Establishing evidence of intercultural competence as learning outcomes of outbound student mobility programs for undergraduate participants

Outbound student mobility programs are instrumental to Japan’s higher education policy. However, the national policy discourse among the stakeholders tended to overlook evidence when the literature review identified a gap. This study intended to fill this evidence gap by uncovering evidence of intercultural competence as a learning outcome of outbound mobility programs. This study is a theory-driven qualitative method to establish students’ learning outcomes as a part of GSC’s degree requirements to participate in studies in Malaysia and Thailand. This qualitative analysis confirmed cultural self-awareness and related intercultural competence domains as learning outcomes of this outbound student mobility program in non-traditional destinations. The findings from this study contributed to filling the current evidence gap in the literature on learning outcomes of outbound student mobility programs among Japanese undergraduate participants, while a need for theoretical reconciliation between young adulthood and intercultural competence emerged from this analysis

The New Reliability Override

Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act grants the Secretary of Energy a sweeping authority to exempt electric generation and transmission facilities from any federal, state, or local environmental laws. When Congress first adopted § 202(c) in 1935, it designed the provision as an emergency power that federal regulators could use to force fractious utilities to work together to preserve electricity reliability in times of war or natural disaster. But in the last decade things changed. This Article, drawing on a novel catalog of all § 202(c) emergencies from the provision’s nearly ninety-year history, is the first to comprehensively describe § 202(c). The Article shows that new pressures on the reliability of the American electrical grid, along with an obscure 2015 amendment to the Federal Power Act, transformed § 202(c). No longer is it used to nudge reluctant utilities into action. Instead, starting in the first Trump administration and continuing in the Biden administration, grid operators facing impending blackouts used § 202(c) orders to allow them to run power plants in excess of Clean Air and Clean Water Act pollution limits. And § 202(c) is set to become even more important. Both the Trump and Biden administrations leaned on the provision in proposed policies for the electrical grid—the former to hinder the energy transition and the latter to push it along. This Article tells § 202(c)’s history, describes its transformation, and critically examines some methods for supervising the Department of Energy’s use of § 202(c)

Developing a Low-Temperature Pathway for the Synthesis of Two-Dimensional WS2 Nanosheets

Since their discovery in 2004, two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted great attention due to their unique mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. However, their integration into devices is limited by the high temperatures required for crystalline growth, which prevents the use of flexible and biocompatible substrates like polymers for biomedical and next-generation electronic devices. This project aims to therefore develop a low-temperature synthesis process for two-dimensional tungsten disulfide (WS₂), a material particularly promising due to its tunable bandgap and biocompatibility. We propose that by first depositing an intermediate tungsten oxide film (WOx) via Hollow Cathode Plasma-Assisted Atomic Layer Deposition (HCP-ALD) and then sulfurizing the film through hydrothermal sulfurization, a maximum temperature below 250 °C can be achieved. Initial trials of depositing WOx films on Si substrates at 150 °C and 200 °C showed a relatively high GPC values of 0.695 Å and 0.888 Å, respectively, and XRD measurements indicate significant (022), (240), and (241) orientations present in grown films. These findings show the possibility and benefits of using HCP-ALD to deposit WOx films at low temperatures and lays the groundwork for further study and optimization of growth parameters and resulting effects

Academic Dishonesty in Higher Education

Academic dishonesty has become a pervasive issue among students, often driven by environmental and social pressures and facilitated by opportunities such as the use of digital devices (e.g., smartwatches) that enable misconduct. The aim of the current study was to examine the associations between academic dishonesty and variables including class attendance, self-efficacy, and the use of digital learning methods. It was hypothesized that academic dishonesty would increase with higher absenteeism, lower self-efficacy, and greater reliance on Zoom lectures and exams. This study was conducted at a single academic institution in Israel, based on an anonymous structured survey completed by 121 participants. Findings revealed that 50% of participants view breaches of academic integrity as acceptable in higher education. Furthermore, students engaging in academic dishonesty often fail to consider the broader implications of their actions for their academic achievements or the integrity of higher education. These findings deepen our understanding of academic dishonesty in higher education and highlight areas for intervention, offering insights for the development of preventive strategies to be incorporated into academic programs

Do Micro-level Support Areas Impact International Students’ Perceived Academic Success?

This study examined the micro-level support areas for international students at a higher education institution (polytechnic) in Canada to determine their perceived academic success using the Bronfenbrenner theory of human development at the micro-level. A quantitative study was conducted to measure the impact of micro-level support areas on international student’s perceived academic success. A target sample of 399 international students was recruited to participate in a hard copy, one on one survey in the 2019 winter semester. The results of this study show that international students’ support areas at the micro-level were strongly related to their perceived academic success. The Canadian government’s strategy and efforts at the federal and provincial/territorial levels of increasing international students’ presence as a way of addressing the aging work force and population challenge would be more successful with increased attention and focus on the micro-level support areas

Native Spaces: The Struggle for Colleges to Incorporate Native Frameworks into Curriculums

Out of the thousands of universities in America, there are only thirty-seven Native American Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTIs), schools with ten percent or more of the total student population being of Native American descent. While many typical American colleges offer courses on Native American history for students with Native American studies majors and minors, the students involved in these programs are often taught through the lens of traditional schooling, which negates the full effectiveness of these classes. Native leaders across the country are pushing for Native frameworks to be adopted by universities so that past and contemporary Native histories may be taught in more authentic and rewarding ways to both students and professors. This thesis focuses on the efforts of administrators at the University of Connecticut who are working with tribal leaders to establish the Avery Point campus as a Native American Serving Nontribal Institution (NASNTI). This step would allow the university to bring in more Native professors and advisors who could aid in the process of incorporating Native frameworks into various curriculums at the university. The research done for this thesis was a comparative look at the effectiveness of ten NASNTIs across the country. A theoretical framework section accompanies the data collection. The theoretical framework set up in this thesis focuses on the history of higher education, education styles, and racial differences in America, all which tie back to the lack of NASNTIs in this country

Efficacy of Single Joystick-Operated Ride-On-Toy Navigation Training Program to Promote Increased Spontaneous Use and Motor Function in the Affected Arm in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

The purpose of this study is to assess the adjunctive effects of a home-based single joystick-operated ride-on-toy navigation program to conventional care on affected upper extremity (UE) use and motor function in children with hemiplegia. Wrist-worn accelerometers were worn by children on both their affected and unaffected extremities at baseline (i.e., prior to start of the training program) and during ride-on toy training sessions to measure affected and unaffected arm activity, resulting in measurements of percent duration of time in every session that children engaged in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA) using their affected and unaffected arms at baseline and during the early, mid, and late training sessions. Results show an overall average increase in percent duration of time spent in MVPA from baseline to the late session, overall low average levels of time spent in light activity at baseline and during the late session, and an overall average decrease in percent duration of time spent in sedentary bouts from baseline to the early session that was sustained at similar levels even up to the late training session. Based on findings from the study, we determined that there were improvements in affected upper extremity use as well as improvements in bilateral coordination. These improvements in children’s motor skills during the training program indicate great potential for it to be a successful adjunct to conventional, clinic-based therapy, and following further replication of study results, there is a possibility for it to be implemented within the community in the future

Investigating the ability of the Norepinephrine-Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor Nomifensine to Reverse the Effort-related Effects of Tetrabenazine in Female Rats

Anergia, lassitude, and psychomotor retardation are core symptoms of motivational dysfunction that often accompany Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). While selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors effectively alleviate mood and anxiety symptoms, they remain relatively ineffective at alleviating motivational deficits. Compounds that elevate extracellular dopamine (DA) have shown promise in addressing these symptoms. Bupropion, a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI), increases DA and is effective at attenuating motivational symptoms in patients. Another NDRI, nomifensine, has demonstrated potential antidepressant properties in preclinical research. Effort-based choice tasks, such as the FR5/chow choice task, serve as animal models for studying motivational dysfunction. Rats choose between exerting effort to obtain a preferred food (high-carbohydrate pellets) via lever pressing or consuming freely available less preferred chow. Tetrabenazine (TBZ), a dopamine-depleting agent, shifts behavior toward the low-effort option, modeling motivational impairments seen in MDD. Previous studies in male rats have shown that nomifensine effectively reverses the TBZ-induced behavioral effects, however the effects in female rats are unknown. Given the higher prevalence of depression in women and sex differences in symptomatology, the present study examined whether nomifensine could reverse TBZ-induced low-effort bias in female. Nomifensine partially restored lever pressing and dose-dependently reversed the effects of TBZ on chow intake. These findings support the efficacy of NDRIs in mitigating motivational deficits and highlight the importance of exploring sex-specific responses to antidepressant treatments