The Development and Validation of the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale

The present study developed and assessed reliability and validity of a new instrument, the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS). Based on a review of the literature, 44 items thought to be important for intercultural sensitivity were generated. A sample of 414 college students rated these items and generated a 24-item final version of the instrument which contains five factors. An assessment of concurrent validity from 162 participants indicated that the ISS was significantly correlated with other related scales, including interaction attentiveness, impression rewarding, self-esteem, self-monitoring, and perspective taking. In addition, the predicted validity test from 174 participants showed that individuals with high ISS scores also scored high in intercultural effectiveness and intercultural communication attitude scales. Potential limitations of the study were discussed as well

A review of the concept of intercultural awareness

The development of a “global village” strongly demands the ability of intercultural sensitivity between people for all of us to survive in the 21st century. Due to the lack of study on the subject, this paper aims (1) to provide a conceptualization of intercultural sensitivity, (2) to specify the role intercultural sensitivity plays in intercultural training programs, (3) to delineate the components of intercultural sensitivity, and (4) to critique and suggest directions for future study in this line of research. As a result, a working definition of intercultural sensitivity is generated. The components of intercultural sensitivity examined include: (1) self-esteem, (2) self-monitoring, (3) open-mindedness, (4) empathy, (5) interaction involvement, and (6) non-judgement. In addition, the confusion among intercultural awareness, intercultural sensitivity, and intercultural competence is discussed and future directions for research in intercultural sensitivity is suggested

Feeling Homesick at Home: A Dialogue

As we suggested in 2005, “centrisms” exist in historical space, rhetorical space, physical space, national space, postcolonial space, and in mental space. They are inscribed authentically, by those groups who have lived a cultural experience, or inauthentically, by those outside of the community. They reflect a more or less actual history, or they may represent idealized conceptions of how a community should or might be. Centrisms are always at some site of contestation. The avowal of an identity is met with charges of essentialism, and is regarded by some as a binary oversimplification. When viewed as a willing reinscription of identity that replaces what colonial and slave history may have undercut, though, Cote D’Ivoire President Félix Houphouët-Boigny’s words seem apt: “Better to be dominated by a friend than by an enemy.” Our present dialogue questions the utility of centrisms in a globalizing world.” [China Media Research. 2009; 5(1): 87-94

A Review of the Concept of Intercultural Sensitivity

The development of a global village strongly demands the ability of intercultural sensitivity between people for survival in the 21st century. Due to current lack of study on the subject, this paper aims to: (1) provide a conceptualization of intercultural sensitivity; (2) specify the role intercultural sensitivity plays in intercultural training programs; (3) delineate the components of intercultural sensitivity; and (4) critique and suggest directions for future study in this line of research. As a result, a working definition of intercultural sensitivity is generated. The components of intercultural sensitivity examined include: self-esteem, self-monitoring, open-mindedness, empathy, interaction involvement, and non-judgment. In addition, the paper discusses confusion among intercultural awareness, intercultural sensitivity, and intercultural competence and suggests future directions for research in intercultural sensitivity

A high efficiency, low background detector for measuring pair-decay branches in nuclear decay

We describe a high efficiency detector for measuring electron-positron pair transitions in nuclei. The device was built to be insensitive to gamma rays and to accommodate high overall event rates. The design was optimized for total pair kinetic energies up to about 7 MeV.Comment: Accepted for publication by Nucl. Inst. & Meth. in Phys. Res. A (NIM A

Lifetimes of doubly K -shell ionized states

The present work provides a reliable interpretation of the Khα₁/Khα₂ intensity ratios and an explanation of the lifetime values for K-shell hollow atoms based on an advanced theoretical analysis (using extensive multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock calculations with the inclusion of the transverse Breit interaction and quantum electrodynamics corrections). It was found that, as a result of closing the Khα₁ de-excitation channel in the pure LS coupling scheme, the Khα₁/Khα₂ intensity ratio changes with the atomic number from small values (for the LS coupling limit at low Z) to about 1.5– 1.6 (for the j–j coupling limit at high Z). However, closing the Khα₁ de-excitation channel (due to the domination of the pure LS coupling for the low-Z atoms) does not enlarge the lifetimes of hollow atoms