The impact of a prejudice-prevention television program on young children’s ideas about race

Two studies investigated whether children’s television programs that were produced to decrease racial prejudice had the intended positive effect on young children. Study 1 measured 60 White 5- and 6-year-old children’s attitudes toward Asian, Black, and White stimuli prior to, and immediately following, a brief, one-time anti-prejudice television program. No significant change was observed. Study 2 assessed the attitudes of 30 White 3–6-year-old children toward Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White stimuli at the beginning and end of a 3-week intervention period. During the intervention period children watched a pro-diversity television program four times. Plot and anti-prejudice message comprehension was assessed at three time-points during the testing period. Participants improved on plot and message comprehension over time, but no change in ideas about race was evidenced (children indicated a strong pro-White bias at both pre- and post-test). Possible reasons for, and implications of, this lack of change are discussed.     

Factors favouring or impeding building a stronger higher education system in the United Arab Emirates

The paper examines the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the higher education system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Using a literature review, three elements were examined: its development and structure, quality, and research capacity. The findings reveal that the UAE’s higher education sector has witnessed remarkable growth since 1997, guided by the state’s policy commitment, and few restrictions on foreign universities opening branches in the UAE. This situation has led to substantial growth in the supply of higher education opportunities for the Emirati and expatriate population. Despite the UAE having achieved a high ranking for ‘quality indicators’ on the global level in the World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Reports, the quality of graduates, education, and research engagement is still debatable. Significant efforts are needed to ensure that these critical issues, as well as the understudied expansion of higher education institutions, are being addressed to erase the misalignment with the UAE’s strategic goals.     

德国在阿拉伯国家海外办学模式研究

随着全球化进程的加速,海外办学成为德国高等教育国际化的重要内容,而处在经济社会转型期的阿拉伯国家对高等教育有着迫切的需求,这为双方的教育合作打下了基础,阿拉伯国家因此成为德国海外办学的重点区域。德国大学在该地区设立海外分校、开设联合专业、联合开办大学,其中联合开办大学是德国在该地区海外办学最重要的形式。德国在阿拉伯地区的海外办学有着不同于其他国家的特色,体现出强烈的政治化倾向、分布在经济欠发达国家及新兴市场、带有发展援助性质、专业以工科自然科学为主、并提供海外交流机会。     

阿拉伯伊斯兰文化对东方文学的影响

阿拉伯伊斯兰文化是东方的三大文化体系之一。它对西亚、南亚、中亚、东南亚、东非和西非等地区许多国家的文学产生了广泛而深刻的影响     

Beware the winter is coming! Arab Spring in the global media

This study critically examines how the global media uses the concept of revolution when reporting about the Arab Spring. The understanding of the concept informed by historical Western revolutionary events perpetuates Eurocentrism which continues the inability to comprehend the regional, cultural, and political peculiarities of the Arab Spring. Media framing analysis reveals the use of the outdated notions of revolution based on six common attributes. The concept of revolution defined by the six attributes fails to address the events because it is delimited by its own Western origin and with its own understanding of modernization and progress. Such use of the concept is maintained by the media but also affects perception of the events while de-emphasizing their revolutionary character.     

Assessment of OpenStreetMap (OSM) Data: The Case of Abu Dhabi City,United Arab Emirates

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data are crucial for many applications such as disaster response, damage assessment, and recovery efforts. The 2010 Haiti earthquake destroyed buildings where GIS data were stored and many of the relief organizations ultimately depended on data retrieved from outside the country to do their work. The lesson learnt from this experience is that open access data is necessary in assisting tasks in such situations and therefore the evaluation of such data for its quality is important. This research evaluates OpenStreetMap (OSM) data that can be and is used by various organizations. The methodology followed is based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Geographic Information-Quality Principles (ISO19113). According to the ISO19113 standard, the data quality elements are: completeness, logical consistency, positional accuracy, thematic accuracy, and temporal accuracy. The first four elements noted above were tested in this study. OSM data was compared with official data from Abu Dhabi city. Results show that the positional accuracy of OSM data meets the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) standards for 1:20,000-scale maps. This indicates that OSM data could be used for many applications, taking into account the hurdles in GIS data acquisition, cost, availability, licensing, distribution policies, and documentation. The article concludes with a call for incorporation of geospatial data services and data quality initiatives in libraries.     

Disposition-Content Congruency and the Negation of Media Stereotypes

A critical assessment of mass-mediated stereotypes by media users can be deemed as beneficial for an open and humane society. One important concept in this regard is negation, which refers to an internal attempt to negate newly encountered stereotypic media content. This study predicted that disposition-content congruence moderates the negation process. In fact, it investigated whether those whose prejudicial dispositions are congruent with the stereotypic content negate less. An experiment (N = 245) using a quota-based sample was used to test the hypothesis. Participants read stereotypic crime texts including the “criminal foreigner”-stereotype or matched control texts. As hypothesized, unprejudiced readers who held favorable attitudes toward the social minority group negated the stereotypic information. Conversely, highly prejudiced individuals showed even less negation when exposed to the stereotypic versions of the crime texts. Highly prejudiced readers might have viewed exposure to criminal foreigners as a confirmation of their attitudinal predispositions.     

《傲慢与偏见》中的语用学渗透——言语行为理论和违背合作原则的体现

《傲慢与偏见》是英国著名作家JoAusten的代表作,本文借助语用学理论分析该书的语言特色,进一步揭示小说中人物的性格特征、人物情感及情节发展。     

谈《傲慢与偏见》的喜剧色彩

《傲慢与偏见》为世界文学史上的不朽之作,其作者简·奥斯丁在小说中描绘了多位性格各异的喜剧人物,创造了一系列喜剧情节,运用了讽刺,反语等多种创作手法。她的作品风趣幽默,细致敏锐,其浓郁的喜剧色彩成为小说的重要特征之一。     

巴以冲突的由来与展望

巴以冲突是进入到新世纪以来国际关系中的一个重要问题。这个问题由来已久，这是一个历史问题，也是一个国际问题。如何能使巴以结束战争，通过谈判来解决问题，这不仅是国际社会所关注的问题，也是的的爱好和平的人所关注的问题。对巴以冲突的展望，最终的解决办法也是最好的解决方法就是和平方式。