The Effect of Cultural and Emotional Intelligence on Mentor and Protege Perceptions of Attitude Homophily and Relationship Quality in Culturally Diverse Mentoring Relationships

Mentoring has become more common in organizations as firms have discovered the benefits of this process, such as the retention and cultivation of employees who create the work and products of the organization. To meet the challenges associated with increasing diversity within organizations, researchers have focused on understanding diverse mentoring relationships (Athey, Avery, & Zemsky, 2000; Clutterbuck & Ragins, 2002; Hardy, 1998; Knouse, Hill, & Webb, 2005; Ragins, 1997). The demographic (e.g., ethnicity, gender, age) and situational (e.g., position, power) disparities between mentors and protégés often make it more difficult for diverse partners to develop quality relationships that are needed to realize the full benefits of mentoring. The purpose of this study is to identify important antecedents (i.e., cultural and emotional intelligence) that may foster a higher level of perceived attitude homophily (or attitude similarity) among diverse mentoring partners as well as higher quality mentoring relationships. Drawing on social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978), I contend that mentors and protégés who are socially intelligent (i.e., culturally and emotionally) will be better mentoring partners. As a result of the enhanced social intelligence, they will have a higher perception of having the same attitudes as their partners, in turn corresponding to a higher quality relationship with their partners. This model was tested on mentors and protégés (not matched pairs) that were involved in racially and/or ethnically diverse mentoring relationships. The self-reports were used to test regression hypotheses of cultural and emotional intelligence on attitude homophily and perception of mentoring relationship quality. Bootstrapping was done to investigate mediation of attitude homophily on the relationships of cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence on relationship quality. Regression results found significant positive relationships of emotional intelligence on attitude homophily for mentors, and on relationship quality for both mentors and protégés. It also found a significant positive relationship between mentors\u27 metacognitive domain of cultural intelligence and relationship quality. Attitude homophily was also found to have a significant positive relationship to perception of relationship quality for both mentors and protégés. The other hypotheses were not proven through regression, although high and mostly significant correlations existed between all the main constructs of this study in both groups. This study offers several contributions to mentoring research. One is that it examined the mentoring relationship from a fairly new theoretical perspective, social information processing, which may yield new insight into mentoring. It empirically tested a model that is grounded in SIP and validated success criteria of attitude homophily and relationship quality of mentors/protégés with their partners. This study also offers practical contributions. It is possible for organizations to test and train individuals that one is considering for a diverse mentoring relationship in emotional intelligence. The impact of this testing and training may result in higher quality mentoring relationships, which will be beneficial to the mentor/protégé in diverse mentoring relationships

Have we been measuring their effectiveness all wrong?

Evaluating whether sustainability indicator schemes contribute to better sustainable destination management has proven challenging. We adopt a systems thinking approach to shed light on the elusive impacts of sustainable tourism indicator schemes. We conduct online participatory workshops with 19 experts in sustainable tourism monitoring, to produce a causal loop diagram that illustrates how destination systems behave when indicator schemes are implemented. The results show that until now, these schemes have been expected to follow utopian, evidence-based, policy pathways to change, but we now understand that this linear-thinking approach fails to recognize the complex interplay of factors that occur during implementation. We find that indicator schemes can spark a rich, yet unappreciated, series of conceptual, instrumental, and structural dynamics. We conclude that the hidden power of these schemes lies in their ability to foster dialog, stimulate learning, incentivize network development, challenge takeholder worldviews, and steer systems change toward sustainable destination management.authorsversioninpres

Selected Morphological Characteristics, Lead Uptake and Phytochelatin Synthesis by Coffeeweed (Sesbania exaltata Raf.) Grown in Elevated Levels of Lead-Contaminated Soil

Remediation of lead-contaminated soil is significant due to the inherent toxicity of lead (Pb), and the quantity of Pb discharged into the soil. One of the most cost-effective and environmentally sound technologies for the cleanup of metal-contaminated soils is through the use of plants. While much is known about the ecological evolution of metal tolerance in plants, the physiological, biochemical, and genetic mechanisms of tolerance is not well understood in the majority of resistant ecotypes such as the legume, Sesbania exaltata Raf. This study was therefore conducted to determine the morphological and physiological characteristics of Sesbania that had been grown in Pb-contaminated soil, and to assess phytochelatin synthesis as a way of elucidating its relative Pb tolerance. Sesbania plants were grown in the greenhouse and exposed to various levels of Pb: 0, 1000, and 2000 mg Pb/kg soil. Plants were harvested after 6, 8, and 10 weeks of growth and morphological characteristics (e.g., root and shoot biomass, root length, number of root nodules, shoot height, number of leaves, number of flowers, number and length of pods) were recorded. Generally, there were no statistical differences in morphological characteristics among the treatments. Further, no discernible phytotoxic symptoms, such as chlorosis, wilting, or necrotic lesions, in neither roots nor shoots were observed. We concluded that while Sesbania did not fit the model of a hyperaccumulator, the plant was, nonetheless, tolerant to elevated Pb levels. Our assessment for phytochelatin synthesis as a tolerance mechanism was inconclusive and further investigations of tolerance mechanisms are warranted

Meiosis I chromosome segregation is established through regulation of microtubule–kinetochore interactions

During meiosis, a single round of DNA replication is followed by two consecutive rounds of nuclear divisions called meiosis I and meiosis II. In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes segregate, while sister chromatids remain together. Determining how this unusual chromosome segregation behavior is established is central to understanding germ cell development. Here we show that preventing microtubule–kinetochore interactions during premeiotic S phase and prophase I is essential for establishing the meiosis I chromosome segregation pattern. Premature interactions of kinetochores with microtubules transform meiosis I into a mitosis-like division by disrupting two key meiosis I events: coorientation of sister kinetochores and protection of centromeric cohesin removal from chromosomes. Furthermore we find that restricting outer kinetochore assembly contributes to preventing premature engagement of microtubules with kinetochores. We propose that inhibition of microtubule–kinetochore interactions during premeiotic S phase and prophase I is central to establishing the unique meiosis I chromosome segregation pattern.Howard Hughes Medical InstituteNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant GM62207)Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical ResearchAmerican Cancer Societ

La diversidad cultural y la interculturalidad desde la cosmovisión andino-amazónica en la obra artística de Harry Chávez

La presente investigación tiene su punto de partida en la percepción sobre la dispersión cultural que existe en el país, debido a la ausencia de una conexión en la diversidad cultural que permita establecer interconexiones hacia una interculturalidad que abarque todos los campos del quehacer ciudadano. El término de diversidad cultural se convierte en heterogeneidad dentro de un país de diversas culturas lo que justifica su análisis. El objetivo de esta investigación de caso único, es demostrar que la obra del artista visual Harry Chávez logra conectar la diversidad cultural y establecer la interacción en la interculturalidad a través de sus propuestas artísticas. Planteamos también, analizar el contexto y quehacer de los artistas amazónicos e indigenistas contemporáneos para comprender sus antecedentes. El método utilizado es de enfoque cualitativo y la técnica de recolección y análisis de datos se basan en la observación documental e iconográfica de una muestra representativa de 17 trabajos visuales de Chávez. Los hallazgos determinan que es posible describir las características de la diversidad cultural presentes en el proceso creativo de Chávez y cómo estas se relacionan en su obra para mostrar los aspectos de interculturalidad entre lo andino y amazónico evidentes en el tema, técnicas y procedimientos utilizados por el autor. Asimismo, se demuestra la influencia y/o relación que existe entre las artes plásticas tradicionales y el arte popular como elementos conectores y presentes en la diversidad cultural y la interculturalidad en la obra de Harry Chávez

Investigation of the large-scale neutral hydrogen near the supernova remnant W28

The distribution and kinematics of neutral hydrogen have been studied in a wide area around the supernova remnant W28. A 2.5 x 2.5 arcdeg field centered at l = 6.5 arcdeg, b = 0 arcdeg was surveyed using the Parkes 64-m radio telescope (HPBW 14.7 arcmin at lambda 21 cm). Even though W28 is located in a complex zone of the Galactic plane, we have found different HI features which are evidence of the interaction between W28 and its surrounding gas.Comment: 7 files into a tar.gz file (the Latex file of manuscript, 5 jpg figures, 1 style file: aastex.cls

From Clutter to Cash: Online Book Sales at the University of Maryland’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Library (EPSL)

In 2003 the University of Maryland's Engineering and Physical Sciences Library conducted a pilot project selling gift books on the internet resulting in gross sales totaling $9,326, a net profit of$6,917, for only 96 calculated staff hours. This article describes this project from inception through conclusion summarizing the detailed processes needed to get started and make it profitable, while also giving step-by-step advice on running an online book sale. After three years of operation (over $18,000 in sales), the Library Administration Earned Income Committee recommended retail sales such as this not be part of the Libraries Mission