This paper explores the cross-cultural differences in affect valuation, emotion regulation, and the relationship between affect valuation, emotion regulation and subjective well-being across White Americans, Asians, and Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Emotional experiences shape every facet of our lives, yet understanding the extent to which emotional experiences are universal is still poorly understood. This is particularly the case among individuals with diverse cultural experiences. In the current study, we look at TCK individuals, a group composed of White-identifying individuals who spent a significant time of their childhood in East Asian countries. Through a questionnaire that was distributed via email and word of mouth, participants (N = 239) were asked to complete five surveys that included a subjective well-being scale, the affect valuation index, an emotion regulation questionnaire, an interpersonal emotion regulation questionnaire, and a set of scenarios that tested the individual’s tendency to feel a duty to themselves or to others. This study found that the Asian group significantly valued low arousal emotions more so than European Americans or the TCK individuals. TCKs were most likely to feel a strong sense of duty to help others.

This study works with Rotary Youth Exchange to investigate the role of predeparture intercultural training in preparing students to study abroad so that they 5 positively integrate their experience to become interculturally competent people. The Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) along with an intercultural background survey were administered to each student during the first one to four months of his or her exchange to measure his or her intercultural competency development and to learn li about the student's intercultural background. Developing explicit evidence for the role of intercultural training through this study proved unsuccessful because of the students' Jack of knowledge about the subject. However, through analysis of students' answers to decipher the quality of training received and comparing that information to the students' IES scores, the vital role of intercultural training in predeparture orientation is implied.

Email communication within a diverse workplace poses intercultural communication challenges (Martin & Nakayama, 2007). This study aims to make a contribution to the literature by examining how these challenges can be addressed through email computer training. For this study, I set out to understand and demonstrate how, within the instructional design process, contextualized curriculum can be created that integrates intercultural competency and email proficiency. This thesis includes a draft of an instructional plan and course outline for an email computer class that focuses on developing intercultural awareness and skills in the context of an email training course. First, I examined email computer curricula, specifically the topics, course goals, and course objectives common to the curricula. As a result of this examination, I discovered that email training is limited to the technical aspects of email communication. Additionally, I surveyed intercultural communication professionals about intercultural topics applicable to email communication. Their survey responses indicated cultural differences account for some, but not all email workplace challenges. For example, they believed it is important to address intercultural elements like low vs. high context when writing an email message, and power distance and levels of formality when writing greetings and closings. Additionally, their feedback indicated that it is important to address direct vs. indirect communication styles when writing the main point and linear vs. circular cognitive styles when organizing text within an email. I incorporated their perspectives in my course outline. Finally, experts from the fields of instructional design, intercultural communication, and computer training reviewed a draft of the plan and outline. Although their feedback indicated that the premise and approach were sound and achievable, they differed in their evaluation of specific elements of the course. In general, their perspectives reflected their professional focus. For example, they either recommended a stronger focus on the technical aspects or a stronger focus on the intercultural aspects of the course design. Detailed comments pertained to the fine-tuning of the objectives, timing of the individual lessons, and other instructional elements needed for any polished professional course outline

In response to the changes brought about by globalization, colleges and universities around the \Vorld are increasingly developing and expanding the 4 internationalization programs on their campuses. One important aspect of these programs that is often highlighted by institutions in their mission statements is the development of global citizenship among graduates. However, despite the rhetorical claims and apparent intemationalization activity aimed at producing global citizens, many recent reports suggest that most institutions in North America and elsewhere have not been successful in this goal. Two common issues in this failure are a Jack of clarity in the definition and purpose of global citizenship education, and Jack of appropriate assessment tools and practices. In light of these problems, this exploratory thesis examines two existing frameworks, cosmopolitanism and intercultural relations, in an effort to establish a strong theoretical foundation for the support and development of a moral, ethical, and social justice perspective of education for global citizenship programs in colleges and universities that reflects the traditions of a liberal education. Analysis of the existing scholarship in these two areas shows a commonality between the frameworks that is mostly unrecognized in the literature. Together, the similarities in these two theoretical frameworks combine to make a compelling argument for the continued development of global citizenship programs that focus on peace and social justice. In addition, these frameworks provide effective solutions for the critical problems faced by education for global citizenship programs.

This study aims to answer two interlinked questions with respect to ethnic conflict in Georgia: Why and how two ethnic groups (Abkhazians and Ossetians) in Georgia sought secession in 1990s rather than accepting unity under a common Georgian roof, and what explains the occurrence of ethnic conflicts between the Abkhazians and Georgians and between the South Ossetians and Georgians? The central argument of this thesis is that Soviet nationality policy was a foremost driving force in shaping consciousness of being ethnic groups in Georgia and set the stage for the inter-ethnic conflicts of the post-Soviet era. A number of factors explain the particular inter-ethnic conflicts in Georgia among ethnic groups, including a long historical relationship between the Georgian people and the Abkhaz and Ossetian minorities, but I argue that the foremost factor was the role of Soviet nationality policy that evolved from Lenin to Gorbachev, a policy that granted ethnic groups some level of privileges and fostered a wave of national self-assertion, Soviet nationality policy and the Soviet federal structure created numerous ethnic- and territorial-based autonomous units during the Soviet era; these units shaped their own political institutions, national intelligentsias, and bureaucratic elites, forming the basis for later nationalistic movements and developing a wish for self-determination and full independence. These institutions and beliefs made ethnic conflict in a post-Soviet Georgia inevitable.

A comparison of the structure and effectiveness of recovery ecosystems for opioid use disorder in Portugal and Appalachia, with a focus on identifying areas for improvement within the Appalachian region.

In many urban areas, there are multiple and overlapping layers of governments, which can be problematic for purposes of emergency operations planning for a multiple jurisdiction disaster response. The purpose of this single case study of the National Capital Region was to understand (a) the emergency operations planning collaboration process and (b) how cross-sector collaboration results in synchronized regional disaster responses. Theories of competitive federalism and cross-sector collaboration served as the basis of this study. Research questions explored how organizations collaborate; their organizational structures, processes, and practices; and how relationships between them affect collaboration. Data were collected through reviews of the National Capital Region Homeland Security Strategic Plan and the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan and interviews with 5 network members. A coding map was created to correlate interview responses to research questions and then cross-checked to provide the basis for a thick description of the evidence. The documents provided a basis for understanding how the network operated. Comparing these 2 data sources with coded transcripts and field notes substantiated the evidence. Results indicated that planning network guidance provided the structure for network participants' collaboration to facilitate planning and disaster responses. This research may contribute to positive social change by expanding emergency management network understanding of a cross-sector collaboration planning model that addresses disaster support requirements, enabling better protection of people, property, and the environment.

In the novel The Stringer, Perla Coughlin has evacuated Pittsburgh following a biological attack. Now, at a Red Cross Shelter in Ohio, she slowly strings a racket as she tells a volunteer about her past, Pittsburgh's past, and what might lay ahead for both. Characters grapple with their ignorance toward environmental warning signs, the hidden costs of technology, and the disquieting ways in which apocalypses reveal "who we really are." The first-person novel relies heavily on the epistolary tradition as well as Oulipean conventions of form and structure. Tennis serves as a unifying force amongst the four main characters, and the 2010 U.S. Census provides the vehicle through which terrorists launch their plot. The novel aims at a return toward Pittsburgh, but returning home is easier said that done. The city and its industries have been fundamentally changed. Personal secrets have been brought to light. Perla's fierce loyalty to her city makes forgiveness as tall as task as clawing her way back to Pittsburgh.

Given the current state of unprecedented global interdependence, and the growing impact that business has on the world’s inhabitants, Corporate Social Responsibility has become something that is not only desirable, but also expected of corporations. The topic of this qualitative study is the conceptual and pragmatic links of Intercultural Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility. This research focused on an identified informational gap in social responsibility literature and investigated the possible impact of culture and intercultural competence on Corporate Social Responsibility work. The scope of this investigation was purposeful and selective; a well-rounded group of professional Corporate Social Responsibility practitioners contributed to the research. At the end of this research it was determined that in order for social responsibility efforts to be reciprocal, inclusive, and effective, it would be beneficial to consider Intercultural Relations and develop intercultural competence.

Intercultural development is not an intentional goal or expected outcome for College Success courses. However, since such courses are designed to help students adapt to academic and campus cultures, an overlap and alignment between the development of intercultural skills and competence and the development of college competence might exist. This thesis investigated the degree to which intercultural learning was integrated into College Success courses at the curricular level, in instruction practices, and in the individual learning experiences of students, and it also identified current instructional activities most amenable to further targeting of intercultural learning. The research was guided by the following three questions. 1) What are the ways, if any, in which intercultural skills align with those skills seen as necessary for students' successful adaptation in academic and professional settings? 2) Do College Success instructors intentionally or unintentionally incorporate intercultural competence development into the curriculum and instruction? 3) What, if any, are the ways in which instructional practices in College Success courses contribute to intercultural skill development and help students leverage their current experiences with cultural differences? The research was focused on the study of one College Success class at a community college. Data was collected through multiple methods. Class sessions were observed. Interviews were conducted with students in the course, the instructor and the administrator responsible for the course. Documents, including the course syllabus, student learning outcomes, a selection of assignments and the course textbook were reviewed and analyzed. Research findings suggest that there is significant alignment between the development of college competence, as fostered in the College Success course studied, and the development intercultural competence, though such was unintentional and unrecognized by the instructor. The data also illuminated areas where course learning outcomes, curriculum, and instruction could be modified to further support the development of intercultural competency.