Learning to live together: an exploration and analysis of managing cultural diversity in ten early childhood development centres in South Africa

This study explores how South African Early Childhood Development (ECD) Practitioners and families meet the needs of the increasing number of children from diverse cultural backgrounds in their care. Research participants were identified through ten ECD centres located in two urban communities in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa. The values and attitudes held by Practitioners and families vis-à-vis cultural diversity was investigated, along with the knowledge and strategies they employ to manage cultural diversity in ECD programmes. The intercultural education model provides the necessary tools to address the challenges identified.

Measurement of parent satisfaction in french-speaking PICUs: a need for translation and cultural adaptation of the empathic questionnaire

Background and aims: Family-centred care is an expected standard in PICU and parent reported outcomes are rarely measured. The Dutch validated EMPATHIC questionnaire provides accurate measures of parental perceptions of family-centred care in PICU. A French version would provide an important resource for quality control and benchmarking with other PICUs. The study aimed to translate and to assess the French cultural adaptation of the EMPATHIC questionnaire. Methods: In September 2012, following approval from the developer, translation and cultural adaptation were performed using a structured method (Wild et al. 2005). This included forward-backward translation and reconciliation by an official translator, harmonization assessed by the research team, and cognitive debriefing with the target users' population. In this last step, a convenience sample of parents with PICU experience assessed the comprehensibility and cultural relevance of the 65-item French EMPATHIC questionnaire. The PICUs in Lausanne, Switzerland and Lille, France participated. Results: Seventeen parents, including 13 French native and 4 French as second language speakers, tested the cognitive equivalence and cultural relevance of the French EMPATHIC questionnaire. The mean agreement for comprehensibility of all 65 items reached 90.2%. Three items fell below the cut-off 80% agreement and were revised for inclusion in the final French version. Conclusions: The translation and the cultural adaptation permitted to highlight a few cultural differences that did not interfere with the main construct of the EMPATHIC questionnaire. Reliability and validity testing with a new sample of parents is needed to strengthen the psychometric properties of the French EMPATHIC questionnaire.

A critical analysis of dimensions and curve fitting practice in economics

When dealing with sustainability we are concerned with the biophysical as well as the monetary aspects of economic and ecological interactions. This multidimensional approach requires that special attention is given to dimensional issues in relation to curve fitting practice in economics. Unfortunately, many empirical and theoretical studies in economics, as well as in ecological economics, apply dimensional numbers in exponential or logarithmic functions. We show that it is an analytical error to put a dimensional unit x into exponential functions ( a x ) and logarithmic functions ( x a log ). Secondly, we investigate the conditions of data sets under which a particular logarithmic specification is superior to the usual regression specification. This analysis shows that logarithmic specification superiority in terms of least square norm is heavily dependent on the available data set. The last section deals with economists’ “curve fitting fetishism”. We propose that a distinction be made between curve fitting over past observations and the development of a theoretical or empirical law capable of maintaining its fitting power for any future observations. Finally we conclude this paper with several epistemological issues in relation to dimensions and curve fitting practice in economics

Cultural competency of health-care providers in a Swiss University Hospital: self-assessed cross-cultural skillfulness in a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: As the diversity of the European population evolves, measuring providers' skillfulness in cross-cultural care and understanding what contextual factors may influence this is increasingly necessary. Given limited information about differences in cultural competency by provider role, we compared cross-cultural skillfulness between physicians and nurses working at a Swiss university hospital. METHODS: A survey on cross-cultural care was mailed in November 2010 to front-line providers in Lausanne, Switzerland. This questionnaire included some questions from the previously validated Cross-Cultural Care Survey. We compared physicians' and nurses' mean composite scores and proportion of "3-good/4-very good" responses, for nine perceived skillfulness items (4-point Likert-scale) using the validated tool. We used linear regression to examine how provider role (physician vs. nurse) was associated with composite skillfulness scores, adjusting for demographics (gender, non-French dominant language), workplace (time at institution, work-unit "sensitized" to cultural-care), reported cultural-competence training, and cross-cultural care problem-awareness. RESULTS: Of 885 questionnaires, 368 (41.2%) returned the survey: 124 (33.6%) physicians and 244 (66.4%) nurses, reflecting institutional distribution of providers. Physicians had better mean composite scores for perceived skillfulness than nurses (2.7 vs. 2.5, p < 0.005), and significantly higher proportion of "good/very good" responses for 4/9 items. After adjusting for explanatory variables, physicians remained more likely to have higher skillfulness (β = 0.13, p = 0.05). Among all, higher skillfulness was associated with perception/awareness of problems in the following areas: inadequate cross-cultural training (β = 0.14, p = 0.01) and lack of practical experience caring for diverse populations (β = 0.11, p = 0.04). In stratified analyses among physicians alone, having French as a dominant language (β = -0.34, p < 0.005) was negatively correlated with skillfulness. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, there is much room for cultural competency improvement among providers. These results support the need for cross-cultural skills training with an inter-professional focus on nurses, education that attunes provider awareness to the local issues in cross-cultural care, and increased diversity efforts in the work force, particularly among physicians.

Cultural transmission can inhibit the evolution of altruistic helping.

The study of culturally inherited traits has led to the suggestion that the evolution of helping behaviors is more likely with cultural transmission than without. Here we evaluate this idea through a comparative analysis of selection on helping under both genetic and cultural inheritance. We develop two simple models for the evolution of helping through cultural group selection: one in which selection on the trait depends solely on Darwinian fitness effects and one in which selection is driven by nonreproductive factors, specifically imitation of strategies achieving higher payoffs. We show that when cultural variants affect Darwinian fitness, the selection pressure on helping can be markedly increased relative to that under genetic transmission. By contrast, when variants are driven by nonreproductive factors, the selection pressure on helping may be reduced relative to that under genetic inheritance. This occurs because, unlike biological offspring, the spread of cultural variants from one group to another through imitation does not reduce the number of these variants in the source group. As a consequence, there is increased within-group competition associated with traits increasing group productivity, which reduces the benefits of helping. In these cases, selection for harming behavior (decreasing the payoff to neighbors) may occur rather than selection for helping.

Deliberative ecological economics: emergence and research issues

We discuss the recent emergence of "deliberative ecological economics", a field that highlights the potential of deliberation for improving environmental governance. We locate the emergence of this literature in the long concern in ecological economics over the policy implications of limited views of human action and its encounter with deliberative democracy scholarship and the model of communicative rationality as an alternative to utilitarianism. Considering criticisms over methods used and the focus of research in deliberative decision-making, we put forward a research agenda for deliberative ecological economics. Given the promising potential of deliberative processes for improving the effectiveness and legitimacy of environmental decision-making, work in this area could help advance both theory and practice in environmental governance.

Accesibilidad y conservación del patrimonio cultural: Aproximación y encuentro

Conceptualització multidisciplinar de la trobada Accessibilitat-Patrimoni, de manera que s'acordi un llenguatge comú en termes d'accessibilitat i de conservació del Patrimoni entre tots els membres del consorci, així com un coneixement exhaustiu de la situació de l'accessibilitat a Espanya en relació amb els diferents àmbits d'actuació abastats en el projecte, des de la demanda potencial d'usuaris, magnitud, tipus i estat del Patrimoni Cultural, als instruments d'anàlisis i intervenció utilitzables.

La Accesibilidad en los Bienes de Interés cultural: situación y necesidades

Anàlisi normativa d'àmbit europeu, nacional, autonòmic i municipal existent sobre Accessibilitat en l'edificació, Accessibilitat al patrimoni i Protecció de Béns Culturals i Patrimoni Històric. Identificació dels conflictes d'aplicació entre les normatives d'accessibilitat i la conservació del patrimoni històric

Adapting dating violence prevention to francophone Switzerland: a story of intra-western cultural differences.

Dating violence prevention programs, which originated in the United States, are beginning to be implemented elsewhere. This article presents the first adaptation of a violence prevention program for a European culture, Francophone Switzerland. A U.S. dating violence prevention program, Safe Dates (Foshee & Langwick, 1994), was reviewed in 19 youth and 4 professional focus groups. The most fundamental program concepts--"dating" and "violence"--are not the same in Switzerland and the United States. Swiss youth were not very focused on establishing monogamous romantic relationships, and there is no ready translation for "dating." Violence has not become the focus of a social movement in Switzerland to the same extent that it has in the United States, and distinctions among terms such as "dating violence" and "domestic violence" are not well known. Psychoeducational approaches are also less common in the Swiss context. As the movement to prevent violence extends worldwide, these issues need greater consideration.

Why do creative industries cluster? An analysis of the determinants of clustering of creative industries

Creative industries tend to concentrate mainly around large- and medium-sized cities, forming creative local production systems. The text analyses the forces behind clustering of creative industries to provide the first empirical explanation of the determinants of creative employment clustering following a multidisciplinary approach based on cultural and creative economics, evolutionary geography and urban economics. A comparative analysis has been performed for Italy and Spain. The results show different patterns of creative employment clustering in both countries. The small role of historical and cultural endowments, the size of the place, the average size of creative industries, the productive diversity and the concentration of human capital and creative class have been found as common factors of clustering in both countries.

Technological innovation in creative clusters. The case of laser in conservation of artworks in Florence

The field of laser application to the restoration and cleaning of cultural assets is amongst the most thriving developments of recent times. Ablative laser technological systems are able to clean and protect inestimable works of art subject to atmospheric agents and degradation over time. This new technology, which has been developing for the last forty year, is now available to restorers and has received a significant success all over Europe. An important contribution in the process of laser innovation has been carried out in Florence by local actors belonging to a creative cluster. The objects of the analysis are the genesis of this innovation in this local Florentine context, and the relationships among the main actors who have contributed in it. The study investigates how culture can play a part in the generation of ideas and innovations, and which are the creative environments that can favour it. In this context, the issue of laser technologies for the restoration of cultural heritage has been analysed as a case study in the various paths taken by the Creative Capacity of the Culture (CCC).

Cultural leaders and the clash of civilizations

This article builds a micro founded model of the clash of cultures. The clash is defined as the parent's fear of a trait change by their child in an overlapping generations model with intergenerational transmission of cultural traits. The extent of the clash is manipulated by cultural leaders who benefit from the cultural education effort by parents. We identify three channels through which the leaders can affect the clash of cultures: (i) by providing beneficial cultural values, (ii) by claims of cultural superiority and (iii) by cultural alienation, i.e. by inducing cultural dislike towards their own group. We show that all three channels can be in the leader's interest but channels (ii) and (iii) reduce the utility of the leader's goup members. This hints to a strong conflict of interest within groups - between the population at large and the benefactors of radicalization. We further show how the use of alienation relates to the economic opportunities available to a group.

Cirugía del Bien Cultural. Técnicas de Rehabilitación/Refuerzos para edificios históricos del Patrimonio Cultura (E2.26)

La vulnerabilitat dels vells edificis històrics de maçoneria, a causa del dany desproporcionat fora del plànol de càrrega (causat pel vent, explosions, inundacions o moviments sísmics és un dels greus problemes que enfronten avui dia els enginyers estructurals En l'actualitat s'han desenvolupat diverses tècniques innovadores de rehabilitació d'edificis històrics. L'eficàcia de moltes d'elles ha estat provada tant en laboratoris o sota condicions de càrrega real, tals com moviments sísmics. La qualitat i tipus dels materials de maçoneria i el disseny estructural són criteris fonamentals en l'elecció del mètode de reforç. En aques document es presenten les tècniques més utilitzades en la rehabilitació tradicional i les tècniques modernes i innovadores de rehabilitació utilitzant composites avançats

La Accesibilidad en el Patrimonio Cultural: Necesidades funcionales, barreras y análisis de la intervención

Com part de l'Estat de l'Art que aborda aquest primer subprojecte de PATRAC es continua en aquest segon lliurable amb una major concreció sobre els condicionaments funcionals de la població a l'hora d'accedir a edificacions i espais del patrimoni. Atès que PATRAC pretén desenvolupar solucions i alternatives als problemes concrets d'accessibilitat en el patrimoni, hem considerat necessari aprofundir en el coneixement de les limitacions funcionals humanes i les condicions concretes dels entorns que determinen l'existència de barreres. Aquestes anàlisis s'acompanyen de recomanacions per a facilitar l'accés de persones amb diferents perfils funcionals als entorns i serveis públics, tals com els quals es presten en monuments del patrimoni històric-cultural. Finalment el document revisa les formes d'intervenció habituals de les empreses i especialistes en el camp de l'auditoria d'accessibilitat i en la restauració del patrimoni a l'efecte de buscar fórmules de coordinació per a una millora de resultats des del punt de vista d'incrementar l'accessibilitat per a tot tipus de persones.

Dimensionality of drinking consequences - cross-cultural comparability and stability over time

Despite the long tradition for asking about the negative social and health consequences of alcohol consumption in surveys, little is known about the dimensionality of these consequences. Analysing cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the Nordic Taxation Study collected for Sweden, Finland, and Denmark in two waves in 2003 and 2004 by means of an explorative principal component analysis for categorical data (CATPCA), it is tested whether consequences have a single underlying dimension across cultures. It further tests the reliability, replicability, concurrent and predictive validity of the consequence scales. A one-dimensional solution was commonly preferable. Whereas the two-dimensional solution was unable to distinguish clearly between different concepts of consequences, the one-dimensional solution resulted in interpretable, generally very stable scales within countries across different samples and time.