Industry evolution and cross-sectoral skill transfers:a comparative analysis of the video game industry in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom

In this paper we explore the interrelationship between technological progress and the formation of industry-specific skills by analysing the evolution of the video-game industry in three countries: Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. We argue that the cross-sectoral transfer of skills occurs differently depending on national contexts, such as the social legitimacy and strength of preexisting industries, the socioeconomic status of entrepreneurs or pioneer firms in an emerging industry, and the sociocultural cohesiveness between the preexisting and emerging industries. Each country draws on a different set of creative resources, which results in a unique trajectory. Whereas Japan's video-game industry emerged out of corporate sponsorships in arcades, toys, and consumer electronics industries and drew skills from the comic book and animated-film sectors, the video-game industry in the United States evolved from arcades and personal computers. In the United Kingdom the video-game industry developed bottom-up, through a process of skills formation in the youth culture of 'bedroom coders' that nurtured self-taught programmers in their teens throughout the country.

An ethnolinguistic analysis of Hispanics in Miami -Dade County

Using a language ecology framework, this dissertation examines the ethnolinguistic vitality (demographic, institutional support and prestige factors) of the immigrant Hispanic population of Miami-Dade County. Using statistical analyses and GIS methods census data are analyzed compared to San Diego County. In addition, the historical, geographical and sociocultural situation in Miami-Dade County on Spanish language use is evaluated. Finally, using a 171-question survey, language attitudes are assessed. The dissertation concludes that because of the unique ethnolinguistic vitality of Hispanics in Miami-Dade County: (1) Significant residential patterns and a unique demographic profile of Hispanics throughout Miami-Dade County have contributed significantly to a stable bilingualism. (2) Although institutional support of Spanish use in Miami-Dade County is relatively robust, a lack of support in the educational institutions threatens the prospects of continued, stable individual bilingualism and community diglossia. (3) Hispanics in Miami-Dade County are likely to support the use of Spanish as a private and public language because they consider it an important part of both their cultural heritage and their daily lives. ^

Circular migration and the Internet: The role of social networks in the sociocultural context of Mexican residents in Barcelona

This work focuses on the study of the circular migration between America and Europe, particularly in the discussion about knowledge transfer and the way that social networks reconfigure the form of information distribution among people, that due to labor and academic issues have left their own country. The main purpose of this work is to study the impact of social media use in migration flows between Mexico and Spain, more specifically the use by Mexican migrants who have moved for  multiple years principally for educational purposes and then have returned to their respective locations in Mexico seeking to integrate themselves into the labor market. Our data collection concentrated exclusively on a group created on Facebook by Mexicans who mostly reside in Barcelona, Spain or wish to travel to the city for economic, educational or tourist reasons.  The results of this research show that while social networks are spaces for exchange and integration, there is a clear tendency by this group to "narrow lines" and to look back to their homeland, slowing the process of opening socially in their new context.

Quantifying Barriers to Meditation as a Health Behavior: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory

Although the benefits of mindfulness meditation practices have been widely documented, research data suggest that there are barriers to regularly engaging in meditation behavior. In order to explore research questions pertaining to meditation initiation and adherence, psychometrically valid scales to assess barriers to meditation practice are necessary. The aim of the present study was to explore the factor structure and construct validity of the Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory (DMPI) (Williams et al., 2011), a perceived barriers to meditation scale. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses along with construct validity tests were performed on data obtained from two large, community samples. Results supported the DMPI as a valid scale assessing perceived barriers with four factors, Lack of Interest, Knowledge Concerns, Pragmatic Concerns and Sociocultural Beliefs. The present study offers a DMPI-revised scale that may be reliably used to assess attitudes and beliefs that might impede meditation behavior.

A recuperação do cine-teatro Gardunha do Fundão : projecto de reintegração funcional e sociocultural

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Arquitetura, apresentada na Universidade de Lisboa - Faculdade de Arquitetura.

A systematic review of body dissatisfaction and sociocultural messages related to the body among preschool children.

This systematic review examines body dissatisfaction and the influence of sociocultural messages related to body image among preschool children. The review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and 16 studies were included in the final analysis. Findings suggest that children under the age of 6 years old experience body dissatisfaction, however, the proportion of children who are dissatisfied varied from around 20% to 70%, depending on the method of assessment. The literature was divided on whether preschool aged girls experience more body dissatisfaction than boys. Parental influence appears to be an important factor in the development of preschool children's body dissatisfaction and attitudes. However, more research is needed to understand the influences of children's peers and the media. The need for more sensitive measures of body dissatisfaction and prevention programs for preschool children is discussed.

Animação sociocultural em lares de idosos do concelho da Guarda

Dissertação Trabalho de Projeto apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Gerontologia Social.

Raman microscopy of formamide-intercalated kaolinites treated by controlled-rate thermal analysis technology

Raman spectroscopy of formamide-intercalated kaolinites treated using controlled-rate thermal analysis technology (CRTA), allowing the separation of adsorbed formamide from intercalated formamide in formamide-intercalated kaolinites, is reported. The Raman spectra of the CRTA-treated formamide-intercalated kaolinites are significantly different from those of the intercalated kaolinites, which display a combination of both intercalated and adsorbed formamide. An intense band is observed at 3629 cm-1, attributed to the inner surface hydroxyls hydrogen bonded to the formamide. Broad bands are observed at 3600 and 3639 cm-1, assigned to the inner surface hydroxyls, which are hydrogen bonded to the adsorbed water molecules. The hydroxyl-stretching band of the inner hydroxyl is observed at 3621 cm-1 in the Raman spectra of the CRTA-treated formamide-intercalated kaolinites. The results of thermal analysis show that the amount of intercalated formamide between the kaolinite layers is independent of the presence of water. Significant differences are observed in the CO stretching region between the adsorbed and intercalated formamide.

Detailed analysis of a conservative difference approximation for the time fractional diffusion equation

Diffusion equations that use time fractional derivatives are attractive because they describe a wealth of problems involving non-Markovian Random walks. The time fractional diffusion equation (TFDE) is obtained from the standard diffusion equation by replacing the first-order time derivative with a fractional derivative of order α ∈ (0, 1). Developing numerical methods for solving fractional partial differential equations is a new research field and the theoretical analysis of the numerical methods associated with them is not fully developed. In this paper an explicit conservative difference approximation (ECDA) for TFDE is proposed. We give a detailed analysis for this ECDA and generate discrete models of random walk suitable for simulating random variables whose spatial probability density evolves in time according to this fractional diffusion equation. The stability and convergence of the ECDA for TFDE in a bounded domain are discussed. Finally, some numerical examples are presented to show the application of the present technique.

Determination of preventive maintenance lead time using hybrid analysis

The time for conducting Preventive Maintenance (PM) on an asset is often determined using a predefined alarm limit based on trends of a hazard function. In this paper, the authors propose using both hazard and reliability functions to improve the accuracy of the prediction particularly when the failure characteristic of the asset whole life is modelled using different failure distributions for the different stages of the life of the asset. The proposed method is validated using simulations and case studies.