Experiences of Danish Business Expatriates in Russia: Power Distance in Organizational Communication

Rapid globalization of business processes stimulates many companies to dispatch their employees – business expatriates – on overseas assignments. Russia differs markedly from many other cultures in terms of specific communication norms and rules. Understanding such differences in organizational life is crucial for the success of business expatriates working there. This study employs in-depth interviews with eight Danish business expatriates who worked in Russia and examines the differences between the Danes and the Russians in terms of communication characteristics related to Hofstede’s cultural dimension power distance. This work enhances scholars’ empirical knowledge of power distance, which has rarely been investigated qualitatively.     

Geographic clustering of economic activity: The case of prominent western visual artists

This article compiles original data relating to artists’ place of birth and work migration patterns using various art history dictionaries. The broad historic pattern, from the 13th to the 20th century, of the birth locations of prominent artists is examined, followed by a detailed study of the work migration patterns of prominent artists in two important situations, namely Renaissance Italy and France in part of the 19th century. The evidence indicates a marked clustering of activity of prominent artists, both arising from birth location and migration patterns. Some possible explanations for the observed patterns are briefly outlined.

Age and sex influences on running mechanics and coordination variability

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of age on running mechanics separately for male and female runners and to quantify sex differences in running mechanics and coordination variability for older runners. Kinematics and kinetics were captured for 20 younger (10 male) and 20 older (10 male) adults running overground at 3.5 m · s^?1. A modified vector coding technique was used to calculate segment coordination variability. Lower extremity joint angles, moments and segment coordination variability were compared between age and sex groups. Significant sex–age interaction effects were found for heel-strike hip flexion and ankle in/eversion angles and peak ankle dorsiflexion angle. In older adults, mid-stance knee flexion angle, ankle inversion and abduction moments and hip abduction and external rotation moments differed by sex. Older compared with younger females had reduced coordination variability in the thigh–shank transverse plane couple but greater coordination variability for the shank rotation–foot eversion couple in early stance. These results suggest there may be a non-equivalent aging process in the movement mechanics for males and females. The age and sex differences in running mechanics and coordination variability highlight the need for sex-based analyses for future studies examining injury risk with age.     

Children's adaptive behavior scale: A new measure of adaptive functioning

This article describes a new instrument for the measurement of adaptive behavior that is administered directly to the child. It was designed for brief administration, to be educationally relevant, and to measure these five domains of adaptive behavior: Language Development, Independent Functioning, Family Role Performance and Economic-Vocational Activity, and Socialization. An initial study of test-retest reliability indicates the instrument has high reliability.     

The effect of imaginative play actions on language development in five-year-old children

The study, using 60 five-year-olds, investigated forms of play: (a) self-action, (b) puppet-action, and (c) control treatments and differences between the sexes on aural language recall scores using semantic, absolute, and syntactic criteria. The results of the preliminary analyses between treatment groups and sex differences on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Harris-Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test indicated no significant main or interaction effects. The subjects in treatment groups and boys and girls were relatively homogeneous on receptive language IQ and motor coordination, respectively. With 3 × 2 factorial analysis of variance experiments run on aural language recall for each of the three criteria, several significant results were noted: (a) Using the semantic criteria for scoring aural language recall, self-action play yielded significantly higher mean scores than either puppet-action or control groups. (b) Using the semantic criteria to score aural language recall, girls yielded significantly higher scores than boys. (c) Using either the absolute or syntactic scoring criteria, the results of the analysis indicated no significant main or interaction effects on aural language recall.     

Factor structure evidence for developmental levels of perceptual processing on the developmental test of visual-motor integration

Beery's Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration was individually administered to 193 school-age children. Test protocols were factor analyzed by a principal component solution. Four factors were obtained, indicating that the test does not measure a unitary dimension of perceptual-motor development, but rather four distinct levels or stages for the age range of children investigated. The structural features of the designs that make up the test were used to define the factors. It is argued that a more useful interpretation of performance on this test would be one that designates visualmotor processing in terms of levels, not age equivalents.     

Deploying a Corporate Learning System at the Innovative Startup

The article discusses an empirical study that was conducted by the authors, in which they surveyed focus groups of young innovative entrepreneurs who are at different stages of creating their own projects. The authors devote particular attention to how training programs for the founders and staff should be implemented as the startup develops from its early phases into a sustainable-growth business.     

Has inclusion become a barrier to inclusion?

In this reflective piece the author focuses on the meaning that he made of inclusion in a book that was published almost twenty years ago. He then reflects on the meaning he makes of the current situation. He explores the problematic nature of the concept of inclusion, whether labels actually enable inclusion, research-informed implications of inclusion for those who do not experience SEND and the damaging impact of hyperaccountability and marketisation. He proposes that we may find future solutions by embracing complexities and educating for diversities.     

Young Children’s Ability to Produce Valid and Relevant Counter-Arguments

In collaborative problem solving, children produce and evaluate arguments for proposals. We investigated whether 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 192) can produce and evaluate arguments against those arguments (i.e., counter-arguments). In Study 1, each child within a peer dyad was privately given a reason to prefer one over another solution to a task. One child, however, was given further information that would refute the reasoning of their partner. Five-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, identified and produced valid and relevant counter-arguments. In Study 2, 3-year-olds were given discourse training (discourse that contrasted valid and invalid counter-arguments) and then given the same problem-solving tasks. After training, 3-year-olds could also identify and produce valid and relevant counter-arguments. Thus, participating in discourse about reasons facilitates children’s counter-argumentation.