The “Colour Family Drawing Test”: Assessing Children’s Perception of Family Relationships. Studies on Mental Health and Cross-Cultural Comparisons

We apply the Colour Family Drawing Test, as a development of the traditional black and white test, for cross-cultural comparison. The participants, aged 7 - 10 years, both genders, were examined individually. Each subject sat at a single table with a white rectangular card of standard size, 24 well-sharpened colour pencils, a black pencil, an eraser and other appropriate tools. S/he received this verbal instruction: “Draw your family”. The procedure was firstly applied to 120 participants attending primary schools of Rome (Biasi, Bonaiuto and Levin, 2014). The families were evaluated through a semi-structural interview conducted with the children’s teachers and divided into: Harmonious versus Very Conflictual Families. The drawings made by children of Harmonious Families consistently used “Reassuring and Playful Colours” (Pink, Orange, Sky Blue, Light Green, Light Yellow, other pastel colours);and were larger, tidier and more proportioned to respect the opposite group. Children belonging to Conflictual Families used mostly “Alarming and Serious Colours” (Grey, Black, Dark Bleu, Violet, Olive Green) and their drawings were less extended, more often disordered and had typical deformations such as figures too thin. A second investigation examined 120 participants belonging to Asian immigrant families residing in Italy. A third investigation examined 120 participants belonging to Russian families of Moscow. Both last two investigations obtained very similar results on the use of colours, and gave a confirmation of the relevance of the Colour Family Drawing Test.

Cross-cultural Comparison of Cognitive Structure and Behavior of Waterfront Landscape between Subjects of China,Japan and Britain

In order to explore the cultural value of waterfront in urban landscape,from the perspective of cross-cultural comparison psychology,the subjects from Britain,Japan and China have been surveyed to obtain their cognitive structure and behavior on waterfront landscape.Based on the comparison of quantitative statistic results of life value,cognitive structure of waterfront space,and water-loving,a quantitative analysis has been conducted on the relevance between each factor by using Quantification Theory III.Then,it has analyzed the types and purpose of behavior in waterfront space,and the influence brought by cultural value difference.

Motor competence and health-related fitness in children:A cross-cultural comparison between Portugal and the United States

Background: Motor competence and health-related fitness are important components for the development and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle in children. This study examined cross-cultural performances on motor competence and health-related fitness between Portuguese and U.S.children.Methods: Portuguese(n = 508; 10.14 § 2.13 years, mean § SD) and U.S.(n = 710; 9.48 § 1.62 years) children performed tests of cardiorespiratory fitness(Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run), upper body strength(handgrip), locomotor skill performance(standing long jump), and object projection skill performance(throwing and kicking). Portuguese and U.S. children were divided into 2 age groups(6à9 and 10à13 years) for data analysis purposes. A twoàfactor oneàway analysis of covariance(ANOVA) was conducted with the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, handgrip, standing long jump scores, kicking, and throwing speed(km/h) as dependent variables.Results: Results indicated that Portuguese children, irrespective of sex, presented better performances in locomotor and cardiorespiratory performance(standing long jump and Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run) than U.S. children in both age bands. U.S. children outperformed Portuguese children during throwing and handgrip tests. Kicking tests presented gender differences: Portuguese boys and U.S. girls outperformed their internationally matched counterparts.Conclusion: Cultural differences in physical education curricula and sports participation may impact differences in motor competence and fitness development in these countries.

Cross-Cultural Studies and ELT-Designing a Cross-Cultural Communication Course

From country to country, social taboos, politics, religious traditions and values differ. Cross-cultural communication refers to communication between people of different cultures. This paper is about what will be discussed in the Cross-Cultural Communication course and how we can ＂teach＂ the target culture which involves so many topics to students who usually do not have close contact with native speakers of English and have little opportunity to discover how these speakers think, feel and act in their own way.

A Comparison of Languages on the Chinese and English Clothing Tags from the Cross-cultural Perspective

With the rapid growth of China's marketing economy, a lot of China-made clothes sweep into the foreign markets in recent years, so the internationalization, standardization and normalization of the languages of the clothing tags seem more important than they probably are. From the cross-cultural perspective and with the help of stylistic analysis, the author studies the languages of 10 Chinese-version clothing tags and 10 original English-version clothing tags respectively in lexis, syntax and discourse. The English version of Chinese clothing tags inclines to use the imperative sentences with strong tone of command, and their corresponding sentence structures and those of the original English clothing tags are not alike. Comparatively the latter give a more static feeling in a milder tone. In the perspective of lexis and discourse, clothing tags, both home and abroad, use the simple words and add the words with pictures. Tentatively, the author gets a general conclusion of the skills and characteristics of English clothing tags' language. Besides, according to the current problems existing in the Chinese clothing tags' translation,the author gives the relative advice to the Chinese clothing company in order to promote the international commercial communication, besides, the author expects more studies on this field with a new view point.

Cross-Cultural Comparison: Aesthetic Appreciation of Palace Art in the Mid-Qing Dynasty and French“Rococo”Art

In the cross-cultural context,as artistic and cultural phenomena between the East and the West,the palace art in the mid-Qing Dynasty and the French“Rococo”art is bound to be influenced by the social history,artistic and cultural environment in which they live.Through a parallel comparison of the aesthetics of court art in the mid-Qing Dynasty and French Rococo art,it is found that there are similarities in the social and cultural environments and the aesthetic tastes of the aesthetic subject at that time,and there are differences in the presentation of the function of art culture and the aesthetic style of the aesthetic subject.At the same time,there is a phenomenon of the east-west integration of“western law for use”and“eastern elements”.

Problems and principles in translation of cross-cultural research instruments

The process of translation is an important part of cross-cultural studies. Cross-cultural researchers are often confronted by the need to translate instruments from one language to another. In the translation, linguistic equivalence, functional equivalence, cultural equivalence and metric equivalence are factors that need to be considered greatly. This paper examines the translation of cross-cultural research instrument from these points of view, illustrates with examples and puts forward suggestions for incorporating each factor into research studies.

A Comparison study of First and Second Language Acquisition

More focuses of foreign language teaching theory and practice are on the study of first language and second language acquisition. The article deals with the concept of first and second language acquisition, the relationship between them and the factors influencing on them. The characteristics of the children acquisition and adult acquisition are also studied.

A Comparison Study of Tropical Pacific Ocean State Estimation:Low-Resolution Assimilation vs.High-Resolution Simulation

A comparison study is performed to contrast the improvements in the tropical Pacific oceanic state of a low-resolution model respectively via data assimilation and by an increase in horizontal resolution. A low resolution model (LR) (1°lat by 2°lon) and a high-resolution model (HR) (0.5°lat by 0.5°lon) are employed for the comparison. The authors perform 20-yr numerical experiments and analyze the annual mean fields of temperature and salinity. The results indicate that the low-resolution model with data assimilation behaves better than the high-resolution model in the estimation of ocean large-scale features. From 1990 to 2000, the average of HR's RMSE (root-mean-square error) relative to independent Tropical Atmosphere Ocean project (TAO) mooring data at randomly selected points is 0.97℃ compared to a RMSE of 0.56℃ for LR with temperature assimilation. Moreover, the LR with data assimilation is more frugal in computation. Although there is room to improve the high-resolution model, the low-resolution model with data assimilation may be an advisable choice in achieving a more realistic large-scale state of the ocean at the limited level of information provided by the current observational system.

A comparison study of two Tricept units for reconfigurable parallel kinematic machines

This paper presents a comparison study of workspace and dexterity of two Tricept units for Reconfigurable Parallel Kinematic Machines （RPKMs）. The modular leg of RPKMs is designed and the RPKMs can be built by changing tile setting of modules. A compositive kinematic model is developed accordingly. The inverse kinematics and Jacobian of these two Trieept units are analyzed. Considering workspaee volume and dexterity, the effeets of geometric size of some modules on the two Trieept units are discussed. In the end, comparison results of these two Tricept units are. given. The eomparison of two kinds of Parallel Kinematic Machines （PKMs） can be of help in the design and configuration planning of the RPKMs.

A Study on Applications and Case Studies Regarding Bluetooth Technology for Travel Time Measurement

Bluetooth technology emerged over twenty years ago and has continuously improved throughout the years to meet diverse and complex applications. Initially invented to replace the need for physical data cables, Bluetooth offers users a quick and easy way to share data files over a wireless network. Traffic engineers and transportation engineering researchers have utilized the potential opportunities that exist with Bluetooth and have implemented this technology into traffic monitoring techniques. To gain a better understanding of Bluetooth sensors and how they work, a comprehensive literature search was conducted. Twenty-five articles were studied regarding case studies of Bluetooth sensor implementation for travel time measurement. Besides reviewing the literature and previous case studies, three new case studies in the State of Delaware, USA, were also conducted and carefully analyzed. The benefits and drawbacks associated with Bluetooth technology for travel time measurements have been identified in this paper. The overall conclusion of the authors is Bluetooth alone and by itself is not a proper technology for travel time measurements. More studies need to be conducted on the accuracy and overall application, before one can confidently utilize the Bluetooth technology for travel time measurements.

A Model Comparison Study of Fragment Production in 140 A MeV 58,64Ni+9Be Reactions

The cross sections of fragments produced in the 140 A MeV58,64Ni＋9 Be projectile fragmentation reactions are calculated by using the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics （AMD） model, the modified statistical abrasion- ablation （SAA） model, and the empirical EPAX2/EPAX3 formulae. The Gogny-gO interaction is taken as the effective nucleon-nucleon interaction in the AMD calculation, and the decays of fragments obtained from the AMD results are calculated by using the GEMINI code. The calculated cross sections of fragments are compared.

Cross-Cultural Bioethics at an International University in Japan

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University （APU） in Beppu city, Japan has a large body of students from well over 90 countries, especially from the Asia Pacific region, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian students. To improve analytical thinking skills among college students, a course on ＂bioethics＂ was introduced and offered in two consecutive semesters to undergraduate students for which 245 students registered at each semester. The course was taught in the form of 14 lecture and discussion sessions, each for 95 minutes based on the content of A Cross-Cultural Introduction to Bioethics （2006） edited by Darryl Macer, and reviewed a wide variety of ethical and bioethical issues. In the next semester, the students received a similar teaching content that was rearranged to reflect the 15 universal principles of bioethics and human rights covered in the Bioethics Core Curriculum （2008）. Case studies were also added to each unit of the Core Curriculum with the support of the UNESCO＇s Asia Pacific Regional Office, Bangkok （Case Studies for Bioethics 2010）. To evaluate the results of teaching and to compare the achieved objectives between the two groups of students, a short questionnaire was given to all students who finished the course and took up the final written examination. In the whole, 454 students （225 in group I and 229 in group 2） completed the course and took the final examination and 427 （218 in group 1 and 209 in group 2） responded to the questionnaire which inquired into their interest in the discussion of bioethical issues： why they believed they were important, and what they had learned through them. The results of the questionnaire have been examined and compared to evaluate the success of ＂bioethics＂ in stimulating the interest and thinking ability of the students and enriching their experience of a cross-cultural discussion over bioethical issues using universal principles as general guidance. The result of this examination was so impressive that from 2011 bioethics has been formalized into the reformed curriculum of our international school.

Study of Polymer Blends with Sub-cluster Theory Part 2 Comparison of PVC/ABS, PVC/SBS Blends

Series of PVC/ABS and PVC/SBS blends of composition 20/ 80. 40/ 60, 60 / 40 and 80 / 20were prepared in a screw extruder. The phase morphology, miscibility and rheological behaviour of two systems were investigated. The viscosity-composition plots were represented by sub-cluster equation, the various differences between two systems are interpreted with the equation parameters

A Comparison of Chinese and English Classroom Management:A Case Study of“Are Our Kids Tough Enough?”

In the documentary Are Our Kids Tough Enough,five Chinese teachers went to teach at a High School in Hampshire,England,and had a final assessment comparison of the quality of teaching with the English teachers.The collision of different cultures in the documentary has caused people to ponder over education both at home and abroad.This study explores effective classroom strategies and the positive role of cross-cultural factors in Chinese and English classroom management models to build an effective and dynamic classroom.Through a comparative study of Chinese and English classroom management models,this paper mainly finds out that English teachers tend to be more free-ranging in classroom management.Besides,the classroom atmosphere is relaxed,and students are active in thinking,but not concentrative.Chinese teachers,on the other hand,tend to have very serious management styles,and set strict discipline in the classroom.They concentrate under high pressure and,to a certain extent,suppress students’flexibility.In addition,this paper also elaborated three elements which are closely related to classroom management:(1).Teaching methods;(2).Teaching activity design;(3).Assessment.Through the comparative study,we find that Chinese classroom management model is more rigid,in which teachers can easily grasp the situation,but the classroom atmosphere is not very active.The British classroom management model is more flexible;students will not be too constrained,and classroom atmosphere is more active.But this has higher request to the teacher’s classroom management ability:avoiding loss of control of the classroom discipline.

Cross-culture Communication Patterns-Chinese and North American Communications:A case study

This study used a case study methodology and qualitative approach to discover cross-culture communication patterns between Chinese and North American.

The Procedure of an International Student Studying Abroad:A Case Study

As it is examined and concluded by many researchers,studying abroad has been common when students are trying to receive higher quality education.Cross-cultural adjustment is also regarded as a compulsory term to consider,and the way to get involved in the host culture has also been deeply investigated in this procedure.Therefore,this paper aims at identifying the factors that cause cultural barriers,as well as finding solutions to cope with them.In this study,a case study research method is employed and the result will be beneficial to support future research in similar fields.

Effect of Teacher Feedback, Peer Review and the Combination on EFL Writing Study Proposal

Since the result of effect comparison is important for teacher's decision making,roles teacher feedback and peer review play respectively and collaboratively in tertiary-level EFL writing context should be addressed via quantitative study as this paper proposed.Quantitative data should be collected from students'first drafts,second drafts and written comments from teachers and peers.Gains for overall scores between the first and second drafts and correlation between suggestions and gains should be examined.

A Study of Daoism Elements Embodied in Walden

This thesis aims at providing a detailed and in- depth study of Daoism elements embodied in Henry David Thoreau'Walden. Thoreau loves and returns to nature. His viewing"man as part and parcel of nature"echoes Daoism's"identification of the self with nature"; Thoreau's stressing a simple life style is identified with Daoist's returning to simplicity; water is frequently cited in Walden as an image, which strikingly resembles some chapters of Tao Te Ching. Thoreau repeatedly emphasizes the significance of medication in quietude, which is also expressed in Tao Te Ching. These are but a few examples to show striking similarities between thoughts reflected in Walden and those preached by Daoism. The book Walden is a manifest demonstration of Daoism. This writing intends to take a minute and comparative look at Daoism elements embodied in Walden.

COMPARISON OF SOME TROPICAL CYCLONE DATASETS AND CORRECTION OF YEARBOOK DATA

This is a study to compare three selected tropical cyclone datasets separately compiled by CMA Shanghai Typhoon Institute （CMA SHI）, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center （JTWC）, and the Japan Meteorological Agency （JMA）. The annual fi＇equencies, observation times and destructive power index as the characteristic quantities are investigated of the tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific. The comparative study has resulted in the following findings： 1） Statistical gaps between the datasets compared are narrowing down as the intensity of tropical cyclones increases. 2） In the context of interdecadal distribution, there is for the 1950s a relatively large gap between the datasets, as compared with a narrowed gap for the period from the mid 1970s to the 1980s, and a recurring widened gap for the mid and late 1990s. Additionally, an approach is proposed in the paper to correct the wind speed data in the TC Yearbook.