existing differences suggest that the abstinence policy context is associated with higher levels of illicit drug use and stronger relations between individual indicators of social detachment and substance use, whereas the harm reduction policy context is related to more cigarette and alcohol use, possibly from exposure to normative influences that are more tolerant of youth drug use.

The effect of school suspensions and arrests on subsequent adolescent antisocial behavior in Australia and the United States

Purpose: To examine the effect of school suspensions and arrests (i.e., being taken into police custody) on subsequent adolescent antisocial behavior such as violence and crime, after controlling for established risk and protective factors in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States (U.S.). Methods: This article reports on analyses of two points of data collected 1 year apart within a cross-national longitudinal study of the development of antisocial behavior, substance use, and related behaviors in approximately 4000 students aged 12 to 16 years in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, U.S. Students completed a modified version of the Communities That Care self-report survey of behavior, as well as risk and protective factors across five domains (individual, family, peer, school, and community). Multivariate logistic regression analyses investigate the effect of school suspensions and arrests on subsequent antisocial behavior, holding constant individual, family, peer, school, and community level influences such as being female, student belief in the moral order, emotional control, and attachment to mother. Results: At the first assessment, school suspensions and arrests were more commonly reported in Washington, and school suspensions significantly increased the likelihood of antisocial behavior 12 months later, after holding constant established risk and protective factors (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–2.1, _p < .05). Predictors of antisocial behavior spanned risk and protective factors across five individual and ecological areas of risk. Risk factors in this study were pre-existing antisocial behavior (OR 3.6, CI 2.7–4.7, _p < .001), association with antisocial peers (OR 1.8, CI 1.4–2.4, _p < .001), academic failure (OR 1.3, CI 1.1–1.5, _p < .01), and perceived availability of drugs in the community (OR 1.3, CI 1.1–1.5, _p < .001). Protective factors included being female (OR 0.7, CI 0.5–0.9, _p < .01), student belief in the moral order (OR 0.8, CI 0.6–1.0, p < .05), student emotional control (OR 0.7, CI 0.6–0.8, _p < .001), and attachment to mother (OR 0.8, CI 0.7–1.0, _p < .05). Conclusions:  School suspensions may increase the likelihood of future antisocial behavior. Further research is required to both replicate this finding and establish the mechanisms by which school suspensions exert their effects.

Trading activities and cross-sectional variation in stock expected return : evidence from Kuala Lumpur stock exchange

Trading activity has been considered as one of the possible factor that explains the cross-sectional variation in stock returns. In this study I use trading volume as a possible measure to proxy for liquidity as part of the trading activity. Monthly observations were used over a period 1995 to 2005 to examine the liquidity effect on stock expected returns. Based on findings it is appeared that level of liquidity does matter in explaining the expected stock returns in Malaysian capital market. While Fama-french factors also provide important explanation for stock returns. But none of the second moment variables proxying liquidity appeared to be statistically significant. However, momentum effect apprearently explain ing the cross-sectional variation in stock returns. 

Area variation in recreational cycling in Melbourne : a compositional or contextual effect?

Objective: To examine whether compositional and/or contextual area characteristics are associated with area socioeconomic inequalities and between-area differences in recreational cycling.

Setting: The city of Melbourne, Australia.

Participants: 2349 men and women residing in 50 areas (58.7% response rate).

Main outcome measure: Cycling for recreational purposes (at least once a month vs never).

Design: In a cross-sectional survey participants reported their frequency of recreational cycling. Objective area characteristics were collected for their residential area by environmental audits or calculated with Geographic Information Systems software. Multilevel logistic regression models were performed to examine associations between recreational cycling, area socioeconomic level, compositional characteristics (age, sex, education, occupation) and area characteristics (design, safety, destinations or aesthetics).

Results: After adjustment for compositional characteristics, residents of deprived areas were less likely to cycle for recreation (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.43 to 1.00), and significant between-area differences in recreational cycling were found (median odds ratio 1.48 (95% credibility interval 1.24 to 1.78). Aesthetic characteristics tended to be worse in deprived areas and were the only group of area characteristics that explained some of the area deprivation differences. Safety characteristics explained the largest proportion of between-area variation in recreational cycling.

Conclusion: Creating supportive environments with respect to safety and aesthetic area characteristics may decrease between-area differences and area deprivation inequalities in recreational cycling, respectively.

Sex difference in the effect of cortisol on the LH response of the pituitary to exogenous GnRH in hypothalamo-pituitary disconnected gonadectomised sheep

We have used the hypothalamo-pituitary disconnected (HPD) sheep model to investigate direct pituitary actions of cortisol to suppress LH secretion in response to exogenous GnRH. We previously observed that, during the non-breeding season, treatment with cortisol did not suppress the LH response to GnRH in HPD gonadectomised rams or ewes.1 In the present experiment, we tested the effect of cortisol on the LH response to exogenous GnRH in gonadectomised HPD sheep during the breeding season. Using a cross-over design, HPD gonadectomised Romney Marsh rams (n = 6) and ewes (n = 5) received a saline or cortisol (250 μg/kg/h) infusion for 30 h on each of two days, one week apart. All animals were treated with 125 ng i.v. injections of GnRH every 2 h during a 6 h control period preceding the infusion and during the infusion. Jugular blood samples were taken during the control period and the first 6 h and last 6 h of the infusion (over 3 LH pulses). Mean plasma concentrations of LH and LH pulse amplitudes, driven by programmed GnRH injections, were similar in gonadectomised rams and ewes and there were no significant effects of saline infusion between the control periods or the saline infusion in either sex. The amplitude of LH pulses was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in rams during the first 6 h of the cortisol infusion compared to the control period, but there were no effects of the cortisol infusion in ewes. These data show that, in the absence of sex steroids, there is a sex difference in the mechanism by which cortisol acts at the pituitary to reduce LH secretion in response to exogenous GnRH in HPD gonadectomized sheep during the breeding season. We conclude that the effect of cortisol to reduce secretion of LH involves an action on the pituitary, at least in gonadectomised rams.

Modelling the combined effect of grain size and grain shape on plastic anisotropy of metals

Within each columnar grain of a metallic film, the resistance to dislocation glide varies in function of the orientation of the slip plane with regard to the grain long axis. Plastic slip is impeded across grain boundaries and this contributes to the anisotropy of the overall mechanical response. A simplified (Taylor-type) crystal plasticity model is proposed that accounts for such effect of grain shape on the slip system selection. Assuming that dislocation density gradients are normal to the grain boundaries, backstresses developed at the onset of plasticity are estimated based on two definitions of the effective grain boundary spacing ‘‘seen’’ by individual slip systems. The first one reduces to the mean area-to-perimeter ratio of cross-sections of the grain cut parallel to the slip plane. Closed-form expressions of the average backstresses developed inside grains with spheroidal shapes are introduced in the crystal hardening law. The model reproduces the very high plastic anisotropy of electro-deposited pure iron with a strong c-fiber and a refined columnar grain structure [Yoshinaga, N., Sugiura, N., Hiwatashi, S., Ushioda, K., Kada, O., 2008. Deep drawability of electro-deposited pure iron having an extremely sharp h111i//ND texture. ISIJ Int. 48, 667–670]. It also provides valid estimates of the texture development and the influence of grain size on the yield strength.