Dealing with death in an educational context

While empirical investigations and the development of theories for studying intercultural communication are important for developing our understanding of what happens when people of diverse backgrounds come together, equally important are records of specific instances of contact as these provide opportunities to reflect on what we know; to validate or question theories; to critically consider the decisions made by those involved as well as the kinds of decisions we might have taken had we been in that specific situation. This essay represents this latter type of contribution to the field of intercultural communication and intercultural education by presenting a snapshot of some personal experiences I had while living in Japan over a period of 18 years. The focal point of this essay relates to the tragic death of a student – an event that was pivotal in my own acculturation process. It then introduces some other experiences before relating these to some general issues concerning intercultural awareness and intercultural educational practice.     

Managing the Peace: Exorcising Colonial Ghosts

Public Organization Review -     

Raising awareness of transformative ecosocial work: Participatory action research with Australian practitioners

This article reports on Participatory Action Research with social work practitioners who collaboratively explored the effects on professional practice when practitioners raise their awareness of an ecosocial work approach. Although contemporary research in the profession has contributed to the ongoing development of ecosocial work, there is a notable lack of collaboration with social work practitioners. Using a transformative ecosocial work model of practice, researchers together with social workers from a range of practice contexts met as co‐inquirers to plan, implement and evaluate ecosocial work interventions. As part of a larger international study, this article reports on research outcomes within the Australian context. Overall, results indicate that practitioners incorporated interventions across personal, individual, group and organisational levels of practice, but were constrained by structural elements at broader levels. Continuing the development of ecosocial work requires further collaborative exploration with practitioners, which takes into consideration communities and broader social and political systems. Key Practitioner Messages: ? This research endeavours to contribute to the evidence‐base for progressing transformative ecosocial work in professional practice; ? Using Participatory Action Research (PAR), this research was done in collaboration with social work practitioners as co‐inquirers to develop ecosocial work interventions; ? A range of ecosocial work interventions were implemented at the personal, individual, group and organisational levels.     

Indirect measures of child mortality: Overview and application to Brazil, 1980

Mortality rates in the early childhood years are valuable indicators of a population's standard of living, especially in high mortality countries in the developing world. This study summarizes the logic of indirect techniques of mortality estimation, and applies the methods to sample data from the 1980 census of Brazil. The results for metropolitan areas show that children in affluent households have an average expectation of life that is around ten years higher compared to the children of the poor. Multivariate analysis using the mortality ratio proposed by Trussell and Preston found that mother's education was the most important determinant of child mortality, followed by the effects of running water in the house, father's schooling, membership in the social security system and region of the country. Given the potential usefulness of the indirect methods to a wide range of researchers outside of the field of demography, the study presents detailed examples of the computational steps required of the various techniques.     

The Role of Perceived Loneliness and Isolation in the Relapse from Recovery in Patients with Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa

Rates of relapse in the treatment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are problematic as is reflected in the literature. While there are some studies that examine the contributing factors associated with relapse, there is much that remains unclear. This paper explores the role of perceived isolation and loneliness as contributing factors in the relapse of patients in the course of treatment for these disorders. A review of the literature on relapse, clinical case material, treatment outcomes, and implications for future treatment and study are discussed.     

Managing AMI in a Just-In-Time Environment in the UK and Japan

In recent years many commentators have addressed the ‘crisis’ in manufacturing industry (Gerwin, 1982; Drucker, 1988, 1990; Hayes and Jaikumar, 1988). Some have offered cross-national comparisons on Japanese and Western management methods and techniques (Kharbanda and Stallworthy, 1991; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1987; Pascale and Athos, 1981) whilst others have concentrated on improving performance in specific fields such as management accounting (Kaplan, 1984; Cooper, 1991) or manufacturing management (Schonberger, 1982; Halt, 1983). Empirical research into managing AMT in Japan and the UK (Currie 1991a) considers some of the broader managerial issues in manufacturing. Cultural differences are common in the areas of investment appraisal, post-auditing of AMT and preventive maintenance policy. For example, in Japan JIT is perceived ‘holistically’ incorporating production management, total quality assurance (TQA) and total preventive maintenance (TPM). This is contrary to the UK in that many large manufacturing companies fail to include TPM in their manufacturing strategies (Currie and Seddon, 1991). There are few management information systems (MIS) which provide an understanding of machine performance using both non-financial and financial information. Focusing on maintenance as a central theme, the paper discusses the development of the Failure And Scheduled Maintenance Analysis (FASMA) system, which offers a practical solution to the problem of collecting and manipulating manufacturing data on the shopfloor (Seddon, 1991a). Essentially, FASMA attempts to interface both the manufacturing and management accounting functions by translating machine performance data into valuable information from which preventive maintenance policy may be improved. Using FASMA to measure machine performance at a major UK automotive manufacturer, machine down-time has averaged 61% each month over a 3-year period. By manipulating this data, performance measurement information may be utilized by management accountants. FASMA thus develops a link between manufacturing and management accounting by providing data on machine performance which can be used for cost analysis within a manufacturing environment. The paper concludes by arguing that manufacturing strategies can only be developed using appropriate management information systems (MIS) designed to enhance functional integration. This will enable a better understanding of how the ‘manufacturing jigsaw’ fits together.