Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort:
Hottest Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Type:
All Topic Review Biography
Topic Review
Umtsimba
A traditional Swazi wedding ceremony is called umtsimba (Template:IPA-ss), where the bride commits herself to her new family for the rest of her life. The ceremony is a celebration that includes members of both the bride's - and the groom's - natal village. There are stages to the wedding that stretch over a few days. Each stage is significant, comprising symbolic gestures that have been passed on from generation to generation. The first stage is the preparation of the bridal party before leaving their village. The second stage is the actual journey of the bridal party from their village to the groom's village. The third stage is the first day of the wedding ceremony that spans three days, and starts on the day the bridal party arrives at the grooms’ village. Thereafter the actual wedding ceremony takes place which is the fourth stage of the umtsimba. The fifth stage takes place the day after the wedding ceremony and is known as kuteka, which is the actual wedding. The final stage may take place the day after the wedding day, and is when the bride gives the groom's family gifts and is the first evening the bride spends with the groom. Although the traditional wedding ceremony has evolved in modern times, the details below are based on historic accounts of anthropologist Hilda Kuper and sociological research describing the tradition
  • 549
  • 19 Oct 2022
Topic Review
UN and COVID-19: Economic Stimulation in Fragile States
United Nations support for fragile economies to overcome COVID-19's economic impact .
  • 508
  • 25 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Uncontrolled Outdoor Access for Cats
Outdoor access for companion cats is a controversial topic. Some have suggested that outdoor access can negatively impact the welfare of companion cats through increased risks of disease and parasites, injury or death due to traffic, predation or ingestion of toxins, and becoming lost. In addition, cats can negatively influence their environments due to the predation of small birds and mammals, and they are sometimes a nuisance to human neighbors. Despite these concerns, recent estimates suggest that many owners still allow their cats outside, likely because it also provides cats with exercise, and allows them to perform natural behaviors, such as hunting, exploring, and climbing. While some suggest that cats need outdoor access, others recommend ways for cats to meet these needs indoors by providing enrichment and properly supervising cats during outdoor access. 
  • 512
  • 09 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Understanding Apple Attribute Preferences of US Consumers
Fresh apples are a commonly consumed and widely available product in food markets around the world.
  • 952
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Perceptions of Leaders by Video Vignettes
Video vignettes are one form of virtualized vignettes that may build upon traditional text vignettes and enable research participants to see and experience a unique scenario that is better translated visually rather than through a written text. 
  • 204
  • 22 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Understanding Pet Food Attribute Preferences of US Consumers
This encyclopedia entry is dedicated to pet food attributes and builds on the work of Meike Rombach and David Dean. Partial least squares structural equation modelling shows that pet food purchase involvement positively impacts subjective and objective knowledge about pet food. Subjective knowledge appears to be the strongest factor impacting the importance consumers place on all three attributes. This is followed by objective knowledge. Socio-demographic factors such as gender, age, income, and education appear to have a limited impact as predictors for the importance consumers place on the product attributes.
  • 1.4K
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Science Teachers’ Implementations of Integrated STEM
Science teachers generally have a positive attitude towards using STEM-based activities. In addition, data revealed that participants implement integrated STEM into their teaching frequently and regularly. Results also indicated teachers encounter challenges while implementing STEM: documentation, the vast curriculum content, and lack of time. Moreover, external challenges (i.e., the lack of supportive guidelines) rather than teachers’ competency (i.e., having sufficient knowledge and skills for implementing STEM teaching) appeared to have the highest impending impact.
  • 465
  • 31 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Understanding Sexual Agency
Debates on human agency, not least female and sexual agency, have permeated the social scientific literature and health educational practice during multiple decades now. This article provides a review of recent agency debates, illustrating how criticisms of traditional conceptions of (sexual) agency have led to a notable diversification of the concept. We propose a comprehensive, inclusive description of sexual agency, focusing on the navigation of goals and desires in the wider structural context, and acknowledging the many forms sexual agency may take. We argue there is no simple relation between sexual agency and sexual health. We propose the following description: Sexual agency refers to a continuum of dynamic, everyday, situated modalities of action related to sexuality in which agents navigate (contrarieties between) personal goals, desires and preferences on the one, and personal living conditions, normative expectations and the wider structural context on the other hand. A diversity of internal (e.g. self-identification) and/or external goals (e.g. maintain social relationships or challenge the status quo) motivate and direct sexually agentic behavior. Sexual agency may aim for change as well as for endurance, continuity and stability. It may be overt or tacit. It varies with individual (e.g. temporal orientation) as well as situational variables (e.g. novelty). Sexual agency may reproduce but also resist and renegotiate (aspects of) prevailing norms and the status quo. There is no simple relation between sexual agency and sexual health or well-being. Modalities of action as well as the constructiveness of their (multiple) effects always depend on personal frames of reference as well as on the opportunities and restrictions provided by the (immediate and distant) personal and structural context, including moral and ideological frameworks and dominant sexual stories.
  • 8.2K
  • 21 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Understanding Spatial Autocorrelation
An enumeration of spatial autocorrelation’s (SA’s) polyvalent forms occurred nearly three decades ago. Attempts to conceive and disseminate a clearer explanation of it employ metaphors seeking to better relate SA to a student’s or spatial scientist’s personal knowledge databank.
  • 358
  • 07 Oct 2023
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Understanding the Education Policymaking Process in the United States
Considering the broad implications of education policy, it is important to understand the various facets of the education policymaking process. There are different stages of the process (i.e., issue definition, policy adoption, implementation, and evaluation) which, at times, can be difficult to comprehend when considering the competing goals of education and multiple stakeholders. Understanding the process can also be difficult due to the historical and contemporary influences of power and racism at play within and outside of society’s educational landscape—especially within the United States context. The process is highlighted as an iterative one which provides room for adjustments and changes across different contexts. By navigating the complex landscape of education policymaking, one can be better equipped to understand the intricacies of policymaking and its transformative capacity.
  • 640
  • 02 Jan 2024
  • Page
  • of
  • 288
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Video Production Service
Feedback