Exploring collaboration patterns among global software development teams.

This study examines communication behaviors in global software student teams. The authors of the paper characterize the types of communication behaviors that occur when student teams are engaged in a software development project. The authors present findings from a one-semester study that examined factors contributing to successful distributed programming interactions among students enrolled at the University of Atilim (Turkey), Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, University of North Texas, and Middlesex University (UK). Using content and cluster analyses techniques, we identified distinct patterns of collaboration and examined how these patterns were associated with task, culture, GPA, and performance of collaborative teams. Our results suggest that communication patterns among global software learners may be related to task type, culture and GPA. It is hoped that these findings will lead to the development of new strategies for improving communication among global software teams

National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support

Conducted by Americans for the Arts and Ohio State University to document the patterns and sources of support to the nonprofit arts and culture sector in the U.S

Four not six: revealing culturally common facial expressions of emotion

As a highly social species, humans generate complex facial expressions to communicate a diverse range of emotions. Since Darwin’s work, identifying amongst these complex patterns which are common across cultures and which are culture-specific has remained a central question in psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and more recently machine vision and social robotics. Classic approaches to addressing this question typically tested the cross-cultural recognition of theoretically motivated facial expressions representing six emotions, and reported universality. Yet, variable recognition accuracy across cultures suggests a narrower cross-cultural communication, supported by sets of simpler expressive patterns embedded in more complex facial expressions. We explore this hypothesis by modelling the facial expressions of over 60 emotions across two cultures, and segregating out the latent expressive patterns. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we first map the conceptual organization of a broad spectrum of emotion words by building semantic networks in two cultures. For each emotion word in each culture, we then model and validate its corresponding dynamic facial expression, producing over 60 culturally valid facial expression models. We then apply to the pooled models a multivariate data reduction technique, revealing four latent and culturally common facial expression patterns that each communicates specific combinations of valence, arousal and dominance. We then reveal the face movements that accentuate each latent expressive pattern to create complex facial expressions. Our data questions the widely held view that six facial expression patterns are universal, instead suggesting four latent expressive patterns with direct implications for emotion communication, social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and social robotics

410 Romanian Managers’ Opinion Regarding the Place and Role of the Organizational culture in the Sustainable Development Management

In the sustainable development management, the following important elements are present and operate: rules of conduct, values, aspirations and expectations, beliefs, specific myths, learned behavior patterns, habits, visible symbols of the company, motivation / reward systems, rights and obligations, components of the organizational culture. These generate the way the activities of sustainable development are structured. The organizational culture influences the sustainable development at the economic, social and environmental level. It contains sustainable values for change, oriented towards the sustainable development management.organizational culture; sustainable development management; the determinants of the organizational culture; human capital; organizational culture dimensions.

When in Rome Think Like a Roman: Empirical Evidence and Implications of Temporarily Adopting Dialectical Thinking

As a result of increasing globalization, people are exposed to an even greater extent to other cultures, making it possible for individuals to assimilate mindsets that are typical of another culture. Recent work on extracultural cognition has shown that immediate cultural contexts exert powerful influences on cognition and behavioral patterns. This chapter reviews empirical support for extracultural cognition. Specifically, the chapter focuses on dialectical thinking and the well-established finding in the cultural literature that Westerners tend to anticipate linear continuity in the environment and East Asians anticipate change in existing patterns. Research shows, though, that cultural cues may shift these tendencies and—at least temporarily—alter cognitive mindsets to reflect the cognitions of another culture. After a review of the literature, the chapter addresses the implications of extracultural cognition for understanding the influence of dialectical thinking on judgment and decision-making

A MultiAgent System for Choosing Software Patterns

Software patterns enable an efficient transfer of design experience by documenting common solutions to recurring design problems. They contain valuable knowledge that can be reused by others, in particular, by less experienced developers. Patterns have been published for system architecture and detailed design, as well as for specific application domains (e.g. agents and security). However, given the steadily growing number of patterns in the literature and online repositories, it can be hard for non-experts to select patterns appropriate to their needs, or even to be aware of the existing patterns. In this paper, we present a multi-agent system that supports developers in choosing patterns that are suitable for a given design problem. The system implements an implicit culture approach for recommending patterns to developers based on the history of decisions made by other developers regarding which patterns to use in related design problems. The recommendations are complemented with the documents from a pattern repository that can be accessed by the agents. The paper includes a set of experimental results obtained using a repository of security patterns. The results prove the viability of the proposed approach

Design Archeology: Graphic Reconstructions of Kreuzberg, Berlin

Design Archeology combines communication design with archeological methods for evaluating material culture to produce new forms of graphic identity. It is a research methodology for examining cultural practices and activities of the moment in order to create a “snapshot” of a community’s identity from its material culture. Graphic Reconstructions of Kreuzberg Berlin is a graphic identity developed from ephemera (receipts, tickets, posters and flyers) collected from the streets of Kreuzberg, Berlin over a three-week period. The project examines the language of transactions and advertising and its impact on community identity. The final series of posters were installed back at the original site in Berlin. Surrounded by a plethora of advertisements, receipts, tickets, receipts, junk mail and more, this ephemera offers an immediate “snapshot” into a very specific moment in time. What if the information contained within could be captured, recorded, and interpreted? What would it tell us about that specific moment in time, identity, cultural patterns, and the relationship of language and media? These Graphic reconstructions manifest itself in the form of posters and receipts. The content used in the posters came from transaction-based ephemera, and the content used in the receipts came from advertising-based ephemera. The inversion of media was used to “make strange” and change the context in which these items are normally seen, in an effort to reexamine cultural patterns and information that normally go unseen. This was done as a tool to evaluate transaction language, consumption and selling patterns and the locality of Kreuzberg. While the outcome does not offer a cohesive identity, it reveals ethnic backgrounds, trends in purchases, travel patterns based on transaction, nightlife locations, and a globalized and “businessfied” culture. Keywords: Design; Design Archeology; Ephemera; Artifact; Research; Found Object; Berlin</p

The Image of Public Relations in Indonesian 2001: Myth and Reality in Multicultural Approach

In global environment, understanding and managing multiculturalism mean recognizing similarities and differences among various cultures and use this cultural diversity to achieve one\u27s goal. Therefore, it is important to study the impact of cultural contrast upon some practical aspects such as: language; method of communication; cultural as well as management cultures. Culture influences the way in which people interact with one method and has direct impact upon communication patterns. If communication patterns are influenced by culture differences, it is important for public relations managers to be aware of individual behavior. The myth and reality of the Indonesian culture in its unique pluralistic characteristics known as “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (Unity through Diversity) represent the Asian society. Dreaming upon the traditional Asian and uniquely Indonesian cultural values, the Indonesian managers of 2001 appear to be successfully working within the cultural boundaries of Asian and Western corporate values. This paper discusses the relationship between cultural and Public Relations practice in Indonesia embracing the trend of 2001—focused on image and possible cultural sensitivity building by means of blending the Asian and Western values to create a synergeticorganizations in practicing Public Relations At 21st centuries

Searching for plasticity in dissociated cortical cultures on multi-electrode arrays

We attempted to induce functional plasticity in dense cultures of cortical cells using stimulation through extracellular electrodes embedded in the culture dish substrate (multi-electrode arrays, or MEAs). We looked for plasticity expressed in changes in spontaneous burst patterns, and in array-wide response patterns to electrical stimuli, following several induction protocols related to those used in the literature, as well as some novel ones. Experiments were performed with spontaneous culture-wide bursting suppressed by either distributed electrical stimulation or by elevated extracellular magnesium concentrations as well as with spontaneous bursting untreated. Changes concomitant with induction were no larger in magnitude than changes that occurred spontaneously, except in one novel protocol in which spontaneous bursts were quieted using distributed electrical stimulation

Fitting in : social inclusion in workplaces where people with intellectual disability are employed : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Rehabilitation at Massey University

Work is one important aspect of inclusion for people with intellectual disability. Success at work and inclusion in the culture of the workplace is a crucial step towards community membership. This research explored the potential of workplace culture analysis for identifying inclusive characteristics of New Zealand workplaces where people with intellectual disability were employed. Eight different workplaces were surveyed and patterns and variations in job entry, orientation and training, company policies, job design, custom and practice, and social opportunities were examined. Several factors influencing inclusion of employees in the workplace culture were identified, e.g. full-time vs. part-time, level of employment support, limiting expectations, employer and co-worker attitudes. The implications of results for tertiary transition programmes and further research are discussed