CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS AND DIFFUSION FOR MANAGERIAL STRATEGIES AND RESPONSES IN HONG KONG

This paper addresses the issue of cultural adaptations and diffusion for managerial strategies in host societies to which work enterprises are not indigenous in terms of their capital and management or either. With illustrations drawn from a series of case-studies of work organisations in Hong Kong managed respectively by Chinese, British and Japanese capital, there was an appearance of support for the thesis of ‘cultural’ determinism and its implications for strategical adaptations in work organisations. The implication was drawn that the Oriental nexus of altruism, trust and subtlety could be rooted in the more laudible and perhaps global influence of Confucianism. Some subsequent issues are raised. First, the problem of cultural adaptation is not specific to multinationals or foreign firms visiting from outside but also applies where the management and their ethic background are not indigenous. The other issue is the extent of cultural adaptation within work organisations, as determined by the degree of affinity with a common mother culture. The paper suggests that a common denominating mother culture can serve a strategical starting point to bring about intra-organisational and organisation-society link and harmony.     

Grading the ‘cultural literacy’ project

The essay examines the argument advanced by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., for instituting ‘cultural literacy’ as a fundamental priority of schools. A number of confusions and equivocations in Hirsch's reasoning are identified, and the propensity of his project to indoctrinate is exposed. Among the features of Hirsch's argument shown to be troubling are his shifting construal of ‘language’, his inconsistency about the requirements of cultural literacy, and his uncritical relation to traditional images of the American past and present. The upshot is to raise the question why Hirsch's project has elicited wide support and praise.     

Form symbolism, analogy, and metaphor

Simple forms, such as a square and a circle, can be symbolic; for example, a square can be deemed to behard and a circle to besoft. The relation between form symbolism and the comprehension of metaphors and analogies was studied in three experiments. Subjects were asked to rate matches between terms such assoft andhard andcircle andsquare as symbols (Experiment 1), metaphors (Experiment 2), and analogies (Experiment 3). The results show that a highly rated symbolic relation could be a poorly rated metaphorical relation. Ratings of analogies were similar to ratings of symbols. We argue that apt metaphors, analogies, and symbolic forms claim that the vehicle and the topic of the comparisons have common features, but that metaphoric representation entails more common features than does either symbolism or analogy, because metaphor requires that the vehicle be an especially apt example of a superordinate class. Thus, metaphor is a particularly strong claim about common features shared by the topic and the vehicle.     

Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

A structural comparison between state and trait self-regulation models

State and trait-regulation models were compared in 315 eleventh-graders using simultaneous confirmatory factor analysis. Each of the first-, second-, and third-order factor models was found to describe the data from both state and trait measures well. In both state and trait self-regulation models, the third-order factor, self-regulation, is composed of metacognition and effort, and the second-order factor, metacognition, is composed of awareness, cognitive strategy, planning, and self-checking. Findings of invariant factor loadings and factor correlations across state and trait measures indicate that the state and trait self-regulatory factor structures are similar. Unlike the state-trait distinctions found in affective personality domain, clear state-trait distinction was not found in this cognitive domain. In both measures, students who engaged more frequently in metacognitive activities and effort use in their mathematical problem solving performed better than those who did not.     

Misalignment effects in 3-D versions of Poggendorff displays

Strong misalignment effects are found in three-dimensional (3-D) versions of Poggendorff displays viewed binocularly. The components of the standard 2-D Poggendorff figure—the parallels and the oblique segments—were presented in 3-D depth as a flat rectangular object with occluding edges and an oblique line situated behind the object. Three experiments investigated the misalignment effects under three different observation instructions: Subjects were told to look at the oblique (Experiment 1), at the rectangle (Experiment 2), or at the background (Experiment 3). Experiments 1 and 2 examined the effects on judgments of alignment of varying the distance in depth that separates the oblique from the rectangle. Experiment 3 examined the effects of varying the distance between the fixated background and the 3-D Poggendorff figure. Both standard and reversed misalignment effects were obtained. When the viewing condition produces crossed disparity for the oblique, perceived misalignment occurs in the usual Poggendorff direction, but it is reversed with uncrossed disparity. Moreover, the amount of misalignment is related to the amount of disparity, and it can be much stronger than is usual in the 2-D versions of the Poggendorff. The misalignment effects can be explained by binocular integration to produce a single cyclopean image.     

图形和汉字视觉认知任务中的部分线索效应

给被试呈现一幅图的不完整信息作为线索会干扰被试对图形的辨认,这是一种部分线索效应。实验一的任务是对模糊图形的辨认,在轮廓相似组图形中,部分线索的干扰作用随呈现模糊级次数的增加而更加显著,但在轮廓非相似组图形中,模糊级呈现次数为２次和３次的情况下,也表现出了显著的部分线索效应。实验二在不完整汉字识别任务中进一步考察了部分线索效应,在事先学习的条件下,形状相似字组汉字的辨认表现出了显著的部分线索效应,而意义相似字组和随机字组汉字的辨认表现出了部分线索的促进作用。在事先不学习的条件下,随机字组和形状相似字组汉字的辨认表现出了显著的部分线索效应,而意义相似字组汉字的辨认没有表现出显著的部分线索效应。本研究用激活的观点对这些结果做出了合理的解释。     

国际照明协会1960年均匀色度标尺图的均匀性

本实验通过对CIE 1960均匀色度图黑体轨迹不同区域的色温点∞K、8333K、4167K的视觉评价,探讨这一色度图的均匀性。 我们用了两个被试,分别对视觉色度计2°视野的两半视场进行颜色匹配。两位被试得到相同的结果(1)不同色温点的同一视觉等级图形的形状和大小各不相同,表明CIE1960均匀色度图的黑体轨迹区域不够均匀,(2)∞K和8333K色温点的相同视觉等级长度都不相等,而4167K色温相等。可以认为,1960年均匀色度图在4167K的较小范围内的均匀性较好。     

文昌鱼的光动反应

文昌鱼的中枢神经系统早在上个世纪就受到神经解剖学家们的注意。这是因为它代表着动物演化上的一个很典型的阶段。在这个阶段,动物身体的背侧开始有了神经管。这个神经管在外形上很象脊椎动物胚胎初期形成的神经管,其内部的神经组织也较简单。此外,正如神经管初成阶段的脊椎动物胚胎一样,文昌鱼还不具备发育的和特异