John Donne's metaphors of self and empire: a cognitive analysis

Donne's strategies to win the authority of the 'domain' of love in his poetry are attempts to claim a personal domain for himself. This essay focuses on this personal domain in order to analyse the concept of self in Donne's poetry. Lakoff and Johnson's discussion about the basic metaphors embedded in our childhood by which we conceptualise the notion of self presents the cognitive bases of Donne's different metaphors of self. Significantly, as a poet of late Renaissance, Donne's metaphors have close association with imperial and colonial patterns. Combining insights from cognitive poetics and Edward Said's views about culture and imperialism, the writers try to look into the way the poet uses these metaphors to fashion a sense of communal/national identity. The essay will further focus on the multiple representations of self in Donne's poetry and the paradoxical signification of his identity

Investigation of Performance Management Behaviors in Educational Managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences

Performance management supports the power of knowledge in the academic system and makes this knowledge a comparative advantage. The amount of performance management behavior expressed by managers affects their assessment and ability to improve. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the performance management behaviors expressed by the educational managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences. This is a descriptive-analytic study. The population under study includes the educational managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences. A census was applied as the sampling method. Performance Management Behavior Questionnaire (PMBQ) was applied as the data collection instrument. After evaluating the validity and reliability of this instrument, data would be analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical tests. Of all distributed questionnaires, 144 were filled and recollected. The obtained means were average or higher for all aspects. The average score of male and female managers was respectively equal to 89.58 and 86.77. The total average score was 83.58 with the standard deviation of 6.4224. In no aspect, the difference between average scores of male and female managers was statistically significant. As to the performance expectations, there was a significant difference in behavior of managers with different management experiences (p=0.014). According to the results, the educational managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences have all evaluated their performance management behaviors to be generally desirable

Ljubav je imperij: Kognitivna analiza metafora imperija u ljubavnoj poeziji Johna Donnea

The poetry of John Donne is replete with elaborate metaphors. As the products of an age of nascent imperialism and colonization, the metaphors he uses to describe the concept of love demonstrate his deep preoccupation with the question of imperial domain. These metaphors have mostly been studied in the light of his political and religious tendencies. However, according to cognitive poetics as a recent literary discipline, these metaphors are windows across the way the poet understands different concepts. Lakoff and Johnson argue that the metaphor is not merely a linguistic matter, but our very conceptual system is fundamentally metaphorical, and we understand the world metaphorically. A cognitive poetic approach will help us reveal how the poet constructs his metaphors cognitively, what are the internal structures of his metaphors, and what are the interrelations between these metaphors and the ideologies of the time. By combining insights from cognitive poetics and Edward Said’s views about culture and imperialism, we can better understand the world of love Donne creates in his poetry and its relations with the world outside.Poezija Johna Donnea obiluje raskošnim metaforama. Kao proizvod razdoblja ranog imperijalizma i kolonizacije, metafore koje rabi za opisivanje koncepta ljubavi pokazuju Donneovu duboku preokupaciju pitanjem imperijalne vladavine. Te su metafore uglavnom proučavane u svjetlu Donneovih političkih i religijskih sklonosti. Međutim, sukladno postavkama nove discipline kognitivne poetike, te metafore pružaju uvid u način na koji pjesnik razumije različite pojmove. Lakoff i Johnson tvrde da metafora nije samo lingvistički fenomen, već da je naš konceptualni sustav u osnovi metaforičan te da svijet shvaćamo metaforički. Kognitivnopoetički pristup pomaže nam otkriti kako pjesnik kognitivno oblikuje svoje metafore, koje su unutarnje strukture njegovih metafora te koji su međusobni odnosi između tih metafora i ideologija određenog razdoblja. Kombiniranjem saznanja kognitivne poetike i postavki Edwarda Saida o kulturi i imperijalizmu možemo bolje razumjeti svijet ljubavi koji Donne stvara u svojoj poeziji i njegov odnos prema svijetu koji ga okružuje

Requirements for effective academic leadership in Iran: A Nominal Group Technique exercise

Background. During the last two decades, medical education in Iran has shifted from elite to mass education, with a considerable increase in number of schools, faculties, and programs. Because of this transformation, it is a good case now to explore academic leadership in a non-western country. The objective of this study was to explore the views on effective academic leadership requirements held by key informants in Iran's medical education system. Methods. A nominal group study was conducted by strategic sampling in which participants were requested to discuss and report on requirements for academic leadership, suggestions and barriers. Written notes from the discussions were transcribed and subjected to content analysis. Results. Six themes of effective academic leadership emerged: 1)shared vision, goal, and strategy, 2) teaching and research leadership, 3) fair and efficient management, 4) mutual trust and respect, 5) development and recognition, and 6) transformational leadership. Current Iranian academic leadership suffers from lack of meritocracy, conservative leaders, politicization, bureaucracy, and belief in misconceptions. Conclusion. The structure of the Iranian medical university system is not supportive of effective academic leadership. However, participants' views on effective academic leadership are in line with what is also found in the western literature, that is, if the managers could create the premises for a supportive and transformational leadership, they could generate mutual trust and respect in academia and increase scientific production. © 2008 Bikmoradi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Investigation of Performance Management Behaviors in Educational Managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences

Performance management supports the power of knowledge in the academic system and makes this knowledge a comparative advantage. The amount of performance management behavior expressed by managers affects their assessment and ability to improve. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the performance management behaviors expressed by the educational managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences. This is a descriptive-analytic study. The population under study includes the educational managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences. A census was applied as the sampling method. Performance Management Behavior Questionnaire (PMBQ) was applied as the data collection instrument. After evaluating the validity and reliability of this instrument, data would be analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical tests. Of all distributed questionnaires, 144 were filled and recollected. The obtained means were average or higher for all aspects. The average score of male and female managers was respectively equal to 89.58 and 86.77. The total average score was 83.58 with the standard deviation of 6.4224. In no aspect, the difference between average scores of male and female managers was statistically significant. As to the performance expectations, there was a significant difference in behavior of managers with different management experiences (p=0.014). According to the results, the educational managers of Iran University of Medical Sciences have all evaluated their performance management behaviors to be generally desirable

Comparison of the effects of vid-cast and lecture-based training courses on burn knowledge among medical interns at the Motahari burn hospital

Background: A training course on burn infection and care is one of the courses that medical students take during their internship. This training course has not yet been taught through e-learning in medical schools in Iran. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of two methods: traditional lecturing and employing a vid-cast with interactive electronic content, on the knowledge of interns in a training course on burns. Methods: This quasi-experimental study with a pre-post non-equivalent group design was conducted among medical interns taking burn rotation training courses at the Motahari burn hospital, affiliated with the Iran University of Medical Sciences. The two groups were given a pre-test at the beginning of the course. One group was given in-person lectures, and the other was given the same content in the form of a vid-cast with interactive electronic files. At the end of the rotation course, a post-test was administered on the planned content, and scores of both groups were compared. Results: The pre-test mean scores in the lecture group before and after the training intervention were 8 and 14.2, respectively; this difference was significant (P<0.001). The difference between the pre-test and post-test mean scores in the vid-cast group was also significant (P<0.001).The mean of post-test scores in the lecture group was 14.92 and 17.24 in the e-learning group; this difference was also significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Post-test scores in the e-learning group were higher with a significant statistical difference, suggesting that the e-learning outperformed their counterparts in the traditional lecture model. It is recommended that e-learning be used either as a supplementary or the main method of training in burn infection and care for interns