Paid Work and Domestic Labor in Disadvantaged Communities on the Outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon

This article explored the association between economic activity and the contribution to domestic labor in a Middle Eastern society. Analyses were carried out on cross-sectional survey data from 5,998 individuals, aged between 18 and 64 years, in three poor communities in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Domestic labor was evaluated with a composite index that takes into account both the type of task performed and the level of involvement. Housework categories included core household chores, care giving, financial management, home management, and home/car maintenance. Results showed that women continue to do most of the domestic labor in the three communities. However, women’s load of domestic labor decreased as they joined the labor market, whereas men’s contribution to domestic labor increased with involvement in paid work. Relatively speaking, the difference in contribution to housework between house members engaged and not engaged in paid labor was much higher for women than it was for men.     

Exploring Ethical Pharmacy Practice in Jordan

Science and Engineering Ethics - Patient-centered pharmacy practice involves increased pharmacist engagement in patient care. This increased involvement can sometimes require diverse...     

How do my students think about ME as an English-language teacher?

The concepts of student-centered classrooms, empowering students with communicative competences to be able to voice their ideas in the surrounding community, powerless and marginalized strata, are conspicuous and prevalent in recent research articles. Teachers are well-acquainted with pertinent underpinnings and theories of teaching methodologies; and some research is also conducted to see how those learned theories in pre-service and in-service programs are implemented in their real-life classrooms. But, the teachers’ reflection on implementation of their teaching practices in classrooms is still a venue which needs further investigation within an international scope. Here, my own teaching practice within a period of two semesters is reflected through the 61 male and female students’ sharp and meticulous eyes, which is reflected in their written responses to the posed question at the end of their final exams, and some of my notes from their comments in each of their classes. The Constant Comparative method was then used to unearth students’ comments and feedback on both my personality as an English-language teacher, and my teaching practice respectively.     

Duration of US Residence And Resource Needs In Immigrant Families With Young Children

Journal of Child and Family Studies - To mitigate the negative impact of resource needs on child health, practices serving low-income immigrant families have implemented screening programs to...     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Considering the Relationship Between Language,Culture and Cognition to Scrutinize the Lexical Influences on Cognition

In this paper, we examine the interrelationships among language, culture, and cognition. The central notion that individuals with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds think differently is not far from our everyday experience. If you have had the opportunity to engage in a conversation with a person whose native language is not English, you may have found that communication breaks down at times and that some concepts are not easily translated into another language. Or if you happen to be a fluent bilingual or multilingual, you may agree with those bilinguals or multilinguals who mention that they think differently in each of their language. A number of intriguing questions arise here. Is there a particular style of thinking that is natural for speakers of each language? If so, is it possible for a person to think in a different way, one that is not natural for that individual? Is this style of thinking imparted by the language, the culture, or both? These and lots of other questions have engaged the attention of anthropologists, linguists and psychologists, but the point that we are going to explore is the lexical influences on cognition considering the relationship between language, culture and cognition.     

Examining Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis as One of the Main Views on the Relationship Between Language and Thought

One of those features that set human societies apart from animal societies is the use of language. Language is a vital part of every human culture and is a powerful social tool that we master at an early age. A second feature of humans is our ability to solve complex problems. For centuries philosophers have questioned whether these two abilities are related and, if so, what the nature of the relationship between language and thought is. At the beginning of the last century psychologists joined this debate and it is a topic that is currently generating a lot of research. Another factor in the study of language and thought is the role of culture. When we study a language from another country we see that it is not just the words and grammar that are different but the customs and traditions as well. Even the ideas of that culture and the way of dealing with life can be different. There are a number of views on the nature of the relationship between language and thought. But here we are going to explore one of those views, the linguistic relativity hypothesis (LRH), concerning that the language a speaker uses influences the way the speaker thinks.     

Parental Perceptions of Services Provided for Children with Autism in Jordan

Providing formal support for children with autism and their parents is important and mandatory to improve children’s abilities and enhance the capabilities of parents. The present study attempted to investigate the perceptions of parents of children with autism regarding the services provided in Jordan. A questionnaire consisting of five sections was designed and distributed to a sample of 60 parents of children with autism (5–18 years old) among four special education institutions in Jordan. The questionnaire addressed five domains: demographics, type and number of received services, methods and difficulties of obtaining services, parents’ satisfaction, and parents’ perceived needed services. The results revealed that the service delivery system with which parents interacted was composed of multiple places and providers, but had several difficulties. Parents participating in this study expressed an average satisfaction with the received services. Issues pertaining to the cost of services, parents-professional partnerships, and overall quality of services were seen by parents as sources of low satisfaction. On the other hand, parents expressed the need for early intervention, family counseling, and community awareness services. Further suggestions and implications are presented in the study.     

Can normal narcissism be managed to promote green product purchases? Investigating a counterintuitive proposition

Despite the presumed influence of narcissism as a prevalent consumer trait, the psychological construct was only recently linked to consumer theory. “Normal” narcissism is traditionally associated with negative effects on others. But narcissism is examined from a different perspective here. This study investigates how narcissistic traits may influence consumer tendencies to engage in “green” behaviors. Study 1 demonstrates that narcissists do not intrinsically value green behavior or its potential societal benefits. However, four integrated experiments—grounded in costly signaling theory and the realistic accuracy model—demonstrated that situational factors such as product visibility, purchase visibility, relative price, and message detection and utilization could be influential in motivating normal narcissists to act “green.”     

Changing fit and fat bias using an implicit retraining task

Objective: To change implicit and explicit bias so that active obese people are regarded as more fit and normal weight sedentary people as less fit.

Design: Study one created a questionnaire that measured perceptions of active obese persons and sedentary normal weight persons on fitness-related items. Study two used a modified visual probe task to retrain perceptions regarding active obese persons and sedentary normal weight persons.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported explicit bias was measured with a questionnaire and implicit bias was measured with response times collected during a visual probe task.

Results: The questionnaire reliably measured ‘fitness and fatness’ perceptions. In study two, pairing images of active obese persons with positive activity-related words resulted in active obese persons being explicitly rated more fit; pairing images of normal weight sedentary persons with negative words associated with sedentary lifestyles increased endorsement of normal weight people as unfit. There were no changes in implicit bias.

Conclusions: Bias regarding how body weight is thought of relative to fitness can be altered by pairing images of obese persons being active with words such as ‘health’ and ‘fit’. This is evidence that representations of persons of all body weight should be used when promoting physical activity.     

Grain orientation effects on delamination during fatigue of a sensitized Al–Mg alloy

Fatigue crack growth experiments were conducted in humid air (RH~45%) at 25 °C on 29-mm-thick plate samples of an aluminium–magnesium (Al–Mg) 5083-H131 alloy in the long transverse (LT) direction. Samples were tested in both the as-received condition and after sensitization at 175 °C for 100 h. Delamination along some grain boundaries was observed in the short transverse plane after fatigue testing of the sensitized material, depending upon the level of ΔK and K_max. Orientation microscopy using electron backscattering diffraction and chemical analyses using transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy of grain boundaries revealed that Mg segregation and the orientation of grains had key roles in the observed grain boundary delamination of the sensitized material.