scholarly journals A Systematic Review to Comprehend the Cultural Representation in L2 Mandarin Textbooks

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2653-2674
Author(s):  
Wenyue Lin ◽  
Lay Hoon Ang ◽  
Mei Yuit Chan ◽  
Shamala Paramasivam

Cultural representation in foreign/second language textbooks has received considerable research attention in recent years. This diachronic study reviews previous studies’ methodological trends and research foci on cultural representation in L2 Mandarin textbooks from 2005–2020. It systematically searched all relevant publications in three accessible databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and CNKI. A total number of 48 relevant publications were collected and analyzed. The review indicates that most publications are empirical studies, covering qualitative, quantitative, and mixed studies and most sampled textbooks are elementary textbooks from China. It also reveals that the main source for collecting data is documented, and the commonly used data analysis methods are comparative, content, discourse, and semiotic analysis. Besides that, examining cultural elements in textbooks seems to be a key research focus among the publications, followed by analyzing cultural orientation, unconventional culture phenomenon, and ideology behind cultural representation in textbooks. The current study contributes to the literature by providing a detailed review of cultural representation in L2 Mandarin textbooks and identifying the research gaps. Accordingly, it concludes with recommendations for future research to study cultural representation in textbooks.

Author(s):  
Rakshith K. R. ◽  
Shivakumar . ◽  
Kaushal Sinha ◽  
Vijeth Kumar L. A.

Yoga is an ancient practice with Eastern roots that involves both physical postures (Asanas) and breathing techniques (Pranayamas). Yoga therapy for male sexual problems can effectively be treated through Yoga therapy, particularly with the help of Yoga poses and breathing exercises, Yoga has proven itself highly very effective in the treatment of a number of incurable and sometimes terminable diseases. Then again, Yoga's therapeutic effects are just a spin-off and supplementary. Yoga which has proved to be very effective in the treatment of many impossible and incurable diseases, the therapeutic effect of Yoga is only a by product and incidental. Problems related to sex can very well be handled with Yoga as most often these problems are more related to the mind than body. Either they are caused by lack of confidence or stress or fatigue or fear and very few times some physical cause is there. There is also a cognitive component focusing on meditation and concentration, which aids in achieving the goal of union between the self and the spiritual. Although numerous empirical studies have found a beneficial effect of Yoga on different aspects of physical and psychological functioning, claims of Yoga's beneficial effects on sexuality derive from a rich but no empirical literature. The goal of this article is to review the philosophy and forms of Yoga, to review the no empirical and (limited) empirical literatures linking Yoga with enhanced sexuality, and to propose some future research avenues focusing on Yoga as a treatment for sexual disorder.


Author(s):  
Kelly C. Allison ◽  
Jennifer D. Lundgren

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition, of the American Psychiatric Association (2013) has designated several disorders under the diagnosis of otherwise specified feeding and eating disorder (OSFED). This chapter evaluates three of these, night eating syndrome (NES), purging disorder (PD), and atypical anorexia nervosa (atypical AN). It also reviews orthorexia nervosa, which has been discussed in the clinical realm as well as the popular press. The history and definition for each is reviewed, relevant theoretical models are presented and compared, and evidence for the usefulness of the models is described. Empirical studies examining the disorders’ independence from other disorders, comorbid psychopathology, and, when available, medical comorbidities, are discussed. Distress and impairment in functioning seem comparable between at least three of these emerging disorders and threshold eating disorders. Finally, remaining questions for future research are summarized.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104420732110275
Author(s):  
Alex Nester Jiya ◽  
Maxwell Peprah Opoku ◽  
William Nketsia ◽  
Joslin Alexei Dogbe ◽  
Josephine Nkrumah Adusei

Deplorable living conditions among persons with disabilities and the need to improve their living conditions cannot be overemphasized. This has triggered international discussion on the need for deliberate social policies to bridge the poverty gap between persons with and without disabilities. In Malawi, expansion of financial services has been identified as an essential tool to accelerate economic and inclusive development. However, empirical studies are yet to explore the preparedness of financial institutions to extend their services to persons with disabilities. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from commercial banks in Malawi to understand their perspectives on extending financial services to persons with disabilities. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a descriptive thematic analysis was performed. Although participants reiterated the need to provide persons with disabilities with financial services to improve their well-being, few initiatives have been undertaken to improve their participation. Particularly, participants stated that barriers, such as a lack of financial literacy and adaptive technologies, communication barriers, and high rates of unemployment, explained the reluctance of commercial banks to extend financial services to persons with disabilities. The limitations, recommendations for future research, and implications of the study for policymaking have been highlighted.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110089
Author(s):  
Jee Young Joo ◽  
Megan F. Liu

This scoping review aimed to examine telehealth-assisted case management for chronic illnesses and assess its overall impact on health care delivery. Guided by the PRISMA statement, this review included 36 empirical studies published between 2011 and 2020. This study identified three weaknesses and four strengths of telehealth-assisted case management. While the weaknesses were negative feelings about telehealth, challenges faced by patients in learning and using telehealth devices, and increased workload for case managers, the strengths included efficient and timely care, increased access to health care services, support for patients’ satisfaction, and cost savings. Future research can be designed and conducted for overcoming the weaknesses of telehealth-assisted case management. Additionally, the strengths identified by this review need to be translated from research into case management practice for chronic illness care. This review not only describes the value of such care strategy, but also provides implications for future nursing practice and research.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009164712110219
Author(s):  
T. Ryan Byerly ◽  
Keith J. Edwards ◽  
Peter C. Hill

Researchers in several academic disciplines have begun to take an interest in group character traits, including the character traits of religious congregations. This article reports the first empirical studies of congregational virtues. The Congregational Character Questionnaire was developed for measuring 12 different virtues of Christian churches: clinging to apostolic teaching, honoring teachers, prayerfulness, hopefulness, discipleship, emotional supportiveness, material supportiveness, spiritual equality, unity, submission, peace with the world, and spreading the faith. The instrument was then used with an online sample ( N = 530) to study how congregants’ perceptions of their congregation’s virtuousness related to congregants’ evaluations of their congregation, participation in their congregation, as well as congregants’ satisfaction with life, presence of meaning in life, and religious well-being. Results indicated that congregants’ overall perceptions of congregational virtuousness were significantly positively related to all of these dependent variables. These results help to reveal the important role that congregational character may play in the experience of congregants. Directions for future research in this area are outlined.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huoyin Zhang ◽  
Shiyunmeng Zhang ◽  
Jiachen Lu ◽  
Yi Lei ◽  
Hong Li

AbstractPrevious studies in humans have shown that brain regions activating social exclusion overlap with those related to attention. However, in the context of social exclusion, how does behavioral monitoring affect individual behavior? In this study, we used the Cyberball game to induce the social exclusion effect in a group of participants. To explore the influence of social exclusion on the attention network, we administered the Attention Network Test (ANT) and compared results for the three subsystems of the attention network (orienting, alerting, and executive control) between exclusion (N = 60) and inclusion (N = 60) groups. Compared with the inclusion group, the exclusion group showed shorter overall response time and better executive control performance, but no significant differences in orienting or alerting. The excluded individuals showed a stronger ability to detect and control conflicts. It appears that social exclusion does not always exert a negative influence on individuals. In future research, attention to network can be used as indicators of social exclusion. This may further reveal how social exclusion affects individuals' psychosomatic mechanisms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
Francesc Fusté-Forné ◽  
Tazim Jamal

Research on the relationship between automation services and tourism has been rapidly growing in recent years and has led to a new service landscape where the role of robots is gaining both practical and research attention. This paper builds on previous reviews and undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the research literature to discuss opportunities and challenges presented by the use of service robots in hospitality and tourism. Management and ethical issues are identified and it is noted that practical and ethical issues (roboethics) continue to lack attention. Going forward, new directions are urgently needed to inform future research and practice. Legal and ethical issues must be proactively addressed, and new research paradigms developed to explore the posthumanist and transhumanist transitions that await. In addition, closer attention to the potential of “co-creation” for addressing innovations in enhanced service experiences in hospitality and tourism is merited. Among others, responsibility, inclusiveness and collaborative human-robot design and implementation emerge as important principles to guide future research and practice in this area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Fei Chen ◽  
Duming Luo ◽  
Tao Xiang ◽  
Ping Chen ◽  
Junfeng Fan ◽  
...  

Recent years have seen the rapid development and integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing. The market is providing various consumer-oriented smart IoT devices; the mainstream cloud service providers are building their software stacks to support IoT services. With this emerging trend even growing, the security of such smart IoT cloud systems has drawn much research attention in recent years. To better understand the emerging consumer-oriented smart IoT cloud systems for practical engineers and new researchers, this article presents a review of the most recent research efforts on existing, real, already deployed consumer-oriented IoT cloud applications in the past five years using typical case studies. Specifically, we first present a general model for the IoT cloud ecosystem. Then, using the model, we review and summarize recent, representative research works on emerging smart IoT cloud system security using 10 detailed case studies, with the aim that the case studies together provide insights into the insecurity of current emerging IoT cloud systems. We further present a systematic approach to conduct a security analysis for IoT cloud systems. Based on the proposed security analysis approach, we review and suggest potential security risk mitigation methods to protect IoT cloud systems. We also discuss future research challenges for the IoT cloud security area.


Author(s):  
Andrea Wöhr ◽  
Marius Wuketich

AbstractIt is generally assumed that gamblers, and particularly people with gambling problems (PG), are affected by negative perception and stigmatisation. However, a systematic review of empirical studies investigating the perception of gamblers has not yet been carried out. This article therefore summarises empirical evidence on the perception of gamblers and provides directions for future research. A systematic literature review based on the relevant guidelines was carried out searching three databases. The databases Scopus, PubMed and BASE were used to cover social scientific knowledge, medical-psychological knowledge and grey literature. A total of 48 studies from 37 literature references was found. The perspective in these studies varies: Several studies focus on the perception of gamblers by the general population, by subpopulations (e. g. students or social workers), or by gamblers on themselves. The perspective on recreational gamblers is hardly an issue. A strong focus on persons with gambling problems is symptomatic of the gambling discourse. The analysis of the studies shows that gambling problems are thought to be rather concealable, whereas the negative effects on the concerned persons‘ lives are rated to be quite substantial. PG are described as “irresponsible” and “greedy” while they perceive themselves as “stupid” or “weak”. Only few examples of open discrimination are mentioned. Several studies however put emphasis on the stereotypical way in which PG are portrayed in the media, thus contributing to stigmatisation. Knowledge gaps include insights from longitudinal studies, the influence of respondents‘ age, culture and sex on their views, the relevance of the type of gambling a person is addicted to, and others. Further studies in these fields are needed.


Author(s):  
Florentine U. Salmony ◽  
Dominik K. Kanbach

AbstractThe personality traits that define entrepreneurs have been of significant interest to academic research for several decades. However, previous studies have used vastly different definitions of the term “entrepreneur”, meaning their subjects have ranged from rural farmers to tech-industry start-up founders. Consequently, most research has investigated disparate sub-types of entrepreneurs, which may not allow for inferences to be made regarding the general entrepreneurial population. Despite this, studies have frequently extrapolated results from narrow sub-types to entrepreneurs in general. This variation in entrepreneur samples reduces the comparability of empirical studies and calls into question the reviews that pool results without systematic differentiation between sub-types. The present study offers a novel account by differentiating between the definitions of “entrepreneur” used in studies on entrepreneurs’ personality traits. We conduct a systematic literature review across 95 studies from 1985 to 2020. We uncover three main themes across the previous studies. First, previous research applied a wide range of definitions of the term “entrepreneur”. Second, we identify several inconsistent findings across studies, which may at least partially be due to the use of heterogeneous entrepreneur samples. Third, the few studies that distinguished between various types of entrepreneurs revealed differences between them. Our systematic differentiation between entrepreneur sub-types and our research integration offer a novel perspective that has, to date, been widely neglected in academic research. Future research should use clearly defined entrepreneurial samples and conduct more systematic investigations into the differences between entrepreneur sub-types.


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